Hong Zhao was thrown back once more by a powerful concussive thrash from yet another stone lion's attack. He hit the rock wall behind him, a spray of blood being forced from his mouth. He saw stars for a moment as his body adjusted to the amount of torment he was going through. As he righted himself, he cracked his neck. "You're a strong little bastard, aren't you?" His bloody lips turned up into a smile as he launched himself back into the fight following the same trusted method that seemed to work against all other fierce beasts he had gone against within the dungeon.
Activating Vortex Thrust, he disappeared and reappeared above the stone lion. His right hand had a Qi Claw, while his left held a Qi Ball. Twisting in a spinning arc as fast as he could, he slashed the back of the neck of the beast, and just as quickly he placed the ball. Jumping off of the beast's back, he activated Qi Explosion. The concussive force blasted him up to the ceiling of the clearing where he landed feet first with a clear view of the beast's decapitated form below.
Releasing his hold on the ceiling, Hong Zhao dropped back to the ground and put the entire corpse of the stone lion into his ring, except for the beast core. With this, as well as a Qi Stone and Qi Grasping Pill, he completed the ritual he had done after every fight and began to cultivate.
Letting most of the Qi funnel into his dantian, he allowed some of it flow within the many organs which were strengthened. As he cultivated, his injuries also healed at a visible level.
Within the month and a half that he had been in the dungeon, he had defeated fifty or so of the beasts. What was once a very daunting experience was now just routine. After the first stone lion, he had been able to come up with a way to defeat them in an efficient manner, and he was able to strengthen his abilities by doing so. What usually took many slashes from his claws and even more Qi Shots now only took a quick slash and a Qi Explosion to the neck.
The only way it could turn in favor of the beasts would be if there were more in number than him.
If it were just one on one, he would have the advantage of surprise, since they couldn't sense his cultivation. But if he attacked one, and another witnessed him, it would be a battle of strengths between him and the other beast. This is what happened to him this time. As he took the first by surprise, the other was ready for him.
No matter how fast he was, the stone lions were faster. No matter the strength he wielded, they were far stronger by their stone hide, as well as their claws which were as sharp and strong as diamonds. He could only race around the beast until an opening revealed itself, then if he was lucky, lodge a Qi Ball inside a tear in the hide and hope the boom was enough to finish it off.
Hong Zhao could tell that he had grown far stronger since entering the dungeon. What he had trouble dealing with before only seemed to be a minor inconvenience now.
Having restored his Qi, Hong Zhao got up and brushed off his Qi blocking uniform and moved further into the dungeon. As he once again looked ahead with Eagle Vision, he saw only a few more stone lions before it reached an open area within the dungeon. "Am I finally getting close?"
With just that thought, he threw himself against the stone lions. Qi Ball in one hand and Qi Claw in the other. He slashed at the first beast and planted the Qi ball, then threw himself off the side of the lion, propelling himself to the other beast while activating Qi Explosion, adding force behind him and making him rocket even faster.
It was almost as if the stone lion was acting in slow motion as Hong Zhao formed another Qi ball and slashed his new opponent, adding an additional pile of rubble from the last stone lion within the dungeon.
Feeling slightly surprised by the outcome, Hong Zhao wiped sweat from his brow as once again he looted both piles of rubble and cultivated in order to replenish the Qi he had spent on the attack.
"That seemed a bit easy," he thought as he got back up. "Did my abilities increase again, or are my reflexes getting faster?" Even the attack before this one was much harder, but he didn't notice any changes within himself since the last one either. "Were these beasts just weaker?" He took the beast core he didn't use for cultivation back out of his storage ring and examined it. "This was a Ninth Star Student Ranked fierce beast?" His eyes grew wide as he thought of what this might mean.
He must have gone through so many of these beasts that his body had just adapted to the strain, making him an equal to at least a Ninth Star Student Ranked beast, yet he didn't know where that would place him within the ranks of cultivators. He did know that he would be able to defeat most if not all of the same rank he held, but he wasn't sure about the next rank. These fierce beasts were strong, yet he didn't think they would quite compare to a human cultivator of the same rank.
Hong Zhao made his way to the end of the snaking path into the large cavern. When he reached the end, he saw just one last stone lion which lay on a large stone structure in front of him. As he moved forward, the beast stirred. A lazy eye seemed to follow him as he made his way to it.
Sensing that something was different, Hong Zhao stopped in his tracks just ten feet away from the beast. There was something different about the aura around the beast. It seemed like it was sizing him up. "You aren't so simple, are you?" he said in almost a whisper.
A rumble sounded within the stone lion and Hong Zhao could tell that it was chuckling. The lazy eyes seemed to grow more interested. "Finally, food with a brain." It said in a gravelly voice. "Or at least brain enough to know that I am not the same as my kittens you have slaughtered."
"What are you?"
The eyes of the stone lion grew slightly. "A human that doesn't know what my kind are called? I don't think that's right." it raised its head indignantly towards the new human play thing. "Your kind hunt mine to extinction, only to create your, concoctions." It spat the last word out as if it were poison. "We hunt our own kind as well, but we know the precious balance within our own population. We know when to stop." A menacing growl seemed to grow as it stopped talking.
"You are a magical beast?" Hong Zhao's eyes grew large. "I thought you were brought to Krohias by the Esteemed Expert."
"So, what, you think that the only magical beasts were the ones that were brought to that artificially made continent?" the stone lion mocked the little human. "How exactly do we come into existence?"
"You've been hiding in this cavern in order to gain enough power to become a magical beast, then gain your power to ascend?" Hong Zhao was starting to put it all together.
"Right. And you, little human, just killed off my cubs. Those who bring me beast cores from others from outside. Now I must venture out to gain more myself!" it's growl boomed off of the cavern walls. Hong Zhao could hear pebbles falling to the ground from grooves within the walls.
Hong Zhao readied himself as the magical beast raised to its feet, but then something he didn't expect happened. It went from all fours to just two feet. It's skin still remained the color of the stone around it, but the face became much more human-like. The white mane around its head seemed to fall around its neck as its body began to slim. Not it, him. His body became much more defined as Hong Zhao noted the man's muscular body.
Though the stone lion had just turned human, his lower half remained in white fur, as if covering himself in clothing. "You should count yourself fortunate, child." The man's gravelly voice came out with a hint of menace. "You are the first human to come in contact with a magical beast in thousands of years, at least in this place."
Activating Vortex Thrust, Hong Zhao launched himself at the ceiling of the cave. He activated Devouring Qi Claw in his left, and a Qi Ball in the right. But before he reached the ceiling, the man had appeared next to him in mid air. With just a slap of his hand, he sent Hong Zhao sprawling back towards the ground. His Qi ball had exploded on impact as he lost control of the ability. Only years of injury seemed to keep him from screaming as he felt his arm go numb.
When the explosion went off, Hong Zhao ignored the pain and rolled to his feet. Without breaking stride, he took a Health Recover Pill from his ring and put it in his mouth and chewed to speed the effects of the healing. He could feel the healing effects as feeling began to return to his arm. He then activated Vortex Thrust and once more and ran around the cavern while pelting the magical beast with Qi Shots.
Even though the man seemed to take every hit, he didn't seem to be effected by them. Hong Zhao had a feeling of dread as he knew the beast was well above his own cultivation level.
"I know that look." the magical beast smiled through the shots which pelted him. His eyes locked onto the boy which would have been moving at rapid speeds to anyone else of his own cultivation. "You are already falling into despair, aren't you?"
Hong Zhao doubled his efforts since his arm was already healed. He formed Qi Ball after Qi ball and launched them at the beast while simultaneously firing Qi Shot. Explosions rocked the cavern as the man-beast laughed, standing still and taking every attack that the young cultivator threw at him.
Instead of admitting defeat, Hong Zhao rocketed towards the beast and activated his Devouring Qi Claws. The beast allowed Hong Zhao to get close enough for him to grab the young boy's wrist, then snapped it.
An intense pain overwhelmed him only for an instant before he brought the other claw up to try to gouge out one of the beast's eyes, but he was caught by the wrist again and yet again resulted in another broken wrist. This time, he did scream out, yet not in pain but in frustration. Was this all he had?
"Silly mortal." The beast said in a mocking tone. "Remember this name within your next reincarnation. The name of Zi Bai, the Stone Lion Magical Beast!" He threw the young child towards the stone wall and used a Qi attack to hold him there. "Good bye, puny human." He sent a Qi bolt to end the puny existence.