Chapter 23: The Fierce Beast's Might

  At the foot of Bai Man Mountain, Ye Li and Guo Huai stood together, coldly gazing at the dozens of Ye family juniors in front of them.

  Guo Huai said in a low voice, "This hunting festival will last for ten days. On the first day, I and Ye Li will each lead a team to familiarize ourselves with the local geography. For the remaining nine days, you are free to act on your own. Ten days later, regardless of whether you have made any gains or not, you must gather here! Now, those whose names I call out, stand on my side. Those who were not called out, stand on Ye Li's side!"

  The Ba Man mountain is fraught with danger, and if you enter it for the first time alone, you will definitely die.

  Guo Huai and Ye Li led the team. On one hand, it was to let the imperial clan children familiarize themselves with the local geography. On the other hand, it was also to train their combat awareness and avoid casualties.

  Kuo Huan finished reading out the names, and Ye Xiu found himself assigned to Ye Qiu's team, his heart involuntarily sinking slightly.

  Also assigned to Ye Li's team were Ye Bin, Ye Feng and others.

  Several people exchanged glances and smiled smugly.

  Ye Feng took a step forward and cupped his hands together in greeting: "Ye Li, my father asked me to give you his regards."

  Ye Li's face showed a moved expression, and he hastily smiled: "Young master is too polite, how dare I trouble the old master to ask after me?"

  Ye Feng's father, Ye Siyan, was the General Manager of the Imperial Household Department and one of the three most powerful people in the Ye Manor. Ye Li was a talented slave of Ye Siyan, who promoted him to be the General Manager of the Outer Gate.

  Ye Feng glanced at Ye Xu and said in a low voice: "Ye Li, is there any way to get rid of that trash?"

  "Rest assured, young master," Ye Lixin said in a low voice with a smile. "Killing Ye Shaobao is as easy as killing a dog for me! Just wait and see my skills, how I'll make him unable to live or die!"

  Ye Feng and others were greatly relieved in their hearts, and they looked at Ye Xu with a fierce gaze, as if looking at a dead man, with a murderous intent in their eyes, unscrupulous.

  Ye Xu gathered a few people's gaze in his eyes, and his heart felt bitter: "Are these people really my brothers?"

  A faint bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and immediately his heart hardened, a killing intent surged: "Since you want to put me to death, don't blame me for being ruthless, I'll kill you first!"

  Among the young masters of the Ye family, the only one who can make him feel a sense of kinship is his elder brother Ye Qin.

  Ye Xuan was young and lonely, poor and destitute. No one in the Ye household paid attention to him except for Ye Qin who showed special care and concern for him.

  Kuang Huai finished assigning the troops, and Ye Li immediately shouted loudly. More than 20 sons of the Ye family shouted in unison, urging on their fine horses as they charged into Bai Man Mountain.

  More than twenty knights crossed each other, shuttling back and forth in the forest, as if they were on flat ground, rushing towards the depths of the mountain. The Ye family was the largest witch-hermit family in Liu Zhou, and their children had always been refining their martial arts skills. Horseback riding and archery were compulsory courses for the young masters of the family, extremely exquisite.

  Ye Xuan looked around and saw that the trees on both sides were becoming increasingly ancient and lush, even the vines crawling up the trees were as thick as a water bucket.

  Several frightened beasts jumped out of the thicket from time to time, hastily escaping, and were immediately shot dead by Yejia's children with one arrow.

  These are just ordinary beasts and can't even be considered as demonic beasts.

  True demonic beasts refer to those extraordinary species that have been tainted by the primordial energy of heaven and earth, with tough skin comparable to iron armor, agile movements as swift as lightning, and possessing incredibly powerful abilities. Even ordinary tigers and leopards are no match for even the lowest-level demonic beast.

  The monster's body is a treasure, extremely precious. Its skin and fur can be made into soft armor, its skeleton and teeth can be forged into sharp weapons, and other materials on its body can be used for medicine, alchemy, or even raised by wealthy families as live beasts to guard their homes.

  So every hunting festival is an opportunity for the young masters of the aristocratic families to make a fortune, selling them to merchants can gain a considerable wealth, and they can also contribute to the family in exchange for the qualification to enter the armory to choose weapons or skills.

  If they were able to obtain precious materials, the Ye family would even allow their children to enter the Witch's Library and acquire witchcraft!

  The demon beasts are divided into ten levels, corresponding to the ten realms of martial arts. A tenth-level demon beast's strength is comparable to that of a pre-heavenly martial artist. The higher the level of the demon beast, the greater its value!

  Beyond the tenth rank, it is no longer a beast, but a spirit, a demon, opening spiritual wisdom, can cultivate, absorb and spit out the primordial energy of heaven and earth, master witchcraft, possess the divine power of witches!

  Even if it's a master of the innate boundary, encountering this kind of goblin-level demon will only lead to a dead end!

  Suddenly, a commotion came from the front of the team. Ye Xuan's heart moved and he secretly said, "A demon beast has been found!"

  Ye Lizi rode forward on horseback and shouted loudly: "Surround them, don't kill them!"

  More than twenty knights galloped forward with a whistle, surrounding and shrinking the circle around that monster.

  As the encirclement circle shrinks to about four or five zhang in size, several knights sit on their horses, looking at each other in dismay. A few young men murmur: "Is this the demon beast? It's too small, isn't it?"

  All that was seen within the circle was a rabbit, with golden fur and black ears, its body over two feet in length, its long black ears twitching from time to time, seeming cute, but having an enormous mouth and two pairs of three or four inch long fangs, fierce and sharp, not like a herbivore at all, but rather like a carnivorous beast!

  The rabbit darted east and west, leaping up with a bound, swift as lightning; several times it nearly escaped from the circle of encirclement, but was again driven back by the horsemen.

  "What's roaring?"

  Ye Xuzi carefully sized up the rabbit, and his heart moved, suddenly remembering the origins of this demon beast.

  This demonic beast looks like a rabbit, but it's actually another species called Hou, a fifth-tier demonic beast, extremely ferocious.

  Its strength is not strong among the monsters, but it has a killer move, its loud roar can shock to death even a fierce tiger!

  Ye Xuan almost suffered a great loss at the hands of this demon beast when he first went hunting!

  Ye Lihuan glanced around and said in a low voice, "Ye Zhao, this is your first time participating in the Hunting Festival, and this beast is your first prey. Go, kill it!"

  A twelve or thirteen-year-old young man in brocade clothes came out, jumped off his horse, drew his sword with a clang, and with an excited look on his tender face, charged at the tiger. The tip of his sword shook out big sword flowers, and his swordsmanship was quite exquisite!

  Ye Family's Supreme Swordsmanship, Washing Flowers Forty-Nine Styles!

  That beast let out a loud roar, not dodging or evading, and charged straight at Ye Zhao. The sharp treasured sword stabbed into its body, yet it actually burst forth with strings of green flames. To say nothing of piercing through rabbit skin, it couldn't even cut off a single golden hair!

  Ye Zhao was young in years, but his swordsmanship and footwork were extremely outstanding. He was as agile as a willow catkin, floating and drifting like the wind. When he saw that he couldn't stab Hou, he immediately changed his move and retreated backwards.

  Ye Xu looked at Ye Li, feeling astonished in his heart.

  Generally speaking, when the Ye family's younger generation participates in the Hunting Festival for the first time, as the Outer Gate Manager, Ye Lisi should point out the strengths and weaknesses of the demonic beasts to them. With my strength, strike their weakness, but Ye Lisi let Ye Zhao go into battle without reminding him of things he should pay attention to.

  "Ye Zhao is just like me, his parents died early and he has no backing in the Ye Manor. Ye Li is too deceitful, not telling him about the strengths and weaknesses of that old dog, clearly wanting Ye Zhao to suffer a great loss so as to establish his own prestige!"

  Ye Xuheng was secretly angry, Ye Li's body as a slave of the Ye family, did not do his duty as a slave, but instead relied on his old age and position as the outer housekeeper, with Ye Simian backing him up, bullying his master, and even looked down on the young masters of the clan, wantonly bullying them!

  Ye Zhao took advantage of the beast's retreat and immediately stepped forward, raising the sharp sword in his hand to stab at the beast's eyes. The sword tip trembled, conjuring up snow-white flowers.

  "Little rabbit, you are the first prey I've caught at the Hunting Festival!" Ye Zhao saw that the rabbit was unable to dodge and hide, his heart filled with great joy, and he shouted loudly.

  But before the sword was stabbed down, the golden-haired black-eared beast suddenly opened its mouth to inhale, and in the blink of an eye its belly swelled up like a huge round ball.

  A sword flash came, and the beast also opened its big mouth, revealing a full set of ferocious teeth, and shouted out!

  "Roar!"

  This demon beast was not large in size, but its voice was astonishingly loud. The sound waves burst out and formed visible blue sound waves in the air, one after another, shattering Ye Zhao's sword light and heavily smashing into his chest!

  Ye Zhaorui was severely hit, bleeding from all seven orifices in his head, and flew out more than ten feet away, crashing into a large tree before landing softly on the ground, motionless. He had been shaken unconscious!

  Even the fine horses of the Ye family's young masters were startled by this loud roar and retreated in disarray!

  Some newcomers who were participating in the hunting festival for the first time turned pale with fright, looking at each other in dismay: "Is this really the power of a demon beast? How terrifying!"

  The monster's four hooves exerted force and in the next moment, it appeared right in front of Ye Zhao, opening its ferocious big mouth to bite at his neck!

  Ye Lian let out a cold snort, swung his sleeve and swept up the demon beast, sending it into the center of the encirclement. Without even giving Ye Zhao a glance, he coldly laughed: "This is the outcome of being incompetent! When encountering a demon beast, one must not be greedy for merit and rashly advance. First, one must understand the demon beast's strengths and weaknesses, only then can one achieve victory every time! Next one..."

  Ye Li's gaze shifted towards Ye Xu, a faint, almost imperceptible smile playing on the corners of his mouth as he said, "Ye Shao Bao, you're here!"