Mutant Beast!

When Li Yuan spotted the Vicious Hound in the distance, he immediately activated Cloud Treading Step and fled at full speed.

This Fierce Beast was incredibly fast, far faster than Li Yuan.

Fortunately, Li Yuan was highly proficient with Cloud Treading Step. There was still some distance between them, and the terrain was anything but flat.

As he fled, he slashed through the surrounding vegetation with his blade.

Plant sap flowed out, often releasing pungent odors.

He used those odors to mask his own scent and shake off the Fierce Beast's pursuit.

This escape took Li Yuan deeper in, far beyond the range he had originally set.

Once he was somewhat safe, Li Yuan calmed down and cautiously surveyed his surroundings.

At that moment, not far ahead of him,

a Vicious Hound the size of a person was growling low in its throat.

The fur on this Vicious Hound was patchy, and parts of its hide had rotted away.

Blood slowly seeped from the rotting flesh.

The entire Fierce Beast looked like a Zombie Dog.

It was even more horrifying than the Vicious Hound that had chased him earlier.

Across from the Fierce Beast, a young woman held two blades. She panted heavily, her body taut as she faced it down.

The aura radiating from around the woman made Li Yuan feel stifled.

It was the terrifying aura released by a powerful martial artist.

She looked very young, at most around his own age.

Yet her aura was already comparable to that of Principal Yin, a Seventh Grade martial artist.

Few martial artists above Fifth Grade came to Qijia Town to train.

The woman before him did not seem to be here merely for training either.

The Fierce Beast noticed Li Yuan and gave him no time to think. Its bloody claws lunged straight at him.

It was incredibly fast. Though it was a canine Fierce Beast, it was even faster than a Wildcat Fierce Beast.

This was not strength a D-level Beast should possess.

Based on the knowledge Li Yuan had gained from books, it was at least... A-level!

"Run! Report the Blood Corruption Mutation!"

Holding her twin blades, the woman stepped forward and blocked it directly.

But this Fierce Beast felt no fear of pain.

Even as the twin blades struck, it still pounced forward. Its aggression had reached the extreme.

Li Yuan reacted in that instant as well.

Forty years ago, the pack of Blood Wolves that had slaughtered Qijia Town had undergone some sort of mutation.

Only, that time had been worse. It had been an entire pack of mutated Blood Wolves.

This time, they were somewhat fortunate. There were only two Vicious Hounds.

But even with only two, they could still lose their lives here.

Hearing the woman's warning, Li Yuan immediately turned and hid in a concealed spot without the slightest hesitation.

When facing Fierce Beasts, everything had to be quick.

Hesitating meant throwing himself into danger.

At the same time, Xia Zhao and the Vicious Hound once again fell into a fierce struggle.

Her stamina was declining, and she showed obvious signs of poisoning.

Her physique was strong enough that she could barely endure it.

Anyone else would have fainted long ago.

At that moment, she had already accepted the fact that she was about to die here.

The sudden appearance of someone who could carry this information out was already an incredible stroke of luck.

The only regret was that she truly did not want to die in a place like this.

A Fierce Beast would likely tear and bite her apart, perhaps leaving not even a whole corpse behind.

The Fierce Beast before her was growing even more frenzied and savage.

It seemed unwilling to let even a single prey escape.

It did not intend to spare Xia Zhao, nor did it intend to spare Li Yuan, who had just barged in.

Its bloodshot dog eyes were still watching the direction in which Li Yuan had fled.

The more Xia Zhao used martial skills, the greater the poison's effects became.

Not only did she have to deal with the Fierce Beast, she also had to fight against the exhaustion in her body.

That exhaustion was caused by the poison.

Her entire body felt groggy, and her eyelids seemed weighted with lead, wanting to close on their own.

The slightly better news was that the Fierce Beast's attacks had weakened as well.

"I should be able to hold on a little longer. Long enough for him to get far away..."

Xia Zhao muttered to herself, figuring that she had managed to hold back the Fierce Beast.

She might lose her life, but at least the information would get out.

Just as she thought that, a figure flashed in.

Li Yuan's long blade had already plunged into the Vicious Hound's body.

The Fierce Beast showed no reaction to the pain.

Instead, it immediately turned and tore at him with its bloody maw.

Li Yuan activated his Movement Art to dodge, then threw the wet mud clutched in his other hand straight into the Fierce Beast's face.

The mud covered its nose and mouth. It had to affect it somewhat.

This way of dealing with it looked like a child's foolish prank.

But in Li Yuan's view, any method that was practical and effective was an excellent method.

He tried to pull out his long blade, but it was caught on the beast's bones and would not come free.

Not wasting any time, Li Yuan immediately leaped to Xia Zhao's side.

He grabbed her and fled into the distance.

"You still have a chance if you run alone. If I drag you down, we'll only die here together..."

Xia Zhao was not happy to have been saved. Instead, there was a trace of resentment in her voice.

In her eyes, saving her meant neither of them would get out.

The news of this Mutant Beast would remain here with them.

Li Yuan dragged her along at a sprint, activating Cloud Treading Step as his figure darted through the terrain.

Hearing her complaint, he casually replied, "There's another one outside. We can't escape..."

Xia Zhao froze. She had always thought there was only one mutated Fierce Beast.

There was another one...

If that was true, their chances of surviving would only be lower.

"These Fierce Beasts have extremely sharp senses of smell. It will catch up soon. It's useless."

Xia Zhao's exhaustion gradually made her unable to keep up with Li Yuan's pace.

She even began speaking discouraging words.

Wrapped in despair, she had already resigned herself to fate.

But for Li Yuan, bringing her along was not simply because he was grateful that she had given him a chance to live.

The danger at hand far exceeded Li Yuan's expectations.

She clearly knew more about these mutated Fierce Beasts.

At the same time, he could already hear the Vicious Hound chasing them from behind.

Li Yuan frowned at Xia Zhao, then simply pulled her onto his back. It was actually faster this way.

The strength of a Mutant Beast was far beyond what Li Yuan, a Fifth Grade martial artist, could handle.

The distance between them was shrinking. Being caught was only a matter of time.

But there was a hidden trick to the route Li Yuan had taken.

Before acting, Li Yuan had chosen a path with War Spider traps.

Spider silk had been left throughout the surrounding area.

Just as Li Yuan had expected, the Mutant Beast was immediately entangled by the spider silk when it chased after them.

The silk was not sticky enough to trap it.

But it could hinder and restrain it!

Carrying Xia Zhao on his back, Li Yuan did not slow down in the slightest. Instead, he ran even faster.

Xia Zhao was still forcing herself to stay awake, refusing to let exhaustion make her pass out.

She was surprised when she sensed Li Yuan's Movement Art.

Cloud Treading Step was a very common Movement Art.

Yet the person carrying her moved as lightly as though he were stepping on clouds, changing direction with effortless composure every time.

The simplest way to judge someone's Movement Art was to watch how they turned.

When sprinting at extreme speed, how did one change direction?

Simply running straight at high speed was not difficult.

But at this speed, they would still be caught.

The Mutant Beast had shaken off part of the spider silk and would catch up before long.

After mutating, such a Fierce Beast could contend with Seventh Grade, even Eighth Grade martial artists.

How could Li Yuan, a martial artist who had only just entered Fifth Grade, compete with it in speed and endurance?

Xia Zhao remained pessimistic.

But before that pessimism could last long, she fell straight into a patch of wet mud.

She initially thought Li Yuan had missed his footing and slipped.

She quickly realized that Li Yuan had fallen into the mud with her still on his back, and the two of them had rolled through it together.

For someone like Xia Zhao, when had she ever been this disheveled?

Especially her long black hair, which had been clumped together with wet mud...