Phoniex Requiem
Chapter 35: The Beast Raid

Chapter 35: The Beast Raid

In fact, Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen's guess was correct. Besides having left the line of misdirection, they somehow managed to reach the center of the imperial territory, the valley of a thousand herbs.

After being warned about the magical beasts in front, Yun Ruoyan quickly pushed everyone back in an attempt to avoid the ferocious beasts in front of them. But before they could get out of the valley, Zhuo Lin'er and Qiuqiu started sending out warnings again.

There were beasts behind them as well!

“Can you feel what rank this ferocious beast is? Are we capable of handling them at all?” Yun Ruoyan hurriedly asked Qiuqiu.

After fighting with such a beast a few times now, Yun Ruoyan was somewhat confident in her team's skills and abilities. As long as the beast was not as strong as the sharp-finged tiger, he believed that they still had a chance to fight.

But before Qiuqiu could reply, Zhuo Lin'er became so frightened that she started crying. “Brother, run, fast! There are so many wild beasts!”

"Is that a herd?" Zhuo Yifeng turned his head towards his sister, and her small, pale face nodded.

At this moment, they could even hear what sounded like a stampede from the front and back, getting louder with time. Along with that noise was a cloud of dust floating from a distance.

The early days of summer are perfect for growth. The valley was full of lush greenery, the land was neither arid nor dry. Unless there was a huge disturbance, there would be no visible dust at all.

Yun Ruoyan's entourage, having escaped a two-way attack in the snake cave, was once again surrounded by ferocious beasts from all directions.

It would be a lie to say that they did not panic. Even the naturally calm Lin Qingchen and the inexpressive Zhuo Yifeng showed signs of anxiety once again, let alone Zhuo Lin'er and Lin Qingxue.

"What should we do?!" Lin Qingxue had unsheathed her sword, her eyes staring at the dust cloud in front, and then at the disturbance behind her. “Quick, think of a plan! I don't want to die bitten by a snake, or die trampled by a beast!”

Yun Ruoyan looked much calmer than the rest of her group. After all, this was his second chance at life, and he was older and more experienced than these youths. Moreover, the pain, despair, and death he faced had strengthened and dampened his will.

Perhaps even Yun Ruoyan herself was unaware of these qualities, but whenever she was in an emergency, she seemed to always be able to deal with them with a clear mind.

Yun Ruoyan's eyes scanned his surroundings.

The small road along the valley was no bigger than the road in the capital, and it would be large enough to accommodate about two carriages at once. From this, he was able to deduce that there might be around four or five medium-sized beasts running at the same time, either, whereas there was only one or two if the beast was as big as a sharp-finged tiger before.

This further meant that the beasts approaching from the front and rear would definitely end up in a clash, neither side willing to give way to the other.

Yun Ruoyan's gaze landed on the mountainous area surrounding the valley. The mountains were huge, and if they wanted to climb the side of the valley, it would be an almost vertical climb. Decorating the sides of the valley are strange coarse rocks, as well as wild plants of unknown origin.

"Will be!" Yun Ruoyan called out, and she nimbly jumped up and found a foothold in the rocky terrain. The sound of the stampede grew louder and louder, and the others quickly followed without a word.

By the time they were about twenty meters above, it sounded as if lightning had just struck the valley.

All sorts of sounds of collision resounded, and a huge cloud of dust rose to obscure everything, almost swallowing the entire group of Yun Ruoyan.

Yun Ruoyan was stepping on the protruding stone, both of her hands clasping the bent tree. He twisted his upper body so that he could observe the scene below, looking at the thousands of horns and skins of magical beasts.

Because their numbers were so numerous, and because the paths of the valley were so narrow, there were often animals that trampled or screamed at each other as their horns caught on to each other.

The entire entourage was startled by the scene below them: from the moment they were born, they remained in the capital. When have they seen so many animals at once?

The density of ferocious beasts outside of such a realm was quite limited, at least in the Li kingdom.

Even pupils from larger families, while undergoing training to fight magical beasts, would only get the chance to do so in their family's school grounds against young or injured beasts that had been captured. And there wasn't even much chance of doing so, after all, there weren't many ferocious beasts to be had, and capturing them alive was even more difficult.

"Qiu, qiu!" Qiuqiu let out a joyous buzz in Yun Ruoyan's mind. "Madam, these are all herbivorous animals, and if we meet them while they're not being trampled, as long as we don't provoke them, they're actually harmless."

"Look, it's a long-horned goat, and it's a horse that's touched by fire." As Qiuqiu described the ferocious beast, Yun Ruoyan could indeed see that there were some beasts that looked like goats, but on a much larger scale.

As for the mount that the fire touched, it was a ferocious beast that led the raid. They did not look any different from ordinary horses except for their fiery red mane, and when their herd gathered, it looked like bunches of burning firewood.

The Chenyuan Continent had magical beast records kept by the four kingdoms, recording tens of thousands of magical beasts from all realms. There were those as small as rabbits whose essence Yun Ruoyan had found, and some were so large and rare that Yun Ruoyan and the others had never met them.

But this magical beast record was stored as a treasure in one of the buildings in Kongming Academy. Most people would never see the original footage, but only a few incomplete fragments were circulating in the market, scattered and copied by hand.

Yun Ruoyan and the others were unable to clearly see what had happened due to the dust that had appeared once again. Based on the cries and commotion alone, however, they could guess how frightening the situation inside was.

"Geez!" Lin Qingchen glanced at the ferocious beast below him, still running forward regardless of the commotion. “If this continues, who knows how many beasts will die? If we plunder all those carcasses, we'll be rich!”

"Quick, look!" Lin Qingchen pointed to the wisp of dust in front. "The feather is moving towards us!"

It was indeed moving, quite slowly, towards Yun Ruoyan's group.

“It seems like the wild beasts closer to us are no match for those far away. Quick, better we ride higher!” Yun Ruoyan continued her ascent.

"My arm hurts a lot!" Lin Qingxue glanced at the almost vertical ascent and grumbled.

Unlike most other families with their status, the Lin family did not set up a private school yard because of the lack of descendants present, and Lin Zainan did not arrange a private tutor for the two sisters. Instead, he taught them himself. He was stricter towards Lin Qingchen; faced with Lin Qingxue's naivety and her extremely proficient cultivation, she had subconsciously become easier on him.

So even though the two sisters had the same level of cultivation and skills in terms of martial arts, Lin Qingxue was somewhat less athletic than her sister. He had only climbed for a while, but Lin Qingxue's arm was sore and her legs were trembling.

The group climbed a few dozen more meters, and in this time, the herd of leading beasts had pushed forward until the clash was right under their feet.

The cries, moans, and howls of thousands of beasts would explode their eardrums, and some smaller sized beasts were even thrown completely into the air by the collision, he said, their bodies made an almost comical half-revolution before they crashed back into the ground once more.

This raid would most likely be ingrained in their minds for good.

"Be careful!" Yun Ruoyan suddenly saw a pig-sized beast about to fly into Zhuo Yifeng.

Zhuo Yifeng was nimble and the most athletic of everyone in the group, so dodging would not be too difficult. The problem was Zhuo Lin'er, who was stuck to his back like a koala. He was already at the limit of his strength, and if Zhuo Yifeng made a move that was too sudden or too large, he would most likely fall.

Although Yun Ruoyan saw what was happening, she was too far away to help. But just before the collision, Zhuo Yifeng moved.

He twisted his body so that his sister was sandwiched between the back and the surface of the cliff. With one hand, he grabbed the trunk of a small tree growing on the cliff, and with the other hand, a crack in the rock. He raised his right leg and accurately kicked the monster's head with a loud voice.

The beast, which was already half-dead from the clash that had sent its body upwards, died before it could land completely on the ground once again. Fortunately or otherwise, it avoids a lot of the pain associated with being trampled on.

"Sister Zhuo, that's amazing!" Lin Qingxue couldn't help but praise her athleticism. If not for his two hands clinging desperately to the side of the cliff, he would have clapped loudly.

But just as the others were relieved for the beastkin siblings, Zhuo Yifeng's legs started to slip.

"Aah!" Accompanied by a few shouts, Zhuo Yifeng's feet swung in the air as he desperately sought a purchase. He quickly adjusted his posture to find a new foothold, but his other leg also slipped!

For a crucial moment, Zhuo Yifeng's entire body hung in midair, only supported by his powerful arms.

“Do not move! We came to save you!” Even the calm Yun Ruoyan could not help her nervousness.

Lin Qingxue was so scared that she almost cried. If the two of them fell down now, their bodies would be obliterated by the ferocious beasts below.

Although brother Lin was closer to Zhuo Yifeng, the two of them were struggling just to stay stuck to the cliff, let alone someone as big as Zhuo Yifeng. Yun Ruoyan was the only one who could help.

Yun Ruoyan began her painful slow movements towards Zhuo Yifeng.

Zhuo Yifeng also knew that the safest thing to do now was to remain silent and wait for Yun Ruoyan to save them, but Zhuo Lin'er could not hold on any longer.

Zhuo Lin'er had slender arms and legs, in stark contrast to her brother's powerful limbs. His small body slowly slid down from Zhuo Yifeng's back, unable to support his weight anymore.

"My brother ..." He looked towards the ferocious beasts that were charging down below desperately, then glanced at Zhuo Yifeng once more. "Brother, I can't hold on."

He released his grip, and his body began to fall.

Liners! Zhuo Yifeng immediately shouted, released his left hand, tilted his body, and caught him just in time.

But now, what was holding the two of them back from falling was only his right hand, desperately gripping the slender tree trunk above them, which showed signs of curving under the weight.

The two brothers were like leaves desperately clinging to their branches in late autumn, swaying dangerously as dust swirled around them.