Gao Wu: I became the minor villain that the protagonist was about to destroy.

A deafening roar resounded, and the aura of the demon instantly enveloped the surrounding area.

A huge black shadow suddenly darted out from the forest. Leng Ruoxue looked up and was startled.

"A demon bear?!"

Before she could react, the enormous demon bear raised its massive paw and, with a piercing shriek that tore through the air, swung it down at her!

"Whoosh—!"

The palm strike was fierce; if it landed squarely, she would have no chance of survival given her current cultivation level.

However, at the critical moment, a figure suddenly appeared and stood firmly in front of her.

"Bang--!!"

Leng Ruoxue saw something flash past her eyes, and with a loud bang, the massive body of the Demon Horned Bear crashed to the ground and fell silent.

Leng Ruoxue stood there, stunned, barely able to see what had just happened.

"What...that was just now??"

Baki calmly finished his attack, his tone indifferent: "Nothing much, just dealt with a bear on the side."

As he spoke, he bent down, grasped the Demon Horned Bear's horn, and transformed his palm into a knife, slashing through the air—the hard horn snapped off instantly, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

Leng Ruoxue couldn't hide her astonishment: "Baki-kun, what... what level are you at?"

"Me? First level in the county's Kan realm."

"How is this possible! Adult demonic bears are fourth-level demonic creatures of the County Realm, and bears have incredibly strong physical bodies; humans of the same level simply cannot contend with them..."

Baki looked completely unconcerned: "Oh, it's just a bear, nothing to worry about."

Before she could finish speaking, a violent tremor suddenly shook the ground. Leng Ruoxue turned her head and saw that Ye Ming had returned from the hunt sometime earlier, with a huge armored bear carcass lying at his feet.

She immediately realized that this place was the Bear Slaughter Forest, known as the "Dead Zone of the County"! Even awakened individuals in the early stages of the city's departure from the realm dared not easily set foot here.

Ye Ming's voice slowly rang out: "Be vigilant, there are still demons lurking around."

He glanced at Leng Ruoxue, a slight smile playing on his lips: "As for Ruoxue... just stand there and don't move."

"A delicate young girl like you is the most tempting smell of food for these bears."

As if to confirm his words, heavy thumping sounds soon came from all directions, and the entire forest trembled.

Ye Ming's lips curled up slightly: "Ready to get started."

In an instant, two astonishing auras erupted from his and Baki's bodies, and the originally surging bear pack was forced to pause by this pressure.

A series of bear roars rang out, and a fierce battle between humans and bears officially began.

Baki moved with lightning speed, weaving and dodging among the bears. As one horned bear swung its paw down, Baki leaped into the air, and the ground he had been standing on instantly cracked! In mid-air, Baki's right leg lashed out like a whip, striking the horned bear heavily in the cheek. The giant bear was sent flying several feet backward by the powerful force, and then fell silent.

Just then, a thunderbolt struck down from the sky!

Baki dodged to the side, lightning exploding at his feet. Excitement gleamed in his eyes: "Heh~ I actually ran into a Thunderhorn Bear? That's quite a rare find!"

He exerted force with his feet, and his figure shot out like an arrow. The lightning crackled on the top of the Thunderhorn Bear's horn, and it unleashed several bolts of lightning in succession, but Baki dodged them all by the slightest margin, as if he had already predicted the trajectory of each strike.

"Triceratops Fist!"

"Bang--!!"

A heavy punch slammed into the Thunderhorn Bear's abdomen, sending it flying backward like a kite with a broken string. It crashed into several giant trees before finally sliding down, leaving a fist-shaped bloody hole in its abdomen!

Leng Ruoxue blinked. Just a moment ago, she seemed to have seen a phantom image of a triangular-shaped demon appear behind Baki. When she looked again, the Thunderhorn Bear had already collapsed, lifeless.

The surviving horned bears and armored bears scattered and fled. However, a dark shadow swept past like a whirlwind.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Ye Ming wielded his black spiked club and, in just a few breaths, killed all the fleeing demonic bears.

"Hahaha, this is a good harvest!" Ye Ming wiped the blood off the stick and laughed loudly.

Baki rubbed his fists and nodded: "Yeah, there are enough."

"Should we delve deeper?"

Ye Ming nodded: "Since we're already here, let's take some more back with us."

At this moment, Leng Ruoxue spoke up: "So your purpose in bringing me here was simply to better attract demons?"

Ye Ming scratched his head: "Otherwise what?" ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

(▼he▼メ) An unnamed fire surged from Leng Ruoxue's heart.

"I also need to cultivate."

"Hey, I'll give you a few spirit crystals from the Horned Bears, a few hours of access to the gravity chamber, and some professional training from Baki. That should be enough."

Leng Ruoxue's anger subsided immediately. She admitted that Ye Ming had given her far too much, and she was somewhat tempted.

"Ahem, well... then let's leave it at that."

Baki pointed to himself: "Hmm?"

Just then, Ye Ming sensed something.

"That's quite rare; there's even a human presence here."

Baki: "Perhaps they came here to hunt, just like us."

"They were really lucky to have hunted a bear cub."

"Let's go deeper into the area and see if we can find a bear king. If we do, we'll have hit the jackpot."

At that moment, the group of people that Ye Ming sensed were carrying a bear cub on their backs.

A man with a pointed face and monkey-like features spoke up: "Boss... are you sure it's okay? This is the Bear King's child."

The man called "boss" had an even more lewd appearance: "Don't you know fortune favors the bold? This little guy can be used as a battle pet. After we pull off this job, we'll sell this brat and we'll be rich!!"

"You have no idea how much effort and money I spent to charm that bear king!"

"Yes, yes, but how are we going to get out of this forest? My stealth ability can't last that long. Once the Bear King finds out his cubs haven't returned, he'll definitely riot."

"If the psionic police investigate, we could be shot!"

"Snapped!"

"Stop saying such discouraging things! Let's get out of here quickly, maybe they won't catch up! As long as we leave before the psionic police find us, everything will be fine!"

Meanwhile, atop Bear Mountain, a black bear several times larger than an ordinary horned bear, covered in hard scales, was leisurely basking in the sun.

Just then, the Black Bear King suddenly opened its eyes, still looking somewhat dazed. It felt as if it had never slept so soundly before.

The bear stretched out its paw and groped around on the ground for a moment before discovering that its cubs were gone.

"roar??"

"roar!"

The bear king thought that his cubs had just gone out to play, and that with him in the forest, no creature would dare to harm his cubs.

But upon closer inspection of the air, it detected a scent that didn't belong to any creature in the forest. The scent was very pleasant, and it realized that humans had been there.