I crouched on the ground, my palm pressed against the stone platform. The rhythm coming from underground was still there. Once, then again—not fast, but unceasing. The spirit beast stood beside me, its front paw slightly raised. The earth-colored ripples it had released earlier had already faded, but its ears remained pricked.
I slowly withdrew my hand and stood.
This rhythm did not sound like a natural tremor, nor like the tread of beasts. It was too regular, like some kind of signal. But before I could make sense of it, the vibration beneath my feet suddenly stopped. The air turned stifling at once, and even the wind that had been flowing through the valley fell still.
Then a smell drifted over.
It was fishy and rotten, like the stench of dead things left sealed in a swamp for too long. I frowned as the pungent odor made my nose sting. The spirit beast let out a low growl, lowering its body slightly as its tail went rigid.
I knew it was on guard.
I said nothing and immediately spread out my spiritual sense. Before it had even reached ten paces, I sensed movement in every direction. Not one creature, nor two, but many. They hid in the mist, behind trees, and moved close to the ground. They were not fast, but their purpose was clear—they were all coming for us.
Demonic aura.
Each one was weak enough to be almost negligible, but there were too many of them. Gathered together, they created a sense of pressure. These were not great demons, but the lowest sort of lesser demons, creatures that survived by hunting living prey in packs.
I took half a step back, moving closer to the spirit beast. It turned to look at me, and a faint glow appeared on its horn, as if responding to my movement.
"Don't move," I said softly.
My voice was quiet, but I could feel that my heartbeat had not faltered. Failed ascension, secluded cultivation, the spirit beast's evolution, and then the disturbance underground just now—every step had made me clearer about what I needed to do. This was not the time to panic.
I reached into my storage pouch, my fingertips brushing several talismans. They had been rewards from the system, and I had never used them. One was defensive and could hold for three breaths without breaking. The other was an Explosion Talisman. Its power was not great, but it could blast enemies away in a short span of time. I did not take them out. I merely shifted them into my palm, ready to activate them at any moment.
The mist around us began to churn.
The shadows of the trees swayed, and faint scraping sounds came from the ground. Those figures finally emerged. They were short and hunched, with gray-black skin and twisted, deformed faces. Fangs jutted from their mouths, while bone spears and rusty blades filled their hands. They moved slowly, their footsteps disorderly, but the encirclement steadily tightened.
I did not need to count to know there were at least thirty of them.
Several of them moved to the front, waved their weapons, and struck the ground with piercing clangs. The other lesser demons howled along with them, their shrill cries seeming intended to frighten us. Two even leaped into the air and made lunging motions, but neither truly charged.
This was a test.
I quickly recalled what the system had mentioned before. Low-level demonic creatures like these often gathered in the fringes of the prehistoric wilderness. Individually, they were weak, but their numbers gave them an advantage, and they excelled at surrounding and killing lone cultivators. They generally would not attack the strong on their own initiative. They only targeted prey that looked easy to bully.
We had just left the valley. In their eyes, we were "outsiders."
I stood where I was, breathing steadily. The spiritual energy within me circulated slowly according to the route of Basic Solidification Nine Refinements, flowing from my dantian to my limbs. Every inch of my meridians remained under control. I was in no rush to strike, nor did I intend to flee first. After all this cultivation, I needed a real battle to test just how much I had improved.
The key was not to lose control.
One lesser demon suddenly rushed forward two steps and spat out a cloud of black mist directly at my face. It was fast and close, clearly intending to catch me off guard.
I had been prepared.
I held my breath and stepped back half a pace. At the same time, I raised my left hand, condensing spiritual energy into a thin barrier before me. The black mist struck it with a hissing sound, like corrosive liquid falling onto stone. The barrier trembled slightly, but did not break.
The spirit beast reacted even faster.
It let out a low roar, and the light on its horn surged. A ring-shaped shockwave swept outward, sending the nearest three lesser demons staggering back. One of them fell to the ground and did not get up for a long while.
The lesser demons around us fell silent for an instant.
Then more howls rang out as their footsteps pressed forward. The one from before had merely taken the lead. Now it stood at the rear, staring at me as a rumbling sound came from its throat, as though it were giving orders.
I knew the real attack was coming.
I tore off one of the defensive talismans and swiftly pressed it against the spirit beast's forehead. The instant the talisman paper touched its skin, it melted into it, forming an almost invisible film of light. This way, it could block one fatal strike for me.
I held the other Explosion Talisman in my right hand, neither activating it nor putting it away.
I spread my feet shoulder-width apart and lowered my center of gravity. Spiritual energy circulated once through my body as I checked for any blockage. The old injury in my shoulder had not flared up today, showing that the fine control I had practiced lately was working. I could control the direction and intensity of every strand of spiritual energy now, and I would no longer lose control because of battle-driven impulses.
The lesser demons pressed closer and closer.
The front row had already raised their weapons, their fangs bared and low growls rumbling from their throats. They were no longer testing us. The encirclement had narrowed to within ten paces. At a single command, they would all pounce.
I stared at the leader.
It was a full size larger than the others, its fur darker in color. Two toes were missing from its right claw. It had likely fought many battles. Unlike the murky eyes of the other lesser demons, its gaze held a vicious sharpness, as if it knew how to kill.
It moved.
It did not charge at me. Instead, it shifted sideways, making room. The demon pack behind it automatically filled the gap, forming a denser formation. This was not an unorganized pack of beasts. They possessed a rudimentary sense of tactics.
I slowly raised my right hand.
The talisman was still in my palm, and sweat had begun to seep from my fingertips. It was not that I was unafraid. I simply knew fear was useless. In a place like this, weakness led only to death.
The spirit beast pressed against my back. I could feel its warmth and the rhythm of its breathing. It did not cry out or grow restless, but every muscle in its body was taut, ready to charge at any moment.
Wind blew from deep within the forest, carrying dampness and the smell of blood.
I lifted my left foot and sidestepped to the right. The movement was light, but in the silence, it stood out sharply. Every lesser demon's gaze followed me.
The leader finally spoke.
It let out a short howl, like an order.
The next second, seven or eight lesser demons leaped up at once and lunged from different directions. Some raised blades for my head, some aimed at my legs, and one charged straight at the spirit beast, trying to draw it away.
I did not move.
The spirit beast moved first.
It spun sharply, light flashing from its horn as a curved shockwave of earth and gold swept outward. The three lesser demons at the front were sent flying, tumbling across the ground. The rest could not halt their momentum and continued rushing forward.
I flicked my right hand, activating the Explosion Talisman.
The talisman paper exploded in midair, bursting with firelight. Two rushing lesser demons were struck head-on and screamed as they flew backward. Another two were knocked down by the blast, their weapons flying from their hands.
The first wave of attacks had been stopped.
But more lesser demons were already closing in. They did not fear death, nor did they care about the screams of their companions. Their eyes remained fixed only on the positions of the spirit beast and me.
The leader stood at the edge of the encirclement. It did not step forward again, but its eyes never left me.
I knew it was waiting for an opportunity.
I was waiting too.
Waiting for them to reveal an opening, waiting for the moment when I could break through with a single strike.
I lowered my head and glanced at the scraps of talisman paper in my hand. Only the last defensive talisman remained. I could not waste it again.
I took a deep breath and concentrated spiritual energy in my legs. As long as I broke through the encirclement, I could use flight to open the distance. But I could not fly now. The moment I took to the air, I would become a living target.
One lesser demon circled around from the side, trying to ambush me.
I raised my leg and kicked it squarely in the chest. It flew two meters, slammed into a tree, then slid to the ground without moving.
The demon pack around us paused.
I returned to my position, back-to-back with the spirit beast, and resumed a defensive stance.
The leader's throat rolled as it let out a low growl.
This time, every lesser demon pressed forward at once, their footsteps dense, weapons waving, killing intent surging.
I gripped the last talisman tightly.