Gregarious Spirit Beasts

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

After asking repeatedly and confirming that Huo Hai would be fine doing this, Ji Mu cautiously continued onward with him. The people they had just killed had all been cleaned up. He Wang probably did not have the face to speak of such a thing either. Huo Hai did not need to worry about a mere He Wang for the time being, so long as the entire He Family did not make a move.

They were already very close to the heart of Southern Mountain. Southern Mountain was not a particularly large mountain, so they did not need to worry about venturing too deeply inside. The spirit beasts here were at most equivalent to the Spirit Practitioner Realm, and they had probably already 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 extreme care, the two quickly found their first spirit beast.

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

After a long while, Huo Hai opened his eyes and first saw the worry in Ji Mu's gaze. "Huo Hai, are you all right? If you can't handle 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 worried that something would happen to Huo Hai. If he lost himself, what use would all those points be?

Ji Mu even wanted to lend Huo Hai the points her Lineage had allocated for her cultivation. There was no problem if Ji Mu used those points herself, but giving them away to someone else would bring immense pressure from her Lineage.

Huo Hai shook his head, his gaze calm and unruffled. "There's no problem at all. This method works very well. We only need to go take a look now. If there are still no issues, then it's fine. Don't worry. If it really doesn't work out, I'll withdraw."

Points and Blood Refining Pills ultimately existed to serve his improvement. Huo Hai would not put the cart before the horse and turn himself into a madman just to grow stronger. He had no blood feud, nor anything he had to accomplish even at the cost of his life. How could he be like the protagonists from those novels he had read before, disregarding everything just to increase their strength?

Huo Hai knew his own limits. He was not some protagonist and did not possess an immortal body. He could not stubbornly survive every dangerous situation. So the most important thing for him was to protect himself and ensure that he suffered not even the slightest harm.

The two quickly moved forward. By now, the Star Gu had surely cleaned everything up. When they arrived, just as expected, only traces of struggle and the imprint left behind by a spirit beast remained on the ground.

The corpse on the ground had long since vanished. Huo Hai knew that the Star Gu had eaten it. 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 could not help but marvel at how good the Star Gu's teeth were. If he had not possessed the Star Gu, who knew how this time would have turned out?

"After returning, I definitely need to raise more Star Gu. This is still far from enough." Huo Hai keenly felt that there were too few Star Gu by his side. After all, these were merely products of his experiments, successful by sheer accident.

The next time he returned, he needed to make more. For a long while 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 vast amounts of time. What Huo Hai lacked most right now was time. That was right—time was what he lacked.

Though nothing had happened, Huo Hai always felt a kind of unease, as though time was about to run out.

When had this feeling begun? It seemed that after witnessing the sight of Black Dragon Devours the Sun last time, he had begun to feel this way. What an unpleasant feeling. Even recalling 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 urgent and could not be delayed. While lost in wild thoughts, Huo Hai had already gathered the cards. It was perfectly normal for a Spirit Blood Realm spirit beast to have several dozen point cards nearby.

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

Ji Mu nodded. The deeper they went, the more dangerous it became. Now, even Ji Mu was no longer in the mood to tease Huo Hai. She wondered just how powerful his insects truly were and whether they could deal with Spirit Bone Realm spirit beasts.

Although they had killed one last time, that had been a surprise attack and involved great luck. It was easy to ambush spirit beasts, but if spirit beasts ambushed them, they could just as easily be killed. Ji Mu did not want to die, so she could only become even more cautious.

The facts proved that Huo Hai's beetles were indeed terrifyingly powerful. Along the way, no spirit beast paid any attention to them, allowing Huo Hai to calmly investigate all the information thoroughly. Every ambush along the way had been launched by Huo Hai first. Not a single spirit beast had been able to approach them without being discovered.

Whether Spirit Body, Spirit Blood, or even Spirit Bone Realm spirit beasts, once ambushed by the Star Gu, they would be exterminated in a short time. The point cards on Huo Hai's person steadily increased as a result. Even his own pockets could no longer hold them all.

For this reason, Huo Hai had specifically used a cloth bag to hold the point cards. Though he had not counted exactly how many cards he possessed, there were already several thousand. He had enough pills for the Spirit Blood Realm. 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 large quantities of points in the future. Gritting his teeth, Huo Hai decided to continue deeper into Southern Mountain. If he did not have enough points, then 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 onward, they might leave Southern Mountain from the other side. Of course, that area was guarded, and no one would be permitted to enter or leave freely.

At that moment, 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 quietly. Huo Hai was being far too careful right now. It was not as though they had not encountered Spirit Bone Realm spirit beasts before.

Yet even when they had encountered them, he had never been this cautious. He would simply attack directly. In any case, he was not the one attacking. Those beetles were indeed powerful, and their bodies seemed extremely tough as well, capable of easily killing spirit beasts.

Even now, it seemed 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 these Star Gu were truly far 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, but Huo Hai did not know exactly what was happening. The Star Gu was not yet capable of providing him with overly detailed intelligence. Being able to do this much was already quite good.

The two observed the surrounding terrain and finally discovered an exceptionally 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. Moments later, the two reached the treetop. Looking out, they were instantly dumbstruck.

"Heavens, why are so many spirit beasts gathered here? You... you aren't really going to provoke them, are you?" Ji Mu did not notice that even her voice was trembling. This was a huge group of spirit beasts—undoubtedly a gregarious species.

Ji Mu even recognized them. They were called Ironclad Hound. Like wolves and ordinary dogs, they generally lived in groups. Ironclad Hound themselves did not have particularly strong offensive abilities, but their iron-hide-like fur granted them extremely powerful defense. Under normal circumstances, it was difficult to harm them. But once their numbers grew, they were not so easy to handle.

This enormous group contained at least a hundred Ironclad Dogs. Among them, more than twenty had reached the Spirit Bone Realm. But that was not the most important part. There was one exceptionally powerful Ironclad Dog among them that had even reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm.

Huo Hai narrowed his eyes and watched the Ironclad Dogs from afar. After a long while, he seemed to have made up his mind. "Yes. This is the largest group nearby. If they have point cards as well, then I'll make my move."

Huo Hai did not know whether Imperial City Academy had placed point cards among this pack of Ironclad Dogs. He planned to investigate first. Once he found them, no matter what, he would have to wipe them out. Huo Hai needed points far too badly. Ji Mu stared at Huo Hai in disbelief. Was this fellow really so confident that he could deal with a Spirit Practitioner Realm spirit beast?

Once one reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm, one had broken free from the Yellow Grade and entered the Profound Grade. Upon reaching this level, even without possessing special attribute abilities, one could freely wield powerful spiritual energy in battle.

Spiritual energy could transform at will, its power immense. Even if his insects rushed forward, they would probably be slaughtered in waves. Spiritual energy attacks and ordinary physical attacks were utterly different; their power could not be mentioned in the same breath.