Qi Feng's eyes lit up. Slapping his thigh, he said, “Great! Perfect timing!”
“You two guard the entrance and stay alert for loose cultivators or people from other sects. You two, follow me inside.”
After ordering the two Second Realm disciples to watch the entrance and having the two Third Realm disciples follow him, Qi Feng turned his head to look at Su Yueli.
Cupping his fists, he said, “Miss Su, this Fourth Realm demon beast is extremely valuable. If you are willing to help, the Blue Moon Sect will not treat you poorly. We will surely reward you handsomely once it's done.”
Su Yueli raised an eyebrow. She had already planned to use Qi Feng to gather information about Shen Huai'an. Forging a good relationship now while also getting a share of the Fourth Realm demon beast's spoils was a highly profitable deal.
“Very well,” Su Yueli nodded calmly.
With that, the two Second Realm disciples remained at the cave entrance to keep watch.
Su Yueli, Qi Feng, and the two Third Realm disciples moved in unison, slipping into the dark subterranean hole that was emitting a dense, dark red demonic energy.
The light inside the cave was extremely dim, and the air was heavy and stagnant. Huge claw marks, over a foot deep, could be seen everywhere on the damp stone walls.
The four of them concealed their auras and ventured hundreds of feet deep along the winding passage.
Suddenly, the view ahead opened up into a massive stone hall. In the center of the hall, the Fourth Realm demon beast finally revealed its true form.
It was an Earth-Splitting Bear as massive as a small hill, its entire body covered in a thick, black stone carapace.
At this moment, it lay on the ground, panting heavily. A massive sword wound several yards long spanned its chest, continuously dripping dark red demonic blood.
Though injured, its ferocious, demonic pressure was still suffocatingly intense. Clearly, the wound was not fatal.
Qi Feng made a hand gesture and sent a low-voiced transmission to coordinate their tactics: “I will draw its attention from the front. You two attack its left flank. Miss Su, find an opportunity to strike its vital points. We must kill it in a single blow!”
“Me?”
Su Yueli was slightly taken aback. Her? Deliver a fatal blow to a demon beast close to the Fifth Realm?
Wasn't that severely underestimating this beast?
Before the four of them could even surround it, the Earth-Splitting Bear resting in the center suddenly snapped its eyes open.
Its giant, crimson eyes instantly locked onto the intruders. With a furious roar, its violent, dark red demonic energy erupted like a volcano, sweeping through the stone hall.
Boom!
The moment this terrifying demonic energy burst forth, Qi Feng's face turned pale, and a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.
“Something's wrong! Fall back! The intel was wrong! This isn't the early stage of the Fourth Realm... This is the late stage of the Fourth Realm!”
A terrifying existence that was nearly at the Fifth Realm!
But the two Third Realm disciples, eager to claim credit, had already charged forward at full speed. They couldn't stop their momentum now.
With thunderous force, the Earth-Splitting Bear's massive right paw slammed down toward the two of them, slightly distorting the space in front of it.
“Pfft!”
The spiritual shields conjured by the two Third Realm disciples shattered like paper under the bear's paw. Both coughed up blood and flew backward like broken dolls.
Seeing the Earth-Splitting Bear's left claw sweeping across, about to turn the fallen duo into mincemeat, a green afterimage flashed across the hall.
Su Yueli pushed her Tenth Realm Martial God movement technique to its absolute limit, forcefully intervening at the critical moment.
She scooped them up, grabbing the collars of both disciples. With a hard stomp, she slid along the ground, dragging them back right from under the bear's claws.
Boom!
The bear's claw slammed heavily onto the ground. The entire stone hall shook violently as a massive crater several yards deep was smashed into the floor, sending shattered rocks flying in all directions.
The two Third Realm disciples were pale and frightened out of their wits. They quickly coughed up blood as they stammered their thanks, “Th-thank you, Miss Su, for saving our lives!”
“Senior Brother Qi, what do we do? This beast is too strong, we're no match for it at all!”
Qi Feng was also drenched in sweat, facing a massive headache.
He had thought they were dealing with a heavily injured, easy target, but they had ended up kicking a steel wall instead.
The ensuing battle was extremely grueling.
Severely injured, the two Third Realm disciples could only barely use talismans to distract the beast from the periphery.
Qi Feng's longsword transformed into countless sharp sword qi, but they could only leave shallow bloody gashes on the Earth-Splitting Bear's black stone carapace.
Facing a demon beast that was truly comparable to a peak Fourth Realm cultivator, the fight was exceptionally difficult.
If this continued, the four of them would eventually be ground to death by this massive beast.
“Damn it, let's go all out!”
Qi Feng gritted his teeth, a look of fierce determination on his face.
Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a golden talisman seal that radiated a destructive aura and shouted to Su Yueli:
“Miss Su! I have a trump card treasure bestowed by a sect elder that can kill this beast! But I need time to activate it—ten breaths! Hold it off for ten breaths!”
Before he could even finish his sentence, the two Third Realm disciples who were barely distracting the beast were slapped away by the Earth-Splitting Bear, crashing into the stone walls and losing consciousness completely.
Suddenly, Su Yueli was left alone in the hall to face this massive monster.
The corner of Su Yueli's mouth twitched violently.
Ten breaths? What a joke!
She was only a Tenth Realm martial artist. Fighting Second Realm demon beasts earlier was already pushing it, but the beast in front of her was in the late stage of the Fourth Realm, nearly at the Fifth Realm.
Even if it was injured, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. How on earth was she supposed to block it for ten breaths?
But there was no way out now. If they didn't kill this beast, no one would escape alive.
“Hurry up!”
Su Yueli's eyes turned fierce as a wave of ultimate, savage aura welled up in her heart.
Taking a deep breath, the ultimate Martial God blood qi inside her body began to roar in reverse, and the blood qi within her meridians instantly boiled like fire.
The Fifth Style: Life Burner.
This was a forbidden, desperate move her master, Lu Chen, had taught her back then. She had never used it since breaking through to the Tenth Realm.
In an instant, Su Yueli's skin glowed with an eerie red light.
Lines of bloody red traced their way up her neck and onto her fair, delicate face, making her look incredibly sinister.
As thirty years of her lifespan burned away frantically, the iron wall of the Tenth Realm's Heavenly Dao that had blocked her for years was actually forced open with a tiny gap by her terrifying blood qi.
A terrifying power far exceeding that of a Tenth Realm Martial God violently flooded her entire body!
Qi Feng, who was frantically performing hand seals and activating his treasure in the background, subconsciously looked up and was instantly shocked.
“A life-burning technique?!”
Seeing the blood-red veins covering Su Yueli's face and her tragic, desperate aura, Qi Feng was deeply shaken. At the same time, a wave of profound guilt welled up inside him.
A mortal martial artist was actually willing to sacrifice her precious lifespan to fight a Fourth Realm demon beast to the death just to buy him some time!
The Earth-Splitting Bear also keenly sensed the threat. Staring intently at this tiny human who had suddenly grown stronger, it roared and lunged forward with an overwhelming, mountain-toppling pressure.
Su Yueli slowly raised her hands. Feeling the terrifying, unprecedented power inside her—though painful—she narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Bring it on, you beast.”
She sneered. The dark gold fist blade, Xiaohei, hidden in her right sleeve burst with blinding light. Facing the incoming mountain of black stone, she boldly charged straight ahead!
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