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The Senior Elder led the Elder towards the inner sect. Passed the inner disciple's accommodations were a few gigantic trees. Inside those trees were the abodes of the few Grand Elders. The Senior Elder went to the foot of one tree and bowed down before he spoke in a gentle tone: "Senior Elder Kwang-Hyok requests an audience"

They waited for five minutes before they heard a positive reply. The Senior Elder nodded at the Elder with a smile and they both moved up the tree. Inside the tree branches, there was a big wooden mansion. It was carefully made and one could see that it was in perfect harmony with the tree. As they arrived at the door, it opened to reveal a handsome young man with long green hair flowing down to his back.

This was a Grand Elder.

He invited the two inside and the three sat at a table. The Elder looked around curiously only to find that everything here was made of wood. It was quite obvious that this Grand Elder was the one who practiced the wooden element techniques out of all Grand Elders. Which meant, this man in front of him was Sung-Hoon.

Grand Elder Sung-Hoon sipped a little from his tea cup, reveling in the taste, before he asked the Senior Elder for his reason to visit. The Senior Elder, in turn, looked at the Elder and told him to explain to the Grand Elder the way he did before.

He hurried to explain the situation.

The Grand Elder did not speak and listened carefully to everything he was told. Once the tale was finished, he remained thoughtful. Then, he asked: "Any traces of the elements having been used?"

The Elder replied quickly: "None, Grand Elder!"

The Grand Elder nodded with a small smile before he began to serve himself another cup of tea. He drank some before he said: "Then, it is likely a threat under the 10th stage for now though it can't be confirmed completely… Let's turn it into a mission for the disciples, shall we? What do you think Kwang-Hyok?"

The Senior Elder pondered for a moment before he said: "We could make it into a hunting event but it would have to be restricted to the disciples in the spiritual accumulation stage. Which means we would need to give out a reward that would be attractive enough for them to make a move. I believe a grade 2 treasure could do the trick"

The Grand Elder nodded before he said: "Good. But add a week of lectures with me for the winner"

To those words, both the Senior Elder and the Elder jumped in astonishment. It was incredibly rare for a Grand Elder to teach disciples. They only rarely took in disciples. The value of being taught by such an expert was incredible, even if it was a single week. It was more than enough to force even the elder to make a move!

The Senior Elder hurried to say: "Grand Elder, this might be a bit too much, I fear that even the elders would make a move. I might be tempted to do so myself"

The Grand Elder chuckled before he said: "Then limit it to the disciples under the 10th stage for now unless we ever discover signs of the one behind all this to be capable of using elements, that is. I believe it is quite the cunning character and with this incentive, disciples are more likely to give their best"

The Senior Elder nodded. He envied the lucky disciple who would get this reward…

The Grand Elder spoke a few more times before leading them out politely. As they left the inner sect, the Senior Elder spoke: "Let us go to the mission hall right away. If we do a good enough job, the Grand Elder will reward us as well"

The Elder nodded furiously. He did want to be rewarded by the Grand Elder. To think a task so cumbersome as retrieving the corpses of dead disciples could lead to such unexpected gains! He was already very excited by the future.

…

Needless to say, once the mission was posted, the disciples erupted in a frenzy. The mission was very attention-grabbing and the rewards beyond any others:

[HUNTING MISSION]

[LOCATION: SECT FOREST]

[DETAILS: Find the being responsible for the murder of three outer sect disciples. Expected to be either a spiritual beast (bird-type) or a beast tamer at the spiritual accumulation realm (between 1~9 stage). Bring him back dead or alive. PS: Suspected to be an extremely smart and cunning being]

[REWARD (1): One grade 2 weapon]

[REWARD (2): One week of tutoring with Grand Elder Sung-Hoon]

[POTENTIAL REWARD (3): The spiritual beast is yours to deal with as you see fit]

[LIMITED TO DISCIPLES BETWEEN THE 1ST STAGE AND THE 9TH STAGE OF SPIRITUAL ACCUMULATION]

A grade 2 weapon meant a weapon that could take the full might of a cultivator in the 20-29 stages of spiritual accumulation and had two properties that could boost the owner. It was a very appealing treasures to the disciples who could take on the mission.

The fact that there was a spiritual beast that could be stolen from the invader was quite the attractive bonus too. All the disciples here were well-aware that their sect was more focused towards beast tamer nurturing. Though most of the disciples didn't want to bind themselves to a weak creature. However, if it was a bird that was in the spiritual accumulation realm, now, that was interesting. It was incomparable to a wolf of the body refinement stage.

But the greatest reward was of course the one week of tutoring with the Grand Elder. It was something that never happened. And the fact that only disciples between the 1st and 9th stages could join in induced to a possibility of the Grand Elder looking for a disciple to teach full-time. This was a golden opportunity to every disciple.

The fervor was high and close to every disciple who could take on the quest did. The sect grounds became empty as the majority of the disciples left for the woods.

Oblivious to all of this, a certain owl was bathing in a river close to his treehouse. He had found it accidently and, since then, enjoyed himself a bath whenever he could. His plan for the future was very simple: cultivate.

He had enough pills for some time and so, he planned to absorb it all before making another move. Who knew if the sect's people would find out about him if he were to act again too soon? It was quite likely that someone would go fetch the bodies and they might become vigilant for a time due to the fact that he killed the third one with spiritual energy.

Still, it was very unlikely that they would place the blame on him since they had no idea of his existence. They would be more likely to pin the blame on one of their own. Infighting was common enough. He wasn't worried.

And as such, he went back home and secluded himself to cultivate.

…

From time to time, groups of cultivators passed by his treehouse as if they were searching for something. They never found him though. They did use their spiritual energy to sense their surroundings but couldn't he hide himself from that? Of course, he could.

As long as one's mastery was higher, he could easily trick the senses of the weaker one. That's how he managed to remain hidden for the next three months and a half.

By that time, he had finished consuming all the pills he had gotten. He was now at the fourth stage of spiritual accumulation and quite proud of it. In general, there would always be an amount of spiritual energy lost when consuming those pills. It was due to the lack of control from the younger cultivators. Not being used to willing the energy at such a speed for so long, they would always end up losing some. It wasn't his case. Due to his previous life, he was very used to the process and could absorb everything.

One also had to mention that due to being a beast, his physical core was absorbing passively the wild energy from the outside. It was very slow and a small amount but a castle was built from piling small parts.

Regardless, it was time to move out once more. By now, there were a lot less disciples roaming around. Whatever the reasons had been, the craze seemed to have died down. And so, it was the perfect time for him to make a move. If he could get some pills again, he would be able to cultivate even further.

That would be just perfect.