Chapter 59: Malignant Beast!

The morning light filtered through the tall branches of ancient trees, casting shifting patterns of shadows on the damp, churned-up forest floor. The air was heavy with the scent of wet earth and blood, a silent testament to the battle taking place there.

The natural sounds of the forest were interrupted only by the clash of blows, roars, and the snapping of broken branches.

The battle was intense, and Tang Chun Xi was at the center of it.

Three days had passed since Tang Chun Xi had left the monkeys behind, and during that time, she had crossed paths with several cultivators. Most of them, she had carefully avoided, but in some instances, interaction had been inevitable.

What intrigued her the most, however, was that she had found no trace of the great battle that had taken place in the mist days earlier. Nothing that indicated what had truly happened there. That mystery troubled her, but now was not the time for deep reflection.

Now, however, she was facing the toughest opponent she had ever encountered.

A Blood Armor Bear.

The Level Six beast before her was a mountain of muscle and bone, covered in reddish bony plates that gleamed under the faint morning light. Its wild eyes were fixed on her—a crimson, hungry glow that made it clear this creature was evil, a monster thirsting for flesh and blood.

The creature was a spectacle of terror: its sharp claws, covered in a bloody aura that extended their reach and power, slashed through the air with ferocity. Every strike it made tore through the air, and the ground shook with its heavy steps.

And its eyes burned with an insatiable hunger, its aura exuding distorted vitality.

Tang Chun Xi reacted as best she could to the creature's claw strikes, her fists clenched around the Lunar Umbrella, but she was struggling to dodge them. As she moved, the fiery trail she left behind lingered in the bear's path, but with little effect.

She pressed her lips together, knowing she couldn't afford mistakes. A single strike from those claws could be fatal.

'Its regeneration, its bloody aura, its endurance... all of that combined, and I can barely handle it, even after my advancements and with the [Phoenix Wings] active.' — she thought, gritting her teeth as she narrowly dodged another brutal attack.

'If I don't use talismans or energy emission, I might not be able to defeat it.' — she concluded, her body tense.

Tang Chun Xi was sweating like never before, and her breathing grew faster and heavier. The Lunar Umbrella danced in her hands, the canopy opening and closing as she alternated between defense and attack.

The bear advanced relentlessly, as if its thirst for blood only grew stronger.

The creature's claws, covered in a bloody aura, wreaked havoc on the environment, felling trees with a single slash. The sound of metal clashing against bone echoed through the forest, and the air was charged with the chaotic energy of the battle.

— "Bang…" — In an instant, the creature delivered a brutal strike against a tree, which fell with a thunderous crash, scattering wood splinters and dust. Chun Xi took the opportunity to retreat and catch her breath.

'The bear's aura makes my fiery trail almost useless, and my attacks only leave moderate wounds that are healing quickly.' — she concluded, frustrated, as she deactivated her fiery trail and planned another way to deal with the bear.

The beast unleashed more attacks, and Tang Chun Xi dodged its claws with agile steps, using the debris-filled terrain around her to her advantage.

She was waiting for an opportunity, a flaw. With her mind tense and focused on the creature, she seized her chance and made her move.

'Now!' — With a mental command, she released the heat wave from the [Phoenix Wings] ability. She had learned to hold back this wave and release it when necessary, though she could still only do it once per use of the wings.

The fiery wave, at high temperature, burned the creature's face, causing it to roar in pain: — "Roar!" — Tang Chun Xi took advantage of this moment, leaping onto a still-standing tree and firing a talisman.

The scroll ignited and transformed into several metallic energy blades that struck the bear. — "Bang!" — She didn't wait to see the result.

— "Amplify weight!" — She hurled the Lunar Umbrella like a spear, aiming for its head.

But, at the last moment, the bear raised its front paw, and the attack only struck the paw reinforced by bony plates. Seeing this, she called the Lunar Umbrella back, and it swiftly flew back into her hand.

— "That bony armor... and that regeneration!" — How could she defeat it if even an attack like that was blocked and quickly healed? 'I can't just bombard it with talismans!' — she thought in frustration, watching the scars on the bear's body and the wound on its paw heal in the following moments.

This time, the bear didn't roar, but its cruel and greedy gaze intensified.

The bear crouched and charged with surprising speed, knocking down the tree with the impact. Tang Chun Xi was forced to jump toward the ground, seeing there were no nearby trees left to support her.

'Neither fire, water, wood, nor metal are working against this bloody aura surrounding this beast...' — Only earth had had some decent effect, and so she thought about how to use earth in an efficient attack.

'If I'm not mistaken, this aura is formed when it devours younglings and women alive, so how many has it devoured for this aura to be so strong and evil?' — The question made her nauseous and disgusted, which was evident on her face.

But there was no time for digressions.

She reacted mid-air and, as she was about to attack the creature, sensed danger coming from her left. Momentarily, she used the Lunar Umbrella to alter her trajectory, dodging the bear's attack and an arrow that came out of nowhere.

In the next second, the Lunar Umbrella closed, and she whispered: — "Amplify weight!" — Once again, at high speed, she hurled it like a spear.

The weapon disappeared into the jungle, and she heard a scream as she landed on the ground, followed by silence. Meanwhile, the bear turned to attack her again, and she, now without her weapon, pushed the Winged Phoenix Step to its limit to dodge.

'Another cultivator trying to take advantage, and this one couldn't even wait for me to finish this fight.' — Over the past few days, unscrupulous cultivators had been trying to attack her while she was weakened. Thinking about this, she knew she had to finish quickly before another was drawn in.

But in the seconds it took for the Lunar Umbrella to return, she already had a cut on her stomach.

Her energy, just in these few minutes of fighting, had been drained by half. She wondered if she was really that bad at controlling and efficiently using it. Theoretically, she had five times the energy of a common spiritual root... Although her roots weren't pure, they had special properties—the cycle of chaos and stellar energy.

'I think I understand why they say it's a waste to have all five roots... Just the difficulty of advancing in level is already a pain. Now, add the understanding, training, and control of each of these elements, and it's a nightmare.' — She needed to train these aspects. After all, her efficiency in energy manipulation was lacking.

— "You're quite a troublesome opponent, but it's time to end this!" — she declared with determination, a provocative smile appearing on her face. She had already figured out how to finish off the bear.

Her taunt seemed to enrage the creature even more, and it charged with both claws covered in a doubled bloody aura.

Tang Chun Xi leaped high, using a nearby fallen debris as a springboard, and descended toward the attack.

The creature attacked with all its fury and strength, but that was exactly what Chun Xi wanted.

She turned the open canopy of the Lunar Umbrella downward to receive the attack.

The sound of metal clashing was heard, and Tang Chun Xi felt her body and the Lunar Umbrella being sent even higher.

As this happened, she launched a high-quality talisman at the creature, which exploded into flames.

After that, as she began to fall back down, she focused all her stellar earth energy into the open canopy, to the point of nearly ejecting it. From above, it looked like a sphere covered in an earthy aura.

And then, she whispered: — "Amplify weight."

With a thunderous crash, she plummeted the five meters she had risen at high speed. The creature, with its bony plates shattered by the talisman attack, was struck head-on by the impact of the round canopy and its blade.

The fall created a shockwave, fragmenting the ground around them and sending dust and debris flying for several meters. The wind from the impact shook the surrounding foliage.

— *"Coff!... Coff!"* — The force of the attack made Tang Chun Xi cough with difficulty, her entire body aching, but the good thing was that she still had energy this time—a result of not ejecting the energy and only using a third of her remaining energy.

She jumped out of the half-meter-deep crater that had formed and, as the dust settled, looked at the result of the attack.

— "You're still alive!?" — Shocked, she saw that the creature, though severely wounded—its bony plates gone and half of its bloody aura dissipated—was still breathing. Although it wasn't moving, its bloody aura was slowly diminishing, being consumed in healing.

— "Again, how many creatures have you eaten for your bloody aura to keep you alive like this?!" — She didn't know whether to be shocked or nauseated, knowing how that aura, with such effects, was formed.

— "I can't let this bear recover!" — Though a bit tired, her wood energy, along with her lunar energy, had already taken care of the worst: the cut on her stomach.

She ate two Lower Qi Fruits and quickly delivered a fatal blow to sever the creature's head.

It was then that something unexpected happened.

— "Who?!" — Tang Chun Xi exclaimed, dodging with some agility, though her body still showed signs of exhaustion, from a sudden attack that came her way.