Chapter 52 – Death of the Underworld Patterned Panther.
Ling Xiao had taken this rare chance to unsheath the Silver-Demonic Bloody Blade that he possessed.
Frozen Terror Glance, a blade move that contained all of Ling Xiao’s power, slashed down on the Underworld Patterned Panther.
Puff!
It could only reach a third into the monster’s flesh.
Roar! The Underworld Patterned Panther gave out a very loud growl; its tail was like that of a snake, quick and wicked, it flicked on the ground.
Pop
Ah!
Ling Xiao’s body was vigorously hit by the tail, and he flew backward like a broken-string kite.
“Young master!” Solitary Eagle was extremely angry when he gave out a cry. The longsword in his hand continuously slashed out several lines of flame. He started to furiously attack the Underworld Patterned Panther.
The weeds in the surrounding area were burned to ashes by the flame, and quite a number of trees caught fire as well.
Underworld Patterned Panther’s old wound was yet to heal completely, and it was now attacked by Ling Xiao’s blade. It was like snowstorm after snowstorm and injury after injury; its actions slowed down very much. After it had avoided two lines of stark flames, there were another three lines that directly hit it.
Another screech was given out as the fur and skin on its body were burnt to a large degree.
Underworld Patterned Panther jumped into the air like lightning, and it attacked Solitary Eagle. Solitary Eagle’s wind attribute wasn’t that strong, and he also couldn’t avoid quickly enough. Thus, the only thing he could do was to raise his sword in defense.
Underworld Patterned Panther seemed very determined to kill this damned human. As both of them risked their own lives, the panther’s claw grasped Solitary Eagle’s chest while his sword stabbed at the beast’s throat.
Puff puff!
As Solitary Eagle’s chest was clawed by the beast, a large block of meat was chopped away. Fortunately, he had avoided damage to his bones; yet his sword could only stab a little into Underworld Patterned Panther’s throat and couldn’t penetrate any further.
The strength of a spiritual beast’s body was extremely terrifying!
He had soon understood this point.
As it was hurt, Underworld Patterned Panther stepped aside while blood poured continuously out from its body. Its eyes didn’t stop moving like before, seemingly terrified and looking for a chance to escape.
Then, Ling Xiao crawled up and shouted to Fu Ning and Fu Wei, “Quickly deter it, don’t let it get away.”
Receiving Ling Xiao’s order, Fu Ning led the action by jumping out while Fu Wei was scared by the viciousness of Underworld Patterned Panther that his legs turned jelly and dared not step out.
Fu Ning scolded his brother coward, and he swung his sword in the Underworld Patterned Panther direction.
Regrettably, it was blown away by the wind blade from Underworld Patterned Panther.
However, such short time was enough for Ling Xiao to plunge again.
With a “Frozen Terror Glance” using all his power, his blade once again flew towards the old wound of Underworld Patterned Panther.
Then, Underworld Patterned Panther had no other option besides taking on the attack from Ling Xiao completely.
There was no difficulty in carrying out this one hit as it directly slashed the panther’s belly; its blood splashed all over Ling Xiao’s face.
Underworld Patterned Panther gave out an echoing growl as its body couldn’t stop twisting. Leaving aside the Silver-Demonic Bloody Blade on its body, it opened its bloody mouth and leaped towards Ling Xiao to bite him to his death.
Ling Xiao panicked and quickly used his highest speed to retreat backward. Blue Crystal Sword slashed out once more.
Unfortunately, with its dying breath, the Underworld Patterned Panther counter-attacked without care for its life. Despite all the sword qi coming at it from Ling Xiao, it still pounced towards Ling Xiao.
“I’m done!” Ling Xiao faced that bloody mouth with a sense of hopelessness.
Right at that moment, a fiery red sword quickly hit on the panther.
Boom!
Hit by that flame, the Underworld Patterned Panther flew away.
It was Solitary Eagle who had swung his sword from afar. He was panting relentlessly. Obviously, he had saved Ling Xiao.
“Phew.” Looking at the Underworld Patterned Panther flying out, Ling Xiao couldn’t help but exhale strongly. His palm and back broke a cold sweat. It was just the first day in the mountain, and he had already sensed the smell of death. However, such kind of stimulation not only didn’t scare Ling Xiao, in contrast, it conjured his confidence to readily welcome the obstacles.
“It has been eventually killed, hasn’t it?” Fu Ning wiped his cold sweat and looked at the motionless Underworld Patterned Panther in terror.
Then, Fu Wei also poked his head out and asked, “Did the Underworld Patterned Panther die?”
“Humph!” At that moment, Ling Xiao looked irritated at Fu Wei; obviously, he was so dissatisfied at the fact that he had been a coward and didn’t come out to prevent the Underworld Patterned Panther.
Fu Wei also felt quite embarrassed as he dared not look directly at Ling Xiao and Solitary Eagle. He directed his gaze at his brother, yet, unfortunately, his brother also looked down on him, which made him feel like his face was burning.
Ling Xiao dragged his exhausted body next to Solitary Eagle and threw him a Recovery Dew pill. He also took one himself to replenish his Xuan force.
Just now, he had been slashed painfully by the Underworld Patterned Panther. If he hadn’t been training the Five Transformations of Diamond Secret Arts, perhaps that one move would have sent him to death.
Solitary Eagle took the Recovery Dew pill before he used medicines to wrap around the external wound on his chest. He then sat down to recover his Xuan force.
Fu Ning and Fu Wei were standing not too far away to guard them.
At this moment, Fu Wei sneakily said to his brother. “Brother, do you want..?” While his hand gestured a killing motion. Obviously, he seemed to wish to take advantage of the chance while both were wounded to seize the benefits.
Fu Ning glared at him and scolded silently, “If you want to die, don’t drag me as your cushion.”
Fu Wei shrunk his head and turned to glance at Ling Xiao and Solitary Eagle from nearby, and dared not say any further.
Right then, there were sounds of footsteps coming up.
There was a voice saying, “Captain, that wounded Underworld Patterned Panther is right in front.”
“Lower your voice. You want to provoke it!?” A person reproached.
After that at the path towards the waterfall, there came five shadows.
“Ah, there are people over there. Has someone already arrived here before us?” A person said in surprise.
“Not good, some people are coming!” Fu Ning spoke silently and then leaned closely towards Ling Xiao and Solitary Eagle.
“That is the Underworld Patterned Panther!” Among the people who came, there was someone who discovered the Underworld Patterned Panther’s corpse and yelled in surprise.
“Quickly, go over to take a look.”
Five people from faraway walked closer. It appeared that they wore blue costumes, with the vicious head of a wolf embroidered on the chest.
“They’re the people of the Blue Wolf group.” Fu Wei frowned as he told Fu Ning.
“Stay calm. With Solitary Eagle senior here, they wouldn’t dare to do anything.” Fu Ning softened his voice.
“So did you kill the Underworld Patterned Panther yourself?” Among the five people, the one with highest qi looked at Fu Ning and Fu Wei contemptuously as he asked.
“We’ve been lucky to kill it. How do I have to address this great warrior from the Blue Wolf group?” Fu Ning asked respectfully.
From the side of Blue Wolf group, a man stood pointing at both of them and said arrogantly, “You cannot even recognize our Golden Wolf captain, you really want to die!”
“So it is the mighty Golden Wolf. I, Fu Ning, wish to greet you.” Fu Ning was so shaken, and once again he asked considerately. Next to him, Fu Wei also respectfully greeted.
In addition to the most powerful warrior of the group, Blue Wolf, the second one was the deputy head of the group, Fire Wolf. Then came Golden Wolf, who was the leader of five captains. The deceased Black Wolf only ranked fifth; it was because of Blue Wolf that he became Deputy head, otherwise his position would have soon belonged to Golden Wolf.
“Underworld Patterned Panther will belong to us. All of you get lost!” Golden Wolf yelled contemptuously.
“About this…” Both of them broke a cold sweat and dared not respond to the Golden Wolf since it wasn’t them who killed the Underworld Patterned Panther, so they couldn’t make a decision.
“Golden Wolf, you’re still as arrogant as before. This Underworld Patterned Panther has been the game I’ve killed. So you even want to rob my possessions?” Solitary Eagle turned his body behind Fu Ning.
“It’s you, Solitary Eagle!” Golden Wolf stared in surprise at Solitary Eagle and yelled.
“Leave now. Next time back in the fortress, I’d like to invite you to a drink. For now, don’t think about getting a share of this Underworld Patterned Panther,” Solitary Eagle replied coldly. As he had taken the Recovery Dew pill, his wounds had mostly recovered. Yet, as he had lost quite an amount of blood, his body still appeared quite weak and his face was so pale. He dared not provoke the Golden Wolf today. In case he got angry, Solitary Eagle’s current strength was no match for Golden Wolf.
Golden Wolf’s eyes were skillful. With a glance, he saw the spat of blood on Solitary Eagle’s chest and his unusual politeness; from all these details, he could guess that the opponent was heavily wounded, so he smiled, “Solitary Eagle, whoever views it also has a portion. I only want the skin and its fangs, the rest belong to you, how about that?”
The precious parts on the Underworld Patterned Panther were its skin and the pair of fangs. If used as a cushion, its skin had an effect of dispelling the cold and boosting concentration. With special techniques, it could even be made into a protective armor which couldn’t be damaged by even the most powerful weapon. On the other hand, the fang was the best material for cultivation, and one could even cultivate with parts that had wind attribute from Underworld Patterned Panther to increase the item level, and the subsequent weapon would cause terrifying damage.
Golden Wolf had already picked these two parts the moment he opened his mouth, thus one could see that he had no intentions to pay his respects to Solitary Eagle.
“Golden Wolf, leave a path with everything. Even your Blue Wolf group doesn’t demand much when they encounter me. Due to my respect on Blue Wolf group, I don’t want to be calculative with you so quickly leave; otherwise, don’t blame me for not being polite.” Solitary Eagle grunted coldly.
“Haha, normally, if I were to meet you, Solitary Eagle, I would be polite. But today, I also want to see how impolite could you get for this Underworld Patterned Panther as I definitely want it.” Golden Wolf laughed loudly then drew out a golden sword as if he wanted to fight with Solitary Eagle.
Golden Wolf was a mid-level Xuan warrior that had just promoted. So, in terms of power, he was definitely no match for Solitary Eagle. However, Solitary Eagle was already wounded while the Golden Wolf was full of energy. Since he dared to make such fuss, he might not be afraid of Solitary Eagle today.
Solitary Eagle’s face changed as he couldn’t stop looking at Ling Xiao, then he said in surrender, “This time, the bad luck is with me, so the Underworld Patterned Panther is for you.”
“Haha, this is truly interesting. When we get back, I’ll treat you to a drink as a token of appreciation!” Golden Wolf laughed with mockery. He also didn’t want to face Solitary Eagle head on. If Solitary Eagle risked his life to fight with him, even when he could kill Solitary Eagle, he might perhaps also pay a huge price. If Solitary Eagle were to surrender himself, he didn't want to start and as he had already seen it happen, he didn’t want to press too much.
At the moment when Golden Wolf commanded two of his servants to take the items on Underworld Patterned Panther away, Ling Xiao finally started speaking. “Whoever dares to touch Underworld Patterned Panther, I would chop his claws.”
Ling Xiao slowly stood up, and his cold eyes staring deeply at Golden Wolf. Having taken one Recovery Dew pill, his Xuan force had already recovered about eighths of his total capacity. He already had the ability to protect himself, so he couldn’t just stand there and look as the booty they risked their lives for was being stolen.
Golden Wolf glanced with surprise at Ling Xiao and saw just a young man about seventeen to eighteen years old. So he couldn’t help but raise his head and laugh, “Haha, such a tiny mid-level Xuan practitioner dares to speak arrogant words like that. You truly don’t know how high the sky or how vast the earth is! If you want to die, I won’t hesitate to help you.”
“Young master, do not get provoked.” Solitary Eagle lowered his voice to talk with Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao didn’t respond yet as his eyes directed on the servants of Golden Wolf who were about to approach the Underworld Patterned Panther. There was a flash of shadow with speed rivalling that of a demon.
“Be careful!” Golden Wolf reacted rapidly as he recognized Ling Xiao’s movement. He screamed in terror towards his comrades and the golden sword in his hand also slashed towards Ling Xiao.
As Solitary Eagle saw Ling Xiao take actions, he could only suppress his pain to swing the fire sword, in order to repulse the attack from Golden Wolf’s golden sword.
Ling Xiao wasn't anxious about his back, and his Blue Crystal Sword plunged towards the two mercenaries who had just reacted.
Phew phew!
Puff puff!
Both of them didn’t have time to defend, so they got stabbed several times and lost their lives on the spot.