Sorry but I only accept female disciples!

*WOOOSSSH** However, at this time, a massive energy suddenly began to swirl around the heron's body pushing away dust and debris in all directions.

Huh? Feeling the pressure radiating from the beast's body, Jin Wei was taken aback and a mutter escaped her lips.

"It is.. ascending?"

The cultivators and the guards in the vicinity raised their arms to shield their faces from the debris and squinted their eyes to look at the man standing in front of the heron.

Seeing that Zhang Yuan is going to fight it, Chen Zin hurriedly took a high grade healing pill from her storage ring and opened Jin Wei's lips tossing it in.

"Master..."

As Jin Wei gulped down the healing pill, her eyes were fixated on the back of Zhang Yuan 'he just used... sword energy?'

'He has learned sword intent....'

Chen Zin turned her gaze to the heron, which was quickly regenerating its lost wing and one of its head.

"Master... what is happening?"

Taking a deep breath, Jin Wei stood up and looked at the bright light covering the Heron's body "It is ascending right now... from the 9th level of the Venerate Profound stage."

"To the King Profound stage..."

Chen Zin was taken aback to hear this and mumbled "King Profound stage?"

"T-Then.. why is he not killing that beast immediately and letting it evolve."

Jin Wei's eyes condensed and looked at his white hair fluttering amongst the debris.

"I wonder why..."

"GUUUAAARGHHHHHH!!!"

Now that it has evolved to the 1st level of King Profound Stage, its blood curling scream reverberated through the air making the people tremble in horror.

"It's head.. regenerated?"

"WHY?"

"Urgh.. my heart aches."

Its three heads gazed down at the man standing in front of it and swung its right wing, its sharp feathers hurling towards him.

Jin Wei's eyes narrowed to see his next movement and Zhang Yuan raised his hand, slashing the wing.

*sleesh* Blood splurted from its body as its wing was cut off flying in the air.

"RRAAARGHH!"

The heron was taken aback and stumbled back, its cold eyes gazing into Zhang Yuan and it could feel the death looming over its head.

*woosh* Its three heads swiveled toward Zhang Yuan, as it lunged forward, its claws tearing the air.

As Zhang Yuan raised his sword, it twisted its two heads to the side, and with another slash, one of its heads was sliced off from the body and fell to the ground with a loud thud. *thud*

Enraged by this, the heron opened its beaks to spit out purplish flames as it barged its talons towards him.

Zhang Yuan easily cut off its talon and thrust his sword in the air, as a white slash materialized in the air hurling towards its head.

*sleesh* Another one of its heads was torn away from its body.

"GUAARGH!!!" As the heron struggled to stay on its feet, its last head snapped at Zhang Yuan in a final attempt to kill him.

But Zhang Yuan with a single, downward strike, cut through the heron's final head, severing it cleanly from its body.

For a moment, the battlefield was silent, as the heron's massive dead body fell to the ground.

Its three heads lay scattered around its corpse, blood pooling in the dirt as its life force faded.

Zhang Yuan extended his left hand and the beast's corpse instantly burned up leaving behind nothing but chards.

*swish* And amongst the chards, a faint golden beam was flickering, and a round orb, the size of a football appeared from it, floating towards Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan smiled seeing this and it levitated to him, landing on his palm.

"Huh?"

"What is that?"

Everyone remaining was startled to see this while some people who knew about this, took a deep breath.

As he turned around, Jin Wei once again took a good glimpse at his handsome face 'As I thought, he let it ascend so that he can get the beast core...'

Spirit beasts after reaching the King profound stage will certainly have a beast core and it is really rare because there are not many spirit beasts in the continent that have reached the King Profound stage.

'So, he is in the King profound stage.. I guess.'

'He might have been watching us from the sidelines till now...'

While the others were in a state of shock, Ming Yuelin hurriedly ran to him with an excited smile on her face "Master..."

Following her, Xue Hua also reached him and bowed her head gently "master..."

Ming Yuelin curiously looked at the golden ball in Zhang Yuan's hand and reached out her hand to touch it "What is this master? It is that bird's egg?"

-_- Zhang Yuan let out a soft chuckle and replied "It is a beast core..."

Eh? Ming Yuelin was dumbfounded to hear this "Beasts have core?"

With a nod, Zhang Yuan explained "Yeah... just like you have profound core, beasts also have beast core."

"But after reaching the King Profound stage... the beast core will condense in a solid state and it is quite rare."

"Some people use it to craft artifacts, powerful weapons... you can also use it to increase cultivation."

Ming Yuelin was amazed and muttered "Wooaahhh.. I didn't know that."

Hearing this, Xue Hua frowned slightly 'So he has been waiting for that beast to ascend.. while it was fighting that woman."

"Umm…" The captain of the guard, still reeling from the intense battle, approached Zhang Yuan with deep respect.

His voice was laced with both gratitude and awe as he bowed deeply. "Thank you very much for saving us, Taoist… uh…"

With a shake of his head, Zhang Yuan glanced over at Jin Wei and spoke "Thank her, she is the one who did the most work and protected you all."

"Yeah..."

"Lady Sword..."

The others also turned to look at her with grateful smiles and the captain of the guard walked toward her "My lady... may I know who you are."

Jin Wei cast a quick glance at Zhang Yuan and replied "Jin Wei, Sword Saint of the Haoshaku Empire."

Hearing this, gasps were heard among the people as they were surprised

"Is she the new Sword Saint… the one who's been getting famous recently?"

"I've heard of her… but to see her in action like this…"

"She's incredible…"

Jin Wei was quite embarrassed to hear their compliments and smiled politely.

*swoosh* Just as the crowd's murmurs of admiration filled the air, a gust of wind swept through the battlefield, followed by the sound of something—or someone—landing heavily on the ground.

Everyone's heads turned in unison as five figures descended from the sky, three men, and two women, a powerful aura swirling around them.

"Ahhh?"

Everyone panicked seeing the sudden entry of some people and backed away.

"Who are they?"

The bulky man took two steps forward and glanced around at the silent battlefield "We are the reinforcements from the capital."

"We heard that there is a Beast tide happening here, so we came for help."

-_-

Everyone stared at them blankly and at this time, the bulky man glanced around at the beasts' corpses that were sprawled around the battlefield and the destruction.

"Huh? It is over?"

The captain of the guard stepped and gave a faint bow "It has already been cleared..."

Ohhh. The bulky man was amused to hear this "That was unexpected... but looking at the beast corpses, it is certain that the Beast wave is large."

"How did you manage to defeat it?"

The captain of the guard pointed toward Zhang Yuan and Jin Wei "The Taosit over there and the Sword Saint helped us to clear this."

Sword Saint?

The five of them cast curious glances at Jin Wei and she returned with a slight smile on her face.

At this time, the bulky man's eyes fell on the beast core in Ming Yuelin's hand and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"There was even a King Profound stage beast? Was that the scream we heard.. when we came here?"

Muttering, he walked towards Ming Yuelin and seeing his imposing figure, Ming Yuelin was scared shitless and hurriedly hid behind Zhang Yuan, clutching his robes.

"M-Master..."

The bulky man cupped his hands, showing his respect for Zhang Yuan "Senior Taoist, can you give me the beast core?"

"If you are willing, I can offer a generous amount of coins for it."

Zhang Yuan, with his usual calm smile, shook his head gently. "It's not for sale."

Hearing this, the bulky man let out a disappointed sigh "I see... Senior Taoist, if you ever changed your mind... please come to the capital."

"I am Wang Mun, current Sect master of the Wang Sect."

Zhang Yuan gave a nod "En."

The bulky man then glanced at everyone and spoke in a loud voice "Everyone, thank you for your hard work in protecting Pearl City."

"Your efforts won't go wasted..."

"Our emperor has already decreed that rewards will be given to all those who aided in defending the city during the beast tide."

Upon hearing this, everyone cheered in unison and Jin Wei's eyes flickered to Zhang Yuan.

With a smile, she walked towards him and Chen Zin followed her.

"Um, Taoist..."

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I hope you guys liked this chapter!

Thankyou for the golden tickets!