Bitter Battle and Retreat

Watching the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear pounce toward Tang Wulin, Nan Fusheng used Steal on it.

The Millennium-Level Crystal Bear's body stalled, but it still charged toward Tang Wulin with tremendous momentum. However, such a straightforward attack was easy to see through. Tang Wulin leaped to the side and easily avoided it.

At the same time, Blue Silver Grass vines surged out and wrapped around the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear's feet. Still dazed, the bear was immediately tripped.

"Pfft!" At that moment, an invisible blade of light slashed fiercely across its neck. The Crystal Bear snapped out of its daze in pain, turned its head, and roared at Xie Xie nearby.

Xie Xie shouted, "Stupid bear, come at me if you dare!" The Light Dragon Dagger in his hand slashed out again, sending another blade of light flying.

The Millennium-Level Crystal Bear instinctively exerted force, trying to snap the Blue Silver Grass around its feet. Under normal circumstances, the Blue Silver Grass should have broken immediately.

But at that moment, a flash of golden light lit up on Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass. Though it lasted only an instant, the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear failed to snap it apart right away.

That pause lasted only a second. The next moment, the Blue Silver Grass still broke, but it managed to hold the bear back slightly.

As the Crystal Bear slowed, Xie Xie had already turned and fled nimbly. His burst of speed was even faster than Gu Yue's acceleration with the Wind Element.

At the same time, a huge Fireball exploded on the other side of the Crystal Bear's head. Gu Yue had attacked from the other side as well.

The three of them attacked from three different directions, leaving the Crystal Bear both enraged and unsure whom it should chase.

"Xie Xie, attack its abdomen. Gu Yue, hit its eyes. Wulin, get ready. Finish it in one go."

Nan Fusheng shouted from afar. He was not afraid of the Crystal Bear hearing him; after all, most Thousand-Year Soul Beasts still had intelligence at the level of wild animals.

As Xie Xie shifted his body, the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger swung out together. One visible and one invisible blade of light slashed simultaneously toward the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear's abdomen.

"Pfft, pfft!" The Crystal Bear flew into a rage. It had been unsure whom to deal with first, but now it had found its target.

It immediately took huge strides toward Xie Xie.

At that moment, clusters of dazzling Fireballs shot straight toward its eyes. They were smaller than the previous ones, but there were many of them.

The Crystal Bear raised a paw in front of itself while lowering its head slightly. It had already lowered its head somewhat when its abdomen was attacked, and now it bowed even farther.

Meanwhile, Tang Wulin flung out a strand of Blue Silver Grass, hooked it around a branch, and pulled himself forward. As his body swung out, he had already circled behind the Crystal Bear.

Tang Wulin held his hammer before his chest in his left hand. Golden light surged from his right hand, transforming into the Golden Dragon Claw as it grabbed toward the back of the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear's neck.

Nan Fusheng used Steal directly from afar as well.

The Millennium-Level Crystal Bear immediately pitched completely forward, exposing the back of its neck.

They had succeeded!

Tang Wulin was overjoyed. His right claw descended without hesitation and grabbed the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear's nape.

A cracking sound rang out almost instantly. Half of the Golden Dragon Claw sank into its neck, and the shattering effect activated, directly snapping the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear's cervical vertebrae.

Was it over?

Xie Xie watched the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear's huge head suddenly plunge forward, accompanied by the sound of its neck breaking. He jumped up excitedly.

With the four of them being no stronger than Two Rings, killing such a powerful Soul Beast was absolutely something to be proud of.

But just then, a fierce yellow halo suddenly burst from the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear's body.

The halo did not cover a large area, extending only about a meter from its body, but it happened to envelop Tang Wulin.

"No!" Gu Yue screamed. A layer of dark yellow Crystal immediately formed over Tang Wulin's body, freezing him in his previous pose as he fell straight toward the ground.

Silver light flashed, and Gu Yue appeared beneath where he was falling. She raised her arms to catch him.

After turning into Crystal, Tang Wulin's weight increased drastically. On top of that, his left hand still held the Thousand-Refined Heavy Silver Hammer.

Gu Yue was smashed directly to the ground beneath him. She fainted with a muffled groan. Yet she had used her own body to absorb Tang Wulin's impact, preventing his body from shattering.

After Crystallization, as long as the body did not shatter within a short time, the Crystallization would gradually fade. Thus, the Crystal Bear's most terrifying ability was the immediate destruction that followed Crystallization.

"Wulin, Gu Yue!" Xie Xie and Nan Fusheng raced over from afar. Reaching the pair, they first worked together to move Tang Wulin aside, then pulled Gu Yue out from beneath him.

Gu Yue's eyes were tightly shut, her face pale as wax, and her breathing faint. That impact had clearly caused her severe injuries.

Nan Fusheng looked around. After a brief hesitation, he slapped the Rescue Signal Device on the back of Gu Yue's hand, and her body turned into a streak of light before vanishing into thin air.

Tang Wulin was still in a state of Crystallization, so they could not even send him back.

Just then, a series of rustling sounds came from the surrounding forest. Something seemed to be approaching, and there appeared to be a great many of them.

What should I do? Wulin has been crystallized and can't be sent back yet. What am I supposed to do?

Xie Xie gripped the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger tightly, instinctively looking at Nan Fusheng beside him.

"Xie Xie, your Soul Power is nearly exhausted, isn't it? You should leave first. I'll watch over Wulin."

Nan Fusheng said.

"Ha, are you kidding? How could I let you play hero alone in a situation like this? If we die, we die together. I stand tall between heaven and earth—a real man."

Xie Xie's eyes had initially held some confusion, but after hearing Nan Fusheng's words, his gaze gradually became firm.

"Fine. Then we'll hold out together. As soon as Wulin's Crystallization fades, we'll retreat immediately."

Xie Xie knelt on one knee before Tang Wulin without replying. He needed to conserve as much strength as possible. At the same time, Nan Fusheng used the vision of the Cyan Bird circling overhead to see clearly that the attackers were a pack of wolves.

Soon, dark cyan figures slowly emerged from all directions. There were at least dozens of them: Cyan Wolves.

Their back fur was blue-black, and their yellow eyes gleamed with cold, cruel light as they slowly approached step by step.

They did not attack Nan Fusheng's group first. More than a dozen Cyan Wolves dragged half the corpse of the Hundred-Year Horned Dragon into the woods, while another dozen or so surrounded Xie Xie.

Cyan Wolves were Ten-Year Soul Beasts. Among Ten-Year Soul Beasts, they were considered relatively powerful attackers. Fierce by nature, they lived in packs.

Powerful Cyan Wolves could cultivate to the level of Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. They mainly fed on carrion—in other words, they were the Pick-up Team of the Soul Beast Forest.

Xie Xie held the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger before him, watching the Cyan Wolves close in. He shouted, "You can take this Crystal Bear's corpse, but if you dare attack us, don't blame me for being ruthless."

He did not care whether such low-level Soul Beasts could understand him. Delaying for even a little while was better than nothing. As long as he could wait for the Crystallization on Tang Wulin's body to fade, they could escape.

However, the Cyan Wolves were clearly more interested in the two of them than in the Millennium-Level Crystal Bear. Or perhaps they simply could not understand him. The encirclement tightened, and as he watched those cold eyes, Xie Xie could clearly feel his heartbeat speeding up.

He could not wait any longer. As the saying went, strike first to gain the advantage.

The Light Dragon Dagger in his right hand flashed out like lightning, and a Light Dragon Blade slashed toward a Cyan Wolf in front of him. At the same time, Xie Xie lunged sideways at the nearest Cyan Wolf.

"Pfft!" The front Cyan Wolf's neck was slashed open by the Light Dragon Blade. It let out a mournful cry and collapsed amid spraying blood.

Xie Xie's movements were exceptionally nimble. As the giant Cyan Wolf he lunged toward saw him coming, it immediately opened its mouth and spat out a cyan Wind Blade.

While charging forward, Xie Xie twisted his body aside to evade the Wind Blade, then bent his upper body backward to avoid another Cyan Wolf's pounce from the side.

The Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger swept past. The Cyan Wolf that had leaped at him was already disemboweled. At the same time, he circled to the side of the front Cyan Wolf, flicked his wrist, and drew the sharp Shadow Dragon Dagger across the side of its neck, severing its artery. Blood immediately gushed from the Cyan Wolf's neck, and it was clearly not going to survive.

In the blink of an eye, three Cyan Wolves had fallen from his ambush. But at the same time, the attacks of the dozen or so Cyan Wolves in the distance had also formed.

More than a dozen Cyan Wolves pounced toward Xie Xie at once, while the Wind Blades in the mouths of another dozen in the distance had already taken shape and were about to be fired.

Large-Scale Consciousness Theft!

At that crucial moment, a strange ripple suddenly controlled the dozen or so Cyan Wolves preparing to spit Wind Blades, causing them to lose consciousness as they fired.

Wind Blades shot everywhere, some even striking the Cyan Wolves preparing to surround Xie Xie. The scene instantly descended into chaos.

Xie Xie did not remain idle either. Taking advantage of the pack's confusion, he immediately shot out and killed the Cyan Wolves approaching the three of them one by one.

As the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger in Xie Xie's hands swung without pause, the number of wolves steadily decreased. Xie Xie could not help sighing at the benefits of having Nan Fusheng as a teammate.

Whenever he wanted to kill a Cyan Wolf, the wolf he targeted would suddenly stop moving just before it acted. Once Xie Xie rushed before it, all he had to do was swing his daggers to easily take its life.

When the Cyan Wolves swarmed forward together, they would also suddenly freeze as a group. Even though it lasted only a brief moment, it gave Xie Xie enough time to react, break out of the encirclement, and kill the wolves closing in on the three of them.

As time passed, Xie Xie's strength began to fail. His entire body was increasingly stained red with blood. Most of it belonged to the wolves, with only a small portion being his own.

Even Nan Fusheng began to look tired. Well, tired from acting. Though he was still full of energy, that clearly did not fit the performance of a One Ring Spirit Master, so he pretended to gasp for breath.

With the restriction that he could only use this one ability, this was already the limit of what he could do.

Fortunately, he had noticed that the dark yellow Crystal on Tang Wulin's body was beginning to fade away.

When Tang Wulin's senses began to return, the first thing he smelled was a powerful stench of blood.

Then he saw a figure whose entire body had turned blood-red struggling to hold on.

"Alright, retreat now."

Xie Xie, who was panting heavily, heard Nan Fusheng's words and pressed the SOS Signal Device without hesitation. The next moment, his vision went black, and he knew nothing more.

Before Tang Wulin could react, Nan Fusheng directly pressed his SOS Signal Device as well.

Then Nan Fusheng slapped his own Rescue Signal Device. His vision also went black, and he vanished from the forest. Cyan Wind Blades swept through the spot where he had just stood, but their target was gone.