The Strange Flame Rekindles in Battle Through the Heavens

Chapter 42 Xiao Yan's Dark History

Once his stamina and fighting spirit had recovered sufficiently, Xiao Yan began to counterattack. However, neither the ranged attack of the Cloud-Dispelling Palm nor the close-quarters combat of the Eight Extremes Collapse could harm the giant bear in the slightest; these fighting techniques could only cause the giant bear pain.

Of course, it's not that Xiao Yan is truly unable to break through the giant bear's defenses. If he were to use his strange fire, he could make the giant bear scream for its mother in no time.

Xiao Yan only used it as a sparring partner; this giant bear had thick skin and was an excellent punching bag.

"While he's a decent sparring partner, constantly doing gua sha gets a bit boring. Like some archer, he shoots for ages but recovers faster than the other guy. Do we really have to use some kind of strange fire? Wouldn't that be too lame?"

"Is that all there is to it? You've mastered so many advanced fighting techniques, yet at the crucial moment, they all fail you." Just as Xiao Yan was at his wit's end, Yao Lao's voice rang in his mind.

"Why is that? Almost all of my fighting techniques are high-level Xuan-rank, so they shouldn't be unable to break through the defense! Although this black bear's defense is quite good." Xiao Yan asked in confusion.

"Heh, that's because you've only grasped the basics. Take the Eight Extremes Collapse technique, for example. You've only mastered the eight levels of manifest strength, but what about the hidden strength? If you had mastered the hidden strength, would you still be afraid of not being able to break through this black bear's defense?"

"yes!"

Xiao Yan slapped his thigh, realizing how stupid he had been. Yao Lao had already told him about the Eight Extremes Collapse Dark Force, but Xiao Yan had never had the chance to study it. Wasn't now the perfect time?

So, while fighting the giant bear, Xiao Yan studied the hidden force of the Eight Extremes Collapse.

After Xiao Yan had studied the hidden force of the Eight Extremes Collapse to a near certain extent, he threw another punch at the black bear.

Facing Xiao Yan's fist, the black bear revealed a hint of disdain, almost human-like. The previous attacks had only caused it a few pangs of pain; its thick hide made it impervious to any of Xiao Yan's attacks. However, this time it was mistaken. The area attacked by Xiao Yan first stung, then suddenly exploded with a "bang," as if a grenade had detonated inside its body, leaving its wounds a bloody mess, and it screamed in agony.

Seeing that his attack was effective, Xiao Yan pressed his advantage, striking the black bear with elbows and punches, each blow costing it a chunk of flesh.

Finally, under Xiao Yan's attack once again, the black bear could no longer bear it and turned to run away in pain.

Seeing the black bear flee, Xiao Yan smiled slightly, crossed his hands, and generated a powerful suction force in his palms. This suction force caused the giant bear to keep slipping on the ground, and no matter how hard it tried with its four huge paws, it could not move forward an inch.

Not only that, but blood was gushing out of the black bear's wounds without restraint, a truly horrifying sight. In no time, the black bear had bled dry. Deprived of blood, the black bear lost all its strength and was forced backwards towards Xiao Yan by the suction.

Taking advantage of the moment, Xiao Yan disregarded whether the black bear was dead or not and launched another rapid attack. Xiao Yan's fists were like knives, each punch costing the black bear several kilograms of flesh. Even though the black bear was enormous, it couldn't withstand Xiao Yan's attacks and quickly became noticeably thinner.

After fighting for a long time, Xiao Yan saw that the black bear had no reaction and knew that it was really dead. Finally, he sat down on the ground, panting heavily.

"Yo! Not bad! You killed five magical beasts today, and this one is almost at the second tier." Yao Lao said with satisfaction as the beast flew out of the ring on Xiao Yan's hand.

"And you're still talking! I almost lost my life. Since I came to the Monster Mountain Range, I've encountered more than a dozen waves of monster attacks in just half a month, and each wave has no fewer than three monsters. The key is that these monsters were obviously put together temporarily, and they kept chasing me as if I had some good stuff on me! I guess this is all thanks to you, Teacher?" Xiao Yan rolled his eyes and said indifferently.

"Hehe, I didn't expect you to find out! I thought it would be a while before you found out!" the old doctor said with a smile.

"I know you want to train me, but this is too much! Without the black greatsword, I can barely handle two or three first-tier magical beasts. With the black greatsword on my back, my battle qi and physical strength are completely suppressed, and I can only exert half of my strength. Facing five magical beasts at once is really a bit overwhelming! This time is still better than last time. Last time, a snake-like magical beast entangled me, forcing me to face the siege of five magical beasts at the same time. Fortunately, I had the help of the strange fire, otherwise I would have almost died that time," Xiao Yan complained.

"But you're doing just fine now, aren't you? What was your behavior like when you first came to the Monster Mountain Range? Don't you know?" Yao Lao said jokingly.

Thinking about what happened when he entered the Monster Mountain Range, Xiao Yan's face turned slightly red. At that time, he was full of vigor and thought he was invincible.

But Xiao Yan was quickly proven wrong, because he unexpectedly encountered a male lion. The lion was several feet taller than Xiao Yan, its entire body covered in thick golden mane, and its eyes gleamed with a dangerous light, looking extremely ferocious. At that moment, it was tearing apart the carcass of a bovine magical beast, ripping off pieces of flesh and swallowing them greedily.

Since this was Xiao Yan's first encounter with a magical beast, he was terrified by its ferocity. In his previous life, he would keep his distance from even Tibetan mastiffs, fearing their chains weren't strong enough. Besides, how many times had a lion broken its chain and injured someone? This lion was far more ferocious than a Tibetan mastiff; the two ounces of flesh on Xiao Yan's body probably wouldn't even be enough to fill its teeth.

While the lion was eating, Xiao Yan quickly made his escape.

"Novels are a scourge! Everyone says that when the protagonist goes out to train, killing monsters is easier than killing chickens, and he's not afraid at all! I just want to say that novels are all lies. With monsters looking so ferocious, who would dare to go up and fight them!"

Unfortunately, even though Xiao Yan was very careful, he was still discovered by this ferocious magical beast, whose eyes were fixed on him.

Seeing the lion's two large, bell-like eyes fixed on him, Xiao Yan dared not delay any longer and turned to run. Seeing Xiao Yan flee, the lion abandoned its feeding, roared, and quickly gave chase.

As Xiao Yan fled, he glanced back, and what he saw nearly scared him to death. The lion, seemingly out of nowhere, had appeared behind him, its massive jaws wide open, ready to bite Xiao Yan's neck. As Xiao Yan turned, he saw the lion's mouth directly in his face.

The thick, pungent smell of blood from the lion's mouth filled Xiao Yan's nostrils, making him feel nauseous. Terrified, Xiao Yan immediately crouched down, dodging the fatal blow. However, the lion's claws still managed to scratch Xiao Yan's back, and a sharp pain shot through him, causing him to gasp involuntarily.

Reaching down to touch his back, Xiao Yan accidentally touched the wound. He immediately felt a sharp pain as the lion's claws tore several large gashes in his back, drawing blood.

Seeing the blood on his hands, Xiao Yan's gaze gradually hardened as he overcame his fear. After all, this was a life-or-death struggle; fear was useless and would only hasten his death.

Xiao Yan first used the Cloud-Dispelling Palm to repel the lion, and then, taking advantage of the lion's retreat, he instantly closed in and used all the fighting techniques he had learned at once.

As the saying goes, even a novice can defeat a master with a flurry of punches. This lion, though large, was merely a low-level, first-tier magical beast and no match for Xiao Yan. Under Xiao Yan's relentless, all-out attack, it was quickly defeated. Only after being reminded by Yao Lao did they realize that the lion had already been killed by Xiao Yan.

Although the lion was killed, Yao Lao laughed at him for a long time. After all, Xiao Yan had boasted that he was very powerful and could easily defeat two or three magical beasts, but one magical beast almost turned Xiao Yan into excrement.

Xiao Yan was also blushing with embarrassment. After all, although he had killed the first-tier magical beast, he had also suffered a lot of injuries. It was truly embarrassing.

This incident has always been a dark chapter in Xiao Yan's history, and he's been mocked by Yao Lao countless times. But then again, wasn't he just scared at the time? Who isn't scared the first time? Does it need to be brought up repeatedly?

"Hmph! You still have to say that! Didn't you say that my physical strength is comparable to that of a magical beast? But I feel like I'm nothing special, it doesn't seem to be of much use!" Xiao Yan pointed to the wound on his back where he had been scratched by a magical beast and questioned.

"Do you know just how powerful magical beasts are? If you weren't so tough, you would have been torn to pieces by them countless times. You've only suffered some superficial injuries, and you're still not satisfied!" Yao Lao said disdainfully.

"Could we improve our physical strength a bit more so that we can actually fight monsters hand-to-hand?" Xiao Yan asked shyly.

In fact, Xiao Yan knew that what Yao Lao said was true. With his current strength as a two-star Dou Zhe, if his body wasn't tough enough, he would probably die if a magical beast swiped at him.

(End of this chapter)