Chapter 4: Gold Bear
Indigo forest, a really benign name for such a violent place. Occupying a corner of the entire continent, it is one of the largest habitats of demon Beasts on the entire continent. Infamous for its once an eon beast tides that have at times spread to half the continent; it represents a danger of scale that every empire bordering the forest formed an alliance to deal with beast tides that occurred once every thousand years.
For mortals thousand years are a long time but for Dynasties of Immortals, it is but a few generations. To deal with this danger, empires collaborated to build a fifty-meter tall wall at the borders the empires shared with the forest to stop the beast tides from reaching empires. Many border towns like Ifre were set to attract mercenaries and Cultivators to constantly cull the number of beasts in the forest.
But despite all that, the Forest is teaming with beasts, and Zhen knew no amount of hunting will ever delay the beast tide. But the good thing is it is at least three hundred years away, especially since his village is outside the walls.
Swiftly moving through the treetops, he kept up Shadowless Flight and moved nearly thirty into the forest, towards a location he had marked earlier. No beast or monster bothered and for a reason. 'Shadowless Flight' was a top-grade footwork technique but Zhen did not choose to practice it first because of its speed. He did it because it was an assassination technique that removed smell, sight, and at Perfect completion, even the presence of its user.
Given that Zhen had been only been practicing it for few months, he had only achieved minor accomplishment in mastering Shadowless Flight but that was enough to cover his scent and blur his presence. In the outskirts of the forest where he was hunting, there were no monsters that were beyond the Foundation establishment realm, so no beast stood a chance at detecting him.
But the beast he was searching for might. The last time he met it was before the tribulation, before he lost his body forging cultivation.
Then he was at eighth realm of Skin Forging, the first Great realm of Body Forging. The Forging technique he practiced might not have been Ten thousand Beast Blood but it was still top class. With just that much he easily trounced even the beasts in the Foundation Establishment realm.
But then when he had met it, a bear that looked like a common Brown demon bear, except a few golden stripes on its head signifying its Divine heritage. Even seeing this, Zhen had not taken it seriously, as it was only in the ninth Qi gathering realm. It turned out to be a mistake as Bear's casual blow nearly fractured his arms.
After that Zhen and Gold Bear fought, with Zhen proving too fast for the bear but his blows did not even phase the bear. And given that a bear kept getting more and more enraged as the battle progressed, with his blows becoming more powerful and unpredictable, Zhen had tactically retreated.
For the first target for Ten Thousand Beasts Blood, it is perfect.
That's why Zhen was searching for it around the area they first fought. He was confident that despite months passing, it would not have moved too far from its territory. And sure enough, Zhen found it.
Hiding in the dense canopy of the forest, he watched as his target ate its hunt. In past months, it had grown even larger and was about the size of his hut, and gold streaks were now more predominant, covering nearly the entire head and reaching up to its back.
But the greatest change was in its aura, Zhen was shocked to see that it had reached the peak of the first realm of Foundation Establishment. Given that beasts cultivate far more slowly than humans, he was not at all expecting to find it in foundation establishment. That was quite a fast speed even for human cultivators.
But it only aided to strengthen Zhen's resolve.
"This bear definitely has activated its divine heritage.", Zhen mused, "But its cultivation can make things difficult."
But Zhen did not fret, he was not afraid at all. Observing it for some more time, he decided to take action when he noticed it was not paying attention to its surroundings, most likely because of its arrogant belief in its strong hide.
Zhen smiled and slowly released Qi through his hand. Pure Qi left his hand but under his control, aided by Flawless Void Constitution, he slowly hardened it to form a short transparent blueish blade of pure qi extending from his hand.
It was not some technique he learned from Skyword but a feat of pure skill and talent. The blade looked fragile like glass but was sharp enough to penetrate through the defense of cultivators a realm above Foundation Establishment.
Satisfied with his handiwork, he decided to attack. Zhen jumped from his perch but Gold Gear immediately detected something, raising his head from his meal to look around.
But that did not protect it at all, as Zhen attacked from its above, from where the gold bear could not see. Using his momentum and gravity, he plugged his blade and half his arm into the back of Bear's neck with all his might. The sharp blade aided by Zhen's momentum cut through the thick hide and severed the muscles before breaking by colliding with the backbone.
"GHAAAAaahaAHAA", it bellowed in pain, shaking wildly to throw off its attacker. Zhen, sensing this, pulled back and jumped away.
Gold Bear turned to face Zhen, its eyes red with rage and pain. Giving a mighty roar, it charged towards him but Zhen was even faster than before, vanishing just before Bear could maul him. Gold Bear, missed its target but mauled into two giant trees, bringing them down like dominos. Shaking, it tried to get up but the blow to its neck had damaged its spine, even if Zhen was not able to sever it completely, its body was still slowly failing because of damage to the spinal cord.
Zhen reformed the qi blade and ran towards the beast. Seeing this through its rapidly blurring vision, Gold bear panicked and went beserk, attacking everything around with his limbs to keep Zhen away.
But Zhen did not falter, skidding under its paw swipe, he reached under its belly. With another burst of speed, he jumped. And with a swipe of his blade, the Gold bear's neck was severed and it fell down, dead.
Zhen landed on the ground not far from the massive bear and laughed,
"Yes!!", he yelled with triumph, the adrenaline of the battle still coursing through his veins.
Calming himself down, he noticed the sky was lighting, and dawn was not far, "Oh no, Brother will wake up soon."
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