Ferocious Beast: Shadow Cat

The battalion commander held on to Ning Yue, an invisible force enveloping him and sending them racing along at tremendous speed.

In an instant, they burst out of the martial artist complex.

Without stopping, the battalion commander headed northwest.

As he moved, an invisible wind rose beneath his feet. Each step covered a dozen or more zhang. When he came upon a tall building, he leaped straight to the top, then jumped down again.

Leaping from a hundred-meter-tall building, he glided with the wind and covered five or six hundred meters in one go.

This is the power of the Sixth-Rank Realm, the Gang Qi Realm, Ning Yue thought.

He was somewhat astonished. The battalion commander holding him looked young, yet he had already reached the sixth rank of martial arts. He was a true heaven's chosen.

Moreover, people in the military excelled at killing, which meant the battalion commander was even stronger in actual combat.

A heaven's chosen like him should have been famous in Xinyuan City, but Ning Yue had never heard of him before.

"Little brother, I'm Zuo Yidao, commander of the City Guard Third Battalion. What should I call you?"

The battalion commander asked as they ran.

"Hello, Commander Zuo. I'm Ning Yue, a senior at Xinyuan Martial Arts High School."

As a City Guard battalion commander, Zuo Yidao could investigate Ning Yue's background if he wanted to, and Ning Yue wouldn't be able to hide it, so he answered frankly.

"Xinyuan Martial Arts High School?"

Racing along, Zuo Yidao pondered for a moment and fell into recollection. His older brother, Zuo Tianchang, taught at that school too. Several years had passed in the blink of an eye since they last met, and he didn't know how his brother was doing.

For a time, neither of them spoke.

Before long, they saw a Three-Tailed Porcupine charging wildly down a street, with three martial artists surrounding and attacking it.

Ning Yue activated the Eye of Heaven Observation and took a look.

[Three-Tailed Porcupine, fourth rank]

[Wang Yibo, third rank]

[Li Fuxiang, third rank]

[Shan Yue, second rank]

The three martial artists were fighting together against the porcupine, and judging by the situation, things weren't looking good for them.

The three martial artists were inferior to the ferocious beast in realm, and even more so in combat strength.

Besides, the Three-Tailed Porcupine was a ferocious beast with thick skin and tough flesh. Even martial artists at the same realm would struggle to hurt it without alloy weapons of at least D grade.

Moreover, when enraged, the Three-Tailed Porcupine could release all the quills on its body. Under the densely packed assault of those steel-needle-like quills, even a Fifth-Grade Realm martial artist could be hit if he wasn't careful.

Sure enough, the three martial artists desperately held off the Three-Tailed Porcupine's attacks several times before it knocked them to the ground.

Shan Yue had it even worse. The porcupine's sharp teeth pierced his body and bit off one of his arms.

Faced with the Three-Tailed Porcupine's fearsome might, the three martial artists didn't retreat a single step.

They stood together, their eyes bloodshot and their expressions resolute.

"Don't retreat! Our wives, children, and elders are right behind us. Kill!"

"Death is certain."

"We can only fight to the death."

Even gravely wounded, the three martial artists hadn't given up on killing the Three-Tailed Porcupine. They laughed aloud, putting life and death out of their minds.

"They're all good men. They shouldn't die here."

Battalion Commander Zuo Yidao stopped and drew his military saber, its blade black and its edge sharp.

With a casual stroke, he cleaved down with the force to split Mount Hua.

A hundred-zhang arc of gang qi tore through the air, rending the entire space. The air sounded like ripping silk as the strike slashed into the Three-Tailed Porcupine's enormous body.

"Gurgle, gurgle."

The porcupine's blood spurted into the sky and poured down in a great shower. It fell to the ground, twitched weakly twice, then lay still and silent.

By the time the three martial artists came to their senses,

all they could see were two figures rapidly disappearing into the distance.

The northwestern corner of Xinyuan City.

"This spot will do. The ferocious beasts here are mostly first or second rank, so you can fight without worry. Work on controlling your strength and gain more combat experience."

Battalion Commander Zuo Yidao put Ning Yue down and gave him a few instructions.

Then he ran off, moving even faster, at roughly twice the speed he had managed while carrying Ning Yue.

Seeing this, Ning Yue had a thought.

He felt that the ferocious beast riot probably wasn't as serious as Battalion Commander Zuo Yidao had said. At the very least, it hadn't tied up most of Xinyuan City's fighting forces.

Rather, everything was under the control of Xinyuan City's higher-ups.

Otherwise, Zuo Yidao wouldn't have brought a burden like him along to train his combat skills.

Could it have been just because of a misunderstanding with the 8th Squad?

Impossible. The military was an instrument of force, not a public relations agency.

Besides, Ning Yue hadn't suffered any losses, so there was no need to go out of their way to clear up the supposed misunderstanding.

Since I'm here, I'll make the best of it.

Before he could think any further, he spotted several ferocious beasts and several martial artists locked in separate fights.

Just then, a pitch-black shadow darted out behind one of the martial artists.

"Beast!"

Ning Yue shouted and charged forward with his saber, chopping fiercely at the shadow, but it dodged. With a flash, it was three meters away.

"Meow!"

The shadow came to a stop. It was a tabby cat less than two chi long, with blue eyes and cat ears. Its fierce expression was rather cute.

"Shadow Cat!"

The martial artist cried out in alarm.

"Watch out, little brother! That's a Shadow Cat, known as the assassin among ferocious beasts. It may only be in the First-Rank Realm, but even someone in the Third-Rank Realm can't keep up with its speed."

With that, he fixed all his attention on the Shadow Cat, guarding against another sneak attack.

He didn't even have a chance to thank Ning Yue.

"Speed?"

Ning Yue frowned. His own speed was only that of an ordinary First-Rank Realm martial artist, while his attack power had reached the Third-Rank Realm-exactly the opposite of the Shadow Cat.

For Ning Yue, the opponents he disliked most were those who were too fast.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

While Ning Yue was thinking, the Shadow Cat launched repeated attacks, all of which Ning Yue and the other martial artist joined forces to block.

All Ning Yue could see was a black blur leaping from side to side, turning into a shadow to launch sneak attacks.

Could it be... I need to use the self-injury ploy again?

A thought stirred in Ning Yue's mind.

Recalling his fight with Lu Xiansen, he realized he could rely on the powerful defense of his spirit body, the Indestructible Vajra Physique, to let the Shadow Cat attack him and then grab it.

Even the barehanded attacks of Lu Xiansen, who was in the Second-Rank Realm, hadn't broken through his defense.

Against the one that was only in the First-Rank Realm and lacked attack power, his defense should be even harder to break.

He acted as soon as the thought occurred to him.

As Ning Yue blocked the Shadow Cat's attacks again and again, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, panting for breath.

"Hang in there, little brother! Reinforcements will be here soon."

Ning Yue glanced at the other fights. None of them would be over anytime soon.

"Are there really reinforcements?"

"Uh, hold on a little longer. This Shadow Cat is weakening. Look, it's getting slower and slower."

The martial artist spoke.

Sure enough, the Shadow Cat was slowing down. A moment ago, they could only see its shadow, but now they could make out its blurred figure.

But Ning Yue also saw a cunning look in the Shadow Cat's eyes.

That meant it possessed intelligence.

He had read in Common Knowledge of Ferocious Beasts that when ferocious beasts entered the king realm, equivalent to the human Seventh-Rank Realm, their intelligence increased greatly and became comparable to a human's.

He hadn't expected the Shadow Cat to possess considerable intelligence at just the First-Rank Realm.

"I can't hold on anymore."

Less than two more minutes passed, during which Ning Yue blocked several hundred of the Shadow Cat's attacks. He panted like an ox, sweat falling like rain.

At the sight of Ning Yue's exhausted state, a vicious gleam appeared in the Shadow Cat's eyes.

"Meow!"

It pounced viciously, moving so fast that it crushed the air, which struck Ning Yue's chest like a ball of cotton.

"Rip!"

The martial artist's heart trembled. He thought Ning Yue had been disemboweled.