Chapter Forty-Seven: The Lethal Sword Qi

Yitian raced across the blood-soaked earth, pursued relentlessly by the Silverblood Ancient Beast. The Feather Flight technique rendered him a streak of light weaving and soaring through the myriad beasts, untouched by danger.

The Silverblood Ancient Beast, consumed by fury, saw nothing but Yitian, madly intent on his destruction. Yitian, to further provoke it, kept himself always within reach, intensifying its obsession to crush him. Its massive claws lashed out again and again, tearing deep furrows into the ground. Any wild beast too slow to escape was instantly shredded into countless mangled limbs.

At the same time, Yitian harbored another intent: to keep himself within range of the beast’s casual attacks. Should he escape its grasp, that dreadful silver beam attack, unleashed once before, might return—and he knew he could not withstand it. Even using the Star Mud avatar to block it had come at a steep price, one not to be paid lightly.

Thus, Yitian led the Silverblood Ancient Beast on a wild chase across the beast-infested plain, its vast body and destructive attacks leaving carnage in their wake. Beasts were slain or fled in terror, chaos reigning everywhere.

Ahead of the tribe, tens of thousands of beasts were seized by terror, gripped by dread. Even the remaining dozens of fierce beasts fled far from the Silverblood Ancient Beast, lest a single angry swipe tear them apart.

Soon, the masses began to scatter in all directions. Some of the fierce beasts fled immediately, abandoning the area and heading toward distant tribes, castles, or other human settlements.

“Excellent!” The chieftain and his followers watched with delight—the great crisis posed by the countless beasts was finally dissolving.

Yet the next moment, they remembered their tribe still faced a grave threat: the Silverblood Ancient Beast itself. If it could not be dealt with, the tribe would be destroyed all the same.

The furious pursuit between Yitian and the Silverblood Ancient Beast had lasted over half an hour. Gradually, the beast began to recover from its frenzy. Whenever Yitian tried to lure it away from the tribe, it refused, clearly unwilling to abandon the allure of nearly ten thousand human lives. Its hatred for Yitian did not fade, allowing him to keep it occupied and away from the tribe.

Yitian sensed that the Silverblood Ancient Beast’s silver beam attack must consume a tremendous amount of vital energy; otherwise, it would have used it again already.

Despite half a day of relentless attacks, the beast had failed to harm Yitian. Finally, it grew impatient.

Turning away, it strode toward the tribe, drawn by the promise of human flesh, temporarily abandoning its pursuit of Yitian for the feast that awaited.

Yitian and the tribe’s warriors turned pale—the beast was beginning its assault on the tribe, the very outcome they had dreaded.

The Silverblood Ancient Beast was a low-tier royal-class monster, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter earth. Only a human-level powerhouse could hope to stop it; otherwise, none in the tribe could resist.

Just then, the tribe’s second elder shouted, “Everyone, withdraw to the ancestral temple—take shelter in the underground chambers!”

The tribe’s warriors were momentarily stunned. They had never heard of the underground refuge beneath the ancestral temple before. Yet the chance to avoid a desperate fight against the Silverblood Ancient Beast was a blessing—they would not have to die needlessly, nor part from their loved ones.

On the battered, towering stone walls, the warriors began to prepare for their retreat. With the threat of the beast hordes gone, their withdrawal would not be hindered, and losses would be minimal.

A golden opportunity!

At that moment, Yitian’s eyes gleamed as he watched the Silverblood Ancient Beast approach the tribe.

He unleashed the Feather Flight technique with all his might, streaking forward like light, and leaped powerfully, landing atop the beast’s back.

A roar erupted—the Silverblood Ancient Beast sensed Yitian’s move and was enraged. But it knew that only its innate attack could slay this cunning human, and that was a power of the bloodline, not to be wasted. Yitian was far too weak, his vitality less than even a low-tier beast’s, yet he had blinded one of its eyes.

The beast longed to destroy Yitian, but it could not justify using its innate attack on one so insignificant. Besides, it feared that attack might be blocked again. It couldn’t fathom how Yitian had survived its innate strike, nor the nature of that sudden three-headed demon hound that had appeared and vanished.

It could not link Yitian to the demon hound, nor believe it possible. Perhaps the hound had merely wandered by and devoured its attack, it reasoned in its simple way. Thus, when it met Yitian again, it attacked without restraint, determined to kill him and erase its humiliation.

Now, as Yitian challenged it again, climbing onto its back, the Silverblood Ancient Beast’s tail whipped through the air at him, a silver streak tearing toward its target.

But Yitian, swift as lightning, had already darted to the beast’s head. The silver tail struck its own body with a thunderous crack—a blow that would have been deadly if it were its innate attack, but mere physical strikes could not touch Yitian at full speed.

As Yitian reached the beast’s head, it paid him little heed. Only Yitian’s bow and arrows posed any threat; his own attacks could not pierce its scales.

This careless thought, however, would soon bring it deep regret.

Standing atop the Silverblood Ancient Beast’s head, Yitian’s eyes flashed with an unstoppable blade’s brilliance.

“Kill!” he thundered.

In his palm, a three-inch sword shadow coalesced—ethereal, transparent, yet emanating boundless sword energy, as if it encompassed the heavens and could cleave earth and sky.

A roar erupted—the Silverblood Ancient Beast sensed an immense danger from the celestial sword energy and howled frantically, its massive claws lunging at Yitian.

But it was too late.

With a decisive strike, Yitian slammed his palm onto the beast’s head. The celestial sword energy pierced its thick, dark-silver scales without hesitation and sank into its skull.

In that instant, as his killing blow landed, Yitian shot away like an arrow.

The beast’s attack followed a heartbeat later, its claw striking its own head and worsening its wounds.

Howling in agony, the Silverblood Ancient Beast raged, its head pierced by the celestial sword energy and wracked with unbearable pain.

It launched a frenzied assault at Yitian. Silver light flared across its body, its eyes shining white.

With a roar, another terrifying silver beam blasted forth toward Yitian, who had already fled over a thousand yards.

Ready for this, Yitian sent his consciousness into the Star Mud avatar. The three-headed demon hound’s Stellar Imprint shone brilliantly, illuminating the boundless darkness.

In the next instant, the demon hound appeared from nowhere. Its left head opened wide and swallowed the terrifying silver beam, several yards long, in a single gulp.

In less than a second, the demon hound vanished again.

The hound’s appearance was so swift, and with the tribe’s warriors focused on their retreat and Yitian far from the tribe, few witnessed its presence.

With its innate attack spent, the Silverblood Ancient Beast could no longer endure. After a brief struggle, it crashed down as if collapsing mountains and toppling pillars.

The tribe’s warriors, tense in their retreat, were drawn by the thunderous crash. Turning to look, they witnessed the most astonishing scene of their lives—the terrifying Silverblood Ancient Beast was dead.