From Robinson Crusoe

Even during his most rigorous martial arts training, Bi Kai rarely felt this way.

A burning sensation flowed through his throat and lungs, each breath he inhaled was fiery, like burning liquor, leaving him feeling weak all over.

His temples were already throbbing, and at this moment, he could barely even lift his sword, let alone dodge.

The mammoth didn't care about the state of the tiny creature beneath it; it simply stomped down with its heavy hooves, venting its fury to the fullest.

When the pitch-black columnar object that blocked out the light fell, Bi Kai was filled with despair.

Taking a deep breath, he pressed the tip of his sword against the ground and pushed it in with all his might.

The sword tip was inserted diagonally into the ground, unable to penetrate completely at first. It bent as Bi Kai exerted force, and with the force of the sword straightening, Bi Kai exhausted his strength and took the last step, which was only three meters.

Upon landing, Bi Kai was no longer able to use his body movements to dissipate the force, and he fell sideways among the wild grass.

Turning around, he saw the sword Flying Star, stuck in the ground, being trampled by a mammoth. The steel-forged blade quickly bent, then broke in two with a mournful "clang," and everything went black.

His swordsmanship comes from his family tradition. It is said that his ancestor was the sword immortal Bi Kun, whose swordsmanship was extraordinary and even reached the pinnacle of sainthood. He used the sword to attain enlightenment and ascended to heaven in broad daylight.

However, by his generation, the Bi family had long since declined, and the "Hun Yuan Sword Scripture" left by his ancestors was only a fragment, with no method of practice, so he could only rely on his talent to figure it out on his own.

Even though Bi Kai was exceptionally intelligent, he only grasped about one or two percent of the essentials. The reason he was able to make such a name for himself in the martial arts world at such a young age was because of this precious sword called Flying Star.

This sword is a Seven Star Sword, made of flexible steel, which can bend and stretch. It has a copper guard, a black horn handle, and a sharkskin scabbard. It has been with him for many years and has been invincible against enemies. It has been stained with blood countless times. When he sleeps in the wilderness, if there are wild beasts, it can even make a clanging sound. It has saved him from danger several times.

Bi Kai had thought that Fei Xing would be his life partner, but he never expected that he would perish here today.

Overexertion of his inner energy, accompanied by the destruction of his sword, and the ever-approaching mammoth filled Bi Kai with anxiety and despair. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Looking down, he no longer had the strength to even stand up.

"As long as the sword is there, I am there; if the sword breaks, I die. I never imagined that I, Bi Kai, would die far from home today..."

Once the decision was made, even if he had ten parts strength, he would lose eight parts of it, let alone have no strength left. He closed his eyes, not wanting to look at his broken sword anymore. Bi Kai lay quietly on the ground, still waiting for death.

……

The battle was fierce. The mammoths were tall and broad, like moving city walls. Bi Kai had no time to pay attention to what was happening on Chen Zhou's side.

After seeing the strange object in the sky emitting light all night, the two rode deer to it.

As the sun was setting, the two decided to hunt a wild beast for food. They happened to encounter a lone, strange creature by the river. The creature resembled something else but was not quite, and it was covered in long fur.

Having come from the north, Bi Kai and his companion had seen many such giant beasts, but this one seemed to be a young animal, only about the size of a camel.

The two were unaware of the mammoth's power, nor did they know how much these creatures valued their young. They simply wanted to try it out and see what this strange beast was like.

When people in the martial arts world are cautious, they will avoid even a fallen leaf; but when they are bold, they seem to have lost their minds, daring to touch any taboo and to carry out any idea.

Bi Kai and his companions hit it off immediately. His companions shot arrows while he blocked the way in front, hoping to quickly kill the young beast, fill their stomachs, and continue their journey.

Unexpectedly, the other strange beasts had not gone far away, but were swimming in the river nearby. As soon as the two made a move, they angered the beast horde, attracting several giant beasts to attack.

In their panic, they rode deer and fled, thinking they were going to die there that day, but unexpectedly they saw a fire on the way.

In this desolate place, there were almost no people around. The only people the two of them saw with their own eyes were Chen Zhou and Paul.

That night, after crossing the river and reaching the mound, they saw the skinned bear carcass and carefully examined its wounds. Both were utterly shocked.

Even after it died, the giant bear still weighed several thousand kilograms, making it difficult for even the most skilled martial artist to kill it in a one-on-one fight.

Both were young talents who had achieved fame at a young age and were renowned in the martial arts world. After seeing the bear corpse, they both compared themselves to this nameless master in their hearts.

The two then arrived at roughly the same conclusion—

If they were to fight this bear to the death, they would most likely be no match for it, meaning that the bear killer must be a rare master.

Unfortunately, this expert seemed to be rather reclusive, and in the darkness, the two only saw the outlines of the expert and his companion, without ever seeing their true faces.

Their brief encounter was only rekindled today after they angered the beasts.

With their lives hanging by a thread, the two knew that leading the giant beast to the location of the expert was against morality, but in order to seek a sliver of hope, they gritted their teeth and went in that direction.

The two had already agreed that if the expert was indeed the one who started the fire, they would continue forward and ask him for help.

If the person who started the fire on the mound wasn't that expert, then they would only have themselves to blame and would have to change direction and lure the giant beast elsewhere.

Although the rules of this world are harsh, the two are not indiscriminate killers. They have their own scales in their hearts, and all those they kill have their reasons for dying. They are either wicked or have plundered the people's wealth. None of them are good.

To their delight, the person who started the fire on the mound was indeed the nameless master.

However, when Chen Zhou ran towards the two of them, neither Bi Kai nor his companion could tell which martial art Chen Zhou practiced. Judging from his movements, he looked like a country bumpkin with only brute strength.

But this "country bumpkin" was indeed fast, and his darts were fast and accurate. He was also tall and, although he showed no signs of martial arts training, he had a dignified air that made the two men dare not underestimate him.

Bi Kai came from a prestigious family. Although his family had fallen on hard times, he had studied poetry and literature since childhood and knew some etiquette. Even after his mount was shot and killed, he still behaved with utmost respect.

His companion, Gao Yao, came from the north and was said to have noble blood from the Yuan Dynasty. He was not very literate and was quite arrogant. Seeing that Chen Zhou was not skilled in martial arts, he did not respect him very much.

……

Three people from different worlds, from all corners of the earth, met for the first time and had no time to talk or even exchange names before engaging in a fierce battle with the giant beast that had caught up with them.

The mammoth was putting immense pressure on Bi Kai; he was so focused on dodging the giant beast's attacks that he had no time to pay attention to Chen Zhou's situation.

He needs to do everything in his power just to protect himself.

Now that he's been driven to the brink, he considers himself a dead man and doesn't dare to have any hope of surviving.

After all, so far, all Chen Zhou has shown is his extraordinary speed and strength. For a swordsman who values ​​skill and takes combat as his foundation, this unremarkable fighting style seems somewhat clumsy.

Chen Zhou had helped them, so Bi Kai naturally respected this brave man.

But respect doesn't mean he thinks highly of Chen Zhou. In his estimation, Chen Zhou can at most do what he can do: entangle with the giant beast for a long time. It would be remarkable if he could just hold off the giant beast. Killing the giant beast is simply a pipe dream.

He never expected that although Chen Zhou's every move lacked any advanced skills, his absolute physical fitness could make up for many of his shortcomings in technique.

While he closed his eyes and awaited death, Chen Zhou was already wielding a long spear with great skill, not only crippling one of the mammoth's legs, but also having time to keep an eye on his situation. Seeing that he had lost his weapon, was powerless, and was about to be trampled by the mammoth, he immediately took a few leaps and rushed to his side to provide assistance.

...Inwardly cursing these two "江湖儿女" as useless, Chen Zhou still had to try to save the life of the man in white, despite his helplessness.

It's not that he's inherently kind and can't stand seeing dead people.

Rather, he feared that of the two, only the man in white knew how to tame beasts, and if the man in white died, where would he get his reward?

Judging from their ancient attire, they probably don't have any modern survival tools. Even if we take advantage of their misfortune and kill them on the spot, we probably won't gain anything.

The biggest benefit he could think of from this deal was two tamed mounts or pack animals; nothing else was of much use to him, nor did he want it.

……

With his spear swung around, even though Chen Zhou didn't know any spear techniques and only knew how to thrust and sweep, he was strong and fast enough that he could wield a tree branch with great force and power.

Without any skill, when Chen Zhou rushed to the rescue, he still maintained a posture of man and gun as one.

Thanks to his foresight in noticing the white-clad man's precarious situation, his rescue was timely. Just before the female mammoth could step on the white-clad man, he used the tip of his spear to lift the white-clad man's clothes and with a single swing, tossed him far away.

Bi Kai felt his body lighten, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw a spinning world. Before he could react, he landed awkwardly on the ground.

"cough!"

He coughed up another mouthful of blood and struggled to his feet, only to see Chen Zhou's back with a gun in his hand.

He was admiring the nameless expert's impressive strength and the demeanor of a true master, unaware that Chen Zhou was cursing furiously—

The kunai fixed to the shaft was not very secure to begin with, and the spearhead had already loosened a bit after several thrusts into the mammoth's thick flesh, but it could still hold on for a while.

Unexpectedly, in an attempt to save this useless fellow, he used his spear to poke the man, causing the fur wrapped around the spearhead to loosen several times, making the spearhead, made of kunai, teeter on the verge of falling. It seemed unlikely that it could sustain him until the end of this fierce battle.

Once the spearhead falls off, the lethality of his spear is reduced by more than half. Don't be fooled by the fact that he can kill a glyptodon with a blunt spear, or even pierce a cave hyena with a wooden spear without a spearhead.

However, when hunting glyptodonts, he was facing their soft and vulnerable bellies.

Cave hyenas are not known for their defensive capabilities, so it's normal that they couldn't withstand his full-force throw after a running start.

Unlike cave hyenas, mammoths had thick fur and fine down covering their bodies that could absorb a lot of force, while the thick skin and fat beneath the fur created a lot of resistance.

Without the spearhead, breaking through their defenses as easily as before and leaving deep wounds on these giant beasts would be an impossible task.

……

"They're more trouble than they're worth!"

Chen Zhou gritted his teeth and stepped forward with his gun. As he expected, after only a few attacks, the gun fell to the ground and was then stepped on by the female mammoth, embedding itself deeply into the mud.

Grabbing the long stick that had been "converted" from a spear, he tried to stab it a few times, and sure enough, its lethality was greatly reduced.

Previously, it could penetrate more than ten centimeters into the mammoth's flesh, but now it would take all his strength to even pierce the epidermis. Unless he could take a risky move and leap up to pierce the "long stick" through the mammoth's eyes or ear canals, directly hitting the brain, it would be impossible to kill it.

Otherwise, relying solely on this headless spear is like leading a toothless hunting dog; no matter how fierce the dog is, the damage it can inflict is limited.

"If that doesn't work, how about a hand axe?"

Thinking about the axe hanging from his waist, Chen Zhou pondered while dodging the mammoth's attacks.

The hand axe has a short attack range and far less penetrating power than a spear; against a mammoth, it can only slice it piece by piece.

Mammoth legs are much thicker than ordinary trees, so it's not very realistic to cut through flesh with a hand axe. Cutting is more feasible, and it would create a huge wound, increasing blood loss.

……

Dropping his spear and gripping his hand axe, Chen Zhou was about to make his move when he noticed that the brown-armored man on the other side was also being chased and humiliated by the mammoth.

Although the man had a longbow and arrows, he did not have time to nock and shoot them. Apart from the first few arrows he shot, there were at least eighteen or nineteen more long arrows in his quiver.

With a nimble dodge, Chen Zhou avoided the mammoth's long trunk. He noticed not only that the brown-armored man's running speed had slowed and his stamina was gradually failing, but also that the mammoth's attack movements had slowed down considerably.

The long chase itself is a test for these large animals, and the rapid rise in body temperature and heart rate will make these giants feel extremely uncomfortable.

Before they were completely exhausted, mammoths could take down almost any animal on the grassland that dared to engage them in close combat, and they could even uproot large trees.

But humans are animals that excel in endurance, and he is an "oddball" among humans, with terrifyingly abundant physical strength.

The battle has continued for so long, and Chen Zhou's stamina is not even a fifth of what it used to be, yet the mammoths are already showing signs of weakness.

In fact, the pressure Chen Zhou faced when facing a mammoth alone was much less than when fighting a giant bear.

Giant bears are relatively agile, possessing sharp teeth and claws, and can use their weight to overpower people, making them versatile in their attack methods.

Mammoths have limited attack methods and are significantly slower than giant bears. If a bear were to fight three mammoths at the same time, it would have no chance to launch a full-scale attack and would only be able to flee in disarray.

But when fighting just one mammoth, his overwhelming speed gives him much more room to maneuver.

The enemy is now in a worse state, but he is getting more and more excited. Except for the lack of a suitable weapon, the situation is very favorable.

And suitable weapons are not hard to find—

With his gaze fixed on the brown-armored man's bow and arrow, Chen Zhou thought to himself, "Isn't this right in front of me?"

Leaving such powerful bows and crossbows on this person would be a waste; they would only be able to unleash their full potential if they were in his hands.

……

Having made up his mind, Chen Zhou did not attempt to attack with the axe. He silently tucked it back into his belt and then led the female mammoth toward the brown-armored man.

His purpose was certainly not as simple as "borrowing a bow to shoot an elephant".

In close combat, he is almost invincible due to his physical abilities. He can use any random rock as a killing weapon against other challengers. His only weakness is ranged attacks.

If he could get his hands on the brown-armored man's longbow and arrows, and considering the life-saving grace he received today, he would have a reason not to return them. Then he would have a hand axe for close combat, a spear for medium range, and a bow and arrows for long range, and he would be completely satisfied.

With his mind sharp and the situation stable, Chen Zhou's pace became lighter, especially since there were no other mammoths or enemies interfering.

As for the largest male mammoth, its hind legs had been pierced and were now a bloody mess. It was struggling to stand firmly on the ground, and even though it was anxious to see it, it could only obediently stay where it was. (End of Chapter)