The Best Defense Is an Active Offense!

The Best Defense Was a Preemptive Attack!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...

Outside the shrubs, a rapid series of sounds split the air.

Long Fan, on alert, peered out through a gap in the bushes.

It was a group of black-clad "people," all of them exceptionally tall.

A faint, fishy stench drifted from their bodies.

Their faces were covered in black fur.

Their yellow eyes looked especially vicious, and their noses kept twitching as they sniffed at the scent.

They were not the desperate hunters Long Fan had seen in the comics—the Wolf Demons.

Instead, they were another race of tremendous brute strength—the Bear Demons.

They were subordinate frontline troops under the Sixth Pillar Bear Demon God Valefor.

The Bear Demon Little Leader's hoarse, grating voice echoed through the forest.

"Why did the scent cut off here??"

Long Fan, lying hidden at that moment, did not panic.

Because he had already figured out the approximate strength of the enemy formation.

Although the other side's Outer Spiritual Power was fierce, every one of them was wounded.

Some even had fresh blood flowing from severed arms.

The fur that served as their defense had been torn open in many places.

They were probably traces left by Caier's protector.

Long Fan immediately began calculating a counterkill.

The best defense was a preemptive attack!

After all, killing these low-health Bear Demons would be another nice haul of Attribute Points.

To catch bandits, capture the king first.

To hunt demons, kill the leader first!

The longsword in Long Fan's hand was ready to strike, his gaze fixed mainly on the Bear Demon Little Leader.

Driven by spiritual power, the Wooden Sword gave off a faint, flickering glow.

In an instant, while the Bear Demon Little Leader's gaze shifted away, Long Fan moved.

Second-rank knight skill—Light Sword!

A faint layer of white radiance covered the Wooden Sword.

Moving like a startled rabbit, Long Fan charged out and slashed at the Bear Demon Little Leader.

Boom!

The Light Sword came chopping down.

The Bear Demon Little Leader, who bore the brunt of it, only felt his vision blur.

He hurriedly retreated.

But Long Fan had already closed in and slashed out with his sword.

In an instant, the left side of the latter's chest was torn open, flesh splitting.

His defensive power was fairly high after all.

The Bear Demon Little Leader was wounded, and he immediately flew into a rage.

Taking advantage of the moment before Long Fan had withdrawn his sword, he stepped forward and rushed in.

His foot slammed down fiercely, and the sharp claws in his hand flashed with cold light.

He went straight for Long Fan, aiming at his left shoulder.

Long Fan appeared very calm, his movements seeming as if they were half a beat slow.

Only when the iron sword in the Bear Demon Little Leader's hand had chopped halfway down did he move.

The Wooden Sword in his hand swept upward.

It struck precisely at the lowest part of the opponent's claw blade.

There was a soft thunk.

Even though the Bear Demon Little Leader's spiritual power was slightly greater than Long Fan's, his claw was still deflected by skillful force.

Long Fan seized the chance to lower his body while driving the sword tip upward.

It struck right into the opening beneath the Bear Demon leader's ribs.

Pfft!

Long Fan put all his strength into that blow.

Though it was a Wooden Sword, the material was still quite hard.

And after so much time spent tempering and grinding it, the tip was extremely sharp.

Blood poured from the armpit.

The Bear Demon leader's claws trembled from the pain, and his body staggered.

Long Fan charged in again, driving the Wooden Sword into its abdomen.

With a duang, the Bear Demon leader fell to the ground.

The other Bear Demons, reacting half a beat too late, finally came to their senses.

One after another, they bared their claws and fangs, lunging to surround Long Fan.

Long Fan did not hesitate. He swung the Wooden Sword in his hand.

Charge + Thrust!

First-rank knight skills, fused into one.

His sword stabbed into the Bear Demon leader's mouth.

Killing it on the spot.

Then he rolled across the ground to reposition.

But a Bear Demon's claws, close enough to touch, still scraped across his back.

Yet it seemed, apparently, as if nothing had happened.

Sure enough, his 251 points of Outer Spiritual Power, surpassing the limits of ordinary people, had raised Long Fan's physical defense to a rather impressive level.

Only his clothes had been torn open. Long Fan sprang up with a carp kick-up.

Ducking low, he stabbed a vicious sword into the other party's armpit.

That spot was not thick-skinned or tough-fleshed.

Once stabbed, every pain nerve there lit up.

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Half its body was directly crippled.

Long Fan drew back his sword.

Then shifted position again.

Most of the Bear Demons' torsos had very strong defense, but they could not withstand the agile Long Fan's nimble footwork.

He practically spun in a circle.

And forcibly stabbed every vulnerable part of the Bear Demons closing in on him.

It was also at that moment.

A cold voice rang out in the forest.

"That's enough. Since you chased all the way here, then... huh?"

A masked figure in white suddenly appeared not far ahead.

Riding a crystal-clear streak of light, they emerged silently in midair.

With a graceful arc, they flashed through the forest several times like lightning.

But there was no target left to kill.

Because Long Fan had already used the purest, simplest Wooden Sword to send all those Bear Demons off to meet the great Bear Demon God Hua Li Fu they believed in.

Against these demons, one had to be fast, accurate, and ruthless.

The white-clad figure looked toward the young man holding the bloodstained Wooden Sword, and a trace of surprise flashed through eyes that had always been utterly unruffled.

In a remote little place like this, there was actually someone so handsome?

And his strength did not seem weak either.

Long Fan's expression did not change.

Because he knew the white-clad figure was Caier's trial protector, he did not rashly strike with his sword.

He only looked into the white-clad figure's eyes.

Similar to Caier's, they were also a pair of eyes almost entirely devoid of emotion.

This was practically standard issue for the Assassin Temple.

Perhaps unnecessary emotions would only limit the speed at which they drew their blades.

The man in white did not ask anything.

His gaze merely swept over the corpses of the Bear Demons.

A little more surprise entered his eyes. The boy's killing technique was rather practiced.

Without any visible movement from the man in white, countless points of light silently surged out from the area of his chest.

Vaguely, one could make out that the white light had taken the shape of a small furnace.

Inside the little furnace, faint azure flames flickered.

In an instant, it was as if the entire forest had been lit up by that radiance.

The glare made Long Fan narrow his eyes slightly.

The other party was using the Assassin Temple's exclusive Thousand Strike Spiritual Furnace to grind the corpses into dust.

Then he burned them to ash with the azure flames attached to the spiritual furnace, leaving not the slightest trace behind.

Long Fan's heart stirred slightly.

A spiritual furnace?

It really is miraculous!

The man in white slowly turned and looked in the direction behind Long Fan.

He said calmly, "Come out."

With a whoosh, a petite figure appeared in front of Long Fan.

The man in white slowly walked over and beckoned to Caier.

But Caier quickly turned and walked up to Long Fan instead, taking off a ring from her hand. It had a blue base with golden patterns.

Under Long Fan's silent gaze, Caier directly slipped it onto the middle finger of his left hand.

The slightly smaller ring expanded on Long Fan's finger by itself, fitting him perfectly.

At the sight, the man in white immediately cried out in a low voice.

"Caier, you..."

But what met him was Caier's stubborn, unwavering gaze.

Facing Long Fan's gentle eyes, Caier brought her hands together slightly.

It seemed to be a gesture of thanks, though somewhat awkward.

Long Fan smiled and shook his head slightly.

"It's all right. As a knight, if it's within my power, of course I should act."

He reached out, unable to resist wanting to pat that adorable little head of hers.

But when he thought of her identity as the Reincarnation Saintess, he stopped after all.

However, Caier took the initiative to lean in.

Long Fan naturally went along with it and ruffled the little girl's hair.

Then he gently brushed the leaves and dust from her head.

He wiped away the traces of blood on her face.

"A girl should always stay pretty, all right?"

Saint Caier nodded.

For the first time, a faint trace of emotion appeared in those icy eyes.

The man in white froze where he stood.

After enjoying Long Fan's head pat for a moment, Caier finally returned to the man in white's side.

The man in white slowly nodded.

"All right. Your trial this time is over as well. Let's go back."

Long Fan and Saint Caier waved to each other and said their goodbyes.

Very soon, the man in white took Caier and leaped into the air, disappearing into the depths of the forest.