Communal Spirit Beasts

As long as he did not witness—or even sense—a living creature's death with his own eyes, Huo Hai would not feel the slightest killing intent. Though it felt a little like deceiving himself, it was the best way to solve the problem for now.

After questioning him repeatedly and confirming that there was no problem with Huo Hai doing this, Ji Mu carefully followed him onward. The people they had just killed had already been cleaned up completely. He Wang surely had no face to speak of such a matter either. A mere He Wang was nothing to worry about for Huo Hai, so long as the entire He Family did not make a move.

They were already very close to the depths of Southern Mountain. Southern Mountain was not particularly large, so there was no need to worry about going too deep. The Spirit Beasts here were at most equivalent to the Spirit Practitioner Realm, and they had likely been dealt with earlier.

Quite a few of the people sent to deal with Southern Mountain had reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm. This was the foundation and strength of Imperial City Academy, something a mere Western Frontier could never compare to. Moving with great caution, the two soon found their first Spirit Beast.

Huo Hai narrowed his eyes and had the Star Gu scout the surroundings. Once he confirmed that there were cards he needed, a command rose in his heart: "Kill." Then he severed his connection with the Star Gu. Closing his eyes, he steadied his turbulent mind.

After a long while, Huo Hai opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Ji Mu's worried gaze. "Huo Hai, are you all right? If you can't do it, let's withdraw first. I don't know what you need so many points for, but I can lend you some." Ji Mu was truly afraid that something might happen to Huo Hai. If he lost himself, what was the point of getting so many points?

Ji Mu even wanted to lend Huo Hai the points her Lineage had given her for cultivation. There was no problem if she used those points herself, but if she casually gave them to someone else, she would face immense pressure from the Lineage.

Huo Hai shook his head, his eyes calm and undisturbed. "There's no problem at all. This method works well. Now we just need to go take a look. If there are still no problems, then it's fine. Don't worry. If it really becomes bad, I'll withdraw."

Points and Blood Refining Pills ultimately existed to serve the purpose of strengthening himself. Huo Hai would not put the cart before the horse and turn himself into a madman for the sake of advancement. He had no blood-deep vendetta, nor was there anything he had to do even at the cost of his life. How could he be like those novel protagonists he had read about before, who disregarded everything just to increase their strength?

Huo Hai knew his own limits. He was not the protagonist and did not possess an immortal body. He could not possibly survive tenaciously through every dangerous situation. Therefore, the most important thing for him was to protect himself and make sure he suffered not the slightest harm.

The two quickly headed forward. By now, the Star Gu had surely cleaned everything up. When they arrived, as expected, the ground held only traces of a struggle and the mark left behind by a Spirit Beast.

The corpse on the ground had long since vanished. Huo Hai knew it had been eaten by the Star Gu. But that did not matter. As long as he could not see it, it would not provoke him. There was not even a drop of blood left on the ground. He had to admit, the Star Gu truly had excellent teeth. If he had not possessed the Star Gu, who knew how this would have ended?

"After we return, I definitely need to raise more Star Gu. These are far from enough." Huo Hai deeply felt that there were too few Star Gu by his side. After all, these were merely the products of his experiments. Their success had been an accident.

The next time he returned, he needed to make more. For a long time to come, Huo Hai could only rely on these Star Gu to protect himself and deal with enemies. Improving his combat skills, even improving his own cultivation, would require an enormous amount of time. What Huo Hai lacked most right now was time. Yes, time was what he lacked.

Clearly, nothing had happened, yet Huo Hai always felt a sense of unease, as if time were about to run out.

When had this feeling begun? It seemed that he had started feeling this way after seeing the scene of Black Dragon Devours the Sun last time. What an unpleasant feeling. Even thinking about it now made him feel as though something were pressing down on his heart.

Whether it was an illusion or not, increasing his strength as quickly as possible was an urgent matter that could not be delayed. While his thoughts wandered, Huo Hai had already gathered the cards. It was normal for a Blood Spirit Realm Spirit Beast to have dozens of point cards around it.

"Let's go. There are still many Spirit Bone Realm Spirit Beasts deeper inside. Those are our targets." Huo Hai spoke as he led Ji Mu farther in. It was no longer a matter of whether Huo Hai would bring her along; no matter how he tried to drive her away, she would not leave. Besides, after entering deep into the forest, Huo Hai would not be at ease letting Ji Mu act alone.

Ji Mu nodded. The deeper they went, the more dangerous it became. Even Ji Mu no longer had the mood to joke with Huo Hai. She had no idea just how powerful his insects were, or whether they could handle Spirit Bone Realm Spirit Beasts.

Although they had killed one last time, that had been a surprise attack, and luck had played a large part. It was easy to ambush a Spirit Beast, but if a Spirit Beast ambushed them, they could just as easily be killed. Ji Mu did not want to die, so she could only be even more careful.

The facts proved that Huo Hai's beetles were indeed terrifyingly powerful. Along the way, not a single Spirit Beast paid any attention to those beetles. This allowed Huo Hai to calmly investigate all the information thoroughly. All the ambushes along the way had been launched by Huo Hai first. Not one Spirit Beast had been able to approach them without being discovered.

Whether Spirit Body, Blood Spirit Realm, or even Spirit Bone Realm Spirit Beasts, all were swiftly exterminated after being ambushed by the Star Gu. The point cards on Huo Hai's person increased as a result. Even his pockets could no longer hold them all.

For this reason, Huo Hai had specially used a cloth sack to store the point cards. Though he had not counted exactly how many he had, there were already several thousand. He had enough pills for the Blood Spirit Realm already. What he needed to earn now were the pills required for the Spirit Bone Realm. A tenfold increase in price was not something ordinary people could bear.

If he missed this opportunity, it would not be so easy to earn points in large quantities later. Gritting his teeth, Huo Hai decided to continue deeper into Southern Mountain. If he did not have enough points, he would turn all of Southern Mountain upside down.

Without realizing it, the two had reached the very center of Southern Mountain. If they continued forward, they might leave Southern Mountain's territory from the other side. Of course, that area was guarded, and no one would be allowed to enter or leave freely.

Just then, Huo Hai suddenly frowned and made a gesture for caution. Even his footsteps abruptly fell silent. "What is it? Did you find something? Is there a Spirit Bone Realm Spirit Beast?" Ji Mu asked softly. Huo Hai was being far too cautious right now. It was not as though they had not encountered Spirit Bone Realm Spirit Beasts before.

But even when they had encountered them, he had never been this careful. He only needed to launch an attack directly. In any case, he was not the one attacking. Those beetles were indeed powerful, and their bodies seemed exceptionally hard as well. They could easily kill Spirit Beasts.

Even now, it seemed that those insects had not suffered many losses. If Ji Mu knew that Huo Hai had not lost a single Star Gu so far, who knew what expression she would make? It had to be said that the Star Gu's shells were truly too hard.

"Keep your voice down. There's a large group of Spirit Beasts ahead. I don't know what's going on either. Let's carefully get closer and take a look." The news of a large group of Spirit Beasts had come from the Star Gu. As for what exactly was happening, Huo Hai did not know. The Star Gu did not yet have the ability to provide Huo Hai with overly detailed information. Being able to do this much was already quite good.

The two surveyed the terrain around them and finally discovered an extremely tall tree. From there, they could observe the place Huo Hai had mentioned without being noticed by anyone else.

After the Star Gu investigated and found no danger, Huo Hai led Ji Mu up the tree. With their cultivation, climbing a tree was simple. A moment later, the two reached the treetop. Looking out, they were instantly dumbfounded.

"Heavens, how can so many Spirit Beasts be gathered here? Y-you aren't really going to provoke them, are you?" Ji Mu did not notice that her voice was trembling. This was a large pack of Spirit Beasts, definitely a communal species.

Ji Mu even recognized them. They were called Ironclad Hounds. Like wolves and dogs, they generally lived in packs. Ironclad Hounds themselves did not possess particularly powerful offensive abilities. They merely had fur like a layer of iron hide, giving them extremely strong defense. Under normal circumstances, they were difficult to harm. But once their numbers grew, they became much harder to deal with.

This enormous pack contained at least a hundred Ironclad Hounds. More than twenty of them had reached the Spirit Bone Realm. But that was not the most important part. Among them was one exceptionally powerful Ironclad Hound that had even reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm.

Huo Hai narrowed his eyes and watched the Ironclad Hounds from afar. After a long time, he seemed to make up his mind. "Yes. This is the largest pack nearby. If they have point cards here too, then I'll make my move."

Huo Hai did not know whether Imperial City Academy had placed point cards among this pack of Ironclad Hounds. He planned to scout first. If he found any, then no matter what, he had to wipe them out. Huo Hai needed points far too badly. Ji Mu stared at him in disbelief. Did this fellow truly have such confidence that he could deal with a Spirit Practitioner Realm Spirit Beast?

One had to know that upon reaching the Spirit Practitioner Realm, one broke free from the Yellow Grade level and entered the Profound Grade level. Once one reached this level, even without possessing special attribute abilities, one could freely wield powerful spiritual energy to attack.

Spiritual energy could transform at will and carried immense power. Even if his insects charged forward, would they not be wiped out in sheets? Spiritual energy attacks and ordinary physical attacks were utterly different; their power could not be mentioned in the same breath.