BUTTERFLIES (Arc 2&3; The Undefeatable Class 192)

Chapter 80: Seizing Opportunities

In a large hall at JAG...
  “Dongwu, you really are a heartless fellow!” The speaker, a slim and agile old man, chuckled. His aura was the epitome of danger, and an outsider would definitely melt on meeting him for the first time. He added, “How long do you think it'll take that child to discover the Concealing Formation?”
  Dongwu sat majestically on the seat reserved only for the leader of all the other principals. Similarly, the other principals occupied all the other seats in the hall. They were a total of nine.
  “Three months, at least,” he said casually. “Isn't it the best way to nurture the younger generation? I heard even Gifted Cultivators Academy have dispatched their students to tame the Dragon-clawed Hartebeest. Although, they weren't given the details nor even the name of what they wanted to tame. It's a rare beast, they wouldn't recognise it, even on careful observation.”
  “How many were dispatched by Gifted Cultivators Academy?” asked a lady seated on Dongwu's left hand side. She was clad in a very flashy gown radiating with silver lights.
  “Just three,” replied Dongwu, stretching out his little, ring, and middle fingers.
  Another lady seated on Dongwu's right hand side asked, “What are their professions?”
  “That old fool sent his youngest direct disciple, a 1-star beast tamer, supported with two elite students. One is the school's popular genius, from the Music Guild, while the other is from the Formation Guild.”
  When the one who'd asked the last question heard “Music Guid”, she did not conceal her pleasure.
  She then said, “Xiezi, how possible do you think it is for a 1-star elite Formation Master to locate your Concealing Formation?”
  Xiezi, an extremely handsome old man, who was seated just across the one who'd questioned, from Dongwu's left hand side replied, “I am confident in my formation, although its a very insignificant and one without an offensive or defensive ability, compared to my other formations due to the fact that it's just a 4-star formation. It is quite deceitful to formation masters. My worry is not on the formation master, but that child from Gifted Cultivators Academy's Music Guild. It wouldn't take her more than 24 hours to unravel the anomalies and trace it to the tree. You should have heard of her, right Shige?”
  Shige, the lady who'd asked the question nodded with a smirk. She then said in a loud voice, “Bring in the True Essence Navigator!”
  “Yes, Milady!” answered her subordinate who stood at attention, by the hall's entrance. He dashed out like he was just an imaginary figure, returning five seconds after with a large jade box. He presented it with a bow, before Shige.
  Shige took it and dismissed him.
  “Her Student Token's Map is connected to this jade box, so we should be able to tell her progression.”
  They all nodded. They knew who was referred to, and knew clearly well that it was the young girl who'd just left JAG for her 2-star examination.
  Shige powered her jade box with true essence before tossing it at Xiezi.
  “Here, help us interpret what the map says.”
  Xiezi waved his hand casually, and the box landed in his hand as though he'd controlled it to land in his own way. He glanced at the box, expressionlessly and began to speak.
  “Current mission duration is now sixteen days. She's... she's already...” His eyes abruptly widened in disbelief.
  “What is it?” everyone asked with a piqued interest.
  The lady by his side, Yan-se, Principal of the Painting Guild, asked, “It can't be that she's already arrived Blazing Sun City?”
  Xiezi nodded without his gaze pulling from the mystique lines shining from within the jade box.
  The seemingly slim and terrifying man from before waved his hand in disgust, then thundered, “Is that enough reason to look like you've seen a ghost?!”
  Xiezi quickly snapped out of his trance, then composed himself. He was silent for a while, before looking at the man and saying, “Buneng, she's already inside the forest's interior...”
  “And so what if she's in the... wait, what did you say?!” Buneng, Principal of the Poison Guild, the same slim man, was already fuming when he suddenly heard the words, “forest's interior”. The muscles on his face immediately loosened.
  The other people who hadn't spoken were extremely surprised. A plump and heavy figure who was head and shoulder taller than the others, said in awe, “For someone who's not even been to the Blazing Sun City before!”
  Another man who never seemed to let go of a hammer that radiated with a heavy aura as though it could shatter a mountain by a casual flick, furrowed his brows and said, “I have a feeling those three from Gifted Cultivators Academy are already there. She's definitely not working together with them... those fellows are too competitive.
  “Let's examine everything in detail,” another man chirped in. This man was precisely the principal of the Thaumaturgy Guild. He flicked his hand and a bird appeared in his grip. He sent it to the Formation Master who then guided the bird into a teleportation portal.
  A light screen was charge on by all nine of them, and with the help of the person who'd brought out the bird, using some thaumaturgy tricks, they had a live view of everything that was happening in the inner forest at the Blazing Sun City, using the eyes of that bird.

* * *
  As I dusted the crumbs of sandwich from the side of my mouth, after eating a second round, I couldn't help but marvel at the strength of these girls.
  All three were Meditation realm cultivators, still the strength of Ethereal Opening was something to reckon with. The strength the Ethereal Opening realm intermediate stage beast displayed was a fold higher than that of all three girls. It was then that I shuddered to the thought of how Zhangkong singlehandedly fractured a sneak attack from an Ethereal Opening realm Blazing Overlord Lion!
  These girls were die-hards. They didn't even bring out items of appeasement to get on the good side of the beast. Well, they didn't have the time though. They were already fighting in its territory, so their disadvantage at the moment couldn't be spelled any louder. It didn't seem like they were here to tame, they rather looked like those Beast Hunters I'd met in the virtual world of the continent of Ancient Reality.
  The girl from the Music Guild indirectly showed me some other uses of music!
  She had this instrument called a guzheng, which was played with a plectrum. She used the pricking sound from this instrument to disrupt the animal's sense of direction, therefore buying her comrades some time for attack. It was wonderful! Still, the Dragon-clawed Hartebeest was known in the Arerat Planet for its willpower. It could endure the sharp offensive tunes, just so it could launch a powerful blow.
  The other two girls with the music girl had stuffs tucked into their ears to avoid suffering from the guzheng's effect.
  I smiled as I watched on. Everyone was injured, and each side would take three hours each, for proper recuperation. As I watched the fight, my brain was calculating like a mad calculating robot. My blueprint was drawn.
  Four hours of unrelenting combat had passed and all three girls were madly injured. Even the Dragon-clawed Hartebeest wasn't left out. It'd suffered some powerful blows and was already limp. It gave out a loud grunt of pain, keeping its distance, just outside the cave.
  My smile had widened. Time for me to show myself, the true descendant of a powerful beast tamer. Time to seize opportunities.
  Ignoring all three immobile girls puking blood, I dashed straight down towards the cave with lightening speed and true essence effects. They'd already done all the work, it was time to reap my foresight's reward.