Slaying Demons

Huff, huff.

Huff, huff, huff.

The bear demon panted like a broken bellows, yet didn't dare take a deep breath. Its paws tore through the tall grass in a blind panic as it stumbled forward, rolling and crawling through the undergrowth.

Its wounds were caked in blood, and its fur was smeared with dirt, broken branches, shredded vines, and crushed grass.

Every so often, it looked back.

Each time, it fixed its gaze precisely on Ning Xuan's position.

Ning Xuan followed at an unhurried pace, the Beast Slaying Saber held at an angle.

But when he realized the bear demon could still sense him despite its condition, he shouted hoarsely from afar, "Fool! Your life is your own. Your enemy is your boss's. So why don't you hurry back?"

The little bear demon couldn't speak, but it understood him.

It thought he made a good point.

It had been hesitating over whether to lead this terrifying foe back to its den.

Now, it no longer hesitated.

It changed direction, dropped onto all fours, and began racing toward the depths of the old mountain.

Ning Xuan tightened his grip on the Beast Slaying Saber and followed.

After the time it took an incense stick to burn, the little bear demon seemed to have reached a place of safety. It let out a loud "Awooo!" with all its strength.

Then it collapsed to the ground with a thump.

Several enormous shadows came charging out of the pitch-black cave. They crawled out, then rose upright on two legs, their savage gazes turning toward a certain spot.

There stood Ning Xuan, atop a mountain the bear demons couldn't immediately reach.

He had followed the little bear demon most of the way, then veered off slightly and climbed a nearby mountain with a sweeping view of the lowlands.

He only wanted to see where the bear demons' den was, observe the situation, and test how strong their most powerful fighters were before deciding what to do next.

He hadn't heard Han Ba's "standard bandit siege theory," but he understood the value of testing the waters.

If these bear demons were outrageously strong and numerous, he wouldn't waste another thought on it. He'd return to the county and assess the situation. If anything seemed off, he'd take the people of Ning Manor and flee. If the situation wouldn't allow him to bring them along, he'd pack up the valuables, stuff his bundle full of banknotes, and run with his mother.

She had given birth to him and raised him. He could never abandon her.

As for Old Han and the others, Ning Xuan didn't have much faith in them. After all, they still used weapons within the bounds of what ordinary martial artists knew: Heavy Rain Pear Blossom Needles, repeating crossbows, and the like.

Those weapons could injure a Mountain Crashing Bear Demon, but it wouldn't be easy.

Those sharp weapons could only work when a Mountain Crashing Bear Demon was relatively still and facing the person shooting at it. Otherwise, no matter how many arrows they fired, it would be like shooting at an iron wall—utterly useless.

In his nightmare, he had tried again and again before devising the hanging basket. Combined with the advantage of knowing what would happen through reincarnation, that was how he had finally succeeded.

Of course, Old Han and the others might possess what people called "supernatural powers."

But judging by how alert they were, and by the many corpses that had been discovered in the county yesterday, even if Old Han and the others had such powers, they might not be enough.

He didn't want to place his life entirely in someone else's hands.

So he had to test them.

He had to test them seriously, with everything he had.

After one try, he would know whether he could fight them.

High above, the young man's eyes shifted, his expression unreadable.

Below, the upright bear demons glared fiercely back at him.

Suddenly, the bear demons moved aside. From within the pitch-black cave came one rumble after another.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The pounding sounded like war drums beating against the heart.

Before long, an enormous black bear, nearly ten feet tall, emerged from the cave.

This black bear was taller, bigger, and sturdier than every other bear demon!

In its left paw, it held half a human body by the leg. The body had been crudely torn in two. Half a neck and half a head still clung to it, one bulging eye wide with terror. The woman's clothes had not been completely stripped away, and her figure still showed that she had been a beauty in life.

The cut across her neck and head, however, was smooth—not torn and ragged like the rest of her body.

Ning Xuan's gaze fell on the black bear's blade-like claws.

His pupils narrowed slightly.

Once the black bear stopped, one of the other bear demons respectfully whispered to it.

After listening, the black bear tossed aside the half-body and glanced toward Ning Xuan.

Man and demon stared at each other from afar, the air heavy with the tension of generals facing off before battle.

Suddenly, the black bear stomped one paw into the ground.

The earth boomed and shuddered. In the same instant, the black bear became a black whirlwind, laced with the roar of thunder, and charged toward Ning Xuan.

Had there been anyone else watching, they wouldn't have been able to make out the black bear at all. They would have seen only the forest outside the cave—trees, tall or short, thick or thin, snapping like dry twigs, and rocks of every size shattering to pieces.

It was a rolling cloud of dust, a black storm imbued with the force of thunder.

In the black bear's eyes, the strange human youth seemed to have frozen in terror.

It drew closer and closer.

Even an opponent of the same rank couldn't withstand its Innate Demonic Art head-on.

But as it entered within ten paces of the human, the youth suddenly moved, and the sight left it reeling, unable to believe its eyes.

The youth's speed was astonishing, and his movements were impossibly precise.

His body leaned at an unbelievable angle as he slipped diagonally backward, as though he were about to fall.

He wasn't just leaning back—he was retreating backward, too.

His feet moved as if greased.

The black bear didn't care. Its Innate Demonic Art didn't care what kind of opponent it faced. Once it hit, the enemy would be crushed!

"Roar!"

With a furious bellow, the black bear pressed forward again and again.

The youth retreated again and again.

Suddenly, the youth slowed, as if he'd tripped over something.

A mocking look flashed in the black bear's eyes. It would seize the chance to finish him while he was down. Its arms drew back like a powerful bow, then its claws came down from above as it leaped and lunged fiercely at the youth!

Its eyes were savage, its claws murderous, and flecks of bloody flesh from its human prey still clung to the corners of its mouth.

It was a beast's most ferocious hunting strike, driven by instinct.

Just then, the youth in its sights abruptly came to a complete stop.

As he stopped, his body spun around like a top. In just a few steps, he whirled back around, his speed instantly reaching its limit. The long saber in his hand swept upward against the wind.

The black bear sneered. Saliva dripped from its bared, broad teeth.

The Innate Demonic Art of its bear body surged into action!

It drove down against the saber.

But the expected sight of the blade shattering inch by inch never came.

A cold, slicing sensation suddenly ran through the black bear.

The saber shattered its Innate Demonic Art, then sliced through its thick, weapon-proof hide. It pierced its paw and surged upward through the air, plunging into its skull in an instant.

The blade's tip carried a power it knew all too well: the power of its Innate Demonic Art, Bear Prowess Mountain Collapse.

In the hands of a tiny blade tip, that power was more condensed, sharper, and more terrifying.

The black bear's beady green eyes filled with disbelief and fear.

In the blink of an eye, an intense sensation of its unbreakable skull shattering hit it. A moment later, piercing pain exploded through its head.

Boom!!

Ning Xuan's saber pierced through the black bear at an angle.

He held the saber in one hand and lifted the bear with it.

The blade ran through the bear's paw and skull, its tip jutting out the back of its head. A bright spray of blood burst forth, followed by a deluge of brain matter and shattered bone fragments.