Chapter Ninety-Two: Yet Another Brown Bear

Elder Xie had just grasped the beast core of the Flesh-Brown Bear when a thunderous roar echoed from the distance—a deafening, earth-shaking bellow. Weng Putian’s face changed; this roar sounded so familiar, eerily similar to the one the Flesh-Brown Bear King had made before dying by his sword. If these two beasts were indeed connected…

The best tactic was to flee at once. Weng Putian waved both hands and called out, “Disciples of West Mountain, retreat!”

The disciples of the Golden Flame Sect watched Weng Putian’s panicked expression with mocking smiles. “Now you finally get it, Weng Putian. You West Mountain folk are hardly worthy of opposing the Golden Flame Sect.”

The West Mountain disciples glared angrily at the arrogant Golden Flame Sect members, helped their wounded companions, and, urged on by their sect leader, leapt away into the dense forest, vanishing from sight.

Elder Xie clutched the beast core, his brow furrowed as he gazed toward the source of the roar. He muttered to himself, “Another Flesh-Brown Bear King.”

The first Golden Flame Sect disciple stepped forward to stand beside Elder Xie, puzzled. “Elder Xie, what use do we have for these beast cores? We don’t need to complete any tasks. Taking these beast cores seems pointless, doesn’t it?”

A guttural retching sound cut him off.

The bear’s roar grew ever closer. In just a short while, it had covered at least a dozen kilometers.

A wave of unease swept through the disciples of the Golden Flame Sect. They had witnessed the West Mountain Sect’s battle with the Flesh-Brown Bear King. If not for the West Mountain’s Earth Formation, which harnessed earth-elemental energy and absorbed much of the bear’s attacks, the West Mountain Sect would have paid a far heavier price than merely two disciples for slaying the bear king.

“Elder Xie, we should leave as well. This Flesh-Brown Bear is likely another king, and with its companion dead, it must be in a frenzy. It won’t be easy to deal with,” another yellow-robed disciple said, his tone anxious as he approached Elder Xie.

“We may not need to complete any tasks,” Elder Xie replied, glancing towards the direction from which the bear approached, “but if we wish to return to Linqing Prefecture, we must activate the Demon Hunt Gate. The energy required comes from these beast cores. Only with at least two high-grade, first-tier beast cores can we activate the gate.”

With a flick of his finger, Elder Xie stored the beast core in his treasure pouch at his waist. He walked forward unhurriedly. “This time, the sect master has ordered us to bring back as many beast cores of no less than mid-grade, first-tier as possible, for the sect’s alchemy and forging needs. If we can’t even handle a high-grade, first-tier Flesh-Brown Bear, what right do any of us, masters at the peak of Qi Refining, have to speak of our standing in the sect?”

…

Beneath a distant tree, Tang Wan asked Jiang Yan curiously, “Senior brother, how can there be two bear kings?”

Jiang Yan, watching a red dot rapidly moving toward the battlefield on his rune map, replied, “This one’s a female bear.”

“A female?” Tang Wan glanced at the bear king’s corpse lying in the heart of the battlefield. Her eyes reddened. “Then the dead bear king and this other must be a pair. How pitiful...”

Jiang Yan’s brow twitched in exasperation. At a time like this, his junior sister was still worrying about the beasts. If that she-bear found the two of them, their fate would be no different from the Cold Moon Mountain group that had been wiped out.

Carefully, Jiang Yan scanned the rune map, confirming that all the Golden Flame Sect members were concentrated in the center of the battlefield. He quickly stowed the map, tugged Tang Wan’s sleeve, and pointed toward the Valley of Man-Eating Flowers. With the Golden Flame Sect distracted, now was the time to make haste to the valley.

Peeking cautiously from behind the tree, Jiang Yan released his spiritual sense, sweeping the area to confirm there were no lurking beasts or cultivators. Only then did he leave his hiding place.

Suddenly, a deep, grating sound exploded beside Jiang Yan’s ear.

The noise was so tremendous that his vision went black, nearly causing him to stumble. Worrying for Tang Wan, he steadied himself and turned quickly, only to see her swaying unsteadily, on the verge of collapse. He caught her just in time as she fainted into his arms, her face deathly pale.

Seeing Tang Wan unconscious, Jiang Yan lost all desire to rush to the Valley of Man-Eating Flowers. He pressed his right palm against her back, slowly channeling spiritual energy into her. After a while, her color returned to normal. As she came to, she blushed deeply, her voice weak. “Senior brother, that bear’s roar was terrifying.”

Relieved, Jiang Yan exhaled. The power of that roar was immense—he, at the eighth level of Qi Refining, had been left dizzy; no wonder his junior sister, only at the sixth level, had fainted. What kind of bear could unleash such might? He turned to look toward the battlefield’s center.

There, a Flesh-Brown Bear with a faint golden sheen to its fur stood steadily. The bear was not large—about the size of an ordinary brown bear—and its fur, though a deep brown, shimmered gold under the peculiar sunlight of the Demon World.

The golden-furred bear stood beside the corpse of the slain king. Though smaller than the king, it now lowered its head, nudging the body gently.

A low, mournful sound resonated from the golden Flesh-Brown Bear, echoing throughout the battlefield, filled with grief and sorrow.

The yellow-robed disciple standing with Elder Xie exchanged a glance of doubt with him as they watched the golden bear circle the dead king, whimpering. The yellow-robed man longed to leave; the bear’s previous roar had nearly stunned all six of the sect’s top Qi Refining cultivators.

But Elder Xie insisted on slaying the bear. Though they had taken advantage of the West Mountain Sect’s earlier battle, that did not mean they lacked the courage to face a bear king. With the sect leader’s mission resting on his shoulders, and now encountering a golden bear with strength equal to the king’s, Elder Xie was determined to kill it and claim another high-grade beast core for himself.

After much debate, the yellow-robed disciple finally gave in to Elder Xie’s demands.

Elder Xie advanced slowly, crossing his palms before his chest in a complex gesture. Two golden swords rose from his back, hovering above his head, their tips aimed at the golden bear circling the king’s body.

“One Sword from the West,” Elder Xie intoned, reciting the Golden Flow Sword technique as his hands formed sword fingers and pointed at the golden bear.

“Go!” Elder Xie shouted. A misty golden radiance enveloped the two swords. With his command, they transformed into streaks of light, shooting straight toward the golden bear that was nudging the king’s body.

With a sharp whistle, the golden swords sliced through the air in graceful arcs, their blades trembling with a piercing hum as they sped toward their target.