Reaping the benefits

The battle was over and the tiger clan was given some time to mourn the deaths of their family members.

After taking the beast cores from the dead bodies, their blood, meat and skin were collected and stored within Shadow's storage bag.

The remains of the corpses were buried within the earth to become nutrients for the soil and plants.

The remaining tigers brought all of their treasures they had hoarded for over a hundred years which Shadow also stored away.

With a growing clan what she needed most was resources and wealth to feed all of their mouths and strengthen them so she did not waste a single thing before leaving their territory.

She was limited by her deer body which restricted her from doing delicate and more complex jobs which would be beneficial towards increasing her strength.

She could crush medicinal plants and mix them together to make a powder useful for helping temper the body when mixed with water but the effects were nothing compared to the effects of medicinal fluids and pills made by alchemists or with tools.

Fortunately beasts often collect their spoils of war and after encountering many humans they would have collected their storage bags which may contain pills and other useful items.

She could allow the beasts to eat the meat of the dead beasts bodies but after the supply ran out they would have to rely on eating ordinary plants and fruits which would not be as beneficial to their training.

She could not create weapons or write inscriptions to help with the fighting capabilities without human hands so she had to rely on whatever she had found within the tiger clan and wolf clans territory.

Although weapons and inscriptions were useless to beasts they still were useful to the monkey father and son.

After burying the dead everyone moved towards the wolf clan territory, under Shadows orders all of the wolves were killed swiftly in a single fatal strike as ordered.

As there were young wolves there too it was better to not let them suffer from any trauma or form of torture before their deaths so every beast swept the wolf clan clean in the night time.

Under the cover of night the infiltrators could easily ambush the wolf clan and end their lives quickly and without too much pain.

It could be said to be cruel of Shadow and the group to completely wipe out the wolf clan including the young, old and newborns but leaving them alive was too risky but also cruel to the surviving wolf clan members in a way.

The survivors would wish to seek revenge once they heard their family had been killed, even going to great lengths to do so.

It was not that Shadow feared them or their potential to do so but she was careful about the other influences within the forest.

After two clans clashed and one was left vulnerable the other clans would begin to target the wolf clan very quickly and the wolf clan survivors would either be killed or kept as captives.

Some would sell themselves to their enemies to get revenge and would give all the information on what they knew to the other clans.

Some may be tortured to reveal information while others may be kept as playthings for the other clans beasts.

So killing them was the best option for both the wolf clan survivors and Shadows groups future.

Why didn't Shadow take them in?

The answer was simple, they were not her responsibility and she would not help a potential enemy.

It was best to stay away from the other clans notice right now as they lacked enough strength to protect themselves against them so both clans disappearing during the night was the best option.

Returning back to the hideout at the bottom of the mountain everyone settled down in their new environment as the beasts got to know each other.

Shadow went over her spoils of war with great interest.

There were a total of over 10 storage bags, 5 spirit fruits, many different types of medicinal plants and a couple of weapons.

The 5 fruits were fire spirit fruits which were beneficial towards tempering and nourishing of the body and spirit energy but were most beneficial towards fire attribute cultivators and beasts increasing their cultivation by one stage.

They can only be consumed once as they lose their effect if consumed again but are very beneficial towards creating a stable foundation for a spirit gathering cultivator or beast.

The harvest of beast cores in this short time had become more than what was needed.

After counting Shadow found that she had more than twenty 1st, seventeen 2nd, twelve 3rd, nine 4th, five 5th, three 6th and two 7th spirit gathering cores.

All of these were collected within a week of hunting in the forest and during this war between the two clans.

Not only did Shadow collect a lot of resources but she also gained more than a dozen followers and after the clan war she had gained more than a dozen more!

Even the numbers and strength of the group could rival those of a small to medium sized clan, though if they wished to fight one right now there were still have those who suffer heavy injuries or even die.

What was needed now was to properly make plans and stay out of sight while they all work on strengthening themselves with the remaining time left before the month is over!