Yuyue watched as the girl, who was running from the blood-skin bear, tripped on her robes. She felt her heart catch in her chest.
Still, she was shocked to see the girl instantly covered in the membrane that blocked the strike.
"A defensive treasure!" Yuyue thought.
The bear struck again and Yuyue saw the light from the membrane begin to weaken.
"Not good"
Since Yuyue came from a hunting village it was unthinkable for her to leave someone alone vs a wild animal, it went against her upbringing.
Seeing that the girl wouldn't be able to hold on further, Yuyue brandished her sword and immediately ran in without a second thought.
She slashed toward the bear with her sword with all her strength.
DUNNN!
The sword only managed to shear a few hairs on the blood-skin bear's back before it immediately bounced off. For the first time, Yuyue was shocked that her sword was unable to cut the bear's hair.
Yuyue watched in shock at the scene
The Blood-skin bear was as strong as 4th step Qi development master, but she now truly understood how much a difference there was between the 4rth step and the first step she was at.
The bear looked confused for a moment, evidently, it felt Yuyue's strike at its back, but her strike was so weak that it barely registered it.
Looking at Yuyue the bear's face became fiercer, as it realizes the one who had interrupted it was a simple first step cultivator.
Once an animal reached this point of strength it would begin to gain consciousness and have its own intelligence. The bear was insulted that Yuyue would even attempt to get in the way of its prey.
Still, the bear didn't seem to be that bothered, rather it was mildly annoying, it gave a lazy swipe at Yuyue which she blocked with her sword.
She felt her body being flung into the air and she crashed into a nearby tree. Due to her treasure, Yuyue felt her breath knocked out of her, and the sound of a few limbs cracking. She instantly felt her limbs leaden like she had done heavy labor for the entire day.
Just this one swipe from the bear was enough to break through her talisman and put her in this state.
The girl who the bear was chasing looked in shock at this scene.
"Fellow cultivator leave! This beast is too much for you."
Her delicate feature was marred with concern for Yuyue who had just taken such a strike.
Yuyue ignore the girl and began to take heavy breaths forcing herself up. Each breath caused her chest to fill with stabbing pain.
Ignoring the pain, she began to walk forward and stabbed the bear again. This time due to her weakened state the strike didn't even cut the hairs on the bear and simply bounced off its hide.
The strike was so weak the bear didn't even notice. Yuyue struck again, this time heaving with all her force.
The bear noticed this strike, it had an ugly expression on its face as it realized that Yuyue was still trying to defeat it.
It gave another strike at her time with much more force and Yuyue went flying across the clearing, she landed heavily on the ground, and without the talisman's help, her wounds became much more severe. She felt even more ribs crack, her insides burned and she was sure she had some form of internal bleeding.
Regardless she propped herself forward with her sword and attempted to hobble towards the bear.
The bear had turned its expression towards the girl once again, getting ready to attack her. With another swipe, the light of the defensive treasure around the girl began to weaken further.
It had become a matter of pride for her, she refused to allow such an animal to ignore her like this.
Suddenly she felt the sword in her hand flair up, the blade became blood red and seemed to hum in response to her battle spirit.
Yuyue felt her pain subside slightly and even felt her cultivation strength for a moment. With a roar, she slashed towards the bear, this time her sword dug past the wiry fur of the bear and even managed to land on the skin where it nicked it.
The bear instantly looked behind to see Yuyue wielding the sword. Its expression on its face became one of anger as it realize the weakling it had ignored had wounded it.
In the grand scheme of things such a wound was nothing more than a paper cut, but its pride as a 4th rank beast was deeply insulted.
Few animals dared to act so insolently to it, and this first step human had done so.
Turning towards Yuyue, the bear began to raise its paw, this time Yuyue knew the bear would not be going easy on her and would be using its full strength.
She did not have the power to resist the strike, her vitality was already low from the use of the defensive talisman and the power boost from the sword was only a temporary measure that lasted for a single breath of time.
She thought of her father who she had left to become a cultivator, and who she would never see again."
"Ah father, Yue'er has been unfilial, dying selfishly like this."
As the strike came, a spear came roaring from the sky it crashed into the ground and blocked the strike!