The world was vast and full of resources of all kinds. The spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth filled every corner of the world, and was what made Qi warriors so powerful.
Since spirit beasts also breathed spiritual Qi, they too could cultivate and become more powerful.
Just like Qi warriors, when spirit beasts strengthened themselves with spiritual power, they could be graded according to their level of strength.
Spirit beasts were divided into ten grades which corresponded to the Qi warrior’s ten stages. A first grade spirit beast’s strength was equivalent to that of a Qi refining cultivator.
The first grade spirit beasts were the lowest ranked. They were usually physically strong, and had tough bones. However, they weren’t able to release their internal spiritual power in any form.
Despite being able to wield only external strength, they were big threats to Qi warriors who had just started along the path of cultivation.
RAARGH!
One after another, spirit beasts roared, bolting out from the glacier region to dash towards Nie Tian, who stood at the forefront of the group.
Considering that this was the first time he had encountered spirit beasts, it was no surprise that his jaw dropped in shock.
However, a mere moment later, he calmed himself.
“One, two, three... eleven, there are eleven spirit beasts!” By the time he confirmed their numbers, the beast leading the pack, a Frost Armor Rhino, was already closing in.
It was about three meters long and covered in silver-colored frost armor. As it ran along, a terrifyingly cold mist puffed out of its mouth and nose.
A one-meter long, razor-sharp horn jutted out from its snout, which emanated sparkling and translucent cold light.
Nie Tian’s heart tightened as he watched the Frost Armor Rhino speeding toward him faster and faster, its horn aimed directly at his chest. He felt as if his body had been infiltrated by the ice-cold wind, and was almost completely convinced that no matter how strong he was, once that horn pierced his chest, he would suffer severe injuries.
Behind the Frost Armor Rhino were numerous other spirit beasts, eyes emanating the cold light of hatred as they charged in Nie Tian’s direction.
“Heads up!” he said, chuckling as he backed away from the charging Frost Armor Rhino.
Considering the insane behavior of the eleven spirit beasts, Nie Tian didn’t have the slightest hope of killing them by himself.
He had to share the burden with trial takers from the Spiritual Treasure sect, and let everyone face the spirit beasts’ rage together.
The sudden appearance of the spirit beasts caused all of the other trial takers’ hearts to pound, and they began to shout.
“Eleven spirit beasts!”
“We’ve only just reached the edge of glacier area, and there are already eleven spirit beasts. It seems there are a lot more spirit beasts in the Green Illusion dimension than we thought!”
“Be careful, everybody! Prepare to fight!”
An Ying, Zheng Rui, and Pan Tao dashed out to stand in front of the other youngsters, although Nie Tian was still in the process of retreat.
An Ying was the most composed of all, seemingly completely calm as she unsheathed a long, crescent moon-shaped saber from her back.
Even as the saber left the sheath, tongues of scorching fire began to pulse off of the tip of the blade..
She raised the saber above her head and then gracefully swept it out in an arcing slash as she cried, “a.s.sume formation!”
The trial takers had all trained with her previously, and immediately grouped together in a tight formation.
Within seconds, a cone-shaped battle formation appeared, with An Ying being at apex. By this time, Nie Tian reached them, and cried out. “I’ve lured out the spirit beasts. The rest is up to you guys. Hey, I only came to the Green Illusion dimension to broaden my view and gain experience. I don’t want to die in the first skirmis.h.!.+ I’m only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, far weaker than you all, so it’s only fair that you take care of those monsters.”
With these words, he pa.s.sed by An Ying and arrived at the center of the formation, the safest point of all.
The Frost Armor Rhino had already locked onto Nie Tian, and thus continued to run in his direction. However, when it saw him merging into the group, it s.h.i.+fted its attention to An Ying, who was now at the forefront.
Considering that the Frost Armor Rhino was almost upon them, An Ying didn’t have the time to argue. Bracing herself, she spat, “What a wuss!”
From the moment the spirit beasts appeared and rushed towards Nie Tian, her focus had remained on him, mainly because she had been given the task of checking to see if there was something strange about Nie Tian or not.
When one’s life was on the line, no one would hold back their secret weapon.
She had hope that Nie Tian would spare no effort to fight the Frost Armor Rhino, and that under her attentive observation, he would expose his secrets.
However, she could never have imagined that he would simply turn and run the instant he faced danger.
Nie Tian didn’t intend to fight the Frost Armor Rhino at all. Instead, he diverted its attention to her.
Although she knew that Nie Tian’s decision was the smartest one, she still held a grudge towards him for stealing her brother’s trial slot, and continued to berate him for using cowardly and timid methods.
“What a coward!” she snapped. Then, she clenched her fist down onto the hilt of her saber, causing a one-meter-long blade of fiery light to burst out..
“Half-moon Slas.h.!.+”
The one-meter-long blade of light then sped through the air toward the Frost Armor Rhino, a graceful crescent-moon shape backed by deadly power.
CRACK!
Shockingly, when the blade light slashed into the top of the the three-meter-long Frost Armor Rhino’s head, its body was instantly ripped open, causing blood to spray out in all directions!
Furthermore, the Frost Armor Rhino’s surging momentum couldn’t be stopped, and its own momentum carried it forward so quickly that it was completely cut in half!
It wasn’t until its horn was about half a meter away from An Ying that the two halves finally came to a stop and collapsed with a loud crash.
An intense smell of blood immediately rose up from the corpse, filling the entire battlefield.
From his position in the center of the group, Nie Tian watched An Ying’s every move. Seeing that she managed to split the Frost Armor Rhino in half with just one slash, he felt deeply shocked. “What a fierce woman!”
Although the Frost Armor Rhino was a first grade beast, he was well aware that because of its thick skin and strong muscles, coupled with the layer of icy, translucent armor that covered its body, its defenses were even more solid than steel.
The fact that An Ying could slaughter the Frost Armor Rhino, with a single strike at the ninth Qi Refining level, left Nie Tian deeply shocked.
His eyebrows twitched as he looked at her saber and murmured, “Such formidable power definitely doesn’t stem solely from her spiritual power, but rather…that spiritual tool. That saber is at least a Medium grade spiritual tool, which is completely compatible with her cultivation attribute. It must have accompanied her for many years.
“That’s the only way she could unleash the full power of the saber, and at the same time, completely release her own spiritual power!”
After coming to this conclusion, Nie Tian’s gaze turned slightly more grim.
In that same moment, An Ying cried, “Watch out! The spirit beasts are spreading out to flank us!”
Nie Tian had also noticed that after An Ying killed the Frost Armor Rhino in a single blow, the other spirit beasts behind it seemed to be terrified of her.
Instead of madly das.h.i.+ng towards her, they circled around to the sides of the formation to launch attacks on other trial takers.
“These spirit beasts are pretty smart,” murmured Nie Tian.
He still didn’t have the slightest intention of fighting. Instead, he continued to examine the chaotic fighting going on between the spirit beasts and the trial takers, secretly a.s.sessing the balance of power between the two sides.
From his point of view, as long as An Ying was on their side with her powerful saber, the trial takers would undoubtedly win the battle.
There was no need for him to risk his life in the fighting.
The saber-wielding An Ying was apparently stronger than the spirit beasts, strong enough to determine the course of the battle.
Each and every one of the trial takers from various clans roared and brought out various spiritual tools that sparkled with precious light, while simultaneously preparing bizarre spiritual incantations and techniques of all kinds.
“Die!”
“Menial spirit beasts! How dare you attack us?! Die!”
“Kill them all!”
There was one young man with the same cultivation attribute as Nie Hong, but with a cultivation base at the eighth level of Qi Refining.
He wielded a dark-green metal ball, which caused thunderclaps to boom as it erupted with bolts of green lightning. His opponent, a huge silver spider, struggled in agony as they fought.
A baby-faced young woman let out a nervous whistle as she swung her sword, sending sharp wind blades into the fray.
Her target was a snow ape. Under her ferocious storm of wind blades, numerous chunks of flesh and fur were cut off of the ape’s body.
As he watched attentively, Nie Tian muttered, “As expected, the clans they are from must be much more powerful than the Nie clan. These trial takers all have Medium grade spiritual tools with them. Every one of them has something extraordinary that conforms with their attribute. It seems... this battle really isn’t mine to fight.”
He noticed that Zheng Rui and Pan Tao, who were also from the Spiritual Treasure sect, had been fighting effortlessly beside An Ying. Apparently this battle was extremely easy to them.
“From the look of it, the safest option would be to stick with them until they run into the second grade python. ”
After gaining a clearer understanding of the situation, Nie Tian seemed to relax a bit. He shrunk back into the cone shaped battle formation, refraining from uttering even a single word, as he deliberately tried to make the other trial takers forget about his existence.
However, not everyone forgot about him...
Zheng Rui, who was fighting beside An Ying, unexpectedly withdrew to the center. “Nie Tian! This battle puts all of us in danger. Do you really want to stand around doing nothing?!”
With a cold glance at Nie Tian, he kicked his foot towards Nie Tian, hoping to force him out of the center of the formation to face the spirit beasts on the other side.
Before they had all entered the Green Illusion dimension, Zheng Rui already understood An Ying’s implication, and began to resent Nie Tian, the outsider.
When everyone was fighting, he saw Nie Tian hiding and observing unconcernedly in the center of the group. Therefore, he felt increasingly annoyed, and didn’t want it to be so easy for him.
“We’re fighting an intense battle, and you think you can just sit back and watch? Get out there!!" Pan Tao also lifted his foot and threw a kick towards Nie Tian.