This type of dance was completely novel to the people of Southern Kingdom. This kind of dance was lively, fun, and possessed an enchanting appeal. A few Imperial guards couldn’t help but move along to the beat, quietly shaking their bodies. Seeing this, the Emperor laughingly said, “If the Crown Prince of Northern Kingdom has learned my Southern Kingdom’s sword dance, then you all should get up on stage and learn the heroic dance of Northern Kingdom, no need to stand on ceremony.”
With the Emperor’s encouragement, the group of Imperial Guards couldn’t help but step forward to learn the dance. Presently, the hunting ground was filled with the sound of music, pounding of footsteps, and the flickering of the campfire.
Sitting on the side drinking wine, the Emperor watched with narrowed eyes. Today was a rare occasion to drink to one’s heart’s content, unlike those previous constrained feasts. The officials sitting below drank wine while eating roasted meat and it wasn’t long before they became drunk.
At that moment, an incident suddenly took place.
As the campfire was dwindling down, a few guards stepped forward, intending to add more firewood yet at that precise moment, a strange gust of wind blew pass, completely extinguishing the fire.
Instantly, they were enveloped in the darkness of the night with only the glow of the ember and a few torches casting faint light. The guards swiftly advanced to start the fire again yet at that moment, cries of wolves rang out, sounding particularly forlorn. Amidst the mountains, in the quiet of the night, the howls of wolves were nothing unusual to fear. Which mountains did have at least one or two wolves? Even if there were a pack of wolves, with such a large group of people present, what was there to fear? Moreover, all the vicious beasts were already taken care of yesterday.
But following the series of wolf cries, another kind of growling noise sounded from within the forest, seemingly not too far from them.
Hui Xue suddenly halted her playing and everyone was frozen in place. The guards reached for their weapons and quickly surrounded the Emperor, surveying the surrounding with vigilance. The majority of the people who were drunk had somewhat sobered up now.
This kind of growl was not that of a tiger, ape, wolf, nor panther but that of a bear-like Beast. When she was stationed at Western Jiang, she had once entered into the depths of the jungle with her subordinates and had came across this type of Beast before. It’s just that she had never once exchanged blows with it firsthand. According to the natives of Western Jiang, this bear-like Beast was raised by the deity of Agriculture since ancient times, or so they were told by their ancestors and those before them. Distinct from other animals, it was incredibly huge, not only that but it was also exceedingly intelligent, even tigers, panthers and wolves feared it. It was said that anywhere the bear-like Beast went, other species would suddenly disappear without a trace, that even the wild wolves were scared at the mere sight of it. If a person were to come across such a beast alone on the street, naturally it was not likely for them to return alive. It was no wonder the wolves’ cries just then sounded so miserable.
Hua Zhu Yu did not expect such a beast would appear in this mountain. It seems as though the guards protecting the Emperor haven’t encountered the bear-like Beast before, probably never even heard of it. Clutching tightly to their swords, their hands shook as they entered the forest.
Hua Zhu Yu quickly stepped forward to stop them, “The situation has yet to be assessed, you shouldn’t act rashly.” The bear-like Beast’s body was solid as a rock, ordinary swords couldn’t harm it. If these guards impulsively charged at it, they would merely
be courting death.
But how could these guards listen to the advice of a little eunuch. They urgently rushed forward to display their loyalties in front of the Emperor and shoved her aside, shouting, “Move over, move… don’t block our way!”
But suddenly the cries of the wolves ceased and the birds atop the trees took flight, scattering.
A large black figure emerged.
Resting high above in the night sky, the moon’s rays of light in addition to the few lit torches enabled the people to vaguely see that this beast was even larger than a black bear with a face full of large bristles. Seemingly, it was more cunning compared to the foolish black black and its feet were remarkably agile. It appeared as powerful as a tiger as it charged towards the group of people.
This bear-like Beast was very fast and it seemed as though it knew the Emperor’s place was heavily guards so it bypassed the Emperor and headed directly towards Kang Wang Huangfu Wu Shang whose face was frightened pale.
Having just competed with Huangfu Wu Shuang, Kang Wang Huangfu Wu Shang was currently sitting in the corner drinking wine with only a few guards protecting him. Seeing the charging bear-like Beast, the guards brandished their swords at it but to no avail. Stabbing at it was no different from stabbing a boulder. Instantly, their swords were broken to pieces.
“Don’t attack randomly, its whole body is as sturdy as a rock, only the spot of white fur beneath it’s jaw is its weak point!” Hua Zhu Yu shouted.
Only now did the people realize how impressive this bear-like Beast was. Frightened, a few guards escaped. But among Huangfu Wu Shang’s guards there fortunately was one whose marital arts wasn’t half bad. He rushed forward to protect Huangfu Wu Shang with one hand striking the beast with his sword. But to find the chance to attack the spot of white fur was not easy. He continued to attack the beast and shouted to Huangfu Wu Shang, “Your Highness, quickly escape!”
Huangfu Wu Shang was easily scared and his face was sickly pale as he trembled in fear at the sight of the bear-like Beast. He quickly tried to run away, but his left leg which was already healed, appeared to be somewhat limping.
Seeing him escape, the beast lifted its paw and clouted the guard who was blocking its way. The beast then charged after Huangfu Wu Shang, raising its paw intending to strike his back. Under these circumstances, Hua Zhu Yu couldn’t help but run forward and extend out an arm to pull the youth towards her, reducing the impact of the strike. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Huangfu Wu Shang fainted.
Hua Zhu Yu dragged Huangfu Wu Shang back a few steps and laid him down on the ground. With a burst of wind, the approaching bear-like Beast had leap over her head.
With no weapons and merely relying on her lightness skills (qing gong)it wasn’t hard for Hua Zhu Yu to escape. But if she were to escape, Huangfu Wu Shang would undoubtedly die under the strike of the bear-like Beast.
Though Kang Wang and Huangfu Wu Shuang were rivals and both were sons of her enemy, Hua Zhu Yu was clear who was responsible for the debt and she did not wish for this innocent youth to die like this.
A number of guards had recovered their senses and quickly grabbed their bows and arrows.
But it wasn’t easy to hit the Beast’s fatal point. The arrows rained down on the Beast leaving it full of wounds but they were merely flesh wounds and did not actually harm it in the least and instead incited its fury even further. With an ominous glint in it’s eyes, it pounced towards Hua Zhu Yu.
Hua Zhu Yu quickly made a move for the arrow near Huangfu Wu Shang’s waist. Tightly grasping it in her hand, she began to pour internal force into it. She then raised her two arms high, concealing the arrow. To others, it appeared as though she wrestling with the bear-like Beast. It’s body was heavy and it was strong as a tiger, terribly ferocious as though it would break her arm at any minute.
At once, at this moment of life or death, a purple shadow swiftly approached, so quickly that others could not clearly discern who it was.