The Great Battle

"Whoosh!"

A streak of azure light shot through the air at astonishing speed, skimming over the forest.

Before long, Lu Chuan spotted Huang Feihu and the others below, marching swiftly through the woods toward another mountain.

He glanced down, then continued on his way.

"Roar!"

But after Lu Chuan had passed over two mountains and was searching below for traces of a fierce beast, an angry roar suddenly rang out from the forest beneath him.

The roar boomed like thunder and crashed like a storm-tossed sea. Visible waves of sound swept rapidly in every direction, scattering even the clouds overhead.

"Oh, shit..."

A streak of light happened to be passing by at that very moment. Caught in the powerful shock wave, it abruptly turned into a human figure, who tumbled awkwardly from the sky.

"What a terrifying roar!"

Lu Chuan's heart raced. The powerful roar had come far too suddenly, and its force was terrifying.

It had not only shattered the light of his escape technique but struck him with such force that his vision went dark, his blood and qi churned, and his mind reeled.

Wind howled in his ears!

He couldn't see for the moment, but he could hear and feel himself plummeting helplessly through the air.

No, I have to find a way to use my escape technique again, fast. If I keep falling like this, I'm done for.

Lu Chuan knew exactly what would happen when he hit the ground after falling from a height of more than a thousand meters.

But when he clenched his teeth and struggled to gather his wits, preparing to channel his true qi and use his escape technique, he was stunned to discover that the roar's powerful shock had already scattered every last bit of true qi throughout his body.

I'm finished...

Those were the only words left in Lu Chuan's mind. He couldn't fly; the Five Elements Escape Technique was the only thing that let him travel through the air.

But now his technique had been broken, and all his true qi scattered. There was no way he could use the escape technique to rise again. All he could do was keep falling.

Poor Lu Chuan. I learned the Dao and its arts, yet before I could make a name for myself, I've fallen victim to a sneak attack and will wither away like a fallen star...

Lu Chuan let out a mournful sigh. The roar had come so suddenly that he hadn't been prepared at all. One blast of sound had knocked him out of the sky.

There was only one thing he wanted to know.

Which bastard had made that roar?

What sort of creature could produce such a terrifying sound, leaving him no chance to fight back—or even the slightest opportunity to escape?

A Martial Way powerhouse? Huang Feihu? Or... the fierce beast he had been searching for?

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The wind shrieked past his ears, and his clothes snapped as he fell.

After a brief spell of blindness, his vision returned.

But when he saw the predicament he was in, he wished he couldn't see. Things were so bad that he would have been better off out of sight and out of mind.

He was like those people who used to go skydiving, except they had parachutes strapped to their backs.

He had jumped out of the sky.

Then realized he'd forgotten his parachute.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The ground drew closer with every moment, and he was falling faster and faster. Lu Chuan tried desperately to gather even a wisp of true qi and use his escape technique, but he soon realized in despair that he couldn't manage it in midair.

"Roar!"

Just then, another bellow erupted. Terrifying waves of sound rolled up from below, and this time Lu Chuan finally saw who had attacked him—or rather, the monster that had done it.

A giant ape, fully ten meters tall, appeared in his field of vision.

Its body was covered in crimson fur. Its massive arms were like two divine pillars, and its blood-red, ferocious eyes were sunk deep in their sockets. Yet the fur on its head was white.

"A Vajra Ape?"

Lu Chuan was aghast. Then he paused, because the giant ape was fighting someone.

Its opponent was a stunning divine bird.

The bird was about a meter tall, with feathers that were mostly yellow and red. The tips of its wings were purple, its beak golden, and a faint yellow glow swirled around its body.

"Keening!"

The divine bird's clear, ringing cry sounded like a phoenix's song.

It was only a meter tall, much smaller than the giant ape. It kept calling out as it beat its wings, circling the ape in the air.

"Is that a Phoenix?"

Lu Chuan stared in astonishment. Unlike the giant ape's savage, violent roar, the bird's cry was clear and beautiful.

Two terrifying auras surged below. Though the creatures were still five or six hundred meters apart, Lu Chuan felt an immense pressure.

Both creatures were simply too terrifying.

Then another thought struck him. Could it be that it wasn't aiming for me at all? I just happened to pass by and get caught in the crossfire?

When he'd first seen the giant ape, he had thought it was coming for him. But he quickly realized he was wrong.

The ape was fighting a divine bird that looked just like the legendary Phoenix. He must have been passing by when its roar happened to knock him out of the sky.

What rotten luck!

"Roar!"

The giant ape roared, savage and violent as thunder from the highest heavens. The forest trembled, and Lu Chuan's blood and qi churned, leaving him in agony.

But the divine bird's cries held a strange power that dispelled the ape's roars. After that, Lu Chuan was no longer struck by the sound waves.

Boom!

The earth shuddered. The crimson-glowing giant ape suddenly leaped into the air, blasting apart the ground beneath it as it drove a massive fist toward the divine bird.

Boom!

The divine bird cried out. A dazzling yellow radiance burst from its body with a boom, and it charged at the ferocious ape.

Red light collided with yellow. A terrifying shock wave erupted, spreading outward in a storm.

"Ah!"

Lu Chuan cried out. He really couldn't have been any unluckier.

Just as he was about to hit the ground, the shock wave's gale tossed him back into the air. With a whoosh, he sailed away in a graceful arc.

"Master, help!"

Lu Chuan shouted from the sky. At that moment, the only person he could rely on or even think of was Shen Gongbao.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a yellow blur flashed before his eyes, and something caught him and carried him upward again.

Lu Chuan looked up. First he saw yellow fur patterned with black stripes, then a pair of wings, then the back of a tiger's head...

A Divine Tiger!

A winged Divine Tiger, at that! Lu Chuan's spirits immediately lifted at the sight.

There was no doubt about it: the only winged Divine Tiger that could appear here was Shen Gongbao's mount.

The Divine Tiger beat its wings and carried him skyward, away from the mountain.

"I'm saved!"

The expression on Lu Chuan's face gradually relaxed. Without the Divine Tiger, he would probably have been done for.

"Roar!"

Below, roars shook the air, while phoenix cries soared to the heavens. Terrifying sound waves swept toward them again.

But with the Divine Tiger there this time, Lu Chuan wasn't struck nearly as hard.

The Divine Tiger glanced back at him.

"Did Master send you?"

Lu Chuan knew it was a pointless question. Without Shen Gongbao's orders, why would the Divine Tiger have come?

But he just wanted to make conversation.

The Divine Tiger gave him a disdainful look, then turned back to watch where it was going.

Yes, disdain!

Lu Chuan was sure he hadn't imagined it. The tiger had looked at him with a human-like expression of mockery.

But in this world, animals could awaken their spiritual faculties, gain human-like intelligence, and slowly absorb the essence of the sun and moon to cultivate as spirits. Eventually, they could take human form.

Once an animal had gained spiritual awareness and intelligence, you could no longer treat it like an ordinary beast.

Without a doubt, Shen Gongbao's Divine Tiger had awakened its spirit and possessed remarkable intelligence.

"Well..."

Lu Chuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Who would have thought that today he'd be looked down on by a tiger?

He shook his head and hurriedly said, "Brother Tiger, help me find somewhere to land. My true qi is out of control, and I need to meditate and set it right at once."

The Divine Tiger glanced back at him again. It had seen everything that had happened to Lu Chuan.

To be fair, Lu Chuan had been spectacularly unlucky this time. He could have gone anywhere, but he just had to pass that mountain—and get knocked from the sky by a fierce beast's roar.

This time, it didn't mock Lu Chuan. It spread its wings and soon landed in a patch of forest. Tilting to one side, it let Lu Chuan slide off its wing onto the ground.

"Please keep watch for me a little longer."

Lu Chuan sat cross-legged and politely cupped his hands to the Divine Tiger.

The Divine Tiger nodded.

Lu Chuan closed his eyes and began meditating, controlling the true qi rampaging through his body. The Divine Tiger, meanwhile, stared solemnly ahead.

Roars shook the heavens, and phoenix cries pierced the skies!

A mountain a hundred miles away was breaking apart. Rocks flew through the air, and ancient trees a hundred meters tall fell in swathes.

Amid the dust billowing through the sky, the dazzling crimson glow turned into eerie flames. It collided again and again with the mass of yellow light, setting fires that spread in every direction.

The terrifying battle between the divine bird and the fierce beast continued.