Unfortunately, although the boy's strike contained great power, it was too slow against someone like Ye Mo.
Ye Mo lightly sidestepped and avoided it.
BAM!
The axe crashed down from above with a menacing aura and smashed open the earth Ye Mo was standing on an instant ago.
Pebbles flew as a huge gash formed on the soil.
The assailant wanted to charge at Ye Mo, but he realized at this moment his axe was embedded in the ground.
Ye Mo, who was already beside him, kicked his knee, breaking the articulation. His opponent was falling, but he didn't have the time to reach the ground when Ye Mo followed with an explosive punch to the face, as the opponent was hammered into the earth.
Half of his face caved in as his eyes bulged out of their sockets.
The fight ended in an instant.
"I should find a spot to rest for now, the night is going to fall and there's still one day left. Traveling these woods in the darkness is too dangerous."
Ye Mo took what he could from the axe wielder and left the area.
The sky had a red tint, and the moon was slightly visible as the luminosity slowly decreased.
At night, beasts were much more active and the strongest ones made their appearance, it wasn't wise for humans to wander at this time.
...
Fourth day, Jade Forest.
On a plain in the periphery of the jungle, a dozen blood sucking hyenas surrounded Ye Mo.
They had red patches all over their body and particularly developed canines.
One hyena by itself wasn't that strong, more in the low rung of low-tier blood beasts. But a pack of blood sucking hyenas, even a mid-tier blood beast would have to run.
If they bite you, they could completely swallow the blood in your body in less than a minute. They also had great hearing and smell, being skilled in tracking. Their shrill laugh would attract the surrounding blood sucking hyenas, and they could chase their prey for miles, rarely giving up.
An ordinary qi gathering cultivator would be desperate in this situation.
But Ye Mo was calm. He stood in a battle stance, ready to strike anything that would come in his range.
He had an advantage that others didn't have.
The hyenas besieging him stood a distance away, lowly growling. The surroundings were filled with their kin's battered corpses, intimidating the rest of the pack.
One hyena felt its empty stomach rumbling and suddenly pounced on Ye Mo, breaking the status quo as it revealed its sharp fangs and tried to bite him.
Ye Mo didn't budge, but only swung his arm.
Bam!
The fist met the fangs as the hyena's teeth broke under his strength. Its jaw was destroyed as it was left whimpering on the ground, half dead.
Ye Mo swept with his leg, sending three other ones flying. He punched and kicked in the melee as the hyenas were crushed under his enormous strength and speed. Many were left agonizing on the ground with broken bones all over their body.
Their claws were useless, they barely scratched Ye Mo's skin.
Their most dangerous weapon was their fangs, but Ye Mo stayed in motion as much as possible to avoid getting bitten, sometimes, he would even grab the body of their comrades to protect himself.
He would still get gnawed at occasionally, but he reacted fast and would swiftly get rid of them. The blood loss was minimal and his body could handle it.
The hyenas' numbers kept decreasing as Ye Mo slaughtered his way through the pack. Some blood sucking hyenas in the vicinity, hearing their kin's cries, would join the fight here and there, but the rate at which they died was much higher.
At some point, when the ground was littered with their blood, the few remaining blood beasts escaped in fear, howling their resentment.
They chose the wrong prey and lost almost two whole packs. If it were an ordinary cultivator, he would have run out of qi in the middle of the fight long ago and would have been devoured, which was exactly what they waited for.
Qi was the source of power, besides high-level ones, a Qi Gathering Realm cultivator without qi would only be slightly stronger than a mortal. Against a pack of hyenas, they would quickly empty their reserves and get overwhelmed.
But Ye Mo was a body refining cultivator, as long as he didn't sustain serious injuries, he could keep going for hours, waving his fists and feet like a hurricane.
Ye Mo was soaking wet as he took a deep breath. That you had the physical capabilities to do it didn't mean you would without a doubt.
The pressure this focus placed on him and the focus required were high and he was mentally exhausted.
The whole time, he was cautious not to let any blood sucking hyena bite him for too long. They could swallow blood at an incredible rate, if he lost too much then whether he was a body refining cultivator or not didn't matter, he would be in a weakened state and this disadvantage would only increase over time.
Those who placed their fangs against his skin were quickly eliminated, only this way could he remain standing until now.
Ye Mo didn't sustain any serious injuries, but from the outside, the bite marks and the multiple fangs engulfed in his flesh made a gruesome sight.
Ye Mo was recovering when he realized multiple kids came out of the jungle and rushed at the hyenas' corpses. The fastest ones were already starting to dissect them.
"Sigh, really can't catch a breath huh." Ye Mo shook his head.
Since it was the last day of trial, the remaining weaklings holed up somewhere all this time to survive came out as a last attempt to qualify themselves for the second phase. Most of them were the so-called cannon fodder that didn't have any cultivation.
For Ye Mo, it was a futile attempt since even if they qualified themselves for the second phase, these people wouldn't have any chance in the tournament against all the experts that would qualify, nevertheless, he could understand them. After all, if they wished to become something in this life, it was their last chance.
Ye Mo sought strength all his life, he would have done anything for a glimmer of hope to elevate himself. These mortals also had the desire to become cultivators and cast away their fate.
If they took part in this competition, it is precisely because they were unwilling to accept a life as a slave.
Ye Mo's fight against the pack of hyenas took some time, a couple of them passing by saw the end and took this as an opportunity to obtain a blood core from the hyenas' corpses.
From their perspective, Ye Mo would be too tired to fight anyway, and even if he did, they could all run in a different direction and only the first one targeted would die.
One of them, in a corner, was digging in a hyena's belly with a knife when he suddenly felt something hard.
He discreetly raised his head and took quick glances all around.
The others were busily taking care of the hyenas' corpses, they didn't notice anything.
"Good, no one remarked me." Looking back at the hyena's insides, he slowly pulled out the hard object as he cut the surrounding flesh with his knife.
When he nearly took it out of the corpse, he almost couldn't refrain from smiling. A blood red sphere the size of a baby's fist was lying on his palm.
He swiftly enveloped it in a piece of cloth and was going to put it in his pocket when a firm hand grabbed his wrist halfway and squeezed a bit.
Crack!
The bones shattered as his arm took the form of Ye Mo's hand. The boy howled in pain as he released the blood core.
Ye Mo caught it mid-air and put it in one of his spatial pouches.
"You can leave now." Ye Mo had no interest in these kids and there would be no benefits in killing them either. After taking the blood core, he paid the boy no further mind.
The commotion attracted the attention of the others as they looked at Ye Mo.
"When did he arrive there? An instant ago, he was twenty steps away, unmoving." Most of them wondered when exactly Ye Mo had moved.
Since the start, they have always placed a part of their attention on him. They saw him fight against the hyenas, so in their mind, he was a cultivator and the principal obstacle that could prevent them from obtaining the blood cores.
If he attacked, they would have no choice but to run away if they didn't want to die, that's why they kept an eye on him all the time.
However, despite that, Ye Mo arrived beside the boy in the blink of an eye without them realizing anything.
The boy wasn't that far from him and Ye Mo was simply too fast for their eyes, just a breath of time was enough for him to cover the distance between them. Besides, these mortals thought he would be tired and out of qi, but Ye Mo was a body refining cultivator and didn't possess any qi from the start, he still had quite enough strength to spare.
However, these people didn't have the time to think about it when a scene unfolded before them.
"Give it back!" The young boy stood up and continuously slashed at Ye Mo with his knife.
Ye Mo easily dodged every strike, it couldn't even be called a game for him.
"I gave you a chance, it's more than many dreamt of." Declaring, he grabbed the boy's head and slammed it on the ground. His skull burst open as blood oozed out of Ye Mo's hand and spread on the grass.
Ye Mo let him live, but since he refused to, he gave him the brutal death he had asked so much for.
"A bo... body refining cultivator." One of the kids said with a trembling voice, jolting everyone awake.
"Run!" At once, everyone fled away in every direction.
Ye Mo took a pile of rocks out of his pouch.
When fighting with Wei Leng's band he realized one of his shortcomings. He didn't have any long-range attacking method. If someone with a movement-oriented battle skill tried to leave and his own speed wasn't sufficient, he could only watch him escape helplessly.
In the past, he thought that as long as he was able to protect himself, people escaping were less important, but in this trial, he understood this could greatly infringe on his benefits.
He thought about it and picked up multiple rocks from the ground before putting them in his pouch. This kind of attack power wasn't great, but against such weaklings, it was enough.
Ye Mo took one in hand and threw it with all his strength. The wind whistled as one kid was hit in the back of the head. He fell on the ground like a puppet with broken strings, never to stand up again.
The others knew the same fate, but a couple of them avoided a hit in the head and were left on the ground with a hole in their body.
Ye Mo's accuracy wasn't perfect, but those youths made a good practice target.
Ye Mo headed towards the surviving ones and finished them while they squirmed in pain on the ground. Then, he searched through each corpse's clothes as these kids didn't have any pouches, before coming back to dissect the rest of the hyenas.
In total, he collected three blood cores, two from the kids and one from the untouched hyenas' corpses.
When Ye Mo was done, he left, taking one of the hyenas' bodies with him. He still had enough rations in Liu Huan's pouch, but he wanted to see what a blood beast tasted like.
Later that day, he went on a killing spree as he hunted, killed, and looted everything in his way. Everyone he encountered met their demises.
He was still very careful not to face one of those strong participants like Liu Huan. Actually, when he was on the move, as long as he didn't attack, he did his best to be as discreet as possible because even if he didn't want to face other participants, if they noticed and decided to engage him, he wouldn't be able to avoid a fight.
But there weren't that many people who could threaten Ye Mo's life in this trial, and meeting them in this vast forest would be pretty unlucky.
This way, the day was replaced by the night as the first phase of the Tiger Martial Institute recruitment competition came to an end.