Pursuit

Bai Hu held a map depicting a large forest as he walked along a simple road amidst tall trees.

"The trees in this forest are quite tall," he remarked as he looked up to be greeted with a wide expanse of leaves.

Putting the map away, Bai Hu headed east and within minutes, arrived at a huge dirt mound. After eyeing it for a few moments, he snapped his fingers and sent 5 fireballs hurling towards the entrance.

BOOM!

Dirt and smoke was kicked up and within moments, the ground started shaking uncontrollably.

Very quickly, dozens of black ants the size of an average person crawled out of the dirt mound, their mandibles opening and closing to express anger.

"Black Stone Ants"

With a snap of his fingers, a dozen wind blades formed and streaked towards the incoming ants. A sound like metal bouncing off metal resounded and Bai Hu was shocked to see that the sharp wind blades only left a few light marks on the ant's exoskeleton.

"Windsteel Blades"

The much sharper Windsteel Blades formed at his behest and went against the Black Stone Ants. At this point, there were several dozen Black Stone Ants on the surface, and potentially hundreds underground.

Swish!

The Windsteel Blades tore through the ant, albeit with some difficulty. A dozen Windsteel Blades had only managed to kill around 15 ants before dissipating.

Bai Hu furrowed his brows and decided to take this fight seriously. With a set of hand seals, a large ball of purple flames formed behind him like a small sun. This was a simple technique he had created using the principles of creating Thunderflame Beads.

"Thunderflame Sun!"

The ants panicked after sensing the aura emanating from the purple ball of flames and spat a barrage of black goo at Bai Hu.

A circle of purple flames appeared in front of Bai Hu to meet the black goo head on.

Once the 2 forces met, a sizzling sound filled the area and a putrid stench permeated the air. The black goo actually had a corrosive effect and fought tooth and nail against the flame barrier.

Seeing the barrier weaken, the ants screeched and half of them charged right through the flames in a suicidal manner.

Bai Hu dashed backwards seeing this and took out his gourd magic treasure. A river of flames spewed out and slowed down the ants.

Sensing that the purple sun behind him had finished charging up, Bai Hu pointed at the group of ants.

"Go!"

The miniature sun streaked towards the ants like a meteor. Any ants that tried to stand in its way were incinerated instantly.

BOOM!

A small mushroom cloud billowed up, forcing Bai Hu to make a wind barrier to protect himself from dust and debris.

When everything settled, much of the ants were dead, with the remaining ones being heavily injured. Bai Hu conjured several wind blades that easily killed the remaining ants.

Suddenly, an aura much stronger than any peak First Stage beast appeared.

"Screech!"

A black ant with wings that was 3 times the size of a normal Black Stone Ant crawled out of the dirt. Bai Hu breathed a sigh of relief as this Black Stone Ant Queen was only newly advanced and had not yet built up a complete army.

He dashed towards the beast with the silver sword in hand. Appearing above its head, Bai Hu slashed down with all his might.

Clang!

The ant had bent its seemingly weak translucent wings and formed an X to block Bai Hu's sword. The 2 sides met with a metallic clang and quickly entered a deadlock. To the ant's confusion, Bai Hu didn't lift his sword and instead pressed down with greater force.

Flashes of light burst from the sword as its seals lit up and silvery white birds formed. Their feathers contained a sharp light, as did their beaks and talons. Seeing this, the ant struggled even more but Bai Hu responded by taking out an ordinary set of metal beads.

A buzzing sound filled the air as the beads rubbed against each other. An ethereal domain roughly 8 meters wide in diameter formed and the ant's movements became forced and sluggish.

Taking advantage of this, the silver birds dived beak first and bombarded the massive ant.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Screech!"

Black goo spurted out of various cuts on the ant's body which crystallized into a black crystal shell.

Twisting his body, Bai Hu appeared by the ant's side and slashed his sword down.

Clang!

Bai hu frowned and spat something out of his mouth. It flashed with gray light and was much too fast for the ant to react. With a flash, the light pierced through the Stone Ant Queen's eye.

It was the gray dagger that Bai Hu can control, and now it was wreaking havoc inside the Black Stone Ant Queen's head.

"Scree!"

It thrashed about while shaking its head, and Bai Hu hurriedly jumped away to avoid being hit by the ant's limbs.

Within moments, the beast was reduced to a twitching corpse which Bai Hu cut into. A gray dagger flew out which he stored along with a fist sized black crystal that he had extracted from the ant's chest cavity. He then proceeded to do the same for what remained of the other ants.

Some missions are repeatable, meaning that he could submit the required thing as many times as he wanted. This mission which required the Black Stone Ant's core was one of those quests.

Suddenly, Bai Hu turned around and swung his sword without warning. Silver birds flew towards a tree and exploded in rapid succession.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

When the dust settled, Bai Hu frowned and looked around as if trying to find something. Only after waiting several minutes did he shake his head and leave towards his next destination.

Mere moments after he left, a figure clad in black robes emerged from the ground. Their eyes now possess a glint of cautiousness after almost being discovered.

Taking out a small compass, the figure quickly went in the direction it pointed in.

...

Bang!

An eel with an almost transparent body was flung across a lake. If one looked closely, they would be able to see its organs inside along with a light blue pearl.

A figure in blue robes dashed towards the eel. In his right hand was a silver sword and in his left was a black spear.

Once the figure was just a few meters away from the fleeing eel, he raised both weapons and imbued purple lighting into his slashes.

Weng!

"Screech!"

It shook its tail and sent a wave flying towards Bai Hu. Before it got far though, the lightning blades cut right through the wave with little resistance.

The eel cried out in pain as its transparent body was scorched by the lightning. Very quickly, it fell motionless into the water, dead.

Bai Hu used his qi to form a hand that reached down and grabbed the sinking eel that was almost 3 meters in length. After extracting its Silken Water Pearl and skinning it, Bai Hu left for his next target.

It has only been 3 days, and Bai Hu effectively neutralized dozens upon dozens of magical beasts, all at the peak of the first stage. Occasionally, he would rest after a few hunts in order to recover his qi. Being at the Qi Refinement realm really limits how much qi he has.

Shortly after Bai Hu left the lake, a figure clad in black appeared where Bai Hu once stood. They held a compass in one hand and were gasping for breath.

"Huff... huff... How is he so fast?!"

He leaned against a tree for support while holding a spirit stone to recover energy. For 3 days he chased his target and was always a few steps behind. After almost being discovered the first time, the man didn't dare get close.

If word got out that he, an assassin, couldn't keep up with his target and couldn't find an opportunity to strike after 3 days, he would rather die than see his peers.

"Wasn't this supposed to be an easy job too?!"

Little did the assassin know, the ground where he stood glowed lightly for a moment.

...

Bai Hu took out a blank talisman which glowed. He sneered and continued flying towards his next target. After a few minutes, he stopped on top of a tall tree and took out various flags with different patterns.

With a light shout, the flags shot towards various places and formed a light dome. Then, on top of that, he took out several more flags and layered them on top of the existing dome.

Soon enough, a thick mist filled the area. Bai Hu had spent much of his fortune to buy many Formations with defensive, trapping, and stealth capabilities.

"Humph! I want to see how you find me now"