I Got Cheated On and Ended Up in A Beast World

Chapter 166: Chapter 166: The Weight of the Chain

The hound in the center, a towering beast with a long, jagged scar cutting across its snout, lowered its head, its dark nostrils flaring as it caught the faint, lingering scent of jasmine in the air.

"Back," Wei Xiang spoke, his voice cold and steady as he lifted his silver sword, pointing the tip directly at the lead hound’s eye. "You are far from your master’s kennel, beasts. There is no meat for you on this mountain."

The lead hound let out a low, gravelly snarl, its powerful hind legs tensing against the wet earth.

*Snap!*

The beast lunged forward with terrifying speed, its massive jaws snapping shut right where Wei Xiang’s throat had been a microsecond before.

Wei Xiang moved with a fluid, lightning-fast grace. He dodged to the left, his silver blade cutting through the air in a clean, horizontal arc.

*Slash.*

The sword sliced deeply through the hound’s shoulder scales, releasing a thick spray of dark, smoky blood that smelled of burning tar.

The beast gave a sharp yelp of pain, its heavy body crashing into a nearby pine tree, knocking a shower of dead needles onto the ground.

But before Wei Xiang could recover his stance, the other two hounds attacked from his blind spots. One lunged for his left thigh, while the other threw its big body straight at his chest, its claws extended to rip through his leather tunic.

"Second Form: Earth Wall!" Wei Xiang shouted, slamming his left palm against the ground.

A thick ridge of solid stone exploded upward from the mud, forming a two-foot-tall barrier that intercepted the first hound’s jaws with a loud *crack*. At the exact same moment, Wei Xiang twisted his upper body, using the flat of his silver blade to block the second hound’s heavy claws.

*Clang!*

The sheer physical impact of the beast’s weight sent a violent vibration up his arms, forcing him back three steps across the slippery mud.

His boots dug deep into the earth to stop his momentum, his breathing finally turning heavy as the chaotic pressure from the hounds began to wear down his inner reserves.

Inside the hollow of the tree, Lin Wan watched the battle through the faint silver lines of the talisman barrier. Her chest was heaving with frantic, shallow gasps, her hands clutched tightly over her lower stomach as the dark mark on her neck continued to throb in perfect unison with the hounds’ attacks.

Every time Wei Xiang’s sword struck a beast, a sharp, sympathetic pain shot through her own meridians, making her vision blur with dark spots.

"Wei... Weiwei..." she muttered, her voice breaking as she pressed her forehead against her knees. "Please... I need a pill. I need anything to stop this burning."

The system remained dead, a cold, silent void in her mind.

Outside, the lead hound had scrambled back to its feet, its crimson eyes burning with a twice-as-furious light. It didn’t rush Wei Xiang this time. Instead, it lifted its dark head toward the sky and let out a short, sharp bark that carried a strange, high-pitched spiritual frequency.

*Thrum.*

Far in the distance, down the mountain path behind them, a sudden, terrifying change took place.

The cold mountain air did not just shift; it completely froze. A raw, world-crushing pressure exploded through the trees from miles away, a dark, heavy heat that traveled across the forest like a wave of physical fire.

The black pine needles on the trees began to shrivel and turn to ash, the damp mud drying up into white dust in a matter of seconds.

It was a scent of winter frost, dark ozone, and raw, absolute power.

The King had entered the woods.

Cassian was no longer tracking them through his servants; he had picked up the trail himself, and his towering silhouette was already moving through the lower ridges with the speed of a falling star.

The pure weight of his approaching aura was so immense that the silver talismans on the oak tree began to flicker wildly, tiny red cracks appearing across the pale blue paper.

Wei Xiang felt the pressure hit his chest like a physical hammer. He staggered, his silver sword dipping toward the ground as his spiritual core groaned under the sovereign weight of the manticore king.

He looked back toward the oak tree, his amber eyes filling with a sudden, desperate finality.

"Lin Wan," he called out, his voice raw and urgent as he rushed back to the hollow, tearing away the fading blue talismans with his bare hand. "He is too close. The talisman cannot hide you anymore. We have to go now."

He lifted her into his arms once more, his movements faster and rougher than before, driven by the pure adrenaline of a prey animal that could hear the teeth of the predator closing behind its neck.

He turned away from the three hounds, running blindly through the thick brush toward the sound of the roaring river ahead.

The three shadow hounds did not pursue them immediately. They stood in a perfect line along the path, their crimson eyes fixed on the retreating shapes, their tails wagging slowly in the dark.

They had done their job. They had cornered the bird, and now, they were simply waiting for their master to arrive and claim the prize.

The river was a wide, roaring torrent of gray water, filled with sharp, jagged rocks and white foam that crashed against the canyon walls with a deafening thunder. There was no bridge, no fallen log, and no easy way across.

Wei Xiang stopped at the very edge of the mud, his large boots splashing into the cold water as he looked at the opposite bank, which sat nearly forty feet away through the violent spray.

Behind them, the dark heat in the air was growing twice as thick with every breath they took, the sound of snapping trees echoing through the forest as Cassian’s towering shape came closer and closer.

"Wei Xiang," Lin Wan whispered, her face completely pale, her lips blue with the bitter cold. "Put me down. You can jump across if you are alone. If you carry me... the weight will drag you down into the stones."

"Never," Wei Xiang said, his voice a firm, unyielding growl as he tightened his grip around her waist. He drew a deep, slow breath, gathering every single drop of his remaining spiritual energy into his thighs and core, his green tunic glowing with a faint, steady light. "Hold on to me, little moon. We jump on three."

"One."

The wind behind them completely vanished.

"Two."

A dark, towering silhouette stepped out from the edge of the pine trees, just thirty paces away from where they stood.

Cassian stood perfectly still in the shadow of the branches. He wore his long war robes of deep black silk, a heavy crimson cape trailing behind his big boots.

His long midnight hair was loose, blowing across his sharp, aristocratic jawline, and his golden slitted eyes were completely locked onto the small female in Wei Xiang’s arms.

He did not carry a sword. He did not need one. The raw, suffocating pressure radiating from his body was enough to make the river water beneath their feet slow down and turn to ice.

"Lin Wan," Cassian spoke, his deep, raspy voice a smooth purr that traveled through the roaring sound of the water like a physical touch. "Come back to me."

Lin Wan looked into his golden suns, and the sheer terror inside her soul core turned into a cold, hard defiance. She wrapped her arms tighter around Wei Xiang’s neck, turning her face away from the king.

"Three!" Wei Xiang roared.

He threw his body forward, his legs

exploding with all his remaining spiritual power as he launched them off the muddy bank, flying straight out over the roaring gray torrent toward the distant stones of the opposite side.

Cassian did not run after them. He did not let out a shout of anger. He simply stood at the edge of the water, his golden slitted eyes narrowing into dangerous, thin lines as he slowly raised his right hand, his long, clawed fingers extending through the gray mist toward the middle of the river.

"Return," the king whispered.

With a single, casual flick of his fingers, a massive wave of dark, spatial energy exploded from his palm, forming a giant, transparent hand of purple shadow that stretched out across the water, reaching straight for Lin Wan’s gray cloak like an anchor dropping from the heavens.

The air above the roaring river seemed to freeze solid as the purple shadow hand tore through the mist.

Wei Xiang was still mid-leap, his boots suspended thirty feet above the crashing white foam, his entire spiritual reserve pushed into that single, desperate jump. He felt the sudden, violent shift in the atmosphere before he saw it.

The pure weight of Cassian’s spatial energy hit his back like a physical boulder, shattering his forward momentum in a single microsecond.

"Lin Wan!" he choked out, his voice instantly swallowed by the wind.