After running for several miles, Lin Yue and Su Qingyan finally dared to stop and lean against a rock, gasping for breath. The roars behind them gradually faded, but neither dared lower their guard. They watched the way they had come, afraid the Chaos Giant Bear might catch up.
"Whew... That beast is really hard to deal with." Su Qingyan wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her hair was tousled against her cheeks, and her once-pristine red robes were covered in dust, leaving her looking rather bedraggled. She looked at Lin Yue, her expression complicated. "Just now... thanks."
Lin Yue blinked, surprised that Su Qingyan had thanked him of her own accord. He waved a hand. "It was nothing. We're partners, after all." He paused, then asked, "How badly are you hurt?"
Su Qingyan shook her head. "Just a minor injury. It's nothing. What about you? When you lured it into the rock just now, you nearly got caught in the impact. You've got guts."
Lin Yue smiled but didn't reply. Truthfully, he was still shaken. If he'd been half a second slower, the giant bear might have trampled him into a pulp.
Just then, a faint ripple of energy came from the direction they had come from. Lin Yue and Su Qingyan exchanged a glance, their expressions changing at once—the Chaos Giant Bear had caught up!
"Why won't it give up?" Su Qingyan gritted her teeth. Flames reignited within her. "Looks like neither of us is leaving unless we deal with it today."
Lin Yue nodded, his expression grave. "It's injured, so it should be a lot slower, but it still has its defense and strength. We can't fight it head-on. We need a safer plan." He looked around and saw that they were in a relatively narrow valley. Tall rock walls rose on either side, leaving only a single passage through the middle. "The terrain here is good. We might be able to use it."
Su Qingyan immediately understood. "You want to lure it in here and use the terrain to limit its movements?"
"Exactly." Lin Yue nodded. "It's huge, so it'll have trouble turning around in a confined space. We can attack it from different directions and keep it from focusing on either of us." He pointed to a hollow in the rock wall on the left. "Go over there. Use your flames to draw its attention and aim for its eyes and snout. They're not poorly defended, but they're still weak points."
Then he looked toward a jutting rock on the right. "I'll go over there. Its hind leg was injured, so its movements are bound to be flawed. I'll look for an opening to attack the wound. Remember, we don't need to seriously injure it, just buy time. When it's exhausted or loses patience, it'll retreat on its own."
Su Qingyan nodded. Though she still had reservations about Lin Yue, she understood that working together was their only chance of survival. She straightened her collar as flames danced across her fingertips. "Be careful. That beast's brute strength is no joke." With that, she shot toward the rock wall on the left like a streak of red.
Lin Yue took a deep breath and darted to the right. He had barely concealed himself when the Chaos Giant Bear roared into the valley. Its blood-red eyes swept across the surroundings, and the Turbid Energy streaming from its nostrils and mouth reeked so badly it almost made him retch.
"Roar!" The giant bear seemed to have locked onto Su Qingyan. Its massive body swung sharply to the left, and it lashed out with a forepaw. A wave of force slammed into the rock wall, sending Stone Shattering tumbling down.
Su Qingyan was ready. She leaped out of the hollow, gathering several Flame Spears at her fingertips and aiming them straight at the giant bear's eyes. The flames radiated scorching heat, forcing the bear to shut its eyes instinctively as it raised a forepaw to block them.
"Bang!" The Flame Spears struck the giant bear's paw and burst into a shower of sparks, but only left a few scorch marks on its pitch-black fur.
"Just as I thought, I can't hurt it..." Su Qingyan's heart sank. She pushed off with one foot and quickly retreated into the hollow. Lin Yue had been right. Her flames alone couldn't get through its defenses, so all she could do was keep harassing it.
The instant the giant bear pursued Su Qingyan, Lin Yue moved. He darted out from behind the rock like a wildcat. Chaos Airflow surged madly through his dantian, condensing into three balls of light, denser than before. They were aimed straight at the wound on the bear's hind leg.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" The balls of light shot through the air and struck the patch of scorched fur on the giant bear's leg with pinpoint accuracy.
"Roar!" The giant bear cried out in pain and spun around, fixing its blood-red eyes on Lin Yue as a threatening growl rumbled in its throat. It clearly hadn't expected this seemingly weak human to dare attack its wound.
After landing his hit, Lin Yue immediately retreated behind the rock again. He could feel that the giant bear was angrier than before, and his heart beat a little faster. The beast seemed smarter than he'd expected. It even knew how to hold a grudge.
For the next half hour, the valley rang with the giant bear's roars and the crackle of flames. Su Qingyan kept attacking from the left, her flames raining down on the bear. They couldn't hurt it, but they kept it on edge. Meanwhile, Lin Yue watched for openings on the right, striking at its wound whenever it chased Su Qingyan.
The two worked together with surprising harmony, as if they'd practiced countless times. Su Qingyan's flames always drew the giant bear's attention just before Lin Yue attacked, and Lin Yue's strikes forced it to turn and defend itself just as it was about to catch Su Qingyan.
Gradually, the Chaos Giant Bear's movements slowed and its breathing grew labored. Its body was covered in more and more scorch marks, and Lin Yue's balls of light had battered the wound on its hind leg until it was a bloody mess. The bear was clearly limping. But its ferocity had not diminished in the slightest. If anything, it had become even more savage, repeatedly ramming its body against the rock walls in an effort to drive them out.
"We can't keep this up," Su Qingyan called from the left, sounding exhausted. "My flames are nearly spent. If we drag this out any longer, it'll wear us down to death."
Lin Yue was growing anxious too. He had used up a great deal of Chaos Energy, and the vortex in his dantian had grown faint. Watching the giant bear repeatedly slam into the rock wall, he suddenly remembered the diagram of attack and defense Pangu had once drawn on the ground. Pangu had traced the beast's attack routes with a fingertip, shown how to dodge by going with its momentum, and even demonstrated how to make it turn its own force against itself.
"Use its momentum..." Lin Yue murmured, his gaze settling on the rock wall the giant bear was about to hit. The rock looked sturdy, but cracks had already formed along its edges. The bear had clearly slammed into it many times before, leaving it on the verge of collapse.
A bold idea took shape in his mind.
"Su Qingyan!" Lin Yue called out. "I'm going to lure it into the cracked rock wall on the right. When I do, hit its wound with your strongest flames!"
Su Qingyan didn't know what Lin Yue had in mind, but she heard the confidence in his voice and answered at once. "All right!"
Lin Yue took a deep breath and leaped out from behind the rock again. This time, he didn't attack. He charged straight at the giant bear, deliberately darted into its view, then turned and ran toward the cracked rock wall on the right.
"Roar!" The giant bear was thoroughly enraged and charged after him with a roar. It had slowed somewhat, but its massive body still bore down with a world-shattering force. It was about to catch Lin Yue.
Lin Yue felt the gust behind him drawing closer and closer. His heart seemed ready to leap from his chest. Gritting his teeth, he rolled to the left less than a yard from the wall. He had practiced this move countless times, and now he executed it fluidly, dodging the bear's charge at just the right moment.
"Rumble!"
Unable to stop in time, the Chaos Giant Bear slammed its massive body into the cracked rock wall. The already unstable rock crumbled in an instant, and countless boulders rained down from above. One boulder, as large as a millstone, landed squarely on the wound on the bear's hind leg.
"Roar!" The giant bear let out a heart-rending scream and staggered backward several steps. Its hind leg buckled, and it dropped to one knee.
"Now!" Lin Yue shouted.
Su Qingyan had already gathered her strength. Seeing the giant bear injured and down, she shot out from the left. The flames around her suddenly surged, coiling into a fire serpent more than ten feet long. With an aura that seemed ready to burn everything to ash, it lunged straight at the wound on the bear's hind leg.
"Sizzle!" The fire serpent plunged into the wound, igniting a raging blaze. They could even see the flames spreading inward through the wound.
"Roar!" The giant bear's scream shook the valley. Its massive body rolled over and over on the ground as it tried to smother the flames. But Su Qingyan's fire clung stubbornly to anything it touched. Once it caught, it was almost impossible to put out, and only burned more fiercely.
Standing nearby, Lin Yue watched the giant bear struggle in agony and felt a pang of pity. But he quickly suppressed it. In the chaos, showing mercy to an enemy meant being cruel to yourself. If they'd slipped up just now, he and Su Qingyan would have been the ones beneath its feet.
The flames burned for the time it took an incense stick to burn before gradually dying out. The giant bear's fur was charred black, and the wound on its hind leg was a bloody mess, its pale bones exposed. It lay on the ground, panting heavily, and at last fear showed in its blood-red eyes. It knew it was no match for the two humans. If it kept fighting, it would die here.
"Grr..." The giant bear let out an unwilling growl and struggled to its feet. It glanced at Lin Yue and Su Qingyan, then finally turned and limped toward the mouth of the valley. Its massive body soon disappeared into the Chaos Airflow.
Only after the giant bear had vanished completely did Lin Yue and Su Qingyan finally relax. They slumped to the ground at almost the same time, gasping for breath. The battle had drained nearly all their energy, and now their bodies ached all over. They couldn't even summon the strength to lift a hand.
The valley was a shambles. More than half of the rock walls had collapsed, and the ground was strewn with Stone Shattering and traces of the giant bear's blood. The setting sun shone through the Chaos Airflow, casting an eerie golden hue over the battlefield.
"At last... it's gone." Su Qingyan leaned against a rock, her voice heavy with exhaustion. A smile nevertheless tugged at her lips. This was the first time she had joined forces with another living being in the chaos to fight a ferocious beast, and the feeling was strangely wonderful.
Lin Yue nodded and took a block of Chaos Energy from his storage bag, handing it to her. "Replenish your energy. This place isn't safe. We need to leave as soon as possible."
Su Qingyan glanced at the energy block, hesitated, then accepted it. "Thanks." She broke off a small piece and put it in her mouth. As she felt the energy flow through her body, her exhaustion eased a little.
They silently recovered their energy, neither saying a word. The only sounds in the valley were their breathing and the distant roar of the Chaos Airflow. A subtle peace settled between them.
After some time, Su Qingyan suddenly spoke. "Is that Three-Leaf Golden Ganoderma still there?"
Lin Yue paused, then remembered the spirit herb the giant bear had trampled. He shook his head. "It's probably been crushed into mud. Even if there are fragments left, they won't have much life in them."
Su Qingyan sighed, regret flickering in her eyes. "We finally found an Innate Spirit Grass, 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, we won't need to worry about firewood. We'll find better treasures someday."
Su Qingyan glanced at him, the corners of her mouth lifting in a rare smile. "You certainly take things in stride." After a pause, she stood up. "I've recovered most of my energy. Let's go. This place isn't far from the rocky valley where we were earlier. We might still find some fragments of the spirit herb. Even if they're not useful, it's better than coming all this way for nothing."
Lin Yue also stood up and dusted himself off. "Sounds good."
The two walked side by side toward the rocky valley, the setting sun stretching their shadows long. Once enemies, they had gained an unspoken understanding through a battle for their lives.
Before you continue