Blind Bear

Zhao Guangyi pushed aside a dead branch hanging with ice shards before his eyes, exhaled a long plume of white vapor, and explained:

"Don't be anxious, Junior Brother. Only ordinary wild beasts occupy the outer reaches of the Wasteland Forest. They fear the cold and favor warmth, so at this time of year, they naturally find places to lie dormant through the winter. It is perfectly normal not to see any trace of them."

As he spoke, he gestured for Jiang Qinghe to follow, pushed through the denser dead vines ahead, and continued deeper inside:

"Go farther in, and things will be different. The deeper you go into the Wasteland Forest, the stronger the Demon Beasts you encounter."

Zhao Guangyi's tone turned grave:

"These creatures have an extremely strong sense of territory. Low-grade Demon Beasts only dare move about within their own little patch of land, while high-grade Demon Beasts rarely appear in the outer regions. The prey out here is too weak—they simply do not consider it worth their notice."

Hearing this, Jiang Qinghe fell into thought:

"Senior Brother, you said before that Demon Beast ranks correspond to the five realms of martial cultivation. Then within the same realm, how does one compare their strength?"

Zhao Guangyi pondered before answering:

"A Demon Beast's appearance and build are indeed the most direct indicators of its strength. Generally speaking, the larger its body, the more vigorous its vital energy and blood, and naturally, the more terrifying its power. Of course, some special Demon Beasts may be exceptions, but broadly speaking, it is not wrong."

He casually snapped off a dead branch, made a chopping motion toward the air ahead, and gave an example:

"Take the Savage Bear, for instance. It is relatively common and represents the strength-type beasts. In its juvenile stage, its physical strength is roughly around a thousand jin, equivalent to the level of Body Tempering completion. Compared to a martial artist at Minor Accomplishment in Sinew Transformation, it is still far inferior."

"But!"

Zhao Guangyi's tone shifted:

"Once it reaches adulthood, its strength generally surges past four thousand jin. Its lower limit of strength then becomes the upper limit of an ordinary Sinew Transformation completion martial artist."

"Some Savage Bears with extraordinary talent, at the peak of their prime, even possess a terrifying strength nearing six thousand jin. Unless one has entered the Bone Forging martial artist realm, meeting one head-on is simply courting death."

Jiang Qinghe secretly clicked his tongue in amazement:

"Senior Brother, since these Demon Beasts excel in brute strength, there should be weaknesses in other areas, right?"

"Junior Brother, you understand at once."

A flash of approval passed through Zhao Guangyi's eyes:

"Because its eyesight is extremely poor, this Savage Bear is also mockingly called the Blind Bear. It relies entirely on its terrifying hearing and sense of smell to perceive its surroundings. When fighting it, those of the same realm can only win through cleverness. Though its strength is boundless, its speed is an obvious weakness. A martial artist at Minor Accomplishment in Sinew Transformation may not be able to defeat it, but if he finds the right chance to break away and retreat, it will not be a problem."

"Mm..." Jiang Qinghe nodded and continued onward.

After about the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, a string of enormous, deeply sunken footprints suddenly appeared in the otherwise smooth, thick snow ahead.

Each print was the size of a washbasin, clearly not left by human feet.

"Senior Brother!" Jiang Qinghe's heart tightened. Pointing at the trail of prints, his voice carried both excitement and tension. "Could these be the tracks of that Blind Bear?"

"That's right!"

Zhao Guangyi crouched down and measured the depth and width of the footprints.

"It is undoubtedly an adult Savage Bear, and the tracks are still fairly fresh. It could not have left more than two hours ago."

He rose to his feet, swept his gaze over the direction in which the tracks extended, and a faint smile curled at the corner of his mouth:

"Though this beast has thick hide and flesh and fears no severe cold, once winter comes, it has a lazy habit. By nature, it likes to nest in a sheltered, warm cave or a large enough hollow in a tree."

"Junior Brother, follow me! Track the footprints, and there is an eight or nine out of ten chance we can block off its lair!"

The two immediately followed the tracks. A quarter of an hour later, Zhao Guangyi, who was walking ahead, suddenly halted and gave a concealed hand signal.

Jiang Qinghe looked in the direction his Senior Brother indicated and saw a pitch-black cave entrance beneath a wind-sheltered mountain rock.

The entrance formed an irregular semicircle, nearly a zhang high and wide enough for three people to walk abreast.

A rather pungent scent, mixed with the odor of a wild beast and some sort of weeds, faintly wafted out from within.

"This is the place!"

Zhao Guangyi lowered his voice until it was nearly a whisper:

"The scent is strong. It is probably hibernating inside. Be careful. Stay close to me."

Keeping close to the freezing rock wall, the pair slipped more than ten meters into the cave. At last, they reached the end of the cavern.

Before their eyes, the space suddenly opened up somewhat into a relatively spacious natural stone chamber.

Using the faint light, Jiang Qinghe's pupils abruptly contracted!

Deep inside the stone chamber, upon a thick pile of flattened dry grass, lay two massive brown-black figures, one large and one small.

The larger one was like a moving hill. Even curled up, it stood nearly two men tall, its breathing long and heavy, producing deep waves of snores.

The smaller one nestled beside it. Though somewhat smaller in build, it still far surpassed ordinary wild beasts.

This was Jiang Qinghe's first time observing a genuine Demon Beast at such close range. Looking carefully, this Savage Bear did indeed resemble the brown bears from his previous life in some ways, but it was far more ferocious and rugged.

Its head was larger, its muzzle long and protruding, with fangs faintly visible at the edges of its lips.

Its limbs were as thick as four pillars, and the contours of its muscles bulged beneath its dense fur.

Most strikingly, their ears truly were somewhat longer.

As the two drew nearer, even though their shifting footsteps made only the faintest sound, they still failed to evade the senses of the enormous Savage Bear.

Its pair of ears twitched slightly. At the same time, its huge nostrils abruptly flared twice, as though it had caught the scent unique to humans.

"Roar—"

A roar brimming with fury suddenly exploded, reverberating through the stone chamber and shaking ice chips from the cave ceiling in a pattering shower.

The larger Savage Bear rose to its feet, its massive body nearly a zhang tall and almost touching the ceiling.

As its heavy body moved, it carried a foul wind with it. Its two enormous paws swept viciously from left and right, bearing the savage force to crush everything, their target Zhao Guangyi standing in front.

Instead of retreating, Zhao Guangyi advanced half a step. With a shake of both arms, force surged forth and knocked aside the two bear paws. At ease, he tilted his head and shouted to Jiang Qinghe:

"Junior Brother, I'll keep this one occupied. The smaller one is yours to practice on!"

"Good thing Senior Brother brought some seasoning. Later, I'll let you taste fresh roasted bear meat, haha!"

After answering, Jiang Qinghe's figure flashed as he charged toward the smaller Savage Bear.

Though this one was slightly smaller in build, it still stood seven chi tall—around 2.1 meters.

Yet its ferocity was no weaker. It let out a threatening growl, and its thick forelimb smashed viciously toward Jiang Qinghe's head.

Facing a Demon Beast in battle for the first time, Jiang Qinghe naturally did not dare be careless.

He focused with all his might, force flooding through his entire body as he exchanged several rounds with the Savage Bear.

At once, his heart settled, and he also grasped this Demon Beast's fighting style.

In summary: it possessed no technique whatsoever, relying solely on instinctive brute force!

Every one of its attacks—whether pouncing, swatting, biting, or sweeping—had only one core purpose:

To pour out its strength and smash everything before it.

There was no skill, no feinting probe, and it did not even understand how to protect its own vital points.

Like an out-of-control siege ram, it knew only how to crush.