"After the Host completes the mission, the detailed information regarding the mission will automatically appear under the completed tasks in the task panel."
Facing Zhang Yang's persistent questioning, the mechanical female voice of the system responded emotionlessly before falling silent again.
This damned system had defaulted to Zhang Yang accepting the mission the moment he inquired, and once accepted, it must be completed, or corresponding penalties would be incurred.
Most critically, after Zhang Yang accepted the task, the task panel displayed a time limit for this mission: the task of redeeming the mutated spirit beast must be finished within thirty minutes of acceptance; exceeding this time frame meant mission failure.
Seeing that he wouldn't get any more answers from the system, Zhang Yang stopped wasting time and quickly withdrew from the system's virtual display.
However, upon exiting, Zhang Yang was instantly shocked to discover that the three spirit beasts fighting the mutated Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox were actually losing ground!
Following the preceding fierce entanglement, the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox and the three spirit beasts had temporarily separated, using the brief pause between attacks to gasp for air and regulate their internal energies, seeking maximum stamina recovery.
Lightning bore two small, distinct teeth marks on its body, specks of blood seeping through its white fur. Fortunately, the wounds were shallow; Lightning had only bled a little and was otherwise unharmed.
Although Wuying carried no visible wounds, it was covered in dirt, its fur a mess, looking utterly disheveled. It even forwent the brief rest, snarling and yapping at the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, venting its fury—it seemed this creature had thoroughly enraged Wuying.
Only Zhuifeng remained relatively composed, panting heavily through its nose, its gaze fixed menacingly on the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, wary of any sudden ambush.
Even though the mutated Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox possessed the strength of the peak of the mid-Fourth Tier, the combined forces of the three spirit beasts should have made the fight considerably harder, but not to the point of such utter disarray. What exactly was going on?
“Wuuu… Awooo!!!”
The Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, with the remnants of Lightning’s blood still between its teeth, suddenly let out a skyward howl. Its body underwent another transformation, but this time, it only resulted in its already long nine tails growing by several centimeters!
Yet, those few centimeters caused the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox’s imposing aura to surge once more. At that moment, it broke through the peak of the mid-Fourth Tier and advanced into the late-Fourth Tier. Simultaneously, the injury sustained earlier from Zhuifeng's kick weakened considerably!
The mutated Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox was instantly brimming with vital energy again. Its nine elongated, pitch-black tails swept out wildly, whipping up a fierce gale within the canyon's pocket dimension, sending countless sand and stones dancing in the wind!
Late-Fourth Tier!
This sudden evolutionary leap stunned not only Zhang Yang and the three spirit beasts into silence but also Qiao Yihong and the members of the Spirit Beast Sect hiding far away!
As is widely known, the advancement of a spirit beast’s strength requires time and cultivation, or consuming rare heavenly treasures and miraculous elixirs. It also doesn't exclude the possibility of a top-tier inner strength cultivator implanting an energy seed to rapidly boost their power. However, none of these scenarios involved the sequential realm jumps and power increases happening right now!
It must be remembered that the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, before its initial mutation, was merely an early-Fourth Tier spirit beast. Upon mutating to be entirely black, its power jumped to the peak of the mid-Fourth Tier, and now, with this further evolution, it had attained the strength of the late-Fourth Tier!
According to Zhang Yang’s observation, the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox’s vitality remained robust, suggesting its method of strength enhancement was definitely not the desperate measure taken by dying or cornered beasts—sacrificing lifespan or essence for a temporary level boost.
Fourth-Tier spirit beasts are even rarer than Fourth-Tier human cultivators; every level and stage of advancement is immensely difficult. Wuying and Lightning only reached the Fourth Tier because they stayed with Zhang Yang and consumed countless elixirs and rare materials. This Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox's method of advancing its strength was utterly heaven-defying!
“Jee jee jee!”
“Zhi zhi zhi!”
Taking advantage of the brief lull, Lightning and Wuying quickly explained everything that had transpired to Zhang Yang.
It turned out that during the short moment Zhang Yang was inside the Saint Hand System’s virtual space communicating with the system, a major change occurred among the four battling Fourth-Tier spirit beasts!
The Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox itself was immune to Lightning’s toxic mist, but Lightning, Wuying, and Zhuifeng all had to carefully evade the venomous plumes spat from the Fox’s mouth. This forced the three spirit beasts to fight with restraint, unable to commit fully.
However, since the three spirit beasts outnumbered their opponent, they managed to suppress the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox through sheer massed assault. Often, just as the Fox was about to strike Wuying, Lightning would dart in from another side, and when it turned to attack Lightning, Wuying would emerge from the opposite flank. Even when the Fox managed to pin Wuying and Lightning together, Zhuifeng would appear behind it, finding the precise moment to strike!
As the prolonged struggle continued, the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox’s momentum gradually waned, making defeat an inevitability. Fully aware of this, it intentionally exposed a weakness during one separation phase, focusing all its strength on attacking Wuying while abandoning defense against Lightning and Zhuifeng!
Under this full-power assault, Wuying could not defend quickly enough and was pinned to the ground a fraction of a second too late. Simultaneously, Lightning bit down hard on the leg previously injured by Zhang Yang’s sword light, and Zhuifeng successfully evaded the Fox’s tail and managed to land a heavy stomp on its back!
The coordinated strike from Lightning and Zhuifeng severely wounded the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, forcing it to release the pinned Wuying, which was precisely the weakness the Fox had been counting on!
Once Wuying escaped, both Lightning and Zhuifeng breathed a sigh of relief. But in that precise moment, the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox flipped over, grabbed the nearby Lightning, and without hesitation, bit down, tearing through its fur!
Fortunately, Lightning reacted quickly, and since the severely wounded Fox lacked real power behind the bite, Lightning managed to break free, albeit injured!
What followed was the scene where everyone witnessed the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox mutate again and increase its power.
Pfft!
A massive cloud of black mist erupted from the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox’s maw. Having completed its power upgrade, the Fox was eager to retaliate against Lightning and the other beasts.
This enormous mass of highly toxic mist was entirely under the Fox’s control. It split into four portions: three streams hurtled toward the three spirit beasts, while the remaining one lunged directly at Zhang Yang!
Zhang Yang looked surprised but did not neglect to accelerate his pace, leaping sideways to evade the toxic fog. The three spirit beasts also scrambled to dodge the poisonous clouds.
The four divided streams of black mist, upon being dodged, struck the ground, exploding like spilled ink. The dark, viscous mist transformed into numerous small black orbs, each slightly smaller than a fist, which then launched a renewed attack on Zhang Yang and the three spirit beasts!
This attack pattern was strikingly identical to the offensive utilized by the Ten-Crowned Golden Python Zhang Yang had encountered in the Savage Mountain Range!
However, the fact that the mutated Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox could divide its black mist into four streams to attack Zhang Yang and the three beasts individually clearly indicated that its current power was superior to that of the Ten-Crowned Golden Python!
Zhang Yang, having suffered the consequences of this move against the Ten-Crowned Golden Python in the Savage Mountains, understood its insidious nature well. He dared not use his coat to ward off the dense, ink-like black orbs as he had last time. Instead, he immediately materialized a wall of pure white energy mist to resist the black orbs!
The black orbs splashed against the white mist wall created by Zhang Yang and quickly dissipated. But having learned from past experience, Zhang Yang was determined not to be surrounded by this poison again. Without the slightest hesitation after blocking the orbs, Zhang Yang suddenly released the pressure forward, sending this wall of materialized energy mist hurtling toward the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox!
Zhuifeng relied on its wind-swift speed to completely evade the black mist attack, but Wuying and Lightning fared worse. During their escape, they sustained minor exposure to the toxins. After dodging, they stood staggering and dizzy, leaning unsteadily on the ground.
Truly, it deserved the reputation of being the nemesis of spirit beasts—especially after its power surge, which also greatly amplified its venomous mist. Even a mere trace of the mist was too much for Lightning, the Fox-tailed Sable, one of the world's top ten venomous creatures. And Wuying, the Treasure-Seeking Mouse famous for its detoxification abilities, also faltered, swaying unsteadily, unable to completely neutralize the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox's poison.
The situation at this moment could not have been worse!
“Wuying, Lightning!”
Seeing the listless, swaying condition of Wuying and Lightning, Zhang Yang’s heart clenched, and he cried out instantly!
Swish!
Zhuifeng suddenly appeared beside Zhang Yang, lowered its back, and carried him away from their spot!
Immediately after, a blob of toxic matter struck the exact location where Zhang Yang had just been standing.
It turned out the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox had spat out another gout of poison mist aimed at Zhang Yang, who, preoccupied with worry for Wuying and Lightning, had failed to notice!
“Wuuu!!!”
Having completely secured the advantage, the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox leaped up, resettling itself on the tree branch suspended in mid-air, looking down at the group with an undeniably triumphant expression!
Damn it!
Consumed by fury, Zhang Yang abruptly gathered several sword lights of pure white energy and sent them straight toward the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox perched on the branch. He didn't pause there but immediately began furiously executing his Heaven-Shattering Sword Art!
Without his divine weapon, the Han Quan Sword, the power of Zhang Yang's sword lights was significantly diminished. Moreover, the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox’s current strength had fully reached the late-Fourth Tier. This time, facing Zhang Yang’s launched sword lights, the Fox merely shook its nine tails a few times, and every single sword light was scattered!
Zhang Yang hadn't expected those launched sword lights to affect the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox now that it was in the late-Fourth Tier; his true objective was merely to momentarily confuse the creature’s attention!