Hunter

In the dilapidated city, the occasional roar of beasts echoed through the air. Although the air quality was decent, it was permeated with an indescribable stench; in a city without humans to maintain order, those monsters certainly didn't care about hygiene, and the resulting smell could be easily imagined.

Walking along the potholed asphalt road near the main downtown area, Feng Qingmo cautiously scouted his surroundings, his spiritual force radiating outward in all directions.

Suddenly, his brow twitched, and he spun around abruptly.

From the street corner behind him, a "clatter-clatter" sound arose as a massive, imposing herd of pig-like monsters covered in red scales marched toward him.

"Are these Bloodthirsty Tank?" He sensed the particularly bulky one among the hundred-plus monsters. "This leader is probably only at the low-level beast general rank, hmm, leading one hundred and three beast soldiers..."

He probed with his spiritual force at maximum range and, finding no other monster herds nearby, simply took a step across the road to stand in the middle of the path.

The monster leader in the center of the herd paused its leisurely pace and suddenly lifted its head to look over.

"Roar!" With a soft growl, the dozens of beast-soldier-rank monsters in front of it let out angry bellows and charged toward the spot where Feng Qingmo stood.

"A familiar feeling..." Feng Qingmo muttered. This scene was so similar to the one in the first floor of the Trial Tower, save for the difference between cows and pigs.

The distance of several dozen meters vanished in an instant under the charge of the pig-like monsters, yet Feng Qingmo still had a split second to perceive the difference from the Trial Tower space.

Only his consciousness entered the Trial Tower; although pain and other sensations were simulated at one hundred percent, his subconscious knew that even death would result in a reset.

In reality, the sensation was far more profound; the pressure of facing a charging herd head-on caused the adrenaline in his body to surge uncontrollably.

This was no virtual space. In a charge like this, there was no instant recovery if injured, and if he died—well, there would be no "if" about it!

Beast roars continued as the ground trembled slightly. The monsters, resembling tanks, charged forward, only to fall one by one amidst a sky full of sword light. Every monster was struck in the eye or a vital point behind the ear, their corpses sliding forward due to momentum after hitting the ground.

With light footwork, he easily dodged the monster corpses, and instead of retreating, Feng Qingmo moved against the current.

Seeing his underlings falling one after another, the low-level beast general Bloodthirsty Tank roared in fury. It kicked off the ground, shoved aside the other beast soldiers, and charged straight at Feng Qingmo.

"Heh, I was waiting for you to come to me!" Feng Qingmo sidestepped twice, slashed down two beast soldiers, and flashed to the side of the beast general.

Just as the beast general Bloodthirsty Tank was about to turn, a nearly transparent thread shot out from the human's hand. Guided by the three-edged barb at its tip, it whipped under the monster's belly, looped around its two hind legs, and tightened instantly.

"Bang!" The beast general Bloodthirsty Tank's hind legs were bound together, rendering it unable to take a step. It panicked, its pig head straining to look back, but its neck was too thick to turn, leaving it unable to see what was happening.

It felt its hind legs being bound and tried to break free, but as soon as its legs moved, the thread cut through the scales and dug into the flesh, forcing it to stop struggling.

Feng Qingmo flicked his left hand, and the middle section of the thread curved unnaturally, wrapping twice around the beast general's thick neck. With a sharp tug, the beast general collapsed to the ground.

He continued to dance his left hand, binding the two front legs as well, and finally looped the thread twice around its snout, trussing the low-level beast general Bloodthirsty Tank up like a zongzi.

The roar in its throat was stifled, leaving it only able to emit muffled "woo-woo" sounds.

While Feng Qingmo manipulated the Gold-Severing Thread with his left hand, the surrounding beast soldiers continued to charge, yet not one could break through the barrier of his sword light.

These beast soldiers, previously charging in a frenzy, were terrified by the sight of their leader's miserable state and scattered in a panic.

Ignoring the blood covering the ground, Feng Qingmo gave a sharp tug with his left hand, pulling the beast general Bloodthirsty Tank toward him.

The Bloodthirsty Tank's eyes were wide, revealing a human-like anger and a hint of terror; it could not comprehend how it had suddenly become completely immobilized.

"Quite heavy, must be several tons, right?" Feng Qingmo tried to carry the beast away but found it difficult to lift the massive creature.

He shook his head, thrust his long sword with his right hand, and simply finished it off.

With Feng Qingmo's physical strength, it would take considerable time to quickly dissect this low-level beast general, so he simply used his spiritual force to control his flying knife. With the sharpness of the S-Grade Flying Knife, he quickly carved out the vital parts and placed them into his backpack.

Under the sunset, on the long street littered with monster corpses and blood, a human walked away, stepping through the gore.

Having just fought a group of monsters, Feng Qingmo was in a state of excitement and, without realizing it, walked toward the main downtown area.

"Awoo!"

A sudden, excited wolf howl echoed from afar, causing Feng Qingmo to pause. His spiritual force radiated out, instantly projecting the image of a giant wolf devouring monster flesh in his mind.

"This is... a Silver Moon Fierce Wolf?" Looking at the giant wolf, three meters tall and over five meters long, with gray fur and only a patch of silver-white fur on its forehead, Feng Qingmo recognized it immediately.

"According to reports on the network, Silver Moon Fierce Wolves are solitary creatures. It seems that is indeed true."

Sensing the wolf-type monster feasting happily in the distance, he noted there were no other monsters nearby; they had clearly been scared off by this fierce wolf.

"That's right!" Feng Qingmo thought to himself. "This city is not far from the Taihang Mountain Range. This must be a predator that came out of the Taihang Mountain Range to forage..."

"Judging by its size, it should be a mid-level beast general Silver Moon Fierce Wolf... what heavy Sha Qi!"

He moved forward silently, but when he approached within a hundred meters of the Silver Moon Fierce Wolf, the beast suddenly lifted its head, its eyes staring coldly at the human before it, crimson blood dripping from its jaws.

Watching the approaching human, the fur all over the Silver Moon Fierce Wolf seemed to be infused with strange energy; the gray fur instantly turned silver-white, and the tuft of white hair on its forehead glowed with a blood-red light.

"Whoosh!"

When the distance closed to fifty meters, the Silver Moon Fierce Wolf moved. At near-sonic speed, the fifty-meter gap felt like it was right in front of him.

Its sharp claws swiped toward Feng Qingmo's head.

Feng Qingmo retreated a step and gripped his sword tightly. The tip of the blade struck the claws with a "clang," causing the Slender Willow Sword to bend. Fortunately, it was a Grade 7 weapon with excellent durability, so it did not snap.

Borrowing the force to retreat, Feng Qingmo vibrated his arm, using internal force to dissipate the immense power from the claws, yet he still couldn't help his internal organs from churning, nearly spitting out a mouthful of blood.

This was even after he had integrated his force-amplification amplitude into his body's defense, greatly increasing his defensive power; otherwise, he might have been injured by that single blow alone.