The True Nature of a Fiend

Compared to the last time Yaan descended the mountain, the number of weaker cultivators participating in the beast tide had declined significantly. Those cultivators at the Qi Gathering Realm and Innate Qi Realm who still wanted to participate were held back at the outer sect station points. They were made to act as rear guards, whilst the elders dealt with the beasts in the wilderness.

Each station point was manned by a Qi Temple Realm elder, whilst the disciples and weaker elders worked as scouts and messengers, only fighting if the threat was within their range of capabilities.

Yaan hadn't expected much, but the number of lower strength beasts slipping through the forest was actually quite high. This was owing to the low number of sect members fighting in the wilderness.

The number of sect members with the ability to safely explore the Northern forest was simply too low. Not only that, but those fighting on the front lines were busy dealing with the stronger Rank 3 beasts.

Because of this, droves of Rank 1 beasts were continually sending themselves into Yaan's clutches at Hun Village Station Point. Rank 2 beasts were also mixed into the lot, finally giving Yaan the chance to test himself properly.

Bang!

Yaan quickly stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the descending bull's hooves. He recognised this type of bull…it was actually the same type of beast that had nearly crushed him to death when he fell into the river previously!

The bull's eyes turned bloodshot as it angrily tilted its head towards him. The beast felt infuriated that it couldn't crush this weak looking creature to death with a single strike!

Yaan kept his eyes firmly locked on the bull, waiting patiently for an opportunity. He ignored the anxious stares of the nearby elder, who was terrified that a prodigal core disciple might lose their life on his watch.

"Grrr!" The bull let out a snort and charged forwards once more, raising its head high above Yaan in provocation.

Now!

Yaan jumped forwards, then thrust his sword forth with shocking speed, precisely piercing into the bull's throat. The blade made a grinding noise as it ripped through the sturdy flesh, then came to a halt. Even when he attacked with his full strength, Yaan was unable to cut all the way through.

The bull pulled back and roared out in anger and pain. It began stamping its feet with thunderous booming sounds as hot blood spurted out from its throat.

His strike didn't penetrate deep enough to kill the beast immediately, but Yaan was sure that it would fall in time. However, he was forced to leap backwards multiple times when the bull charged at him madly in its final death throes.

With each shake of the beast's head, more blood was sprayed outwards in a crimson wave. Yaan managed to keep his distance and avoided becoming soaked, but the ground ahead of him was now dyed red.

Thud!

Finally, its huge body hit the floor with a thump, never to move again. After seeing it hit the ground and stop moving, Yaan exhaled and allowed his body to relax.

However, soon after, his breathing became heavy as the Slaughter Aura of a Rank 2 beast stormed into his body. This Rank 2 Slaughter Aura was more extreme than any he had encountered before, it dealt quite the shock to his system. Fortunately, Yaan was able to quickly adjust. He suppressed the bloodthirsty desires and managed to avoid suspicion, since everyone nearby assumed that he was merely catching his breath after the intense battle.

"H-holy…?! You actually took down a Rank 2 beast immediately after ascending to the Innate Qi Realm, without even knowing any spells! Incredible…"

The middle aged man who warned Yaan about this beast was a Late Innate Qi Realm inner sect elder. He was all-too aware of Yaan's identity, and felt terrified by the possibility of Yaan dying under his watch, so he had been waiting on standby the entire time. He expected that he would need to jump in to provide assistance, but even then, he wasn't certain that he would make it in time…

But unexpectedly, Yaan actually won!

Ignoring the elder, Yaan stepped back and looked at the bull corpse. He was still slightly short of breath and felt mentally drained following the battle.

Since he was uninjured, it might seem that he had defeated the beast with ease, but his success required his utmost focus to avoid being crushed by any of the bull's attacks.

This wasn't the first time that Yaan had been in a dangerous life and death battle, but it was the first time that he managed to emerge victorious from such a situation, rather than merely surviving. Yaan felt a strange surge of euphoria when he realised just how far he had come…he actually took down a Rank 2 spirit beast without any assistance!

When he realised the greater implication behind this achievement, Yaan's heartbeat accelerated, because…Elder Sun was also at the Innate Qi Realm.

That Elder Sun, the bastard responsible for the senseless massacre of his family, was only slightly above Yaan in strength now!

After politely brushing off the compliments from the surrounding inner sect disciples, Yaan once again set off to patrol the station point borders in search of beasts.

"Such dedication!"

"Mm. Most child geniuses take years to achieve this sort of bravery and work ethic!"

"Indeed, truly worthy of being Great Elder Wan's disciple!"

…

Any doubts towards Yaan's capabilities had long since been dispelled. His achievement in terms of cultivation level alone was enough to convince others of his ability.

Yaan payed no attention to the disciples' praises, he was more focussed on searching for his next prey. Even though on the surface, it looked like Yaan was a diligent, loyal member of the sect, the truth of the matter was that he needed to kill if he wanted to progress his cultivation.

Aside from killing, Yaan had setup an agreement with the elder of Hun Village; he was permitted to keep the brains, hearts and best cuts of meat from his kills. When he returned to the station point each evening, his cuts of the beasts that he had slain throughout the day were prepared for him by the village's chef.

This arrangement allowed him to continue training his physical body.

Actually, it was only recently that Yaan came to properly understand the essence of the fiend.

To kill and to eat.

Killing allowed him to refine Slaughter Aura into Innate Qi, whilst consuming the flesh of the beings he killed allowed him to develop his demonic body. It was like killing two birds with one stone. The fiend race was a race that thrived on something primitive yet extremely natural; hunting.

Yaan also noticed that his cultivation speed was quite incredible compared to his meagre expectations. Killing so many Rank 1 beasts, and now a Rank 2 beast, allowed Yaan to refine far more Slaughter Aura than he could obtain from mortal prisoners, so this situation was actually very beneficial to him. That said, hunting beasts was obviously accompanied by a great deal of risk.

For the remainder of the day, he patrolled the border alone, briskly walking back and forth between Hun Village Station Point and the adjacent station point, Suntow Village. The distance was around four miles from village to village, and during this time, Yaan passed by a few other sect members who were also patrolling this line.

He killed another two Rank 1 beasts on the way to Suntow Village, then stopped at the station point for his prepared meal, which consisted of an entire Rank 1 boar. The catering staff in the outer sect assumed that he was simply being wastefully extravagant, after all, how could a lone child possibly eat an entire demonic beast?

Watching him eat his way through the entire ton of meat over a 3 hour period left the chefs and maids totally speechless. Just where did all the food go?! They didn't dare say anything despite their shock, but he could feel their stares as he left the restaurant, returning to his patrol back towards Hun Village.

During this patrol, he killed another three Rank 1 beasts. Dragging these corpses along with him was more effort than it was worth, so he paid some weaker cultivators to drag the bodies back to the nearest village.

A few hours later, Yaan returned to Hun Village, then immediately headed to the restaurant here.

Before long, he dug into yet another feast, which consisted of the Rank 2 bull meat from the beast he felled earlier. It was an exquisite flavour, outdoing any other meat he had tasted up until now! When he focussed on his body, he realised that the effect was around five to ten times more powerful when compared to Rank 1 beast meat!

He recently discovered that spirit beasts typically tasted far better than demonic beasts. The demonic energy contained within the flesh of demonic beasts left a bitter taste in the mouth, whilst spirit beast meat was succulent and delicious. He only realised this recently because Great Elder Wan always hunted the demonic beasts from the dark forest; there were very few spirit beasts in the dark forest.

Yaan finished his meal with a smile. Not only was his body developing nicely, but after the day's hunting, his Qi refining cultivation had finally reached the point where he could learn the Water-drop Slash spell!

After informing the head elder of Hun Village that he would be leaving for a while, Yaan returned to the core sect and visited the Treasure Hall once again.