Six hours later Shu Gongzhu came forward to warn Chu Van that we were approaching the cat nest. We stopped to rest before making sure we had everything we needed. I made ten level two metal talismans and gave them to Shu Gongzhu. Her people didn’t seem to be skilled in combat, and had only weak Wood roots, but I knew that she could use talismans. I gave her the eight remaining Golden Bell talismans I had gotten from the monks and the ten metal attack talismans. “All you need to do to use these defensive ones is feed it qi, and it will put a barrier in place around you. You can’t move while using it, but it should be able to block most attacks. When you stop giving it qi or the barrier is broken by an attack the talisman will burn up.” I told her, then picked up one of the attack talismans. “This is an attack talisman. Just focus on who you want to hurt and give it qi. When you release it the talisman will fly at them, then explode with the kind of qi it carries.”
Shu nodded. ‘I understand. That jade slip you loaned me was very useful. Thank you.’ she said.
“When we get done here, maybe you can teach your men. I know they are only level two, but they might be able to learn something.”
She nodded. ‘My people don’t have tricks like other spirit beasts, but we are smart. Even at level two, they can understand some simple ideas.’
I nodded and went to Chu to tell him I was ready. When the other disciples were finished as well we left for the cave. Two li ahead Chu told us to stop, then motioned to something moving four li in front of us, a distance at which only the level two disciples could see the enemy clearly without using qi. “A lion?” I whispered and he nodded. They were yellow with white stripes on their back and legs which seemed to glow slightly. While they did fit the description of being bigger than the hyenas, but I wasn’t sure how a lion could move as fast as described.
We drew our weapons and started forward, then saw the female lion ahead turn towards us. We froze, hoping that it would overlook us, and suddenly a streak of light flew towards us, carrying the lion. The lion might not be able to become light, but it could use this ability to quickly jump forward, causing the white streaks in its fur to glow brightly.
It arrived about fifty meters ahead of us and started looking around. We crouched in the tall grass, trying to hide from it. Suddenly it seemed to notice something. ‘Smart rat.’ it said, then streaked towards Shu Gongzhu. She barely had time to activate a barrier before the lioness collided with it. She seemed a bit dazed by the collision, but swiped at the already cracked barrier a second later, shattering it. ‘You come back for revenge?’ the lion asked with a hint of ridicule, then swiped at her again.
I threw my sword and the lion and it stuck in its hind quarter, causing it to cry out in pain. ‘Foolish ape. Now I will eat you too.” She jumped at me and I jumped to the side, barely dodging the worst of the blow but getting hit in the side anyway. I gathered Fire qi into my hand and threw it at the lion’s face, burning it.
The lion roared in pain and I knew that would call other lions to us. “Get ready.” said Chu as the lioness swiped at me. Thankfully I had damaged one of her eyes, so her aim was off by just enough that I dodged it. I called my sword back to my hand and the next time she swung I coated the blade in metal qi before blocking with the edge of the blade.
The sword dug into the paw and she cried out in pain, pulling back. The amount of damage the sword did to her told me that she was likely just above the blade in strength, likely middle level three. While only a few seconds had passed, the other lions had already arrived to attack the rest of the group, so I knew that I would be on my own. The lioness tried to swipe at me with the other paw but when I brought up the blade to block the move she faltered. I had it at a bit of a standstill, but knew the opportunity wouldn’t last. With the lions knowing we were here we would quickly be surrounded. I opened my mouth and breathed fire at it, and it jumped backwards to avoid the blast, then returned with its own breath attack. A beam of light shot out faster than I could block and I was thrown backwards. I rolled several times before coming to a stop and before I could get up the lion had already used its light streak ability to close the distance.
I barely managed to block the paw with the side of the blade and the sword flew from my hand. I put up a barrier to block a second blow, but the much stronger lion’s swing caused it to shatter, the extra energy of the blow sending me in a side roll. I saw her run forward and was about to call down tribulation to strengthen myself, the only thing I could think of on short notice, when a silver light flew at her, stabbing into her side before exploding and leaving a slight wound. The lion roared in pain and a second one struck her, this time hitting her shoulder. With the difference in levels the level two talismans I gave Shu shouldn’t be this effective against a middle level three lion, but somehow it was.
“They are weak to metal!” I called out, using the opportunity to call my sword back into my hand. With no other metal attacks, several of the disciples drew the metal defensive talismans I gave them and activated them before sticking them in the front of their robes. While the barrier didn’t block everything, the attacks of the lion now seemed to do far less damage to those disciples.
The first lioness noticed that we had changed strategies and assumed my call had caused it, attacking me with renewed ferocity. I, however, didn’t need a talisman to use metal attacks. Just as she started to use her light travel ability I threw my sword, charged with metal qi, at her. She continued forward, carried by the momentum of her move, and slammed into me, knocking me down. After we stopped rolling I pushed the lion off of me and stood up. The force of the impact had cracked several ribs and I was likely suffering from internal bleeding, but didn’t have time to focus on that now.
I rolled her so that I could see the handle, then grabbed the sword. It now resembled a boar spear, buried up to the cross-guard into her chest. Apparently the combined force of our attacks had caused it to penetrate far deeper than it should have, instantly penetrating her heart. I put my foot beside the wound for leverage, then pulled, and with a bit of effort I removed the blood-soaked blade from her chest. I quickly stored the body in my backpack, not wanting to lose her blood, then ran at the other lions.
Some of these were also level three, but seeing me running at them, covered in the blood of their comrade, caused them to pause long enough that I was able to throw a volley of metal qi attacks at them. Several were injured and called for the others to retreat back to the cave. While they would continue to defend their home, this was too far from their home for them to die defending it.
Chu ordered that we let them leave, and several of the disciples collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. “Stay alert. Lions are ambush predators.” I said, pulling out my medical kit. After swallowing a few pills for bones and organs I went to check on the disciples. Two of them had died in that exchange, and another five were seriously injured.
“Thankfully the ones that died were level one, so we didn’t lose much combat strength.” Chu said. I nodded. It sounded callus, but we had just faced multiple level three spirit beasts and over a dozen level two spirit beasts and only lost two level ones, taking a level three of theirs with us. In military terms, we had won that engagement. I still didn’t like the result.
“We should have been more careful.” I said. “This pride of lions was too big of an unknown. We should have done more reconnaissance. Gathered more intelligence. Instead, we were lazy and two good men died.”
Chu nodded. “I agree that we shouldn’t have walked in blindly, but we shouldn’t stay here and talk about it. They might return, and I’m not sure if we can win. That likely wasn’t their entire fighting force.”
I nodded and helped one of the injured disciples stand up. He had a wound in his side that had been stitched shut by Shinua, but had lost a lot of blood and needed time to heal. We backed away by a li or so, then started to set up camp again. I gave all of the injured people medicine. We were going through pills at an alarming rate. If we continued we would need to start using the weaker level ones in my backup kit.
Once everyone had started to heal, I meditated to get the most out of the pills I had taken, then started making metal attack talismans as quickly as I could. I even pulled the Demon talisman papers from my storage, as they would do far more damage. While my tribulation attacks might still do more damage, even with the lion’s weakness to metal qi, I didn’t want to take the chance and focused on making metal talismans. They were also harder to produce, requiring a more accurate mental image and therefore more concentration, so they would take longer to produce and weaken me more mentally.
I offered to let Shingua cook some of the meat of the Solar Lion, having just learned their name, and she accepted. Apparently they could absorb sunlight to gather qi, which made them a dominant predator in Eternal Day type realms. After she had gathered the meat from one leg, collecting the blood she drained from it in a bottle and giving it to me, she returned the rest of the cat as well. “Your necklace is cracked.” she said, then turned around and returned to her stew pot.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I removed the necklace to look at it and saw that there was a small crack in the white jade half. “Huh. I guess it really did weaken that light attack.” I muttered to myself. I wasn’t sure how many more attacks it could weaken, though, so I would have to make sure that the amulet’s protection didn’t make me arrogant. I continued to make talismans for another ten minutes before I was called to the middle of the circle for a meal. We had eaten recently, but many of us were injured and needed the additional food to restore the nutrients that healing had used.
After getting my bowl of soup I pulled my bird out of the bag and set it on my shoulder, then fished a piece of lion meat from the soup to feed it. It quickly swallowed it, and chirped for more. I smiled and gave it another piece. Once it was done it started glowing slightly, likely an effect of the meat, and then closed its eyes. As it sat there I felt qi start to more towards it and it started to build up a static charge, only to discharge the static into my shoulder every five or six seconds.
As I had faced much stronger shocks from the tribulation lightning I attracted on purpose, I ignored it and ate my soup. This time the seed enhancements were all about optimizing the fast twitch muscle fiber in my body, making it larger and stronger. I integrated the seed into my muscles, enhancing it a bit, but not needing to do much as the source had been level three and therefore having more dense qi than me.
When I finished I returned my bowl and spoon, then started making talismans again. Twenty minutes later, when everyone had eaten and were starting to meditate to restore their qi, someone spoke up. “That’s neat. A shadow is going over the forest.”
I stood and looked towards the forest, verifying that was true. I knew something must be going in front of the sun, and looked up to see if there were any storm clouds in the sky. Instead I saw a large, slightly tilted disk floating in front of the sun, causing a partial eclipse. ‘Is this realm part of a Dyson Swarm?’ I thought. If so, this was a major scientific discovery, and I would need to report it to the Ambassador the next time I saw him so that the idea could be tested.
At the rate it was moving, the shadow would probably be where we were in about two minutes. Something about this seemed to worry me, and thirty seconds later I realized what it was. “Prepare for ambush.” I said. “The Hyenas are coming.”
Everyone quickly grabbed their equipment and summoned their companions if they had them, and a minute later the darkness reached us. It was much darker than a normal eclipse, almost the level of a full moon night. Some disciples pulled out light talismans so that they could see better, and several pairs of eyes were revealed just outside of our circle. A few seconds later the shadow started to pass us by and we saw that there were at least three dozen hyenas around us.
‘Stupid humans.’ said the lead one. ‘You thought we would let your kind go? You are a rare treat, and when we eat you, we will gain your intelligence.’ I doubted things worked that way with humans, as our intelligence wasn’t the result of cultivation seeds, but also doubted he would believe me even if I explained it.
‘Do you think we didn’t know about the ambush?’ I asked, ‘We knew it was coming as soon as we saw the eclipse.’
‘Yet still we were able to do it.’ the lead Hyena said, and the other hyenas started to laugh. ‘We have more fighters than you, and we are stronger than you.’
‘Two level threes, eighteen level twos, nineteen level ones.’ I responded. ‘Stronger, yes, but not so strong that you can beat us without losing many of your clan members.’
‘We may lose a few weaklings, but that will only let the strong ones make more babies. So killing you means I get to have even more fun.’ The other hyenas laughed at his crude joke.
‘All you need to do is leave, and neither of us have to die. Your people might win, but I will make sure you don’t live to see it. I just killed a lion at your level. Do you think I can’t kill you too?’ I motioned towards my bag, drawing out the body of the lioness and dropping it on the ground in front of me while secretly grabbing a special talisman in my free hand as well.
The Hyena seemed a bit concerned upon seeing this, and called out to the other level three to join him. ‘This one is the biggest threat. We kill him together.’ The other level three nodded its head in agreement and the two prepared to pounce at me.
I sighed. ‘You should have taken my offer.’ I said. Just as the first hyena prepared to jump at me, I activated the talisman. “Stone Spike” I said, and several sharp rocks burst from the ground around him, impaling him and lifting him into the air. The other level three hyena reacted in time to jump backwards, narrowly avoiding the attack. It then looked at me, and I was almost certain that it was afraid.
The qi within the talisman ran out and the stones were no longer supported, falling back into their holes as much as they could while being partially stuck in the hyena. “Attack!” I called, and ran at the remaining level three. The others only took a second to realize what I had said, and joined into the fight. As I ran at the hyena’s former second in command more than a dozen spirit animals joined in the fight with their human companions. Even my little sparrow flew at one of the level one hyenas, darting past the corner of its eye to draw attention. I seemed to flap its wings like a hummingbird, letting it easily dodge all of the hyena’s attacks, and leaving tiny streaks of lightning behind any time it dodged.
I reached the level three hyena and swung my sword at it, causing it to jump backwards again, avoiding getting its face cut by less than a centimeter. “Fireball” I called, and threw one at its side, causing it to jump sideways. I swung sideways at where it was jumping to and managed to leave a slight cut on its chest. I threw a set of five fireballs at it, and despite its dodging one of them hit it, causing it to catch on fire. It fell to the ground and started to roll to put out the fire and I swung my sword two handed straight downwards, cutting into its neck.
With its spinal cord severed it twitched a few times before it stopped moving and I removed my sword, storing its body and the body of the other leader. I knew that the Hyena’s weren’t as formidable as the lions, but was still surprised that our ferocity had allowed us to take the upper hand. These Hyenas must not be used to their prey turning the tide on them.
Two metal talismans flew into two level one hyenas and exploded, instantly killing them. I nodded to Shu to show my approval, and ran at the nearest level two, swinging as I got there. Birdy was now occasionally flying at its opponent’s face occasionally, and there were dozens of scratches on its face that bled slightly. When my wounded opponent jumped backwards to buy itself some distance, I threw a bolt of metal qi at the hyena Birdy was fighting and hit it on the side, exposing its insides. Birdy must have thought that the intestines were worms, because it immediately flew into the hole and started pulling them out of the hole.
The hyena cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, and I returned my attention to my own opponent. This one was now concentrating on dodging my sword swings, and was able to keep its distance well enough to succeed, so I would need a new strategy. I launched a fire kick at its chest and it jumped backwards, only to be hit with the fire I had thrown from my foot. While this didn’t catch it on fire it did surprise it enough that I was able to adjust my stance and stab at it, catching it in the right eye. With the tip of my blade in its brain, it instantly collapsed and I pulled the blade out. I stored the body and looked for my next enemy.
The nearest level two was running at Chu Van’s back, so I threw a bolt of metal qi at it to get its attention and ran towards it. I saw that Birdy was helping Chu fight his own level two hyena, so I let them continue as I drove away another attacker. This one tried to pounce on me but just received a sword in its chest for its trouble. I looked over to see Chu stab his spear into the open mouth of the hyena, then watch the hyena collapse.
At that time the hyenas seemed to realize how many of their tribe had died, and ran away. The disciples were about to pursue them, but Chu and I told them to stand down. I went to pick up the body of the last hyena, but faced some resistance. I seemed to not only still be alive, but also awake, making it difficult to use the shrinking technique on it. “I must have punctured a lung instead of its heart.” I said, then called out to the others. “Living level two hyena over here if you want it!” I then went to the nearest injured sect member to start administering pills to them. Chu Van went over to the injured hyena and pulled out a needle and thread, then started stitching its wound closed.
Few of the disciples needed stitches, as the claw scratches rarely got deep enough, so they were quickly stitched up. I handed out a selection of level one pills, as the injuries weren’t major enough to require level two pills, then started seeing if anyone needed pills for the few hyenas they were trying to save. One good thing about the beast taming sect was that everyone carried a basic medical kit with bandages, a needle, and thread, as they would need to stitch the wounds on the beasts they defeated to partially earn their trust. None of them had pills, however, something I believed was a major oversight on their part, so I had to supply them with some of my own.
Once the hyenas and wounded companions were treated I went to where Birdy’s fallen foe was. Birdy landed in the hole and started playing with its insides, and I sighed. “Good job killing it, but unless you want to snack on its liver, you should stop playing in its insides and let me store it.” I looked at me like it was thinking, then jumped onto my shoulder. I sighed, and started using the Cleaning technique to remove the blood and other things from my robes. When I was done I stored the body, then went back over to the lioness to store it as well. When we arrived, though, Birdy landed on it and went under the skin flap where Shingua had removed the meat. When it came out it was holding a raw piece of meat in its mouth and returned to my shoulder. I once again cleaned both of us as it swallowed the meat, then stored the body. “If anyone doesn’t want the hyenas they killed, I’ll take it.” I said, then returned tot he circle. I need the hides and blood for talismans.” No one wanted to eat the hyena meat, as hyenas often scavenged, so many bodies had been left behind.
While Birdy meditated again, I noticed that Shingua had returned to the cook pot. This time she didn’t add any vegetables, only a bit of the lion meat I offered to what little bit still remained. She then put it in bowls and started feeding the spirit beasts, as well as the rescued hyenas. A few injured people also got some, but I was still full from before so I simply returned to making metal attack talismans, using the demon paper for added effect, focusing on hating the lions as I worked so that the hatred would make the effect mesh well with the demonic malice left in the paper.
