Chapter 90: Fighting The Beasts
Chapter 90: Fighting The Beasts
Bonus Chapter - Two
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An ear-piercing snarl shook the forest as a seven-foot-tall beast stepped into Xiang Ling’s sight. It was huge, to say the least, with a body like a bull’s. Its horns were blood red just like its eyes while its skin was in the color of dark purple.
Xiang Ling didn’t get enough time to assess the beast as the distraction broke her spell and the vines returned to attack her. She jumped and swung her blade, cutting down the vines with an expert smoothness. However, the vines kept coming back to attack her even more fiercely and while she knew how to end them, the vines weren’t giving her a chance to cast another spell.
As if her hands weren’t already full with the vines, the beast became too excited to join the show and launched itself directly at Xiang Ling who wasn’t the least bit prepared to avoid it.
As Xiang Ling noticed how close the beast was, she instinctively closed her eyes and waited for the hit that would have ended her life right there and then... but it never came. Instead, she felt a strong arm wrapping itself around her waist before she was pulled into the protection of an embrace.
Her eyes flew open in time to witness a powerful burst of red energy leaving Xin Cheng’s palm and attacking the beast that flew across several meters and landed on the ground with a loud thud. It also damaged several trees on its way down.
Instead of stopping at that, Xin Cheng used another powerful burst of his spiritual energy and channeled it into the ground, using the same method to deal with the roots of the vines that Xiang Ling was trying to use. Unlike Xiang Ling’s futile attempt, his attack worked and destroyed the roots in one single swipe.
Xiang Ling watched in shock as the vines, that were about to attack her and Xin Cheng, disintegrated into a burst of sparks one after the other as their roots got destroyed.
The forest suddenly became silent all over again. What left was the aftermath of the fight that had just taken place seconds ago. As Xiang Ling looked at the body of the beast that hadn’t moved at all, she realized that it was long dead.
"How long are you planning to stay like this?" Xin Cheng’s voice spoke right next to her ear, pulling her attention back to the man who just saved her life. Realizing that he had long retracted his arm from around her waist but she was still clinging to him desperately, Xiang Ling immediately stepped back.
The words of gratitude were almost at the tip of her tongue, but recalling her history with the man, she swallowed them back and turned away from him. Without a single word or another glance in his direction, she headed in the direction of the dead beast and retrieved its spirit core.
After that, she continued on her way to encounter more adventures. She met a couple of low-level beasts and was able to take care of them all alone without putting in too much of an effort.
Half an hour into the Eclipse, she already had a dozen spirit cores collected from the dead beasts. Her gaze shifted in the direction of the highest peak of the Tianlin mountains and she found herself wondering if Dao Ming had successfully collected the Devil Flowers or not. But considering how powerful he was, he would have definitely succeeded.
Her enhanced hearing picked up the rustling sound of leaves right before a flying beast attacked her from behind. Her blade was ready and she struck the beast right as it came to attack her. With one single strike, she was able to take it down as well. However, what she didn’t realize was that the beast had more company. All of a sudden, there were dozens of flying beasts charging at her.
Xiang Ling used both her sword and her cultivation to fight with the beasts and realized that she would soon win. But then, one of the beasts suddenly started shrieking. The sound would have almost hurt Xiang Ling’s ears if not for her powers. She was wondering why the bird was making such a sound when the others started doing the same.
"What in the five realms are they doing?" She asked no one in particular, but her question was answered when a sudden wave shook the ground beneath her feet. That alone was enough for her to realize that those beasts just summoned the king beast of the island.
A commotion was heard throughout Tianlin mountains as the people who were still fighting to enter the highest peak also recognized that something very dangerous was heading in their direction. All the other beasts also tried to run away and hide but those flying beasts, that just summoned the king beast of the island, didn’t get the chance to flee as one single sword ended their lives before they could have even noticed that they were attacked.
Xiang Ling first stared at the dead bodies of the beasts and then at the sword stuck into one of them. It was her sword, the one she was holding just a moment ago. She turned her entire body and looked at the man who had just stolen her sword and killed a dozen beasts in one single move - all in less than a minute.
"If you want to stay alive, leave this place immediately." Xin Cheng warned her, but much to his surprise, Xiang Ling made no move to flee from the place. She even tilted her head to one side and stared at him with a frown decorating her face.
If that wasn’t enough, she suddenly started walking toward him and didn’t even stop when she was just inches away. When Xin Cheng noticed that she was getting into his personal space, he tried to stay rooted in his place while looking as calm as possible.
"What are you doing?"