Xuefeng wanted to test the waters first before he will fight with his own body. His goal was to deal some damage to the bear, then lure it towards the lake. It was currently eating a prey he recently hunted so his back was facing him.
He held his breath and sneaked behind him slowly, trying to not make any sound. Just as he was about 2-3 meters behind the bear he stepped on the twig and it broke, making the bear stop its movements.
'Fuck.' He recalled all Wuying teachings about battle tactics, when to attack or when to retreat and his intuition right now told him that he had to dodge.
He hurriedly rolled backwards and his decision happened to be right as the bear turned around and attacked with a swing of his paws to the spot he was just a moment ago.
All of its claws were shining with a metallic lustre and his fur started to turn grey. Xuefeng didn't wait for it to strike again, so he activated his movement technique increasing his movement speed and brandished his sword charging at the beast.
He didn't feel fear as he knew it was just a clone. He treated it the same way as if he was playing a video game. The bear opened his mouth roaring at Xuefeng showing its two 20 centimetres long fangs.
"Die!" Xuefeng cried before piercing with one quick movement towards the bear eyes. He didn't use Spirit Qi in this attack as he believed rank 5 sword would be enough to break through the bear defences.
Unfortunately, what he expected didn't happen. The sword strike didn't even reach the bear's eyes, cause it quickly dodged the attack and bit the sword before tearing it away from Xuefeng hands.
'This Spirit beast is too strong how can it be so fast. I guess it's time for plan B.' Without a weapon it wasn't a fight anymore.
Under the pressure of steel teeth, the sword soon broke turning back into Spirit Qi. Seeing Xuefeng without his weapon, the bear looked at him with disdain as if saying, 'What can you do now, bitch'. Xuefeng was for sure certain that it was mocking him.
"Chase me if you dare!" Xuefeng pulled his tongue out before putting all of his Spirit Qi into his movement art and started running towards the lake. At the same time, the real Xuefeng eyes opened and he stood up.
"I'm luring a large bear here, he is pretty strong, but I should be able to take him down." He put on his Spirit Armor covering his body from head to toes and walked away from the ladies to not involve them in the fight. He pulled his Black Flames Slayer and prepared for his first real battle.
The Spirit Bear looked at escaping Xuefeng and then at his already kill prey, trying to choose if it's worth it to chase him but in the end, it followed it's hunting instinct. It couldn't allow any prey to escape.
It started running after Xuefeng at its maximum velocity and if the lake wasn't close to them, it would definitely catch up to him halfway.
The ladies were wondering which beast he was bringing over that made her look so serious and when they saw the bear running after Xuefeng clone the understood why.
"That's Rank 4 Metal Bear, we should help him. Its prowess is comparable to rank 5 Spirit Beast when it activates it's Metal Body inborn ability." Wuying instantly recognized the beast and decided to help him. She didn't expect that the first beast he met would be one of the kings in this area.
"Don't, we should trust him when he said he can do it alone." When Wuying wanted to move, she was blocked by Xiao Wen hand. "Let's see what is he made off okay? You can't always babysit him. If anything happens we can always save him."
Wuying thought about what Xiao Wen has said and stayed put, but prepared for action just in case Xuefeng was in danger.
Metal Bear was surprised to see other humans by the lake, but it wasn't intimidated by that fact. It was one of the strongest Beasts in the valley. It charged straight towards Xuefeng without caring why there were two of them.
Xuefeng decided to use the clone to confuse the bear before striking. He wanted to train his skills and this bear would be his first training buddy. He equipped various spell rings to test them out as well.
When Metal Bear was coming close he split with his clone into two directions and attacked him from two sides. The clone had replicated Liu Chen sword but he swapped his into Black Flames Slayer.
Seeing Xuefeng sword, Xiao Wen eyes lit up. Most of her attacks were composed of flames so she could feel that the black flames were special.
The bear slashed with his paw towards his clone, allowing him to perform the first Serpent move on its back. The flames on the blade intensified and with a loud cry, the blade crashed into Metal back. The blood spilt as he slashed a large chunk of the bear back but it wasn't a mortal wound.
Under the raw power of bear paw, the clone was ripped into shreds and disappeared. Xuefeng was focused on his attack so the clone was poorly managed. It wasn't a surprise it was destroyed.
"ROAAR!!" Metal Bear cried loudly from the wound on its back and quickly turned around biting in the spot Xuefeng head was just a moment ago. If he didn't dodge, he would probably die on the spot there.
The bear was trying to regenerate his injury on its back but the black flames were burning him without stopping, disabling his second ability.
Xuefeng had about 70% of his Spirit Qi left, so although he didn't worry about running out of it, for now, he still had to monitor it. Black Flames Slayer was already burning his Spirit Qi like crazy and if he added few moves to it, he would be soon left with nothing.
He activated his movements art to its limits and started running around the bear while also covering his sword with Serpent Whip.
Black Spirit Qi wrapped around the blade making it look like a long whip with black flames dancing around it. He started whipping the bear from the distance making small wounds here and there all around his body. Metal Bear was roaring from pain while trying to hit Xuefeng with one of his paws.
Just when it was about to reach him, Xuefeng shot a blue ray of light from one of his rings towards bear hind legs, freezing it to the ground. With his momentum disrupted, it dropped to the ground giving Xuefeng a chance of escaping again.
But instead of continuing to run away, he performed the whole second Serpent move straight on Bear's head. It was lying still at the moment so he could directly detonate the Spirit Qi on its face. With the loud explosion, he was pushed back but didn't suffer any injuries.
The dust lifted from the ground due to an explosion and engulfed the whole Bear blocking Xuefeng vision. He breathed heavily thinking that he already won, but Ling's voice sounded in his mind warning him 'He is still alive, watch out.'
Before he could react a black paw smashed into his body sending he flying towards the ladies making Wuying cry with worry. He landed on the ground with a five long and deep scratches across his chest with his clothes completely in shreds. His lungs caved in making him unable to breathe until Ling Fate Qi started working. His Spirit Armour absorbed a bit of the impact but it was still penetrated.
Wuying wanted to run towards him, but was again blocked by Xiao Wen, "He will be fine, watch." Hearing her, Wuying looked with her eyes red towards Xuefeng and saw him slowly standing up.
His Spirit Armour and shirt were totally destroyed forcing him to take it off so it won't hinder him in the fight. He turned towards the bear who was slowly approaching him. Its fur turned black as coal and the wounds it sustained where quickly regenerated.
His previous attack which was supposed to kill it blew away almost half of the bear's head but it was still somehow alive. It was also reconstructing its skull, turning Xuefeng earlier effort into a joke. Even his Black Flames were extinguished.
Xuefeng fighting spirit was ignited and was about to assault again when Ling brought him back to earth, 'This bear used his Berserk ability, which grants him more physical power plus multiplied regeneration. Most Spirit Beasts can use this ability only once a month. You will not kill it with your current strength unless you use your Lightning Qi.'
He checked his Spirit Qi and realised that he was only left with two-tenths of the total amount.
'Damn, stupid bear. What do I do?' He asked irritated.
'Follow exactly what I'm saying and we can do it.' Ling answered with confidence.
'Okay, I'm ready.' Wuying was watching his first fight, so he was determined to finish this bear by himself.