Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast

Chapter 31: Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast

Following the pull of the Source of Earthly Fiend, He Yu arrived at the spot that had stirred it, only to find nothing. Confusion immediately welled up inside him. The Source of Earthly Fiend had never reacted like this before; its first-ever response surely meant something unusual was happening. The most likely explanation was the Source of Heavenly Dipper. Yet the place before him was no different from anywhere else, and he could not make sense of it.

As he focused his senses, He Yu could feel that the Heavenly Stellar Qi around him was indeed a little denser than elsewhere. That clearly meant there was something unusual about this place.

"Strange. What in the world is going on?" He Yu pondered.

Whoosh!

A nearly imperceptible sound of something tearing through the air darted toward He Yu's left shoulder. Its speed and the faintness of its approach were beyond anything he could have imagined. He sensed it only when it was almost upon him, and by then it was already too late to dodge.

Boom!

His entire left shoulder exploded, and his left arm fell away. Fortunately, his body was made from the Light of Taichu mixed with Earthly Baleful Qi. Otherwise, such a grievous injury to flesh and blood would have left him dead or crippled!

His whole left arm turned into golden-black Primordial Earthly Fiend Qi, wrapping around his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, it was restored as good as new. The strength of the Primordial Avatar lay in this: as long as its source remained intact, it was an undying, indestructible, and uncrippled existence.

"An enemy?" He had been attacked without warning, and had not even reacted in time. That showed just how formidable his enemy was—not an ordinary foe, but at least a Loose Immortal. He Yu found it utterly inconceivable. He had only reached the early Loose Immortal stage by taking a shortcut with his Primordial Avatar. How could another being at the Loose Immortal level already exist? After all, the Innate Deities and the Descendants of Pangu had yet to take form and appear in the world!

Whoosh!

Another sound of something tearing through the air came at him, aimed straight for his heart. It was even more fierce than the last, and faster, but the sound of it splitting the void was louder too.

"Hmph!" This time, he was prepared, and the attack made more noise. How could it catch him off guard again? He Yu shot aside, dodging the invisible razor-sharp force. But before he could steady himself, another force no weaker than the first struck his back. With a boom, it blasted half his back to pieces, cutting three inches deep.

"Damn it!" Fury surged through He Yu. When had he ever been this helpless since crossing over into the Primordial World? There was nothing wrong with being weaker than someone else; he could catch up. But not even seeing his enemy, with no idea where he was, was simply infuriating.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...

One faint, almost imperceptible sound after another rang out. He Yu managed to dodge several, but each was followed by another attack waiting in ambush. One razor-sharp force after another blasted into him, and the golden-black Primordial Earthly Fiend Qi scattered all over his body, difficult to gather again. He was not truly harmed, but the situation left him utterly frustrated.

For now, he had to locate his enemy. As for the enemy's cultivation, he could determine that once they clashed.

The invisible razor-sharp forces came from every direction, but never in volleys. He Yu sensed clearly that they were launched one at a time. This unknown enemy was moving rapidly and attacking from new positions, creating the illusion that countless forces were striking simultaneously. The speed of those changes in position left He Yu aghast. It was practically instantaneous movement.

Unable to see the invisible attacks with his eyes, He Yu simply shut them and focused his mind on sensing. The situation improved considerably. Through his awareness, it was as if sharp arrows were shooting at him from every direction. He could not see them, but their trajectories were clear. He immediately followed his senses, darting and weaving, his body moving rapidly within a range of just a few meters. He dodged every incoming invisible force, and the scattered Primordial Earthly Fiend Qi seized the chance to gather back together.

"Roar!"

After a long while, not a single invisible force managed to strike He Yu again. The hidden enemy could no longer hold back and let out an angry roar, then appeared not far in front of him.

Looking at the ambusher before him, He Yu could not help drawing in a sharp breath. It was a several-hundred-zhang giant beast, with the head of a Tyrannosaurus and the body of a tiger. Countless densely packed spikes covered its body, like those of a hedgehog. It had four claws and three tails, and its entire body was golden, with streaks of cold, razor-sharp metallic light glimmering all over it. The spikes kept extending and retracting, bending and twisting, like swords and whips all at once. Their strange howls as they tore through the void were enough to make anyone's blood run cold. Its four claws clenched with a tremendous burst of air, while its three tails swept about, cloaking its whole body in countless golden shadows. Its black eyes, each several meters across, were as deep and vast as black holes. But what shocked He Yu most was the aura it radiated.

Middle-stage Loose Immortal!

The giant beast before him had reached the middle stage of Loose Immortal, a full realm above the Primordial Avatar!

"Eh? The Source of Heavenly Dipper?" Seeing the golden crystal in the center of the giant beast's forehead, He Yu immediately recognized it as the Source of Heavenly Dipper. Since he possessed the Source of Earthly Fiend, he could sense the Source of Heavenly Dipper with extraordinary clarity.

"Just as I thought! The Source of Earthly Fiend was reacting to the Source of Heavenly Dipper. But why has the Source of Heavenly Dipper formed a giant beast?" He Yu thought in astonishment.

Wait... hold on!

A giant beast?

Could it be...!

An idea came to him. The Era of Giant Beasts was already drawing very near, and the aura of the gods and demons was about to spread across the Primordial World. But that was on the land of the Primordial World. He was now in the Heavenly Dipper layer, which had come into contact with the aura of the gods and demons before the land below.

"That must be it. Otherwise, how could the Source of Heavenly Dipper form a giant beast? And one with a middle-stage Loose Immortal cultivation, no less." He Yu had a good idea now of what the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beasts were. The realization still stunned him. He had not expected the aura of the gods and demons to have appeared already. The Heavenly Dipper layer must have come into contact with it. Judging by the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast's middle-stage Loose Immortal cultivation, things had not yet reached their worst. Otherwise, it would have at least been an Earth Immortal.

"Close! That was really close! If I'd come a little later, the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast might have reached the Earth Immortal or Heavenly Immortal level. Trying to take the Source of Heavenly Dipper then would have been suicide!" He Yu shuddered at the thought. Although the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast was a realm above the Primordial Avatar, He Yu still had confidence in himself.

Roar!

A cruel, violent gleam flashed through its black eyes. The Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast roared, then vanished into the void in a flash. The sight made He Yu furrow his brow, and he quickly began to think. Like the Source of Earthly Fiend, the Source of Heavenly Dipper could transform into the sky of a world and cultivate the thirty-six Heavenly Gang Transformations.

It was a source of Heaven itself, so it was only natural that it could merge with the firmament and the void. The Primordial Avatar could also barely merge with the earth, but it could not hope to reach the same degree as the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast.

Whoosh, whoosh!

A tempest suddenly surged in, crashing down like a raging torrent or a vast ocean tide. Its might was no less than that of the Firmament Gale below.

Though the tempest seemed to come from every direction at once, He Yu sensed that the giant beast was shifting its position almost instantaneously.

Changing places!

"This Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast is far too timid!" He Yu thought, frustrated. Its middle-stage Loose Immortal cultivation was above his own! And the body of a divine demon beast was formidable too. With such advantages, it was still launching sneak attacks. Sneak attacks were for the weak to use against the strong; the strong had no need for them. Under overwhelming strength, every trick was just so much cloud. The Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast's behavior was bizarre.

Whoosh!

Relying on his senses, He Yu turned into a golden-black streak and dodged through the subtle gaps in the tempest. It was more than twice as difficult as evading the invisible razor-sharp forces, but with his awareness piercing through everything, he still managed to dodge smoothly.

Roar...!

Seeing its ambush come to nothing, the giant beast let out a furious roar. Everything within a ten-mile radius trembled under its bellow, and the Heavenly Stellar Qi fell into disarray. Its several-hundred-zhang monstrous form appeared again.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...

As soon as the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast appeared, the countless spikes covering its body lashed, thrust, and slashed toward He Yu like whips and swords. With its attacks came the sounds of tearing, explosions, and strange, shrill howls.

"Hmph!" He Yu gave a cold snort, a glint flashing through his eyes. Facing the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast's terrifying assault, he darted rapidly, intending to avoid its edge for the moment.

"Eh? What? This..." He Yu had just reached ten miles away when he discovered an enormous force of confinement. Changing direction made no difference. Clearly, the entire ten-mile area was sealed. This shocked him. There was nothing unusual about a middle-stage Loose Immortal being able to confine a ten-mile area, but making it impossible for an early-stage Loose Immortal to break free was extremely difficult.

Whoosh, whoosh! Whoosh! Boom! Rumble!...

A dense barrage of spiked whips and swords came at him with enough force to destroy everything in their path. Under their assault, the void shook, while the Heavenly Stellar Qi and the tempest fell into chaos.

Thousands upon thousands of spikes tore through the air. Trapped within the narrow confines of ten miles, He Yu was under immense pressure, and his already perilous situation grew even worse.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...!

Clang! Clang! Clang!...!

He Yu pushed his speed to the limit, darting across the ten-mile area until he formed a golden-black web of light. Under his deft dodging and redirection, countless spikes crashed violently into one another, ringing out with the clamor of metal colliding. Every impact sent out a fierce gust of wind.

Time flowed like water. The giant beast's assault gradually slowed. Suddenly, all its spikes retracted. He Yu stopped moving too, watching it in puzzlement. He saw the giant beast's expression change drastically, as wisps of black mist slowly seeped from its eyes. The mist gradually spread across its face.

Beneath the black mist, the giant beast's face twisted into a terrifying grimace. It was clearly suffering immense pain, yet it stared at He Yu with resentful fury. Then it turned and vanished into the void. But the Heavenly Stellar Qi around him, slightly denser than elsewhere, clearly told He Yu that it was still hiding nearby and had not gone far. He had no way of knowing whether it simply refused to let him go or was unable to leave.

"Could this black mist be why the giant beast won't attack at close range?" The scene had piqued He Yu's curiosity. Under the influence of the black mist, the giant beast clearly could not attack. That also explained why, despite its powerful cultivation, it had stayed hidden. It seemed to fear the black mist.

If even the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast feared it, the black mist must be terrifying!

"Could it be the aura of the gods and demons?" He Yu's heart jolted as an idea came to him. The giant beast had appeared after absorbing the aura of the gods and demons. If it had only absorbed it recently, some of that aura might not yet have merged with its body.

"If it's making the giant beast this wary, then it must be the aura of the gods and demons. I'll have to finish this quickly." Though the aura of the gods and demons was now interfering with the giant beast, giving He Yu the advantage, once it fully fused with the beast, its cultivation would surely rise considerably. The disparity was already substantial. What would happen then?

Rumble!

Sword force spread in every direction, while the sword energy shifted and surged, letting out strange howls as it tore through the air. The Primordial Sword was already in his hand. After being nurtured in the Source of Primordial Earthly Fiend for so long, the Primordial Sword had absorbed a good deal of Earthly Baleful Qi, greatly increasing its power.

Although He Yu did not know what grade his Primordial Sword had reached, it should be quite high—at the very least, it could inflict severe damage on a Loose Immortal.

As soon as the Primordial Sword appeared, the atmosphere around him turned murderous. A sword was a weapon of slaughter, and the Primordial Sword was among the finest of its kind. Naturally, its might was extraordinary. Even the divine weapons and sharp blades of later generations would probably shatter in the face of its power.

Whoosh!

A faint breeze stirred. Though it was almost imperceptible, He Yu's focused senses caught even the tiniest movement.

A cold glint flashed through his eyes. The Primordial Sword in his hand became a golden streak as he slashed toward the giant beast's hiding place, a hundred-zhang sword image forming around the streak.

With one sword strike, Heaven and Earth quaked!

The strike came down like Pangu cleaving Heaven and Earth apart. Its sword force surged outward, sealing off a radius of several miles. The giant beast had nowhere to dodge. To flee, it would have to break through the sword force's confinement. But could it?

The confinement created by the sword force of He Yu's early-stage Loose Immortal cultivation, wielding the Primordial Sword, was terrifying. It was not just the middle-stage Loose Immortal giant beast—even a late-stage Loose Immortal would struggle to break through in an instant.

The golden streak swept toward the giant beast's hiding place with the force of splitting mountains and cleaving peaks. Under this single strike, the giant beast's form emerged. Its face was now filled with terror, and the wisps of black mist covering it had begun to gather slowly around its eyes. From the even stronger aura the giant beast now radiated, He Yu knew his guess had been right: the black mist was the aura of the gods and demons.

The giant beast was clearly unable to act for the moment because of the aura of the gods and demons. He Yu's heart lifted, and the Primordial golden streak descending upon it gained even more power.

"Hahaha! Heaven is helping me! With the giant beast unable to defend itself, how could its body alone possibly withstand the edge of the Primordial Sword?" He Yu could practically see the Heavenly Dipper Giant Beast cleaved in two by his strike, with the Source of Heavenly Dipper in his grasp.