Chapter 37: Her Inhumane Nature
Chapter THIRTY SEVEN
"Your cores would be appreciated, so are you giving them to me the easy way or the hard way?" he asked with such calmness, as if he were asking for something trivial and not the very core of their being.
The two-spiked gorillas gave each other a look and communicated through their expressions, their gazes moving rapidly. Another insane human... Should we fight? No, I don’t think so. He must be another monster. So we run. Yeah, that is the better choice.
Without turning back, they faced forward and fled at their top speed, leaving behind the crazy human who had casually asked them to hand over their lives willingly.
As they fled, the two beasts came to one conclusion: beasts shouldn’t be given the title of crazy anymore, because nowadays, humans were far more deserving of that title.
King Rayden watched the two beasts run away at their maximum speed. "So they won’t be handing them over. Such a hassle," he thought. The next moment, his figure became covered in green lightning, and he vanished in a flash.
The two-spiked gorillas were rushing forward at insane speed when they suddenly sensed that something was wrong. The two instantly leaped away from the tree they were standing on.
The very next moment, a hand-thick bolt of green lightning crashed down from the sky, destroying a large section of the forest with a dangerous boom. After regaining their balance, the two gorillas turned around and saw what had happened.
They looked upward; there, standing amidst writhing green lightning, was the human. His calm gaze stared down at the two of them. "I’ll ask this once more," King Rayden said calmly. "Are you giving me your cores willingly, or should I take them myself?"
The two beasts exchanged weary gazes before turning back toward him with forced determination. There was no way they were agreeing to the human’s silly request of killing themselves; they would fight first and think of a way to survive later.
Seeing them take battle stances, King Rayden shook his head and sighed lightly. "If that is how you want to do it, then so be it. The hard way it is." After saying that, his body became wrapped in crackling green lightning.
Then a sword made entirely of green lightning formed in his right hand. The two gorillas, seeing this scene, felt chills crawl up their spines. At that moment, they really wanted to turn around and flee, but they knew they couldn’t. If they ran now, they would die, and if they fought, they would probably die as well... but at least it wouldn’t be immediate. Damn. That wasn’t encouraging at all.
The two depressed beasts had no hope of winning, yet they only had two choices: either surrender and die, or fight and still die. At the end of the day, death awaited them either way, so they chose one option: they fought.
King Rayden descended with full force. The battle, if it could even be honored with that name, began. A few minutes later, it was already over. A figure crashed heavily into the ground; it was one of the two-spiked gorillas. Its eyes were wide and lifeless; its life had already been snuffed out.
But it wasn’t the only one. A few seconds later, the second gorilla crashed beside the first. Both were dead. Both had palm-sized holes through their chests. Standing high atop a tree was King Rayden. In his hands were two gleaming white beast cores.
He observed them briefly before cleaning them and placing them inside a large sack where numerous other beast cores already rested. There were at least one hundred and twenty beast cores inside.
Combined with the ones back at the cave, it should finally be enough to raise the original from the Ninth Stage of Body Refinement to the Tenth Stage. King Rayden glanced at the sack before looking at the two unfortunate beasts that had crossed paths with him at the worst possible time.
They seemed to have been running from something. Now that he thought about it... King Rayden turned his gaze toward the distance. He could sense waves of qi fluctuating from that direction. If he had to make a guess, then two Level Three beasts must be engaged in some grand battle.
As much as he would have liked to go and take a look, he still had to deliver these cores to the original, who was currently deep in cultivation. So he turned away. Lightning crackled around his figure. Then, in the next instant, he was gone.
Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, the battle had reached a dire stage. Each of the two fighters fought with everything they had. Dark crimson and bright red blood filled the air, staining the very ground where the two clashed.
Boom! Bang! A loud impact echoed as Li Yuexin was sent stumbling across the battlefield. She pushed herself up after regaining her bearings. Her hair was covered in blood, and her blue dress had long since been dyed red by her own blood.
Several puncture wounds littered her small frame as she rose once more, blood dripping from her body as well as from the sword she was holding. Yet that wasn’t all. Her face remained as calm as ever, betraying none of the pain that must surely be ravaging her body right now.
The three-spiked gorilla didn’t look much better, which was quite surprising. The beast’s dark fur had turned into a dark shade of red from the countless wounds that marred every inch of its body.
And that wasn’t all. One of the beast’s eyes had been shut... no, sliced through entirely. Blood dripped endlessly from the ruined eye socket. The beast itself was furious beyond words.
Seeing how much it had suffered because of a mere human filled it with anger, rage, shame, and above all, an overwhelming murderous intent to bring death upon the human that had pushed it this far. The gorilla let out an earth-shaking roar of rage.
Right before everyone’s eyes, several spikes burst out from places where none had existed before: from its shoulders, its chest, its sides, its spine. Even a larger and longer spike emerged from its back, extending downward like a tail. It continued growing until it resembled a real tail entirely.
The beast’s already terrifying aura exploded upward once more. It was giving everything it had left. This state was not something it could maintain forever, but it wouldn’t need to; a few minutes would be enough to end the puny human.
In this state, the three-spiked gorilla had completely surpassed the power of a Second Stage Level Three beast. Instead, it now possessed strength rivaling a Fourth Stage Level Three beast. The ground quaked violently as the three-spiked gorilla released another mighty roar that shook the very air itself.
Li Yuexin frowned slightly as she watched. A tingling sensation crawled up her spine. No one needed to tell her that the beast before her was far more powerful than it had been just a few moments ago. The battle had already been difficult.
Now it had become even worse. "Worse" wouldn’t even begin to describe it. If it were someone else, they would have broken down by now. They would have faltered. Perhaps even lost hope.
But Li Yuexin was not just anybody. She didn’t falter. Her face showed no fear. Even as her heart pounded violently in her chest, her gaze remained steady and unwavering.
Suddenly, she heard Li Feng’s voice. At the same time, something whistled through the air at incredible speed.
Without even turning around, her hand shot out and caught the object. It was Li Feng’s black sword. She turned and looked toward him. Li Feng seemed to be in deep pain, not just because of his exhausted energy reserves but because he was unable to help. Guilt consumed him.
Li Yuexin gave him a firm nod. A nod that seemed to say: Don’t worry. I won’t die. Then another sword flew toward her. This one came from Xie. She caught it as well and gave him a small smile of thanks.
Li Xie immediately gave her a thumbs-up. "Go on! Show that bastard that we of the Li Clan are not to be messed with!" Li Jie nodded and raised his own thumb. "Go and prove why everyone fears the title of Battle Princess!" Li Feng looked at Li Yuexin’s blood-covered figure.
His heart ached before he sighed and raised his own thumb as well. "Go on, little sister. You got this."
Li Yuexin looked at the three of them and gave them a warm smile. A genuine one.
"Put your trust in me. I will win this battle." She spoke calmly, as if she couldn’t feel the monstrous pressure radiating from the three-spiked gorilla behind her. Then she turned around. The warmth vanished from her face.
Her gaze became cold, sharp, and deadly once more. She placed Li Xie’s sword between her teeth, gripping it tightly with her blood-stained teeth. Her own sword remained in her left hand. Li Feng’s sword rested in her right.
Her legs widened slightly, one angled left and the other right. "Second Step... Flowing Current." Her body flashed forward. Her movements became a flowing blur. Yet even that speed was not enough.
The beast could still see her clearly. It struck forward. The two immediately exchanged moves. Sword clashed against spikes. Refined skill collided against overwhelming brute force. The battle raged on.
Surprisingly, however, the three-spiked gorilla was not completely overpowering Li Yuexin. Though it still seemed to have the advantage, a brutal thrust shot forward. One of the spikes pierced straight through Li Yuexin’s shoulder.
Blood sprayed into the air. Yet all she let out was a small whimper. Then she retaliated immediately. Her blade pierced through the beast’s hide but failed to reach its heart. The beast retaliated at once.
Every spike on its body elongated simultaneously, attacking Li Yuexin from every direction while she was still within close range. It seemed certain. She was doomed. Dead without question. "Fourth Step... Stream Mirage."
Her figure suddenly distorted. Becoming blurry. Then, before the attack could land, she had already reappeared several meters away. Perfectly unharmed. The fatal attack missed entirely. Her blue sword remained firmly in her hand.
Her gaze remained calm. Cold. Steady. Without wasting another breath, she rushed forward once again and resumed the dreadful battle.
The battle continued. The ground cracked. The earth shattered. Blood filled the air. The three-spiked gorilla’s expression remained calm and certain, because it believed that, in the end, it would kill the human female.
It had little doubt about that. But as the battle dragged on, its expression slowly began to change. Calmness became seriousness. Seriousness became caution. Then caution became wariness.
The gorilla struck again, drawing more blood from the human. Yet moments later, it felt a sharp pain. One of its spikes had been severed. Blood gushed out. Dark crimson and bright crimson painted the battlefield.
The gorilla’s expression gradually became stranger and stranger. More cautious. More uneasy. A dreadful thought slowly formed within its mind. Is this human becoming stronger the more wounded she gets?
The beast wasn’t imagining it.
Not at all. She truly was becoming stronger. Stronger and stronger with every injury. Just what kind of monster had humans become? The three-spiked gorilla was both right and wrong.
Li Yuexin was indeed becoming stronger the more she was injured, because that was the perk of her strange and inhuman nature. The more she suffered and bled, the stronger she became. The more she wounded her opponent, the faster she became.
The more blood surrounded her, the sharper her senses and the tougher her body grew. And the more the smell and weight of blood drowned the battlefield in a crimson hue, the greater her power became.
The more blood there was... The more alive she felt. Because of this very nature, the three-spiked gorilla had made a terrible mistake. Instead of ending her in one overwhelming strike, it had chosen to wound her repeatedly. It had fed her power.
Strengthened her. Awakened the perks of her terrifying nature. The three-spiked gorilla had made the worst possible mistake. And that mistake... Would cost it its life.
