Yun Xi leapt into the air, narrowly evading the pincer strike of two massive rhino beasts. When she landed, the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff swept out in a double strike, slamming directly into their horns.
But to her surprise, a strange gleam rippled across the horns, dissolving the force of her attack. Worse, the blow only enraged the beasts. One lowered its sharp horn to charge at her, while the other lunged with its colossal body, intending to knock her into its companion's deadly thrust.
Yun Xi drew upon the Thousand Shadows Riding the Wind, her figure blurring as she slipped between the two beasts and out of harm's way. As she regained her footing, she counterattacked, testing every strike against different parts of their bodies in search of a weakness.
A quarter of an hour later, Yun Xi realized that these rhino beasts were nearly flawless in defense. Razor-edged horns, iron-hard hides of deep gray, massive hooves—all left her with no obvious point of entry.
Even so, she finally found her breakthrough. Just as with the first juvenile rhino beast she had killed earlier, though their flesh was thick, their internal organs remained fragile. Yun Xi focused her strikes with hidden force, threading lightning spiritual power through their armored hides and into their bodies.
The destructive nature of lightning was undeniable. Once she succeeded with one, she repeated the process methodically, dispatching the fifteen rhino beasts trapped within her array. By the end, her dantian was nearly drained dry.
These creatures were simply too large. Killing one demanded nearly twice the strength of her usual battles, leaving her exhausted. Fortunately, she had anticipated this. By dividing the herd with her formation and isolating them one by one, she managed to bring them down. Had they swarmed her together, escape would have been her only option.
After gathering all the massive corpses into her storage bag, Yun Xi clasped a top-grade spirit stone in each hand and began replenishing her strength.
She avoided drawing in the jungle's ambient spiritual energy. Dian Dian and Fei Xia had both grown restless the moment they entered, and Yun Xi sensed that something was wrong with the qi here. Rather than risk contamination, she relied solely on the purity of the stones.
While she meditated, new beasts battered against her formation. This time, Yun Xi did not strike back. Instead, she reinforced the formation's defenses, sat cross-legged, and focused fully on recovery.
An hour later, her strength was restored to its peak. Only then did she open her eyes to the next threat: a pack of giant jackals. They were not as large as the rhino beasts, but each was about the size of a juvenile one, their blood-red pelts especially striking.
Yun Xi's gaze lingered on their fur with a hint of hunger. After steadying her breathing, she opened her formation and allowed a single jackal with the finest coat to enter.
The beast locked onto her instantly. A crimson flash streaked across the air as it lunged, fangs snapping for her throat.
Yun Xi's eyes gleamed. She hadn't expected such speed. Tilting her body back, she slid away with a step of Thousand Shadows Riding the Wind. Her free hand summoned the Nine Nether Dragon Umbrella, the canopy snapping open just in time to block the jackal's second strike.
The jackal snarled, baring its fangs. Realizing its prey could match its speed, it howled to summon its pack. But the formation cut off its call. Abandoned, it lunged again.
Yun Xi pushed her footwork to the limit, trading speed for speed while countering with ruthless precision. She drew the hidden blade from the umbrella's handle—the Nine Nether Sword. Its cold, ghostly light sliced the air, each near pass with the jackal leaving another wound on its hide.
Man and beast blurred into afterimages, shadows weaving across the battlefield. At last, the sword pierced the jackal's throat, ending the struggle in a spray of crimson.
"What a pity to ruin such a beautiful pelt."
Sighing, Yun Xi collected the carcass, then released two more jackals from the pack. This time she summoned a clone. Two Yun Xis moved within the formation, each locking onto a target as the battle renewed.
Her mastery of wind spells deepened, her coordination with the Nine Nether Dragon Umbrella growing more fluid with every exchange. The next two jackals fell, their pelts far more intact.
After a short rest, she lured in two more. The cycle repeated.
All across the jungle, similar battles played out. A thin, unseen membrane divided every cultivator, cutting off sight and sense. Even if they were only ten paces apart, they could neither see nor feel each other's presence.
Curiously, Yun Xi's region seemed occupied mostly by Nascent Soul cultivators. Like her, they refrained from absorbing the jungle's qi, relying instead on spirit stones. They too fought the giant beasts swarming them. Their superior strength allowed them to slay the creatures directly, retreating only into portable dwellings when fatigue set in. The gap in power was evident.
In other areas, Golden Core cultivators struggled far more. The cautious ones, like Wei Chenyin and his group, advanced carefully, breaking the beasts apart one at a time. When they noticed the creatures grew fiercer at night, they stopped cultivating altogether, relying on pills to recover their strength before fighting again.
But others were reckless. Tempted by the rich ambient qi, they dug out makeshift caves, set up formations, and began absorbing the jungle's spiritual energy in hopes of breaking through bottlenecks.
Those who meditated through the night were not attacked. Yet by dawn, their eyes were veiled with a faint, bloody haze. None of them noticed. They only felt energized, convinced they had benefited.
At first light, the beasts abandoned their sieges. Their fury ebbed, and they scattered back into the depths of the jungle.
Yun Xi had slain nearly half of the jackal pack, harvesting a trove of brilliant red pelts. As the survivors fled with the dawn, she let out a long breath. Even she could not endure such relentless battles forever.
Once she confirmed the surroundings were clear, Yun Xi returned to her meditation, holding spirit stones to refill her dantian. In a place like this, leaving herself drained would be courting death.
It took two full hours for her to reach her peak again. Only then did she release Dian Dian and Fei Xia.
"How do you two feel now? Do you still sense that restless energy?"
Dian Dian sniffed the air and answered, "Master, that urge to destroy things is gone."
Fei Xia flitted her wings, scattering a fine powder through the formation. After a moment, she reported, "Master, I've neutralized the strange qi with my powder. We shouldn't be affected for the time being."
Yun Xi nodded at their efforts. "These are the beasts I hunted last night. Come take a look."