Travelling out of the Sect on missions was a considerably hard thing to do, especially in comparison with the days in the Sect where all they had to do was to simply sit and meditate. This was particularly so for the two female disciples, Yu Wanrou and Zhong Ruolan, whose feet had blistered from hastening on their journey. Additionally, they had to sleep out in the open air between these small towns. Therefore, in order to placate and care for these two female disciples, the entourage made it a point to stay and rest for a few days every time they arrived at a small town, before continuing their journey again.

Ye Xiuwen did not have many objections to this arrangement. Even though it would be ideal to complete their missions quickly, Ye Xiuwen did not feel particularly upset by the fact that caring for these two female disciples was delaying the completion of their mission. After all, Ye Xiuwen had always been quite indifferent to the worldly things, and he was not particularly anxious to receive the rewards for the completion of the mission. What was most important to Ye Xiuwen was to gain sufficient experience to break through to the Foundational Establishment stage. 

The only thing was that these delays also pushed back that next time he was able to see his little martial sister again…

Early in the morning, Ye Xiuwen did as he was used to, and he left the small town where they were staying at to practice his sword arts in the woods nearby. As the cultivators often said, three days of idleness costs the mastery of a craft. To sword cultivators, this was the same as well. Therefore, in order to maintain his proficiency with the sword, Ye Xiuwen would practice his sword arts at the same time every day, rain or shine.

Those who had seen Ye Xiuwen practice his sword arts would only describe it as a graceful waltz that was pleasing to the eye – Ye Xiuwen moved about gracefully like a swan and yet as imposing as a dragon. At the same time, Ye Xiuwen’s garbs fluttered behind him magnificently like a dignified general of thousands. Several fellow disciples who had attempted to spar with Ye Xiuwen in the past were invariably defeated by Ye Xiuwen only after a few moves.

In the eyes of these fellow disciples, they only saw how skilled Ye Xiuwen truly was, but they failed to recognize the number of arduous hours he spent mastering his craft. Once, in order to perfect a complicated sword technique, Ye Xiuwen had spent one whole month repeatedly practicing the same move until he finally etched the technique deeply into his bones and got its moves right.

This was an immensely difficult and arduous process. The difficulty lay not with the body, but the patience and perseverance required to press on with no end in sight. This was also one of the reasons why Ye Xiuwen developed an unflappable and unwavering personality.

On the other hand, people who were fickle and impatient were not suited to sword cultivation. Ke Xinwen never considered this point, and he naturally never entertained the idea that the Third Elder of the Frozen Sword Sect would never have selected Ke Xinwen as his Chosen Disciple even without Ye Xiuwen around. After all, Ke Xinwen would have failed the Third Elder’s qualification assessments based solely on his personality.

Yet, it was precisely also because Ke Xinwen failed to appreciate this fact that Ke Xinwen perceived Ye Xiuwen to have snatched an opportunity away from him, and he added Ye Xiuwen’s name to his mental list of archnemeses.

By now, Ye Xiuwen had practiced his sword arts for close to one hour. Just as the first light of the day illuminated the earth, Ye Xiuwen slowly concluded his sword practice as well.

But at this moment, Ye Xiuwen discovered a trace of an anomaly in his surroundings.

Quiet. It was too quiet. It was so quiet that wind and time seemed to have ceased completely, and the entire woods were overwhelmed with a deadly, oppressive silence.

Ye Xiuwen wrapped his right hand tightly around the hilt of his sword. He gritted his teeth and his eyes gleamed in alertness as he put up his guard. He did not panic and look around nervously. Instead, he released his divine senses and probed about his surroundings, hoping to find the source of the danger.

Crack! Suddenly, the sound of twigs snapping resounded as a vicious shadow charged directly at Ye Xiuwen’s back with horrifying might. This shadow even emanated wafts of pungent blood scent!

Ye Xiuwen reacted instantly. Just as the shadow reached his back, he leaned to one side, turned around and lashed out with his sword. With one swift action, he initiated a flurry of attacks, turning the situation around as the hunted became the hunter. In moments, the black shadow also swiftly retreated as its body revealed traces of injuries from Ye Xiuwen’s attacks.

Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger! Having finally recognized the identity of the black shadow that had attacked him out of nowhere, Ye Xiuwen’s pupils constricted slightly, as a trace of suspicion emerged in his heart.

Blackwind Sabretooth Tigers generally lived deep in the forests and mountainous regions, and they rarely appeared at the borders of woods or attacked humans. Apart from the fact that human towns and cities were fortified with dangerous defensive formation arrays, Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger rarely attacked humans because humans were too small to be able to feed these massive beasts.

Ye Xiuwen knew of a cultivator who had strayed from his teams in the past and encountered a Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger deep in the woods. However, the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger only glanced derisively at the human cultivator before leaving with disinterest.

Therefore, the fact that the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger would attack him today left him puzzled.

The Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger had been cut several times by Ye Xiuwen’s sword, and blood streamed from its wounds and gashes. However, it seemed completely unfazed and unaffected by the pain. It bared its fangs before swiftly lunging at Ye Xiuwen once more!

Many spirit beasts could cultivate naturally, including the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger, which possessed a wind-based spiritual root. Low-level, primitive spirit beasts relied solely on their instincts to cultivate. Even though this Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger had not awakened its spiritual senses, it used its affiliation to wind to great effect, and its movements were extremely swift. Despite its massive size, its speed was so fast that it became like a moving shadow when it attacked.

Fortunately, Ye Xiuwen’s sword was also extremely quick and swift. Fighting speed with speed, the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger was unable to gain an upper hand, and it only continued to sustain more and more injuries. At the same time, what worried Ye Xiuwen was the fact that as the number and severity of injuries on this Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger grew, it attacked more and more valiantly. Its two bloodshot eyes gleamed viciously like rubies set in its obsidian-black fur. At this moment, the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger presented the look of a frenzied, manic beast.

Not good, something’s wrong with this Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger.

Ye Xiuwen swiftly avoided the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s attacks as he continued to observe this beast’s behaviour. He discovered that the redness of its eyes continued to deepen in colour. This was a sign that the beast was falling deeper and deeper into a state of manic frenzy.

There were two reasons why a beast would enter a frenzied state. The first reason was that it had experienced cultivation deviation; while the other reason was that it was a state induced by man… For the moment, Ye Xiuwen was temporarily unable to determine the exact reason why the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger had entered a frenzied state.

Regardless, frenzied beasts were extremely dangerous to deal with. Not only would they constantly seek out battles and revel in them, but their combat prowess would also even be raised by three to four levels. Unless one was able to stun or kill these beasts, there was no way a cultivator would be able to escape from a frenzied beast once it had fixed its eyes on its target.

At this moment, Ye Xiuwen’s white garbs had been stained with fresh blood belonging to both the beast and his own. Ye Xiuwen had a mutated water-based spiritual root, and he was able to tap on the powers of ice magic. He attempted to use some ice spells to bind and reduce the speed of the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger. However, the frenzied Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger had immense strength, and it attacked without having any regard to its own life and safety. Thus, the effectiveness of Ye Xiuwen’s ice spells were substantially diminished.

ROAR! The number of injuries on the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s body increased, and some of these injuries even penetrated deep to the bones. Finally, the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger was drawing its final breaths. At this moment, the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s eyes were completely bloodshot, and its massive fangs gleamed coldly as they hung out the side of its mouth. Then, the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger opened its mouth slightly as drops of saliva dangled and dribbled down the side of its mouth.

Ye Xiuwen frowned as his heart swelled with an unsettling premonition.

As expected, the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger had ceased to attack Ye Xiuwen, but its body was now surrounded by an aura of ever-increasing valiance. As it continued to muster its strength, gusts of wind began to swirl around it in increasing speeds like a hurricane, and the surrounding woods were engulfed in a powerful force.

Not good! This Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger is about to self-detonate its Dantian!

Survival was the basic instinct of all spirit beasts. Therefore, even when spirit beasts realized that they had lost to their opponents, it was extremely rare to find spirit beasts choosing to self-detonate. However, when this Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger which had lost all rationality and lived for the same of combat was finally forced into a corner, it chose the most extreme method to take down its opponent.

Ye Xiuwen knew that he might not perish if he faced the explosion head on, but he would nevertheless suffer some serious injuries. Therefore, he immediately made the decision to use an Escape Scroll to leave this place.

Just as Ye Xiuwen retrieved an Escape Scroll from his Interspatial Ring, a black figure suddenly fell from the sky and heavily landed on the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s head. The impact from this blow was so great that the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger immediately lost consciousness, and the billowing winds around it immediately dispersed.

Ye Xiuwen: …

The end to this combat was simply too unexpected and anti-climactic, and Ye Xiuwen did not know whether to laugh or to cry about it.

“Argh…it hurts…” A young man whose voice had not broken exclaimed as he lay beside the unconscious Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger. This person fell directly from high up in the sky and was fortunate enough to have the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger to break his fall, so he was only mildly hurt. On the other hand, the unfortunate Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger had been knocked unconscious by the heavy impact. 

Well, so his injury might not be that “mild” either. After all, this young man had collided directly into the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s head which was quite hard as well.

Ye Xiuwen walked over beside the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger and looked down. He discovered a young man dressed in green garbs with slightly disheveled hair gritting his teeth, attempting to get up from beside the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger. 

However, despite trying to get up for a while, all this young man managed to do was to flail his arms around like an overturned tortoise.

Ye Xiuwen stood at the side, bemused. At the same time, he continued to stay on guard notwithstanding this young man’s harmless appearances. After all, this young man had appeared too mysteriously – not only had he fallen from the sky, he had even accurately struck the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger on its head.

“That…that…” The young man struggled for a while longer before he finally gave up. Exasperated, he looked over at Ye Xiuwen staring back at him indifferently, as he huffed, “Friend, do you mind giving me a hand here?”

Ye Xiuwen smiled under the cover of the veiled conical hat. He walked over beside the young man, stretched out his arm and yanked, and the young man was cleanly pulled back onto his feet.

“Tsss—” The young man drew a deep breath as he winced in pain. He had inadvertently landed on the foot which he had injured from striking the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger’s head, and the young man hopped about on the other foot, and almost even fell back to the ground. Fortunately, Ye Xiuwen’s reflexively supported him, and the young man swayed for a moment before he finally managed to stabilize himself.

“Thank you, ma--…my friend!” The young man bit down on his tongue and changed his statement at the very last moment.

Ye Xiuwen did not notice the strangeness in the young man’s words. He only nodded calmly in response, “No need to thank me. You’ve also saved my life earlier after all.”

Even though Ye Xiuwen would still be able to escape the blast radius of the Blackwind Sabretooth Tiger self-detonation, every Escape Scroll he used means that he had one less for the future. It would be much better to save it for another rainy day.

“That…that’s good…” This young man coughed dryly as he stared at Ye Xiuwen with his innocent eyes. At the same time, his back was completely drenched in cold sweat –

Why are you so dumb! You’ve almost gave it all away!!!

Indeed, this “young man” berating himself was the very same person who had come from afar to join her martial brother Ye on his travels, Jun Xiaomo.