I Seem to Have Witnessed the Rise of a Monster

Ye Guchen's gaze sharpened, and the Shark Tooth Sword in his hand trembled violently.

"Horizontal Sweep!"

Swordlight burst forth as four streams of sword energy erupted from the blade at once, streaking toward the Iron Bamboo leaves hurtling at him from all directions.

Clang, clang, clang—

The clashing of metal rang out like a downpour. Sword energy collided with bamboo leaves in midair, scattering countless sparks.

The leaves were blasted in every direction, but the force of the impact also left Ye Guchen's arm slightly numb.

"What tough bamboo."

Seeing that its long-range attacks had failed, the gigantic Iron Bamboo Soul Beast shook its trunk. Dozens of thick branches lashed at Ye Guchen from every direction like whips.

The branches tore through the air with sharp whistles, each one carrying terrifying force.

Ye Guchen darted left and right between the branches, his feet moving in quick succession.

One branch skimmed past his ear, the gust of wind scraping painfully across his cheek.

He twisted aside and flicked his wrist, the Shark Tooth Sword precisely knocking away another branch.

"One Sword Takes Life!"

The tip of his sword aimed straight for the joint where the branch connected to the trunk—the crucial point through which its force flowed.

Shhk—

The sword tip pierced the joint. The Iron Bamboo Soul Beast let out a piercing shriek, and the branch instantly lost its strength, drooping limply.

But even more branches were already surging toward him, blotting out the sky.

Ye Guchen took a deep breath, planted his foot, and leapt into the air.

"Sunset Banner!"

Midair, he brought the Shark Tooth Sword down in a fierce slash. A brilliant streak of swordlight, like the afterglow of the setting sun, cleaved toward the Iron Bamboo Soul Beast's trunk, trailing searing sword energy.

The swordlight struck the ink-black trunk, leaving a deep gash. Black sap seeped from the wound.

The Iron Bamboo Soul Beast cried out in pain, its entire trunk trembling violently.

The ground suddenly shifted.

Ye Guchen's pupils contracted. He abandoned his attack, tapped a stream of sword energy with his toe, and used "Heaven and Earth Shift" to forcefully change direction, darting several zhang sideways.

In the next instant, dozens of sharp bamboo spikes burst from the ground where he had been about to land. If he had been even a moment slower, they would have pierced his foot.

"It has another trick?"

After landing, Ye Guchen retreated several steps, warily watching the ground.

The Iron Bamboo Soul Beast gave him no chance to catch his breath.

The branches lashed at him again, while the blades formed from bamboo leaves sealed off his escape from above, and spikes stirred beneath the earth.

He was caught in a three-sided attack.

Ye Guchen gritted his teeth and swept the Shark Tooth Sword in an arc before him.

"Horizontal Sweep!"

Four streams of sword energy slashed out again, scattering the incoming bamboo leaves.

At the same time, he rolled sideways to avoid two lashing branches. But he had no way to evade the third, and could only raise his sword to block.

Smack!

The branch slammed against the blade. The tremendous force numbed Ye Guchen's hand, sending him flying. He rolled twice across the ground before managing to steady himself.

"Damn it. This beast is tougher than I expected."

Ye Guchen knelt on one knee and looked up at the Iron Bamboo Soul Beast.

Just then, he noticed something strange.

The Iron Bamboo leaves he had scattered earlier had landed on the ground, only to float back up and slowly return to the trunk, attaching themselves to it once more.

The branch he had cut off was also regrowing before his eyes, new shoots sprouting from the severed end.

"It can recover its leaves? And regenerate?"

Ye Guchen furrowed his brow, realizing that something was wrong.

He looked around at the densely packed Iron Bamboo Forest and suddenly had a terrifying suspicion.

"In my previous life, a bamboo forest looked like a stand of trees, but bamboo actually grew in clusters. What looked like a whole forest was really just one plant!"

The thought weighed heavily on Ye Guchen.

To test his theory, he leapt up and slashed at an ordinary Iron Bamboo stalk beside him.

Crack—

The Iron Bamboo snapped and fell to the ground.

But in the next instant, something even stranger happened.

The severed stalk dissolved into a pool of black sap, which quickly seeped into the earth and vanished.

At the same time, the enormous Iron Bamboo Soul Beast at the center seemed to grow ever so slightly larger.

"Just as I thought! The entire forest... is its body. This is going to be trouble."

Ye Guchen's gaze swept across the Iron Bamboo Forest, which stretched nearly a hundred zhang in every direction. Each stalk gave off a faint fluctuation of Soul Power, linked to the gigantic one at the center.

That meant he wasn't fighting a single seventy-thousand-year Soul Beast. He was fighting the entire forest.

The discovery sent a chill down Ye Guchen's back.

The Iron Bamboo Soul Beast seemed to sense his shock. The entire forest trembled as the leaves rustled, as if mocking his ignorance.

In the next instant, every stalk of Iron Bamboo moved.

Thousands of branches lashed at him from every direction. Bamboo leaves filled the sky, their sharp edges sealing off every inch of space, while spikes kept bursting from the ground beneath him.

Ye Guchen dodged left and right, the Shark Tooth Sword dancing in a seamless flurry.

"Horizontal Sweep!"

"Heaven and Earth Shift!"

"One Sword Takes Life!"

He fought with everything he had, pushing every sword technique to its limit.

Sword energy crisscrossed and swordlight flashed. Branches were severed and leaves scattered, but the forest seemed endless. For every stalk he cut down, two more grew in its place; for every patch of leaves he scattered, two more came flying.

Ye Guchen's Soul Power was draining rapidly, and his breathing grew ragged.

"This can't go on."

The Iron Bamboo Soul Beast's true body was the entire forest. As long as the forest remained, it could regenerate without end.

"But my Soul Power is limited, and the longer this drags on, the worse things get for me. I have to finish this quickly."

Another wave of attacks came. Ye Guchen couldn't dodge in time and was struck in the back by a branch.

Smack!

His clothes tore, leaving a blood-red welt across his back. The burning pain made him suck in a breath.

"Kid, need a hand?"

Dugu Bo called from where he watched in the distance, a hint of concern in his voice.

"No!"

Ye Guchen gritted his teeth and stood straight, his gaze turning sharp.

He took a deep breath, held the Shark Tooth Sword across his body, and rapidly considered his options.

The Iron Bamboo Soul Beast belonged to metal, which should counter wood. But every bamboo stalk here contained metal as well, making ordinary attacks ineffective.

"But fire can counter wood—and metal too!"

"Ice and Fire Yin Yang Domain!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a world of ice and fire enveloped the entire forest.

The Iron Bamboo Soul Beast's aura instantly dropped by forty percent, while Ye Guchen's aura doubled.

"A domain!"

Dugu Bo sat bolt upright at the sight.

"What a peerless monster I've witnessed rising!"

But this still wasn't enough to destroy the entire forest.

A glint flashed in Ye Guchen's eyes. His right hand clenched slightly as he activated his god-tier Soul Bone Skill, this time using Soul Power to drive it.

"Flame Dragon Devours Heaven!"

He threw his right arm forward with all his might, transforming it into a giant fire dragon that seemed ready to devour everything in its path.

Wherever the fire dragon passed, the Iron Bamboo turned red-hot before melting into pools of molten iron.

The indestructible bamboo leaves warped in the intense heat, then crumbled into ash.

The branches writhed in agony amid the flames, letting out piercing shrieks.

At the same time, countless bamboo leaves formed a rain of swords, hurtling toward Ye Guchen in an attempt to force him back.

But he nimbly evaded them all, while continuing to pour more fire-attribute energy into his attack.

In an instant, the entire forest was ablaze. The flames rampaged through the bamboo like a furious fire dragon.

The Iron Bamboo Soul Beast let out a shrill cry of agony, and the whole forest trembled.

The Iron Bamboo stalks struggled desperately to regenerate, but the flames devoured them far faster than they could regrow.

One stalk after another melted in the fire, and the sea of flames swallowed the forest piece by piece.

Ye Guchen clenched his teeth and poured every ounce of strength from his Soul Bone into the flames. They blazed ever brighter, turning half the sky red.

His Soul Power drained away like water, and his face quickly turned pale.

"Just a little longer..."

The fire burned for a full three minutes.

When the final patch of forest was swallowed by the flames, the Iron Bamboo Soul Beast's true body was revealed.

The enormous black stalk at the center let out one last despairing shriek before crashing to the ground.

The flames gradually died out, leaving nothing but scorched earth and pools of molten iron.

Ye Guchen knelt on one knee, gasping for breath as sweat dripped from his forehead.

A vast surge of Soul Power drifted out of the Iron Bamboo Soul Beast's corpse.

Ye Guchen wiped away his sweat and struggled to look up. Black Soul Power kept gathering, gradually condensing into a black Soul Ring that hovered in midair.

It radiated the terrifying pressure unique to a seventy-thousand-year Soul Ring.

Only then did Dugu Bo fly over from the distance and land beside him. He looked at the enormous Soul Ring with a complicated expression.

He casually sent a wisp of Soul Power into Ye Guchen's body.

"What a little monster!"

"Just focus on absorbing the Soul Ring. I'll stand guard for you here."