Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Sudden Turn of Events, the Rock-Armored Bear King
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“Returning Sword Slash!”
Huo Qing uttered the words in a low voice. The blade in his hand trembled, and wave after wave of razor-sharp sword energy surged forth like the tide. His figure vanished from its original position in an instant, leaving behind only a succession of afterimages.
Although the Rockhide Bear possessed overwhelming strength, its weakness lay in its poor agility. It was somewhat similar to Zhang Mingyuan in that regard, and Huo Qing found it exceptionally easy to deal with.
“Boom!”
In less than a few breaths, the Rockhide Bear’s seemingly indestructible body had been battered beyond recognition. Countless wounds crisscrossed its frame, and blood gushed forth like a fountain.
In the end, it collapsed and died.
The disturbance quickly caught the attention of Gu Shiya and the other two. When they saw how cleanly Huo Qing had dealt with the Rockhide Bear, they were all somewhat astonished.
The three of them had only just managed to break through the beast’s defenses by joining forces, yet Huo Qing’s battle was already over?
The three exchanged helpless glances. Just how many abilities was this fellow concealing?
Buzz!
Sword light flashed explosively as Huo Qing charged forward once more, his momentum ferocious.
With Huo Qing’s addition, the situation instantly became one-sided.
Under the combined assault of the four, the Rockhide Bear was soon covered in wounds. In the end, Huo Qing severed its head with a single strike, and steaming blood poured forth.
“We finally dealt with it.”
Gu Shiya brushed the sweat from her forehead with her jade-like hand and spoke with a bitter smile.
They had originally thought that, given their strength, completing this mission would be easy. They had never expected to encounter such a thick-skinned and heavily armored Rockhide Bear right at the beginning. Without Huo Qing’s help, they truly would have found themselves in trouble.
“These Rockhide Bears appeared rather abnormally. Could this be their territory, which they are guarding?” Ling Fengbo asked doubtfully.
“Whether it is or not, let us first see whether the Heavenly Origin Spirit-Nurturing Fruits here are genuine.”
Huo Qing pondered for a moment. Sword energy surged forth, cutting down one of the Heavenly Origin Spirit-Nurturing Fruits.
He did not catch it with his hand. Instead, he used spiritual power to suspend it in the air and carefully examined its surface.
The others held their breath, their expressions faintly tense. If this fruit was fake as well, it might mean that they had come to the wrong place, which would cause a series of problems later.
After waiting for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the fruit still showed no reaction. Huo Qing raised his hand like a blade and sliced it open, yet he still found none of that sinister poisonous vapor.
“It is real!”
Joy appeared on their faces.
“Then let us collect them quickly.”
Huo Qing put away the spirit fruit and spoke solemnly.
“Good!”
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The group had just begun to spread out when they suddenly sensed the earth and mountains shaking, as though an earthquake had struck.
“Roar!”
A savage bellow that seemed capable of shattering the courage of the soul erupted in an instant. Waves of tangible sound blasted outward, sending everyone flying.
At the same time, a violent killing intent swept across the air and struck directly toward the four of them.
“What is happening?!”
Gu Shiya’s face turned deathly pale, while Jiang Moying’s body trembled as she stared ahead.
A hideous, blood-red head slowly emerged beyond the horizon. Its mane resembled steel spikes, gleaming with a chilling light beneath the sun.
Its enormous body, standing nearly fifty feet tall, was wrapped in monstrous fiendish energy. Its blood-red eyes stared at Huo Qing and the others like those of a venomous serpent.
“This is a peak third-grade spirit beast—the Rockhide Bear King!”
Ling Fengbo cried out in alarm. A peak third-grade spirit beast was equivalent to a late-stage Heavenly Spirit Realm cultivator!
Even with all his spirit treasures and techniques, he absolutely could not contend with a late-stage Heavenly Spirit Realm opponent!
Could this mission truly end here?!
Unwillingness filled his heart.
“Senior Brother Ling, why don’t we join forces? It would be too frustrating to retreat just like this!”
Gu Shiya and Jiang Moying approached with grim determination. They held various spirit treasures in their hands, clearly intending to stake everything on one desperate battle.
Huo Qing also swept over. There was no fear between his brows; instead, his expression was utterly calm.
When the three saw Huo Qing arrive, it was as though they had been injected with a powerful tonic, and they immediately felt relieved.
“Huo Qing, with the four of us joining forces, even if we cannot kill it, forcing it to retreat with serious injuries should still be easy enough,” Ling Fengbo said in a deep voice.
Huo Qing stared intently at the approaching colossus. After pondering for a moment, he shook his head and then spoke words that left them dumbfounded.
“No. This creature is too dangerous. You must not become entangled with it. Let me face it alone.”
“What?!”
The three stood there with their mouths agape, staring at one another in disbelief, wondering whether they had heard correctly.
“I am not joking. If you trust me and do not want to have come here for nothing, then listen to me. I would not gamble with my own life.”
Huo Qing’s voice grew solemn once more.
At those words, the three hesitated for a moment. Then they gritted their teeth in unison, as though they had made some decision, and said, “Very well. In that case, we will withdraw first. But if you cannot defeat it, you must leave immediately. At worst, the mission will fail!”
Huo Qing gave a slight nod.
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He watched the three of them until they had vanished from sight. Only then did Huo Qing turn back, a trace of blazing excitement flashing through his eyes.
“Let me see just how powerful a peak late-stage Heavenly Spirit Realm spirit beast can truly be!”
With that, he shot forward. He raised his fist and moved with astonishing speed, countless fist shadows raining down upon the Rockhide Bear like a violent storm.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The violent collisions rang out like thunder. Yet the Rockhide Bear King remained completely unmoved, savage killing intent flashing through its blood-red pupils.
This human carried the scent of its kin!
“Roar!”
It suddenly let out a furious bellow and raised a fist more than ten feet across. Accompanied by a terrifying explosion of air, it came crashing down.
Boom!
Huo Qing narrowly dodged the blow, but his body froze for an instant, exposing a weakness.
His heart jolted. He keenly sensed the danger, yet he could not evade it. A powerful force immediately struck him and sent him flying.
Boom!
Huo Qing’s body shot through the air like a cannonball, carving a trench more than five feet deep into the ground along the way. With such terrifying impact, forget an Earthly Spirit Realm cultivator—even a mid-stage Heavenly Spirit Realm expert would probably lose the ability to fight on the spot.
“Cough, cough…”
As the dust dispersed, Huo Qing coughed violently. He wiped away the trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, yet the fiery light in his eyes only grew more intense.
This enormous creature was even stronger than the three late-stage Heavenly Spirit Realm experts he had faced when confronting the Han Family and the Prince’s Residence.
But he was not afraid. Instead, a blazing battle intent surged within him, almost bursting from his chest. Only an opponent of this caliber could temper his combat strength and make it even more formidable!
He shot forward once more. The Spirit-Communicating Sword carried dazzling sword radiance as it hacked down relentlessly, and man and beast became entangled in battle again.
An incense stick’s worth of time later.
On a distant mountain peak, Gu Shiya and the other two gazed toward the battlefield with worried expressions.
“How is the battle going?” the two women asked anxiously.
Their strength was slightly inferior, so their perception of spiritual power was naturally not as keen as Ling Fengbo’s. As a result, they could not clearly see the distant battlefield.
Ling Fengbo’s expression was grave as he said in a deep voice, “The battle is extraordinarily fierce. Fortunately, Huo Qing did not let us go over. Otherwise, I am afraid we would not have lasted even a few exchanges.”
The group gave bitter smiles, yet in their hearts, they had already placed Huo Qing on their list of monsters.
After all, fighting a peak third-grade spirit beast while only at the late stage of the Earthly Spirit Realm was enough to completely overturn their understanding.