"Sounds fair."
They smiled, welcoming me into their circle.
I walked with them for the next hour, saying little, listening more. They chatted about beast patterns, terrain markers, who might become an Inner Disciple.
I said nothing. I was clearly uninterested.
Because I wasn't going to stay long.
I would find the perfect moment to get the fragment and leave.
The forest kept on changing as we moved.
Red mist clung low to the ground, all around our feet. The further we moved, the more the trees looked eerie, it was almost as if they were watching us.
The group I joined moved with ease.
I walked among them, quiet and alert. My focus was somewhere else, but my ears caught every name, every pattern, every single of their conversation.
The leader, Han Xuyi was calm and stuck up, he spoke like someone used to being followed. His long spear had already claimed two beast cores, and his token glowed faintly from within his sash.
The twin-blade wielders were Ping An and Ping Bo, both brothers from a small mountain clan. They moved in practiced sync, finishing each other's swings mid-air and even cracking jokes between kills. Their coordination and friendship reminded me a lot of my childhood. A painful feeling filled up my heart immediately.
And then there was the bell-wearing girl, Lan Yiran. She was small, fast, and her spirit bells weren't for decoration, they produced faint sound bursts that confused lower-ranked beasts.
"I figured you aren't much of a talker, you've been listening to us without saying a word," she said to me as we walked, her bells chiming lightly with each step.
I simply nodded.
Han Xuyi chuckled. "He's the quiet type. That's fine. Every group needs one I guess."
I could feel a trace of a murderous aura suddenly. Qi stirred unnaturally in the air tinged with bloodlust and bone-deep hunger.
Then we looked ahead and saw a wolfhound.
Ping Bo grinned, cocky and careless. "Awesome! I bet we can finish it off in ten minutes."
Xuyi didn't bother responding. He was already stepping ahead, spear in hand, every inch of him sharp and silent as the wind before a storm.
I stayed back watching the beast closely.
"I'll draw it out," Ping Bo said, snapping a twig and tossing it toward the thicket.
A low growl rumbled from behind the brambles, and then it lunged.
The wolfhound spirit beast burst forth, all sinew and shadow. Its fur was black, matted with streaks of violet qi, and its jaws gleamed like polished steel. It moved unnaturally fast for something its size.
Ping Bo rolled aside with a laugh. "Too slow!"
The beast snapped at the air where his head had been and whirled in mid-leap but it was already too late.
Xuyi's spear made the next move.
A gleam of silver weapon pierced the beast's chest with enough force to lift it off its feet and pin it clean to the bark of an oak tree. The trunk cracked from the impact, groaning under the weight.
The wolfhound twitched once, then fell limp.
Ping Bo stood and dusted himself off. "You couldn't let me have that one?"
"You were bait," Xuyi said dryly, retrieving his weapon.
Yiran moved without a word, slipping in as the beast's body shimmered. She pressed her palm to the chest cavity, extracting a small core glowing with low blue light. With practiced movements, she placed it against a small black token strapped to her belt. The light transferred, and the token made a faint sound before fading.
"Split value across all tokens," she said. "No arguments."
Ping Bo groaned. "But I was the bait, shouldn't I have a bit more."
"Exactly," Xuyi said.
I didn't expect them to share it with me even though I did absolutely nothing just now.
After sharing it equally amongst ourselves. We continued moving deeper.
Until we bumped into a boar beast.
It didn't waste time after seeing us, it charged immediately.
The razor-horned boar barreled from the treeline, tusks lowered like spears.
Xuyi jumped back, but not fast enough.
The edge of the beast's horn grazed his side, tearing a gash in his robe. Blood sprayed across the moss. Ping Bo shouted and leapt, drawing both short blades in one smooth motion. He aimed for the boar's eyes, but the creature twisted mid- run.
Ping Bo hit the ground hard.
"Back!" I barked, stepping forward.
The boar was massive, its hide plated with spiritual steel, qi lines etched into its back like living armor. Blood leaked from a gash near its shoulder, Xuyi's strike had landed but it only made the creature more angry.
Yiran threw a powder-doused cloth onto the ground in front of it. The moment the boar stepped on it, the earth erupted in a burst of blinding white smoke.
It screamed. It was a horrible, gurgling sound and Xuyi didn't hesitate. He slid in from the side, dodging its wild tusks, and rammed his spear into the exposed wound.
The boar roared and thrashed all around.
I stepped forward and placed a palm on the ground. Even with what little cultivation I had recovered, I could feel the qi lines in the earth. I coaxed them gently.
"Collapse," I whispered.
The boar's hooves suddenly sank, barely held together by my thread of energy. It stumbled, and Xuyi drove the spear deeper.
Then it finally fell dead.
Yiran extracted the core again, and split it. "Minimal damage this time," she muttered. "Good coordination."
Ping Bo, limping slightly, scowled. "I was fine."
"You were nearly injured."
"You should give more concern to Xuyi, he's the injured one right now."
They were still bantering when out of the blue a bunch of poisoned rabbits came running but then they passed by us quickly. What were they running from? My instincts were on high alert.
Something was wrong.