Aotian saw dozens of beasts charging toward him, and behind them, the movement was even greater. Soon, thousands — or even tens of thousands — of beasts would surround them.

But there wasn’t a trace of fear in Aotian’s eyes. With Bao Wuji at his side, he could let loose without worry.

His avatar, Ancestor Bao, turned his hand, and from it emerged a beautiful sword. He simply opened his palm with the sword in it, and through his spiritual energy, the blade seemed to come to life, shooting straight toward Aotian.

Aotian, as if he had eyes on his back, caught the sword that passed over his shoulders with a simple reach of his hand.

Lowering the sword, he unsheathed it and tossed the scabbard to the ground.

Aotian then ran his left index finger gently along the edge of the blade, leaving a small trail of blood that, with a golden glow of runes, was quickly absorbed.

Feeling the connection with the sword settle in, he smiled, and his eyes locked onto the two-meter-tall boar charging fiercely at him.

Immediately, dozens of minds focused on his main body.

The world seemed to move in slow motion once again before his eyes, but the truth was that his brain — or rather, his brains — were processing everything at high speed.

And in this battle, two new elder minds joined the scene.

The inner elder of the Beast Pavilion:

[Name: Shòu Xuán (Meaning: Profound Beast)

Position: Elder of the Beast Pavilion

Cultivation: 7th level of Foundation Establishment (1 Major Realm above the Host)

Position Ability: Beast Domain

Position Bonus: Beastmaster (Power of Created Beast increased by 3x)]

And the external elder associated with this pavilion:

[Name: Lín Zhì (Meaning: Will of the Forest)

Position: External Elder (Beast Pavilion)

Cultivation: 1st level of Foundation Establishment (Host’s Realm [Inactive])

Position Ability: Beast Heart

Affiliation Ability: Combat Affinity with Beasts

Position Bonus: Observable Evolution (4 times per day)]

Even though their bodies weren’t present, just the assistance of their illuminated minds elevated Aotian’s intuition regarding beast behavior and their possible weaknesses to another level.

The boar charged, and Aotian ran toward it as well. When they were about to clash, his leg lit up, and with a light sidestep, instead of colliding head-on, they passed side by side.

Aotian’s sword did not hesitate, and taking advantage of the momentum, he slashed easily through the giant boar’s flank.

In his roots, spiritual energy, under the weight of Aotian’s intent combined with his many minds, began to condense into a different, more volatile kind of energy. When this new energy reached the sword, it seemed to find a home, condensing into an extremely fine edge along the blade.

With Aotian’s slash, the massive boar took only two more steps before the upper part of its body slid off the lower, collapsing to the ground just ahead.

Aotian, with an indifferent expression, simply swung the sword to the side in a motion to shake off the blood — but not a single drop remained on the razor-sharp blade.

Internally, however, he wasn’t so calm.

‘Damn, I look so cool seeing myself from Bao Wuji’s perspective. I look like the main character of an action movie — just needed an explosion behind me! And crap, my realm is way too low. To convert my energy into sword intent, I need the help of my higher-realm minds and burn a lot of energy. Even then, I can barely display a prototype of sword intent, though the power boost is incredible. I didn’t even use much strength to kill that late-stage first-level beast.’ Aotian quickly pondered.

But even that brief moment was enough for new attacks to arrive.

A huge viper lunged at his face, but with a small step to the side and a flick of his sword, he decapitated it with ease.

Beasts continued to pour toward him, but Aotian handled them calmly, using them as training.

Lizards, snakes, eagles, bears, and even snails — all many times larger than normal — attacked without pause.

Aotian relied mostly on basic physical attacks during the battle, taking advantage of his powerful physique.

Even though he had trained his body only with mortal martial arts, they were synthesized techniques that allowed him a physique comparable to the fourth level of Qi Refinement. Against these first-level beasts, fighting this way conserved spiritual energy and let him endure much longer in battle.

Unlike cultivators, among first-level spiritual beasts, those capable of performing any ranged attack were rare. It wasn’t like the battles he had against cultivators before, when his energy shield was constantly struck and there was no room to dodge energy attacks.

But as everything tends toward balance, although the beasts couldn’t use spells, spiritual beasts had their own advantages.

They were usually stronger than cultivators within their own realm. For example, a first-level beast at the early stage was much more powerful than a Qi Refining cultivator at the same stage, typically requiring a group of cultivators of the same level to take it down, as they naturally possessed strength, speed, and resilience far beyond that of cultivators.

While fighting, this thought reminded him of what Rihai once explained when he asked about spiritual vein designations.

‘Just as beasts can’t be judged by the same power scale we use for cultivators, spiritual veins follow the same principle, with varying potential, able to exceed their own realm and actual level. That’s why perfect veins can be condensed to reach a higher realm. For those, a new designation emerged. Instead of using rankings like Refiner-Tier and Founder-Tier, or cultivation realms like Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, the terms “levels” were created — such as first-level vein and second-level vein…’

Aotian clearly remembered Rihai’s explanation.

Thankfully, he had unoccupied minds. So even while fighting nonstop against the beasts, he could still indulge in such thoughts without affecting the battle.

Severing the wing of a giant white eagle, sending a spray of blood into the air, Aotian also recalled what Rihai had said afterward that day.

‘… Well, that’s more or less what I understood from what I read when I was younger, but they were just theories and guesses. No one can say the exact origin of the different terms — it’s simply common sense to call them that, and we don’t think too much about it.’

The fight grew more intense, and Aotian stopped thinking about such distractions.

Even though the beasts were stronger than cultivators, the battle that followed was far smoother for Aotian than the one he had faced in the city back then.

With his sword — though its power was sealed by formations due to Aotian’s cultivation level — still retained the edge of a Founder-Tier weapon. That, combined with his enhanced physical strength, and the fact that the animals could only attack in close combat, which naturally limited how many could surround him at once, allowed him to deal with them easily without expending much spiritual energy. This made the battle against the horde of beasts much easier than fighting a crowd of cultivators.

Still, it wasn’t easy.

When a more powerful beast appeared, or when the number of enemies exceeded what he could handle, Aotian activated his prototype sword intent to face them.

The truth was that for beasts within his same realm, a few synthesized spells — or even a single one — would have been enough to defeat them. However, he wanted to grow accustomed to using sword intent, so he avoided using spells frequently.

Thus, the battle continued as Aotian, little by little, grew exhausted and was drenched in blood.

In the sky, Bao Wuji and Rihai — who was being levitated by the former’s energy — silently observed the fight from above.

Rihai watched Aotian with concern, her fists clenched at the sight of him covered in blood.

The only reason she stayed still, without yelling to descend, was because she knew that the blood on his body wasn’t his, but from the beasts that had died by his hand.

Moreover, a terrifying ancestor, overwhelming by the standards of this region, stood beside her, ready to prevent any harm from reaching Aotian.

But her heart, beyond worried, was also in turmoil for another reason.

‘That’s a prototype sword intent! How is that possible?! It should be impossible to achieve that in Qi Refinement!’ Her eyes widened, disbelieving what completely shattered one of the foundational rules she had always believed in.

She was becoming more and more shocked by the mysterious man she had fallen in love with.

The battle lasted just a bit longer than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, and even so, Aotian had left behind mountains of giant monster corpses. Still, the beasts showed no sign of stopping.

When he was nearly exhausted and about to call on Bao Wuji, something happened.

A powerful roar echoed, shaking the leaves of the forest and coming from the darkness at its core.

The roar, thunderous and oppressive, was accompanied by a menacing presence.

The animals immediately ceased their attacks and, with lowered bodies and tucked tails, retreated trembling, terror in their eyes.

Aotian, seeing that, took the chance to catch his breath.

“Haah… Haah…” Breathing heavily, he raised his blood-soaked hand and wiped it across his face, smearing away some of the thick layer of blood that coated it.

The metallic stench in his nose and the bitter taste in his mouth churned his stomach as he took in the massacre he had wrought, looking at the thousands of beast corpses around him.

The thrill of dominating the battlefield, so present during the fight, no longer ran through his veins. The sense of power gave way to rationality, and Aotian felt only indifference as he stared into the dead beasts’ eyes.

The images of the skeletons in Red Tiger City returned to him — especially the scene that had marked him most: rats crawling over the piled bones of children on the ground, their bodies missing pieces.

Children who should never have known such a cruel end.

There was no mercy in his gaze as he looked at the beasts’ corpses.

He then raised his bloodstained face and looked toward the heart of the forest, where the powerful roar had come from.

With the sound of slow and heavy steps, the first thing to emerge from the darkness was a pair of slit, blood-red eyes, followed by a crimson paw that rose from the shadows and crushed the ground as it stepped forward.

Soon the rest of the body appeared: a magnificent giant Red Tiger emerged from the forest. The very same tiger Aotian had encountered that day — the one who had nearly taken his life, and Rihai’s, with a single bite.

But this time, standing before the tiger was no longer the weak mortal who had been easy prey.

This time, what the Red Tiger found… was a beast just like it.

Beast against beast.

The same cold and murderous eyes…

…The same color — Blood Crimson.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep