Volume 1: Bo'an Awakening & The Calamity Storm
Chapter 24
Tracks of the Ferocious Beast
The entire squad held their breath, their eyes glued in horror to the three-toed claw print sunken nearly ten centimeters into the sodden mud.
Beneath a scattering of rotted foliage plowed roughly to either side, the beast’s imprint stamped into the middle of the trail possessed a grotesque, terrifying shape. Three razor-sharp talons splayed broadly forward, while the rounded fleshy paw pad behind them was as wide as a bronze washbasin. All three talon tips had driven violently into the viscous clay, sinking nearly four inches deep and gouging clean, vicious furrows that had pulverized the stubborn gravel stones buried beneath.
The atmosphere within Lu Yuan Valley plunged into dead silence in an instant. A biting mountain gale whipped through the granite gorge, carrying the clammy, pungent stench of ancient moss and rotting pine needles, blasting directly across the taut, pale faces of the five students from Feng Lan High School.
Li Peng poked his trembling head over Ling Bai’s shoulder to peer downward. Within the span of a few shallow breaths, all color drained completely from his face, leaving behind a corpse-pale, sickly pallor. His knees knocked together uncontrollably, making the iron buckles on his backpack rattle with a frantic, metallic clatter.
His teeth chattered violently, his voice breaking into ragged, terrified gasps:
“T-Three-toed claws... gouging down this deep... A print this massive... is it a Mid-tier or a High-tier Servant Beast?! We need to turn back right now and fire a distress flare! Signal the Cang Lei Ridge garrison for rescue! This is way out of our league—we have to retreat!”
As he babbled, Li Peng frantically clutched the lapel of Ling Bai’s field jacket, sheer unadulterated panic written across his face.
Li Peng’s shrill whining dealt an immediate, stinging blow to Ling Bai’s pride.
In truth, cold sweat was already drenching the nape of Ling Bai’s own neck. A chill radiating from the vicious claw print slithered up his spine and pierced his skull. The savagery conveyed by the sheer scale of the print far exceeded any sanitized illustration in their combat textbooks. Hidden behind his back, his hand gripped his silver magical bracer so tightly that his knuckles turned stark white.
Yet, catching sight of Xiao Min standing merely a few paces away, the aristocratic hubris of the Ling Clan scion forbade him from showing even an ounce of cowardice. Before setting out, he had thumped his chest and declared himself squad leader before everyone. If he nodded now and fired a signal flare for help, his reputation as an Ice Element genius would vanish into smoke—and his chance to claim the Basic Magic Shield Talisman from Commander Lei Zhen’s own hands would slip through his fingers forever.
Swatting Li Peng’s hands away in disgust, Ling Bai struggled to maintain his squad leader composure, barking harshly:
“Shut your filthy mouth! With the guts of a spineless rabbit, how do you ever expect to become a real mage?! We haven’t even laid eyes on the beast and you’re already shaking like a leaf! Firing a flare means an automatic F for the entire squad and getting kicked out of the Experimental Class on the spot! Do you want to turn us into laughingstocks for the whole school?!”
Rebuked straight to his face, Li Peng winced and shrank back with a pitiful whimper, though his legs remained trembling jelly.
Ling Bai tilted his chin up, puffing out his chest to regain his commanding demeanor:
“I have completely mastered a full Ice Star Path. The moment any Servant Beast dares to show its ugly face, my Ice Frost will freeze its joints solid before it can even blink! Stop scaring your own shadow!”
While Ling Bai and Li Peng were locked in their futile bickering, Lin Feng completely ignored the useless dispute.
He calmly crouched beside the mud puddle, paying no mind to the muck staining his fraying homespun trousers. The tip of his finger lightly traced the rim of the claw impression, scrutinizing every displaced crumb of loam and every droplet of moisture seeping within.
Against his chest, the Primordial Dragon Pendant hidden beneath his coarse sweater maintained a steady, gentle pulse of warmth. That pure, soothing heat filtered into his Sea of Consciousness, anchoring his mind in a state of profound stillness. His senses flared open to their peak, picking up the subtlest shifts in his surroundings. His olfactory, auditory, and visual perceptions had been honed to an acuity far surpassing that of an ordinary mortal.
“The mud along the rim of the print is still fresh; water hasn’t even pooled inside yet.”
Lin Feng’s voice was remarkably calm, each measured syllable slicing cleanly through the frantic noise.
“The gouges carved by the claws have sharp, defined edges, entirely unweathered by the mountain wind or moisture. The groundwater welling up at the bottom has only formed a paper-thin film. The beast passed through here barely fifteen minutes ago.”
A fifteen-minute window. That revelation made both Zhang Hu and Xiao Min tighten their grips on their weapons. The savage monstrosity was undeniably close, traveling along the exact same path!
Lin Feng rose to his feet and strode toward an ancient fir tree leaning crookedly against the cliff face roughly three meters off the trail. He reached out, his fingers brushing the ragged, shredded bark.
A massive strip of thick bark had been gouged away, baring the pale yellow grain of the wood scored with three deep, jagged furrows that dragged from top to bottom.
“Look here.” Lin Feng tapped the scored wood lightly with his knuckles.
“Sap is still weeping out in milky droplets—slightly tacky to the touch, neither congealed nor oxidized dark from prolonged exposure to the air. Furthermore, these scratches sit nearly two and a half meters above the ground. That indicates a quadrupedal beast fully capable of rearing upright on its hind legs to scent-mark its territory. Its body weight must easily exceed three hundred kilograms.”
Turning around, he cast his gaze down the trail winding deeper into the bleak, ash-gray canyon.
“The claw marks on the trunk and the flecks of mud spattered across the flagstones all point straight north. Its trajectory aligns precisely with the fissure leading to the Mana Crystal Cavern marked on the military map.”
Lin Feng’s crisp, incisive, and compelling deductions left the entire squad dumbfounded.
Zhang Hu slapped his thigh with a resounding smack, his chubby face beaming with smug satisfaction as he sneered at Li Peng:
“Did you catch every single word Brother Feng just said, you spineless coward? That is how a battle-hardened wilderness scout tracks prey—every deduction backed by hard evidence! Not like you, crying to fire a flare the second your tail gets stepped on! In an enclosed ravine like this, before the garrison even spots the smoke, the detonation would echo off the cliffs and drag that monster right back here to bite your head off!”
Li Peng flushed scarlet with humiliation. He opened his mouth to shoot back, but seeing the milky sap still trickling sluggishly down the exposed wood, he could only clamp his jaw shut.
To the side, Xiao Min watched Lin Feng with genuine admiration, marveling at his unshakable composure and razor-sharp powers of observation.
Ever since entering the Experimental Class at Feng Lan High, Xiao Min had grown accustomed to privileged scions flaunting their family resources to show off their cultivation. She had heard rumors of Lin Feng tearing up the Ling Clan’s contract, assuming at the time that he was merely a rash, headstrong youth. Yet here, faced with the mortal perils of the savage wilds, his calm resolve, unyielding confidence, and perceptive eyes revealed the true mettle of a genuine combat mage.
The heavy dread weighing upon her heart dissolved, supplanted by firm trust. Taking a step forward to stand beside Lin Feng, she declared with resolute determination:
“Lin Feng’s analysis is spot-on. The beast is directly ahead of us. We cannot turn tail halfway, but we must proceed with absolute caution. Lin Feng, your tracking and reconnaissance instincts are the sharpest. From now on, you lead the squad.”
Ling Bai stood frozen, feeling as though he had just been dealt a stinging backhand across the face in front of everyone. He was the designated squad leader, yet Xiao Min had openly stripped him of his authority and handed the vanguard to Lin Feng!
Catching Xiao Min’s uncompromising gaze, Ling Bai could not openly object. Gritting his teeth, he forced out a stiff, strained laugh:
“Fine... Having Lin Feng take the lead is suitable; scouting is grunt work meant for the vanguard anyway. But when we run into that savage beast, the burden of putting it down will still rest entirely upon my Ice Element. Stay close, everyone. I’ll hold the rear to ensure our retreat is secure!”
Zhang Hu shook his head, muttering under his breath: “Secure, my ass... more like getting ready to bolt first...”
Hugged against the rock face, the squad pressed forward with extreme caution, venturing deeper into the gorge of Lu Yuan Valley.
The deeper they ventured, the more treacherous and alien the terrain became. Sheer granite cliffs converged on either side, pinching into a gloomy, jagged crevasse barely wide enough for two people to squeeze through abreast. The ribbon of blue sky overhead shrank to a faint sliver of light, flickering hazily through the frigid mist.
The air grew increasingly damp and bone-chilling. Water seeping from the hairline fractures in the stone dripped rhythmically onto the gravel below—plip... plop... Each solitary droplet echoed through the hollow chasm like a death toll, ratcheting their nerves to the breaking point.
Lin Feng took point at the head of the formation. Every step he took was featherlight and measured, scrupulously avoiding brittle twigs or moss-slick stones. His right hand hung loosely at his side, yet his fingers were coiled with spring-loaded tension, primed to strike at a microsecond’s notice.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, his vibrant crimson Fire Stardust and dark violet Lightning Stardust revolved in silent synergy. Fourteen Star Cores shimmered brilliantly, poised like coiled embers and primed lightning arcs. Having drilled the alignment of his Star Paths thousands upon thousands of times, a single flicker of thought was all he needed to unleash Basic Magic in under a second!
Suddenly, a draft sliced through the narrow rock fissure, driving a frigid gust against their chests.
“Everyone... do you smell that?” Xiao Min lowered her voice abruptly. Her feet froze in their tracks, her delicate brows knitting into a tight knot.
Zhang Hu twitched his nose. His expression morphed into instant revulsion, and he quickly clamped a sleeve over his nose and mouth:
“Damn it all... what is that rank stench? Smells like putrid, congealed blood!”
The pungent musk of a predatory beast drifted on the wind, thickening with every passing second. It was the sickening reek of stagnant gore mingling with the rancid bile and rotting carrion breath of a predator that tore live prey limb from limb. The suffocating stench of slaughter invaded their nostrils, coating their throats in bile and setting their stomachs churning in violent spasms.
Li Peng shook violently, clutching the straps of his pack as his face went utterly devoid of color. Ling Bai swallowed a lump of dry saliva, his knuckles whitening around his magic staff as his forward steps grew hesitant and halting.
Against Lin Feng’s chest, the Primordial Dragon Pendant suddenly blazed scorching hot, sending rapid, rhythmic pulses of warning directly into his soul.
The ferocious beast was right ahead!
Rounding a jagged bend in the granite wall, the cramped crevasse gave way to a semi-circular clearing nestled beneath the towering, sheer face of the mountain.
Directly ahead lay the mouth of a natural cavern draped in a dense curtain of dark purple brambles. Tangles of thorny vines cascaded from the four-meter-high stone archway, shrouding the pitch-black entrance in ominous gloom.
Yet through the gaps between the thorny vines, the crystalline shimmer of Magic Crystal Ore glimmered alluringly from deep within the cavern’s maw! Azure and sapphire gleams refracted across towering stalactites, pulsing with pure, dense waves of raw magical energy that would make any mage’s heart race with wild craving.
“The Magic Crystal Ore!”
Ling Bai’s eyes lit up with feverish brilliance. Fear was instantly smothered beneath an overwhelming wave of greed and ambition. Leaping forward with eager strides, his voice trembled with undisguised ecstasy:
“That’s it! As long as we grab a single chunk to bring back, our squad is guaranteed an A+ on this trial!”
Behind him, Li Peng piped up in giddy relief:
“We found it! Let’s snatch the ore and get the hell out of here!”
Ling Bai lifted his foot, preparing to sprint straight toward the cavern mouth.
“STOP!”
An iron arm snapped across like a steel bar, slamming across Ling Bai’s chest with unyielding force and arresting him dead in his tracks!
“Lin Feng! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Jolted backward half a pace, Ling Bai’s face flushed purple with humiliated fury as he snarled.
“Shut your mouth if you want to keep your life!”
Lin Feng’s voice was low, rasping like a razor drawn from its sheath. His gaze was pinned coldly to the damp earth before the cavern entrance, radiating a chilling intensity that raised goosebumps.
Startled, Xiao Min and Zhang Hu followed Lin Feng’s gaze. And when the faint light filtering from the chasm above fell upon the clearing before the cavern, the hot blood running through their veins froze instantly into solid ice!
Scattered across the cavern threshold were the gnawed, bleached bones of wild beasts!
Dozens of limb bones as thick as a grown man’s forearm, along with jagged, splintered ribcages, lay shredded into pieces, their marrow sucked bone-dry. Worse still, interspersed among the white, sun-bleached remnants were rotting scraps of blackened flesh weeping viscous, putrid serum, swarmed by thick clouds of buzzing bluebottle flies that saturated the clearing in a nauseating, foul stench!
This was no mere natural mineral cavern hiding treasure...
This was an open-air charnel ground—the blood-soaked feeding den of a savagely bloodthirsty beast!
Tap... tap...
While the entire squad stood paralyzed in speechless horror, a blast of sweltering, humid air carrying the rancid stench of death washed over them from deep within the pitch-black shadows behind the bramble curtain.
Accompanied by it was the slow, deliberate scrape of razor-sharp talons dragging across solid granite... screeech... screeech... A bone-grating screech that threatened to shred the eardrums of every intruder!