Though the sky had darkened, the snow on the mountains still illuminated the surroundings brightly. Teng Qingshan, possessing night vision, could see far into the distance with a single glance.
"Eh?" Teng Qingshan’s gaze instantly locked onto a massive, indistinct shadow in the distance.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
That blurry shadow covered a distance of a hundred zhang in the blink of an eye, rushing down the snowy mountain.
"This is? A Snow Lion Beast? To find such a formidable demonic beast even on this snowy mountain." Teng Qingshan was somewhat surprised. He immediately hoisted his pack onto his back and gave chase, gripping his Reincarnation Spear.
Whoosh! Whoosh! His movements were graceful, and when encountering cliffs or obstacles, he simply leaped down.
"Although my burst power can currently overpower a Xiantian Golden Core expert, I ultimately cannot rely on 'divine power' to eliminate air resistance! Perhaps my defensive 'Primordial Chaos One Qi' spear technique can withstand a Xiantian Golden Core, but my offensive means are far inferior. This Snow Lion Beast resembles a small mountain. Such a massive size suggests it has reached its absolute peak state—a demonic beast comparable to a Xiantian Golden Core! This is the perfect opportunity to test my current skills!"
His steps were like falling stars as he pursued the enormous, blurry shadow.
"This Snow Lion Beast is quite fast." Teng Qingshan had started his journey later than others; even at top speed, he could only slowly narrow the distance.
One demonic beast and one human, one in front and one behind, moving as fast as lightning! Two great phantoms, one large and one small, flashed across dozens of zhang in an instant.
In just a short while, they had covered dozens of li.
Ahead, a huge settlement came into view. Even viewed from afar, this tribe far surpassed the Qilian Tribe. Faint glows of bonfires could be seen within the settlement, radiating light.
With Teng Qingshan's vision, he could just make out people singing and dancing around the fires, faintly hearing sounds of merriment. This was a tribe much stronger and living far better than the Qilian Tribe!
"Roar~~~" An extremely excited, wild roar erupted, like spring thunder splitting the ground!
"What is that Snow Lion Beast doing?" Teng Qingshan's expression changed.
It was rare for demonic beasts with intelligence comparable to humans to attack humans without cause, unless their territory was violated. Of course, there were rare exceptions, like the Red-Scaled Beast, which simply enjoyed eating people.
"Could it be... it is a Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast?" Teng Qingshan was shocked.
The massive shadow, like a small mountain, crashed violently into the heart of the settlement. The yurts before the beast were easily trampled; blood began to seep from many tents, perhaps indicating families eating dinner inside who were crushed alive by descending hooves.
"Demonic beast!"
Piercing screams instantly echoed throughout the entire settlement, plunging it into chaos.
"Amiya!"
"Father!"
Sounds of agonizing pain rose up.
"Roar~~" The Snow Lion Beast, resembling a small mountain, let out an excited snarl and instantly began devouring human bodies. "Ahhh~~" Amidst terrified shrieks, its huge maw crushed and swallowed the human in its grasp, sometimes leaving bits of limb or intestines dangling from its mouth.
"Father, Father!" A cute girl with dozens of small braids tied in her hair cried out, watching the massive demonic beast. Just moments ago, her father had been eaten by it.
"Hurry, let's go." A tribesman beside her grabbed the girl and fled quickly.
The massive Snow Lion Beast lowered its head again, seizing a woman rushing towards her child, biting down easily and chewing the woman into its mouth.
"Mother!" The boy wearing a leather cap burst into tears.
A nightmare scene had descended instantly upon this peaceful settlement. Even the warriors the tribe prided themselves on had completely collapsed facing this colossal beast.
"Vile creature!" A loud shout suddenly exploded forth.
"Swish!"
A boulder, easily the size of a person, shot from the distance like a meteor streaking across the sky, slamming into the giant Snow Lion Beast with astonishing speed.
"Boom!" The giant stone shattered. The massive Snow Lion Beast's body actually staggered. It let out an angry roar, stopping its feast, and turned its gaze towards where the boulder originated.
A figure flashed like lightning, instantly crossing dozens of zhang, finally stopping. Its gaze was icy cold, fixed upon the Snow Lion Beast whose mouth was still smeared with fresh crimson.
This Snow Lion Beast stood nearly five zhang (over twelve meters) tall and was almost ten zhang long. To humans, it was an absolute behemoth!
Its entire body was snow-white, and its white fur looked exceptionally beautiful.
Its head was large, its face broad, with a relatively long nose ending in a black tip. It had short, rounded ears, which, coupled with its gaping, bloody maw, gave it the appearance of a lion's face.
Its long mane extended all the way to its chest; the extremely long, purely white mane was stunningly beautiful!
On its forehead, there was a single white horn!
The Snow Lion Beast! In the legends of the grasslands, it was revered as a 'Sacred Beast.' However, Teng Qingshan, having read books on demonic beasts, knew clearly that there were two types of Snow Lion Beasts.
"It really is the Red-Eyed type!" This massive Snow Lion Beast looked beautiful, yet its pair of blood-red, unsettling, and gory eyes made the entire beast terrifying.
The eyes of most Snow Lion Beasts are golden, but there is one type that is greedy, highly aggressive, and enjoys eating humans. This is the Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast!
Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beasts are extremely cruel and ferocious. If offended, they will undoubtedly kill the offender regardless of the cost. A Snow Lion Beast reaching its peak size can exceed eight zhang in length. They generally inhabit cold regions and can breathe forth icy air, making them comparable to Xiantian Golden Core level powerhouses.
...
The bonfires in the settlement still burned, but the tribespeople had long since retreated far away, watching the scene on the blood-soaked ground: one human, one demonic beast!
The beast resembled a small mountain, dripping with gore.
The other was a human. The size difference was immense! Yet, before the giant creature, the human holding a silver spear exuded an aura of sharp intensity.
"Mother, can that big uncle kill that monster?" the little girl in a red leather coat whispered, while her grieving mother merely held her tighter.
"That big uncle can definitely kill that monster. He definitely can!" The girl stared into the distance, yet her mind couldn't help but replay the nightmarish scene from moments before.
Many people throughout the settlement anxiously watched the scene unfolding in the distance.
...
A killing intent flickered faintly within Teng Qingshan’s heart. He held no strong prejudice towards either humans or demonic beasts; he could treat demonic beasts amicably.
If someone attacked this Snow Lion Beast and was counterattacked, Teng Qingshan would not intervene. However, this Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast was eating humans who had not provoked it!
Naturally, Teng Qingshan’s killing intent arose!
Of course, if humans were killing demonic beasts, Teng Qingshan would not stop them, because—Teng Qingshan was human!
"Roar~~" The Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast let out a low growl, staring at the human before it. With its human-level intelligence, it could judge that the creature that hurled a rock weighing over ten thousand jin with such power was indeed a threat!
It had to be cautious!
However, anything that dared to offend it—it was determined to kill!
...
The human and the demonic beast faced off for just a moment.
"Roar~~" The Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast unleashed a chilling roar and charged towards Teng Qingshan like a thunderclap, so fast it turned into a blurry phantom.
Teng Qingshan stood firm, holding his spear.
The Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast swung its thick, powerful claws, tearing the air with a high-pitched screech, striking directly at Teng Qingshan.
"Hah!" Teng Qingshan lunged forward sharply, driving the Reincarnation Spear in a simple, straight thrust!
A head-on collision!
"Boom!"
When the two forces met, the burst power of the Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast surpassed that of a Xiantian Golden Core expert—it possessed a colossal force of well over a million jin! Teng Qingshan was the same!
"Sss-sss~~"
The terrifying impact forced both the human and the beast backward. Simultaneously, visible shockwaves rippled outwards. All bonfires and tents within a thirty-zhang radius that were caught in the aftermath were pulverized into dust, and even large stones cracked under the vibration.
...
"Terrifying!"
"How is this possible?"
The grassland people watching from afar were stunned. Their conflicts involved hacking at each other with blades. But here, a mere shockwave from the clash between the man and the beast could crack giant stones and turn wood to dust.
"Father, are they gods?"
A young boy looked up at his father, who was also staring blankly.
...
"Roar~~" "Roar~~"
The enraged Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast charged at Teng Qingshan again and again, as if driven mad, while Teng Qingshan fought back like a demonic beast, meeting the charge repeatedly.
When the Reincarnation Spear clashed directly with its claws, it could not harm the Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast at all.
"Attacking cautiously will make it hard to injure. I need to risk something," Teng Qingshan decided, preparing to unleash a move called 'Poison Dragon Turn.'
Just then—
The Red-Eyed Snow Lion Beast, which was charging again, suddenly opened its massive, bloody maw as it neared Teng Qingshan.
"Whoosh~~~" A stream of icy, black mist billowed out.
"Not good!" Unable to dodge completely.
Teng Qingshan instantly retracted his internal Gang Qi and summoned a protective shield of Xiantian True Essence over his body! His Xiantian True Essence and internal Gang Qi could not coexist.
In terms of defense against chilling cold, his current, incomplete True Essence shield was inferior to a full Xiantian True Essence light barrier.
"Sss-sss~~"
A layer of ice instantly condensed on Teng Qingshan’s body surface. Even with the Xiantian True Essence barrier separating him, Teng Qingshan felt an extreme cold: "No wonder the mist is black; the Purple Light Flood Dragon's breath was the same! It's said that even a Xiantian Golden Core wouldn't dare withstand this head-on. However... the cold penetrating the light barrier. A Xiantian Golden Core expert’s fragile body certainly couldn't endure it. But for me—"
Resistance to cold depended on the body.
When Teng Qingshan first encountered the Purple Light Flood Dragon, his physical strength was only close to two hundred thousand jin. Even then, he could withstand being encased in ice.
This time—
Although he wasn't encased in ice, he had the Xiantian True Essence shield blocking much of the cold. More importantly—his body was vastly stronger than it was back then! Compared to the physique of a Xiantian Golden Core expert, it was unknown how many times stronger it was.
...
"Oh no, the god-like figure is frozen."
"Is he frozen to death?"
The tribespeople watching trembled as they saw this. If that powerful human died, they would have even less chance of resisting the demonic beast.
They watched as the massive demonic beast, seeing the human encased in ice, brought down a claw in a vicious strike.
"Thump!" Just before the claw descended, the ice shell surrounding the human suddenly fractured and burst apart.
A punch, swift as lightning, smashed into the massive, furry claw that was striking down.