Among the darkened skies which hung like an eerie guillotine over the necks of those who entered, the sounds of battle and the howls of beasts could be heard...
A stalwart young man could be seen amidst the corpses of ferocious beasts with his brow raised as one beast after another threw themselves towards him with no fear of death or injury...
His robes were no longer clean and unsullied but dyed a deep, murky and mottled red due to the mixture of blood and innards of these mindless monstrosities.
Fatigue could be seen between his furrowed brows as his eyes swept the carnage around him, his hand firmly gripping the handle of his saber as he aimed to regain his composure from overexertion.
This young stalwart figure was the renowned Cloud Chasing Saber, Young Master Qiang of the Cloud Chasing Sect.
Upon entering the forest of the trial of prowess, it had come to his attention that he couldn't retrace his steps to leave this godforsaken place...
One could only press onwards through the carnage amidst the depths of the forest, his only opponents being beast after beast, in a tide-like wave as their corpses filled the area with their blood as it began to pool and mix into the mud.
"Where the fuck am I?" He cursed and snarled as he tried to catch his breath, only to hear snarls echoing from his surroundings as shadows could be seen traipsing through the fog and bloodied mulch...
Roar!
The beasts lunged towards him while he swung his blade valiantly as his eyes flashed with a slight weariness as his stamina was being depleted in this constant cycle of slaughter.
He would soon be exhausted and he too might also end up amongst the congregation of corpses beneath his feet.
His heart feeling indignant, he realized the beast tide was lurching to its end as fewer and fewer beasts attacked but he didn't feel relieved, actually it was the opposite, his heart panted with fear as he felt an extremely dangerous aura slowly approaching.
A shudder dashed down his spine as the foul stench of blood and iron filled the air and soon a clawed arm stretched out from behind the trees and out of the fog...
Its skin was bare and pale, while its claws were of a deep black with blackened veins meandering up its outstretched arm like miniature snakes as they pulsed with a fear-inducing aura.
Young Master Qiang's eyes widened as his heart skipped a beat!
The head of the beast soon approached as its eyes seemed like pools of stagnant black water and were the size of lanterns while its face seemed like the abominable mixture of chimp and man as its somewhat featureless face turned in his direction...
As the successor of the Cloud Chasing Sect, he made the accurate judgment of placing distance between himself and this monster of a beast as he retreated right away!
Upon laying its eyes on Young Master Qiang, its eyes bent into the shapes of crescents as its face tugged and wrinkled while the semi-featureless face began to split, its skin tore at each other as it began to widen, leaving behind rows after rows of sharp spine like teeth as its scaled tongue licked its lips.
Its tongue passed over its teeth as the sounds of scraping metal could be heard, its claws pressing into the trunks of the trees on either side as it slowly stood forward...
"Something smells...Goooodd..."
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Xiao LingYue and the man distanced themselves as they retreated while the spear struck the ground between them.
Silence fell as both their eyes landed on the treasured spear!
Boom!
Poof!
They both dashed towards the weapon as they increased their speed to its limits!
Xiao LingYue was slightly disadvantaged since the spear fell closer to his opponent but he pressed forward regardless!
The man's hand grabbed the spear as a sneer flashed across his face, his eyes flickering with an evil light as he drew the tip from the floor!
Under his control, the spear turned into a streak of white light as it pierced over to LingYue with a bone-chilling speed!
With no excessive movements, Xiao LingYue's palms opened as he used the final move of the [Feral Crane's Agile Claw Fourth Movement]!
[ Reckless Wing, Careless Claw]!
LingYue spun as the spear tore through his sleeve under his arm as he wrapped it within the cloth, his arm securing around the shaft of the spear as his right palm turned gracefully into a claw movement before thrusting at his opponent's throat!
His opponent's eyes widened as he shouted, "How dare you! " While he utilized his Heavenly Boa Spearmanship with his hands to deflect the treacherous Claw move!
Sending the spear flying to the ground nearby, its shaft shuddered as they fought!
His opponent shouted aloud as he swung his heel at LingYue's temple!
"I refuse to believe that a random nobody can match me, Shang Tian!"
LingYue lowered himself as he stuck towards the floor, his body completely avoiding the blow as his hand changed into the Grand Severing Claw as he gripped the ankle of Shang Tian!
LingYue took a step forward and stomped heavily as he swung, his entire body's muscles flexing as he threw Shang Tian into the bloodied mulch below them!
Boom!
LingYue's expression was cold as he stood above his opponent as he struck down towards the latter's head!
Trapped, Shang Tian could only stare upwards viciously as he yelled, " You can't kill me! I'm from the Coiling Dragon Sect!"
"So?"
Shang Tian's eyes widened as he hurriedly said, " If you let me off, I can gift you resources once I get back to the Sect!"
LingYue sneered coldly before slapping the head of Shang Tian, crushing it beneath him as the blood splattered onto his robes.
Xiao LingYue would never let anyone who wanted to kill him off, even if he couldn't kill them today, he can always cultivate and kill them tomorrow, and with how conniving and spiteful humans were, what was important was first to survive and to survive, one had to be ruthless!