Monsters, beasts, ghosts or in general evil spirits were classified into four levels of danger in the martial world. The first level ones were quite easy to deal with. It was very unlikely that they would be able to harm anyone as they were often, very small or didn't possess a material body.
As the dangerousness went up, they moved on to the second level, which in the best of circumstances could kill an ordinary person. Their ways of acting started to became more methodical and also predictable, which doesn't mean that they were easy to avoid or deal with. Cultivators usually didn't have any difficulty fighting them, even with a little group of those creatures.
Different story were the third level ones. They would be able to give a medium-level cultivator quite a hard time. They became more clever with their moves, and sometimes it took at least a couple or more of martial artists to be dealt with. It was rare, but it could happen that a cultivator fell under them.
And finally, there were the fourth level ones, which were not only strong enough to kill a large number of normal people in a short period of time but also required the joint work of several martial artists to tame them. Having to take one down on your own, was no easy task.
This one last type was often referred to as Ferocious. As the word said they were extremely dangerous and evil, in the way they acted and thought. If the first two categories were characterized by very little brain, the fourth category ones were usually as intelligent as a person.
Moreover, their powers were often uncontrollable making them an absolute nightmare to manage or contain.
Their threat peeked during a specific night of the year, different for any and each one of them, often occurring on the day they were born or reborn as a ferocious.
On that day, entire villages could be razed to the ground in less than a night.
Judging from the words of the two woodcutters, according to which he had killed at least seven people in the last month, it seemed that they had entered the territory of a creature of the fourth level of ferocity.
As they pondered, one of those hands slowly insinuated itself between the two cultivators, grabbing the rope!
"Ah! Let go of it immediately, you disgusting hand!"
Shi ZhenXian had grown up in the asceticism and candor of a Taoist sect. He was keen on remaining clean and tidy, so that dead hand disgusted him quite a bit.
Lin JingYu grabbed the withered hand with brute force, trying to pull it away.
"Don't touch it!" Shi ZhenXian shouted.
Lin JingYu immediately withdrew his hand. The face was a little sorry, like that of a student scolded by his teacher.
They didn't even have time to think of a solution before the roar of the beast from before reached them again. Soon the sound of running footsteps resounded among the trees, making it difficult to understand which direction it was coming from.
"What do we do?" Lin JingYu said unexpectedly agitated.
That thing was getting closer and closer. Shi ZhenXian looked at that skeletal hand. It was firmly enroothed in the ground but maybe if they joined forces they could pull it out.
"On my count of three, jump as high as you can"
Lin JingYu nodded.
"one, two..."
The creature had now gotten so close, that they could glimpse two intense green eyes lighting up the darkness of the forest.
"three!"
The two jumped up, dragging the hand still attached to the rope with them, for about ten meters in height.
Perhaps due to the distance from the forest, or due to the influence of that hand, the rope showed signs of giving up. Shi ZhenXian noticed it immediately and with a quick movement managed to recall it to himself and put it away in the bag where it was kept.
The withered hand, in the chaos, also lost resistance and was catapulted far away. Now free to use their abilities of lightness, the two still managed to remain in mid-air and slow down their descent.
"Land on a tree" Shi ZhenXian communicated.
Lin JingYu followed his orders, and the two settled on top of a tree. Looking around, it seemed that what they had now identified as a beast had moved away again. However, indistinct voices began to fill the silence of the night, replacing the chilling roars.
Shi ZhenXian was not far enough away from whoever was whispering. Both he and Lin JingYu hid their presence as best as they could.
Two different tones could be distinguished, but the volume was not enough for Shi ZhenXian to understand what they were talking about.
Those low tones were certainly due to the need to not be detected by the creature, since they did not seem to have noticed those two perched on a branch.
Shi ZhenXian made a superhuman effort to catch a few distinguishable words.
"…we brought another one to his lair…"
"It won't keep him busy for long. In two days he'll be back to causing trouble"
"Shixiong, … but why has he suddenly become more ferocious?"
"I have no idea. The sect leader couldn't care less. We'll see what the elders have to say…"The rest of the speech was lost in the wind as the two voices moved away.
Sect leader.
"Hey" Shi ZhenXian tugged at Lin JingYu's sleeve.
The other turned to look at him. He was crouched on the branch with an elbow on his knee and his head in his hand, looking bored.
"Let's go back."