There was an explosion inside his body again.. the star fragment in his chest started to supply more and more blue essence throughout his limbs, his speed and refelxes got faster, his eyes got brighter.
He could now see every intricate movement of the opponent's thick fur and sharp claws in vivid detail, as if the battle was in slow motion.
This was not just his senses being enhanced, it was actually him manipulating time in his gravity field...
Because Hartley was self taught he had not realized that the steps to becoming a xiantian realm expert began with the understanding of the elements one had the most affinity to.
Somehow Hartley had innately stumbled across some understanding of time and space manipulation, Something that could make the gods jealous..
Unfortunately for him he had just scraped the surface of understanding the concept of time and space..
The Bear was going berserk, it now had an instinctive feeling that this was someone who could hurt it.
Dust and loose leaves swirled behind it as the bear growled in anger and charged with bloodshot eyes.
Scowling with its exposed needle-sharp teeth and foaming froth at the side of its mouth, the bear showered a vicious series of lighting strikes at Hartley.
It was surprisingly nimble for its size, the sound of its paws cracking through the air like a whip.
Hartley was seeing every lethal strike from the bear as if in slow motion, he adjusted his movement technique, only making minute adjustments to his position, dodging each slash of the bear's claw by the closest margin.
The wind generated by the speed and power of the fierce-beast's strikes fluttered Hartley's robe, kickng up a maelstrom of dust around him.
Hartley was half the size of the enraged beast, moving like a phantom, he glided adeptly around the attacks of its huge menacing claws.
After neatly avoiding one more swipe of the bear's scything claws, Hartley made a couple swift and lithe steps to the left, akin to a nimble matador elegantly side-stepping a charging bull, he finally counter-attacked with a punch to the bear's midriff, using his improving star fist technique.
This time there was wisps of blue mist-like glow surrounding his hands, the speed of his strike made the wind whistle and whorl around him chaotically, sending the dead leaves underfoot fluttering away.
The punch landed on its target with a hefty thud, the bear growled out in excruciating pain, raising upon its hind legs as it was forced backwards, earth exploding beneath its feet, sending sprays of brown dirt flying out as it was pushed back six meters.
Its hind legs left two deep trenches in the ground, wrenching clumps of earth from the ground, it visibly wobbled, sliding back in an unstable manner.
"Star fist level 4"
Man and beast came to a stand still, an assortment of leaves showered down from the various trees, dust still pluming into the air around them as they eyed each other.
Hartley had a faint mocking smile of satisfaction across his face. He had improved his battle strength yet again.
The bear on the other hand, growled to the heavens in anger, but it didn't charge forward recklessly again.
The bear displayed its experience as it turned around fleeing in panic, it crashed through the foliage blocking its path and bowled over a couple trees in its hasty retreat.
Leaving a wreckage of airborne leaves and broken tree limbs in its wake as it rumbled out of sight.
Hartley stood in place, exhaled, then retracted his gravity field, letting the injured beast leave with its life. The irony was that he was the one running for his life the last time their paths crossed.
It could be said that without the bear he would still be weak and inexperienced, just waiting to be devoured by something stronger in the forest.
Two encounters with this Black Bear had changed his life, thrusting him into hardships that directly led to him becoming much stronger...
He turned and started to leave the forest realizing he was a bit conceited, his pride was taken down a notch but his experience and battle knowledge had gone up a level.
He was now determined to leave the outskirts of the Forest and dominate the world of cultivation, becoming a name for all to remember..
But the lessons he had learnt in this forest which he did not even know the name of, was to be his foundation on his long road to immortality.
Three days later Hartley returned to the Shack at the foot of the mountain, for the past three nights he hadn't had a wink of sleep, he had been cultivating Blue Star power religiously. He had strengthened his foundation at half step xiantian, he was just a thin line away from being a full fledged Xiantian realm expert but no amount of brute force could get him there, the key to stepping across the line was understanding.
He was once again laying on his bed looking at his ceiling... knowing he had now outgrown this environment.