Chapter 161: Chapter 123 New Year’s Eve Harvest_3
[[Diagram Master kills Wang Mao and gains a Second Realm Evil Qi]]
"ROAR!"
Just as Chen Ku killed Wang Mao, a Constable of the Peace Path, in a flash, the charging Year Beast saw its "enemy" get clawed to death by a type of demon it didn’t recognize. It let out a roar and accelerated, ramming towards Chen Ku, who was in his Flower Fox Mink form.
[[A Third Realm Year Beast seeks to harm the Diagram Master; killing it will grant Evil Qi]]
WHOOSH!
After Chen Ku killed Wang Mao, he landed on all fours. Just as he steadied himself, he felt the Year Beast charging at him like a train.
Simultaneously, the Year Beast opened its massive maw, a blue radiance gathering within, and then instantly spat a Cold Current at him.
Time to fly!
Feeling the terrifying threat of the Third Realm Demon, Chen Ku immediately beat the wings under his ribs and soared into the sky.
The next instant, the Cold Current from the Year Beast’s mouth encased Wang Mao’s body entirely in ice. Then, its enormous body crashed into him, smashing the frozen corpse into a bloody pulp, sending shards of ice and blood flying.
After Chen Ku took flight, he looked back. The Demon Person’s head, worth over three thousand taels of silver, had been smashed into bloody paste. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret. He exhaled and said, "Damn beast, that was all money."
Flying thousands of meters into the air in his bear-bodied, mink-headed Flower Fox Mink form, he stared down at the maddened Year Beast roaring at the sky and whispered in his heart, Compensate me!
His silent command given.
Transform!
Reverting to his human form in freefall, he unhurriedly put on his clothes, then took out his Big Bow and arrows.
「On the ground.」
The Year Beast kept its eyes fixed on the strange flying beast in mid-air. Suddenly, it saw the beast transform into a "human" and begin to fall...
With the Year Beast’s demonic way of thinking, it couldn’t comprehend Chen Ku’s transformation. It merely watched coldly as its "prey" was about to fall, opening its great mouth, preparing to spew another Cold Current into the air.
Unexpectedly, as Chen Ku fell from thousands of meters, now dressed and with his Big Bow and arrows in hand, a red cloud of smoke materialized beneath his feet, transforming into a Volcanic Crow the size of a washbasin, which he then stood upon with one foot.
Chen Ku stood on the Volcanic Crow’s back, his balance still a little unsteady. If my Flower Fox Mink clone hadn’t been sent out, I wouldn’t have to use the Volcanic Crow as an aerial mount. Still, it’s a First Realm Demon. Although small, it can barely carry me.
He watched as the Cold Current spewed by the Year Beast reached only about thirty meters into the air before dissipating.
Chen Ku, however, had halted several hundred meters up. He drew his Big Bow, nocked an arrow, and abruptly let it fly...
WHOOSH!!
The Year Beast, with its limited intelligence, couldn’t comprehend Chen Ku’s series of transformations and actions. It hesitated for a moment. From several hundred meters above, an arrow descended, carrying terrifying force.
The air shrieked as the arrow descended!
A single arrow pierced one of the Year Beast’s eyes!
ROAR!!
The Year Beast writhed in agony, its left eye impaled. It began to run and leap about frantically, like a maddened bull.
Yet Chen Ku felt no joy. Instead, watching the wounds on the Year Beast, his heart tightened.
He saw the wounds inflicted by the Peace Path Demon People—cuts and burns. They had already stopped bleeding and, with his exceptional vision, he could even see its skin and flesh slowly mending.
Wow, this self-healing ability!
Chen Ku had previously seen Huang Muxia, during a dojo challenge, suffer a grazed skin from Instructor Chai’s arrow, only for the wound to heal instantly. He later understood...
This was the physical transformation of a Martial Practitioner who had cultivated to the Third Realm, the Jade Skin Realm.
Upon reaching that realm, it was said that the muscles would contain a powerful Life Force. Even if injured, the vitality was like a wildfire that could not be extinguished, reborn with the spring breeze. Minor wounds could heal in the span of a breath...
For human Martial Practitioners to reach this stage, their healing ability was already terrifying.
Yet, this Year Beast’s healing ability seemed even stronger. After all, those injuries had been inflicted by targeting the Year Beast’s weakness—its fear of fire—and yet, they were still healing.
If I can’t kill it quickly, even if I can fly, this demon’s terrifying regenerative power will drain all my Qi Power.
The Five Thousand Stone Big Bow, repeatedly drawn and released, already consumed a great deal of Qi Power.
Chen Ku looked at the Year Beast on the ground, an arrow protruding from its eye. It had entered a "frenzied" state, rampaging wildly...
Standing on the Volcanic Crow, he maneuvered for a better firing angle, drew his Big Bow, and aimed at the Year Beast’s other eye.
Arrow after arrow followed.
He had thirty arrows in his Arrow Quiver. He had used about twenty to kill the group of Demon People. Chen Ku now dedicated all the remaining arrows to the Year Beast.
He had only managed to hit its eye previously because the Year Beast had been standing still. Now that it was running wildly, Chen Ku missed six or seven shots. Only four more arrows struck the Year Beast. Although these caused considerable damage, they weren’t fatal...
But they weren’t useless; the injuries slowed the Year Beast down. Finally, with only two arrows left in his Arrow Quiver, he managed to hit its other eye...
Both eyes were blinded, and with four or five arrows embedded in its body, all sunk in up to their fletchings.
Chen Ku didn’t shoot any more arrows, merely chasing it during its final, desperate rampage.
Eventually, blinded and running wildly, the Year Beast smashed into countless large trees before, like a headless fly, it crashed headfirst into a large boulder at the foot of a cliff and collapsed unconscious.
Looking down from above, Chen Ku watched the Year Beast’s chest rising and falling as it lay before the cliff wall. He leaped down, landing before it.
Five Blood Blade Claws extended from the nails of his right hand.
He silently approached and gave the Third Realm Demon a swift end.
[[Diagram Master kills the Year Beast, obtaining a strand of Third Realm Evil Qi]]
Chen Ku’s heart raced with exhilaration.
Third Realm Evil Qi!
If he was lucky, he might be able to directly extract and use the Year Beast’s Third Realm Demonic Power. Even with average luck, he could still acquire other abilities from this fearsome demon.
The terrifying nature of a Third Realm Demon was evident from the fact that it alone had withstood a combined siege by three Mystic Barrier Demon People and twelve internal qi experts for so long.
Chen Ku understood that he had only been able to kill this Third Realm Demon by flying and using his Big Bow, kiting this tank-like behemoth from afar.
If the Peace Path Demon People hadn’t set an ambush earlier and driven the Year Beast into the forest, he wouldn’t have been able to kill it on his own. At most, he would have managed to land one arrow from the shore before it turned and escaped into the water.
...