The spear instantly turned red, flames rising along its shaft and crackling explosively in the air.
At its tip, a spearhead as crimson as blood-red agate replaced the original cold, gleaming blade.
The War Goddess gripped the shaft tightly, twisting her waist and swinging her arm to drive the spear straight forward.
A crimson ray shot from the blood-red tip, and an illusory crimson spear appeared within that red light.
The spear tip swiftly pierced the air before her. Rings of airflow coiled around the hurtling attack.
The flames around the tip surged, and atop the crimson attack, a Fire Phoenix spread its wings and shrieked.
The resulting shock wave shook everything around it.
In the enormous Ferocious Beast's eyes, the shrieking Fire Phoenix filled its vision as it drew ever closer.
A bone inside its body rapidly began to glow. Its vital blood burned, and divine power flooded its entire body.
Scales gleaming with black light fell from its body and lined up before it, forming an utterly black shield.
Behind it, the phantom of a Ferocious Beast resembling itself appeared, only larger and far more imposing.
The enormous beast phantom stomped toward the Fire Phoenix.
Wherever the Fire Phoenix passed, even the air burned away, and a scorched smell quickly spread.
The Fire Phoenix opened its enormous beak, and a vast blaze engulfed the enormous beast phantom.
The black barrier around the Ferocious Beast was like paper. The instant the crimson spear tip touched it, it was punctured.
Dazzling light flared, enveloping the entire area, accompanied by the squelch of a blade piercing flesh.
When everything became visible again, the illusory crimson spear had appeared behind the Ferocious Beast, slowly dissipating into motes of red light.
Roaring flames passed straight through the Ferocious Beast's body, leaving an enormous bloody hole from which blood spurted violently.
But before it could spray onto the ground,
It was already ignited by the flames. In a mere instant, the flesh and organs inside the Ferocious Beast burned away, releasing waves of charred stench.
The enormous phantom behind the beast also shattered inch by inch. With a cry, a red phoenix burst out of it.
After throwing back its head and shrieking toward the sky, it slowly dissipated in midair.
The enormous beast crashed to the ground with a boom, kicking up thick clouds of dust.
The War Goddess's breathing was somewhat ragged, each breath clearly audible in the quiet surroundings.
Although the enormous beast had fallen, she did not relax. Instead, her aura grew colder and sharper.
Watching from behind an enormous tree, Shi Qingyun realized he had been discovered. Just as he was about to step out, an attack blasted toward him.
The War Goddess tossed her hair and aimed her spear tip toward Shi Qingyun. A cold glint shone in her eyes as she tightened her grip on the shaft and twisted the blade.
"Fellow cultivator over there, how much longer do you intend to watch?"
Before the War Goddess had finished speaking, frantic wingbeats came from the distance. In an instant, a Giant Bird, blue-green all over with a fleshy crest on its head, appeared above her.
Divine power surged and gathered at its neck before bursting forth in an enormous bird cry.
Waves of sound mingled with its cry, rushing toward the direction the War Goddess was watching warily.
Seeing this, the War Goddess said nothing. She knew Little Green was concerned for her and was also making up for its oversight.
It had been keeping watch outside, yet someone of unknown identity had approached. It considered that a failure of its duty.
Heaven and earth cracked inch by inch wherever the attack passed, and leaves rustled down. With a boom, the sound waves slammed into the enormous tree.
They sliced a huge hole clean through the trunk. As the bird beat its wings, the dust gradually dispersed, but through the hole in the tree, no one could be seen behind it.
The blue-green bird tilted its head in confusion.
At the sight, the War Goddess's expression instead grew grave. She stepped forward heavily with her left foot, and where her right foot landed, the earth cracked like a spiderweb.
Streams of red aura rose from the cracks as divine power surged. The next moment, the red spear in her right hand shot toward her side like an arrow released from a bow.
It pierced the air, leaving a deep, scorched-black groove in the ground.
Clang!
Leaves drifted lazily down. Through them, the War Goddess saw a handsome child with sword-like brows and star-bright eyes firmly blocking her spear.
Her heart jolted in surprise.
All four Cave Heavens opened behind Shi Qingyun, suspended there and spinning continuously.
The muscles in his arm bulged, his knees bent slightly, and the ground beneath his feet had already split apart. In his right hand, the black Fan spun continuously.
It spun so quickly that it formed a black circle, firmly blocking the spear tip that shone with red light.
The fierce wind it stirred made his robes snap and his hair whip wildly. With one hand behind his back, his expression remained utterly calm.
With a forceful push of his hand, the red-glowing spear flew backward.
The War Goddess reached out, and the spear returned to her hand. Its fiery glow receded, and it returned to its former dark-gold color.
Seeing Shi Qingyun's young face, the War Goddess slowly calmed her surging divine power, and some of the tension in her heart eased.
She twirled the spear in her hand and held it diagonally at her side, lingering shock still visible in her eyes.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Stop! I mean no harm!"
Chapter 76: Wan Muyun (Double-length chapter)
Seeing the peerless beauty before him slowly rein in her aura, Shi Qingyun let out a breath of relief.
Once the fighting stopped, Little White quietly poked its head out, then bounded back onto his head in a few quick hops.
Seeing that the War Goddess had no intention of attacking again, he withdrew the Cave Heavens behind him. Glancing at the swath of fallen trees at his back, he could not help grumbling inwardly.
This beauty was certainly beautiful, but she was far too violent.
Even as he thought this, his mouth was not slow to move. He had just declared that he meant no harm when, unexpectedly, the War Goddess's questions came right after his words.
After turning it over in his mind, he spoke toward the War Goddess:
"My name is Wan Muyun. I came out to train and accidentally got lost. When I heard fighting here, I came over to investigate."
"I wasn't deliberately trying to watch your battle."
After hearing Shi Qingyun's words, she did not entirely believe him.
There were simply too many holes in his story. He claimed to be out training, yet no guardian was anywhere in sight. Besides, the notion of someone so young coming out to train was hardly convincing to begin with.
Still, she did not expose him. Judging from that last exchange, this handsome child was by no means weak.
Perhaps his guardian was hiding nearby. Everything was still unknown, so it was better not to make an enemy of him yet.
As these thoughts flashed through her mind, Shi Qingyun's somewhat childish voice reached her ears again.
"I still haven't asked your name, fellow cultivator."
Having weighed the advantages and disadvantages, she relaxed.
Only after soothing the somewhat agitated blue-green bird behind her did she turn back to Shi Qingyun with a calm expression.
"You may call me the War Goddess. I'm the senior sister of the Deer-Chasing Academy."
Shi Qingyun felt somewhat surprised. He had not expected to encounter the War Goddess in a place like this.
He turned the Fan in his hand and put it away.
Cupping his hands toward the War Goddess, he spoke with a hint of surprise:
"So you're the senior sister of the Deer-Chasing Academy. My respects."
Seeing Shi Qingyun's perfectly solemn manner paired with his still slightly baby-chubby face, the War Goddess almost failed to keep a straight face.
The rustling leaves fell like rain from the sky, slowly covering the scars the battle had left on the earth.
Two figures sat around a fire, with a Ferocious Beast roasting above it, its fat sizzling.
Little White climbed onto the blue-green bird's back as though they were already old friends and burrowed into its thick down.
It treated the bird's down like a blanket and lay there.
Little Green did not drive Little White away, instead letting it romp around on its body.
At first, this surprised the War Goddess quite a bit. After all, Little Green rarely grew close to any creature other than her.
When she learned from Shi Qingyun that this pitch-black little fellow was called Little White, she was speechless, though she said nothing more.
At the time, she had thought Little White might be some rare exotic beast.
But even after examining Little White closely, she found nothing unusual and merely assumed it was a relatively ordinary exotic beast that had undergone a mutation.
She did not dwell on it. After all, the Great Wilderness was full of all manner of strange exotic beasts.
"So you sneaked out of your family home?"
Watching the War Goddess rock back and forth with laughter, Shi Qingyun was rather speechless. Was it really that funny?
He had merely made up a casual lie under her persistent questioning.
The surging waves before his eyes left him a little dizzy.
Sure, I'm just a child, but couldn't you mind your image a little? Besides, inside, I'm a hot-blooded young man.
Shi Qingyun shouted inwardly, repeatedly reminding himself that he was an upright gentleman.
Noticing Shi Qingyun staring straight at her, the War Goddess felt no embarrassment at all and openly thrust out her chest before him.
Caught red-handed, he instantly withdrew his gaze.
The War Goddess watched the dancing flames before her, then turned to look at Shi Qingyun.
"Since you're here to train, why not join our Deer-Chasing Academy?"
"Our Deer-Chasing Academy would be delighted to welcome a young prodigy like you. We'll also provide you with cultivation resources."
After hearing the War Goddess's proposal, Shi Qingyun tended the fire without immediately agreeing.
He considered whether to go to the Deer-Chasing Academy. His original plan had been to go to the Heaven Mending Pavilion.
Ancestor Mu Yan's Thunder Dao Precious Technique would undoubtedly be of great help on his cultivation path.
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