A Helping Hand

After reaching the Spirit General realm, Sanbao practiced the family-inherited Nine-Fold Claw and Nine-Turn Golden Body with increasing diligence. Having mastered both Spirit Skills to an incredibly high degree, their power was more than double what they had been at the Spirit Scholar stage.

Due to the high requirements of the realm, the Nine-Turn Golden Body was currently only cultivated to the third level, while the requirements for the Nine-Fold Claw were much lower; theoretically, one could master it completely upon reaching the Spirit General realm.

Sanbao had only just entered the Spirit General realm, and although he had practiced the Nine-Fold Claw extensively, he was still some distance away from true mastery, yet he had long since witnessed the power of the Spirit Skill.

On the back mountain of Fire Cloud Peak, there was a type of extremely hard granite. Sanbao had tested it; if he struck it with a blade or sword, it would leave almost no mark, but when Sanbao unleashed the Nine-Fold Claw with all his might, the granite would crumble and shatter, appearing incredibly fragile.

From this, one could see the offensive power of the Nine-Fold Claw, though of course, Sanbao did not have absolute confidence against the defenses of a peak third-rank Strength Bear.

Within half a stick of incense, the two people on the ground were both wounded one after another. Although their injuries were not severe, their momentum was completely suppressed by the Strength Bear.

"Big Brother, let's retreat. We can't kill this Strength Bear," after seeing the situation clearly, the woman in red knew they couldn't kill the beast and had no choice but to flee.

"Fine, but what about Third Brother?" The bearded leader had long wanted to pull away, but there was still one person lying to the side, life or death unknown, and he dared not split his attention to save him for fear of being picked off by the Strength Bear one by one.

"We have to leave it to fate," the woman said with cold, tragic resolve.

"That's all we can do."

The two coordinated with great tacit understanding; with a single look, they both withdrew at the same time, then each unfolded their movement techniques and fled into the distance. The Strength Bear let out a furious roar and chased after them without even looking back. In the blink of an eye, only Sanbao and the pile of charred roasted meat under the tree remained.

Of course, there was also the Third Brother, whose life or death was unknown.

Sanbao flew down from the tree and touched the Third Brother's nose, discovering that he was no longer breathing. He shook his head, stood up, and walked away.

The force of that palm from the Strength Bear was too great; it had shattered the Third Brother's internal organs. This Third Brother only had the strength of a five-star Spirit General, yet he had insisted on showing off; he could blame no one but himself for his death.

It was strange that this Strength Bear hadn't been after the roasted meat after all.

The campfire had long since been scattered, and the venison that had fallen to the ground had turned pitch black. However, for Sanbao, who had been hungry for a day and a night, none of that mattered; the key was to fill his stomach. Picking up a piece of well-cooked meat, Sanbao turned and disappeared into the night.

He had thought the big tree would be a place to stay, but he hadn't expected it to remain a place of trouble. It was better to leave.

Fortunately, after several hours of bitter waiting, there was still some harvest—a large piece of delicious roasted meat.

By the time Sanbao finished eating the meat in a leisurely manner, he had already reached a nearby hilltop. A series of giant howls came from the other side of the mountain, driving away all the birds and beasts in the vicinity.

That Strength Bear actually hadn't given up on hunting down the two people, and at this moment, it was locked in battle with them again. The more Sanbao thought about it, the stranger it felt, but since his stomach was full, there was no harm in going to take a look.

Before long, Sanbao quietly approached the battlefield. The situation in the clearing was different from before; although the bearded man was covered in wounds, the blood streaks on the Strength Bear were equally crisscrossed. Even so, the Strength Bear showed no signs of discouragement, its two massive palms acting like two blocks of steel, beating the pair into a wretched state.

"Boss, this guy is clearly fighting for its life. We don't seem to have offended it, do we?" the woman asked, her voice already tinged with cowardice.

"I don't know either. Today is truly cursed! First we ran into a Crystal Monkey King, and now we've run into this mad bear!"

The bearded leader felt equally helpless. He hadn't wanted to fight anymore, but they had consumed a massive amount of energy fighting the spirit monkey earlier and hadn't recovered much spirit power since. Their endurance simply couldn't compare to the Strength Bear's, and they had been caught by the bear as soon as they crossed a mountain ridge.

Most importantly, ordinary spirit beasts were territorial; as long as you escaped their territory, they would give up. But this Strength Bear had completely abandoned that rule, chasing them with a relentless, life-or-death intensity.

Ah...

With a scream, one of the woman's arms was viciously swiped by the Strength Bear. With a crack, the bone snapped instantly.

The bearded man finally found an opportunity and stabbed the Strength Bear in its left eye. Blood poured from the bear's eye like a fountain.

Trading an arm for an eye—it was hard to say if that was a gain or a loss.

Awoo...

Losing its left eye, the Strength Bear was not in the least bit intimidated; instead, it grew even more beastly, its two giant palms continuously slamming into the injured second member.

"Boss, what do we do? What do we do?"

The woman was already panicking. Running into such a suicidal spirit beast was simply the worst luck in eight lifetimes.

"Retreat!"

The leader issued the order to retreat again, but this time, the two couldn't pull away so easily. The Strength Bear clung tightly to the second member, fighting with a "life for a life" mentality.

With a scream, the second member finally couldn't withstand the Strength Bear's fierce assault. His chest was caved in by a blow, and he instantly lost his breath.

"Second Sister!"

The bearded leader let out a roar, his eyes instantly bloodshot, and he swung his sharp sword to clash with the Strength Bear once more.

"Time to strike."

Sanbao judged the timing and acted decisively.

Awoo...

A scream interrupted the frenzy of the Strength Bear and the bearded leader. Behind the Strength Bear, a man in green robes held a bloody mass of flesh.

It was naturally Sanbao, who had been hiding on the sidelines.

At this moment, both the bearded man and the Strength Bear were at the end of their ropes and posed no major threat to him, which was why Sanbao chose to intervene.

The Strength Bear struggled to turn around, and upon discovering that its lower parts had been gouged out by the person in front of it, it lunged forward violently.

Sanbao sneered, turned, and easily dodged the Strength Bear's attack. At the same time, he leaped, flying lightly onto the top of the bear's head. Five rays of golden light plunged fiercely into the Strength Bear's face, and then he vaulted away to dodge the bear's final death throes.

The Strength Bear only felt darkness before its eyes as its remaining eyeball was also gouged out.

Having lost both eyes, the Strength Bear let out a series of miserable howls, its giant palms swiping wildly in all directions. After a short while, with a thud, it collapsed to the ground.

Sanbao struck exactly at the Strength Bear's two greatest weak points, its groin and eyes, and under the powerful assault of the Nine-Fold Claw, he succeeded in a single blow.

"Many thanks for your help, little brother. Where might you be from?"

After witnessing Sanbao finish off the Strength Bear in just a few swift moves, the bearded man appeared somewhat nervous. He looked at the young man before him, and although his mouth spoke words of gratitude, his eyes were still filled with wariness.

Although the other party was only at the Spirit General realm, judging by the way he had instantly killed the Strength Bear, his true strength was unfathomable.

"I come from Lijing and am here in West Cloud Mountain for training. I was drawn here by your shouts, and seeing you in danger, I decided to lend a hand. It seems I was a little late, though. May I ask what to call you, brother?"

Sanbao glanced at the woman in red on the ground and said with a hint of regret.

Sanbao's words caused the man to relax his guard slightly. Seeing the goodwill in Sanbao's eyes, he slowly realized that Sanbao harbored no malice.

Otherwise, given the strength the other party had just displayed, and considering he was currently severely wounded, he would be no match for him at all.

Upon seeing the tragic state of the woman in red on the ground, the bearded man's eyes immediately turned red. As he picked up the deceased woman, he replied in a low voice: "My name is Lin Hai, and this is my junior sister. We are from Willow Forest City near West Cloud Mountain. There were four of us who came together this time..."

Sanbao already knew a little about Lin Hai's situation, and hearing him confirm it personally, he realized the man was not lying and felt relieved.

As the two chatted, they nimbly butchered the Strength Bear into several pieces. The most valuable parts—the bear paws, gallbladder, and hide—were naturally collected. It was a pity that the Strength Bear had not formed an inner core, as that would have been a highly valuable ingredient for alchemy.

Once they reach the third rank, spirit beasts have a chance to form an inner core within their bodies. The inner core is the essence of a spirit beast's spiritual power. Generally speaking, they are mostly found in spirit beasts of the fifth rank or higher; the probability of a third or fourth-rank spirit beast forming one is very low.

After quickly cleaning up the scene, the two returned to the base of the large tree. After all, the body of the third companion was still there and needed to be buried quickly, otherwise, it would soon be eaten by the wild beasts of the mountain, which was something Lin Hai did not want to see.

"Brother Lin, think carefully: why would this Strength Bear fight you to the death? Ordinary spirit beasts wouldn't go to such lengths," Sanbao asked on the way.

"Sigh, I don't know. Perhaps our luck is just terrible!"

Lin Hai let out a long sigh, but suddenly, as if remembering something, he opened his mouth and said: "Oh, I remember now! About five years ago, my master and I came here. We discovered a few Strength Bears and killed two of them, while the other two escaped. Yes, yes, it was right around here! My master was the one who did it back then. Five years have passed, but I never expected it to remember me!"

"So that's how it is."

Sanbao finally understood.