Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard

From that day on, Feng Qingmo packed his things and ventured back into the Wilderness Zone.

In the past, he hadn't been strong enough to do more than roam around a few prefecture-level cities. Now that his strength had greatly increased, he headed straight for City 007, a major city in the northwest not too far from Kyoto Base City.

City 007 backed onto the Qinling Mountains. Even before the Great Nirvana, it had been a major city with a population of over ten million, and several dynasties had made it their capital over the course of history.

Traveling alone at a brisk pace, Feng Qingmo reached the outskirts of City 007 in just two days.

During those two days, he had easily gotten back in control of his greatly increased strength.

As he walked along a cement road on the outskirts of the city, he was thinking about finding temporary lodging when he suddenly stomped his foot. With a loud boom, he kicked a manhole cover off the road. Amid a monster's pained shriek, it fell into the sewer below.

"Big cities really are different. There are so many more monsters than in small ones..." He shook his head, not bothering to go into the sewer and collect materials from the corpse of a monster that was, at most, a Junior Beast General.

His Spiritual Force had grown immensely, and its range was much greater than before. It was fortunate he had Spiritual Force; with his poor eyesight, coming to a big city without it would have been tantamount to suicide.

He quickly picked a floor in the middle of a high-rise as a temporary place to rest. After stocking up on food and water, he began searching for a target.

"This is a bit of a problem..." The suburbs were mostly home to Beast General-level monsters, which didn't have many Beast Soldiers under their command. But once a monster reached Lord Level—even an Elementary Lord—it had plenty of Beast General-level monsters at its beck and call, and even more Beast Soldiers.

Thanks to his Spiritual Force, he found several Elementary Lord-level monsters. But each was surrounded by hundreds or even thousands of Beast General- and Beast Soldier-level monsters. Even if he could break through and quickly kill the Lord, he wouldn't have time to harvest its materials.

The first day passed as he searched.

After resting for the night, he continued looking for a suitable target the next day, but just like the day before, he came up empty-handed.

Just as he was getting ready to return to his temporary lodgings and rest, a thunderous roar suddenly rang out nearby.

He quickly extended his Spiritual Force toward the sound and couldn't help drawing a sharp breath.

Through his Spiritual senses, he saw a massive leopard with golden markings fighting a group of Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pigs. The leopard sprang forward with astonishing speed and smacked a Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig that looked to be an Intermediate Beast General with one paw, smashing its skull apart.

"Is that a Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard?" Feng Qingmo recalled what he knew about the monster. Like the Silver Moon Fierce Wolf, it was a solitary hunter, but even harder to deal with than one of the same level.

As a large feline, the Cloud Leopard's reflexes were far better than those of most monsters at the same level, and it was no slouch in terms of strength, either. Even before it mutated, it had sat near the top of the food chain. And judging by its golden markings, this one was already close to Intermediate Lord Level.

Its opponent was a Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig, also an Elementary Lord. It might have been weaker than the leopard, but it had plenty of underlings: at least a dozen Beast General-level Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pigs nearby, and hundreds of Beast Soldiers.

At their leader's furious roars, the Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pigs of varying strengths charged in organized waves. But they couldn't even touch a single hair on the leopard. The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard was simply too fast!

The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard was clearly quite intelligent and knew to cut off its enemy's support first. It ignored the Beast Soldiers; even if it stood still and let them attack, they couldn't penetrate its defenses.

With its ghostlike footwork, it killed the Beast General-level Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pigs one after another. After slapping the last one to death, it turned its attention to the Lord-level Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig.

The Lord-level Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig was in a miserable spot. Its speed was so thoroughly outmatched that it couldn't find an opening to engage the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard head-on.

Its defenses meant the leopard couldn't do much to it in a short time, so it roared in frustration. If it could talk, it would probably have shouted, "Why don't you fight me face-to-face, if you've got the guts!"

With the Beast General-level pigs in the herd all dead, the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard used its speed to attack the Lord-level Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig again and again. But when its claws raked across the pig's hide, they only tickled, leaving a few shallow bloody scratches that did nothing to weaken it.

The Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig knew where its vital points were and guarded its eyes, nose, and even its rear end closely, leaving the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard at a loss.

Feng Qingmo used his Spiritual Force to lift himself by his combat boots, then concealed his presence and silently flew toward the fight.

The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard finally found an opening. At the cost of being grazed by one of the tridents on the pig's head, it slammed a paw into the pig's face.

With a howl, the Lord-level Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig toppled over. Half its face was a bloody mess, and the eye on that side had been knocked from its socket by the tremendous force.

More importantly, the blow to its head left it dazed and unable to react for a moment. The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard understood the principle of striking while its opponent was down. Without hesitation, it pounced and landed several more blows, until the Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig fell silent.

It turned its head and roared. The remaining Beast Soldier-level Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pigs scattered in all directions.

Just as the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard was about to feast, its fur suddenly stood on end. It shot sideways several meters in a blur, then looked around in alarm.

"Now that's sharp!" Feng Qingmo thought. He had only crept a little closer, but the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard had immediately noticed him.

He simply descended to the ground, drew the sword from his back, and walked out slowly, holding the sword in his right hand and two throwing knives in his left.

The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard warily watched Feng Qingmo. Its instincts told it that the human in front of it was dangerous. But based on his aura, he shouldn't be a match for it. With that thought, it looked around again, trying to find the source of the danger.

After scanning the area without finding anything, it turned back. Its amber eyes fixed on Feng Qingmo as he slowly approached, and it decided to deal with the human first.

Whoosh! The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard shamelessly tried to catch Feng Qingmo off guard with its speed, instantly turning into a streak of golden light as it charged at him.

Feng Qingmo raised his sword and thrust it toward the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard's eye. The S-grade blade made the leopard's eye twitch with unease.

It instantly changed direction, twisting its body and whipping its tail around before kicking at Feng Qingmo with its hind legs. If that kick landed, even his S-Grade Combat Suit wouldn't spare him a serious injury from the impact.

Feng Qingmo stepped back and thrust his sword toward the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard's rear, but it had already changed direction again.

He tried several times to use Gold-Severing Thread to hold the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard back, but it was far too fast, easily breaking the sound barrier. If Gold-Severing Thread failed to hit it at once, the leopard would be on guard, and the surprise attack would lose its value.

Suddenly, Feng Qingmo's brow furrowed. He subtly tilted his head, and his Spiritual Force swept toward the distance before withdrawing at once.

"I was going to play with you a little longer, but we've got an intruder..."