Tides

Splash!

"Whew!"

Before he could celebrate, the ground shook with even greater force. The earth split open into wide maws which promptly swallowed up the trees and rocks and any unfortunate beasts that happened to be there.

With his quick reflexes, Bai Hu threw out his flying treasure and hovered in the air.

Looking down, a deep and dark sinkhole had appeared. An entire section of the sealed space had disappeared to reveal the space under.

With all that debris that fell down, Bai Hu speculated that the forest and all its inhabitants were buried alive.

Suddenly, the ground rippled. Tons of dirt were thrown up and a sea of purple appeared. Countless Purple Corpse Vultures drilled up through the ground without regard to their lives.

Bai Hu was shocked for only a split second when he poured his qi into his flying sword. Now wasn't the time to care about his qi reserves or ambushes from others as there were perhaps thousands of Purple Corpse Vultures rising from the sinkhole.

…

Boom!

Crackle!

"What's that?!"

The group of women from the Moonlight Sect looked in the direction of the loud noises. The veiled woman furrowed her brows and instructed them to stay alert.

Everywhere inside the sealed space, what remained of the hundreds of disciples that entered sensed the commotion happening in the core region.

Then, out of the blue, what seemed like countless purple spots rose into the air. Those unfortunate to be closer saw it more clearly.

An inhuman number of Purple Corpse Vultures ranging from the Qi Refinement stage to the Foundation Realm rose into the air and swept out in all directions.

Many beasts were directly killed and devoured along with anyone who couldn't react fast enough. Those who did ran immediately atop their flying treasures or used low grade Flight Talismans.

The veiled woman's eyes widened at the sight and threw out a flying sword.

"It's a beast tide! Run if you don't want to die!"

They all quickly threw out their own flying treasures and followed after the veiled woman.

"When we make it near a teleportation circle, drill into the ground and wait the remainder of the time there"

""Yes!""

…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several consecutive explosions rang out and a cloud of smoke billowed.

A young man flew hastily through the air, and right behind him, dozens of Purple Corpse Vultures.

Bai Hu had concealed himself quite well, but even so, a few Purple Corpse Vultures still noticed him and gave chase. A handful of Thunderflame Beads appeared in his hands and with a flick of his wrist, were all thrown behind him.

Boom!

He managed to kill a few of the persistent birds, but the vast majority were still fine. Bai Hu grit his teeth and poured more qi into his flying sword. He then slapped a Wind Chasing Talisman on himself and sent a condensed wind blade forward.

With the added burst of speed and little wind resistance, Bai Hu managed to slowly distance himself from the flock.

"Caw!"

Seeing their prey start to get away, the birds paused for a split second and all launched a volley of sharp purple feathers that cut through the wind.

Sensing danger, Bai Hu twisted his waist as fast as he could and hastily put up several barriers.

Swish!

Puchi!

He dodged most of the feathers, though one still managed to pierce his left leg.

His expression was dark as he looked at his wound and then at the sleeping tiger cub. He couldn't just leave the little guy behind but with one of his arms compromised, Bai Hu's combat strength dropped by a few notches.

With a pained expression, Bai Hu took out 3 low grade magic treasures and threw them behind his back.

BOOM!

The resulting explosion was much more powerful than a dozen Thunderflame Beads. Shrapnel flew in all directions and half the vultures chasing him were killed. Even so, his heart bled.

"That was around 300 spirit stones! I could have sold that!"

If anyone heard Bai Hu's thoughts, they would probably smack him silly. A measly 300 spirit stones was nothing when he had a few dozen low grade magic treasures left, along with mid and high grade magic treasures that can sell for even more.

Swoosh!

Bai Hu suddenly made a sharp turn right, catching the Purple Corpse Vultures off guard.

Fwoosh!

He jumped up clutching the Black Sky Gold Spear in his hands as the tiger cub rested precariously on the floating sword.

Bai Hu pulled back his arm and his muscles strained to keep this posture.

Through gritted teeth, he slashed his spear skyward.

"Crouching Tiger!"

A projection of a white tiger crouched appeared and lunged towards the incoming birds.

"Roar!"

"Screech!"

The Purple Corpse Vultures were not able to stop in time and flew straight into the huge tiger projection.

Swish!

In one swift motion, the tiger projection ripped through the remaining vultures.

Bai Hu paid no heed to this and continued to flee. His wound on his leg started to bleed even more and his skin was pale. It was obvious that he hadn't mastered that last move and had caused a lot of strain on his body.

He managed to get to the outer region and burrowed deep into the ground. From his location, he could easily get to the nearest teleportation formation in a matter of minutes.

The problem was, there were still a few days left before the formation opens, and a lot of things could happen in that time.

Before Bai Hu leaves the ground and into whatever carnage above, he needs to bolster his strength and figure out what that Silver Star Rune Tiger did to his body.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Bai Hu laid the little tiger cub that was still somehow sleeping on the ground a few feet away from him. He then sat down, legs crossed and waved his sleeve.

15 Energy Spirit Fruits appeared neatly in front of him.

Taking a deep breath, Bai Hu swallowed a fruit and directed the qi according to the Basic Qi Nourishment Technique. After to a bit of researching and experimentation, Bai Hu had concluded that natural treasures and pills can be used as a substitute for worldly qi.

A burst of pure qi flowed through his meridians. As usual, the qi seemed to slowly disappear. After an hour of cultivation, Bai Hu finally managed to absorb every bit of energy.

"Again!"

He picked up another Energy Spirit Fruit and swallowed it.

…

..

.

Bang!

Bai Hu sat still with his eyes closed. The Energy Spirit Fruits that were once in front of him had all been used up and now signs of a technique breakthrough were showing.

Within Bai Hu's body, all the qi that he'd absorbed were now surfacing. It ran rampant through his meridian channels and then all rushed towards his Dantian.

Crack!

Fwoosh!

The qi entered his Dantian and rushed up to where Bai Hu's spirit roots were. The 5 colored light above his Dantian greedily sucked in the qi and started glowing much brighter.

Boom!

Bai Hu's eyes shot open and he quickly checked for any changes. When he tried cultivating, he was shocked and elated that his qi absorption had more than doubled.

"Huh?!"

Bai Hu sensed that his own Divine Sense had been strengthened greatly. Somehow, he had reached the peak of the Qi Refinement level of the Thousand Soulspirit Art and a few signs of breakthrough were showing.

He smiled wryly as even with the strengthened sense, he still couldn't find anything wrong with his body.

Bai Hu looked at the Mutated Heaven Tier Silver Star Rune Tiger cub. It was still sleeping even though its vitality was strong and healthy.

He decided it was best to keep it out of sight and took out a beast pouch that he'd picked up. Before, Bai Hu had no time to refine this beast pouch as his own, thus had little choice but to use his hands.

With this beast pouch, he would be able to keep the Mutated Heaven Tier Silver Star Rune Tiger cub a secret as the elders aren't so overbearing as to search everything on him.

He pointed the opening of the pouch at the sleeping cub and it was quietly sucked in.

Securing the pouch to his waist, Bai Hu began recovering from his injuries. Stretching out a leg, he grit his teeth and poked around a thin cut. Spreading it apart, Bai Hu carefully extracted a stiff and sharp feather. He then rubbed some medical powder on the wound and bandaged it.

…

Boom!

"Go!"

The group of Moonlight Sect disciples dug a deep cave along the side of a mountain. The veiled woman waited for everyone to enter before casting a spell and closing the entrance.

"Whew! I thought we were going to become bird food earlier!"

"Don't celebrate too early"

Their Grandmaster's voice echoed lightly in the cave.

"We are about 100 meters from the nearest teleportation circle and around 7 days left before they can be accessed. I'll send a message to the elders outside and tell them about our current situation"

With that being said, the veiled woman sat down against a wall and took out an intricately carved piece of jade. Her eyes closed and a translucent strand entered the jade.

…

"Hm?"

An old woman who is the leading elder for the Moonlight Sect looked down at her waist. There, a piece of jade glowed with a soft light. She picked it up and injected a strand of Divine Sense into the jade.

Her pupils constricted reading the following message that contained 2 simple yet horror inducing words.

Beast Tide.