Chapter Ninety: The Flesh Brown Bear

Moving with great caution across Yellow Phoenix Slope, Jiang Yan and Tang Wan repeatedly had to duck behind the slope’s peculiar yellow-leaved trees. Each time, one or two brilliantly patterned leopards would burst past them in a blur, and only after the beasts had gone by did the two dare to continue along the shadows of the trees.

The land they were crossing was Yellow Phoenix Slope. It bordered Black Bear Valley, where low-grade flesh-brown bears gathered in abundance, and Black Bear Valley in turn was the necessary route leading to the Man-Eating Flower Gorge. Thus the two were presently heading toward Black Bear Valley.

A deep bear roar rolled over from ahead.

Jiang Yan and Tang Wan looked up. Not far off, at the place where the yellow earthen slope met a forest of red maples, a low-grade flesh-brown bear stood opposite three brilliantly patterned leopards, glaring at one another from a distance.

The three leopards gave low, warning cries, telling the brown bear not to come any closer.

The flesh-brown bear lifted its head and roared, not even deigning to glance at them, and continued lumbering forward with heavy steps toward the leopards on Yellow Phoenix Slope.

The three leopards growled in unison, but seeing the bear still advancing, they involuntarily retreated several paces.

Fear of stronger beasts was etched into the bones of weaker ones. Had there been only a single leopard facing a flesh-brown bear a whole rank above it, it would have fled in panic at once. Only because there were three could they withstand the pressure and hold their ground. Even so, under the bear’s relentless advance, the three leopards still obediently gave way.

Bear pressed forward, leopard fell back. After several rounds of threat and retreat, the leopards were finally forced completely onto Yellow Phoenix Slope, while the flesh-brown bear had also left the borders of its own territory in Black Bear Valley and continued onward up the slope.

Then the three leopards, now retreating onto Yellow Phoenix Slope, exchanged glances.

At last, their duty to protect their territory overcame their fear of the higher-ranked beast. With three explosive roars, a flash of yellow light, and a single synchronized movement, they sprang at the flesh-brown bear like ferocious tigers descending from the mountain.

The flesh-brown bear saw the three leopards charging down and bellowed with bared fangs. Its clumsy body jolted violently, and the movements that had seemed somewhat awkward while walking became astonishingly agile. With a sudden twist of its massive, plump frame, it slipped past the three leopards rushing straight at it, then swung around with a turn of its bulky hindquarters to face them again.

Whoosh, whoosh.

The sound of piercing air rang suddenly above the flesh-brown bear’s head. In the next instant, the bear felt a tremendous force surge into its back, and its large body was hurled high into the air. Only while spinning through the sky did it see several bloodied arrowheads protruding from its chest.

Thud.

The flesh-brown bear’s hefty body crashed to the ground, sending up a burst of dust.

When the three leopards turned back, the bear had already fallen. Seeing blood gushing from its body, they let out low, mournful cries.

Jiang Yan stepped forward first and emerged from behind the concealed earthen slope. Tang Wan followed a step behind him, coming out as well. With her delicate hands raised before her chest and two fingers joined like a sword, she controlled two greenwood arrows from afar.

Just now, while the flesh-brown bear had turned around, Tang Wan had struck without hesitation. Two greenwood arrows, wrapped in a green radiance, killed the smug bear in a single blow.

Seeing Jiang Yan advance, the three leopards gave low whines and kept retreating, as though trying to avoid the deadly figure who had so casually slain the bear.

Jiang Yan walked to the bear’s massive corpse and released his spiritual sense from the sea of consciousness. It sliced into the bear’s body, extracted its beast core, and wrapped the core in spiritual sense before sending it into the treasure pouch at his waist.

My spiritual sense training is about enough now, Jiang Yan thought to himself.

He had only meant to test the newly cultivated spiritual-sense technique. After cutting through the bear’s thick hide and fur, he had not expected that, after a few days of nurturing in his sea of consciousness, his spiritual sense would actually be able to lift the beast core. This proved that Jiang Yan had already stepped into the ranks of a talisman apprentice.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Without the slightest hesitation, Tang Wan controlled her greenwood arrows to launch an attack. The three leopards still blocked the road to Black Bear Valley. If they wished to enter the valley, killing these three leopards was the only path.

Then a piercing, shocking beast howl abruptly reached their ears.

Because the roar was so loud, Tang Wan, who had been driving the greenwood arrows, froze for a moment, and the arrows suspended themselves in midair.

The three leopards were startled by the roar and their legs went weak; with a thud, all three flattened themselves to the ground.

Tang Wan’s eyes were full of surprise. She exchanged a glance with Jiang Yan.

Another sect was besieging a beast.

From the sound of it, it should be a flesh-brown bear. And judging from the noise, the bear under attack was at least several in number.

The three leopards, terrified half to death by the bear’s tremendous howl, had a faint green glow flickering over their bodies. Tucking their tails between their legs, they bolted swiftly away across the open ground between the yellow earth slope and Black Bear Valley.

Dismissing the greenwood arrows, Tang Wan walked lightly to Jiang Yan’s side, her voice eager with excitement.

“Senior Brother, let’s go take a look. There must be another sect besieging beasts this time. Let’s go see, Senior Brother?”

Jiang Yan frowned for a long while, then said rather helplessly, “I think we should forget it. To besiege dozens of flesh-brown bears at once, it must be either several sects together or the group from Golden Flame Sect. Apart from the Pure Life Temple, we’re not familiar with the sects in this region of Linqing Prefecture anyway, so let’s leave it.”

He declined Tang Wan’s suggestion, called to her, and the two headed toward Black Bear Valley. Right now, the most important thing was to obtain azure hooked wood, complete the mission, and return to Linqing Prefecture to begin developing their sect, building it from the ground up. As for beast cores, Jiang Yan already had seventeen or eighteen in his treasure pouch. As long as they happened to gather a few flesh-brown bears along the way, that would be enough to meet the task’s requirements.

Whoosh.

Jiang Yan and Tang Wan rode a beam of golden light through Black Bear Valley.

On this beast-hunting journey, the two had become increasingly adept at using the Golden Light Treading the Earth technique. In battle, too, their coordination had grown ever more seamless. When slaying beasts, Jiang Yan’s unseen greenwood arrows would often strike first, ambushing the target from the shadows, after which Tang Wan would use the greenwood arrows formed from greenwood vines to conjure a sky-darkening rain of arrows, pinning the wounded beast full of holes like a hedgehog.

Black Bear Valley was filled with red maple trees. On the ground and in the air, wherever the eye could see, all was crimson, as if one had entered a sea of red. Flesh-brown bears, their entire bodies brown, roamed slowly through the maple forest, so that at times it was almost impossible to distinguish bear, red leaf, and red tree.

Whoosh.

The golden light carrying the two streaked across the red earth.

One flesh-brown bear lifted its brown head and roared irritably toward the receding golden light. There was a strange fragrance in that beam of light, making the bear drool with desire, but it was flying through the sky, and this only made the bear all the more vexed. After glaring helplessly as the golden light vanished into the distance, it lowered its head again and continued its slow wandering across the ground, resuming its search for food.

...

With a soft thud, Jiang Yan suddenly dropped out of the golden light and stood on the ground.

Whoosh.

Tang Wan, who had gone on ahead, spun around in a graceful circle. As the golden light dispersed, she stood daintily beside Jiang Yan and asked in confusion, “What is it, Senior Brother?”

...

“There’s fighting ahead. A lot of people fighting,” Jiang Yan said with certainty after his spiritual sense scanned the talisman map several times and discovered that not far ahead, many beasts and cultivators had gathered together.

Tang Wan leaped onto a tall tree and stood on a branch, craning her neck to look into the distance. Not far from where the two stood, cultivators could be seen leaping up from time to time, and flesh-brown bears also sprang high into the air or were thrown skyward.

Tang Wan lightly dropped from the branch and said to Jiang Yan, “Senior Brother, there are quite a lot of cultivators ahead. There should be several sects. There are also plenty of flesh-brown bears. What should we do next, Senior Brother?”

Jiang Yan’s spiritual sense swept back and forth across the talisman map, searching for a path leading to the Man-Eating Flower Gorge.

On the talisman map, four roads of varying size within Black Bear Valley led directly to the Man-Eating Flower Gorge. After careful calculation, Jiang Yan finally chose a narrow winding path. Although this path lay somewhat close to the battlefield ahead, it was lined with many trees that were not especially tall, making it well suited for Jiang Yan and Tang Wan, who cultivated the Greenwood Technique, to hide behind temporarily in times of danger.

Whoosh.

Jiang Yan and Tang Wan rode the Golden Light Treading the Earth technique straight along the narrow path, charging directly toward the Man-Eating Flower Gorge.

...

“Ah!”

“Ugh!”

The farther they went, the closer they came to the battlefield’s outer edge, and the louder grew the cries of beasts and cultivators. When they reached the very edge of the conflict, Jiang Yan suddenly struck, grabbing Tang Wan who was rushing forward at full speed. The two tumbled out of the golden light together and landed on the narrow path.

Tang Wan lost her footing and swayed, falling against Jiang Yan at once. A blush rose instantly to her delicate face, and she could not help wondering why her senior brother had dragged her down from the golden light again. Sneaking a glance at him, she saw that Jiang Yan looked grave, his gaze fixed tightly on a large tree ahead. Only then did Tang Wan let out a long breath.

But after exhaling, her brows furrowed again. Her senior brother had just pulled her down from the Golden Light Treading the Earth technique by grasping her wrist, and he was still holding it now.

At once, Tang Wan’s heart was full of secret sweetness.

“Senior...”

Tang Wan opened her mouth, about to say something.

“Hush.”

Jiang Yan suddenly raised a finger to silence her, then took Tang Wan by the wrist and quickly led her behind a dense cluster of trees beside the narrow path. His gaze remained fixed on a large tree at the edge of the distant battlefield.

Three updates completed. I hope the quality won’t drop...

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