Although Huo Yuhao's casual and swift slaughter of a Wind Baboon greatly provoked the pack, the absolute ease with which he did it also filled them with a sense of dread.
In truth, for Huo Yuhao, let alone a ten-year Soul Beast, even a genuine hundred-year Soul Beast—if denied the chance to unleash its skills—would be no harder to kill than an ordinary wild beast.
After all, without the bizarre and unpredictable Soul Skills, the physical constitution of ten-year and hundred-year Soul Beasts was at best only slightly superior to ordinary beasts, and the limit of that superiority was absolute. Even if their strength and speed surged dramatically, and their hide possessed an exaggerated toughness, vulnerable spots remained vulnerable spots. By no means could they ever compare to hundred-refined steel. The Wind Baboon whose eye had just been pierced directly by Huo Yuhao's shuriken, its brain churned to pulp, was the best proof of this.
Huo Yuhao's burning gaze locked with the Wind Baboon leader perched upon a tree branch. Activating his Spirit Eye Martial Soul, a faint ripple of Spiritual Power combined with his gaze of utter indifference to life, striking like a frigid spring and instilling such profound terror in the baboon leader that it dared not make a rash move for the moment.
Even so, the Wind Baboon pack showed no intention of retreating. Huo Yuhao and the beasts remained at a complete stalemate right there.
What is going on?
A flicker of doubt crossed Huo Yuhao's mind. He himself absolutely could not afford to back down; the moment he retreated, he would inevitably provoke an attack from the baboons. Even the strongest among them could not control the instinctive mob mentality of the pack. Yet why was this strongest baboon refusing to back down?
Facing the horde of baboons, Huo Yuhao took a few steps backward until he reached the corpse of the Wind Baboon that had been pierced by his shuriken. He began to mutilate the dead beast, blow by blow. In the law-of-the-jungle wilderness, only this kind of bloodiest, most direct, and most savage method could instill fear in creatures that possessed some capacity for thought, however meager.
Sure enough, as Huo Yuhao began his brutal mutilation of the baboon's corpse, the Wind Baboons in the tree canopy visibly felt a crushing pressure. Many of them began to stir restlessly, unconsciously glancing toward the largest and strongest baboon. The fierce light in the alpha's eyes also dimmed considerably. After emitting a long series of low wails, the dark figures in the treetops began to retreat into the distance one after another.
So that was it.
A flash of understanding crossed Huo Yuhao's mind, accompanied by a sudden surge of lingering fear. This baboon leader was simply far too smart.
The standoff between Huo Yuhao and the baboon pack had fallen into a delicate balance from the moment he obliterated the first beast with lightning speed. Huo Yuhao stood alone and hard-pressed; though the baboons were not overwhelmingly strong, they could still unleash Soul Skills. If even a few landed on his frail frame, the outcome would be severe injury if not death—to say nothing of their sheer numbers.
Yet despite their numerical advantage, the pack had been filled with dread after witnessing Huo Yuhao's lethal methods. When he made no further aggressive moves, they were simply observing to see whether he was capable of only a single strike.
Among the baboons, the one with the highest intelligence was naturally the most robustly built leader. It had already realized that the hairless monkey before them was not one of the Soul Beasts they usually guarded against, but rather a Soul Master—a being far more dangerous and ruthless than any Soul Beast.
Yet based on this realization alone, it could not rashly order the pack to retreat. Doing so would damage its ruling authority, especially with several young, robust, and ambitious next-generation baboons lingering within the tribe.
Huo Yuhao's brutal mutilation of the dead baboon's corpse inflicted immense pressure and terror upon the entire pack, but it also provided the leader with a face-saving pretext to withdraw. For this very reason, after Huo Yuhao displayed such savagery, the baboons did not fly into a rage and swarm him; instead, they receded like the tide.
In many situations, humans and Soul Beasts share common traits. Especially when it comes to the fear of death, their shared instincts reach a high degree of consistency, and subconscious reactions never lie.
Seeing the baboons scatter in all directions, Huo Yuhao finally let out a long breath, stowing the remaining shuriken from his left palm back into his Storage Soul Tool. His palms were slick with sweat. They had not even entered the Star Dou Great Forest yet, and already they had run into a crisis. Taking another deep breath, Huo Yuhao finally cast his gaze down upon the utterly ravaged corpse of the Wind Baboon at his feet.
Looking at the shattered, blood-stained body, Huo Yuhao lowered his head slightly. Wielding his blade in his right hand while forming a Buddhist salutation gesture with his left, he murmured an apology in his heart. This was neither hypocrisy nor affectation on Huo Yuhao's part, but a genuine expression of gratitude. It was precisely because he had used the mutilation of this baboon's body to display his cruelty and tyranny to the others that the remaining beasts had been frightened away. In reason and equity alike, Huo Yuhao owed a debt of gratitude.
Pulling a steel shovel from his Storage Soul Tool, Huo Yuhao quickly dug a shallow pit. He cradled the mutilated remains of the Wind Baboon in both hands and placed them into the trench, taking out some fruit and two roasted fish from his Storage Soul Tool to place inside as funerary offerings for the beast. Only then did he shovel the excavated earth back to fill the pit.
Such behavior on Huo Yuhao's part would be utterly incomprehensible to most people, but to him, it was the most natural thing in the world.
Even if a ninja's destiny is bound to killing, they must never abandon that sliver of compassion. This was the precept of a ninja, to be etched into one's heart at all times.
At least for Huo Yuhao, this Wind Baboon had helped him. Granted, having one's corpse mutilated was by no means something the beast would have willingly accepted, but Huo Yuhao had indeed used the corpse to make a point and resolve his trouble. Therefore, he ought to feel a sense of gratitude toward this body. This emotion was effectively the same as that of an aged artisan feeling grateful toward the cold, lifelong companion of a tool—it was a form of emotional sustenance.
"That's right! This old man smells that scent again. I told you, following this old man's nose is never wrong!"
An aged yet remarkably high-spirited and vigorous voice rang out beside Huo Yuhao's ear. The next moment, two figures burst out from the dense foliage one after the other. The old man was lean but not scrawny, with a head of long, ink-green hair that thinned slightly at the crown, and eyes that shone with sharp brilliance.
The young man following behind looked to be around fifteen or sixteen years of age, tall and powerfully built, with reddish-brown hair that gleamed like gemstones in the sunlight. With broad shoulders, a narrow waist, strong facial features, and sharp jawlines, he was strikingly handsome. Furthermore, his skin was as flawless and white as jade. Huo Yuhao merely glanced at him before a wry smile involuntarily rose in his heart.
This young man's appearance was simply like that of a male protagonist who had stepped straight out of a storybook—handsome, tall, imposing, and strides proud, practically bearing the words "Favored Son of Heaven" carved across his face.