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She walked all the way to the big rock mentioned. No one was there. She decided to wait. As time went by, she began to feel scared. If it had been a joke or a scam…Wouldn't she have killed her friends for nothing? Questions kept popping inside her head but she kept waiting regardless. After all that she had done, she didn't have much of a choice. Maybe this was a test by the seller? She hoped that it was.

She waited until night began to descend. Being alone in the forest at night was far scarier than during the day. Especially since she knew there were spiritual beasts stronger there in here. Since she was no longer with others, maybe the beasts would show themselves and attack? They would likely be less fearful of a lone human than a group.

It wouldn't to for her to leave either. Walking in the dark was dangerous as well, maybe even more. If she stayed here, maybe nothing would happen? At least, if she remained here, she could make a fire and warm herself. She decided to do that and lit a fire in front of her as she stuck her back to the stone. At least, she would never be ambushed in the back.

And she waited.

Meanwhile, as the day ended, a certain owl woke up.

He slept like a log for the entire day after having exhausted himself during training. As he hoped, he was still capable of using the four principles and his mastery wasn't that far from what it used to be.

As for his spiritual techniques, he could use most of them too. Well, only those who did not make use of the elements. After all, only after fusing one's core with elements could one make use of them and that was something to be done between the 9th and 10th stage. It was something to think about for later. At least, right now, he bathed in the relief that most of his techniques were usable. Those he couldn't use were those who required a thumb or such… Since his body was different, it was expected.

Now then, he had work to do. He had left a message to a trio of weak cultivators and a scam to finish. He left his new house and flew away into the night. He spotted a rabbit for once and dived for it. Since he found one, it was better to seize the present. Once done with the meal, he returned to flying to his destination.

He reached the big rock not long later and was surprised to find a single cultivator. Did the other two rejected his deal proposal? That was unexpected. He didn't see them as the kind who would reject a short cut…

Oh.

He noticed after a second that the three bags were with this girl. It wouldn't take a genius to guess what could have happened. He decided to go check it first just in case. As he reached the camp of yesterday, he saw the two bodies in the midst of being devoured by wild wolves. So, she did kill them.

Why would she do it? Weren't they friends? Did she kill them solely for a spiritual beast contract? Were their lives really so worthless to her? It disgusted him a little but he wasn't a saint either. He had killed for benefits too a few times. He just found it a pity this time since there were no reasons to do so. He didn't understand why. He didn't mention there being only one beast available after all.

Did she do it so the news wouldn't spread? Better not be that since he wanted more customers.

Did she do it for a different reason? Like what? … He pondered for a moment before he had an idea. Maybe they didn't have enough to buy a fifth stage beast in their bags and couldn't settle for something weaker. Then chaos ensued. It was plausible.

Well, either ways, it meant the girl was greedy enough that she would kill in order not to share. He would never be able to work with that kind of human. She would betray him as soon as she could for better benefits. And those better benefits would likely be his life. She just might sell information about him once she returned to the sect…

He planned to introduce himself as someone else's tamed beast but who knew if the girl would report it like that? She might say he was a wild one to trigger some shit and get benefits out of it. Some people would pay to have his last location since there were some ready to kill for a weaker beast.

He sighed.

He wouldn't go for the scam. It was too dangerous to use only that girl. If they had been three, they would have kept each other in check so as to not lose the benefits but with only one… Well, he would do something else.

He would kill her himself.

He flew back to the giant rock and landed on top of it silently. The girl was fighting sleep and staying on guard. With a fire in front of her, she kept glancing around. She had her back to the rock and didn't even think that death could come from the sky.

He bent over and coated his beak in spiritual energy. He accumulated it in a single point and then sent it down. It collided with the top of the girl's head and went straight through. There wasn't much gore as it had been a focused shot. But it was more than enough to do the job and end her life. She died without even knowing she did.

He proceeded to fly down to the three bags. He wanted to bring them to his house but if there was something inside with a tracker, he might be fucked. A lot of sects planted tracking arrays on tokens or items that their disciples took outside with them. It was a way to monitor them and be able to find them swiftly if they needed help. He did not want to take this risk. Also, his house would have been cramped. It was just a hole in a tree after all and it could only be so big. He was already taking quite a lot of space himself…

He decided to check what was in those bags. Unfortunately, opening them with wings proved to be arduous. He got frustrated and just slashed them with his claws, dropping all that there was inside onto the ground.

There were clothes, books, food rations and boxes.

He didn't care about the clothes. He wouldn't need any in the short term anyways. He was a beast and his feathers were enough to provide warmth. That being said, it was the first time he realized he was moving around naked… It made him a little ashamed for a second before he pushed that line of thought to the back of his head.

He refocused on the task at hand. Books… Some might be useful. The trio planned to become beast tamers so maybe there were some interesting things about spiritual beasts in there? He checked.

He found a few books related to body strengthening, with duplicates. Beyond that, there was nothing interesting. He saw a weird novel titled "How to find your soulmate as a long-lived cultivator" and that was probably the most interesting book in there. He was disappointed that he hadn't found one related to beast taming. What kind of tamers were they to not have a single book on the topic?

He shook his head sideways, forced to give up on knowledge. Then, he turned his attention to the boxes. There were three. He opened them all and, surprise, spiritual pills. Exactly what he needed. There were ten in each box. He would take them all home though he couldn't take the boxes… They might have been trapped with a tracking array…

He might be called overcautious but he only had one life. Well, he didn't know if he would reincarnate again with his memories so, it was better to believe he only had this one life. He had to be cautious, even more than when he was human, because he was a spiritual beast.