"Big Brother Lu, what are you thinking about?"
Seeing Lu Li's grave expression, Ling Xiaoyun glanced outside the cave, feeling a faint chill in her heart.
Lu Li shook his head, stood up, and walked to the cave entrance to look out.
The cave was located halfway up a steep peak. Below, redwood trees flourished densely, with washbasin-sized leaves blocking out the sky and earth, making it impossible to see the scenery within the forest.
Suddenly, a patch of red leaves about a hundred zhang below began to shake violently, as if someone was deliberately thrashing the tree trunks. Lu Li's eyes narrowed, and he slowly retreated half a step.
After another moment, the shaking stopped, and a rustling, crawling sound drifted up from the forest.
"Is it a Demon Beast?"
Lu Li frowned slightly, glanced at Ling Xiaoyun behind him, and said thoughtfully, "Follow me."
Ling Xiaoyun hurriedly followed.
The two of them felt their way down the mountain. When they approached the foot of the steep peak, Lu Li finally spotted the creature: a plump monster resembling a rhinoceros, but with faint scales covering its back.
A silver horn, a full two chi long, jutted straight from its nasal bridge.
The rhinoceros beast spotted them as well, letting out a low snort. Two streams of white smoke billowed from its nostrils as it rocked its massive body and rumbled toward them.
"First-level, early stage."
Lu Li sensed its aura, his gaze flashing as he looked at Ling Xiaoyun beside him. "Xiaoyun, I leave it to you!"
"Ah?"
"Don't 'ah', go!" Lu Li barked, shoving Ling Xiaoyun straight toward the charging beast.
"Ah!"
Seeing the monster charge, Ling Xiaoyun was frightened out of her wits. She let out a shrill scream and threw her hands up to cover her eyes.
"Dammit!"
Lu Li's face twitched. With a blur of his movement, he appeared right before her, grabbed the sharp silver horn with one hand, and planted a vicious kick squarely against the beast's cheek, sending it crashing to the side.
He tore Ling Xiaoyun's hands away from her face and barked harshly, "Kill it, or I won't care about you anymore!"
Scolded like that, Ling Xiaoyun stood there, her face a mask of grievance.
"Not going to do it?" Lu Li's face darkened as he turned on his heel and walked away.
The rhinoceros beast regained its footing and charged at Ling Xiaoyun once more.
Her legs trembling, Ling Xiaoyun spun around and fled toward Lu Li. The moment she reached him, he grabbed her by the arm and roared, "Are you useless? A dignified third-layer Qi Refinement cultivator, and you don't even dare to kill a first-level early-stage beast! What use is there in you staying alive? You might as well just drop dead!"
With that, he whirled around, tossing a fireball backhand at the charging beast. While the creature reeled in confusion, he hurled several more fireballs in quick succession.
With a series of loud concussions, the rhinoceros beast's head burst open, and it collapsed into the dirt.
He turned back to glare coldly at Ling Xiaoyun. "See that? It's just a bit larger than usual, and it can't even withstand a basic fireball technique! What on earth are you afraid of!"
Fuming, he strode back into the cave.
That left Ling Xiaoyun standing alone in the clearing, sobbing helplessly.
"Wuwu, bad guy, you're a bad guy... I don't want your help, I don't want your help..." She lingered for a moment, wiping away her tears before stumbling off into the jungle.
Inside the cave's rear, Lu Li let out a soft sigh. The God-Concealing Jade at his waist shimmered with flowing light as he slipped back out on stealthy feet.
Weaving through the trees, he maintained a distance of over ten zhang, using the thick redwoods to conceal his form.
About half a shichen later.
Ling Xiaoyun abruptly halted, beginning to inch backward. Directly ahead of her, a gray wild wolf was advancing step by step, fixing her with a predatory glare.
The wolf wasn't particularly large, but its body stretched five to six chi. Its eyes burned with a faint blue light, and its bared fangs seemed to mock her terror.
"I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of you."
Ling Xiaoyun retreated, muttering under her breath.
Seeing her back away, the gray wolf gained confidence. It suddenly vaulted into the air, jaws agape, and lunged straight for her.
At that sight, Lu Li's heart leaped into his throat, but he forced himself to stay hidden.
Ling Xiaoyun shrieked, scrambling backward.
Just as Lu Li braced for her to cover her eyes again, she moved. Her hands swept through the air as she cried out crisply, "Azure Wave Palm!"
Hum!
A transparent, water-blue rune disc materialized before her chest, instantly launching a massive transparent palm print that slammed squarely into the lunging wolf's head.
Unable to dodge, the beast took the strike dead-on.
Bang!
With a dull thud, the gray wolf was sent spinning backward through the air. Ling Xiaoyun's face lit up with triumph, but before she could revel in it, the wolf scrambled back to its feet, let out a sharp shriek, and lunged like lightning toward her calf.
Her expression twisted in panic. In a flurry of motion, she hurled a handful of talismans.
Boom!
The talismans detonated, blowing the charging wolf to pieces.
The shockwave caught Ling Xiaoyun as well, hurling her five or six chi backward until she hit the ground with a smack.
"What a wasteful brute," Lu Li muttered inwardly.
That handful consisted of at least seven or eight explosive talismans, and she had blown them all in one go.
Ling Xiaoyun, however, didn't care in the least. She scrambled up, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and stared ahead with a fierce, gleaming resolve in her eyes.
She glanced behind her, hesitated for a moment, and then pressed forward out of sheer stubborn pride.
Another two or three shichen dragged by.
As the sky began to darken, she encountered two more wild wolves. After a thoroughly messy fight, she emerged unscathed. Though utter exhaustion weighed her down, the light in her eyes burned brighter than ever.
She was beginning to realize that Demon Beasts weren't so terrifying after all.
Rustle...
Right then, the brush to her left snapped. Ling Xiaoyun froze, retreating slowly while keeping her eyes locked on the shifting branches.
A moment later, a short, stout figure stepped out, followed closely by three bare-chested thugs.
It was none other than Dharma Protector Wang and his men.
Upon seeing Ling Xiaoyun, Dharma Protector Wang stared blankly for a second before breaking into a grin of malicious delight. "Little girl, where's that brat?"
Her talismans completely exhausted, Ling Xiaoyun still felt a spike of terror, though she wasn't as helpless as before. She stepped back further. "I-I don't know."
"Don't know?" Dharma Protector Wang let out a harsh laugh. "You will soon enough."
He waved a hand. "Take her!"
The three thugs exchanged glances and surged forward, unleashing three distinct streams of True Qi toward her.
The energy was unformed, showing they hadn't even mastered proper techniques-mere raw True Qi.
"I'll beat you to death!" Ling Xiaoyun shrieked, forming a hand seal that summoned a cyan shield before her.
Pa pa pa...
"An advanced technique!"
The three streams of True Qi struck the barrier, shattering into scattered light. The thugs exchanged looks of sheer shock.
Wang Fu's pupils constricted as well, immediately replaced by greed. He roared, "Everyone retreat, let me handle this!"
He lunged forward, hurling a massive fireball directly at Ling Xiaoyun.
Her face lost its color. She frantically poured more True Qi into her shield, causing its dim surface to flare once more.
Bang!
The fireball crashed against the barrier with a deafening blast. The shield dimmed perilously close to breaking, and Ling Xiaoyun staggered under the impact.
Before she could recover, the earth beneath her feet suddenly softened, and she sank straight down until only her head remained above ground.
Sneering, Dharma Protector Wang gave her no time to react, immediately sending another fireball hurtling toward her skull with clear intent to kill...