I Used the Grappling Technique I Just Learned and Pinned Him Down with a Smack

"As expected, only constant battle is the 'shortcut' to rapid improvement. In my last fight with the Black Demonic Bear, I was a little careless, but when that black bear went berserk, I really did have some trouble handling it. I never thought the insights from one battle would let me improve this much. Although my Cultivation Level hasn't risen by much, my combat strength has increased severalfold. The me from before probably couldn't even take a single punch from the current me."

After fighting the Black Demonic Bear again, Zhao Li was extremely satisfied with his own progress. Then he felt somewhat helpless.

"What a pity. I don't have any sure-kill move, so it's still hard for me to do anything to it."

Ten days passed like a white colt flashing past a crack, gone in the blink of an eye.

Every day, Zhao Li replayed the previous battle in his mind, absorbing his insights and cultivating.

The weather was good that day, and Zhao Li, feeling that he had made great progress again, once more had the thought of finding the big black bear for a fight.

This time, Zhao Li was no longer as unrestrained as before. Instead, he restrained his aura and prepared to investigate the Black Demonic Bear's lair.

Since he could already beat down the Black Demonic Bear, naturally, he had to pick up what he had been delayed from doing before.

Zhao Li leaped onto a treetop and gazed in the direction where the Black Demonic Bear had appeared. From afar, he saw a mountain standing there, with water cascading down from it. It truly was a beautiful scene like the Milky Way Falling from the Ninth Heaven.

Retracting his gaze, Zhao Li ran toward that peak that towered into the clouds.

"This bear really knows how to pick a place!"

When he truly climbed this mountain that had looked from afar as if it were floating among the clouds, Zhao Li looked at the swirling mist and the scenery that seemed like a Heavenly Palace Wonderland, and sighed with emotion.

Zhao Li watched for a while, restrained his aura, and carefully walked into the cave.

As he ventured deeper, the inside of this cave was not piled with white bones like the residences of those Magical Beasts in the past. Instead, it was very clean.

Soon, Zhao Li saw a huge stone bed, covered with beast hides, and the Black Demonic Bear was lying on it in an utterly casual sprawl.

"This black bear is a little off. It doesn't seem like a wild Magical Beast. Could it have backing? I wonder if it's a Dou Wang or a Dou Emperor."

Zhao Li looked at this exquisite Cave Dwelling, which was completely out of place for a Magical Beast, and guessed in his heart.

"Looks like after I finish this job, I'll have to keep a low profile."

He could not even take down a Tier 4 Magical Beast, let alone a Tier 5 Magical Beast, or even possibly a Sixth Tier Magical Beast.

Thinking of how he had once felt he could slay a Dou Wang, Zhao Li also found it a little funny. Sure enough, newborn calves were not afraid of tigers. Without practice, one had no right to speak.

In fact, he had underestimated himself and underestimated the Black Demonic Bear's combat strength. Ordinary Tier 5 Magical Beasts, or newly advanced Dou Wangs, would hardly dare provoke the Black Demonic Bear.

"If I fight this stupid bear again, even if I can press it down and hammer it, I still can't break through its defense. I can't do anything to it. In the end, I'll still have to leave. I'd better not alert it for now and look around first. It'd be best if I can get the treasure without anyone noticing. That'll also save me from being targeted by the beast behind it."

After pondering for a while, Zhao Li was about to search through the cave.

Big Xiong's powerful Magical Beast instincts seemed to sense a malicious intent directed at him, and he stopped sleeping. He immediately woke with a start and climbed up, just in time to see Zhao Li pinching his chin and looking at him.

The man and the bear stared at each other just like that.

Having tried to steal from someone only to be caught red-handed, even with Zhao Li's thick skin, he felt a wave of awkwardness.

Zhao Li awkwardly waved at the Black Demonic Bear and greeted it.

"Hello, Little Bear. I came to see you again."

Big Xiong roared. What had he ever done to this guy? Again and again, he kept provoking him, and now he had even run into his home.

The moment they met this time, he directly entered a berserk state.

Zhao Li could even sense a world of grievance from that roar.

As always, that palm-leaf-fan-like bear paw slapped over.

Although Zhao Li was embarrassed, he did not slack off at all once battle began, not to mention he had made quite a bit of progress during this period.

Looking at that bear paw and remembering the slap he had taken before, Zhao Li thought, When have I ever suffered such grievance? Right away, he used the Grappling Technique he had newly comprehended. In just a few exchanges, with a smack, he pinned Big Xiong face-down and kicked him onto the large bed.

Big Xiong was dumbfounded. Once upon a time, he had sent Zhao Li flying just like that. How long had it been? Yet he had become so much stronger.

Big Xiong felt even more wronged. No longer caring that this was his own Cave Dwelling, he frantically attacked Zhao Li, biting, swatting, ramming...

Zhao Li did not know how many times he sent this black bear flying, but every single time, it could still get back up. Though it looked wretched, it had not suffered any substantial injuries.

"This boss doesn't show a health bar. I really have no way to deal with him. I'm leaving, I'm leaving."

Looking at the Cave Dwelling that had been mostly destroyed, and seeing no sign anywhere of the black bear's collection, Zhao Li guessed that this black bear with backing had a Storage Treasure. He also did not want to stay entangled with him. He could just come again next time.

Seeing Zhao Li once again leave right before his eyes, all the grievances of this period burst out. Big Xiong wilted, left the Cave Dwelling, and ran toward the depths of the mountain range.

Zhao Li naturally did not know where the black bear had gone. He was still summarizing his gains and losses.

"With my stealth ability, this black bear shouldn't have been able to detect me. Otherwise, the moment I arrived at his Cave Dwelling, he would have slapped me with a bear paw. It can't be that he's so carefree that he simply isn't afraid of being ambushed, right?"

His skill, which absolutely selected the first answer and could eliminate the correct answer among countless answers for all sorts of reasons, activated.

Zhao Li naturally would not know that every Magical Beast in this Mountain Forest that dared cause trouble for Big Xiong had been thoroughly beaten into submission by Xiong Ba, to the point that they had to offer Big Xiong a cigarette when they saw him.

"In nearly a month, I've improved rapidly, and my combat strength has pretty much been developed to the limit of my current strength. If my Cultivation Level doesn't rise, or if I don't learn a new Dou Technique, there's basically no room for improvement."

Compared to the rapid improvement of the previous period, Zhao Li could sense that his progress had started to slow. The effects of battling the black bear had already begun to weaken. It was like fighting a boss in his previous life—he had already figured out the boss's patterns and made a perfect strategy. If he could break its defense, he could grind the boss to death.

"Most of the time Master left me has already passed. Although this place isn't too far from there, no one knows what might happen in the forest. I'll go one more time tomorrow. No matter the result, it'll be time to leave."

Zhao Li calculated the time and planned his next moves.

Early the next morning, Zhao Li arrived at the black bear's Cave Dwelling, but he did not see the black bear. His heart secretly cried that things were bad. After searching around, he found only some Medicinal Ingredients beneath the stone bed and nothing else.

"I have to slip away. That big idiot didn't go off to call reinforcements, did he? I'll have to keep a low profile from now on." Zhao Li left the Cave Dwelling, identified the direction, and quickly departed.

These days, Lang Youqin had been listening to the black bear's roars, constantly trembling with fear. That day, he received news from the informants he had placed in the forest that someone had left the area nearby, so he decided to bring his subordinates up the mountain to check the situation.

It was also on this day that Big Xiong crossed the territories of the various Beast Kings, rushing all the way toward the depths of the mountain range. He met his father, Xiong Ba, and told him about his grievances. Xiong Ba immediately picked up Big Xiong, and with a few flickers, appeared in Big Xiong's Cave Dwelling, casually swatting Lang Youqin and his group to death.