Life Giver

As Casmir's group quickly made their way to safety, Instructor Redfire rushed towards the Giant Shadow Wolf that was trampling through the forest, an unstable and fierce energy radiating off of it.

Redfire had changed into his battle form, a ball of crimson-red fire with many tendrils of fire protruding from it, as he shot through the air to meet the Wolf.

He had no idea how a Qi Grade 6 beast had managed to end up here, Wilderness's were carefully monitored and any beasts above Qi Grade 3 were killed or relocated. Only Domains, the free lands of the Unintelligent races could hold such a beast but the closest Domain was over a thousand kilometres away.

Redfire could tell from the Wolf's Qi energy fluctuations that it was injured and enraged, presumably it was escaping from some unknown opponent.

He surmised that this Wolf had perhaps escaped its imprisonment under some expert or had attacked an unknown entity but Redfire couldn't know for sure.

Regardless of how it appeared here, Redfire couldn't let such a dangerous ferocious beast run amok. It was a law, known by intelligent ferocious beasts that if they left their domains without permission, they would be captured, by force if necessary, for the protection of civilians.

Redfire knew that the vast majority of the time, high level ferocious beasts would only leave their domains to commit illegal acts such as theft or slaughter for various reasons and even though such occurrences were rare, especially in the Heldan Republic, Redfire couldn't take the risk.

Redfire's crimson fireball rapidly approached the Wolf head-on as he called out to it with his Qi energy.

"STOP! You are violating Heldan Republic law, I have already signalled for a Grade 7 Cultivators assistance, surrender immediately or I will attack!" He roared with no d.e.s.i.r.e for compromise.

A Ferocious beast at Grade 6 is almost guaranteed to have developed a sentient level of intelligence, Redfire was hoping that the Wolf would understand him and give up, knowing a superior cultivator was coming.

However the Wolf looked at Redfire coldly with rage in its eyes.

The Wolf clawed at Redfire creating three blades of Black Qi energy in the air as it howled back at Redfire, clearly it understood him but it was unwilling to cooperate for some reason.

"AWOO!" It howled fiercely, its call spreading across the vast forest causing a frenzy of activity in the lesser ferocious beasts.

Redfire controlled a tendril of fire from his body to whip out towards the black claw blades that Redfire identified were made from darkness affinity Qi energy.

As the tendril of crimson fire and the claw blades collided, they exploded with devastating force. The area below the collision was levelled and the fallen trees were set ablaze with crimson fire, if not for Redfire controlling the flames, a large forest fire would have instantly emerged.

Seeing its attack be deflected the Wolf glared at Redfire, it clearly wanted to challenge Redfire's strength but knowing it wasn't safe in the end it simply tried to avoid him, circling around him.

"Damn beast!" Redfire cursed as he saw the Wolf ignoring him, it was clearly intelligent enough to prioritise its safety so why was it here in the first place?.

Although Redfire had correctly guessed that the Wolf was involved in something before hand, what Redfire didn't know was the specifics of this event.

The Wolf had only come to this Wilderness because it was pregnant and wanted to give birth in a safe place away from the other dangerous high level ferocious beasts. However while it was giving birth it was ambushed by a group of cloaked figures if it hadn't left behind its new-born children then it would have been captured as well.

The Wolf had been ambushed by a mysterious group of cloaked figure, they were lead by a powerful cultivator and used a strange array to attempt to trap it however they underestimated its intelligence. The Wolf was over 400 years old and had trained in many techniques that were unique to ferocious beasts, it could bypass many traditional array types but unfortunately it couldn't bring its new-born children with it.

This particular Wolf was savage and cold, it had birthed many children before and was not below sacrificing its children for its own sake. However the Wolf was naturally still filled with rage, it prioritised its survival but it was also planning on unleashing its rage on a few small settlements as it escaped.

As far as the Wolf was concerned, the 'intelligent races' were all the same and it didn't care whether its rage was unleashed on a completely innocent party.

Redfire watched as the Wolf tried to circle around him, he quickly pulled a strange small orb out from thin air, it looked similar to the one he gave to Zaya earlier. He channelled his fire Qi energy into the orb creating dozen more fiery tendrils around him however they appeared more stable that the roaring flames given of by the rest of his body.

Suddenly these dozen tendrils shot out like outstretched arms as they grabbed the Wolf's back legs, halting it in its steps.

The Wolf was shocked at the speed and strength of those tendrils, they latched onto the Wolf's legs tightly, unwilling to let go although these tendrils of fire didn't burn the Wolf.

The technique Redfire was using, through the special array orb he was holding, was rather unorthodox for an Elemental, traditionally Elemental's would use their powerful Qi energy to create destructive techniques like powerful fireballs that would engulf their enemies. Redfire however specialised in using a unique property of the energy races, the physical potential of their energy bodies.

Instead of using his Qi energy like a large battery to be drain during attacks, he solidified his Qi energy amplifying the physical properties of his body so that his physical attacks would carry tremendous power.

By using this technique he could manipulate the shape of his body into a dozen arms to restrict and attack his opponent, he was particularly found of using massive fists of fiery Qi energy to smash his opponent.

It was a very brutish and barbaric method of combat but it had its own merits.

For example Redfire's energy body was far less susceptible to damage than the physical bodies of the Floral or Beast races, even if part of his body was destroyed he could easily reform it from the rest of the energy in his body.

Redfire hoped that the Wolf didn't know how to counter unusual tactic of his.

The Wolf tugged on the tendrils forcefully as it tried to free its legs but Redfire didn't budge, his strength was formidable and even as the Wolf channelled its Qi energy, strengthening it, Redfire's grasp remained firm.

However capturing this Wolf wouldn't be so simply.

It noticing its predicament and quickly examined Redfire's technique before it started releasing Qi energy from its body. Two oddly contrasting mists appeared around the Wolf, one a pure white and the other a deep black.

The Wolf didn't use its Qi energy to attack Redfire, instead it coated its body with the two forms of Qi energy creating a slippery barrier in between Redfire's tendrils and the Wolf's body. As it did so naturally Redfire's grip started to fail him, with a quick pull the Wolf easily escaped his grasp.

The Wolf didn't waste any time attacking Redfire, it quickly dashed around Redfire and utilised its Qi energy to rush away from Redfire, a fine trail of black and white mist following behind it that quickly dissipated.

Redfire was just about to follow the Wolf when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Redfire!"

Looking behind him he saw Instructor Do'Shan approaching him riding a small metal boat like device, a trail of black mist was released from the boat as she moved.

Do'Shan had detected this dangerous ferocious beast as well and seeing Redfire's signal for help she quickly organised for the other instructors in her group to take the students to safety while she quickly rushed over to support Redfire.

Redfire smiled seeing her arrive with this metal boat.

"Haha good! You've brought your shuttle! Quickly give me control, that beast is too fast.." He exclaimed.

This metal boat was a special form of transportation used by high level cultivators because even with their vast abilities, speed was a high level cultivators main weakness. Most cultivators had relatively small bodies and even though they could fly using their Qi energy, very few could use techniques that improved their speed beyond a certain limit.

This was where Qi technologies stepped in, by using arrays and special refining techniques experts could create equipment that surpassed a cultivators limits. Of course such technology had an appropriately high cost, even Redfire only owned a few pieces of Grade 5 equipment but unfortunately he hadn't brought any of them with him.

His spacial storage equipment was limited in size, it could only support a few small items and realistically he would never need them while on this trip. It was fortunate that Do'Shan had brought her shuttle with her on the back of one of the main groups pack animals, in case of emergency.

Redfire quickly dashed onto the shuttle, it truly resembled a small wooden boat except it was made from a finely crafted metal with a variety of complex arrays hidden inside of it.

Do'Shan quickly nodded to him as she released her control, the fine mist of dark affinity Qi energy that surrounded the shuttle quickly dissipated as it was replaced by Redfire's fine wisps of crimson fire.

After a moment the shuttle rapidly shot in the direction of the Giant Shadow Wolf, its speed increasing far beyond that which Do'Shan could maintain. She was only a Grade 5.5 cultivator after all, Redfire's Grade 6 Qi energy and his superior techniques could push the shuttle to its limits.

"What are we dealing with Redfire? I know its Grade 6 but how powerful is it?" Do'Shan asked.

Redfire quickly informed her of the Giant Shadow Wolf's approximately strengths and weaknesses as they sped towards it.

"Dual dark and light affinity? Hmm.. most of my arrays wont contain it if it can adapt to my dark Qi energy.. I could use a confusion array on it but I don't know how effective it would be..." Do'Shan suggested.

Redfire kept silent for a moment as he thought about her suggestion, there were many options open to them but he needed to pick the one with the highest chance of success. Bearing in mind he didn't need to defeat the beast, just contain it long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Suddenly the constantly shifting flames around Redfire's body shivered as if excited, Do'Shan quickly looked at him questioningly as she knew Redfire had thought of something.

"I've got a plan." He softly said, a hint of anticipation in his voice.