Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 463: Frenzied Monkey.

...They hadn’t ever regretted a decision with such intensity before.

But these Beastkin were Sage cultivators. Their grip on emotions was strong. Gears turned in their mind and after ruling out the possibility of convincing Ember, another idea began to take shape.

A ruthless glint shone in the eyes of all in understanding as they shared glances.

The Leader quickly caught onto what was going on in their minds. Chuckling darkly, he spread his arms, "Try all you want, you won’t be able to touch a single hair on her body."

Startled, a few of them looked away while others hid it behind an innocent mask.

"What do you mean, Leader?" A lady with deer antlers blinked as if she was oblivious to everything conspiring in front of her.

"Drop the act, all of you." His voice thundered in the room, but he wasn’t angry this time. The tone of his voice, though, was even more sinister than before.

"Ember is in the realm of the Celestial Phoenix. Even that bastard from the Immortal Sect will not make a move. You idiots think you can?"

Leaving that statement in the air, the Leader of the Wilderness stood up with a grunt. His Spiritual Essence leaked out, threatening all Sages present in the room.

"When I built the Wilderness, I imagined a place pure of Human’s hypocrisy. But here we are...You, all of you disappoint me!"

Leaving those words hanging in the air, the Leader strode out of the room. His trusted aide too followed him, but not before giving one last glance at everyone in the room,

"And you wonder why he no longer actively involves himself in the matters of The Wilderness."

Dead silence.

No one spoke for a long time after that.

It had been more than a few decades since the Wilderness became passive.

These Elders had tried convincing the Leader multiple times that they were strong enough to ambush those of the Immortal Sect, but their insistence led them nowhere. Some of them even doubted if their Leader was afraid to confront the Sect Leader of the Immortal Sect.

Unbeknownst to them, their Leader was already fed up with their sinister nature.

He had started this organization in hopes of shaping the Realm of Abezan such that there would be no discrimination between the Beastkin and Humans.

Although he had slaughtered countless Humans on this path, they were necessary sacrifices to build a haven for the children of Beastkin.

Yet, as the Wilderness grew, he noticed how power corrupted even the Beastkin.

Realizing that it would only create a cycle of vengeance with how it was going, the Leader finally gave up.

His new ideal was only to protect the Beastkin wherever he could, avoiding any serious conflicts with the Immortal Sect.

...

In his own room, the Leader was followed by his aide.

"You do understand why they are worried, right?" the old man asked after confirming they were alone.

The Leader stretched his head as if shaking off tiredness from his face. He answered, "They fear vengeance now."

If the slits of his eyes didn’t make it obvious, his occasionally-glistening scales gave away his beast side; a snake. To be precise, he was a Jade Crowned Viper. Not only was he among the most venomous, but even among the most wise.

The old man continued, "Will you let her...", he gave a pause, "Take vengeance?"

The Leader didn’t answer him directly. Instead, he asked him a question, "Old friend, do you know why I gathered that little group one day to establish The Wilderness?"

Although confused as to why that question was necessary, the old man still answered to the best of his abilities, "Because of the children?"

"Yes. For the children," There was a certain softness on his face that did not blend well with the dangerous slits of his eyes.

"Do you know why I like Ember?" He asked another question.

The old man shook his head, "I’m afraid not."

The Leader wasn’t expecting any answer either. He answered it himself,

"Ember, that lass, for all her ruthlessness, has never once consciously harmed innocent children. Not Beastkin, neither Human. And those 6 fools are no children at their age."

The implications behind his words couldn’t be more clear.

He will let Ember do as she pleases. He wouldn’t intervene unless Beastkin children were harmed.

The old man didn’t continue after that. He had never questioned his decisions before and neither will he now.

. . .

Back in the forest, Ozul was on the lookout for a Transcendent Beast.

Thanks to the Spiritual Wave, all the Beasts in the forest were startled awake. Their instincts screamed danger at them the moment they felt such a huge pressure from another Beast (Ember).

As such, the forest was as lively as it could get.

They encountered many Beasts with Ozul taking care of most of them. With each Beast that he killed, he understood the limitations of his new ability.

It turned out that the stronger a Beast was, the more effort it required to absorb its life essence.

Fortunately, the gains from stronger Beasts were also considerably more than the rest.

The few Origin realm Beasts that he encountered were only at the entry-level. Even after devouring them completely, he didn’t feel any changes in himself.

The trio was at first astounded to see him sucking out life from the beasts, but they quickly got accustomed to the eerie scene.

Raven couldn’t help but think that he would instantly be labeled as an evil cultivator once someone saw that ability of his.

Even in this lawless world known as the Realm of Abezan, there existed people who were despised and loathed by even the common folk. These people were generally those who had committed terrible deeds for selfish gains.

Although Ozul took care of most of the Beasts, more than enough were still left for the trio to deal with.

Zier got better at Blood Mending the more he used that technique. It was nowhere strong enough to control the blood inside someone’s body, but it was still a lethal weapon like no other.

Blaze and Raven too improved their techniques with an astonishing speed.

The true essence of their techniques could only be reflected in real bloody battles. No matter how much they cultivated, it would be lacking in comparison to real experience.

But unlike Ozul, who could use the Purity for as long as he wasn’t mentally exhausted, they had limited reserves of Spiritual Essence.

They had to fight while also rationing their Spiritual Essence.

Fortunately for them, it didn’t take long for Ozul to sense the aura of a Transcendent.

From its raging aura, even Zier could tell that the Beast was in a frenzy.

*WRHaKh!*

They heard the beast shout, asserting its dominance in the territory.

Ozul, who could actually feel its emotions, knew that the Beast was actually afraid because of the Spiritual Wave just now.

"You all stay back," he told the trio.

The Beast was definitely in the Transcendent Realm. It would be dangerous if they were around.

He went ahead, leaving the trio behind, who happily bade him farewell.

He could kill a Transcendent even before, and now with another ability, they didn’t need to guess the outcome.

Rushing to the location, Ozul came across uprooted trees and mutilated corpses of a wolf pack.

Standing amidst the bloody scene was a monkey the size of a gorilla with 3 tails.

It had red fur and a lean body. In its hands were the legs of a torn-apart wolf who used to be in the Origin Realm.

The three-tailed monkey quickly turned toward Ozul.

"Human!!" he shouted, in a distorted voice as thumped on his chest with his fists.

Ozul was at once surprised that the Beast could speak, but quickly let go of the matter. After all, the Wild Beastkin were simply Beasts who had transformed.

According to Ember herself, she was also a Wild Beastkin unlike most of the Beastkin currently alive.

He wasn’t given time to think as the three-tailed monkey jumped straight at him, intending to crush him with his large fists.

Ozul dodged, using Purity to propel him backward.

The place he stood at cracked under the might of a Transcendent Beast.

The three-tailed monkey shouted again before launching himself at Ozul. At this point, he was only seeing red.

This was a good opportunity for Ozul since the Beast had lost himself to his primal instincts of carnage.

He created several sharp needles of Purity and thrust them all at the monkey, who didn’t bother to dodge the attack from a puny Human with no Spiritual Essence.

But as the first few needles pierced his body, the monkey quickly realized the danger.

He stepped aside to dodge the rest of the needles, but it was too late at that point.

Tens of needles were poking out of his body like a porcupine.

"GHRKH!!" It let out a muffled scream before jolting his body, shaking off all the needles using pure Spiritual pressure.

The wounds didn’t close as he had expected. Yet it didn’t even bleed as much, because, for some reason, the monkey noticed that a thin layer of his skin was rotten!

Wherever Purity stuck, Ozul willed it to devour.

Although he quickly noticed the dimmed effect on an actual Transcendent, the rotting effect was still useful in battle as could be seen from the screaming monkey.

The three-tailed monkey, who was initially seething in rage, now jumped up and down in horror at his own lifeless skin.

"This was too easy..." Ozul muttered as he conjured a big blade, propelling it toward the frightened monkey.

Although in a frenzy, the three-tailed monkey was still Transcendent, he screeched and tried attacking the blade with his own hands.

Alas, his hands were cut off together with his upper torso in the next moment.