Front Line of the Beast Tide, Part 10

Danyue said, “Before I came here, the rules of survival in this place had already been figured out. It’s always easier for us to stand in the footsteps of our predecessors.”

Su Qing understood this principle.

If she had truly been thrown into this world blind, she wouldn’t have so quickly understood that heart-fire could be transferred and shared, that Soul Beast cores could fuel heart-fire, and the various methods of hunting Soul Beasts.

Danyue, seeing that she understood this point, continued, “And the rootless fire has the same origin. You can understand it as an extremely precious legacy left to us by our predecessors.”

Su Qing repeated, “Legacy?”

Danyue sighed, explaining, “The first to settle here were the healers from Ci’an Herb Hall. Among the five elements’ spiritual energies, wood spiritual energy is the most healing. Therefore, most of these healers had wood spiritual roots, and naturally had a high probability of being drawn into this world.”

“Now, the several healers we have here are the ones who survived among them. And that rootless fire, it is said to be… the accumulation of the heart-fire sparks forcefully left behind by these predecessors after their demise.”

Su Qing’s heart tightened.

She said with extreme surprise, “But this heart-fire is related to the spirit. That is to say, the rootless fire is still burning their spirits?”

People had passed away, yet still found no rest.

Instead, they left their spirits behind, burning day and night, illuminating the wilderness, and dispelling darkness.

Could the benevolent hearts of healers truly reach such a degree?

Su Qing looked up, gazing at the Healer in the crowd who was using heart-fire as a guide to expel demonic energy from the injured.

Her posture was very skilled, her movements nimble and orderly.

She kept her head down, her gaze intently fixed on the injured, occasionally whispering something, seemingly inquiring about their condition or offering comfort.

Under the scorching heart-fire, the Healer’s light was hidden among the others, appearing less special.

Just as she had said, her cultivation was originally low, certainly not comparable to the dazzling light of Rainbow and the others.

But inexplicably, Su Qing perceived in her a certain calm, tinged with faint sorrow.

Su Qing murmured, “So that’s the reason.”

Having experienced the successive deaths and departures of her fellow seniors, the unquenchable fire she wielded to save lives was transformed from their spirits.

And she, who remained, had to calmly comfort and encourage others.

Su Qing wondered what kind of feelings the Healer must have.

At this moment, Su Qing even hoped that she truly wasn’t Xiu Fu.

Because she still remembered Xiu Fu’s wish to stay by her mother and the old lady’s side, living an ordinary and peaceful life.

Her studying medicine was partly because she had clarified her Dao Heart upon entering the Sword School, and more so out of her inherent kindness.

Su Qing didn’t want Xiu Fu to suffer such hardship.

But, she also knew that such a gentle and lovely heart was not common in the human world.

Su Qing wanted to talk to her, but this was a critical moment, and she also held the extremely important item of heart-fire, making her identity sensitive.

Even if she truly was Xiu Fu, Su Qing revealing herself to her now would bring her no benefit.

Danyue, seeing Su Qing’s somewhat low spirits, began to encourage her, “Don’t overthink it. It’s necessary to feel gratitude for the kindness of our predecessors, but if you ask me, I’d rather have my spirit burned day and night, protecting future generations, than be tainted by demonic energy and merge into the darkness to aid evil. That is far more hopeless.”

She said optimistically, “At least this is a noble way to die, isn’t it?”

Su Qing had to admit that Danyue’s words also made sense.

After the injured had their wounds cleaned, Rainbow sequentially placed the beast cores into the rootless fire.

The crimson-white flame, upon contact with the glistening beast cores, immediately flared up like fire meeting oil, and the flames expanded by a full circle.

Soon, the purplish-black substance within the beast cores was completely incinerated, and the rootless fire emitted circles of scorching, dazzling light.

The camp personnel enveloped in the halo all closed their eyes, absorbing the warm heat within the halo to replenish the heart-fire in their chests.

They had developed a unique method for absorbing fire.

Danyue taught it to Su Qing without reservation.

Su Qing silently chanted the mental art, sat in meditation, and entered a profound state of contemplation.

She quietly sensed her own breathing merging with the breathing of others, forming a wonderful rhythm, as if her small cluster of flames burned and flickered together with the other flames at the same frequency.

In a trance, she seemed to return to that ancient era filled with rampant spiritual energy, transforming into an inconspicuous sapling in the vast, sky-obscuring jungle, breathing with the great mountains under the same sky.

As Rainbow said, this heart-fire indeed had the miraculous effect of nourishing the spirit.

After fifty beast cores were consumed, the rootless fire burned even more fiercely, and everyone, under successive halos of light, replenished their heart-fire.

With their lives no longer in danger, the stagnant atmosphere finally eased somewhat.

Only then did Rainbow step forward. She looked at everyone and said in a deep voice, “Everyone, today we harvested a total of sixty-four beast cores. Six new members have joined, but fourteen companions have also left us. For those who have died, according to our agreement, their spirits will burn within the flames, forever untainted by demonic energy.”

The camp members were silent. Su Qing saw the Healer clasp her hands, as if praying for something.

She wanted to sigh, but nothing came out. She only felt a heavy stone pressing on her chest.

Fortunately, this kind of precarious life wasn’t new to them.

After a brief moment of silent mourning, everyone quickly resumed their activities.

Some talking voices re-emerged in the camp, but soon, these voices quieted down again.

The camp was enveloped in a flourishing light, and everyone quietly continued their cultivation.

No matter what, today, they had salvaged another life.

For the next ten days or so, Su Qing joined Rainbow’s team as promised, hunting Soul Beasts as usual.

She grew rapidly, learning how to use heart-fire, and how to set traps and deal with Soul Beasts.

And Rainbow, with her day-to-day 100% survival rate, keenly noticed something amiss.

Nothing had changed; only newcomers Number Twenty-Six and Number Thirty-One could be considered variables.

Number Thirty-One was the Swordsaint.

After his first day of battle, he was so discouraged that he immediately changed his name to Swordsman, but by the time it was his turn, he was already at Number Thirty-One in the queue.

Rainbow immediately concluded that an unreliable person like Number Thirty-One was useless.

The key to the matter should be Number Twenty-Six. But she didn’t expose this, only occasionally looking at Su Qing with an intrigued gaze.

She was observing her.

For Su Qing, even with the white jade-like object in her possession, the efficiency of converting demonic energy was very low.

Protecting the twenty people in the squad was already quite taxing for her. She couldn’t do any more.

Newcomers poured in day by day, and old members left day by day.

The number of camp personnel barely maintained within a certain range, but overall, consumption was still slightly faster than replenishment.

They were being worn down by demonic energy day by day.

Precisely because of this, Su Qing increased her capacity for absorbing demonic energy, and Rainbow noticed.

She said nothing; instead, she started covering for Su Qing and taught her all her skills without reservation.

Rainbow desperately hoped to see Su Qing grow rapidly.

Everything proceeded with unspoken understanding, yet nothing surfaced.

This naturally had a protective meaning, because what Su Qing hadn’t expected was that in such a harsh survival environment, they also had another group of enemies.

It wasn’t just Soul Beasts that coveted their vitality; there were also people.

This day, Rainbow habitually led her team to hunt on the surface, but this time, they didn’t encounter Soul Beasts. Instead, they encountered uninvited guests: demonic cultivators.

Compared to their group of luminous people, these were a team of dark people, their limbs pitch black, entangled with terrifying demonic energy like vines.

Their eyes gleamed with bloodlust, and their gaze upon others was extremely cold, as if looking at cattle.

Their demonic energy had deeply permeated their bodies, and even non-human white bone scales had appeared on their faces.

But in their chests, heart-fire still burned, just like theirs. However, this heart-fire was hazy, very dim, and infiltrated by wisps of demonic energy, appearing very unclean, as if contaminated.

And Su Qing confirmed that she saw a familiar face among this group of demonic cultivators.

If she hadn’t once fiercely beaten her opponent to the ground, Su Qing might not have recognized her figure amidst the distorted demonic energy covering her.

She should have been drawn into this world around the same time as Su Qing, but her degree of demonization was no less than that of others inside.

This person was Blood Thorns.

‘They truly have a connection,’ Su Qing thought, ‘but it’s a negative one.’

She belatedly realized that this Myriad Beast Forest had silently devoured so many people.

Some chose to vow to never enter the demonic path, their spirits turning into flames and vanishing, while others would inevitably choose to align with demonic energy, even if this meant losing all sanity and ultimately becoming part of the defilement.

But under the premise of survival being everything, there seemed to be no distinction between right and wrong.

However, unfortunately, both sides currently had strong disagreements about survival.

The demonic cultivators here drew their cultivation from the sky-obscuring demonic energy, their speed hundreds of times faster than those cultivating heart-fire.

Their strength was also greater, and they were more adaptable to this place.

However, the drawback of this method was that excessive cultivation could lead to cultivation deviation, causing their bodies to disintegrate and their forms to dissipate.

To prevent themselves from truly turning into blood and merging into the mist, these demonic cultivators desperately needed the heart-fire, which represented vitality, to stabilize their core.

And heart-fire was extremely rare, only found in outsiders.

Therefore, their desire for heart-fire was no less than that of Soul Beasts; they would pursue vitality from thousands of miles away, like sharks smelling blood.

Their opponent’s numbers were much smaller, only six people.

But Su Qing had already anticipated that they wouldn’t be easy to deal with. The silver lining was that Blood Thorns hadn’t recognized Su Qing yet.

After all, Su Qing was not the one who was beaten; she was the one who did the beating, and at the time, she was too busy to pay much attention.

“This is common; it happens two or three times out of ten.” Rainbow was not flustered. “Let’s keep them here.”