The Beast Canyon

A giant Mountain Deer was wandering slowly through the forest, searching for food.

It was larger than an ordinary house. Trees bent aside as it passed, yet it only ate the tender leaves and twigs at the very tops of the branches.

All the beasts, insects, and birds nearby cowered and kept their distance from the giant Mountain Deer.

Only a green venomous snake, no thicker than a human toddler's forearm, advanced instead of retreating. It drew close to the giant Mountain Deer. Suddenly, the deer sensed it and bolted, but a green blur shot straight into its body.

The Mountain Deer struggled and cried out, its voice echoing through the valley, but soon its cries grew faint.

The commotion naturally caught Guen's attention. He had just entered Beast Canyon. There were plenty of Mid-Tier Ferocious Beasts along the way, but none of them had interested him.

"A Ferocious Beast around Tier 7 died here. Who killed it?" Guen wondered, unable to see what had attacked it.

A Ferocious Beast's strength was often tied to its size: the stronger it was, the larger it tended to be. Its strength could be roughly estimated from its size.

Yet there were no other predators around the Tier 7 Mountain Deer's corpse. There were signs of struggling, but none of a fight.

"Ang!"

The Kejia Beast in his arms suddenly roared and fixed its gaze on a spot near the Mountain Deer's corpse.

Guen followed its gaze and indeed caught sight of a green blur that vanished in a Fleeting Moment.

"With a body that small, yet able to kill a Tier 7 Ferocious Beast so easily, it can only be the Tier 9 Green Shadow Demon Snake." Guen's expression turned serious. The Flame God Armor quickly enveloped his body, covering the Kejia Beast as well.

Ordinarily, the larger a Ferocious Beast was, the stronger it was.

But a few were exceptions. Every one of them was infamous, and the Green Shadow Demon Snake was among them. Its speed was incredible, and its compact body was extraordinarily tough. It was said to be one of the few Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts that could rival a Super Tier beast, far stronger than ordinary Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts like the Vajra Ape and Green-Eyed Purple Wolf.

"Now this is an opponent worth fighting." Guen's eyes shone as he drew the Meteor Light Blade and charged toward the Mountain Deer's corpse.

"Hiss~"

The Green Shadow Demon Snake glanced at Guen with disdain. It hated these overconfident, endlessly bothersome humans most of all. Turning around, it burrowed into the Mountain Deer's corpse.

That was the Green Shadow Demon Snake. Despite being powerful enough to kill a Tier 7 Ferocious Beast with ease, it was exceedingly crafty and rarely confronted its enemies head-on.

"Perfect. I can test out Flame Slash."

Guen raised the Meteor Light Blade high. Its tip trembled, then a flash of light burst from it, breaking into countless scattered, razor-sharp currents of energy that pierced the Mountain Deer's corpse and sliced it into neat chunks of meat.

Guen was satisfied with the attack's power.

A Tier 7 Ferocious Beast's body was so tough that even cutting it apart would be difficult. At the very least, one would need a Diamond Level weapon and a great deal of effort.

A Ferocious Beast could withstand attacks from opponents of the same level using nothing but its body. Its defenses were fearsomely strong.

And yet Guen had finished it with a single move.

"Too bad I'm not at the Planetary Level yet. Otherwise, I could channel Origin Power into the blade and even make it ignite, burning the target with flames. That would make it even more powerful!"

Guen searched among the chunks of meat for the Green Shadow Demon Snake.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, a flash of green shot toward him. It was so fast that Guen barely had time to react. He could only raise his blade to block. With a soft clang, the green blur grazed the Meteor Light Blade and slammed into his chest.

"Bang."

Guen was sent flying.

The Green Shadow Demon Snake wasn't even as thick as one of Guen's arms, yet it had sent him flying dozens of meters.

Even with the Flame God Armor protecting him, Guen rolled several times across the ground before regaining his footing. He rose and swung at the Green Shadow Demon Snake as it came straight at him. Overlapping blade shadows converged into one.

The strike landed on the Green Shadow Demon Snake with a sharp "clang," followed by the grating sound of a blade chopping into an old tree.

The Green Shadow Demon Snake had come fast and retreated even faster. It left a trail of blood before disappearing into the forest.

It was too fast for Guen to catch up. He could only watch it escape.

"This blade really is sharp. It managed to wound the Green Shadow Demon Snake in one strike. The blade deserves at least forty percent of the credit."

Guen marveled at it.

The Meteor Light Blade truly was a Second-order Force Weapon, a weapon meant for Star Level warriors. Using it in an Apprentice Level fight was a gross mismatch. Even though his limited level meant he could only bring out a small fraction of its power, the Green Shadow Demon Snake still couldn't withstand it.

Combined with Guen's secret technique, Flame Slash, it had wounded the snake in a single strike.

But the Green Shadow Demon Snake was too crafty. As soon as it realized Guen was troublesome, it immediately retreated.

"It's gone. That works out nicely for me." Guen released the Kejia Beast and returned to the Mountain Deer's corpse, letting it feast to its heart's content.

The Kejia Beast fed on flesh, which helped it grow. The more powerful the flesh, the greater its effect on the Kejia Beast.

The Mountain Deer was the size of a small house, but the Kejia Beast devoured it in less than half an hour. Not even the bones remained. The Kejia Beast, which was only about the size of a watermelon, swallowed it all. After eating so much, it had only grown two or three times larger, and its aura had strengthened only slightly.

"Ang!"

The Kejia Beast rubbed affectionately against Guen's hand, conveying its wish to eat a dozen more Tier 7 Ferocious Beasts and reach Tier 7 itself.

Its growth rate was truly enviable. Guen had come to Beast Canyon partly to hone his skills and partly to raise the Kejia Beast.

The lowest-ranked beasts in Beast Canyon were Mid-Tier Ferocious Beasts, and there were plenty of High-Tier Ferocious Beasts. The deeper one ventured into the canyon, the stronger the beasts became.

"Let's go."

Guen took the Kejia Beast with him and headed deeper into the canyon.

Beast Canyon stretched on for a long way. Even after ten days of traveling without a break, Guen still hadn't reached the end. Along the way, he fought many Tier 9 Ferocious Beasts and killed several ordinary ones, such as the Vajra Ape.

He had even broken through several groups of High-Tier Ferocious Beasts comparable to packs of Golden-Bearded Mastiffs.

Guen's aura grew increasingly sharp, but the Kejia Beast benefited the most. In just ten days, its aura had become almost equal to Guen's, bringing it very close to Tier 9.

"Rumble."

A giant Purple-Maned Lion let out an unwilling roar and fell beside a pond.

Its body was covered in wounds, and it looked wretched. Lying there, it was breathing its last. The Kejia Beast excitedly charged over. It was now as big as a calf, and it clamped down on the Purple-Maned Lion's throat, killing it. Saliva dripped from its mouth, but all it could do was fret over the lion's corpse.

It had grown so quickly that the Kejia Beast was full all the time and couldn't eat another bite.

Guen jumped down from the Purple-Maned Lion and shook his head helplessly, though he was quite pleased with the results.

Since driving off the Green Shadow Demon Snake, Guen had rarely used the Flame God Armor or the Meteor Light Blade. He had relied solely on his fists to fight his way here.

"I'm still less efficient with my fists than with the Meteor Light Blade. I can kill a Tier 9 Ferocious Beast in five moves with the blade, but with my fists, I can only gain the upper hand in that time. If I were a Spirit Reader, it would be easier, but unfortunately, I'm not."

A Spirit Reader could control weapons from a distance and directly threaten a Ferocious Beast's vital spots while remaining safe.

Warriors couldn't do that. Ferocious Beasts were enormous, and warriors had to put themselves in danger to fight them. It was difficult to threaten a beast's vital spots right away. Guen could see from this that Spirit Readers had many advantages over warriors.

"Hey, who are you? Why haven't I seen you at the Goddess Temple?" As Guen was lost in thought, a green-haired young man walked over from the woods in the distance. His clothes were still clean and neat.