Library of Heaven’s Path

“A mere couple of trees actually dare to block our path? Dream on!”

The beast who had spoken earlier raised its talons and swiped it down.

Its talons were incredibly sharp, possibly on par with Great Sage artifacts. With its aggressive move, the surrounding space shuddered a little, and small pitch-black dimension rifts appeared in the air.

The talons and fangs of those from the Beast Tribe were top-notch materials for forging Great Sage artifacts. Furthermore, the beast wielded strength on par with the Five Monarchs. Even Sempiternal realm consummation master teachers would have trouble defending against its assault.

Under normal circumstances, such sharp talons should have been more than enough to tear the tree branches into shreds. Yet, before those talons could reach their target, a resounding ‘pah’ sound suddenly echoed in the air.

A glaring laceration appeared on the face of the beast. A tree branch had materialized from nowhere and whipped the beast right in its face!

“Roar!”

The burning pain on its face left the beast feeling deeply humiliated and frenzied. It swiped its claws furiously against the tree branches ahead of it, creating a nearly impregnable wall of attacks before it. Despite that, the tree branch was still able to slip past its defenses during crucial moments and accurately strikes its areas of weakness.

Before long, the body of the beast was already covered with glaring lacerations, and fresh blood flowed ceaselessly from its body.

Seeing that their leader was in a disadvantageous position, the remaining beasts immediately rushed forward to offer their support. However, as tree branches whipped through the air, it did not take long for them to be grounded on the floor, completely powerless to retaliate at all.

“This…”

Seeing such a sight, the eyebrows of the crowd twitched frenziedly. They were unable to believe what they were seeing.

Those of the Beast Tribe were known to possess superior physical prowess compared to average cultivators, yet they were all done in by a single apricot tree.

“Heh!”

Witnessing such a sight, the scholarly young man, Yan Xue, chuckled softly before closing his eyes, as if he had expected things to end in such a manner.

A young man from the Hundred Schools of Philosophers walked up to Yan Xue and asked with a suppressed voice, “Shall we make a move? If we could save them right now, we might be able to win their gratitude and successfully tame them.”

Considering how badly those beasts were being pummeled, if they could intervene at this moment and save them, it was very likely that they could win their goodwill and convince them to serve as their tamed beasts.

“There’s no need for that. Putting aside the fact that it’s uncertain whether we’ll be able to save them or not, just the fact that we didn’t stop them earlier is enough to turn their hostility toward us,” Yan Xue replied calmly. “Besides, these apricot trees only serve to halt intruders from proceeding any further. They won’t kill anyone, so you don’t have to worry!”

“Alright then!” The young man nodded.

It was indeed likely that those beasts would harbor some grudges toward them for not stopping them when they attempted to advance earlier. Even if they were to step forward and save them right now, those beasts would only take it as if they were trying to humiliate them. In the worst-case scenario, the beasts might even direct their wrath toward them!

“Those beasts won’t be able to get away. Once we succeed, they will follow us around obediently. Then, we won’t be able to shake them off even if we want to…” Yan Xue chuckled softly.

At this moment, however, a young man at the very back of the crowd suddenly dashed forward as swift as a bolt of lightning.

Hu!

In the blink of an eye, he was already right before the beasts. He adeptly weaved a net using his zhenqi and dragged all of the beasts out of the attacking range of the apricot trees.

“Thank you for saving our lives…”

Knowing that the young man was trying to save them, the beasts turned to him with looks of gratitude. However, contrary to expectations, the young man suddenly dashed right into their midst and…

Pilipala!

Fists and kicks were hurled here and there.

The beasts were stunned.

Those from the Hundred Schools of Philosophers and the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe were stunned as well.

They had thought that the young man had saved those beasts in order to win their goodwill and successfully recruit them to his side. Yet, after saving them from the whipping branches of the apricot trees, he proceeded to pummel them by himself. What the heck?

The apricot trees also stared at one another in confusion. The tree branches that they had extended to teach the young man a lesson for interfering in their affairs retracted in apprehension.

They had thought that the young man was trying to save those beasts from them, but it turned out that he wanted to pummel them as well! Was it because their whipping had awakened something in the depths of his heart and he wanted to give it a try?

“This is our opportunity!”

Yan Xue was stunned for a moment before a confident smile crept onto his lips. He immediately turned to the other offspring of the Hundred Schools of Philosophers and urged, “Those beasts are being unjustly tortured by that young man over there! As long as we step forward to stop that young man, we’ll be able to win their gratitude and loyalty!”

“Yes!” Hearing those words, the crowd nodded in agreement.

The beasts there had all reached Sempiternal realm consummation. Taming any one of them would mean a massive surge in their fighting prowess. If they could return to the Hundred Schools of Philosophers with even one of them, their standing would surely rise through the ranks!

“Let’s save those beasts from the distress they are in!”

Thus, the young men hurriedly rushed forward and brandished the swords in their hands toward the young man physically abusing those beasts.

“What are you doing? Stop your ridiculous actions!”

“It’s fate that we met here. Friends from the Beast Tribe, we can’t watch idly as you are bullied by this young man!”

“Friends from the Beast Tribe, we are here to save you!”

The young men issued resounding declarations, spouting righteous words one after another. In that moment, they seemed like heroes who had taken it upon themselves to vanquish the world of evil.

“Those fellows sure catch on fast.” Yan Xue nodded in approval. “They know what they have to do in order to win the gratitude of those beasts. As long as they win the goodwill of the beasts, it will be much easier for them to tame them afterward.”

He was just about to continue issuing a few more orders to direct the situation when his eyes suddenly bulged out of his eyes. An utterly horrified expression appeared on his face as an expletive escaped from his mouth. “Sh*t! What the heck is happening now?”

Before the swords of his comrades could even strike the young man pummeling those beasts, the beasts roared furiously. They swiped their claws and swept their tails toward his comrades, and in the blink of an eye, the geniuses of the Hundred Schools of Philosophers were lying on the ground, bruised all over.

Not only so, the de facto leader of the Beast Tribe even howled in fury. “What the heck are you lot from the Hundred Schools of Philosophers trying to pull? Try hindering us one more time from getting pummeled, and I swear that I’ll eat all of you alive!”

“This bunch of idiots! Can’t you all see that we are enjoying the pummeling that this expert is bestowing upon us?”

“Shameless hero wannabes! Scram and stop bothering us!”

The beasts bellowed with the utmost fury. After sending the crowd flying, they turned back to the young man and pitifully pleaded, “Please continue to hit us as hard as you can! Please! Harder! Harder!”

“…” Yan Xue and the others clutched their hair in frenzy.

The eyes of the Otherworldly Demons also grew as wide as chicken eggs, and they even forgot to gulp down their saliva.

The apricot trees had also stopped moving, and their branches had fallen to the wintry ground out of utter shock. It was as if they could not process what was going on.

Those of the Beast Tribe had always been known to be haughty and egoistical. Why in the world were they deriving joy from being pummeled like that?

There had been cries of agony, not cries of delight, when the apricot trees were pummeling them earlier. Did something weird awaken in them during this short period of time?

“Submit to me, and I’ll beat you up whenever I have time!” Zhang Xuan waved his hand grandly.

The hide of the beasts was a little too thick. His hand was starting to hurt from all the pummeling that he had done.

“That would be our pleasure! Paying respects to Master!”

“Long live our Master! Woo…”

Huala!

The next moment, all of the beasts kneeled onto the ground with proud looks on their faces. It was clear that they did not think that it was beneath them to acknowledge the young man as their master.

Kacha!

Yan Xue tugged out a clump of hair from the top of his head, but too overwhelmed with shock, he could not feel anything at all.

The heck! What the hell are you all feeling so proud about!

You are going to become someone’s tamed beasts! No matter how high your standing may be, it doesn’t change the fact that you are a mere pet. A pet, do you get it? Is this something to be happy about?

To actually submit to someone else after being pummeled… When did those of the Beast Tribe become so easy to tame?

After taming the beasts, the young man waved his hand before walking into the midst of the apricot trees. “Alright, I have exacted vengeance for you!”

Seeing how the young man had become so bloated up after taming those beasts, Yan Xue could not help but sneer coldly. “He’s courting death!”

Whatever tricks he had used on the beasts in order to tame them, there was no way that it would work on the apricot trees.

Those apricot trees were existences that had heard Kong shi’s teachings! Confronting them was no different from courting death!

Before Yan Xue’s contemptuous gaze, the young man had finally arrived right before the apricot trees.

Hula!

The apricot trees swiftly encircled the young man, leaving no room for the latter to retreat at all.