114 Panther nest. (1/2)
After receiving Fang Ying's warning, the remaining 150 people in the hall gathered together in their respective groups, watching each other's backs to make sure that they could react as fast as possible. Since they were a bit smaller than the other groups, the leader of the Tian clan group quickly called out to Fang Ying, waving her over.
”Junior Sister Ying, you should come over here. Tian Zanxia and the others don't seem to have entered the palace yet so it'll be hard for our small group to keep an eye out for you.”
She used the excuse that they wouldn't be able to keep an eye out for Fang Ying, but it was clear that they actually wanted Fang Ying to join them so that they would be safer. Tian Zanxia was the name of the youth that Li Yang had killed earlier, it seemed like the two people that he spared hadn't sent the information to the Tian clan, possibly afraid that Li Yang would kill them if he were to learn of it. Fang Ying looked at the people from the Tian clan but decided to shake her head when she saw that they were frowning at Li Yang, clearly not very fond of him or what he had said about Tian Zheng earlier.
”There's no need to keep an eye on us, we'll be just fine on our own.”
The eyes of the pink-haired woman who was the leader of this group twitched slightly when she heard Fang Ying's reply. But as now was a poor time to pursue it, she had no choice but to drop it and focus on the invisible enemies they were facing. Fang Ying looked at Langshen after rejecting the Tian clan, the two giving each other a quick nod and immediately fusing. There was no telling what might happen from now on, it was best to be careful.
While Fang Ying was rejecting the Tian clan and fusing with Langshen, Li Yang was sweeping the surrounding area with narrowed eyes, trying out various things to locate the invisible panthers. After a short moment where the entire hall was covered in tense silence, Li Yang suddenly shot to the right, a trail of lightning snaking around in his wake.
Right as Li Yang shot to the right, three more people, unaffiliated cultivators who were a bit more spread, suffered attacks from the invisible panthers. Two people died, but the third one was able to just barely block the attack and buy enough time for someone close by to launch a counter-attack to save her.
Li Yang crossed a little over a hundred meters in less than the blink of an eye, slashing his sword out in an arch, the air around the blade distorting from the heat of the fire and lightning gathered in the tip. A loud clanking sound rang out as his golden sword collided with something, the sleeves of Li Yang's robe exploding from the sheer force he exerted with his arms.
This sound caught the attention of the other people in the room, who cast their eyes towards him just in time to see that his sword had collided with a panther. The panther had used one of it's three sickle-tipped tails to just barely block the sword, otherwise, the attack would have collided directly with its neck. But the damage was already done, the sword simply contained too much force for the hastily prepared defense to fully block it.
The sickle-tipped tail was pushed into the neck of the panther, slicing open its skin and tainting its snow-white fur with crimson blood. The sheer force of the attack also pushed the panther back, sending it soaring through the air and crashing into one of the pillars, a deep cut going halfway through its neck. It wasn't dead yet, but it would soon die either from blood loss or due to suffocating since its airpipe had been sliced open.
Li Yang looked at his golden-purple sword, frowning slightly. All the Qi he had sent into it had been completely swallowed up, like a drop of water entering the ocean, producing next to no result. It seemed like he would have to greatly strengthen and increase his energy if he wished to unleash the full power of his old weapon.
Right after Li Yang sent the panther flying, a symphony of saddened and subdued roars echoed throughout the room, their numbers impossible to properly count thanks to the echo. Eight more people were suddenly attacked and caught off guard, killed almost immediately. Li Yang took his eyes off his sword and focused on the situation around him, casually speaking out.
”They can perfectly hide themselves, but they still affect the world around them with their movements. Don't look for them, look for signs of change in the area around you.”
This was how Li Yang had discovered the location of the panther he just attacked. He hadn't been able to use any techniques to actually see the panther, but he was able to discover an area where there were four spots where the ground was slightly warmer than its surrounding. He then felt that these four spots suddenly got warmer for a short second, guessing that it might be from a panther exerting force in its legs to jump. He then did his best to listen for the sound of air moving, using it to locate where in the air the panther was.
The other groups immediately took Li Yang's words to heart, using their various techniques to sniff out the spots where the panthers were affecting the world around them. Li Yang walked over to Fang Ying, pointing at the dying panther that had sunk to the floor.
”Can you bring that one over here? They're not Divine beasts, but they have a bit of Divine beast blood in them. Also, I want their skin and blood.”
When he wounded the first and killed the second panther, he had discovered that while they did have a sliver of Divine beast aura on them, it was rather diluted. It was likely that the large skeleton had once been a Divine beast and that these were it's children, likely the result of the Divine beast mating with a normal Demonic beast. Fang Ying gave a nod of her head, space around the panther rippling and transporting it over to them while she was talking.
”You really should work on your habit of shortening your sentences by not explaining yourself. I can guess why you want their skin, but saying it as you did just makes it sound macabre.”
Li Yang shrugged his shoulders casually, not really taking the advice to heart. Fang Ying rolled her eyes slightly, finishing off the panther with a quick slash to decapitate it, storing the body into her interspatial ring. She then swept her eyes around the hall, which had already broken out into several battles.
”Well then, shall we see who can acquire more of them?”
In the short time that had passed after Li Yang told the others how to find the panthers, two more of them had already been killed. Killing the two did not come without a cost however, four more cultivators had been killed by the panthers launching their sneak attacks. Now it was Li Yang's turn to roll his eyes for a short instant before sweeping the hall with his gaze.