Chapter 68: Chapter 66: Kill Without Mercy

A colossal black bear paw, wreathed in dark smoke, swatted violently toward Jiang Chen and his companion.

The two of them dodged to the left and right. Just as they moved, the massive black paw smashed into the ground.

BOOM—

The ground shook violently, and a massive palm print appeared on the earth as dust billowed furiously into the air.

"I’ll take the left, you take the right!" Jiang Chen growled.

Yulan Tianpeng nodded sharply, a glint of extreme cold flashing through his eyes.

Their figures flashed, and they charged the Black Cloud Demon Bear from the left and right.

"Heaven-Breaking Divine Spear—Heaven-Breaking Strike!" Yulan Tianpeng’s eyes narrowed and his expression turned grave. Surging True Essence Power poured madly into his right arm, and this immense force drove his Long Spear in a fierce thrust straight ahead.

The spear shaft spun fiercely with the movement of his arm.

Waves of energy roiled out, and the spear’s light streaked across the sky. The very air was pushed back by the force of his thrust as it shot toward the Black Cloud Demon Bear.

"A mere firefly daring to rival the moon?" the Black Cloud Demon Bear sneered, a cold, human-like smile appearing on its savage face.

It swiped with its right hand, its pitch-black palm suddenly opening wide.

Within its palm, a mass of murky black energy gathered into a thin film, clinging close as it grabbed for the sharp tip of the Long Spear.

As the spearhead and palm collided, a violent roar erupted, and a blinding flare of sparks exploded from its palm.

"Die!"

Yulan Tianpeng’s brows twitched, a savage glint in his eyes. The immense force bent the Long Spear, but he couldn’t push it forward another half-inch!

’This Black Cloud Demon Bear’s defense is just too terrifying!’

"Hahaha, little human whelp, your pathetic strength isn’t even enough to scratch an itch for me..." the Black Cloud Demon Bear roared at the sky. Inside its massive maw, its sharp fangs gleamed with a grim, cold light.

"Then what about me?"

Jiang Chen’s voice suddenly rang out from the other side.

The speed of his sword was incredible—it was the Instant Sword. It transformed into a silver streak of light that flashed past in an instant.

The blade was like lightning, tearing through the air.

BANG!

The sword struck the Black Cloud Demon Bear’s thick arm. The immense force made the beast stagger back several steps. Sharp Sword Qi exploded against its arm, leaving a bald patch—the fur on half its limb had been completely blasted away.

"ROAR!"

The Black Cloud Demon Bear roared in fury, a blood-red light bursting from its eyes. Its five fingers tightened their grip, clenching around the Long Spear in Yulan Tianpeng’s hands.

It spun its body abruptly, viciously swinging both the Long Spear and Yulan Tianpeng along with it, straight at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen caught Yulan Tianpeng’s body with both hands. Instead of trying to resist the force head-on, he yielded and retreated. His feet dug into the ground, carving two deep trenches and kicking up ridges of soil on either side like furrows in a field. He retreated a full thirty meters before he finally dispersed the tremendous impact force into the earth.

"Are you alright?" Jiang Chen asked, looking at Yulan Tianpeng.

Yulan Tianpeng shook his head, his face slightly pale. He stared at the Black Cloud Demon Bear. "This thing is incredibly strong, and its defense is absurdly high. What should we do?"

"We can’t fight it with brute force," Jiang Chen said in a low voice, his eyes glinting. "Brother Tianpeng, can you pin it down for a moment?"

"I do have a Spear Technique for pinning down opponents, but the Black Cloud Demon Bear is too strong. I can only guarantee I can hold it for three breaths!" Yulan Tianpeng said after a moment of thought.

Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up. "Three breaths? That’s enough time. You pin it down, and I’ll attack!"

"No problem!"

Yulan Tianpeng nodded.

They were in the same boat now. When they struck, they naturally held nothing back.

"Earth Dragon Spike!"

Yulan Tianpeng leaped into the air and dove from above, his Long Spear erupting with terrifying, surging True Essence Power.

The spear’s True Essence aura whistled through the air, a terrifying beam of light a full thirty meters long!

The spear’s aura was a faint purple, like a violet python plummeting from the sky.

"Petty tricks! Get out of my sight!" the Black Cloud Demon Bear laughed coldly. It thrust its palms out from a distance, and the mist-shrouded paws swelled dozens of times, transforming into a wall of black rock to block the attack.

BANG!

The purple spear aura slammed viciously into the giant black palms.

The spear’s aura couldn’t advance another inch!

A cold glint flashed in Yulan Tianpeng’s eyes; he was not the least bit discouraged. He suddenly flicked his wrist. With that motion, an even greater surge of True Essence poured from his body and down the length of the Long Spear. The spear aura, caught in the Black Cloud Demon Bear’s grip, swelled once more and broke free from its restraint.

And then...

BOOM!

With a tremendous bang, the purple spear aura exploded, transforming into countless streaks of violet light that shot out in all directions.

Each of these spear beams seemed to scatter randomly, but they actually formed a circle around the Black Cloud Demon Bear before burrowing into the ground.

"Hahaha, is that all you’ve got? Weak. Far too weak..." the Black Cloud Demon Bear gloated.

"Idiot!"

Yulan Tianpeng sneered. His airborne figure shot backward, widening the distance between him and the Black Cloud Demon Bear. The moment his feet landed, he gripped his Long Spear with both hands and stabbed it fiercely into the earth, burying half the shaft. His face instantly flushed red and his arms bulged as he yanked hard on the Long Spear.

BOOM—

The black Long Spear burst from the earth, pulling a ribbon of purple light with it as if he were uprooting a great tree, roots and all.

The purple spear aura spread out like tendrils, breaking through the ground and surging toward the Black Cloud Demon Bear.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

Triggered by this main attack, the purple spear auras that had burrowed underground all responded in kind. One after another, they burst from the soil, erupting from below. The scene resembled a series of detonated geysers as purple beams shot out of the ground, tearing the earth to shreds and leaving a scene of utter devastation!

The unpredictable trajectories of the spear auras left the Black Cloud Demon Bear looking rather pathetic. Amidst a series of RUMBLEs, sharp stalagmites erupted from the ground, forming a massive cage of earth and rock that trapped the beast inside. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Earthen—Shackles!"

Purple True Essence flowed rapidly from Yulan Tianpeng’s body, coating the stalagmites and binding the Black Cloud Demon Bear tightly.

"ROAR! Damned humans, you think these petty tricks can bind me? Break!" The Black Cloud Demon Bear was enraged. Its body trembled, muscles taut as iron, as power surged from within it like a raging river. The stalagmites surrounding it shattered one by one.

Yulan Tianpeng’s body shook violently and his face turned pale. Gritting his teeth, he roared at Jiang Chen, "Jiang Chen, move now!"

"Big fella, eat my sword—Wind Fluctuation!"

SWISH!

The sword strike was world-shaking!

A furious wind billowed out alongside the Sword Qi. Countless razor-sharp streams of Sword Qi formed a rippling Sword Qi Storm, crashing toward the Black Cloud Demon Bear in overlapping waves, like a frenzied tide. The Sword Qi Storm enveloped the beast, and despite its tough defenses, its body was sliced open by one ghastly wound after another.

But they were mostly superficial wounds!

Two breaths had now passed since Yulan Tianpeng had trapped the Black Cloud Demon Bear!

"Humans, I will tear you to pieces..." the Black Cloud Demon Bear roared again and again. The wounds had thoroughly enraged it, and its power grew even more berserk and formidable.

Just as the Black Cloud Demon Bear was about to break Yulan Tianpeng’s restraints, Jiang Chen’s gaze, which had been constantly scanning the beast, suddenly sharpened. His eyes locked onto the Black Cloud Demon Bear’s armpit. A stream of Sword Qi had just opened a gash there, and this wound was clearly deeper than the others.

A cold smile appeared on Jiang Chen’s face. ’So that’s the weak point—’

Jiang Chen suddenly accelerated.

He rushed toward the Black Cloud Demon Bear at top speed. At that exact moment, with a loud BOOM, the beast broke through Yulan Tianpeng’s restraints. The powerful backlash sent Yulan Tianpeng flying. Murderous intent blazed in the Black Cloud Demon Bear’s eyes as it beat its chest, preparing to kill Yulan Tianpeng.

But at that very moment, the sword in Jiang Chen’s hand was already aimed at the wound under its arm—Wind Fluctuation!

BOOM!

A whirlwind of Sword Qi gathered at the tip of his sword. He thrust, and the spinning, storm-like Sword Qi condensed into a drill that slammed viciously into the wound in the Black Cloud Demon Bear’s armpit.

The wound was instantly torn wide open. The Sword Qi whirlwind spun madly, making the gash larger and larger.

SPLURT—

A torrent of fresh blood sprayed out like a fountain. The Black Cloud Demon Bear let out a piercing shriek as its entire right arm was severed at the shoulder. Amplified by the Wind Sword Intent, the Sword Qi whirlwind carried a terrifying shredding power that pulverized half its chest and severely damaged its internal organs.

"ROAR..."

The Black Cloud Demon Bear shrieked as blood gushed from its wounds. It was heavily injured!

"Humans..."

The Black Cloud Demon Bear’s eyes spat fire. It bared its fangs, looking as if it wanted to swallow Jiang Chen whole. But it was now severely wounded and bleeding uncontrollably. To continue this fight would be disastrous.

The intelligence of a Tier Two Demon Beast was even greater than that of an ordinary human.

A venomous look flashed in its eyes. Black energy surged around its body as it slapped out repeatedly with its massive paw, blocking Jiang Chen and Yulan Tianpeng from pursuing. It let out a hateful roar, "Humans, I’ll remember you... Just you wait! I’ll find you, kill you, and eat every single human connected to you! ROAR..."

Enveloped in a cloud of black smoke, the Black Cloud Demon Bear leaped into the air and flew toward the valley exit.

"Damn it, the beast is trying to escape!" Yulan Tianpeng shot into the air and gave chase.

Jiang Chen’s expression was grim. Moving like an agile monkey, he gave chase at top speed.

However, just as they chased the Black Cloud Demon Bear to the valley exit and were about to catch it, a cold, silver gleam of an arrow suddenly shot in from the horizon.

"PFFT!"

A single arrow pierced the Black Cloud Demon Bear’s heart, pinning its massive body securely to the cliff face. The beast struggled violently twice, then went still and died.

Jiang Chen had just caught up and saw the Black Cloud Demon Bear pinned dead to the cliff face.

He assumed it was Yulan Tianpeng’s doing and, overjoyed, rushed toward the Black Cloud Demon Bear.

Just then, Yulan Tianpeng’s anxious roar boomed like a clap of thunder: "Jiang Chen, look out!"

"What?"

Jiang Chen froze. A sudden chill ran down his spine. As he turned his head, he only had time to see a silver light streak by.

A silver arrow shot toward his heart at extreme speed. Caught off guard, Jiang Chen had no way to dodge. Just as the arrow was about to pierce his heart, a figure flashed past and slammed into him, knocking him flying.

As Jiang Chen’s body flew backward through the air, he vaguely saw that the figure was Yulan Tianpeng!

He had selflessly pushed him away but had no time to dodge himself. With a SWISH, the silver arrow pierced his shoulder, dragging his body for tens of meters before brutally pinning him to the ground. Blood gushed from his shoulder and from every orifice on his face.

"No...!"

Jiang Chen’s eyes nearly split from rage as he let out a blood-curdling, grief-stricken roar.

SWISH!

The sound of something slicing through the air came from outside the valley, drawing Jiang Chen’s attention.

He saw a figure striding through the air toward them, a large silver bow in his hand. His cold gaze swept over Yulan Tianpeng and the Black Cloud Demon Bear before finally landing on Jiang Chen. Like a high and mighty Sovereign, he stated flatly, "This Black Cloud Demon Bear is mine. I will grant no mercy to anyone who dares to lay a hand on it."