The Flood Mantis screamed in fury, raising his other claw to strike. As it was about to descend, one of the newcomer beasts pounced and threw him away a few meters, falling to the ground.

The scene repeated itself everywhere, the recently arrived Spirit Beasts fighting against the others instead of the cultivators. Those beasts were at the most peak of the Ninth Layer of The Body Tempering Realm, and many only at the seventh or eight layers, but they still fought ferociously. And they kept coming in.

"What is going on…?"

"The beasts… are on our side?"

Lin Qiang, Lin Shu, Lin Yin, Little Fu, and Red Leg didn't know what was going on but nevertheless, the pressure on them eased a bit.

Elder Lin Dong already pa.s.sed out. He did so thinking death arrived for him, but it was not yet time. A green-eyed long black-haired youth form flickered and appeared near the Flood Mantis, his training robe all torn in several places as if he had fought furious battles before coming here.

The Mantis wanted to get up and attack, but his body was already separated in two. A cut started from the wounded arm side diagonally, so fast not even Red leg noticed. The First Rank sword looked spotless even after it cut, totally incomparable to the unranked one he used before.

This low-grade First Rank sword was equivalent to the 2nd Layer of The Spirit Realm. While Ming Ren couldn't fully explore its might, its sharpness was beyond what the Mantis could withstand. Ming Ren's body flickered again, and he seemed to disappear, cutting several Body Tempering Spirit Beasts and landing near the elder.

Ming Ren moved just like a ghost, his presence barely noticeable.

Bright Eyes activated silently and his Spirit Sense scanned Elder Lin Dong.

"Right arm almost completely destroyed, meridians wounded but still in one piece." Ming Ren breathed in relief. The Elder's situation was not good but still, nothing he couldn't solve, "I'm sorry, Elder. I was late."

"Brother Ming Ren!" Little Fu and the rest saw Ming Ren's swordplay and closed in on the Elder's position. Lin Yin eyes rested on the sword for a bit before moving away.

"Is that your doing?" Lin Qiang pointed to the beasts.

Ming Ren nodded. With his power, it was unlikely he could fend off dozens of strong Spirit Beasts and help the group on his own. He suddenly remembered Lin Qiang and decided to tame the Spirit Beasts along the way.

Beast Taming was nothing new to him. Although he lacked the raw power to make them submit directly or the time to make them submit calmly, his time inside the Bright Scripture provided him with powerful allies: a greatly strengthened soul and aura.

In fact, if Ming Ren made a Soul Attack not even cultivators at the Spirit Gate Realm would be able to resist. Unfortunately, his own body would not be able to withstand it either. Even controlling the strength of the Soul would be near impossible, so unless he was willing to perish with the opponent he couldn't use a Soul Attack.

But regarding taming beasts, it was a heaven-sent gift. Spirit Beasts were extremely sensitive to powerful beings and respected their power. Ming Ren only needed to release his aura for a second and direct it into their brains with his Spirit Sense to make the Spirit Beast tremble uncontrollably and submit.

It didn't work on all of them, and some still attacked him halfway, but it helped him tame those Spirit Beasts in no time at all.

"We don't have time," Ming Ren knew Lin Qiang was curious about his taming skills, but time was in short supply. "Brother Little Fu, you carry the Elder, we need to move deeper into the forest!"

"D-deeper?" Lin Shu couldn't help but exclaim.

With the arrival of the Spirit Beast reinforcements, the pressure on the other cultivator's weakened, and they joined together to kill the Wild Ape. It was a strong beast, but Red Leg and the others together overcame it in the end. Red Leg had just finished the beast when he heard Ming Ren.

"No! We need to break through to the east side and leave! Going deeper is madness!" Red Leg said. Although he didn't know why the Spirit Beasts were temporarily helping them and he could guess this youth had something to do with it, he was only at the peak of the Fifth Layer and didn't look experienced at all.

Ming Ren shook his head, "It's no use, there's even more coming! We need to go deeper, there's a chance they won't invade the other beasts territory!"

Of course, that wasn't the only reason Ming Ren wanted to go deeper. Even if they sacrificed a lot of people it wouldn't be possible to survive by trying to go outside right now. The Spirit Beasts were frenzied, and more coming from all sides. Whoever drove them to that point had impressive strength.

But deeper in was that mysterious formation. Although he didn't know what it was for he was at least confident of opening it since it took some damage before. A much better opportunity than waiting here for certain death. Yet he couldn't say that to Red Leg. He didn't even know him, how would he believe that youth could manipulate a formation that shouldn't even exist in that place?

His words carried no weight.

"Boy, if you want to die, go alone!" Red Leg didn't have time to bother with Ming Ren, so he just pointed to Lin Yi's group, "You guys should take Lin Dong and come with us! We'll take this opportunity and break through the east right away!"

Lin Yin hesitated. He didn't know Ming Ren's secret like the Elder. He quite liked the guy, but how would he trust him over someone experienced like Red Leg? Just as he was about to answer Lin Qiang was faster.

"We'll go deeper! Lin Fu, you carry the Elder, we'll protect the rear!" Lin Qiang didn't hesitate. Just like Ming Ren, she also felt a strange connection to him. She had always believed in fate, and this time it would be no different.

"Don't call me Lin F-! Oh, wait…"

Since Lin Qiang spoke, Lin Yin and the rest didn't argue. Little Fu princess carried the Elder in his arms, and the rest raised their guards on more time. It was obvious that the Spirit Beasts on their side would lose the battle, so they had little time to prepare.

"Senior! You should come with us, there will be an opportunity to survive deeper in!" Ming Ren said to Red Leg.

Red Leg hesitated for a bit in front of this mysterious youth but shook his head, "We go east! Everyone, follow me!"

The other cultivators also didn't believe Ming Ren, so they went with Red Leg. Another ferocious battle started, the already tired and hurt group fought with all their might to break away.

Ming Ren looked at his ground and pointed to a direction, "Go that way, don't stop, no matter what! I'll catch up soon!"

Lin Qiang and the rest nodded and started running. Ming Ren used his Spirit Sense to pa.s.s orders to a few of his tamed Spirit Beasts to follow and protect the group. He already sensed that was the safest way for now.

Before following them, he had one more thing to do. Ming Ren threw himself in the middle of the battle, rus.h.i.+ng from side to side at the same time he scanned the battlefield with his Spirit Sense. He dodged incoming attacks, cut Spirit Beasts left and right, without stopping. While he moved around, he was looking for precious items and Monster Cores.

The others would take a long time searching for useful things in the middle of a battlefield, but having a Spirit Sense allowed him to quickly jump to a location, grab whatever was important and move away.

Many fallen cultivators left behind Pills, some Cores, and other useful items. The slain Spirit Beasts, such as the Wild Ape and Flood Mantis, also left their cores behind. The others were too busy running away to bother with that, and they didn't even carry a spatial ring. Ming Ren felt bad about taking those things from the dead, but they could increase their survival odds. Why would he choose the dead over the living?

Suddenly, an intense pressure came forth from the east, and his whole body s.h.i.+vered. It was just at the edge of his Spirit Sense's limit. A ferocious roar echoed through the forest, and Red Leg's group came under attack once again. A four meters tall twin-headed lioness with two long and sharp fangs, scales in the body, and a three-p.r.o.nged tail. Twin-Headed Ferocious Lioness.

The Queen of this part of the forest, its cultivation base was at the peak of the Fourth Layer!

Although Ming Ren couldn't see it with his own eyes and use [Bright Eyes Art], the instant he sensed the Spirit Beast the reason it became Queen surfaced. Normally, Spirit Beasts condensed their cores at the Spirit Realm, this was common knowledge.

And yet some Spirit Beasts could condense two or even multiple cores. Some referred to those as mutations, other as Rare Species. Having more than one Monster Core had apparent benefits: another s.p.a.ce to purify Spirit Energy, more s.p.a.ce to stock it. Ming Ren also knew its benefits were bigger than that.

A common 4th layer Spirit Realm Beast was strong but possible to deal with. Even Red leg could survive for some time. But a Queen, that symbolized the strongest of its territory, with two Monster Cores?

Ming Ren had no choice. He couldn't save everyone. A frenzied beast would not stop until every single human cultivator in the area was slain. They had to get away as fast as possible. The instant he collected everything useful he dashed away to find Lin Qiang and the rest.

Red Leg chose his own fate.

The Twin-Headed Queen struck left and right, its claws and bites tearing off limbs and organs at will. The tail attacked like a trident, piercing two cultivators at the same time. Red Leg attacked with his Flame Spear, but it couldn't even scratch its scales. The lioness roared and tore his head off with a bite and without any effort.

Red Leg and his group died in a few breaths.

The Beast stared at the direction Ming Ren had gone, and roared again, hatred filling its eyes. A few Spirit Beasts that the youth had tamed and were still alive instantly ran away in fear. Had Ming Ren's control been any weaker they would've turned against him instead.

The Queen sprinted, an army at her back.

It was time to hunt.