Chapter Seventy-Five: The Spirit Beast's Invasion

Akolmu’s expression changed, and he slowly rose to his feet, bowing respectfully to Li Mu. “We beg the Immortal to wait a moment. We will take our leave for now. When the Immortal completes the transcription of the cultivation method, we hope you will instruct our youth here. For that, I will be eternally grateful.”

With these words, he bowed his head, muttered a brief prayer for the wolf spirit’s blessing, and departed with Mowa. Yet the young men did not leave, and instead more people kept arriving—adolescents in their early teens, even children no older than eight or nine.

As Li Mu set brush to paper and transcribed the cultivation method, he could not help but feel a measure of admiration. Faced with their enemy, these people, knowing they had a cultivator’s support, did not beg for more aid, but instead relied upon their own strength. Such self-sufficiency in a tribe—if not for the cultivator’s assistance—would still make them fearsomely resilient.

Heaven aids those who aid themselves; such a people deserved respect.

Turning, Li Mu addressed Sun Sanjiu, who was already eager to act. “Sun Qi, Sun Sanjiu, go out and scout.”

“Understood!” Sun Sanjiu’s voice rang out, loud and excited. Since embarking on his path as a cultivator, he had yet to experience a real battle. Now, the opportunity was before him.

Beyond the crumbling wall, a ring of strange beasts encircled the settlement.

They were about two meters long, bearing the form of a hound but with two sharp, upright horns on their heads. Their bodies were as strong as oxen, and from their open mouths flashed saw-edged fangs, cold and menacing.

“Brother, those are horned hounds—first-rank spirit beasts. Not bad. They don’t know any spells.”

Spirit beasts were unique to the world of cultivation, unlike ordinary animals. From birth, they could absorb spiritual energy, granting them extraordinary strength and innate abilities. Some spirit beasts could wield spells by nature, growing more powerful as their rank increased. However, these horned hounds relied solely on brute force and speed—they knew no spells.

Sun Sanjiu pointed to a gap in the wall. “Let’s split up.”

Without waiting for Sun Qi’s reply, he dashed forward.

At each breach in the wall, villagers armed with iron-tipped clubs and makeshift spears stood in trembling lines. Despite their fear of the terrifying spirit beasts, not one retreated. They knew that if they faltered, the children and women within would have no chance at life.

A horned hound snorted, pawed at the earth, and charged the opening.

Many closed their eyes in terror, but their hands gripped their weapons tight, thrusting them forward with all their might.

“Clear out!” Sun Sanjiu bellowed, his fingers forming a spell seal. Suddenly, a thick pillar as broad as an arm burst from the ground, toppling the horned hound onto its back.

The beast rolled, scrambling swiftly upright. Its eyes glinted with cold malice as it fixed its gaze on Sun Sanjiu, lowering its head so that its horns pointed directly at him.

But Sun Sanjiu would not give it the chance to gather strength. He strode forward and, with a flick of his fingers, enveloped the creature in a chilling mist.

It was none other than Li Mu’s Ice Crystal Ring, which he had casually tossed to Sun Sanjiu, not needing it himself.

In the blink of an eye, the hound was frozen into a massive ice sculpture, utterly motionless.

“Smash it!” Sun Sanjiu roared.

The villagers, harboring bitter hatred for these beasts that had ravaged their tribe, immediately surrounded the immobilized creature, hurling iron-tipped spears and stones.

With a series of thuds, the ice shattered, and the horned hound within was reduced to a heap of mangled flesh.

“Victory!” the villagers shouted as one, their eyes full of awe as they gazed at Sun Sanjiu.

The bold and heroic Sun Sanjiu, so brash moments before, now blushed and waved his hand shyly. “There’s plenty more outside—look, here they come!”

A first-rank spirit beast’s strength was not far below that of a cultivator at the Qi Condensation stage. But the horned hounds did not know spells and had no resistance to ice or fire. Against such attacks, they could not last long.

While the fighting outside the walls raged, inside it was calm and quiet. Li Mu, expression grave, continued writing out the cultivation method. For such a thing, even a single error in transcription could be disastrous. He had to give it his utmost focus.

Shen Bingxue and Li Ying spoke softly together, serene and content. This long journey, though arduous, had stirred something within them—a vigor they never felt while merely cultivating or refining medicine at Hua Lin Gate.

Before long, Li Mu finished transcribing the method from the jade slip and handed it to the frail young man leading the group within the house.

“You may begin your practice.”

Li Mu noted that the method’s language was extremely basic, with clear explanations—it should be easy for them to master.

“Thank you for your great generosity, Immortal,” the young man said, bowing deeply, sincerity and resolve in his gaze. The few thin sheets of paper in his hand carried the fate of the entire tribe.

“May the Wolf Spirit watch over us all! Listen, everyone—still your hearts, let your strength follow your will, focus your gaze within...” The young man intoned, reciting the method. All present, young and old alike, listened without surprise.

Li Mu murmured, “Let’s be on our way.”

Shen Bingxue glanced at the villagers practicing within, sighing softly. “Ah... they truly do not fear death... Shopkeeper Li, is there nothing else that can be done?”

“There is no other way. If even those who fear death are willing to learn, then the tribe’s survival rests on their shoulders.” Li Mu understood this was a path of fate with no easy choices. Taking Li Ying by the hand, he quietly left.

The battle at the perimeter continued. Sun Sanjiu and Sun Qi were running low on spiritual power, while outside the walls, dozens of horned hounds kept their gaze fixed on the village.

Sun Sanjiu, unaware that Li Mu had already arrived, panted and complained, “How can this be? The books say these spirit beasts are cunning—shouldn’t they retreat after losing so many? Why do they just keep attacking, fiercer than ever?”

Akolmu, tending to the wounded, replied with a sigh, “These beasts are nothing like before. Now they fight without end. If not, our tribe would not have suffered such terrible destruction.”

Within the walls, many villagers were wounded. A single blow from a horned hound was enough to seriously injure an ordinary person.

Li Mu quickly surveyed the situation and understood the gravity of the crisis.

Sun Sanjiu and Sun Qi were being overwhelmed. If things continued, both they and the villagers would be in grave danger.

Li Mu summoned his flying shuttle, soared over the wall, and hovered above the horned hounds.

The beasts halted their assault, turned their heads, and glared up at Li Mu with eyes burning red, snarling low and fierce.

Suddenly, one horned hound leapt up with tremendous force, nearly reaching the shuttle’s underside several meters above the ground.

But as it landed, a wisp of violet flame silently appeared, consuming it in a burst of fire.

Li Mu, upon his flying shuttle, darted swiftly across the sky, casting out threads of flame like a whip, striking each horned hound with deadly precision.

In little more than a dozen breaths, every last beast was annihilated.

The villagers within the wall could only stare, dumbfounded at the sight.

Li Mu, aloft in the sky, appeared to them like a god—worthy only of reverence and awe.

“Incredible power!”

“So that is an Immortal?”

“I want to become someone like that, too!”