"Shen Lo, how dare you!" Not even the usually sincere Wu Xiangtong could hold this in any longer. An item like a fishing rod appeared in his hands, and his pupils lit up with flames as he stared at Shen Lo. Since Fang Xing wasn’t present, he had temporarily become the leader of Duanzhen Valley, and there was no way he would allow Shen Lo to steal the beast that was rightfully theirs. He was at Spirit Stage tier six while Shen Lo was only at the peak of tier five, after all; adding in the high-quality spirit weapon he had in hand, Wu Xiangtong wasn’t afraid of him.

Shen Lo jumped at this, his expression growing timid. When it came down to actual battle prowess, he wasn’t Wu Xiangtong’s opponent at all; however, after a quick thought, Shen Lo remembered he had his own support backing him up, and his attitude quickly strengthened. "Wu Xiangtong, are you saying you’re going to disobey Shixiong Xiao Jianming’s orders?" he coldly laughed.

Wu Xiangtong’s face darkened, but just as he was about to answer, he was interrupted by another voice.

"Who wanted to disobey Shixiong Xiao Jianming?" A group of Qing-Yun disciples walked over from around a hundred feet away, with Shuwen Valley’s Pi Junzi and Shanhe Valley’s Feng Qingwei in the lead. When Pi Junzi saw Shen Lo, his eyebrows furrowed together and he said, "Shidi Shen, Shixiong Xiao Jianming said he’s found the signs of a ninth-tier beast and asked us to work together to lure it out. Yet, not only are you not helping us, what are you doing here?" Shen Lo was one of his Shuwen disciples, and the fact he wasn’t following his commands left Pi Junzi feeling rather annoyed right now.

Seeing this, Wu Xiangtong walked up and said, "Shixiong Pi, I was just about to look for you. Our Duanzhen disciples just now worked together to kill this Scorpion-Tailed Lion, however your shidi here unexpectedly interfered to steal our beast. Please bring this matter to justice!"

Pi Junzi did not look very pleased when he heard this, and he looked towards Shen Lo. However, at that moment, Feng Qingwei suddenly spoke up, "How did he steal the beast from so many of you? Didn’t Shixiong Xiao Jianming say that the beast core belongs to whoever lands the fatal strike on the beast? What are you all fighting for?"

Joy appeared on Shen Lo’s face and he hastily agreed with Feng Qingwei, "What Shijie Feng said is right. Shixiong Xiao Jianming said exactly that, and I am merely following his orders. I did indeed land the fatal strike on this Scorpion-Tailed Lion, yet these Duanzhen disciples are not willing to hand over the beast while saying they would wait for Fang Xing to decide. How do they view Shixiong Xiao Jianming, then?"

Wu Xiangtong anxiously replied, "Shimei Feng, do not listen to his nonsense! It’s clear that he wants to steal our beast!"

When Feng Qingwei swept her gaze across, she saw that the Duanzhen disciples were full of anger while Shen Lo looked immensely proud of himself; how could she not guess what had truly happened? But Shen Lo had mentioned Fang Xing’s name, immediately triggering her disgust and causing her to feel annoyed just at seeing these Duanzhen disciples. Furthermore, Xiao Jianming did indeed say that whoever landed the fatal strike would take ownership over the beast core, and it therefore didn’t take long for her to come to a decision on how to handle the situation.

"Shixiong Pi, what do you say on this matter?"

Pi Junzi laughed. "Since Shimei Feng is here, all shall be as you command!"

Feng Qingwei was slightly startled by this. Although Shen Lo was a Shuwen disciple, Pi Junzi—the leader of Shuwen Valley—had distanced himself from the problem completely. What she wasn’t aware of was that Pi Junzi was a clever man and saw how one side had pulled the Xiao Jianming card while the other had pulled Fang Xing. He didn’t dare to offend either, and so he had decided to step back and throw the entire problem onto Feng Qingwei’s shoulders. No matter what she might decide, he wouldn’t be the one to offend anyone.

Feng Qingwei didn’t think this through and looked towards Wu Xiangtong with a cold smile. "Shixiong Wu, Shixiong Xiao did in fact speak such words, and we should not disobey him. As for the beast, it’s best that you let it go. As for next time you catch a beast, make sure to be faster..."

"This is too much!" Wu Xiangtong’s expression fell. The Duanzhen disciples started to yell out in anger, and there were some who even began to wield their spirit weapons. Even Qin Xing’er—who had been standing within the crowd—had her brows creased and wanted to speak up, but someone suddenly tugged on her sleeve. It was Liu Heihu, and he lightly shook his head at her.

The two of them had been extremely thankful for being "saved" by Fang Xing, but now that they knew Fang Xing hadn’t died, such gratitude had grown slightly weaker. In addition, seeing that Xiao Jianming and Fang Xing now held a grudge against each other, such gratitude was immediately reduced by a third. Fang Xing was also injured without any news on when he would actually recover, and he wasn’t here while Xiao Jianming was nearby, giving them even less of a reason to stand up for the Duanzhen disciples.

Both of them were more clever than most, and they would always choose the option they believed to be more correct.

When Shen Lo saw the Duanzhen disciples’ anger, his expression involuntary changed as he took a step back. Feng Qingwei’s expression also changed as she took a step forward, speaking with a stern tone, "Are you all wishing to start a rebellion?"

"Duanzhen disciples, return your weapons!" Wu Xiangtong loudly commanded. The Duanzhen disciples looked at each other in dismay, but due to Wu Xiangtong’s imposing manner, they returned their weapons despite not wanting to do so. Wu Xiangtong then turned to Feng Qingwei, "Shimei Feng, I’m not the leading disciple of Duanzhen Valley, so there’s no such thing as starting a rebellion. We do not dare to disobey Shixiong Xiao Jianming’s words, so as for the beast core, take it as you wish. However, when Shijie Linyun and Little Shixiong Fang have returned, I will naturally let them know about this! Shixiong Liu’s shoulder shall not be lost for nothing!"

Feng Qingwei had looked rather proud of herself when Wu Xiangtong had initially conceded, but as he spoke on, she began to grow uneasy. "Wait for them? Are you questioning the fairness of Shixiong Xiao Jianming’s method?"

Wu Xiangtong did not answer her question. He merely turned around and said to the Duanzhen disciples, "Return your weapons. Let’s leave!"

The Duanzhen disciples still showed looks of hatred and anger upon their faces. Although they understood the "law of the jungle"—where the strong preyed upon the weak—very well and how it applied even within the sect, this was perhaps the first time that the entire valley had been looked down upon and bullied in all these years. The anger inside them was clear.

"Haha, a seventh-tier beast like this, its core can be sold for at least four thousand low-grade Spirit Stones..." Shen Lo loudly laughed and went up to grab the beast core.

When she saw the Duanzhen disciples’ reactions, Feng Qingwei began to feel that perhaps she had crossed the line as well. It seemed that it was now no longer about a simple beast, but more so about the Duanzhen disciples’ pride, and—although she might hate Fang Xing—she still didn’t want to offend all of Duanzhen. She felt remorse, what had been said had already been said and she could not bring herself to apologize. Instead, she let out a derisive ‘hmph’ and decided to speak no further.

"Is this not too much?" someone—a disciple from Xu Linyun’s Danxia Valley—muttered. These Danxia disciples were a special existence. Perhaps it was due to Xu Linyun, but even Xiao Jianming had to be extremely polite to them. Not only that, but their chief elder Qin’nyao was known for being very protective of her pupils, contributing to the disciples’ bold temperaments. "It is a bit too much; that Shixiong Liu already lost an arm. Let’s bring him a Hemostatic Pellet.." they continued to mutter amongst themselves, which once again caused Feng Qingwei to show an upset expression.

"Let’s place the trap here. That ninth-tier beast should be the strongest beast in Mount Desolation. In a place like this, there shouldn’t be another Foundation Stage beast. Even if they did happen, after developing human-like intelligence, they would have chosen to leave this place a long time ago. A single ninth-tier beast core should be worth at least thirty thousand Spirit Stones. This would be a rather handsome profit, but everyone must be very careful!" Pi Junzi quietly suggested from Feng Qingwei’s left side after he’d chosen a suitable landscape.

Feng Qingwei nodded and asked her Shanhe disciples to place the formation based upon the landscape, while the Shuwen disciples began to etch in spell symbols to add additional power and binding ability. Then, in the center of the formation, Feng Qingwei took out a cauldron with pre-prepared beast blood and placed a black pellet inside.

Once Feng Qingwei had completed her preparation, she let out a sigh of relief. "With this pellet, not only will the ninth-tier beast be lured here, it’s likely that a few others will come as well, so please be careful, everyone. Once we’ve salvaged from these beasts, we can then make our way to the seal location to complete the mission before returning back to the sect!"

Pi Junzi nodded. "It’s a pity that we don’t have the Duanzhen Valley’s spirit tools to help. The strength is still a little on the weak side."

Feng Qingwei coldly laughed. "With Shixiong Xiao Jianming present, what do we need that bunch of useless things for?"

Pi Junzi smiled at this without saying a word before turning to lead his group of Shuwen disciples into hiding. He knew Feng Qingwei quite well. Her knowledge in formations was nothing short of amazing, and her head was always clear as well, yet it was as though she’d changed completely now. Once Xiao Jianming had arrived, everything had become centered around him, to the point she didn’t even want to use her own brain anymore.

At last, Feng Qingwei asked the Danxia disciples to throw a few catalyst pellets into the cauldron before they went into hiding as well.

It didn’t take too long before the beast blood within the cauldron began to boil, and the bloody stench began to spread alongside the specially-made medicinal smell. The scent was concentrated and didn’t dilute even as it extended over ten miles. The beasts that smelled it immediately grew excited and restless, like people who had smoked in the past catching the scent anew.

A good hundred beasts made their way into the valley. From tiers four to seven, all of them were fighting for that cauldron, all for the sake of getting closer, for the sake of getting another whiff of its bloody stench. As for the hidden Qing-Yun disciples to the side, they allowed these beasts to fight amongst themselves. They planned to wait until it was nearly settled before getting the beast cores.

Of course, the most important reason was that the main character had yet to make its appearance.

ROOOAR

As the beasts’ fight was underway, a roar that was loud enough to shake the entire forest rose up from deep within the foliage. As if in unison, all of the beasts halted in their movements and began to shiver in fear. As for the Qing-Yun disciples hiding nearby, their faces all twisted into serious expressions and their heartbeats quickened with their growing caution.

A mile away from where they were, Xiao Jianming sat atop a hill peak with the steel eagle at his side. With his status, he did not join the other disciples hiding amongst the rocks—as this would be an act below his dignity—and so was waiting here instead. He intended to wait until the ninth-tier beast entered the range of his attack before he’d deliver a fatal blow.