10 Beasts that Devour the Dead pt 1

Due to their constant speed and negligence, the disciples of the Heici Xu sect had no idea what was waiting for them. They had no idea how a creature was tucked under the shadow of the night, waiting for them to pass next to the giant tree that edged out of the forest. Lu Bang and Sun Yin were aware of the creature, but they were also oblivious of its capabilities.

With the guards on front chatting on the way, they had turned their sights away from the giant tree. The creature that waited sneered as it heard their voices. Its mouth opened for a wide grin, its tongue brushing along its teeth.

"And then—"

Spring!

It was too late when they noticed that a demonic beast leaped from the tree, launching itself in mid-air and opening its mouth to catch at least one of them. The demonic beast was like a big dirty orange cat, but it had a huge scar on its face, dividing its face into two parts. One part was the face of a dying cat while the other was of a decaying cat. Bone edged out from the decaying cat's face, but it was still full of energy. Some parts of its body were also rotten. One of its legs was already a skeleton, only held together by demonic energy. One of its tails was furred, and the other was an excuse of a spine.

When it sprung up to catch anyone, the disciple further from it was able to cast a barrier array to protect himself. However, his brother was caught between the cat's teeth. The cat hit its face against the array and fell down to the ground with its back hitting the rocks. The brother who was bitten was crushed against the array, losing his lower half to the cat. The upper part broke through the array and had to be caught by the other brother.

A hysterical scream came from the brother who panicked at the sight. He ended up losing concentration and control over his flying sword. He fell to the ground as well.

The other disciples hurried to save their brother, but the cat was able to roll to its side and hop to catch the fallen human. With two people in its mouth, it gnawed on its catch, making sure the humans were dead between its teeth. The cat lowered its torso with the hind part perked up as it motioned back to size the situation.

"Kill it!" The leader cried as he pulled out a talisman from his sleeve. Despite his call, none of them moved to attack.

"That's the Huiqi Tiger," Lu Bang whispered to Sun Yin who was also looking at the beast before them. "It's notorious for being an opportunist. It attacks traveling packs. It is said that it is attracted to the smell of the dead. Perhaps the presence of the Cinder Army in the area brought it here."

"How strong is it?" Sun Yin hummed, feigning her ignorance about the Huiqi Tiger.

"It's a Level Three Demonic Beast. That means it's fairly strong and needed at least twenty people to subdue it." Lu Bang only used what he remembered was the difference between the levels of the beasts.

As part of keeping the people safe, cultivators had to hunt down beasts that posed threats. Normally, these were demonic beasts who wanted to eat humans, dead or alive. Levels were given to them to denote their strength and the need to exterminate them. Most giant beasts belong to the third level for they can trample humans in one hit. However, size was the only advantage of a level three; they were not capable of magic attacks. They only attacked through their limbs, tails, and mouths. The Huiqi Tiger was a perfect example of a typical level three.

However, the feared Cinder Army had the rank of level six, which used to be inexistent. This level was only reserved for the creation as a big group. A single fierce corpse was given the rank of level two, meaning that the person subduing it must be a disciple, or else they would be killed. The difference between levels was great as the gray area was determined by the skills of those who hunt these creatures.

The Huiqi Tiger turned its head to find the rest of the cultivators in the air. Due to its dead face, the right eye was the only one which can see. It felt lucky for the first time; it was not attacked as soon as it managed to drop two of them to its mouth.

However, only two humans were not enough for the cat to be satisfied. It spotted the woman and thought of her to be weak since she was being carried. Besides, it learned that most disciples had difficulties keeping their balance when they were carrying someone or something.

Without thinking twice, the cat started wiggling its body, adjusting to the angle to hit the furthest two from it. The Heici Xu sect decided to rush in while the cat was busy eyeing at someone else.

"It's looking at us." Lu Bang reminded Sun Yin. He was staring straight at the eyes of a Level Three Demonic Beast without his golden core.

"Are you scared?" Sun Yin giggled as she waved her hand as if calling the cat. "Here, kitty, kitty!"

The disciples charged at the cat, but it pounced in the direction of Sun Yin and Lu Bang. Instead of evading it properly, Huaban only moved back a few steps, barely missing the nose of the cat. The Huiqi Tiger screamed in turn, falling on its back once again. Since it landed on the ground, a dust mist exploded and hid it from their view. At the same time, they were hidden from its view.

Huaban continued to back away, getting out of the cat's immediate view. The Xu sect disciples prepared their talismans to attack atop their swords. The dust mist soon settled before they realized that the cat was no longer there. They looked around, the leader spotting Sun Yin from the distance. Her arm was extended to the side as if pointing at something.

The leader of the entourage turned to his left, seeing the dense canopy of the forest. It was too late to notice that the cat had climbed up another tall tree. It leaped towards the leader and used its hands to catch the flying mouse-man. Its gigantic paws crushed the man, but not for long as the cat fell on its back again. The leader was thrown towards the dense canopy, and Sun Yin hoped he would be caught by a branch at least.

A strange cry came from the cat as it tried to get on its legs again. It was the third time that it landed on its back. It seemed to be crying from pain and hunger. It wobbled and soon rested on its belly.

"Attack!" The disciples of the Heici Xu sect flew to the ground and hopped off their swords. They engaged in midrange battle with the hungry beast. The cat was too tired and weak to continue hunting them down. It could only try and swat down the swords that slash against its hide.

Sun Yin had Huaban descend from the heights as well. She hopped off of Lu Bang's arms when it was low enough to do so, followed by her unlikely loyal companion. She made Huaban swirl, emanating its bright white light. She pulled out talismans from her sleeves as she walked towards the battle. Lu Bang was following suit silently.

The woman finally made the sword glow bright enough to attract the attention of the other disciples. They turned to her and wondered why they were flashing a bright light. In fact, it was not helping them a lot; the disciples were being blinded by the strong glare.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" One disciple yelled at Lu Bang, under the assumption that he was the one controlling the sword.

Then, it dawned to them. The bright light was not to help them; it was to help the cat. The bright glare was being reflected by the other swords. The sparkles made it easier for the cat to locate the swords and swat them down one by one. Because of this, some of them went to attack Lu Bang!

The man evaded their attacks and scooped Sun Yin from the ground. As she sat like a queen in his arms with her legs crossed, she laughed in entertainment. Her laughter tore through the night as she started spreading talismans all over the place. For some reasons, the cat started swatting the disciples away from the woman and her walking chair.

Sun Yin snickered before performing a series of hand seals. The talismans on the ground lit and drew a dome of an array over the area. The disciples tried to break through, but it was too strong. One tried to use an offensive to destroy the barrier, only for his talisman to fail activation.

It was the [Dome of Absolution], an assault array that encased the enemies in a magic barrier where the qi was constantly wavering. All spells and weapons that used qi would be rendered useless inside the dome. Even though it could only last for ten minutes, it was enough time for the cat to hunt them all down in plain sight.

The maiden huffed in satisfaction, with her arm on Lu Bang's shoulder as if he was a full-fledged throne. "How unfortunate of you. I just happen to favor the Huayuan Lin sect at the moment."