Chapter 546 - 381: Brief Clash
With its Golden Core stolen, the Great White Bear had no chance of survival. A Golden Core was the very essence of a demon beast, the convergence point of its life force. Once taken, the beast would die on the spot in most cases. At best, it would be like the Great White Bear, able to do nothing more than gasp for a few brief moments.
Inevitably, the Great White Bear was on the verge of death.
But the cultivator who had stolen the Great White Bear’s Golden Core—one who seemed to be called Hao Shi—was still not satisfied. He held the bear’s bloody Golden Core in one hand. With his other, he made a grasping motion at its head. In the next instant, a blurry soul flew from the skull of the White Copper Golden Armor Bear Beast, the same one that had given Nanli a final smile, and landed in Hao Shi’s palm.
With that, the Great White Bear crashed to the ground in Nanli’s direction, revealing a group of terrified Foundation Establishment Demon Beasts behind it.
Hao Shi, holding the Golden Core in one hand and the captured soul in the other, turned and approached the cultivator dressed like a young master. He then knelt on one knee and presented the two items.
The young master glanced at the two items, his face twisting in disgust. He opened his mouth and said,
"This is nothing impressive. It’s yours."
Joy flashed across Hao Shi’s face. After thanking him, he flicked his wrist and stored away the Golden Core and soul he had taken from the Great White Bear. Then, he moved to stand behind the young master, assuming the posture of a guard.
Just then, Fang Qingyuan, who was watching from a distance, felt a surge of surprise. ’How dare these disciples from the Beast Taming Sect?’
Openly plundering a demon beast’s soul was a major taboo. If the Great Zhou Academy were to witness this, there would be serious consequences. To put it bluntly, what was the difference between this and cultivating the Soul Dao or the Ghost Dao?
’Could it be that because this is the Barbaric Wilderness, with no human Cultivators to witness their actions, they feel they can act without restraint?’
Fang Qingyuan mulled this over as he rushed toward the scene, a burgeoning anger rising within him.
Bear Wind had already formed an alliance with him, though it was not yet public. It was one thing for a Golden Core Demon Beast under his command to be killed by humans; that was to be expected in a conflict.
But to steal the Golden Core and then extract the soul, denying it even the chance to dissipate back into the world... that was another matter entirely. Extracting a soul was clearly done with malicious intent. Fang Qingyuan didn’t want Nanli’s friend to suffer torment even in death.
Of course, in that moment, Fang Qingyuan conveniently chose to forget the things he himself had done in the past in order to cultivate his Soul Dao Technique.
Even though speed wasn’t his forte, as a Mid-stage Nascent Soul ancient beast, Bear Wind could cross a distance of dozens of miles in just over a dozen breaths.
But when Bear Wind arrived, seething with boundless fury, the only thing he saw was the Great White Bear crashing to the ground.
His capable subordinate of several hundred years had been murdered. The sheer cruelty of the act and their vile attitude instantly transformed Bear Wind’s fury into his most devastating attack, which he unleashed upon the five people present.
In that moment, the earth trembled. As an Earth Attribute, Earth Elemental Bear, Bear Wind’s opening move stirred the immense magnetic forces from deep within the earth. He forged them into coiling rings of distorted black light that swept toward the five cultivators.
The instant the rings appeared, the surrounding air was compressed to a single collapsing point. Unable to withstand the immense pressure, the trees, stones, and plants on the ground were all crushed deep into the earth.
The beautiful, verdant landscape, once brimming with life, was instantly transformed into a dark and gloomy apocalyptic wasteland the moment Bear Wind struck in his fury.
Seeing such might, the faces of all five cultivators paled. The young master at their head roared,
"The intel was wrong! How could this ancient beast be *only* at the Mid-stage of Nascent Soul? Elder Ya, save me!"
The white-haired old man, addressed as Elder Ya, also turned pale. He had no time for other thoughts. With a slight spread of his arms, tens of thousands of black crows poured from the void behind him, forming a wall to shield the group.
The crows’ eyes all glowed with red light. As they swirled through the air, their bodies intertwined, instantly weaving a profound formation. It resembled a bizarre, twisting rune that seemed to writhe as if it were alive.
Normally, runes were drawn on Talisman Paper or cloth. But the medium for the rune Elder Ya conjured was the flock of crows, each one psychically linked to him.
When the coiling, vibrating rings of black light collided with the rune condensed from the crow tide, black feathers flew amidst a cacophony of shrieks, followed by a deafening, earth-shattering BOOM.
When the roar subsided, Fang Qingyuan, seeing through Nanli’s eyes, saw that the five Beast Taming Sect Cultivators behind the flock of crows had vanished. Where they had stood, only the remnants of several Top-grade Spatial Spirit Stones remained, now completely devoid of Spiritual Qi.
’They were driven off?’
Bear Wind had used a single move to send the arrogant-looking Beast Taming Sect disciples fleeing. Fang Qingyuan’s eyes widened at this outcome.
Seeing that his opponents had used a Spatial Magical Artifact to teleport away, Bear Wind’s rage was not yet spent. Still wreathed in the black rings of light, he caused everything in his path to twist and shatter. He glared in the direction of what was once Moyun Valley—now the main gate of the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect—and let out a furious roar.
The roar shook the land for miles around. On his way over, Fang Qingyuan secretly hoped, ’Please, don’t get the idea to charge their mountain gate. If you do, this will be impossible to resolve. The various armies of the Beast Taming Sect will come to surround and destroy you, and that would be a catastrophe.’
Fortunately, though furious, Bear Wind had not lost his senses. By the time Fang Qingyuan arrived, he had regained his composure.
However, when he saw Fang Qingyuan, Bear Wind’s eyes were filled with a cold light. His gaze was noticeably more distant than it had been before.