Chapter 89: A Hard Battle Against a Hungry Beast

Enjoying his free flight for several hours while constantly analyzing his surroundings, An noted, 'My sensitivity to Qi has increased significantly, not just through my eyes, but through the Qi within my body as well... The radius at which I can sense disturbances in energy without visual confirmation has grown several times over.'

Stopping in place, he closed his eyes and began sensing his environment using only Qi, slowly sending out waves of his energy and receiving feedback from the collisions between his Qi and the surrounding energy. 'Now I understand what spirit sense actually is, an ability acquired by every cultivator who successfully breaks through to the Foundation Establishment realm... But to be honest, this ability is complete garbage.'

Using his Qi, An mimicked what Foundation Establishment cultivators typically do to sense changes around them, using spirit sense. The main problem with this ability is that any cultivator within your radius can sense that you're using it, revealing your location.

Its only advantage for an ordinary cultivator is the ability to perceive everything around them in full 360 degrees, constantly monitoring their environment in real time and staying alert, especially necessary in battle. But again, for him, this spirit sense is a completely unnecessary function. Without using Qi, he can already sense and see what's happening around him on an ongoing basis, simply by using his eyes.

Hovering inside a dense brown cloud, using the ability, he sensed what was happening on the ground over a hundred meters below him, 'Spirit sense only allows you to feel changes, like a blurry image, more akin to intuition, even slightly sluggish intuition. But the ability doesn't allow you to see Qi itself... This ability is truly a waste of my time...' Deactivating spirit sense and drawing his energy back in, An opened his eyes.

He was about to continue on his way when he saw, less than three hundred meters away, a massive creature diving straight toward him.

'Damn! What a useless ability this spirit sense is!' He suddenly felt the pressure around him increasing as the bird grew closer with each passing moment.

Without hesitation, An dove sharply through the clouds toward the ground.

'Damn, I won't be able to hide from it. Its speed is too high... and I can't take cover in the clouds or on the ground because I can't completely stop the leakage of my Qi!' Accelerating toward the ground, he tried every possible way to do something about his Qi Silence technique.

The best he could manage was to suppress only a large portion of the energy he was emitting. 'I could only compress the energy density to the level of the eighth layer of Qi Condensation... How goddamn convenient!'

Already at treetop level, he began searching for a suitable spot, knowing that a fight was now unavoidable.

Feeling eyes on the back of his head, he turned his head back and finally got a look at the beast. "Damn!"

A massive, ugly creature resembling both a snake and a bird. Four huge, narrow wings, two pairs of long legs pressed tightly against its elongated serpentine body, and a short tail.

The upper part of its body was covered in white feathers, while its belly was bare, burgundy-colored skin. On its head was one pair of asymmetrical horns, massive rows of fangs, and tiny, barely visible eyes.

But the most terrifying detail, the one that deeply unsettled An, was the two heads. The beast had two identical heads, one positioned beneath the other.

'What species is this? I haven't seen it in any of the books.' Seeing an unfamiliar beast species greatly unsettled him. Knowing he didn't know its weaknesses or strengths, only sensing that it was a second-rank early-stage beast, he tensed even more, unsure of what tactics to use.

'Ah! Screw it! What does tactics matter! I'll lure it down to treetop level and attack head-on! It definitely won't expect such an idiotic move from me!' Unable to come up with anything better due to a lack of information, he decided to act directly and end the fight as quickly as possible, before any other beasts could catch on.

Staying at the same altitude, at treetop level, he began to slow down.

Waiting until the bird drew closer, he dove into the branches and abruptly stopped, turning back.

"Kraa!"

Not expecting such a turn, one of the beast's heads shrieked. Immediately, as if sensing something, the bird began rapidly decelerating, trying to stop before crashing into the trees.

'Too late!' Amid the broken tree branches, An activated his Qi and channeled more than half of all his reserves into Qi Blades.

In an instant, several thousand tiny blades formed around him, shaped from his Qi.

The sheer number of blades made the bird freeze, not to mention the pressure around it that was shredding leaves and branches into splinters just from the weight and density of that energy.

Still unable to stop, still flying straight toward the inevitable, the bird tried to cover its head and torso with its front pair of wings.

Whoosh!

Like a pack unleashed, the blades shot toward the beast at lightning speed. The entire cloud of energy knives split into several dozen different movement patterns, creating a net-like effect.

Without wasting a second, An followed right behind the blades.

"KRAAAAAA!"

Managing only to protect its head and upper torso, the Qi Blades slammed into it like a train into a stationary object, knocking it back and dragging it along.

From the sheer number of blades, its wings and even its lower body became like a sieve in an instant, riddled with holes. Part of its tail, one of its legs, were severed immediately, further distracting the beast.

Under the onslaught, the doomed beast had no way to shift its attention or monitor its surroundings. It didn't even suspect what its opponent was doing.

"HA!" Through the cloud of blades, having deliberately dispersed a small section to create a tunnel for himself, An concentrated a massive amount of energy into his palm and, with one swift motion, touched the beast's already torn left flank.

The moment his palm made contact, he detonated the Qi with precision, and the beast was launched like a ball toward the ground.

Flying back up only a few meters from the impact of the detonation, An wasted no time and began falling in pursuit.

"Gra! Kroaa!"

Crashing to the ground but landing on its feet, destroying several thick trees with its size, the beast planted three legs into the earth and folded its front pair of tattered wings to form armor over its lower torso, where numerous holes were bleeding profusely, some so deep that bones and organs were visible.

Just a few meters before impact, An curled into a fetal position and wrapped himself in a Qi membrane, crashing at full speed directly into one of the heads, taking the beast's lower jaw with him.

"UGH!" Plowing into the creature's torso at a bad angle, still covered in pieces of the shattered jaw embedded all over his body because his Qi Armor had failed, he ricocheted to the side, carving a deep crater in the ground.

'Get up!' Without even taking time to assess his surroundings, An detonated a small amount of Qi beneath himself to launch him sideways.

The moment he jumped aside, a massive glob of fluid fell on the spot where he had just been. The ground and trees around began to melt, and even the air began to hum and boil.

Twisting his body so that the momentum set him on his feet, An zigzagged as fast as he could, closing the distance while constantly dodging balls of caustic fluid that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

'Where?! Come on! Right flank!' Closing to a distance from which he could make an instantaneous dash, he chose his target, the wounded flank.

Releasing Qi beneath his feet, grinding his teeth from the instantaneous pressure that overloaded his body, he lunged at near-supersonic speed.

"Gr-UAGH!"

Slamming into the right flank, he struck with his clenched fist with all his might, directing hundreds of pinpoint vibrations at different frequencies directly into the wound.

The impact sent the bird flying, spinning it several times across the ground without giving it a chance to get back on its feet.

With a crash and screams, the beast came to a stop. Trying to stand, it panicked, realizing the speed at which this disgusting meal was moving, and began spitting globs of fluid from both mouths at random.

'Damn it!'

Whoosh! Woosh!

Without wasting a second, An, pursuing the fallen beast, didn't expect this turn of events and was caught by several globs, taking them with his body.

Hit by a glob and thrown to the side, he watched as his right thigh and the right side of his chest simply melted before his eyes, turning into a bubbling yellow substance resembling pus in an instant.

Timing his fall so his legs would hit the ground, he manipulated the Qi and pulled himself closer to the earth, digging his feet in and stopping in an instant, tearing the skin on his body from the sudden halt. Gritting his teeth, he activated Qi Armor, creating membranes around his organs and bones, not forgetting to also re-form the outer membrane, channeling a massive amount of Qi into it.

"DAMN!" He didn't even have time to take a breath before he was hit like a freight train. Extending his right arm to protect his head, An began furiously striking the beast's massive torso with his left fist as it tried to crush him.

Finding every vibration frequency he could for the Qi particles on his hand, he directed them with each strike, trying to disrupt the beast's physical defenses and reach its innards.

His right arm, which he was using to shield his head, could barely hold back the blows from the beast's heavy, sharp front claws, which hacked into him like axes, tearing his flesh apart.

"Screw you, you bastard!" Feeling his right side going numb from massive blood loss and his outer membrane already like a sieve, he continued striking the beast's belly with furious shouts.

PLOP!

"GRAAAA!"

Finally, his strikes and the directed vibrations from the Qi managed to pierce the thick internal layers of skin and flesh protecting the beast's vital organs. An finally managed to plunge his hand inside. Feeling this, the beast, with wild eyes, abandoned all defense and unleashed everything in its arsenal, vomiting globs of fluid and shredding An's right side with everything it had.

"U-UH-UHGH! Fo-fou-nd it!" Under the blows of sharp anvils that not only tore his body apart but also stunned him, nearly causing him to black out, he finally grabbed something important inside with his left hand. Not knowing exactly what it was, he only knew it was his chance.

Gripping as tightly as he could, he pulled with all his strength.

"GRAA! KRAAA!" Both heads, already half-melted from the excessive fluid they had vomited, feeling their body being torn apart from the inside, lost their minds from the pain and began trying to flee, which greatly helped An.

Feeling the creature brace its front legs against his body and push off sharply, An, with a scream, pulled his left hand back.

SCHLORP!

Yanking his hand out, along with several compressed organs, he and the beast collapsed to the ground.

"Gr...aaah~ Graah~ graah..." Lying on the ground and leaking from two holes in its belly, the creature struggled for a few more seconds before finally losing the light in its eyes and exhaling its last breath from its melted lungs.

"Haa... Haa... Ow!" Not far from the corpse, with a massive bundle of organs in his hand, one of which was still twitching and moving, An lay on the ground with half his body melted, trying to gather his strength, but his body refused to obey him entirely.

'Damn! Damn! That was too close! This is what comes from facing an unfamiliar beast species... Who could have known that thing could spit acid... I nearly died!' Lifting his head slightly, he saw that the entire front of his body was eroded. All the flesh on his stomach and chest was simply gone. His ribcage had fused together, forming something like a plate. His organs had holes but were mostly intact, thanks to channeling most of his Qi into the armor membranes around them. 'The concept of armor like a turtle shell from the universal techniques really paid off... Ow! Ouch!'

With the lower part of his face melted, An turned his head toward the beast's corpse. 'It was only second-rank early stage... Or am I just that weak? Probably not that weak, beasts themselves are much stronger than cultivators at the same stage. Only protagonists can kill them in droves thanks to plot armor and other nonsense... Sigh...'

'Right, I need to get out of here as fast as possible. The longer I stay, the higher the chance of running into something unpleasant.' He began checking the Qi flows around him, trying to confirm he was still safe.

After lying motionless for a few minutes, he finally managed to sit up with a crack of his bones. Sitting like that for just over a minute, he slowly and clumsily rose to his feet and took small steps toward the beast's corpse.

'I think I've earned its spirit core. Who knows, it might come in handy someday... As for the other parts of the corpse, unfortunately, I have neither the strength nor the time to deal with them...' Carefully walking toward the corpse, An suddenly stopped, raised his gaze toward the forest, and looked intently. 'Hmm? Is that... I knew something was coming, damn... Wait, what is she doing here?'