Heading into the forest

When the two reached the ground, the sparring young martial artists stopped. They looked at the tall figures that had just descended from the sky, surprised. Tang Feihu approached Raizel and Xue Qing first.

"Qing'er, you've made great progress, it seems. One day you may become a great powerhouse like your father. Ahaha," he complimented his young niece.

"Uncle Fei, it's you." The icy girl ligthly bowed in respect to the mighty man.

"Senior Tang, what brings you here?" Raizel asked the Tiger King.

"You rascal, you don't even pull your punches when facing women!?" the latter jokingly said, tapping the young boy on the shoulder.

Feeling the incoming slap, Raizel didn't feel like having shoulder pain, so he evaded it.

"Please, senior, don't joke around. It's pretty clear that if I took Xue Qing lightly, I wouldn't be talking to you so casually right now. She's not only beautiful but very strong too," he smiled as he rebutted the man.

"Hm. Indeed, my niece isn't one to be trifled with. We were watching the four of you spar from the sky; you made great progress as well since I've seen you, but one of you guys isn't here," Tang Feihu nodded in agreement and changed the subject.

"Kaelen, you mean, He went to train with Teacher Long about a week ago. I don't know how long he'll be actually. Teacher Long won't tell us exactly when he'll be back," Raizel said dejectedly.

"What about you? Do you have a master?" the Tiger King probed.

"No, but I wish I did; I don't want to be left behind by that monster."

"I see; well, you're in luck today. I would like you to meet Brother Zhu; he wishes to take you in." He turned his giant frame a bit to show the person behind him.

Seeing the mysterious lightning deity-looking man, Raizel's expression turned slightly inquisitory.

The man approached slowly from behind. Up close, he was not as tall as Tang Feihu but was also quite tall at around 1.95m, similar to Long Aotian in height. The occasional lightning flash on his hair, and the thunder mark on his forehead gave him a very unique presence.

He looked at Raizel with a serene expression. "Your name is Raizel?" he asked lightly.

"Yes, senior," the latter responded swiftly.

"Good. I am Zhu Lei, one of the elders of the sect. I wish to take you as my disciple, do you accept?" he proposed.

Hearing the proposal, Rai thought about it for a moment. He looked carefully at the man, his right hand holding his chin, seemingly judging whether he was a fit master. He squinted his eyes as he pouted his lips to the side, observing the man's face.

Seeing his expression, Tang Feihu and Xue Qing, who were waiting for his answer, couldn't help but hold back their laughter. "What kind of expression is that!? Usually, the teacher reviews the student; now the roles are reversed," the two said to themselves.

Interestingly, the lightning elder didn't feel slighted and just casually smiled, even with a hint of appreciation. He knew any other student would jump at the thought of becoming a personal disciple, yet this boy takes the time to assess whether he would be a good teacher for him.

"Good kid, he reminds me of my young self," Elder Zhu Lei thought.

Still looking attentively at the man, Raizel finally relaxed his face, exhaling loudly, he said, "Alright. I accept."

Elder Zhu Lei slightly chuckled and then nodded. He walked up close to him. "Let's go." Without giving the boy time to think, he grabbed him by the shirt and shot up into the sky.

"Waaiiiit." Raizel's yells were heard from far away.

Looking at the two's sudden departure, Thorin and Hei Kiang approached in a jog.

"Who was that, what happened? Approaching, Thorin looked confusingly at the scene.

"Hello, boy. Your friend just agreed to become Elder Zhu's disciple; they're a perfect match so don't worry about him."

"Senior Tang, it's you." he greeted the mighty Tiger King.

Hearing what the latter said, Thorin's eyes widened in realization.

"I've come to take you as my disciple, since you've received my Red Moon Great Blade, it's only right. And you as well, Hei Kiang. I've had my eye on you for a while, so I will take you both in today. I have never had disciples before; I only trained soldiers, so my training methods will be quite rough, are you guys willing?" The mighty man asked with a deep and haggard voice, his thick eyebrows frowning into a resolute expression.

Taken aback, Thorin paused for a moment. "This all just happened too abruptly," he thought. However, thinking about his two friends not being here, he decided to take the leap.

"Yes, I'm willing." He firmly agreed, dropping to one knee and bending forward with his fists forming a cup.

"I'm willing as well." Besides him, Hei Kiang similarly accepted. He got on the ground and bowed in the same way.

"Alright. Go take the stuff that you need, as you will be staying in the Sundering Tiger Mountain for the next few months." He smiled widely at his new disciples and instructed them.

"I have everything I need in my ring, so I'm fine," Hei Kiang said.

"Same for me," Thorin added.

Xue Qing, who stood on the side, watched everything unfold. "Uncle, I will go back to cultivate then." Since her sparring partner is not here anymore, there's no reason for her to stay. She bows to him before leaving.

"Alright, I will see you another day." The man waves as she walks away.

"Okay, let's go." He whistles in the sky and waits patiently, as if calling something.

A few minutes later, a giant fiery red tiger with earthly yellow wings descends from behind the clouds.

"Wow, that's the Earthly Flame Profound Tiger, a rare beast in the top hundred Earthly beasts," Hei Kiang remarks in amazement.

The giant tiger lands near them, its huge figure blocking the sun. Despite its fierce appearance, the tiger actually seems docile as it intimately licks the mighty man with its huge tongue, spreading saliva around.

The latter gently caresses its head. "Okay, hop on you two." He jumps on the head of the tiger and instructs the other two to do the same.

...

Meanwhile, in the Azure Dragon Mountain:

Kaelen and Yu Hao were walking around the edge of the mountain.

"Senior apprentice brother, how long did it take you to defeat all the beasts in the forest?"

Yu Hao laughed embarrassedly before answering. "It took me 8 months…"

"eight months!?" Kaelen stops walking in astonishment. He expected it to take a few weeks at most; six months is a bit excessive.

"Well, unlike you, I didn't refine my eyes, only my heart and brain. So, I couldn't see anything through the darkness; I had to wait till morning before engaging in a fight. If I could, my time would've been faster by a few months." He justified.

"Still, that's four months even if you cut it by half. Are they really that strong?" Kaelen still found it hard to accept.

"Yes. All the beasts in the forest are in the top fifty of the Earthly beast ranking. So, amongst millions of beasts, they're at the top of the earthly grade and below. They are even stronger than a lot of heavenly beasts below the Top hundred Heavenly beast ranking. Their combat ability is ridiculous and for some reason, the ones master picked seem especially sentient, learning amidst the fight, quite fast as well. In those six months, I had to breakthrough to the middle Elemental Resonance stage before I could defeat the final three, who were all in the Innate spirit Realm.." He shivered in a post-traumatic manner.

Listening to the explanation, Kaelen's eyes widened in surprise. "Top fifty of the Earthly Beast ranking? Those are beasts born in the Xiantian realm who go through Elemental Resonance and Innate spirit in their younger years. I didn't expect to be fighting Earthly beasts in their younger years. This is going to be interesting." Instead of being scared, Kaelen was actually very much looking forward to the bouts with the beasts.

Looking at the excited boy, Yu Hao gave a wry smile. "This guy is getting excited instead of getting scared; what a battle maniac."

"However, junior brother, you probably won't take that long, maybe one or two months, three at worst. Since you're much stronger than I was at peak Xiantian. You may not even need to breakthrough Elemental Resonance in the process, to defeat the last few ones." He added.

"Oh? It won't be very interesting if they're too easy to defeat, though." Hearing that, Kaelen's face actually showed disappointment.

"You won't have to worry about that!" A deep voice breaks through the atmosphere. A tall figure dressed in a light dark green Daoist robe is seen waiting at the foot of the mountain where Kaelen initially landed. Right in front of the forest entrance.

"Master!" The two disciples shout in unison.

"What do you mean?" Kaelen adds.

"The beasts Yu Hao fought are not the same anymore; it's been five or six years after all. Though beasts usually take more time to grow stronger, that's not always the case, especially for beasts on the Earthly Beasts Top hundred list. Most have broken through the Innate spirit stage, becoming more sentient; some more intelligent can even speak through telepathy. However, don't underestimate the ones in the Elemental grade; there's a few I've added that are not on the Earthly beast list…" He said the last sentence with mysterious meaning as he deeply looked at the boy.

He then threw a storage bag towards Kaelen.

Kaelen caught it and looked into it with his perception.

"Food!" He screamed joyfully. Indeed, in the storage bag was a mountain of roasted foods of different kinds.

"Thank you, master." He bowed while he took a boar leg to start munching on.

"You will spend at least three months in there, so you will need food." Long Aotian said.

Nodding, Kaelen looked up at the mountain. He could feel the bestial energy resonating throughout. It was almost tangible. He placed the bag inside his ring and walked towards the open path of entrance.

"I'm going then, senior brother, master." Before entering, he turns and waves.

"See you in a few."

He steadily walked into the forest and disappeared through the herbs and trees soon after.