"It's a Shadow Leopard!" Zong Ling was shocked. His combat experience prompted him to retreat rapidly. Shou shou shou! Thanks to the power of his tail, he was able to escape to the top of a remote tree with just three breathtaking jumps.
But the Shadow Leopard’s murky pupils merely glanced at Zong Ling coldly before continuing to gaze at Xue Ying.
It didn’t care about the silver-haired serpent man. The leopard was a level five magic beast famous for its speed; it could kill a Heaven ranked knight with just one attack! Besides, the leopard’s body was so strong that there was no way a Heaven ranked knight could injure it, so it ignored Zong Ling and focused on Xue Ying.
This young man in black… was a big threat!
He was able to counter the sneak attack.
"Uncle Zong, you should leave. Run as far as you can." Xue Ying said in a low voice.
"Xue Ying, be careful. Shadow leopards are fast." Zong Ling knew he couldn’t help so he retreated.
Xue Ying observed the shadow leopard closely and smiled. "I never imagined I would encounter a level 5 magic beast." He released the straps that ran around his chest and the weapon box fell onto the ground. It had been completely trashed by the leopard’s attack. Xue Ying’s coat wasn’t that much better. Fortunately, Xue Ying hadn’t been severely wounded due to his inner armor.
He, he~~ The shadow leopard panted lightly as it circled Xue Ying. Its steps were incredibly light, the pads on its’ feet muffling the sound of its footsteps.
Xue Ying’s eyes followed the leopard.
One man, one magic beast.
They looked into each other’s eyes!
It was life or death in an instant!
Shua shua! The Shadow Leopard suddenly burst into action, feinting to one side before instantly charging toward Xue Ying the moment it's paws touched the ground.
"Die for me!" The spear was like a snake in Xue Ying’s hand, shifting in front of the leopard within a moment.
The leopard kept its eyes on Xue Ying.
It rushed forth again, Its four paws practically hovering about the ground as it moved forward softly with lightning speed. It kept changing its directions, from one direction to another in order to evade the sharp point of Xue Ying’s spear.
Again and again, it would pounce towards Xue Ying, then suddenly change directions.
Xue Ying focused his entire strength on defending.
Shua shua shua… The Shadow Leopard became a phantom demon as it continuously circled around Xue Ying.
In response, the point of Xue Ying’s Flying Snow God Spear turned into countless phantom images and created an illusion of numerous drifting snowflakes.
"Too fast, simply too fast."
"Not enough, this still isn’t enough!" Xue Ying was aware of how slow he was. Although his Profound Ice Spear Technique was skilled enough to become famous, compared to the Shadow Leopard, the gap between them was abundantly clear! The Shadow Leopard circled around Xue Ying as if it was in its own domain. Again and again, it would look for an opportunity. This kind of phantom movement wasn’t even the limit for the Shadow Leopard! It was simply a basic movement for it.
Within the Shadow Leopard’s tranquil eyes, everything was in its control.
Hong!
The atmosphere began to twist as the Shadow Leopard suddenly accelerated and abruptly began attacking Xue Ying.
"This is the moment!" Xue Ying’s said as his eyes turned red. A red aura began emitting from his body. It was at this moment that Xue Ying released the full power of his primordial bloodline.
Power burst!
Hong! The point of the spear spun and teared apart the atmosphere as it thrust towards the Shadow Leopard that was streaking across the sky.
The Shadow Leopard felt alarmed.
The speed of this spear completely surpassed its expectations! If it had been prepared for this spear beforehand, it would have been able to effortlessly dodge it, but it had used all of its strength and was already in front of Xue Ying now! Their distance was too close and its speed too high. It was impossible for it to dodge.
Hou~~~ It issued out a cruel roar and swiped at the spear with its front pair of claws.
The rotating spear moved as if it was a large wandering snake!
This swipe made the spinning spear lose most of its impact, but it still thrusted towards the Shadow Leopard’s abdomen.
The Shadow Leopard twisted its body like as if it didn’t have any bones at all in a bid to avoid this terrifying spear.
Si!
The spear streaked across the Shadow Leopard’s soft white abdomen. A trace of blood appeared.
Borrowing the force of the spear, the Shadow Leopard leapt towards an elevated tree branch opposite of Xue Ying. On its abdomen was a two-foot-long cut. This cut, however, had already been forced closed, blood dripping slightly. Its dull gray eyes flashed with a cruel madness as it glared at the Xue Ying below.
"In spite of all that, I still haven’t killed you. You sure are lucky." Xue Ying said as he attentively watched the Shadow Leopard. He wasn’t resigned in his heart yet. When he had burst out his strength, it had the best effect when the opponent didn’t expect it. Yet now that this Shadow Leopard was on guard against him, it would be even more troublesome for him.
Sou sou sou.
The Shadow Leopard was also furious. Suddenly, it dashed down the tree with three steps before attacking Xue Ying.
Xiu.
The blood red aura on Xue Ying’s body soared as he gripped his spear tightly and thrusted at the Shadow Leopard, which dodged to the side in response.
"Get lost!" The spear thrust into nothing but air. Xue Ying immediately changed his thrust into a sweep!
The might of this spear’s sweep could cause the heaven to fall and rend the earth. The Shadow Leopard displayed frightened expression. If this sweep connected with the Shadow Leopard, it would result in Xue Ying’s victory! Even if it didn’t kill the Shadow Leopard, the sweep would still gravely injure it! How could it have known that Xue Ying had awoken the primordial bloodline of Power. As the spear swept across, all of its power passed through the shaft. Only with this would Xue Ying be able to display his advantage.
The Shadow Leopard’s body undulated as if it was water. Its claws lightly held onto the spear and used the force of the spear to minimize the damage inflicted on it.
Hong~~~ Following the sweep of the spear, a tree that had been struck on the side began rumbling before splitting apart in a big explosion! The entire tree had been cut off! With that explosion, the tree began to collapse.
"Die for me."
Xue Ying rushed forth, thrusting, slashing and sweeping with his spear.
A continuous torrent of attacks enveloped the Shadow Leopard. In response, it unceasingly evaded as it retreated. It seemed that the surrounding mountain forest was out of luck. Xue Ying’s spear was able to shatter and completely penetrate a boulder that needed two or three people to wrap around it! How could these trees possibly bear this destruction?
...
The whole time, they were fighting close quarters.
Xue Ying had long since discovered that Uncle Zong was hiding far away. This let him secretly heave a sigh of relief, but he still felt very anxious within his heart.
This was because under the influence of his power burst, he would only able to hold some advantages with his frantic assault.
The Shadow Leopard, on the other hand, was able to immediately catch up whenever he retreated. Thus, it was basically impossible for him to escape. The Shadow Leopard was simply too fast! If the Shadow Leopard wished to stalk them afterwards, Xue Ying wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
"What should I do? I’m continuously losing strength and can’t hold on much longer." After using his special power, Xue Ying felt that his energy was draining drastically.
Once he used up his energy, he would die!
He he~~~
The Shadow Leopard was an experienced hunter, constantly looking for the opportunity to strike.
Finally——
Xue Ying’s fierce consumption of his physical strength had finally opened up a gap in his attacks. The Shadow Leopard moved like lightning and appeared right in front of Xue Ying.
"Not good!" Xue Ying heart shuddered and his scalp felt numb.
He was suddenly faced with a crisis of death!
"Just die for me already! Die! Die! Die!" Xue Ying went crazy and his eyes reddened. Either you or I will die. He struck out his spear with all his might.
This was his last struggle!
He struggled just like a wild beast would when facing death. Although Xue Ying was facing a death crisis, this was also an opportunity to cultivate his instinct to survive.
His entire body surged with energy. Time seemed to slow down as the Shadow Leopard vicious teeth could be seen clearly.
Hu...
The breeze generated from the fight felt refreshing against his face.
Hua~Hua~Hua~ The circulation of his blood could be felt as clearly as if it was a surging river.
Si si si~~~ His muscles and bones were also transmitting their power to him.
"Power, perfect and pure."
When Xue Ying faced the threatening death crisis, he instinctively broke through the lack of comprehension of his power. His blood flowed, his bones and muscle connected together and transmitted power… He could clearly feel everything. It was so beautiful. At that moment, he felt as if all of his power was within his control. His control over his power was incomparably delicate and didn’t waste any of it. He even had a surplus of energy.
Hu!
His whole body’s strength was transmitting like water. He had never had such wonderful control over his own body before.
His whirling spear pierced through the vast sky as its speed suddenly increased sharply!
Pu ji!
In a flash, the point of the spear withdrew from the stupefied Shadow Leopard’s abdomen and was thrust into the back of the Shadow Leopard.
While holding onto the spear, Xue Ying saw that the impaled Shadow Leopard was still twisting and struggling to break free. Its blood flowed unceasingly. Xue Ying stared at the Shadow Leopard, and the Shadow Leopard stared back. Within the dull gray eyes of the Shadow Leopard, however, there was panic, fear, anger and anxiety. Its powerful life force allowed it to struggle for nearly half a minute. It was only when the last of its blood flowed onto the ground that it finally succumbed to death.
Once Xue Ying body relaxed his body, he lay on the ground covered in ice-cold snow. The Shadow Leopard continued to glare as the spear protruded from its body beside Xue Ying.
"It’s your death, and my survival!" As Xue Ying looked at the corpse of the Shadow Leopard, he rejoiced. After this calamity, he had a renewed life.
Zong Ling landed. When he saw the chaos the forest had become, his heart filled with fear.
"Xue Ying is definitely fine. You’re definitely okay!" Zong Ling’s anxious heart tightened as he followed the traces of destruction. "Damn it, damn it! Why is it that I haven’t become a Meteor Knight even until now? I could have helped Xue Ying if I had broken through earlier. He would not have been alone in that hopeless situation."
Dong Bo Lie and Mo Yang Yu, his life and death friends, had ordered him to take care of their kids before they were taken away.
Zong Ling’s fondness of Xue Ying had grown as he watched him grow from a crying baby into a young man. It was as if he were his own blood.
Zong Ling’s worries increased overtime as he continued travelling through the decimated forest.
"Absolutely nothing must happen to him!"
"Nothing can happen to him!"
Zong Ling rushed forward with great speed, jumping from branch to branch.
Hu!
Zong Ling was agile, his tail pulling him forward like a slingshot to leap dozens of meters from tree to tree. In midair, he spotted a youngster clothed in black standing in the distance.
Zong Ling released a deep sigh of relief the moment he realized who the black-clothed youngster was.
"Xue Ying!" Zong Ling hurried over to him.
"Uncle Zong!" Xue Ying pulled his spear out from the corpse of the Shadow Leopard.
"You killed the Shadow Leopard?" Zong Ling couldn’t believe his own eyes when he saw the corpse. This was supposed to be a terrifying predator, famed for its high speed and agility.
Xue Ying smiled. "Luck. It really was luck. Any less… and I would have been the one to die."
This was the first time he had faced death.
Although he had faced magical beasts before, the sharp claws and teeth of those beasts had allowed him to polish his body as well as experience a taste of death. That was in group combat however, something he had the absolute advantage in! This one Shadow Leopard, on the other hand, was able to completely suppress him in all regards!
Shua, shua, shua. Xue Ying stretched out his left hand. A spear sack appeared within his palm. Inside were at least 12 short silver spears. This spear sack was originally stored within his storage pendant.
"Enter." He put down the spear sack and picked up the body of the Shadow Leopard, bending it a little to push it in.
Whoosh.
The Shadow Leopard vanished without a trace. There was only a little room to the side of the sack left.
"Uncle Zong, let's leave quickly. The smell of the blood will attract other beasts." Xue Ying carried the spear sack on his back and took out the Flying Snow God Spear.
"No need to worry too much; normal beasts would not dare to come near us due to the Shadow Leopard’s scent. After that large fight, it would be better if you rest well first." Zong Ling also gave a relaxed smile.
During the return trip.
Xue Ying was in a good mood. Even though he had experienced a life-threatening fight, a Shadow Leopard was worth 100,000 gold coins! A Shadow Leopard’s satin-like pelt was able to imbue items with cloaking effects so it was considered a precious refining material. Naturally, the Shadow Leopard’s pelt would fall into the hands of the rich nobility. This was an item that was much beloved by them. The Shadow Leopard’s pelt was both beautiful as well as honorable when worn. How many people would gaze upon it with admiration and envy?
For Xue Ying, it didn’t matter. What counted was that it had brought them money.
...
Within the camp inside the Mountain Range of Desolation.
Four hours had already passed. The sky turned pitch black as Xue Ying and Zong Ling hurried back to their camp. After eating dinner, Zong Ling rested, but Xue Ying didn’t.
Shua, shua~~~
The bonfire in the camp was always lit in order to keep the cold at bay.
Xue Ying was sitting down cross-legged near the bonfire, the Flying Snow Spear laid across his legs. Hs eyes were closed as he sat there whilst the fire illuminated his face.
Silence…
The night was very silent…
Xue Ying was carefully inspecting his body, feeling every muscle and bone, the expansion and contraction of his inner organs, while his blood surged like a river…
He had already reached the realm of Power Perfectly as One. With his current attentive understanding, he would consolidate it to further familiarise himself with it.
"Rise."
Xue Ying stood up suddenly. Holding his Flying Snow God Spear, he started to practice his spear techniques.
Being one with the spear was like being a flood dragon.
The shadow of the spear flashed while the snow danced wildly.
"Fine spear, fine technique."
Xue Ying stopped and looked at the Flying Snow Spear in his hand with a pleased expression.
If a spear was fast enough, the human eye would see multiple spears attacking simultaneously; this phenomenon was called the persistence of vision.
Of course, different people had different degrees of persistency.
Ordinary knights, Earth Knights and Heaven Knights all had a similar degree of vision persistency.
Those in the Star tier would have a shorter duration of vision persistency.
A Transcendent being, however… their vision persistency would be exceedingly short!
This time during their exploration of the Mountain Range of Desolation, the speed of Xue Ying’s spear technique had reached the Five Spear Realm! When faced with a Star tier opponent, they would be able to see as many as five spears at once. If he also released the power of his primordial bloodline… he would just barely reach the Seven Spear Realm!
And now!
At the realm of Power Perfectly as One, he had perfect control over every single thread of power within his body. Even if he didn’t release his power, he could effortlessly attain the Seven Spear Realm!
As for the Flying Snow Spear, a spirit weapon, only in the hands of a Great Spear Master could its true magical abilities be displayed! The inside of the Flying Snow Spear’s shaft was like the arteries and veins of a human body. When the spear collided with an enemy’s weapon, it would abruptly give rise to an opposing power! This power would generally dissipate within the spear.
The Flying Snow God Spear, though, could perfectly transmit this power, not allowing any of it to scatter.
A common spear expert wouldn’t care about the vibrations of the spear. They might even think of it as a hindrance!
For Great Spear Masters, however, they were able to perfectly take advantage of this power. They were even able to use this strength to execute even faster attacks.
"Power Perfectly as One. I’ve attained the Seven Spear Realm!"
"The Flying Snow God Spear is able to perfectly utilize all of its power and hence improve the spear’s might. I can reach the Eight Spear Realm with speed alone!"
"When I burst out the power of my primordial bloodline, then I can attain the Ten Spear Realm!"
Xue Ying felt excited.
The Shadow Leopard’s death wasn’t in vain!
During that last desperate strike by Xue Ying, his spear’s speed had reached the formidable level of the Ten Spear Realm. This speed was able to omnipotently suppress even Silver Moon Knights. Those who were weaker than Silver Moon Knights might not even be able to block many blows and die from a single strike!
"This still isn’t my limit. My spear can still go faster." Xue Ying began to cultivate the Transcendent’s spear technique his father had left behind for him, the Mysterious Ice Spear Technique.
A powerful Transcendent Knight’s secrets.
He would only be able to learn the first level of this technique after becoming a Great Spear Master.
Hu.
Dou Qi revolved within his body, maximizing his strength. The spear whirled as if it was a large python, spinning in an astonishing arc.
While withdrawing his spear, he would reverse the direction of the rotation.
He struck out and retracted it.
This powerful rotation was reversed… concealing the rotational strength of the shaft of the spear. Even spear experts would feel their palms grow numb in the face of such formidable power. Xue Ying had unleashed this power!
This was the strength that the Mysterious Ice Spear Technique needed to take advantage of!
"That’s not right."
"The force exerted is wrong."
"The torque isn’t pure enough."
Xue Ying practiced again and again with his spear.
Hu la——
Hu la——
In the midst of night at the camp, one burst after another of what seemed to be a screaming voice was heard. This made the scalps of all of the soldiers standing guard grow numb. As they watched their young master practice his spear techniques beside the bonfire, they couldn’t help but revere him even more.
"The Young Master truly is the young master. Amazing."
"Even after coming to the Mountain Range of Desolation, he continues to train like crazy during the night. It’s no wonder he’s so powerful!"
"The young master was already training like a mad devil when he was eight-years-old. I couldn’t possibly endure such suffering."
Those soldiers continued to quietly gossip amongst themselves.
...
Xue Ying continued to practice the first level of the Mysterious Ice Spear Technique’s many techniques. Even though the mysterious ice knight, Senior Gu Yuan Han, had written highly detailed descriptions of the techniques, it was still difficult to learn it. Luckily for Xue Ying, as a Great Spear Master, he had an extremely fine control over the spear so there was still some hope for him to learn it.
The night quickly passed and dawn came.
Si——
The spear struck out.
It was like a huge python rotating its body in a flash. A very short sound resonated. It was not the normal whirring sound but a very short si’. The arc of the spear as it rotated could be seen with the naked eye as it retracted, only to quickly strike out again.
Xue Ying showed an elated expression. There was a subtle blood-red aura that suddenly surrounded around his body. He had completely used up all of his power and the terrifying spear technique was delivered to his heart’s content.
Xiu xiu xiu xiu xiu xiu xiu…...
Snowflakes drifted around the spear. When the spear struck, it seemed as if it was stationary in the midst of the snowflakes.
After the twelfth strike, the stationary spear among the snowflakes disappeared.
This was proof of reaching the terrifying Twelve Spears Realm.
The first level of the Mysterious Ice Spear Technique, Floating Snow, clearly had a large amplification effect on one’s speed. The Mysterious Ice Knight Gu Yuan Han’s spearmanship was originally famous for its speed, and the second and third levels were even faster! But they were also much harder to master.
"Twelve Spears Realm." Xue Ying smiled. ‘"I have finally succeeded in training the first stage of Mysterious Ice Spear Technique, Floating Snow."
After becoming a Great Spear Master and learning the Mysterious Ice Spear Technique, Xue Ying’s power had increased by leaps and bounds.