Forced Alliance, Lin Yue and Su Qingyan Battle Fierce Beast

After running for several miles, Lin Yue and Su Qingyan finally dared to stop, leaning against a rock to catch their breath. The roars from behind gradually faded, but neither dared to relax their guard, warily watching the path they came from, afraid the Chaos Giant Bear would chase after them.

"Hoo... that beast is really troublesome," Su Qingyan wiped the sweat from her forehead, her messy hair sticking to her cheeks. Her usually immaculate red robes were also covered in dust, making her look somewhat disheveled. She looked at Lin Yue with a complex expression, "Thank you for just now."

Lin Yue was taken aback, not expecting Su Qingyan to thank him proactively. He waved his hand, "It was nothing. We were cooperating anyway." He paused, then asked, "How's your injury?"

Su Qingyan shook her head, "Just a minor injury, it's nothing. You, on the other hand, were almost caught in the backlash when you lured it to crash into the rocks. You're quite brave."

Lin Yue chuckled, not responding. He was actually quite scared too; if he had been a moment slower just now, he would probably have been crushed into a pulp by the giant bear.

Just then, a faint energy fluctuation came from the direction they had come from. Lin Yue and Su Qingyan exchanged glances, their expressions changing simultaneously—the Chaos Giant Bear had actually caught up!

"Why isn't it giving up?" Su Qingyan gritted her teeth, the flames in her body reigniting, "It seems if we don't deal with it today, neither of us will get out of here."

Lin Yue nodded, his expression solemn, "It's injured, so its speed should be much slower, but its defense and strength are still there. A direct confrontation won't work; we need to think of a more reliable plan." He looked around and found they were in a relatively narrow valley, with towering rock walls on both sides and only a single passage in the middle, "This terrain is good, maybe we can use it."

Su Qingyan immediately understood his meaning, "You want to lure it here and use the terrain to restrict its movement?"

"Exactly," Lin Yue nodded, "Its massive size makes it difficult to turn around in a confined space. We can harass it from different directions, making it unable to attend to both sides." He pointed to an indentation on the left rock wall, "You go there and use your flames to attract its attention, try to attack its eyes and nose—those areas, while not weak, are still vulnerable points."

Then he looked at a protruding rock on the right, "I'll go over there. Its hind legs are injured, so its movement will definitely have flaws. I'll look for an opportunity to attack its wound. Remember, we're not aiming for a critical blow, just to delay it. When it's exhausted or loses patience, it will naturally retreat."

Su Qingyan nodded. Although she still harbored reservations about Lin Yue, she now understood that cooperation was their only path to survival. She tidied her clothes, flames dancing at her fingertips, "Be careful, this beast's brute strength is no joke." With that, she moved like a red blur towards the left rock wall.

Lin Yue took a deep breath and also moved towards the right. As soon as he hid himself, the Chaos Giant Bear roared and charged into the valley, its crimson eyes scanning the surroundings. The turbid air it exhaled from its nostrils carried a strong, foul stench that nearly made one gag.

"Roar!" The giant bear seemed to have locked onto Su Qingyan's direction and abruptly turned its massive body to the left. With a swipe of its front paw, a wave of air slammed into the rock wall, sending gravel raining down.

Su Qingyan was prepared. She leaped out from the indentation, condensing several flame spears with her fingertips, which shot directly at the giant bear's eyes. The flames carried a scorching heat, forcing the giant bear to instinctively close its eyes while raising its front paw to block.

"Bang!" The flame spears hit the giant bear's paw, exploding in a shower of sparks, but only leaving a few scorch marks on its dark fur.

"As expected, it can't be harmed..." Su Qingyan's heart sank. She pushed off the ground and quickly retreated back into the indentation. She knew Lin Yue was right; her flames alone couldn't break through its defenses, they could only harass it.

The moment the giant bear pursued Su Qingyan, Lin Yue moved. He darted out from behind the rock like a civet cat, the Chaos Qi in his dantian circulating wildly. He condensed three light orbs, even more refined than before, aiming directly at the wound on the giant bear's hind leg.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!" The light orbs shot out with a whistling sound, accurately hitting the scorched fur on the giant bear's leg.

"Aow—!" The giant bear cried out in pain, turning sharply. Its crimson eyes fixed on Lin Yue, and it let out a threatening growl from its throat. It clearly hadn't expected this seemingly weak human to dare attack its wound.

Lin Yue, having landed a hit, immediately retreated, hiding behind the rock again. He could feel the giant bear's rage intensifying, and his heart beat a little faster—this beast's intelligence seemed quite high; it actually knew how to hold a grudge.

For the next half hour, the valley was filled with the roars of the giant bear and the crackling sounds of burning flames. Su Qingyan continuously harassed it from the left, her flames raining down on the giant bear. Though they couldn't injure it, they made it extremely agitated. Lin Yue, on the right, looked for opportunities, always striking when the giant bear was chasing Su Qingyan, focusing on its wound.

Their cooperation was surprisingly tacit, as if they had practiced countless times. Su Qingyan's flames always drew the giant bear's attention before Lin Yue attacked, and Lin Yue's attacks always forced the giant bear to turn and defend just as it was about to catch Su Qingyan.

Gradually, the Chaos Giant Bear's movements slowed, and its breathing became heavy. The scorch marks on its body increased, and its hind leg wound was bloody and mangled from Lin Yue's light orbs, its movement clearly limping. However, its ferocity did not diminish at all; instead, it became more violent, constantly slamming its body against the rock walls, trying to force them out.

"This isn't working," Su Qingyan's voice came from the left, tinged with exhaustion, "My flames are almost depleted. If we drag this on, I'm afraid it will wear us down to death."

Lin Yue was also secretly anxious. His Chaos Energy consumption was considerable, and the vortex in his dantian had become somewhat thin. He watched the giant bear repeatedly slamming against the rock wall and suddenly remembered the attack and defense trajectory diagram Pangu had drawn on the ground—Pangu had used his fingertip to sketch out the beast's attack routes, and also how to evade by borrowing momentum, even guiding the beast's power to rebound upon itself.

"Borrowing momentum..." Lin Yue murmured, his gaze falling on the rock wall the giant bear was about to hit. The rock, though seemingly solid, had cracks on its edges, clearly from being hit by the giant bear multiple times already and long past its breaking point.

A bold idea formed in his mind.

"Su Qingyan!" Lin Yue shouted, "Later, I'll lure it to crash into that cracked rock wall on the right. You seize the opportunity to use your strongest flames to attack its wound!"

Although Su Qingyan didn't know what Lin Yue intended to do, she heard the certainty in his voice and immediately responded, "Okay!"

Lin Yue took a deep breath and leaped out from behind the rock again. This time, he didn't attack. Instead, he charged directly at the giant bear, deliberately flashing his figure in front of it before turning and running towards the cracked rock wall on the right.

"Roar!" The giant bear was completely enraged and roared as it chased after him. Although its speed had slowed, its massive body still carried a world-shattering momentum. It was about to catch up to Lin Yue.

Lin Yue could feel the wind from behind getting closer and closer, his heart pounding in his chest. He gritted his teeth and, less than ten feet from the rock wall, rolled sharply to the left—a move he had practiced countless times. He executed it flawlessly, perfectly evading the giant bear's charge.

"Rumble!"

The Chaos Giant Bear couldn't stop in time and slammed its massive body into the cracked rock wall. The already overburdened rock instantly crumbled, and countless boulders rained down from above. One boulder, the size of a millstone, landed precisely on the giant bear's wounded hind leg.

"Aow—!" The giant bear let out a heart-wrenching scream. Its massive body staggered back a few steps, its hind leg gave out, and it half-knelt on the ground.

"Now!" Lin Yue shouted.

Su Qingyan had already gathered her strength. Seeing the injured giant bear fall, she immediately darted out from the left, the flames around her surging. They condensed into a fire python, about ten feet long, carrying an aura of burning everything, and lunged directly at the wound on the giant bear's hind leg.

"Sizzle!" The fire python burrowed into the giant bear's wound, instantly igniting a fierce blaze. One could even see the flames spreading inward along the wound.

"Aow—!" The giant bear's screams were deafening as its massive body thrashed on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames. But Su Qingyan's flames were extremely adhesive; once they clung on, they were difficult to extinguish and only burned hotter.

Lin Yue stood by, watching the giant bear writhe in pain, and felt a trace of pity. But he quickly suppressed the emotion—in Chaos, being merciful to an enemy was being cruel to oneself. If he had been the slightest bit careless just now, he and Su Qingyan would have been the ones trampled underfoot.

The flames burned for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn out before gradually subsiding. The fur on the giant bear's body was scorched black, and the wound on its hind leg was bloody and mangled, revealing bone as white as snow. It lay on the ground, panting heavily, its crimson eyes finally showing fear—it knew it was no match for these two humans, and if it continued to linger, it would only die here.

"Roar..." The giant bear let out a low, unwilling growl, struggled to its feet, glanced at Lin Yue and Su Qingyan, and finally turned, limping its way out of the valley. Its massive body soon disappeared into the Chaos Qi.

Only when the giant bear had completely vanished did Lin Yue and Su Qingyan heave a sigh of relief, slumping to the ground almost simultaneously, gasping for breath. The battle had exhausted nearly all their energy, and they felt sore all over, lacking the strength even to lift an arm.

The valley was a mess. Half of the rock walls had collapsed, and the ground was covered in rubble and the giant bear's bloodstains. The afterglow of the setting sun filtered through the Chaos Qi, casting an eerie golden hue over the battlefield.

"Finally... it's gone," Su Qingyan leaned against the rock, her voice filled with deep fatigue, but a smile involuntarily curved her lips—this was the first time she had teamed up with another being in Chaos to fight a fierce beast, and the feeling was quite extraordinary.

Lin Yue nodded and took out a Chaos Energy block from his storage bag, handing it over, "Replenish some energy. It's not safe here; we need to leave as soon as possible."

Su Qingyan glanced at the energy block, hesitated for a moment, then took it, "Thanks." She broke off a small piece and put it in her mouth, feeling the energy flow through her body, slightly alleviating her fatigue.

The two of them silently recovered their energy, neither speaking. The valley was filled only with their breathing and the distant sound of the Chaos Qi whistling, a subtle peace spreading between them.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Qingyan suddenly spoke, "That Three-Leaf Golden Ganoderma... is it still there?"

Lin Yue was startled, then remembered the spiritual herb that the giant bear had trampled. He shook his head, "It's probably been crushed into mud. Even if there are any fragments left, they won't have any vitality."

Su Qingyan sighed, a flicker of regret in her eyes. "It was so hard to find a congenital spiritual herb, only for it to end up like this..."

Lin Yue smiled. "At least we're still alive, aren't we? As long as the green hills remain, there'll be wood to burn. We'll encounter better treasures in the future."

Su Qingyan glanced at him, the corner of her mouth curving into a rare smile. "You're quite optimistic." She paused, then stood up. "My energy has recovered quite a bit. Let's go. We're not far from the rocky valley where we were just now. Maybe we can still find some fragments of spiritual herbs there—even if they're useless, it's better than coming back empty-handed."

Lin Yue also stood up and patted the dust off his clothes. "Alright."

The two walked side-by-side towards the rocky valley, their shadows stretching long in the setting sun. Once rivals, they now shared an ineffable understanding forged in the crucible of a life-or-death battle.