Chapter 11 – Battle and Fairy

Chapter 11 – Battle and Fairy

She dashed again. Her Stamina was rapidly depleting, it seemed like this battle would have to be her last one before she would need to retreat.

They were in a panic, but most of the damage was done by those at Peak Foundation Establishment, who were frustrated at her quickness. While they had much greater speed, they had a hard time tracking her in the grass, coupled with the fact that they had to avoid their fellow Taoists... which didn't help them.

She dashed again, seeing someone fall into the grass, she narrowed her eyes. The man started to scream, sending shivers down the Panther's back, who vowed again to hunt some delicious meat for her.

What was happening to that person who fell? He was greeted by Darkness whispering and tempting him, abusing and loving him, torturing and helping him. It was a pure nightmare to be in the Darkness with [Shadow Fiend].

Soon he let his guard down and-

*Crunch*

[Level gained.][Level gained.][Level gained.][Level gained.]....

[Level: 20 (2nd Evolution)]

[You can Evolve into [Worthless] Beast]

[Levelling further will allow you to Evolve into [Common] Beast.]

Aiko frowned cutely. Previously, it was enough to reach Level 10 in order to Evolve, but now it took 20. This was bad since she had to hunt many more Beasts to Level up.

She shook her head resuming the 'Hunt'. The Darkness guided her again and she scratched another person. Seeing that her Stamina was approaching 25% left she distanced herself.

Those at Peak of Foundation Establishment noticed this, but those who weren't were still throwing their fireworks around.

The Nascent Soul Cultivators were at their limit. "RETREAT-"*PUFFF*

Buddy slammed his hooves into the Nascent Soul's chest the moment he was distracted, mortally wounding him. The Panther seeing this jumped at him and-

*Crunch*

He took his life swiftly. Soon after everyone died and none were spared.

Buddy huffed. "This is it for me, I'm too injured..."

"Yeah, my Stamina is low." Panther agreed.

Aiko jumped on his back again lying down.

"It seems like she is also exhausted, let's call it a day." The Horse snorted and they left the place after completely robbing them.

...

Along the way...

"You know that I have never seen such a majestic Beast like yourself-"

Panther was trying to desperately flatter Aiko, who was snorting at him.

Buddy laughed with glee at him. "Once we get into the Village we will split the treasures and you can do whatever you want with them."

Aiko nodded at him, her ears flapping happily.

Panther sighed, trying to remember if he had any good meat stored in his home...

...

'This way, this way.'

Suddenly she heard cussing. "If my cultivation wasn't sealed by this forest I would slaughter their sorry Demonic asses!" She proclaimed while coughing another mouthful of blood and laying back.

The moon was now behind Aiko, casting a shadow inside the pit, but not covering the Saintess. It was still some way from her. The paws guided her down, and when the Saintess closed her eyes, Aiko slowly descended.

She was about 20 meters away from her when she suddenly stared at her paralysing her. Saintess stared at the dumb Beast for a while and realizing that it was not worth the trouble and that Aiko couldn't hurt her she laid back down.

Aiko was sweating from this encounter, but seeing she was ignored, she approached a bit closer...

...

The Saintess lay down after staring at that the dumb Beast. She was already exhausted and couldn't spare the energy to wipe out that Beast. Yet she kept her senses sharp.

The Beast was approaching... A truly dumb animal that didn't know any better. She looked back at the unintelligent animal, ready to wipe Aiko out, only to freeze. The dumb Beast demonstrated a plethora of emotions, from confusion to annoyance, scoffing and snorting. She observed the Beast, confused. While it was amazing that this Beast was quick, nothing else was really exceptional about this little furball. Yet she had this an odd feeling in her heart.

The Beast stopped and walked to a very particular place, greatly upsetting her.

'That is my blind spot.'

She gritted her teeth and waited for her demise, only to notice that the Beast didn't move an inch. The Beast lay there staring at her. Was it waiting for her death? She didn't know. She had never experienced something like this. She had extensive knowledge about Beasts and their Ranks, at its current Rank it should only have basic knowledge, with even cruder intelligence. Yet this Beast could find her blind spot! It should be known that she never considered Bloodlines, or Divine Abilities, since it was nearly impossible to get them at her current stage, moreover, most monsters had only a 10% Chance to awaken Bloodline at the Spirit Beast Rank!

She stared at the Beast. The Beast yawned clearly tired-

'Was that a Spacial Ring?!' Her eyes widened and strained as she noticed a ring under her tongue.

She closed her eyes to identify that ring, at her current cultivation she didn't quite have a perfect memory, but it was close enough that she could investigate that ring. It was quite a small ring, but very densely packed with inscriptions, it should be the work of at least a Forging Emperor. That also meant its inner size was significant! There would be quite a large possibility of having Healing Pills.

She gritted her teeth as an insane thought was at the forefront of her mind.

"Little one, may I have the ring for a moment?" She stared at the Beast and kindly and gently asked. It was an insane thought, but she had already suffered a severe blow when her Senior Sister stole her Spacial Ring and sold it at an Auction. This taught her a lesson to never give anyone what was hers lest they try to steal it.

The Beast stared at her, narrowing its... beautiful eyes? The Saintess had never seen a beast with such light-blue eyes. It was mesmerizing for her.

The Beast frowned as if thinking about something, so she tried to reassure the Beast while sweetening the deal.

"I will only borrow it for some healing pills. I will naturally pay you in Beast Cores that can increase your Strength." She could see it's ears twitching. Now that she looked closely... weren't they a bit too big? Yet they looked incredibly fluffy! She really wanted to touch them, but for some reason, she also had some apprehension towards Aiko. Her senses warned her about this Beast.

The Beast nodded which dumbfounded her. All the knowledge she had was completely useless in front of this Beast that was clearly more intelligent than some Magical Beasts!

The Beast looked at the ground again and frowned, clearly scared of her. It tried to spit the ring at her so it wouldn't need to approach her, but failed miserably as the ring fell below the little Beast. Its face distorted in anger, but for the Saintess it looked like an incredibly cute creature that was upset its great plan hadn't succeeded.

Aiko tried to grab the ring, with her paws, only to fail miserably again. The ring was unwieldy and stuck on the rocky surface.

The Saintess observed the creature's cuteness, savouring it, until the creature finally managed to pick the ring up, only for it to fall down again. Aiko was upset and stomped her paws into the ground, not doing any real damage.

Saintess' heart melted and she was soon lost in thought...

'Should I make it my contracted Beast? I have never seen someone so cute, my fellow senior and junior sisters would be jealous, but... It could get hurt because of it...' She had an awful dilemma on her hands.

Aiko had enough and used her [Prehensile Tail] to sweep the ring towards the girl. She puffed her chest triumphantly as she finally managed to get the ring within the Saintess' reach. The girl giggled, startling Aiko who immediately made distance between them, settling back in the Saintess' blind spot, cautiously looking at her.

The Saintess picked up the ring and explored it. She was shocked by the amount of resources it had. 'It seems like this Beast found or stole it from someone.' It had a bit of just about everything, but it was mostly pill recipes and many, many Pills.