Encountering a Savage Bear

A blade was an instrument of slaughter, and blade techniques were arts of slaughter as well. Without the baptism of blood and real combat, blade techniques were incomplete.

After gaining an initial grasp of blade techniques, Ling Li discovered that the First Tier low-star monster beasts in this area no longer posed a threat to him. Even the Ink Leopard that had nearly killed him before could not escape the fate of being decapitated in a single strike. Such battles were no different from Ling Li practicing his blade techniques against empty air; he felt nothing at all, and his blade techniques naturally made no progress.

Of course, Ling Li did not care whether his blade techniques improved. However, he killed at least thirty First Tier monster beasts a day, and when he encountered monster beasts that lived in groups, killing fifty or sixty in a day was not impossible. Yet after ten days, he had not obtained a single magic core. This drop rate was simply outrageous!

"Whoosh!"

A rustling sound suddenly came from the silent forest. Then, a fiery red fox shot out from within, lunging straight for Ling Li's throat.

"Ssh!"

Ling Li's ears twitched. Without even looking, he thrust his blade sideways. Dark Night accurately pierced through the fox's open mouth, passing straight into its stomach and sinking into its abdomen. Ling Li lightly twisted his wrist. As Dark Night's sharp blade and uneven crystal surface churned, the fox's internal organs were thoroughly shredded, and it fell silent.

Expressionless, Ling Li grabbed the fox by the tail and pulled it off Dark Night. The bits of flesh and viscera caught on the uneven crystal surface did not make him uncomfortable.

Skillfully, he made a cut at the base of the fox's tail, then pulled its fur downward in one smooth motion. A complete fox pelt fell into Ling Li's hands, and he placed it into the System Space.

After storing the pelt, Ling Li slowly cracked open the fox's skull with the mindset of opening a prize box. When he saw that there was nothing inside, he still refused to give up and stirred around with his blade. After confirming there was no magic core, Ling Li crushed the split skull beneath his foot and cursed, "Damn it! I can skin monster beasts skillfully now, so why haven't I found even one magic core?!"

After taking several deep breaths and calming himself, Ling Li let out a breath and consoled himself, "Maybe this is the normal drop rate. If magic cores were really that easy to obtain, how could those mercenaries be so poor?"

It seemed that not only had he been absurdly lucky to kill the Ink Leopard, but he had also been absurdly lucky that the Ink Leopard had possessed a magic core.

"Forget it. I'll go deeper. What kind of training is it without risk?" Ling Li shook his head and headed deeper into the Monster Beast Mountain Range.

Many monster beasts in the Monster Beast Mountain Range did not live alone, but moved about in groups of several or even dozens. This was also why Ling Li had not dared to venture too deeply into the Monster Beast Mountain Range.

Ling Li could easily kill low-level First Tier monster beasts, and even groups were no problem. But if higher-level ones appeared in groups, he could not guarantee that he would survive.

"Pah!" Ling Li spat, then swiftly collected four badly mangled Greenwood Wolves into the System Space.

The bodies of these Greenwood Wolves had been hacked into bloody messes. Forget selling them—even Ling Li himself would have found it hard to stomach them as food. He stored them in the System Space only to prevent the smell of blood from attracting other monster beasts.

He had now gone roughly thirty li deep. The monster beasts here had grown noticeably stronger. At the very least, their speed and strength were nearly twice that of those at the outermost edge. A single one was manageable, but if several attacked together, Ling Li could no longer face them as calmly as he had in the outer regions. Naturally, the corpses of these Greenwood Wolves could not have remained intact.

"That was vicious. I wonder if I'll get rabies." Ling Li glanced at the row of bite marks on his left forearm. At the point where the longest canine tooth had bitten down, white bone was nearly exposed. Fortunately, the tendons inside had not been injured, and he could still move his fingers without issue. With Ling Li's recovery ability, it should heal seven or eight tenths of the way after one night's sleep.

This pack of Greenwood Wolves had been drawn over by the scent of blood after he killed a Giant Wood Ape. These wolf-like monster beasts not only lived in packs but retained their wolfish nature. Coupled with their impressive speed and strength, they had caused Ling Li to suffer a minor setback.

"Roar!!"

Just as Ling Li was preparing to leave the scene, a violent beast roar sounded from nearby. Towering trees trembled from a tremendous impact, startling flocks of birds into flight.

"Seriously? Are the monster beasts here all bloodhounds or something?" Ling Li could not help complaining. He had no intention of running. Instead, he tightened his grip on Dark Night.

Whether he could escape or not was one thing, but turning his back to an enemy was definitely not a good choice.

Before long, a brown bear nearly six meters tall when standing upright came barreling before Ling Li. After its gaze lingered on the bloodstains around them for a moment, it let out another furious roar at him.

"A Savage Bear?! Shouldn't this kind of monster beast be active around the boundary between Second Tier and First Tier monster beast territory? Why did it come to a place like this? Was it driven out by other monster beasts?" Ling Li was initially puzzled, but then he saw the three claw marks on the Savage Bear's face that had nearly torn away half its cheek, as well as the wounds all over its body that had yet to fully scab over. A flash of understanding passed through his eyes.

Within the Monster Beast Mountain Range, monster beasts did not coexist peacefully. They possessed a strong sense of territory, and even the slightest conflict could lead to bloody slaughter. To be precise, without the schemes and complicated emotional bonds of humans, the relationship between monster beasts displayed the true law of survival: the strong survived, while the weak became prey.

The Savage Bear was a genuine High Star First Tier monster beast. With its extraordinary size, even some weaker Second Tier monster beasts were unwilling to provoke it. Though this bear looked bulky, its running speed was by no means slow. Combined with its terrifying endurance, Ling Li's chances of escaping were minuscule.

Of course, this Savage Bear was seriously injured, which was good news for Ling Li. But it also meant that once this Savage Bear sensed danger, it would fight like a trapped beast!

The Savage Bear gave Ling Li no time to think and charged straight at him. Its enormous momentum made the ground seem to tremble.

Ling Li hurriedly dodged aside and widened the distance between them. The rampaging Savage Bear crashed into a towering tree, splitting its trunk apart.

Getting hit by this Savage Bear definitely would not be a pleasant experience. Even if it did not kill him, it would cost him half his life.

However, Ling Li had never intended to confront it head-on. That had never been his fighting style. Instead, he relied on his speed and swift blade to slowly wear his enemies to death.

Taking a deep breath, Ling Li quickly mobilized the battle qi within his body and infused it into his limbs. After growing accustomed to it during this time, Ling Li could now skillfully use the battle qi inside him.

Dark-attribute battle qi was comparatively dense and profound. Yet compared with earth-attribute battle qi, which was equally dense but focused on defense, dark-attribute battle qi possessed the extreme speed and corrosiveness of a shadow that never left one's side.

This type of battle qi was best suited for chipping away at an enemy. Of course, after enough chipping, it became bone-scraping!

The battle qi within his body was rapidly circulated throughout him. Stimulated by the battle qi, Ling Li's eyes became deeper, while the muscles in his limbs were strengthened by its power.

Feeling the surging strength filling his limbs, Ling Li held Dark Night horizontally and charged proactively toward the Savage Bear.

Seeing this tiny prey actually dare to come at it on its own, the Savage Bear did not take him seriously. It casually swung out a bear paw as large as a millstone.

Compared to humans, the greatest advantage of monster beasts was their powerful physical bodies. Because they possessed such bodies, monster beasts could devote all of their cultivation to strengthening their attacks. Moreover, the Savage Bear was a power-type monster beast. If that slap landed solidly, Ling Li would very likely be turned directly into a pile of meat paste!

That careless slap did not achieve its intended effect. Instead, it made the Savage Bear pay a heavy price. Ling Li swiftly leaped sideways to evade, and the massive bear paw struck the ground, gouging out a huge swath of earth.

Seizing this chance, Ling Li stepped onto the Savage Bear's arm and ran upward. With every step, he left several blade marks where he passed. At times, he even carved off a large chunk of flesh, which flew far away alongside warm blood.

By the time Ling Li stepped onto the Savage Bear's shoulders, its arm was already covered in blade marks and dripping blood. Strange black mist spread over the wounds, slowly corroding the flesh there into blood-colored vapor that rose into the air.