Mutated Beast, Becoming Sentient!

The mysterious aura within Lu Xuan coursed through his entire body. Light as a feather, he barely needed any strength to swiftly weave through the forest.

A figure leaped through the forest canopy that blotted out the sky and sun, ghostlike in its movements.

But when Lu Xuan reached the mountainside, several beasts blocked his path.

They were three Wild Dogs nearly a meter tall. They glared viciously at Lu Xuan, lips peeled back to reveal rows upon rows of densely packed teeth.

The next second, before they could make a move, several sharp whistles cut through the air. Three pebbles shot out like bullets.

The three Wild Dogs' heads exploded instantly, spraying blood and brain matter across the ground.

Lu Xuan cast an indifferent glance at the three Wild Dog corpses still twitching on the ground, then continued racing up the mountain.

Sure enough, just as Zhang Dachun had said, the beasts on the mountain were unusually ferocious and numerous.

He had only reached the mountainside, yet Lu Xuan had already dealt with over a dozen such savage beasts.

Tongling Peak's summit.

After running without pause all the way up, Lu Xuan finally reached the summit of Tongling Peak.

Yet the closer he got to the peak, the fewer beasts he encountered. By now, he could hardly see a single ferocious beast.

Was it because of that thing?

Lu Xuan looked at the ground beside him, where enormous footprints left behind by some mysterious creature lay imprinted.

Without dwelling on it for long, Lu Xuan followed the direction Zhang Heng had described.

When he reached a certain spot, Lu Xuan stopped and looked at the enormous paw prints carpeting the ground around him.

The footprints were becoming more numerous.

But Lu Xuan paid them little heed. Instead, he looked at a tree ahead.

A short sword was embedded in the tree. Its blade was covered in rust and tangled with dark green moss, which had nearly swallowed the entire sword.

This was the place!

This was the marker Zhang Heng had left behind back then. It seemed the news about the Purple Blood Spirit Mushroom was true as well.

Lu Xuan's eyes burned as he gazed into the distance. A hundred meters ahead was the cave where the Purple Blood Spirit Mushroom grew.

Whoosh!

A foul, fishy stench rushed at him.

Lu Xuan's ears twitched slightly, as if he had sensed something. His body vanished from the spot at incredible speed.

In an instant, the place where Lu Xuan had just stood was occupied by a beast two meters tall.

The beast had black-and-white fur, a pair of bewitching eyes red as fresh blood, and long massive fangs exposed from its mouth.

Its limbs were thick and powerful. Each of its four paws bore claws as long as an arm, and behind its rump trailed a tail several meters long.

What was this thing?

A Mutated Beast?

Lu Xuan had already arrived a short distance in front of the Mutated Beast. He studied it with some confusion.

He truly could not tell what kind of creature this Mutated Beast was, because it possessed traits of tigers, leopards, and wolves alike.

Roar!

With a howl, the Mutated Beast pounced at Lu Xuan again.

This time, however, Lu Xuan did not dodge. Instead, he circulated his inner qi and gathered it in his palm.

Moving even faster, he charged toward the Mutated Beast, evaded its enormous claw, and struck its body with a palm in midair.

The Mutated Beast seemed to suffer a crushing blow. It let out a pained howl as its huge body smashed backward, knocking down every tree in its path.

Only fifty meters away did its massive body crash into an ancient towering tree before slamming heavily onto the ground.

"Hmm?"

"It didn't die?"

How interesting!

Even from fifty meters away, Lu Xuan could still hear the Mutated Beast's heartbeat.

Since leaving the city, Lu Xuan had never encountered anything that could survive one of his strikes.

The inner qi Lu Xuan had gathered in his palm had already invaded the Mutated Beast's body with that strike, destroying its internal flesh and blood like rotten wood being crushed.

A Mutated Beast comparable to the Marrow Refining Realm?

And there seemed to be a mysterious aura within its body, identical to his inner qi. Though extremely faint, Lu Xuan had still sensed it.

Perhaps that faint mysterious aura within the Mutated Beast was the reason it could withstand Lu Xuan's terrifying palm strike.

Lu Xuan had basically figured out the Mutated Beast's capabilities.

Meanwhile, the Mutated Beast that had fallen to the ground slowly propped up its massive body. Its limbs appeared numb and weak.

After taking Lu Xuan's terrifying palm strike, it was still alive, but the flesh inside its body had been thoroughly mangled. It was gravely injured.

The Mutated Beast's bewitchingly red eyes actually revealed a humanlike expression as it looked at Lu Xuan in terror.

Its enormous body spun around instantly, and it fled into the distance without looking back.

When the Mutated Beast looked at him like that, Lu Xuan's scalp went numb. His previously calm heart was no longer so steady as he cursed inwardly.

Fuck you!

This beast has become sentient!

A few days ago, Lu Xuan had read the County Chronicles from various places, and he had already had a vague premonition.

This world not only contained supernatural and bizarre beings, but also demon beasts.

Beasts that had become sentient, just like this one!

Wait!

Lu Xuan suddenly thought of something. A blazing light flashed in his pupils as he watched the fleeing Mutated Beast in the distance as though it were an unparalleled beauty.

If killing supernatural and bizarre beings yielded a huge amount of System Points, then what about demon beasts that stood alongside them?

Don't even think about running!

For the moment, Lu Xuan no longer cared about the Purple Blood Spirit Mushroom. All his attention was fixed on the fleeing Mutated Beast in the distance.

Originally, Lu Xuan had not intended to care whether it lived or died. Now, things were different.

Boom!

Lu Xuan stomped down hard. A fierce gale erupted in the forest, ravaging the dead branches and fallen leaves across the ground and sending them swirling through the sky.

At that moment, the terrifying aura of the Inner Qi Realm swept forth without the slightest restraint.

The ground beneath Lu Xuan's feet instantly collapsed into a huge crater. He shot out at terrifying speed, leaving streaks of afterimages in the air.

Within just a few breaths, Lu Xuan had caught up to the fleeing Mutated Beast, with only twenty meters between them.

A flicker of fire passed through Lu Xuan's eyes, and his face was instantly illuminated by a crimson glow.

"Crimson Flame Blade Art!"

In an instant, scorching heat rushed toward him. Ripples spread through the space before Lu Xuan, and the air visibly warped and twisted.

Blazing crimson flames burned in midair, forming a Flame Blade aura several meters wide. It cleaved through every obstacle and struck the Mutated Beast ahead in an instant.

The terrifying heat allowed the Mutated Beast to struggle only briefly before it turned to ash beneath the blazing crimson flames.

Looking at the earth-shaking sight he had created ahead, Lu Xuan felt somewhat moved.

The Crimson Flame Blade Art unleashed with inner qi was now more than ten times as powerful.

As Lu Xuan lingered in his thoughts, something suddenly stirred deep in his mind.

The Point Addition System Panel appeared before his eyes.

Host: Lu Xuan

Realm: Inner Qi Realm

Cultivation Technique: Crimson Flame Blade Art 2/9, Wind Chasing Steps 0/9

Points: 17

The next moment, Lu Xuan's eyes widened as he stared at the points on the System Panel.

It seemed he had not guessed wrong!