บท 19: Palace Suppressing Noble
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Chi Qiaosong was able to slay a Mountain Drum that weighed around half a ton, so there was no way the 200-kilogram bear could withstand his attacks.
After three slashes, the young boy managed to land a hit on the bear's throat. It fell to the ground and groaned for a while as it dyed the land red with its blood.
The boy tied the black bear's legs together. He then carried the corpse on his back while hanging the basket in front of him. Since his basket was filled with honey and other things and he had to carry a heavy bear on his back, it was time for him to return. He did a rough calculation and believed that he could earn at least $1,000 from the hunt.
The gallbladder of the black bear was the most expensive thing among the things he had hunted. It was considered an expensive and rare medicinal item in Pharmacopoeia.
He started to descend the Seventh Ridge and was ready to head to the valley. It was easier to travel through the valley as he didn't have to climb up and down. Of course, he would have to take a longer route, but it could save him a lot of stamina.
It was still exhausting for him to carry something as heavy as the bear while trekking through the mountains.
He thought the trip back would be easy, but when he tried to cross a small stream, he felt a gust of wind behind him. He instinctively rolled forward, and that caused the bag of honey to fall out of the basket. Fortunately, it didn't break.
The young boy also dropped the bear, which was now blocking the stream.
With his body wet, Chi Qiaosong turned to look in the direction of the wind. It was from a huge black bear with a white pattern on its chest that resembled a crescent.
It was way bigger than the bear that the boy had just slain. It was at least three meters tall and weighed more than half a ton.
It was almost impossible to find a black bear that big. Even one that weighed around 250 kilograms was rare. They were a different breed from brown bears, usually weighing more than half a ton.
"It's a spirit beast! It has to be!" Chi Qiaosong exclaimed.
He was both shocked and happy at the same time. He was shocked that he would actually run into a spirit beast, but he was also happy that he was lucky enough to run into one.
The spirit beast let out a loud roar.
It didn't attack Chi Qiaosong right away after missing its first attack. Instead, it ran to the dead black bear and sniffed it before letting out another painful roar.
The bear turned to look at Chi Qiaosong, its eyes now completely reddened from rage.
It was clear that the dead bear was the huge bear's child. The boy had already checked that the dead one was a male. Thus, it wouldn't make sense for it to be the new bear's partner.
He grabbed the machete tightly in his arm and performed two of the Yu Sword Skill's movements.
It didn't matter if he was using a machete to perform a sword skill. That was how flexible the skill was. He could use a machete or a wooden stick to perform all the skill's movements.
The spirit beast stood up on two legs. One could see that it didn't have any extra fat, but its hide was loose, as if it was wearing an oversized shirt.
However, the pressure that it gave out was even more intense than the Mountain Drum.
It was also way more flexible than the Mountain Drum. With only two of its rear legs, it half ran and half hopped toward Chi Qiaosong and brought its paw down onto the boy.
It fought just like a human.
Chi Qiaosong easily evaded the attack. He then thrust his machete towards the white pattern on the bear's chest.
It pierced through the hide and into the flesh, spilling a little blood all over the place.
The spirit beast quickly jumped up and threw a kick toward the human. It was as if it was a martial artist.
However, it wasn't a human in the end and had never seen how vicious one could be. Just as it was still in the air, Chi Qiaosong was able to change his movement.
He lowered his core and bent forward to duck the black bear's attack.
The bear was now in the air while he was beneath it.
With a slight grin, he unsheathed the spirit tusk dagger and thrust it toward the beast's asshole. The 20-centimeter-long blade sank deep into the bear's innards.
Blood spilled everywhere, and the bear let out a painful cry.
It curled up in the air and fell to the ground, crashing onto the rocks underneath it.
The bear twisted its butt, trying to alleviate the pain.
Chi Qiaosong did pity the beast for a second before aiming his dagger toward its butt again while it was still in pain.
What followed after was a puddle of brown stuff flowing out of the opening, stinking up the air with a disgusting smell.
The spirit beast struggled to get up and wanted to turn to run. But, as a black bear that had become a spirit beast, it had gone through many battles in its lifetime and knew that its life was the most important.
"Who said you could run?"
Chi Qiaosong kicked the ground with his legs and hopped up onto the back of the bear. He grabbed a bundle of hair on the back of its neck and raised his dagger up high.
The bear twisted its body as hard as it could, trying to throw the human off.
However, it was as if the boy's legs were stuck to the bear, and he could keep himself from falling. He aimed at the bear's spine and sank the dagger deep into the beast.
The bear froze up and fell straight down. It let out a faint growl but couldn't move anymore.
Chi Qiaosong stabilized himself from the fall. However, he didn't approach the beast until he was sure that it was actually heavily injured.
He then stepped on the hilt of his dagger to sink the dagger deeper into the bear to sever its artery.
The spirit beast drew its last breath and died.
"Man, I'm completely sweating now."
Chi Qiaosong sat on the beast and grinned. If he had a phone with him, he would've taken a photo and posted it online.
Unfortunately, smartphones had yet to be invented in the world he was in. Everyone was still using landlines.
After wrapping a cloth around the wound on the bear to suppress the smell of the blood, he tied its legs up with ropes. Then, after wiping the sweat off his forehead, he carried the smaller black bear on his back again and grabbed the end of the rope to drag the bigger black bear back with him.
The sun was already almost entirely set when he finally arrived at the First Ridge from the valley. Even if he had practically bottomless energy as a Wrestler Plane martial artist, he was exhausted to the point where he immediately sat down to catch his breath.
After resting for five minutes, he finally recovered enough to return home.
"Dad... Uncle, you are here too. Great! Get a carrying pole and some rope. I have caught a few things. Mom, there's honey inside this basket."
"What did you catch this time?" his uncle asked.
"Have you ever seen a black bear that's heavier than half a ton?"
"Are you serious? If it's more than half a ton, isn't that a Palace Suppressing Noble?" His uncle exclaimed and explained why it was called the Palace Suppressing Noble.
A black bear was called that when it became a spirit beast.
Legend has it that in ancient times, an emperor had two spirit beast black bears as pets and even used them to guard the palace's entrance. When someone tried to assassinate the emperor, the two bears took the assassin down and saved the emperor's life.
The emperor bestowed the two beasts with the Palace Suppressing Noble, and after that, black bears that had become spirit beasts were all known as that.
They had finally arrived at where Chi Qiaosong had left the corpses when the uncle had finished telling his story.
Chi Qiaosong moved the branches and leaves he had left over the corpses to unveil the huge bear and grinned. "Uncle, I guess I caught one then, the Palace Suppressing Noble."
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