Fighting A Golden-eyed Horse

In the depths of the Inner Circle of the One Hundred Thousand Monsters Mountain Range, a battle was going on at the bottom of a cliff. Two figures, one confronting head-on with Fire based Spells, the other assaulting from the back and sides with Ice based ones, besieged a black horse-like monster. 

The horse-like monster has the head of a horse, and a mane like a lion. It has no tail, but furs from its back make up as a covering for its rear. It has golden eyes and hoofs. And its limbs are packed with muscles. Most importantly is its strength. It is a Peak stage Soul Projection Realm Monster.

Its speciality lies in its power-packed hind limbs and elastic mane. A single kick can cause a fatal attack to a human cultivator of the same realm. With its hind limbs, it can even barely escape from an ordinary Integrated Union Realm early stage human Cultivator.

The monster is called Maned Golden-eyed Horse. And it is the most powerful monster that Ye Chen and Lin Qing'er have encountered since they came out this time.

It has been exactly 1 month and 3 days since they entered the Shiwan Monster Mountain Range. And they have slaughtered many monsters since they came in.

They have encountered some treasures too. Especially Spiritual Herbs that can be refined to Pills, which can be consumed to promote their Cultivation Realms.

The reason they are confronting this beast is because there is a Spiritual Herb in its liar, it is a 5 thousand year old Spiked Rhubarb, which is one of the main materials for refining a Realm Breaking Pill, an 8th Rank Medicinal Pill. 

So, Ye Chen and Lin Qing'er are determined to obtain the resource. It is not that they cannot obtain all these resources from the Holy Land or from their Master, the Holy Lord. But having fought their way up from the start, they still prefer the satisfaction that comes from their own hard work.

There is another reason besides that. Practising in seclusion all the time is not beneficial in the long run. It is good to come out to vent the frustrations in their hearts and let every psychological pressure go. Even cultivators are not totally free in this aspect. 

If a cultivator has a burden, or something has cast a shadow over his mind, it could birth Inner Demons if he does not resolve it on time.

…

Seeing the monster evading their attacks intelligently and was still able to counterattack, Lin Qing'er couldn't hold up the growing anger in her heart. She shouted, "Brother Chen, I will perform that art now. You should levitate in the air and also perform the complement art"

"Alright", Ye Chen replied and flew into the air. Then he shouted, "NOW"

Lin Qing'er knelt with one knee on the ground and slammed her left palm on the ground. And starting from that point, the surrounding area began to freeze. It quickly expanded.

1 metre, 2 me.. 3 met.., and stopped at five metres. It's the Thousand Mile Frozen Art taught by Su Yaoren, a Saint Level Spell. 

The Golden-eyed horse could feel coldness from its feet. It tried raising its front hoofs, and discovered it was stuck in ice. It changed to the hind legs, trying to break off the ice by sheer force.

Cracks started appearing on the ice. But because it was condensed from Spiritual Energy, it couldn't be broken off easily. The monster then transmitted Monster Qi to its hind legs. The Ice cracks are enlarged and extended, covering the whole five metres of frozen land.

"Hurry!"shouted Lin Qing'er as she slammed her right palm on the ice also, pouring more spiritual energy into it, making the cracking frozen land stabilise, and even more solid.

The Golden-eyed horse was still pouring large amount of Monster Qi into its hind legs. This time, its eyes turned red.

"Hurry up! It's about to enter the Crazy State", came Wang Wu's voice.

Ye Chen was condensing a fiery sword in the air. When he heard Protector Wang's voice, he became anxious and crazily poured spiritual energy into the Energy Sword he was forming in the air. This is the Fiery Energy Sword Art, also taught by Su Yaoren.

The monster's eyes have completely turned red, its Monster Qi rioting throughout its body. The cracks in the ice became bigger, and Lin Qing'er spat out a mouthful of blood, but she didn't take her palms away from the ground. 

Then, roaring, the Golden-eyed Horse roared, and also flew into the air, turned around, swung out its elastic mane and caught Lin Qing'er by her neck. Then it pulled back hard. Lin Qing'er held onto the mane, trying to free herself.

Ye Chen noticed this and almost went mad. In anger, he burst out in valour and poured all the Spiritual Energy in his body crazily. 

Just when the monster was about to exert more strength, the Energy Sword in the air took its final Fiery Form and was swung down by Ye Chen's anxious outburst.

Chi..chu…chi..chu..

As it passed by, the air seemed to be burned and cut at the same time. The Golden-eyed Horse felt it and roared. 

The mane was about to be untied from Lin Qing'er's neck when a fiery red light flashed by. In its last moment, the Golden-eyed Horse seemed to witness the scorching of its own monster corpse.

The monster was cut in two from the centre of its head to its tailless rear. The two halves quickly fell off. And the mane, since its source of energy was gone, became loose, like ordinary hairs and furs.

Ye Chen didn't care about the monster's corpse at all. He rushed over to Lin Qing'er's side and held her up, took out a futon and made her sit on it. He knew the kind of danger she was in. They didn't expect the monster to go crazy easily, and she had exhausted her Spiritual Energy holding up the Thousand Mile Frozen Art.

He quickly took out a vial and poured out a Healing Pill and fed it to her. She, who looked pale, was quickly regaining her strength. And her face once again turned rosy, albeit, slowly.

"You should take one too", she reminded him.

Ye Chen complied. He poured another Healing Pill for himself and ate it. 

The Healing Pills were refined by Su Yaoren himself, a peak stage Great Emperor, and once a Pill Immortal in the Upper Realms. Such a level of existence performing such kinds of tasks can be said to be 'overtone'.

So, the Healing Pills also have the effect of restoring Spiritual Energy. Therefore, it didn't take long for Ye Chen and Lin Qing'er to regain their Combat ability. Though they didn't return to their peak state, it is enough for them to run for their lives if they encountered any danger.

They looked towards the corpse of the Monster they just battled. It is separated in two. And because the Sword energy was too fierce, the Monster Core could not be recondensed after the death of the beast. All that is left of value is the Golden Eyes, The Elastic Mane, and the Golden Hoofs.

The Golden Hoofs and the Elastic Mane can be used as materials for refining Artefacts. The Golden Eyes can be used for Alchemy, and can also be used to brew Spirit Wine.

"We'll keep its body for now. For now, let's collect the Spiked Rhubarb", Ye Chen suggested.

"Yes, Let's do that", Lin Qing'er has no problems with this arrangement either.

So, they rose up and walked towards the cave at the foot of the cliff. The scenery inside the cave cannot be clearly seen. But the deep purple glow that can be seen even from outside the cave indicates that there is a treasure inside.

The Protectors did not follow them in. They were guarding outside the cave. And when they entered the cave, the purple glow became distinctive. In the centre of the cave, there is a pool. This pool is also Purple.

Ye Chen and Lin Qing'er knew that this is the Purple Spirit Water that is able to nurture a number of Spiritual Herbs and Medicinal Herbs if the conditions are right. And the Spiked Rhubarb floating in the centre of the pool is the only type of Medicinal Herb that can grow in this situation. Purple Spirit Water inside the cave at the bottom of a Black Cliff.

Ye Chen took out a Jade Box, stepped into the pool, carefully lifted the Rhubarb out of the pool along with its roots that are suspended in water, and put it inside the Jade Box. Jade Boxes are the best at preserving Spiritual and Medicinal Herbs. 

He was about to step out of the pool when the whole pool was being sucked towards where he had just taken out the Purple Rhubarb. 

When he was unprepared, a purple glow enveloped him, and then Lin Qing'er, and then the entire cave. It even extended towards the outside. 

"That is…!