29: Chapter 29 Clear Mountain!

A few days after the mountain clearing order was issued, the various families finished organizing their formations...

Shi Jian was assigned to the Second Clearing Squad on the Left Wing. Besides the Sun Clan group, the squad also included two small Qi Refining clans, making up a team of seventy people.

The eight small Qi Refining clans originally under his command were reassigned due to a shortage of Cultivators.

They were temporarily transferred to other squads for governance, leaving them to fend for themselves...

The leader of the team was a Foundation Establishment Early Stage deacon from the White Cloud Temple named Lu Fangzhi, who looked to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

With sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, he was handsome, but he looked at others with his nose in the air, acting as if he were the greatest in the world...

"All houses, listen up. Advance southwest. The clearing area is the left side of the Dafeng Mountains' outskirts. Kill any Yao Beast below Level 3 on sight."

"If you encounter a Level 3 Yao Beast, send a signal immediately and wait for backup."

Lu Fangzhi glanced at Shi Jian and added, "Although Fellow Daoist Shi is at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, he was injured in the fierce battle the night before last."

"For this trip, he will mainly provide support and doesn't need to charge at the front."

The polite words sounded nice, but the meaning was clear: You're just a Yao Beast, stay in the back and don't get in the way.

Shi Jian narrowed his eyes and gave a simple, honest smile. "I'll follow your arrangements, Fellow Daoist Lu."

Sun Boan followed behind Shi Jian, taking everything in. His lips twitched, but he ultimately said nothing...

When others hold the power, one must bow their head.

The team entered the mountains.

Shi Jian could navigate the forests on the outskirts of the Dafeng Mountains with his eyes closed.

He remembered clearly which ditch had water, which slope faced the sun, and which rock hid a snake's nest...

After all, this was once his home.

Back then, it was in this very forest that he chewed on tree bark and drank from streams.

After hiding for over ten years, he accidentally obtained the Enlightenment System, which opened his wisdom. He then hid for a full thirty-five years, cultivating all the way to becoming a Foundation Establishment Great Yao.

Familiar scents filled his nose.

Decaying leaves, moss, animal droppings, Spiritual Plants... and a very faint scent of blood, the scent of a fellow bear Yao.

Shi Jian's footsteps paused for a moment before immediately returning to normal...

The clearing went smoothly. Most of the Yao Beasts on the outskirts were Level 1 Yao Beasts.

Packs of Spirit Wolves, Horned Deer, and Iron-backed Lizards were crushed by the seventy-man team; it was no different from mowing grass.

Spiritual Materials filled more than half a cart.

Sun Boan directed the Immortal Slaves to skin and debone the beasts while the Spirit Seeking Rats were sent out to keep watch. Their coordination was polished, having formed a mature division of labor.

Lu Fangzhi led the way at the front, his sword light sharp. He was clearly enjoying the slaughter, with a murderous smile playing at the corners of his mouth...

On this first day.

They killed sixty-seven Level 1 Yao Beasts and one Level 2 Yao Beast!

Zero casualties.

Early the next morning, the team pushed deep into the left side of the mountain range...

The forest grew denser, and the light dimmed. The canopy blotted out the sun, and the moss on the ground was thick enough to submerge one's ankles.

The invisible Demonic Qi also grew increasingly thick!

The Spirit Seeking Rats suddenly bristled in unison.

All thirteen Spirit Rats let out sharp cries at once and scrambled backward like crazy, every one of them trembling...

"Stop!"

Sun Boan raised his hand, his expression changing drastically.

Just as everyone focused their gaze but still found nothing.

A giant python covered in green scales poked its head out from the canopy, its tongue flicking and its vertical pupils cold...

It was none other than a Green-scaled Python!

Judging by its aura, it was at least a Level 3 Yao Beast. Lu Fangzhi's expression changed, and just as he was about to send a signal for help, he was stopped by a voice.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, no need to go to the trouble."

Shi Jian walked out from the back of the team at a steady pace, moving to the very front and blocking everyone's view.

Lu Fangzhi frowned. "Fellow Daoist Shi, your injury..."

Before he could finish, Shi Jian moved.

His front paws pressed against the ground, and his hind legs kicked off powerfully. The entire bear rose into the air, crashing through like a small mountain, lunging straight for the Green-scaled Python's seven-inch mark!

The Green-scaled Python's reaction was also startling.

Its tail swept across, the resulting wind strong enough to snap the trees on both sides in half...

Shi Jian took a hit from the tail, his body flipping once in the air before crashing into the ground, creating a deep pit. He grimaced and forced himself to spit out a mouthful of old blood.

This hit didn't hurt much, but he had to make others think it did!

"Roar~!"

Shi Jian let out a piercing bear roar, looking like he was putting his life on the line as he lunged and bit again, appearing incredibly fierce!

They clashed again.

His claws precisely swiped through a gap in the Green-scaled Python's neck scales. There was a very thin slit there where the overlapping scales weren't tight enough—an old weakness of the Green-scaled Python...

He had seen too many of these snakes in the mountains; it was a common weakness among snake-type Yao Beasts.

Demonic blood sprayed out, falling like rain.

The Green-scaled Python writhed in pain, its body coiling frantically. Shi Jian was half-wrapped by it but broke free, striking three times with his claws, each blow landing on a vital spot.

It looked like he was striking wildly with brute force, but in reality, every move was lethal!

The Green-scaled Python struggled for less than twenty or thirty breaths before its head was smashed by Shi Jian's paw. Its body crashed to the ground, twitched a few times, and then went still.

Shi Jian panted heavily, covered in snake blood, looking quite disheveled.

"Phew, quite troublesome."

Lu Fangzhi's lip twitched, and after a long moment, he managed to squeeze out:

"Fellow Daoist Shi... good skills."

He couldn't say anything else. Although the scene just now looked brutal, the result was right there: a Level 3 Yao Beast killed in less than twenty or thirty breaths.

This was called "troublesome"?

Lu Fangzhi remained silent, and the team continued to advance.

Shi Jian walked at the very back, his gaze sweeping over the bushes more than ten zhang away to the left.

Three bear cubs were hidden there.

Their fur was blackish-brown, and they were about the size of dogs. Their spiritual apertures hadn't opened yet, so they weren't even Pseudo-Yao; they were just ordinary mountain bear cubs.

They were, in fact, of his own kind.

The little fellows were curled up at the base of the bushes, shivering. Dried blood stained their bodies, and the carcass of an adult mother bear lay nearby.

Her belly had been ripped open, and her intestines were dragged across the ground...

They were clearly cannon fodder caught up in the beast tide. Ordinary Beasts were like Mortals; in the view of Yao Beasts, they were all worthless lives!

Shi Jian didn't stop, but the Demonic Qi within him fluctuated slightly. An extremely subtle aura seeped into the ground from the soles of his feet.

It followed the tree roots and spread beneath the bushes.

That was a soothing signal unique to bear-type Yao Beasts. It was silent and invisible; no living being could perceive it except for cubs of the same species.

The three bear cubs stopped trembling.

They were no longer afraid, but they didn't move either, lying there obediently without making a sound.

Shi Jian walked away.

The clearing squad wouldn't care about those few ordinary bear cubs that hadn't yet gained intelligence. They were too small, had no value as Spiritual Materials, and killing them wouldn't count as military merit.

But if the cubs had run around or cried out in fear when the team passed by, that would be another story.

Over the next few days, Shi Jian used the same method to quietly "soothe" eleven bear-type young beasts he encountered along the way.

No one would notice these weak creatures.

This was the only way Shi Jian could preserve a glimmer of hope as much as possible.