Longevity Martial Arts: I have a Mysterious Water Snake Avatar
Chapter 35 - 34: I Became a Disciple of the Spirit Beast Hall? (Seeking Investment, Seeking Followers)

Chapter 35: Chapter 34: I Became a Disciple of the Spirit Beast Hall? (Seeking Investment, Seeking Followers)

On the mountain path, the Qingmu Deer frantically fled.

Watching the Qingmu Deer scatter in different directions to save their lives, Hong Yuan gripped his White Bull Bow and ran towards the Qingmu Deer closest to him.

BOOM!

Apart from the Earth Dragon Bee teams led by Chong Yi and Chong Er, which stayed around Hong Yuan, all other mutated Tiger Head Bees and Earth Dragon Bees were dispatched by him.

Those dispatched bees put their firepower on full display, vigorously flapping their wings and causing a significant commotion in the forest.

But the effect was evident; they intercepted three Qingmu Deer for Hong Yuan, forcing them to halt in their tracks.

At that moment, Hong Yuan drew his bow and shot his arrows.

TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!

The familiar sounds of bowstrings, absent for a long time, rang out again, and the three Qingmu Deer fell into pools of blood in the grassland.

Hong Yuan quickly pulled out the first storage bag. As it was filled with other Demon Beast corpses, he threw out the largest, the Big White Python, before stuffing the three Qingmu Deer corpses inside.

Looking at the corpse of the Big White Python, Hong Yuan silently gave the command for the bees that had just attacked to consume it.

Meanwhile, he himself stayed on guard.

Before long, the Big White Python disappeared from the grassland, leaving behind only a long trail of blood.

Hong Yuan, with the bees that had finished eating, continued the pursuit of the Qingmu Deer.

The opportunity was rare—failing to seize it would be too great a pity.

As Hong Yuan was about to reach the bottom of the mountain, he heard the sounds of intense combat.

Circular Array, Hong Yuan silently commanded.

The Circular Array was a basic defensive formation that could protect from attacks coming from all directions. Hong Yuan placed himself in the center of the bee swarm, where bee forces were abundant on the periphery and scarce in the middle.

This allowed for an imposing show of force, with the capability to counterattack promptly when enemies approached, without any obvious weakness!

After arranging the formation, Hong Yuan moved forward slowly.

Soon, he discovered the source of the noise.

A pair of disciples, who appeared to be from the Spirit Beast Hall, were commanding a pack of Lightning Wolves and five Falling Wind Hawks to attack disciples from other Halls, intent on driving them out of the Ten Thousand Beast Cave Heaven.

And this pair from the Spirit Beast Hall had the upper hand, causing the other five disciples considerable distress!

In the creek, over a dozen Qingmu Deer lay fallen. The stream flowed over pebbles and also brushed past the bodies of the Qingmu Deer.

Goodness, here I am, a knockoff beast tamer encountering the genuine article, Hong Yuan thought to himself upon seeing this.

That pack of Lightning Wolves and Falling Wind Hawks were mostly first-tier Demon Beasts, and among them, two leaders were even second-tier!

A glance was enough to know they were far more formidable than Hong Yuan’s quantity-over-quality bee swarm.

"Senior Brother, another person has arrived—it seems to be a Senior Brother from our Spirit Beast Hall," Xiao Youjun said softly to Xu Haisheng.

At that moment, Xu Haisheng, who was commanding twenty-five Lightning Wolves and Falling Wind Hawks, was greatly preoccupied.

Upon hearing his Junior Sister’s words, Xu Haisheng took a moment from the tense atmosphere to glance over.

But that glance brought Xu Haisheng confusion.

He couldn’t recall any fellow disciple from their hall who controlled bees, yet the circular military formation around Hong Yuan’s bees made him unsure.

The Phoenix Creek Sect had several halls, but only their Spirit Beast Hall had a culture of specializing in the study of military formations.

Among the many Elders of the Spirit Beast Hall, perhaps this Junior Brother was newly admitted?

"Junior Sister, ask that Senior Brother to come and help us. We can share five Qingmu Deer with him!" Xu Haisheng said gravely.

After he spoke, he refocused all his attention to command the Lightning Dogs and Falling Wind Hawks. As the five opposing disciples began to coordinate better, the pressure on him increased, making it difficult to divide his attention further.

The other five disciples were all talents from various halls. Although Xu Haisheng had the advantage in beast taming, he dared not relax, fearing they would close in on him.

Once they got close, he would have no choice but to crush his Beast Token and leave the Ten Thousand Beast Cave Heaven!

Five Qingmu Deer, Xiao Youjun bit her lip, reluctant to offer such a generous reward.

But seeing her Senior Brother’s increasing difficulties, she tried to persuade herself. After all, we are all disciples of the Spirit Beast Hall—it’s better to benefit one of our own than an outsider.

"Senior Brother over there, we are all disciples of the Spirit Beast Hall! Please lend us your aid! The reward is five Qingmu Deer!!!" Xiao Youjun shouted.

Upon hearing this, Hong Yuan was momentarily stunned. Without showing any reaction, he glanced around and immediately confirmed that the female disciple was addressing him!

How could I, a disciple of the Refining Equipment Hall, be mistaken for a Spirit Beast Hall disciple? And I can get five Qingmu Deer for free?

"Excellent!" Hong Yuan roared aloud.

He was not afraid of these two deceiving him. Disciples from all halls were mingled here, and five Qingmu Deer were not enough for two Spirit Beast Hall disciples to break their promise.

Otherwise, once these people left, the reputation of these two Spirit Beast Hall disciples would be ruined!

WHIRR!

With a thought, Hong Yuan altered the bee swarm’s circular formation into an offensive conical one. The bees surged forward, instantly relieving Xu Haisheng of his crisis.

Xu Haisheng led the main attack, and Hong Yuan supported.

The bees greatly supplemented the Lightning Wolves and Falling Wind Hawks, whose forces were elite but insufficient in number.

"Damn it, these Spirit Beast Hall disciples are so detestable!" a broadsword-wielding burly man fumed with rage.

"Mo Kuangren, cover for me. If successful, we split the loot fifty-fifty," said the elegant, sword-carrying youth whom Hong Yuan had seen before, his voice cold.

True Essence flowing through his body, the sword-carrying youth, with his flowing movement technique and sharp attacking power, killed two Lightning Wolves and charged straight towards the Qingmu Deer herd.

He entrusted his back to Mo Kuangren, who had been entangled with him all this way. Mo Kuangren did not disappoint; he single-handedly held off the wolves and hawks for a short time.

The sword-carrying youth had already pulled out a storage bag, ready to pack the Qingmu Deer into it.

All eyes on the field suddenly converged on him, but at this precise moment, Xu Haisheng and Xiao Youjun were both entangled and unable to redirect their focus to command their beasts.

Regret was written on the faces of Xu Haisheng and Xiao Youjun. If only we hadn’t been so greedy!

TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!

Three arrows sped toward the sword-carrying youth, who was leaping into the air, followed only moments later by the sound of them breaking the wind.

Hong Yuan’s intervention had upset everyone’s expectations.

SMACK!

The sword-carrying youth was forced to pivot mid-air, but one arrow still grazed him, breaking the skin.

Fortunately for him, the arrow Hong Yuan had fired was only coated with paralytic powder, not the legendary tetanus toxin; otherwise, the sword-carrying youth might have resented Hong Yuan for life.

Even so, the sword-carrying youth, now kneeling on the ground, was forced to take out and crush his Beast Token.

A guiding light descended, and the sword-carrying youth was shielded by a column of light, his face coldly fixed on Hong Yuan.

"Dare you tell me your name!?"

Hong Yuan remained silent, continuing to shoot arrows, focusing mainly on the burly man with the broadsword.

The broadsword-wielding man, feeling intensely aggrieved, also crushed his Beast Token.

"Despicable cur! I’ll crush you inch by inch at the Sect’s grand tournament at year’s end!!!"

Following the broadsword-wielder, the other three disciples also rapidly crushed their Beast Tokens and fled.

But unanimously, they all glared at Hong Yuan with resentment, as if to impress his image indelibly in their minds, never to forget.

Ordinary Spirit Beast Hall disciples simply couldn’t command beasts while also executing martial techniques; their mental focus isn’t sufficient for such complex operations! This guy must be a top genius of the Spirit Beast Hall. We’ll definitely pay him back at the end-of-year Sect tournament!

With this, the incident concluded.

Hong Yuan quickly left with the five Qingmu Deer he had just acquired.

More than half of his bee swarm was damaged, and even three Sting Bee Worms had been killed. Sensing his strength was greatly reduced, Hong Yuan claimed his reward and promptly fled.

By now, Hong Yuan had obtained eleven Qingmu Deer in total.

「By the creek.」

Xu Haisheng and Xiao Youjun fell silent for a moment. They both realized that Hong Yuan was not one of their Spirit Beast Hall disciples.

For if he had the ability to command beasts while executing martial techniques, Hong Yuan ought to have been under the same master as they were.

Xiao Youjun could no longer contain her doubts: "Senior Brother, that man’s moves were clearly not of our Spirit Beast Hall. That means he’s not one of us. So why did we still keep our word?"

Xu Haisheng extended his right hand. Pale-silver True Essence surfaced, as potent as ever. "It’s still better to be honorable."

Xiao Youjun fell silent at once.

If they had truly attempted to take down Hong Yuan, it likely would have resulted in mutual harm. And she, being the weakest, would definitely have become Hong Yuan’s first target.

They couldn’t stop Hong Yuan!