Chapter 51 – Second-order Underworld Patterned Panther
The Desolate Cluster mountain range spanned thousands of miles. The trees were thick and lush, while the weeds appeared like sickles that weaved in all directions. Those unknown wildflowers were blooming and emitting their fragrances everywhere, making people feel spirited.
Ling Xiao and Solitary Eagle followed Fu Ning and Fu Wei there. On their way, there were occasionally some beasts running out; those beasts didn’t even attain any level of cultivation and basically posed no threat to them. They were also quite lazy to kill those low-value beasts.
From the start until now, they had travelled for more than an hour.
Ling Xiao was feeling impatient, “How long until we get there?”
Fu Ning replied, “About half an hour more, that location’s a bit secretive. There is only a small path that leads through to it and people rarely travel there. The previous time, it was by accident that we travelled there. In the end, when we were escaping, we had left marks along the way.”
Listening to Fu Ning’s explanation, Ling Xiao didn’t say anything more, but he stayed alert to the surroundings. He always felt that it was too calm along the path they had been travelling. Wasn’t it the fact that Desolate Cluster mountain often had many beasts frequenting, why was it that he had not seen a single one? This seemed strange.
Even Solitary Eagle also recognized so, as he threw a glance at Ling Xiao. Only Fu Ning and Fu Wei didn’t understand the situation as they continued forward to lead the way.
As both of them walked for a moment, suddenly Ling Xiao shouted lightly, “Something is coming!”
Everyone became very alert.
“Roar!” With a roar, a Saber-toothed Tiger appeared from the bushes.
“I thought it was something else, but it’s nothing more than just a beast.” Fu Wei said with contempt. With a heavy blade in hand, he rushed towards the Saber-toothed Tiger.
However, that Saber-toothed Tiger basically didn’t attack towards them, but turned its head and ran away. It appeared quite distressed.
“Damn, cowardly beast!” Fu Wei scolded.
“Hiss!” With a long hiss, a black shadow plunged out from the place near Fu Wei.
“Be careful!” Ling Xiao once again screamed in terror.
Then, Solitary Eagle’s longsword flew towards that direction. Due to such unparalleled speed, the sword had even become hot.
“Puff!”
“Hiss!”
Plunging out of the bush was a snake around 8-feet long. Its body was completely silvery, with a close-knit scaled body that emitted a pale silvery light. Like a large snake that hid an infinite force, it erected a third of its body and protruded the bloody mouth that was big like a bucket towards Fu Wei. Fortunately, Solitary Eagle had taken action in time with a sword into the snake body, which hurt the snake so much that it stopped attacking Fu Wei.
“It’s the Brazen Silvery Snake.” Fu Ning shouted terrifyingly and drew out his sword.
Brazen Silvery Snake was a first-grade high-level beast. It could be comparable to a mysterious person of high-level. However, at the same level, a human mysterious person was no match for these spiritual beasts. After all, the beast had such powerful body to a point which a normal mysterious person couldn’t compare to.
As the Brazen Silvery Snake had been hit with a sword and as blood was pouring out from a hole, its animal instinct started to burst out. It left Fu Wei and its giant tail swept towards Solitary Eagle while it spurted out a toxic breath toward Fu Ning’s direction.
Solitary Eagle was a mid-level mysterious warrior, on comparing his strength with this first-grade high-level Brazen Silvery Snake, he was much more powerful. He lightly jumped over the sweeping tail from Brazen Silvery Snake. He swung the fiery sword in his hands to slash dozens of times; each slash chopped down onto the snake’s body with irresistible force.
“Hiss!” The Brazen Silvery Snake was wounded and couldn’t stop giving out a hissing sound. Its body couldn’t stop wiggling.
“Die!” The whole body of Solitary Eagle emitted murderous intent. Powerful mysterious force was concentrated on his longsword and his longsword directly slashed at Brazen Silvery Snake’s neck.
Blood spattered everywhere. A stinky, bloody smell spread out quickly.
Fu Wei looked at the Brazen Silvery Snake split in half, still feeling cold sweat in his body. He couldn’t stop thanking Solitary Eagle.
“Quickly on the way.” Ling Xiao urged them on.
Exactly like what he had guessed, the spiritual beast was quite cunning. Compared to humans, they knew how to ambush. They only needed to take the right moment to give humans a fatal blow. Just then, if it had not been for a scared Saber-toothed Tiger running towards them, perhaps Fu Wei might be within the snake’s belly now.
“Why don’t you start moving?” As Ling Xiao was just two steps forward, he discovered that none had followed him so he couldn’t help but asked.
“Young master, we could collect a bit of material from this snake first. At least, they are worth a few hundred gold coins.” Solitary Eagle replied. He was originally an adventurer, so of course, he knew that skin and veins of a first-grade high-level Brazen Silvery Snake could be sold for a sum. Then, there was the most valuable gallbladder, of which he had heard eating it might result in blood enrichment or aphrodisiac effect.
Ling Xiao glanced at the dead Brazen Silvery Snake, suddenly thought of something then nodded, “The gallbladder belongs to me, the rest you could divide into three. Then remember to keep a piece of meat carefully, perhaps it might become useful.”
Fu Ning and Fu Wei looked delighted, yet Fu Ning rubbed his hands, “This one has been killed by senior Solitary Eagle, let Solitary Eagle senior have it!”
“If I say so then it’s yours, don’t ramble anymore.” Ling Xiao said angrily.
Fu Ning and Fu Wei looked toward Solitary Eagle and they saw him nodding, so they started to divide the Brazen Silvery Snake.
Both of them had quite agile hands, as they had become adept at doing this kind of things.
Both of them took out the gallbladder for Ling Xiao, and they carefully wrapped the rest. To them, this would mean a good amount of income.
Eventually, after salvaging the snake, four of them started to march forward. It was just that inside Fu Ning and Fu Wei's bag, there was still a bloody piece of snake meat.
They didn’t know why Ling Xiao wanted a piece of this snake meat. Did he want to keep it for later to have a grilled meal? However, there were so many birds flying and fishes swimming, so why would he like to eat snake meat?
They didn’t understand, yet didn’t dare to ask Ling Xiao as well. They just strictly followed Ling Xiao’s guidelines.
Another half an hour had passed. After four of them crossed a narrow river, they eventually arrived at a region of thick and solemn trees. In this region, there was a huge secluded lake which was very green and crystal clear. Surrounding the lake was a variety of fauna, lush flowers, and plants; bees and butterflies moved in pairs, flying everywhere haphazardly. The scene was extremely pretty, unlike a place that was full of murderous intent.
“Young master, senior Solitary Eagle, the last place where we discovered this Underworld Patterned Panther is not far from here.” Fu Ning was so scared when he pointed at a region not so far away with a collapsed tree and haphazard weeds.
Ling Xiao and Solitary Eagle became quite alert after listening to Fu Ning. Their senses were concentrated to the highest level such that even the movement or sound of a grass blade couldn’t escape their ears.
“Young master, the Underworld Patterned Panther only frequents outside during twilight. So, should we wait for it?” Solitary Eagle suggested. His adventurous nomadic life was richer than others’, so he was very familiar with the habits of those beasts.
“Not necessary, we’ll just lure it out.” Ling Xiao shook his head, then he told Fu Ning and Fu Wei, “Throw that chopped snake meat out.”
“Young master wants to lure it out?” Solitary Eagle seemed to catch Ling Xiao’s thought.
“Yes, as it has been wounded, it would be uncomfortable to do anything, especially in finding food. So, as long as it could smell blood, it would come outside. We’ll just stand and wait.” Ling Xiao nodded his head and admitted.
Solitary Eagle couldn’t help but look at Ling Xiao with respectful eyes.
Fu Ning and Fu Wei followed Ling Xiao’s words and put the snake meat in an empty area.
“Wait until I engage with the Underworld Patterned Panther. Solitary Eagle must strike a fatal blow at its old wound when the time is right. Both of you stand prepared in case it tries to run away after it is heavily wounded. We must deal with it once and for all in the shortest time possible.” Ling Xiao lowered his voice to lay out the plan.
All three nodded in unison, as they agreed to the instructions given by Ling Xiao.
With each minute and second passing, then panther was yet to be seen.
Both Fu Ning and Fu Wei’s expressions tightened. If the Underworld Patterned Panther didn’t appear at the end, then what should they do? What if this young master and senior Solitary Eagle think they were fooling around? If they thought so, then they might end up in deep trouble.
Another half an hour later, Solitary Eagle started to appear quite impatient.
Only Ling Xiao was still closing his eyes and meditated at the same place, seemingly asleep.
Right at the moment Solitary Eagle was about to speak, Ling Xiao opened his eyes and said calmly, “It’s here.”
Everyone became so tensed that they had even stopped breathing, albeit temporarily.
Indeed, an Underworld Patterned Panther, about three meters long, slowly appeared from within the bush.
Ling Xiao couldn’t help but exclaim, “The panther's so magnificent!”
The Underworld Patterned Panther slowly marched forward with its eyes alert. A pair of fangs protruded with fear-inducing fierceness. On its black and white spotted body, there was a clear wound that was obviously from the battle with the white ape as mentioned by Fu Ning.
The Underworld Patterned Panther moved very slowly and its eyes constantly assessed the surroundings. When it was sure there was no strange activity, it started to approach the snake meat. Then, with great attention, it sniffed that snake meat for a moment before it bit on the meat and turned to leave.
“Not that easy to run away!” Ling Xiao yelled out loud as he carried his sword and jumped out from the bush. The Blue Crystal Sword slashed towards the Underworld Patterned Panther.
“Roar!” The Underworld Patterned Panther suddenly saw a human. Its panther eyes became even more vicious and malicious as it growled. It stomped strongly to quickly move aside and avoided Ling Xiao’s attack.
“Such quick reaction!” Ling Xiao commended. The Blue Crystal Sword in his hands changed direction and once again came down on the panther’s head.
The Underworld Patterned Panther was completely angered by Ling Xiao. It opened its bloody mouth to throw waves of wind blades towards Ling Xiao’s direction.
“Oh crap, it is even capable of projecting its energy out!” Ling Xiao obviously didn’t expect the Underworld Patterned Panther to have such an attack. He couldn’t help but shout loudly and quickly use his “Phantom Cloud Walk” to avoid.
However, the Underworld Patterned Panther didn’t intend to let Ling Xiao get away. After a loud roar, its body rushed towards Ling Xiao and the front legs viciously grabbed forward.
If he had been caught by that razor-sharp claws, perhaps he was afraid that he might have lost his life right then.
“So quick!” Ling Xiao silently said as he immediately retreated. Basically, he didn’t dare to face with the Underworld Patterned Panther.
Fu Ning and Fu Wei, staying in the bush nearby, were also affected by Ling Xiao’s courage. If it were only them fighting against the Underworld Patterned Panther instead, they might just get jelly feet. Solitary Eagle looked at Ling Xiao throwing himself out there while disregarding his life, and his respect for Ling Xiao had increased even more. Ordinary human beings wouldn’t have such kind of courage.
“Swords left traces!” Ling Xiao was rendered quite useless by the Underworld Patterned Panther, and he couldn’t take it easy any longer. So, he put all his force into the sword movements.
Numerous sword slashes rolled towards the direction of Underworld Patterned Panther. The wild bushes and grasses nearby were all cut off.
The Underworld Patterned Panther continuously released wind blades to counter Ling Xiao’s slashes. It had been completely angered by this lowly human, so it didn’t pay attention to the wound on the body. With all its force, it rushed forward and used its bloody mouth to bite Ling Xiao as if wanted to eat this damned human alive.
“Solitary Eagle, if you don’t take action now, then when will you?!” Ling Xiao was overwhelmed by the wind blades and with that, the Underworld Patterned Panther had already jumped in front of him. Its spirit had locked him in and an ominous sense of death made his hair all stand on ends.
“Evil beast, accept your death!” Solitary Eagle, who was hiding nearby, had waited for a long time for this moment. He mobilized the mysterious force present throughout his body. His whole body became dazzling bright. The longsword slashed out and along with it, a wave of snake-shaped fire bolt fired towards the old wound of the Underworld Patterned Panther.
The Underworld Patterned Panther seemed especially sharp. It suddenly abandoned its attack on Ling Xiao and turned its head away. At the same time, it continuously released two waves of wind blades towards the fire snake from Solitary Eagle.
Rumble!