The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

Qi Ji stood in the middle of the clearing between the river and the forest, his chest heaving violently, feeling a surge of pent-up frustration in his chest.

"I'm really unlucky."

After much effort, Qi Ji successfully used the waterfall's terrain advantage to shake off his pursuers. He planned to find a place to rest, relax his sore and numb limbs, and recover his strength and energy.

Just as he was about to rest against a three-meter square natural rock, his ears suddenly rang out. A sharp, piercing sound came from behind him, accompanied by the murderous shout of "Die!"

A sense of extreme danger surged through Qi Ji's body, and his hair stood on end. Without thinking, he lunged to the side, only to hear a deafening crash behind him—the cracking sound of rocks shattering.

Qi Ji turned his head sharply, his pupils contracting involuntarily.

Right in the middle of the rock where he had just been leaning against to rest, a two-meter-long double-edged axe was deeply embedded in the stone, its blade heavy, sharp, and gleaming with a cold light.

Under the brute force of the giant axe, the hard rock cracked open from the axe blade, splitting into two halves with a snap, and rubble tumbled to the ground.

"..............."

Qi Ji's muscles tensed up subconsciously.

If he had been even a fraction slower, that axe might have cleaved his own body instead of the rock.

A particularly tall figure leaped from the forest and quickly arrived beside the boulder.

Standing at 2.5 meters tall, with broad shoulders and a muscular back, his body was bulging with muscles that could be seen even through his robes. He looked like a moving mountain, a veritable little giant.

Qi Ji stared in disbelief.

Having lived two lives, even the NBA professional players he had seen in his previous life were far less impressive in physique than this person; to be precise, they were completely incomparable.

"Wow, what did this guy eat to grow so tall? He's even taller than me!"

The newcomer was none other than Yan Lie, known as the Mountain-Splitting Axe.

Yan Lie gripped the axe handle with one hand and pulled the heavy axe out of the rubble with a slight effort. The wind generated by the axe blade sent dust flying.

He brandished his axe, a hint of regret on his face, and looked at Qi Ji's position, his voice booming like a bell: "You reacted quite quickly. What a pity, I was going to chop your head off with one swing."

"This guy...is somewhat dangerous."

Sensing the murderous intent in the conversation, Qi Ji's eyes instantly turned cold.

He could clearly sense that the aura of the person in front of him was far stronger than any of the pursuers he had encountered before. The dense killing intent and profound internal strength were incomparable to those humans before him; this person was an absolute tough opponent.

"It's unwise to waste time and confront him head-on; use your speed to outrun him."

Making a quick decision in his mind, Qi Ji turned around and leaped into the dense forest behind him.

The trees are intertwined and the terrain is complex, so no matter how strong the opponent is, they can't catch up with him.

"Want to run away? Try this."

Yan Lie snorted coldly, reached for his waist with his left hand, and suddenly exerted force with his wrist, sending a gleaming dagger flying out of his hand, chasing after Qi Ji.

Yan Lie was born with superhuman strength and his internal energy cultivation was also quite good. With the combination of the two, the speed at which the dagger flew far exceeded that of ordinary bows and arrows. The sound of it cutting through the air was sharp and piercing, and in an instant, it caught up with Qi Ji.

Qi Ji heard the strong wind behind him and a hint of surprise flashed through his mind. He instinctively wanted to dodge to the side.

However, he had already exhausted most of his strength, which caused Qi Ji's movement speed to be half a beat slower than normal.

A soft "plop" sound.

The dagger pierced his hamstring muscle, and the pain instantly spread from there.

This was the first time in his life that Qi Ji had experienced such pain. His hind legs went weak involuntarily, and he was forced to stagger, which immediately slowed down his running speed.

In that brief second of delay, Yan Lie had already caught up.

His seemingly clumsy body unleashed astonishing explosive power. The ground trembled slightly when his legs pushed off the ground, and he was like a cannonball. His speed in a straight sprint was in no way inferior to that of a master who specialized in lightness skills, and even added a bit more brute force.

Feeling the intense airflow and turbulent waves, Qi Ji dared not expose his back to the other party any longer, and immediately twisted his body around abruptly.

Suppressing the throbbing pain in his hind legs, Qi Ji's eyes flashed with a fierce light.

"It hurts so much, you big muscular bastard, you're going to keep bothering me, huh? Fine, then come on, do you think I'm a pushover?"

Without hesitation, Qi Ji consumed 1 Spirit Point and unleashed the skill [Agile Burst].

In an instant, a warm current surged through his limbs and bones, his muscles became slightly hot from the infusion of power, and the antlers on his head lit up at that moment.

Qi Ji lowered his head and slumped his shoulders, thrusting his antlers forward to meet the charging Yan Lie head-on.

"Hahaha, well done! Watch me chop you to death with this axe!"

Yan Lie roared, gripped the axe handle with both hands, raised the giant axe high, and cleaved it down with the force to split mountains and shatter rocks.

"clang--!!"

The antlers and the axe blade clashed violently, the deafening clang of metal sending birds scattering through the forest.

The immense force spread outwards, the ground beneath their feet cracked open, and the intersecting energies collided and squeezed, creating a clear white shockwave at the point of intersection.

"Ahhhhh"

Yan Lie's arms were bulging with muscles, his face was flushed red, and his internal energy was running at its limit. Every strand of hair was wildly dancing in the energy, and his true energy was surging like a raging fire.

He thought he could easily chop the white deer down with one axe blow, but to his surprise, the deer's antlers were incredibly hard, and the force they transmitted was astonishingly heavy, managing to withstand his full-force attack.

Across from him, Qi Ji's muscles were tense, his four legs were constantly exerting force, and every inch of his bones was bearing the enormous force coming from above. Waves of heat were evaporating from his fair fur.

The two forces were evenly matched, and for a time they were locked in a stalemate, neither able to overpower the other.

"Haha, that's interesting."

As Yan Lie exerted his strength, he stared at the antlers on Qi Ji's head, grinned to reveal a mouthful of yellow teeth, and sneered, "Your antlers are hard enough, I like them. After I kill you, I'll cut them off and keep them as a collectible."

He paused, then pressed the axe down even further, his tone chilling: "You're strong enough, but unfortunately... you're dead today."

As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen figures suddenly sprang out from the surrounding woods, each wielding a weapon, and quickly surrounded him.

"A bunch of useless trash, running so slowly."

Without turning his head, Yan Lie shouted angrily, "What are you all standing there for? Come and help!"

Those dozen or so men were clearly Yan Lie's subordinates, and they immediately sprang into action upon hearing this.

The group worked together, flicking their wrists, and several metal ropes shot out from all directions.

Qi Ji had a bad feeling.

He was currently locked in a fierce struggle with Yan Lie, his body pinned to the spot, unable to dodge. In the blink of an eye, the cold metal ropes wrapped around his limbs and torso, tightening and digging deep into his flesh.

The binding force of the rope instantly disrupted Qi Ji's rhythm of exertion, and the force pressing against the antlers suddenly faltered.

Yan Lie seized this fleeting opening, abruptly pulled back his axe, flipped his body three steps backward, then inhaled and lowered his waist, channeling all his true energy into the axe.

"Now you're done for, you beast."

He raised the giant axe high in his hand, and a faint red aura condensed on the blade, exuding a murderous intent, before chopping down again towards Qi Ji's head.

The men pulling on the ropes all around exerted their strength, trying their best to tighten the ropes and lock Qi Ji in place, even if it was just for a second.

"The end? Not a long way off."

With life hanging by a thread, the fierce light and ruthlessness in Qi Ji's eyes intensified. He was about to consume 5 points of spiritual energy to significantly increase the power of [Spiritual Energy Burst].

But just as he was about to unleash his power, the ropes binding him suddenly loosened.

"?"

Qi Ji's heart skipped a beat, and then a series of shrill screams rang out from all around.

Yan Lie's dozen or so men were suddenly struck by some kind of attack, and they all fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

At the same time, an extremely powerful azure energy suddenly appeared in the arena, slamming into the side of Yan Lie's axe as it swung down.

The giant axe veered off course, grazing Qi Ji's side and slamming into the ground with a deafening roar. Earth and rocks flew everywhere, carving a gash several meters long into the earth.