In a mountain forest, hundreds of spirit beasts surrounded a small hill, forming a formidable defense.

On the hilltop, Yongqi looked at his brother, who was making a breakthrough, with worry.

They had been traveling all along and had no intention of breaking through, since herds of beasts appeared frequently on the way, making it far from safe.

Lin Qian and Yongqi's spiritual power had reached its maximum, but they didn't feel any sense of breakthrough. So the two tigers didn't pay any attention. Lin Qian thought there must be some kind of opportunity. After all, this was a breakthrough to level 10, which was a new stage. Naturally, it wasn't like a breakthrough that would happen naturally when the spiritual power was full.

Although he had expected that he would need a trigger, Lin Qian never imagined that the trigger would be a battle!

Last night they encountered a group of mutated beasts and fought all night. Although he felt that the spiritual energy in his body was unusually active and boiling, he did not think about breaking through, and thought it was because he was too excited from fighting for too long.

As soon as it finished dealing with the mutated beast horde, the moment it relaxed, its spiritual energy surged and boiled, and a breakthrough was just around the corner!

Lin Qian's previous breakthroughs were all under safe conditions, and this was the first time he had broken through so suddenly. However, Lin Qian only panicked for a moment before leading the beast herd to a relatively hidden hill. After ordering the beast herd to guard the hill, Lin Qian could no longer suppress his power.

Fortunately, courage didn't suddenly break through like it, otherwise the two brothers would have been in great danger. Although the elephant herd was reliable, the flying squirrel herd didn't have much affection for them. In addition, the captured and recruited spirit beasts along the way were very chaotic. If there wasn't a strong person to keep them in check, there would definitely be trouble.

It must be said that the aura of Courage, a level 9 spirit beast, was quite effective. Among the captured spirit beasts, there were many level 7 and 8 powerhouses, but they were still very afraid of Courage.

Aside from the sheer superiority of Courage, its sheer speed alone instilled fear in them. Most of these captives were captured by Courage; its speed was overwhelming. Once Courage had its sights on a spirit beast, almost none could escape its pursuit.

——————

Above the ley lines, the defensive array barrier remained visible, as nearly 70% of the beasts in the mountains surrounded the barrier's edge and were constantly attacking it.

Within the area covered by the formation, Tiger Dad and his companions had just finished clearing out the beasts and were currently resting and recovering their spiritual energy.

After a day and a night of relentless fighting and searching, even Tiger Dad and his crew couldn't withstand such exhaustion.

Now, apart from Xiao Ma and Bai Teng, all the other spirit beasts and spirit birds on the entire mountain range are in a state of having exhausted their spiritual energy.

The stepmother was watching the formation intently. Their strength had not yet recovered, and the formation absolutely could not be damaged!

The chipmunk placed a large number of high-quality spirit stones near the formation. It didn't need to look at the medium-quality ones anymore, for fear that the formation would malfunction due to insufficient spiritual power.

At this point, the formation's spirit stones were being replenished every 15 minutes, and six high-quality spirit stones could have lasted for seven days!

Bai Teng picked most of the ripe spiritual fruits and distributed them all. In order to help everyone recover their spiritual power more quickly, she distributed spiritual fruits, spiritual stones, and spiritual liquids without skimping on anything.

The exhausted spirit beasts smiled as they looked at the spirit items that had been distributed; all the hard work was worth it!

Of course, there were bound to be casualties during the battle. Tiger Dad and the others did not treat the dead spirit beasts as food, but buried them in the spirit fruit forest.

Next to each fruit tree, three spirit beasts were buried. On the trunk, a small groove was dug in three directions, and the fur of the buried spirit beasts was placed in the groove.

This method was suggested by Tiger Mom. She had noticed it when she saw Lin Qian burying humans, and combined with what she learned from Shan Feng, she felt that this was the best way.

They don't eat spirit beast meat, so burying it under the spirit fruit tree won't be a waste; it can even serve as a memorial and a way to appease them.

Digging a small hole the size of a finger in a spirit fruit tree will not affect the tree. After all, it is on the outer layer and only one or two centimeters deep. Even ordinary trees would not have any problems. The vitality of a spirit fruit tree is much stronger than that of ordinary trees.

This action also made the other spirit beasts feel much better. Although they were all awakened wild beasts, and no spirit beast would say anything if they were eaten, they now have intelligence. If they were really eaten, everyone would feel uncomfortable. This action made them feel much better.

These lost spirit beasts were not unfamiliar creatures; they were all familiar faces, including some who had fought alongside them. Even knowing that spirit beast meat was beneficial, they couldn't bring themselves to eat it.

The injured spirit beasts received more spirit liquid, because after the Hundred Vine evolved to level 5, the spirit liquid had the effect of repairing injuries and was no longer just a pure cultivation spirit liquid.

With the help of the spiritual liquid, spirit beasts that were not seriously injured were able to recover their mobility quickly after refining it, while those that were seriously injured were placed not far from the formation, where the stepmother would take care of them. If there was any accident, the stepmother could also protect them for a period of time.

This arrangement made the severely injured spirit beasts extremely grateful. They were all wild animals, and had always followed the natural law that the old, weak, sick, and disabled were eliminated.

They were already surprised that they hadn't been abandoned and were being cared for in various ways, but being protected by their stepmother was completely beyond their imagination.

The tiger family's status is self-evident. Even though the stepmother did not demonstrate her fighting power, she was still the tiger king in the minds of the spirit beasts. She was the superior and the ruler. They would never have imagined that they would be protected by the tiger king.

Originally, spirit beasts certainly wouldn't have a sense of hierarchy. They fear the strong, but that's all they do—fear and obedience.

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