Malice Unceasing

By then, the sun was nearly setting, leaving only a golden rim at the horizon.

At this hour, Duan Yun could not help examining the chest more closely.

It was a fine camphorwood chest, inlaid with brass, its lock forged from brass as well.

The chest alone ought to have been worth some money.

He tapped it with his sword and found both the chest and its lock to be sturdy.

Such a fine chest would probably be perfect for storing jewels and gold.

Duan Yun had kept thinking about this chest, not merely because his curiosity was truly strong, but also because he was running short on money.

He cultivated every day and ate meat at every meal; his savings were nearly depleted.

What if there really were gold, silver, or something valuable inside the chest?

Would that not be pie falling from the sky, solving his pressing need?

After all, the chest really was quite heavy.

Duan Yun excitedly rubbed his hands together, raised his longsword, and prepared to open it.

Honestly, it really did have the thrill of opening a mystery box.

Yet at the same time, this large chest, which had soaked in the water for so long without anyone caring for it, gave off an eerie feeling.

What if there was a corpse inside?

With a clang, Duan Yun pried with his longsword. The brass lock sprang open, and the lid was lifted.

However, Duan Yun did not approach immediately.

The chest was very deep. He could not clearly see what was inside from here, only a faint black outline.

Once he had confirmed there was no poisonous gas or anything similar, Duan Yun approached with his sword in hand.

The instant he reached the edge of the chest and looked inside, a yellowed eye was staring fixedly at him.

At almost the same moment, a jet-black claw shadow struck. Duan Yun reacted swiftly and raised his sword to block.

With a clang, the blade trembled.

Duan Yun could not help retreating three steps.

What had suddenly swept out was actually a sharp bear claw.

With a boom, a Man-Bear overturned the chest and charged out, its momentum terrifying.

Startled, Duan Yun raised his longsword and slashed out a Water-Moon Sword Qi.

After cultivating for this time, both Water-Moon Slash and Jade Sword Finger had nearly fused into his bodily instincts.

The silver-white Sword Qi tore through the Man-Bear's flesh with a hiss, drawing out a spray of rancid blood.

The Man-Bear had only just emerged from the chest when Duan Yun struck again with a Jade Sword Finger!

With a pop, a bloody hole exploded open beneath the Man-Bear's jaw.

At that moment, Duan Yun suddenly dodged to the side, because the Man-Bear had swept the chest at him with a boom, its force astonishing.

Yet in that opening, Duan Yun still raised his longsword and slashed out a crescent-shaped Sword Qi.

With a hiss, the Sword Qi carved a deep gash into the Man-Bear's side, blood pouring out.

The next moment, the Man-Bear did not continue attacking. Instead, it turned and charged aside, smashing down the side room with a bang and breaking through the wall as it fled.

Along the way, it even swung a bear leg and kicked several flying bricks at Duan Yun.

Strange!

It was strange enough that a Man-Bear had crawled out of a chest sunk in water.

The Man-Bear's behavior was strange too!

Looking at the collapsed side room and wall, then thinking of the tael of silver he had put down with the landlord, Duan Yun flew into a rage and chased after it like the wind.

You smashed my house and still want to run!

Even if it had not smashed the house, Duan Yun would not have let this bear go.

My perfectly good chest of treasure turned into a bear that kills people. If you do not die, who will!

Duan Yun sprinted after it with his sword in hand.

He had never learned qinggong or movement techniques, but after cultivating the Jade Sword True Canon these past days, his physical abilities had long surpassed those of ordinary people. He ran incredibly fast.

The Man-Bear seemed to have a brain. It believed that with its frenzied running speed, it would surely shake off that troublesome fellow.

But the next instant, it turned its head, and its bear eyes went wide in shock.

!!!

The man behind it was chasing with a sword in hand, his legs already reduced to a blur as he rapidly closed the distance!

With two hisses, Duan Yun unleashed two more Jade Sword Fingers while running.

The sharp finger Sword Qi pierced through the Man-Bear's right hind leg, throwing its four limbs out of balance.

Yet this Man-Bear was a ruthless one. Even so, it still limped along at a furious sprint, its speed not slowing in the slightest.

Seeing this, Duan Yun's expression turned grave.

Because the bear was heading toward Clear Tea Market!

Was it trying to enter the market and create chaos so it could escape?

If such a Man-Bear entered the market, who knew what tragedy would unfold? Duan Yun did not dare delay. True Qi circulated within him, and his legs became a gust of wind.

The wild grass along the road bent down in swathes, sending dust billowing into the air.

No matter how desperately the Man-Bear struggled, it was still caught.

Afterward, violent Sword Qi rained down upon its broad bear body as though it cost nothing.

In barely a dozen breaths, the Man-Bear gained seven or eight deep sword wounds and over ten bloody holes. Several of those holes had been struck into its head, making its bear head look as though it had blossomed.

"Roar!"

The Man-Bear gave an unwilling roar. Its body failed, and it rolled down a muddy slope, never to climb up again.

Duan Yun sent two more Jade Sword Fingers into its head, and only then did the Man-Bear stop moving completely.

Even dead, the Man-Bear lay there with its enormous body still radiating immense oppression.

Before long, the Man-Bear's flesh had stiffened. It did not look freshly dead, but as though it had been dead for some time.

Duan Yun looked at the Man-Bear's corpse, still feeling that something was deeply strange.

Though Man-Bear had the word "man" in its name because it ate people and certain of its movements resembled a human's, it was not truly human. Yet this bear's behavior and mannerisms had been far too human-like.

Especially the way it had thrown the chest and kicked bricks. Duan Yun had even felt it was like someone trained in martial arts.

Did that mean this bear had been trained by someone, or that it had originally practiced martial arts?

At this moment, Duan Yun narrowed his eyes slightly.

He saw a scar on the bear's head.

Naturally, he had not inflicted that scar, because stitches still ran across it.

Duan Yun could not help using his sword to cut along the scar.

The flesh and skin atop the head were cut open, revealing the bear's brain within.

An even stronger stench of blood rushed at his face. Duan Yun frowned, an astonished expression appearing on his face.

His shock was even greater than when the bear had crawled out of the chest.

Because this bear had two brains.

One brain was small, the other large, connected by fine branches.

Those fine branches were like slender tree limbs, forked yet somehow giving off the texture of flesh and blood, as if meat had grown inside branches.

At the sight, the first thing that entered Duan Yun's mind was "grafting."

Yes, it looked very much like the fruit-tree grafting he had seen in his previous life.

But who had grafted a brain onto this bear?

A bizarre, terrifying feeling spread through Duan Yun's entire body.

The larger brain should have been a human brain.

A human brain had been sewn into a bear's brain. That explained why the bear's actions and thinking had been so human-like.

But this could be sewn together?

Were you trying to win the Nobel Prize?

For a moment, Duan Yun looked up at the ancient-style outlines of Clear Tea Market's buildings, a lost expression on his face.

Then he looked again at the human brain inside the bear's head and could not stop a chill of revulsion from rising within him.

Who exactly had done this?

What kind of beast could do something like sew a human brain into a bear, put it inside a chest, sink it in the water by the lake, and wait for someone curious enough to fish it up?

If he had not cultivated the Jade Sword True Canon, he might have died the instant he opened the chest.

Slapped to death and eaten by this bear.

The chest was so heavy that, if it had not been him, it would likely have taken several people to move it. Perhaps after opening it, everyone present would have died on the spot.

Duan Yun felt profound malice.

To him, it felt as though some perverted person with twisted tastes had deliberately done this as "fishing."

Fishing for idiots with excessive curiosity.

Perhaps learning that someone had been frightened to death, killed, and eaten by the bear that burst from the chest was a source of great amusement to that person.

Duan Yun had become one such idiot with excessive curiosity. Fortunately, his martial arts were formidable.

Though it was thoroughly dead, this brown bear with a human brain sewn into it still gave off a disgusting, ominous feeling.

That bear roar earlier had actually alerted quite a few people.

Only now did anyone dare come over to look.

When the residents of Clear Tea Market saw the scene, they were terrified out of their wits.

"Bear! A Man-Bear!"

"How could there be a Man-Bear here?"

"And that man—did he kill the bear?"

"All alone? He is an expert. Do you know him?"

"No. He does not look like one of the Tea King's people."

"Wait, Old Li, is that man your tenant?"

Landlord Old Li said tremblingly, "Looks like him."

"And you still dared collect rent from him?"

"Huh?"

"A man with abilities like that is either a killer or a rapist. You..."

At that moment, the crowd began backing away, because Duan Yun was walking over.

"Everyone, who has a fire starter? Lend me one—"

"Run!"

Someone shouted, and the crowd immediately scattered like birds and beasts, leaving Duan Yun standing there in a daze.

I am so handsome, not some ghost. Why are they running?

I only wanted to borrow fire to burn the bear!

Wu Song killed a tiger and became a hero. Why did I get this treatment for killing a monster bear?