From the corner of my eye, I could see a familiar dark shadow lurking in the cl.u.s.ter of trees not far away, snarling and growling. It was silent and stealthy as ever, but its injuries and rage were affecting its movements.

Controlling my breathing, I waited for it to disappear. Closing my eyes, I finally allowed myself an exhalation of relief. But my legs had been trembling so violently that I had no choice but to slide down into a sitting position.

"!"

My fingers brushed against something wet and sticky. Gulping, I brought my fingers up and saw that it was slick with blood.

The Shadow Leopard"s blood, most likely.

That d.a.m.ned Shadow Leopard is still wandering around in this area?! Why can"t it go away?! Leave me alone!

Even as those thoughts crossed my mind, I realized just how unreasonable I sounded. Of course the Shadow Leopard couldn"t get far. It was injured because of its ferocious battle with me earlier.

However, a wounded beast was far more dangerous than an unscathed one. I would like to avoid it if possible, but given how cunning and stealthy the Shadow Leopard was, I had no doubt it would be waiting somewhere to ambush an unsuspecting victim to vent its fury on them. If not me, then one of my schoolmates from Wu Ling Academy.

No, I had to take responsibility for hurting the creature to such a frenzied extent. And besides, I wanted revenge against it for injuring me. I should take the fight to the Shadow Leopard and settle our score once and for all.

But how do I do that?

A smile crept across my face as a crazy plan formed inside my head.

This might just work…

*

As I suspected, the Shadow Leopard was too wounded to stray far from the place where we fought. It was still prowling nearby, hobbling as it licked its wounds. Vengeance shone bitterly in its eyes as it lurked within the trees, searching for any prey unfortunate enough to come across its path so that it could mete its fury out on them.

Perfect.

"Hey, you!"

The Shadow Leopard turned to glare at me, recognition gleaming in its predatory eyes. It snarled and lunged at me, but I immediately used Tui (Retreat) to back away. The Shadow Leopard landed on the ground, shaking up loosened soil and gra.s.s, and growled in frustration. It glanced up at me, hatred shining in its eyes.

The feeling"s mutual, pal.

"That"s right! Over here!"

I beckoned toward the Shadow Leopard, and it obliged, pursuing me. I turned and dashed forward with Jin (Advance), staying ahead of the Shadow Leopard. Undeterred, the Shadow Leopard continued to chase me relentlessly, not at all slowed down by its injuries. Or perhaps its rage was overruling the pain. Either way, I had lured it into following me.

We sprinted across the forest, the Shadow Leopard bounding after me and causing other weaker, lower ranked magical beasts to fly or scuttle out of the way. I ignored most of them – they were either Rank 1 or Rank 2, far too weak to bother the enraged Shadow Leopard. Even a Rank 3 magical beast was within their midst, it would be no match for it. Not that I cared. I had a vendetta with the Shadow Leopard for mauling me, and I was going to settle the score with it once and for all.

The Shadow Leopard obviously felt the same, judging from the way it was mercilessly pursuing me. Spittle and drool flew out of its jaws, its eyes crazed with rage and hatred as it pounced after me, only for me to teasingly disappear from its clutches with Shadow Steps.

As I ran, the solid ground beneath my feet gradually gave way into damp soil, gra.s.s replaced by mud and ferns. Dashing into a clearing, I dove straight at a knot of mangrove trees whose roots and branches were tangled with each other.

Undeterred, the Shadow Leopard hurled itself fearlessly at me, thinking that it had me cornered.

I twisted around just before I landed on the roots of the mangrove trees and smiled. Just before the Shadow Leopard"s claws reached me, my feet flickered and I disappeared.

"RUOOOR!"

The Shadow Leopard howled in rage as it slammed into the roots of the mangrove trees. But its immense size meant that it was too big to balance atop the slender roots and it ended up slipping into the swamp.

Snarling, the Shadow Leopard kicked off the surface of the bog to throw itself back onto dry land, where I had escaped to. Not that I would allow it too. Using a combination of Shadow Steps and footwork techniques, I spun around and smashed a kick onto the Shadow Leopard"s skull with an attack that would make any Lunar Rabbit proud.

The impact sent the Shadow Leopard hurtling back toward the swamp, but it was far from helplessly. Cartwheeling in the air, it bounced off the surface of the bog again, ensuring that it would never sink. Snarling at me, it propelled itself toward me with its claws outstretched.

It never reached me.

Before the Shadow Leopard could reach the sh.o.r.e, something burst out of the swamp and ensnared the black alpha predator in its jaws.

It was the Diamondback Crocodile.

The Diamondback Crocodile clamped its gargantuan jaws down on the Shadow Leopard, seizing it in the middle and biting deeply. The Shadow Leopard flailed about, thrashing wildly in the Diamondback Crocodile"s grip, but the latter bit down even more strongly, refusing to surrender its prey.

The two struggling t.i.tans vanished underneath the swamp, sending huge splashes across the sh.o.r.e.

"…"

For a moment, silence reigned through the forest. There was no sign of either creature, save the bubbles that rapidly rose to the surface. Then, the Diamondback Crocodile and Shadow Leopard burst out of the swamp, still locked in terrible combat.

Clawing at the Diamondback Crocodile"s jaws, the Shadow Leopard was unable to leave a mark in its enemy"s armored scales. The Diamondback Crocodile, on the other hand, was succeeding in weakening its prey despite being of a lower rank, its razor-sharp teeth sinking deeper into the Shadow Leopard"s midriff.

The Shadow Leopard was far from defeated, however. Even as it weakened, it lashed out and clawed the inside of the Diamondback Crocodile. The latter let out a screech as it fell back, its grip slackening. The Shadow Leopard seized the chance to break free and jump back onto the sh.o.r.e, heaving heavily from the exertion.

The Diamondback Crocodile was far from done, however. Growling, it darted out of the swamp and sped toward staggering Shadow Leopard. The two goliaths met in a bone-crunching clash, the Diamondback Crocodile attempting to close its jaws around the Shadow Leopard"s paws. The Shadow Leopard slashed at the Diamondback Crocodile"s vulnerable insides, eliciting another shriek of agony from the latter.

Whirling around, the Diamondback Crocodile struck the Shadow Leopard with its heavily muscled tail, sending the feline predator flying across the air. The Shadow Leopard"s back struck the mangrove tree with a loud crack and it slumped back down on the swamp, slowly sinking.

Heady with triumph over its unexpected victory, the Diamondback Crocodile slipped back into the swamp and slowly glided toward the floating Shadow Leopard. Its jaws yawned wide as it sought to bite down on the Shadow Leopard and drag it into the depths of the swamp.

However, the Shadow Leopard was far from defeated.

Its eyes suddenly flew open and it lunged at the approaching Diamondback Crocodile with a snarl. The Diamondback Crocodile wasn"t fazed, having absolute trust in its diamond-hard armored scales. However, the Shadow Leopard had wised up to its opponent"s strengths and instead of slashing its armored scales, it lashed out at its vulnerable underbelly. Murky water splashed upward as the Shadow Leopard"s claws sailed underneath the surface to pierce the Diamondback Crocodile"s softer underbelly and beck.

"GUOOOOR!"

The Diamondback Crocodile instinctively retreated, blood spurting from a horrendous wound in its neck. It whipped about, striking the Shadow Leopard with its tail. The mighty predator was stunned for a second, and the Diamondback Crocodile capitalized on its momentary weakness to bite it. Then the Shadow Leopard suddenly darted forward and slammed both claws into the Diamondback Crocodile"s underbelly, sinking its claws in.

With a snarl, it tossed the Diamondback Crocodile out of the swamp and onto the sh.o.r.e before leaping after it. The Diamondback Crocodile landed on its back, helpless and confused by the sudden movements.

"GUOO?!"

While splayed on its back, flailing uselessly, the Diamondback Crocodile could do nothing but watch as the Shadow Leopard landed on its, digging its claws in. Snarling, the Shadow Leopard lowered its head and tore the Diamondback Crocodile"s throat out before sinking its claws into the Diamondback Crocodile"s heart. Blood spurted into the air as the Diamondback Crocodile went into its death throes, its tail and limbs thrashing wildly.

"As expected of a Rank 5 magical beast…even a Rank 4 Diamondback Crocodile is no match for it…"

I watched the battle, thoroughly impressed. The Shadow Leopard turned to me, snarling ferociously.

"But…when two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and the other to die. The patient hunter will be the one who reaps the rewards."

Just as the Shadow Leopard pounced on me, I used Jin (Advance) and got in front of it, surprising the usually speedy hunter. As I thought, the Shadow Leopard"s movements, speed and judgement were impaired by its injuries.

"Hah!"

With a determined shout, I kicked the Shadow Leopard in the jaw, then whirled around to deliver another Shadow Kick. The Shadow Leopard toppled over, weak from its brutal melee from the Diamondback Crocodile.

But it was far from defeated. Growling, the Shadow Leopard defiantly lashed out one last time, forcing me to jump over its claws.

The Lunar Rabbit"s kick.

My foot swung from overhead in the same manner I watched the Lunar Rabbit execute it and rammed against the Shadow Leopard"s skull, cracking it. The Shadow Leopard"s chin slammed into the ground and its eyes rolled in its sockets.

Still not perfect…

Well, that was only to be expected. I was a human trying to imitate a Lunar Rabbit. It would be difficult for me to fully capture the true essence of the b.e.s.t.i.a.l attack. Well, not that I needed to. Martial arts weren"t about authenticity or whatever. We took inspiration from whatever creatures we watched, but we weren"t supposed to fully imitate them. There were physiological differences between man and magical beast that could never be overcome, after all.

Fortunately, my imitation of the Lunar Rabbit"s kick was more than enough to knock the Shadow Leopard out.

No…I can"t afford to be reckless.

Deftly jumping to the side, I reached out and forged an ice sword, stabbing the frozen blade into the Shadow Leopard"s now exposed chest and slicing its heart apart. The Shadow Leopard let out one last howl before it was wrecked by spasms. I was forced to retreat to a safe distance to prevent myself from being eviscerated by the Shadow Leopard"s flailing claws.

"…"

A few seconds pa.s.sed…then a minute. Finally, the Shadow Leopard died down and I could sense its life-signs fading away.

"Phew…"

I finally allowed myself to exhale in immense relief. I realized that I had been holding my breath for quite a long while and greedily gulped down a lungful of air.

"It actually worked! I didn"t think it would work!"

I shook my head in disbelief. Yeah, my head was kind of clouded by anger and pettiness earlier, and to be honest, I was pretty stupid and reckless in concocting this scheme to fulfil my vendetta against the Shadow Leopard. But it paid off big time. Not only did I pay the d.a.m.ned Shadow Leopard back for mauling me, I even snagged myself a Rank 5 magical beast. Then again, I wasn"t partic.i.p.ating in the test, so I didn"t know why I bothered.

But it would be a waste to leave the Shadow Leopard"s carca.s.s like this. Since I went through the trouble of killing it, I might as well retrieve its core. Even if Teacher Jiao didn"t accept it for the test, I could sell it later for cash.

"Now then…let"s bring you back…"

Taking a deep breath, I reached into the Shadow Leopard"s body and grabbed its demonic core. It was pretty easy to locate. The corpse was turning cold and life was leaving the carca.s.s – the core was the only thing inside the Shadow Leopard"s body that was still emanating a ma.s.sive amount of qi.

As I expected, the Shadow Leopard"s demonic core was a black orb identical to the sphere that Du Lang took from the Ironback Wolf, except for the color. Turning toward the Diamondback Crocodile, I repeated the same maneuver and extracted its brown core.

"Don"t these look familiar?"

Pushing my gla.s.ses up as I tried to get a better look of the monster cores, I suddenly realized that I had seen them before.

"…oh."

They were the same orbs that I located whenever I hunted the Silverback Wolves, Lunar Rabbits and even the Ghost Bear.

What did I do with them again?

…that was right. I ate them.

No wonder I suffered so much. I was such an idiot!

Groaning, I slapped my forehead. The cores were the most concentrated, most qi-dense part of the magical beasts. And conversely, it was this qi that caused the poisoning of people who tried to consume them. With the half-a.s.sed knowledge I gleaned from reading encyclopedias, I had no idea that the cores were the main cause of excessive qi toxification, which was in turn the main cause of death. Back then I was starving to the point that I desperately ate every part of the magical beasts I hunted, core or flesh.

My half-a.s.sed understanding and lack of knowledge were what caused the excruciating experience I went through. I could have avoided that if I cut away the monster cores and disposed of them, or at least separate them from my meals. Even though I would still have been poisoned by the demonic qi and killed if I didn"t have the Green Dragon Spring water, at least the ordeal wouldn"t have been as agonizing.

On the bright side, it was probably because I consumed all those cores that I managed to strengthen myself. to the point where I could actually fight on par with a Rank 4 or even Rank 5 magical beast. I guess every cloud had a silver lining.

Anyway, there was no point wasting too much time lingering around here. I placed both monster cores into the Silverback Wolf pelt bag that I made, then grabbed the carca.s.ses of the Shadow Leopard and the Diamondback Crocodile and began dragging them back toward the direction where I last saw Li Chun Long disappeared in, hoping that the trail would eventually bring me to the teachers.

*

"You"ve got to be kidding me!"

"Who the h.e.l.l is that guy?!"

"Is that…a Shadow Leopard?!"

"Not just a Shadow Leopard…he has a Diamondback Crocodile too?!"

The students from Wu Ling Academy were all gaping at me when I emerged into the clearing where the teachers set up their base camp. I waved at them, and a few of them actually recognized me.

"Hey, isn"t that…Fei Wu?"

"Who?"

"Fei Wu! The guy who died two months ago?"

"Huh? Died? But he"s alive, isn"t he?"

"Didn"t you hear? He sacrificed his life to buy time for his cla.s.s to escape a Behemoth. They sent a search party afterward, but couldn"t find his body. So he survived."

"EH!?"

It wasn"t just my schoolmates. My cla.s.smates were gathering as well, utterly shocked to see that I had survived.

"You sure took your time!" Ban Zhang bellowed. Then he did a double take when he saw what I was dragging. He shook his head and then struck mine. "What are you doing?! You"re supposed to see Teacher Jiao, not go partic.i.p.ate in the test with the rest of us!"

"Well, a lot of things happened…"

"You son of a gun!"

This time it was Zhu Jiao. He barreled into me, almost knocking me off my feet. Then he glanced at the Shadow Leopard.

"You did it! You actually did it! You maniac! You suicidal maniac! I can"t believe you pulled that b.l.o.o.d.y stunt off!"

"Wait, wait, wait…"

This time it was Teacher Jiao. He was pushing his way past my cla.s.smates to stare and gape at me. For a moment I thought his jaw might actually hit the ground. Teacher Jiao shook his head in wonder and tried to form a question.

"Is that really you, Fei Wu?"

"Yup." I dropped the carca.s.ses of both the Shadow Leopard and the Diamondback Crocodile on the ground for emphasis, their corpses. .h.i.tting the ground with loud flops. "I"m finally back."