"Huff! Huff!" As Li Xiaoya slowly approached, thunderous panting came from deep within the forest. Even the nearby leaves trembled faintly with each breath, a testament to the Demon Beast's tremendous strength.
Li Xiaoya cautiously crouched behind a large tree and parted the leaves to peer through a gap. Several trees lay toppled in the forest, and amid them lay a beast covered in black-and-white stripes. Even lying on the ground, it stood thirty or forty feet high; on its feet, it would surely tower seventy or eighty feet tall. Its limbs resembled a horse's legs, but short spikes covered its ankles, and a long, slender tail trailed behind it. Its head also resembled a horse's, except that it had four ears.
"So this is the legendary Four-Eared Striped Horse Beast!" Looking at the bizarre creature, Li Xiaoya immediately recognized it as the early Fifth Tier Four-Eared Striped Horse Beast recorded in the Monster Beast Record!
"Hm?" The Four-Eared Striped Horse Beast's ears suddenly twitched, giving Li Xiaoya a fright, but then they went still again, and he breathed a silent sigh of relief. With his cultivation, killing a Fifth-Tier Demon Beast was hardly difficult, but fighting it head-on would take some effort and certainly would not fit the "just a moment" he had promised. Having made up his mind, he slapped his Storage Pouch with his right hand while pointing at the distant beast with his left. Whoosh! Whoosh! Two fine, fiery-red threads shot out-the Fire Spirit Needle, a cultivation-method spell he had learned after reaching the Core Condensation Stage. Small though these needles looked, they contained a considerable amount of magic power and moved as swiftly as lightning.
"Roooar!" The Four-Eared Striped Horse Beast abruptly opened its enormous eyes, revealing an emerald-green color. Pfft! Pfft! Before it could