One hour after Ye Mo left the area, five men in black clothes and hoods covering their heads entered the Jade Forest. They were moving so fast it looked like they were gliding on the wind.
A couple of minutes later, they reached the battle site between the red leopard and Liu Hualing's group. There were several broken trees and many claw marks in the surroundings, but they couldn't find anyone's traces.
A tall man at the front removed his hood and crouched down, revealing short white hair and a scar running across his left eye.
Passing his hand on the ground, the seasoned leader caught a thin long strand of hair in his fingers.
Its wheat-colored surface matched with Liu Hualing's hair perfectly.
"The young miss was here not too long ago." The man exclaimed in a grave tone.
From the state of the environment, he could see his search of the girl was taking a turn for the worse.
"Senior, could she have been fighting with a blood beast?" One of the men at his sides asked.
"Yes, and from the marks around us, it's at least a rank one mid-tier beast."
The subordinate gasped in shock.
Blood beasts and monsters possessed nine ranks according to their power and the extent of their abilities, while each rank was further broken down into four tiers: low, mid, high, and peak.
As for humans, they started cultivation by entering the Qi Gathering Realm and climbing its nine layers before they could attempt to breakthrough the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The weakest rank 1 mid-tier blood beasts could usually dispatch a 4th layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivator without problem while most of them could deal with 5th and 6th layer experts.
Liu Hualing and her group were only at the 4th layer of the Qi Gathering Realm for many of them, and merely two attained the 5th and 6th layers, respectively.
If they really met such a beast by themselves, it was very unlikely for them to survive.
"Something is wrong with this scene..." The white-haired man uttered with furrowed brows, "Blood beasts are very territorial creatures, if there is one around then it should have jumped at us already, but we have been here for some time now, and beside these marks, no beast presence has been spotted in the surroundings. Moreover, if they met misfortune at the hands of a beast, why is there nothing left? It should have left a real carnage in this place yet, no blood, bones or even clothes remain."
The man found the situation truly abnormal, but although he made assumptions, he didn't dare think of Liu Hualing's death or her father's reaction.
"Could they have been helped and managed to escape?" One of his subordinates wondered.
"Maybe, in any case, we will have to report this to the patriarch." Putting his hood back on his head, the scarred man and the others departed as fast as they came.
Far from this investigation, in Azure Water City, Ye Mo returned to his small house.
It's been a long time since Ye Mo did such a thing, but the last days were tiring and after going through a full night of agony, he wrapped himself in dirty sheets and took a nap on the floor of his accommodation.
Resting was everything he needed at this moment and after sleeping for a few hours, he woke up in the afternoon completely refreshed.
Standing up, Ye Mo retrieved a small green pouch from his pocket. This object was one of the belongings he took from Liu Hualing after he disposed of her.
After all, he didn't kill her for no reason.
He had to wait the opportun time to strike, the core of the matter was that he could not attack too soon nor too late. If he acted quickly during the battle and killed the leopard, Liu Hualing's clan members accompanying her would be saved as well.
These people were much older and more experienced than her, they would easily grow suspicious towards him and ask many questions, unraveling his true level in an instant. If things went downright and a fight broke out, he would have no chance by himself against this group of cultivators.
You think they might be grateful after he saved them, but a lot of people only see their own interests above everything. Even if they were indeed appreciative of his act, it wouldn't stop them from mistrusting him, they could even bring Ye Mo to their clan to interrogate him and find out how this nobody obtained such strength.
"If I attacked too late instead, Liu Hualing would have been killed by the blood beast along with the rest of her teammates. In this case, the leopard would have likely started devouring their bodies or bringing them back to its lair to consume them later. I wouldn't be able to use the Nine Revolutions Fiend Body on them or gain anything and would be left in the same troubling situation I was previously."
"Without Liu Hualing and her group to divert the beast's attention while I strike it down, I wouldn't have any chance to eliminate it and should be killed as easily if I tried to face it. In addition, wild beasts possess keen senses, the truth is that it could have noticed me even if I didn't act once it was done with Liu Hualing. It was a situation of 'fight or take flight', if I didn't flee right away, then I had to kill the horned leopard."
It was with all these considerations in mind that Ye Mo seized his hand and patiented perched on his tree.
Once the blood beast was killed and only Liu Hualing remained, Ye Mo didn't risk anything. Even if she attacked him, he wasn't afraid, she had exhausted all her qi already and had little force remaining to sustain a fight. By talking with her, he could understand the situation clearly and take the proper course of action, Liu Hualing wasn't wary at the moment and revealed informations that shouldn't be given to someone like Ye Mo.
Another reason to kill her.
Now he broke through the first revolution, but that's not all.
Ye Mo opened the green pouch and plunged his whole arm inside a small bag that could fit in the palm of a hand.
This surreal scene didn't surprise him as it was another motive for him to eliminate Liu Hualing.
What he held was a spatial pouch containing three cubic meters of space.
Only the most important clan members and students of martial institutions possess one as they weren't easy to produce and required the help of a master in formations.
The one Ye Mo held immediately caught his attention when he approached Liu Hualing as he once saw a tall and scary man leaving the city while taking a huge axe out of one of those.
Taking a look inside, Ye Mo found three gold coins which displayed how poor was the Liu clan. Liu Hualing was the daughter of the clan leader and should have held much more than this meager amount, Ye Mo expected a greater wealth, but he wasn't disappointed, it wasn't what he was looking for anyway.
Next, he grabbed several bottles of different shapes and materials containing all kinds of pills. He didn't know their use so he randomly opened one and took a whiff inside.
"They are odorless, I will have to find out more about them later." Ye Mo took note as he closed the bottle and continued.
Finally, he retrieved a small white box from the spatial pouch with shining eyes. When he opened it, he found the moon-pacifying herb laying inside, round like a full moon surrounded by grey petals. Ye Mo left it inside and closed the box, it wasn't the time to put it to use yet. Instead, he kept rummaging inside the spatial pouch until he seized a small green book intitulated:
Wind Flow battle skill - Yellow Class, low-tier martial art.