The Magic Bear's Helper

The Magic Bear's charge was indeed ferocious. Fortunately, Gu Yu and the others had a "backing" behind them, allowing them to focus on the Magic Bears in front. They should be able to hold out a little longer.

"Everyone, hold on! Our fellow disciples will be here soon!" Gu Yu shouted, rallying their spirits.

Gu Yu faced the Valiance Realm Magic Bear head-on, gritting his teeth and holding firm. He knew he couldn't let his weakness show. Otherwise, their morale would plummet, and casualties would be inevitable.

Bi Fan watched from the tree, a cold smile spreading across his face.

Since the people from North Xu Palace wanted to make trouble for him, Bi Fan wasn't the type to take it lying down.

Like a Spirit Ape, Bi Fan lightly pushed off and dropped to the ground, then slipped toward the boulders.

The Magic Bears and Gu Yu's group were locked in fierce combat. None of them noticed Bi Fan quietly drawing near.

Near the battlefield, Bi Fan hid behind a waist-high rock. Several small stones appeared in his hand, and his smile grew wider.

Bi Fan aimed at a North Xu Palace disciple beside Gu Yu and flicked a stone at him.

Bi Fan had cultivated the Carefree Immortal Finger, and his finger strength was astonishing. The stone shot out with a sharp whistle as it tore through the air.

"Look out! Dodge!" Gu Yu was indeed powerful. Even in the middle of battle, he noticed the stone flying toward them.

He tried to shove his companion out of the way, but he was already too late.

"Ah!" A scream rang out.

His companion's arm dropped limply. His Magic Tool fell to the ground, and a bloody hole appeared in his arm, blood gushing out.

"Who's there? Who would help the Magic Bears attack humans?" Gu Yu roared in fury.

He roughly judged the direction the stone had come from and searched around, but saw no one.

Bi Fan hid behind the boulder, smirking to himself and paying Gu Yu no mind.

All that talk of benevolence and righteousness was nonsense. If Bi Fan didn't find a way to deal with the people from North Xu Palace, they would come after him sooner or later. Bi Fan preferred to strike first.

There had been six people in Gu Yu's group. Now two had lost their fighting ability, and the situation had grown even worse.

What's more, Gu Yu and the others had to keep dividing their attention, afraid the hidden attacker would strike again.

The Magic Bears were clever. Their attacks came in waves, growing fiercer by the moment.

Gu Yu's companions were wounded one after another and could barely hold on. Only Gu Yu was in slightly better shape.

"Everyone, hold on! Reinforcements will be here any moment!" Gu Yu didn't give up, urging them to keep fighting.

"Heh. You shouldn't have provoked me. Otherwise, who knows? I might've helped you fight the Magic Bears. But now... you brought this misfortune on yourselves."

Bi Fan struck again, flicking stones as before. This time, he sent four flying in quick succession, one for each person still fighting.

"Smack!" Gu Yu's senses were sharp. He thrust the tip of his sword forward and shattered the stone.

The other three couldn't react in time, and all were hit.

Bi Fan didn't kill them. He only wounded them, leaving them unable to fight.

The Magic Bears would surely be happy to tear apart the humans before them. They were already roaring as they charged at Gu Yu and the others.

Gu Yu's face changed dramatically. He abandoned his companions and tried to flee.

"Trying to run? Not so easy." Bi Fan sneered.

His fingers flicked again and again, sending stones hurtling toward Gu Yu. Gu Yu was thrown into a panic and couldn't escape, soon surrounded by the Magic Bears.

Gu Yu's companions had it even worse. In the blink of an eye, the Magic Bears tore them to pieces.

The Magic Bears had no mercy. To them, humans were a fine meal.

After killing five people, the Magic Bears surrounded Gu Yu.

"You coward who attacked from the shadows! If I find out who you are, I'll tear you to pieces!" Gu Yu's eyes were bloodshot as he roared.

Bi Fan curled his lip and said nothing. The man was already as good as dead; paying attention to him would only waste his breath.

Bi Fan couldn't even be bothered to finish him off. The Magic Bears would give Gu Yu a warm welcome.

"Boom! Ah..." Crashes and screams rang out from time to time.

After a while, the commotion died down. All that remained was the sound of the Magic Bears crunching bones.

Bi Fan peered out. Gu Yu had already been torn apart, and the Magic Bears were ripping into and devouring his remains.

After making sure Gu Yu was dead, Bi Fan darted away through the woods. He didn't go far, though. He climbed a tree and waited for the Magic Bears to leave.

Gu Yu and the others had been fairly strong, so they must have carried plenty of treasures. Once the Magic Bears left, Bi Fan could go collect them.

Before long, the Magic Bears had eaten their fill. They even carried off the remaining meat in their mouths.

Only after the Magic Bears had gone a good distance away did Bi Fan leap down from the tree.

The ground was splattered with blood and scattered flesh. It was a horrifying sight.

Bi Fan fought down his nausea and picked up all the weapons on the ground. He also found quite a few crystals and a Cosmic Bag, and didn't leave any of them behind.

He had just finished gathering everything when he heard people talking as they headed this way.

"Could North Xu Palace's reinforcements have arrived?" Bi Fan darted away and hid among the trees.

Before long, three young men appeared by the river.

"Didn't Senior Brother Gu Yu say he'd be here? Why can't I see anyone?"

"Let's follow the river and look around. With Senior Brother Gu Yu and the others' strength, they should be fine."

Hearing them talk, Bi Fan knew they must be disciples of North Xu Palace.

"Come quickly! There are signs of a fight here, and there's blood everywhere!"

The three young disciples hurried to the boulder. When they saw the bloody scene, their faces changed dramatically.

"Looks like something happened to Senior Brother Gu Yu and the others. It seems the Magic Bears killed and ate them all."

"Look! This trail of blood is probably where the Magic Bears dragged off the remains. The blood's still wet, so they can't have gone far. Should we follow them and take a look?"

"Follow them? Even Senior Brother Gu Yu and the other five experts died. You'd have to be tired of living to go after them."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense. Why are Senior Brother Gu Yu's Magic Tools gone? And his crystals, too."

The three young men searched carefully but found nothing. They all frowned.

The Magic Bears wouldn't have carried off the Magic Tools. It looked like someone had gotten there before them and taken Gu Yu and the others' Magic Tools and crystals.

"Search around. Whoever picked up Senior Brother Gu Yu and the others' treasures can't have gone far. Senior Brother Gu Yu's Rainbow Light Sword is a high-grade Magic Tool. We can't let people from another sect take it."

The three young men were clever. They even tried to track their enemy by following the bloody footprints.

Seeing that they would soon track him down, Bi Fan quickly left.

They were still useful. When they went back to report, they could say that Gu Yu and the others had died at the Magic Bears' hands.

Bi Fan was doing his best not to stir up trouble or create complications. But if anyone picked a fight with him, he would hit back—with a lethal counterattack.

The three young men were small fry and hadn't provoked Bi Fan, so he let them go.

The three searched for a long time without finding anything, then finally left.

They hadn't come to avenge Gu Yu. They only wanted to get their hands on his and the others' Magic Tools and crystals.

Bi Fan found a quiet place and counted his spoils. There wasn't much to go through; he mainly wanted to see what was inside the Cosmic Bag.

The Cosmic Bag likely belonged to Gu Yu. Bi Fan opened it and found more than three hundred crystals, one mid-grade Magic Tool, three low-grade Magic Tools, and two manuals.

Bi Fan was only interested in the manuals. He took them out and saw that one was North Xu Palace's inner-breath cultivation method, the Xuyang Art, while the other was the sword art Xuri Rising Sun.

These two manuals were mid-level secret arts of North Xu Palace. Ordinary disciples wouldn't be taught them. They were about the same grade as the Qingyang Gentle Wind Sword Art.

Bi Fan had no intention of cultivating these two secret arts, but he could use them as references. They would also help him cultivate other martial techniques.

If he practiced these two manuals and a North Xu Palace disciple found out, it would cause him plenty of trouble.

Still, if he learned Xuri Rising Sun, performed it with the Carefree Immortal Finger, and blended it with the Qingyang Gentle Wind Sword Art, he doubted anyone would spot the difference. Bi Fan put everything away, quite satisfied.

Bi Fan already knew that North Xu Palace's disciples were searching for him. There were also plenty of people who wanted to kill him for the bounty, but he wasn't worried in the least.

As his strength grew, Bi Fan's confidence grew with it.

Besides, most of the people who entered the outer reaches of the Demon Domain weren't very strong. Anyone truly powerful wouldn't enter just for a bounty of one thousand crystals.

With no pressure at all, Bi Fan continued hurrying deeper into the Demon Domain, searching for suitable Magic Beasts to practice against.

The Valiance Realm Magic Beasts could no longer put much pressure on him. He needed to find Spiritual Wisdom Realm Magic Beasts to temper his martial skills and his body.

There were very few Magic Beasts above the Spiritual Wisdom Realm in the outer reaches of the Demon Domain. If anyone encountered one, most people out on a trial would probably run for their lives.

Bi Fan searched along the way but didn't see a single Spiritual Wisdom Realm Magic Beast. He killed five or six weaker ones without much effort. Even Valiance Realm Magic Beasts could barely threaten him.

Bi Fan improved every day, making rapid progress in strength, physical power, and martial skills.

Before he knew it, he had spent half a month in the outer reaches of the Demon Domain, and his strength had more than doubled.

His physical strength had improved the most. After completing the first level of the formula in the Golden Silk Jade Book, his pure physical strength had reached the Viscera Realm—that is, four-cloud-stone strength.

The power of his inner breath was close to six cloud stones. Added together, it came to nearly ten cloud stones, equivalent to a peak Spiritual Wisdom Realm expert.

Bi Fan was only at the peak of the Viscera Realm, yet he could stand shoulder to shoulder with experts two whole realms above him. That was already remarkable.

Bi Fan increasingly felt how miraculous the formula recorded in the Golden Silk Jade Book was. Unfortunately, the formula was incomplete.

"Spiritual Wisdom Realm Magic Beasts, hurry up and show yourselves! Big Brother's getting impatient," Bi Fan prayed silently.

His strength was at a bottleneck in the Viscera Realm. He needed more tempering to break through quickly. He wanted to reach the Spiritual Wisdom Realm soon so he could cultivate the Carefree Art and rapidly increase his inner breath. The Carefree Art's inner-breath cultivation method was surely much more effective than the Qingyang Longevity Art.

Rather than break through by taking pills, Bi Fan preferred to reach a breakthrough through actual combat. That would give him a much firmer foundation.

Just as he was muttering to himself, a thunderous beast's roar suddenly rang out in the distance.

He didn't know what kind of Magic Beast it was, but the sound alone made his heart quail. It had to be incredibly powerful.

Bi Fan was thrilled and quickly headed toward the source of the sound.

"Finally, a powerful Magic Beast to practice against!"