Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard

From this day on, Feng Qingmo packed his bags and re-entered the Wilderness Zone.

Previously, his strength was insufficient, forcing him to linger in smaller prefecture-level cities. Now that his power had surged, he chose City 007, a vital northwestern hub not too far from Kyoto Base City.

City 007 backed up against the Qinling Mountains and, before the Great Nirvana, had been a massive metropolis with a population of over ten million; historically, several dynasties had established their capitals there.

Traveling light and fast, it took Feng Qingmo only two days to reach the outskirts of City 007.

He used these two days to easily regain control over his suddenly inflated strength.

As he walked along the concrete road at the city's edge, he was contemplating finding a temporary shelter when he suddenly stomped his foot. With a loud "bang," a manhole cover on the road was crushed inward by his kick, falling into the sewer along with the shrill cry of a monster.

"Big cities really are different; there are far more monsters here than in smaller ones..." He shook his head lightly, too lazy to go down into the sewer to harvest materials from a monster that was at most a low-level Beast General.

His spiritual force had grown significantly, allowing for a much wider range of perception than before. It was fortunate he possessed this spiritual force; otherwise, in a place where visibility was poor, coming to a big city would clearly be a death wish.

He quickly selected a middle floor of a high-rise building as his temporary resting place. After replenishing his food and water, he began searching for targets.

"This is a bit troublesome..." The suburbs were mostly populated by Beast General-level monsters, and the number of Beast Soldiers they led wasn't large. However, once a monster reached the Lord level—even a low-level Lord—it would command quite a few Beast General-level monsters, and even more Beast Soldiers.

Relying on his spiritual force, he found several low-level Lord-class monsters, but with hundreds or thousands of Beast Generals and Beast Soldiers surrounding them, even if he could break through to kill the Lord-class monster quickly, he wouldn't have the time to dissect it and harvest its materials.

The first day passed in this fruitless search.

After resting for the night, he continued searching for targets the next day, but just like the day before, he came up empty-handed.

Just as he was feeling disappointed and planning to return to his temporary shelter to rest, a thunderous roar suddenly reached his ears.

He hurriedly projected his spiritual force toward the sound and couldn't help but gasp.

Within his mental perception, a massive leopard with golden markings was locked in a life-or-death struggle with a pack of Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pigs. The leopard lunged with peerless speed, its claw shattering the skull of a Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pig that appeared to be a mid-level Beast General.

Is that a Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard? Feng Qingmo recalled the information on this monster. The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard was a solitary creature, even harder to deal with than the Silver Moon Fierce Wolf of the same rank.

As a large feline, the Cloud Leopard's neural reflexes were superior to most monsters of its rank, and its strength was nothing to scoff at. Even before mutation, it was at the top of the food chain, and judging by the golden markings on this one, it was nearly a mid-level Lord.

Its opponent was a Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pig, also a low-level Lord. While its strength was slightly inferior to the leopard, it had plenty of underlings—at least a dozen Beast General-level Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pigs and hundreds of Beast Soldiers nearby.

Under the roars of their leader, these Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pigs of varying strength charged in organized waves, yet they couldn't even touch a hair on the leopard—the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard was simply too fast!

The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard clearly possessed high intelligence and understood the logic of cutting off the enemy's wings. It ignored the Beast Soldiers; even if it stood still and let them attack, they couldn't break its defense.

With its ghostly movements, it killed the Beast General-level Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pigs one by one. After clawing the last one to death, it turned its focus toward the Lord-level Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pig.

The Lord-level Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pig was frustrated; being suppressed in speed meant it could never find an opportunity to engage the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard head-on.

Given the pig's defensive capabilities, the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard couldn't do much to it in the short term, causing the beast to roar in rage. If it could speak, it would surely have shouted: "If you have the guts, fight me face-to-face!"

Once the Beast Generals in the herd were wiped out, the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard began using its speed to harass the Lord-level Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pig. Unfortunately, when its claws struck the pig's hide, it was like scratching an itch, leaving only shallow bloodstains that did nothing to diminish the pig's combat power.

The Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pig also knew where its vitals were and protected its eyes, nose, and rear with extreme caution, leaving the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard somewhat helpless.

Feng Qingmo applied his spiritual force to his combat boots, hovering in mid-air while suppressing his aura, and quietly flew toward the battlefield.

The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard finally found an opening. At the cost of being grazed by the trident on the pig's head, it swiped a claw across the pig's face.

With a loud "Awoo," the Lord-level Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pig was knocked to the ground. Half of its face was a bloody mess, and the eye on that side had been popped out of its socket by the immense force.

More importantly, the blow to the head left the pig dizzy and unable to react. The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard understood the principle of "striking while the iron is hot," and without hesitation, it landed several more blows, beating the Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pig until it stopped breathing.

It turned its head and let out a roar, and the remaining Beast Soldier-level Fire-Kirin Three-Trident Pigs immediately scattered in all directions.

Just as the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard was about to feast, its fur suddenly stood on end. With a "whoosh," it turned into a blur, shifting several meters away, and looked around with suspicion.

It really is sharp! Feng Qingmo thought to himself. He had only moved a little closer, yet he was immediately detected by this Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard.

He decided to descend to the ground, drew the sword from his back, and walked out slowly, holding the sword in his right hand while gripping two throwing knives in his left.

The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard stared cautiously at Feng Qingmo. Its instincts told it that the human before it was dangerous, but based on the aura, this human shouldn't be a match for it. Thinking this, it scanned its surroundings again, trying to find the source of the danger.

After finding nothing, it turned its orange-yellow eyes back to the slowly approaching Feng Qingmo and decided to deal with this human first.

"Swish!" The Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard, lacking any sense of martial honor, tried to ambush him with its speed, turning into a golden streak as it charged at Feng Qingmo.

Feng Qingmo raised his sword, thrusting toward the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard's eye. The S-Grade material of the sword tip made the leopard feel a chill in its eyes.

It instantly changed direction, twisting its body and lashing out with its hind claws toward Feng Qingmo. If that strike had landed, even with Feng Qingmo wearing an S-Grade Combat Suit, the impact would have been enough to severely injure him.

Feng Qingmo took a step back, aiming his sword tip at the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard's rear, but the leopard had already shifted its trajectory.

He tried several times to use his Gold-Severing Thread to restrain the Golden-Veined Cloud Leopard, but the beast was too fast, easily breaking the sound barrier. If the Gold-Severing Thread didn't succeed on the first attempt, it lost its element of surprise once the beast was on guard.

Suddenly, Feng Qingmo frowned slightly, tilted his head imperceptibly, and let his spiritual force sweep into the distance before retracting it.

"I wanted to play with you a bit longer, but it seems a party crasher has arrived..."