Chapter 519 - 515: Terror in the Night

Chapter 519: Chapter 515: Terror in the Night

"A beast tide!"

Fang Han’s pupils contracted sharply in that instant.

Tens of thousands of beasts and Demons merged into an unstoppable torrent, a beast tide, fleeing madly in the same direction.

This was anything but normal.

He had read similar accounts in the Sect’s archives. There was only one thing that could make different species—even natural enemies—of Demons and beasts abandon their instincts to kill each other and flee side by side across the same land.

An exceptionally terrifying existence was pursuing them from behind.

’What is that?’

The thought had barely formed in his mind when an aura appeared in Fang Han’s perception.

The aura was as deep as an abyss and as vast as the sea, carrying an oppressive weight that made one’s very soul tremble.

It was approaching at an astonishing speed.

A Grandmaster Demon!

It was the same Grandmaster Demon from earlier today!

’Flee!’

Fang Han didn’t hesitate for a moment.

He snatched up his Cloud Splitting Sword, his body shooting out of the tree hollow like an arrow released from a bow.

He pushed his Wind God Step to its absolute limit without reservation, transforming into a streak of pale green light as he sprinted forward.

His Returning Ruins Hidden Essence Skill, at the Realm of Perfection, began to operate with unprecedented intensity, suppressing his aura until it was nearly nonexistent.

But he knew in his heart it wasn’t enough.

Far from enough.

The Second-Grade Elder from Tingyu Building had also cultivated a Top Grade Breath Concealment Secret Technique to Perfection, yet he was still discovered by that Grandmaster Level black-scaled demon tiger.

A Perfection Level Top Grade Breath Concealment Secret Technique was practically useless before a Grandmaster Level Demon.

Although Fang Han was already fleeing at an extreme speed, how could he possibly outrun a Grandmaster Demon? The distance between them was rapidly closing.

As the Grandmaster Demon drew nearer, the ground began to tremble.

A deep, powerful vibration traveled through the earth.

The entire mountain forest felt as if it were being gripped and shaken wantonly by a giant, invisible hand.

A tremendous sound erupted.

It was a dense and terrifying series of cracks, the thunderous sound of ancient trees snapping in half all at once.

It was like someone tearing a thick, unseen cloth behind him. RIP! RIP! The sound grew closer and louder.

WHOOSH!

Fang Han didn’t look back, only pushing his Wind God Step a little faster.

BOOM—!

A deafening roar exploded from behind him, as if the very heavens were collapsing overhead.

Fang Han couldn’t help but look back—

In the darkness of the night, a figure so colossal it defied description was emerging from the shadows.

It resembled a male lion magnified countless times over, more than fifty feet long and over twenty feet tall at the shoulder. Standing amidst the shattered ancient trees, it looked like a moving mountain.

Its body was covered in dark-gold scales. Each scale was the size of a cattail fan, with edges as sharp as blades, gleaming with a cold, heavy metallic luster under the sparse moonlight.

The surface of the scales was covered in naturally formed dark patterns that vaguely combined into a bizarre design, enough to make one’s scalp tingle with just a single glance.

Its head was as massive as a palace pillar, its snout broad. Its mouth was filled with stark white fangs like a dense forest of short spears. Bits of flesh and gore from some unknown Demon hung between its interlocking canines.

Its eyes were dark gold with pupils as vertical as a snake’s. As they opened and closed, it seemed as if two cold, spectral flames were burning within.

Embedded in the center of its brow was a palm-sized, dark-gold scale, brighter than the ones surrounding it. A faint, visible layer of golden light seemed to flow across its surface.

Its four limbs were as thick as pillars. Each step it took left a crater several feet deep in the ground. Dirt and gravel were sent flying, only to be pulverized into dust by the terrifying shockwave.

A casual flick of its thick, long tail snapped an ancient tree as wide as two arms could encircle. Amidst a shower of splinters, the broken section of the trunk flew off, spinning, and hit the ground in the distance with a dull thud.

The Grandmaster Demon had caught up and plunged into the beast tide.

Before it, the beasts and Demons fleeing for their lives, driven by terror, were as fragile as paper.

A muntjac was grazed by the edge of its foreclaw, and its entire body exploded into pieces in mid-air, a rain of flesh, blood, and bone fragments showering down.

A Demon Wolf failed to dodge in time and was trampled by one of its massive forelegs. Its spine silently collapsed, and it was reduced to a bloody pulp before it could even cry out.

It didn’t even glance at the corpses, simply continuing forward. With every step, a life was crushed; with every step, a large patch of earth was soaked in blood.

Its target was the most powerful aura within the beast tide.

It was a First-Grade Demon.

In Fang Han’s perception, the aura of that First-Grade Demon was frantically changing direction, trying to use the cover of the beast tide to escape the Grandmaster’s lock.

But the Grandmaster Demon was too fast.

The Grandmaster Demon’s mountain-sized, dark-gold figure plowed a bloody path through the beast tide. Wherever it passed, both beasts and Demons were turned to paste. In just a few breaths, it had already caught up to the First-Grade Demon.

"ROOOAR—"

The First-Grade Demon let out a deafening roar, a sound filled with despair, unwillingness, and the final trace of madness before death.

It turned and pounced at the dark-gold figure, its sharp claws tearing through the air with a piercing shriek.

And then, it was over.

The Grandmaster Demon didn’t even pause in its stride.

It simply opened its cavernous mouth—large enough to swallow an entire house—bent its head, and bit down.

The crisp sound of shattering bones and the wet tear of flesh rang out simultaneously. The First-Grade Demon’s roar came to an abrupt halt.

Like a firecracker whose fuse was snuffed out, it was utterly annihilated in the night before it could even produce a final echo.

The crisp sound of shattering bone traveled far in the night, mixed with the sickening squelch of mangled flesh, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

The colossal, lion-shaped Demon, its dark-gold form like a small mountain, did not continue the chase after killing the First-Grade Demon. Instead, it lowered its head and began to feed on the spot.

Its stark white fangs tore through the First-Grade Demon’s scales. The wet sound of ripping flesh echoed in the night, interspersed with the sharp CRUNCH of bones being chewed to pieces.

Blood dripped from between its teeth, soaking the earth beneath its feet a dark red.

The beast tide was still stampeding forward, but without the Grandmaster Demon’s pursuit urging them on, the terrifying pressure that had silenced all creatures was gradually receding.

The stampeding torrent began to break apart.

A few Demon Wolves tucked their tails and dove into the dense forest to the side, while a herd of muntjacs scattered, each finding a bush or crevice to hide in.

An hour later, the beast tide that had once made the entire forest tremble had completely dissolved into countless faint sounds, scattering in all directions before finally being swallowed by the thick night.

’The danger has passed!’

Fang Han slowly exhaled a turbid breath and began searching for a new place to rest.

His movements were extremely light and steady, each step landing precisely on decaying leaves that wouldn’t make a sound.

His Returning Ruins Hidden Essence Skill continued to operate at full power, suppressing his aura until it was nearly nonexistent.

After walking for several miles, he found a cave. He dragged a large boulder over to block the entrance, finally feeling a sliver of security.

Only then did he realize his robes were soaked through with cold sweat, clinging icily to his skin.

He had expected the Secret Realm to be more dangerous after nightfall, but he never imagined it would be this dangerous.

To actually encounter a Grandmaster Demon on the hunt.

The image of that dark-gold figure rampaging through the beast tide, crushing everything in its path, still lingered in his mind.

The Demons that were a step too slow to escape were torn to pieces by a sweep of its foreclaws or flattened into a paste by its hind legs, unable even to let out a scream.

And that First-Grade Demon, a formidable being that could have fought him with all its might, couldn’t even survive a single blow from the Grandmaster Demon.

If the Grandmaster Demon hadn’t stopped to feed after hunting down the First-Grade Demon and abandoned the chase, Fang Han wasn’t sure if he would have survived.

Fang Han leaned against the cave wall, closed his eyes, and steadied his breathing.

However, he kept his Thousand Mile Soul Lock active, pulling all auras within a several-mile radius into his perception.

The slightest disturbance would wake him instantly.

The night flowed by in silence.

Occasionally, the short, shrill howls of beasts echoed from the distance, often cut short the moment they began.

With every cry that faded, Fang Han’s eyelashes would tremble almost imperceptibly.

Fortunately, no further danger appeared.

In the morning, light from outside filtered into the cave through a crack.

Fang Han opened his eyes and stretched his stiff neck, his joints making a faint cracking sound.

The sunlight dispelled the darkness in the forest, along with the suffocating oppression of the previous night.

He took a flatbread from his Storage Ring and began to chew it slowly with some cold water.

The flatbread was still hard as a rock, and the water was still bland and tasteless, but he ate with focus, chewing each bite thoroughly to replenish his body after a terrifying night.

The hunger in his stomach gradually faded.

HUMMM—

Fang Han pushed his Thousand Mile Soul Lock to its limit, carefully sensing the surrounding auras—

A few muntjacs were drinking from a stream several miles away, a bobcat was curled up asleep in a tree hollow, and farther out were the auras of two Demons, though they weren’t strong—only at the Middle Three Grades.

No danger.

Fang Han pushed aside the boulder at the cave’s entrance and walked out, the soles of his boots making a soft rustling sound on the decaying leaves.

The morning breeze swept through the treetops, carrying the fresh scent of plants and damp earth.

’Time to start today’s exploration!’

Fang Han chose a direction and set off.

After walking for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, he suddenly paused.

On a rocky slope ahead, a piece of ore about the size of a basketball was half-buried in the dirt.

The ore’s surface was covered in moss, but in a few cracks where the moss had peeled away, a faint, dark blue luster was visible.

Fang Han walked over and scraped off a patch of moss from the ore’s surface.

The moss flaked off, revealing the dark blue stone beneath.

Its color was like the deep sea, its surface covered in fine, natural-looking patterns. It had a heavy, metallic texture under the morning light and was ice-cold to the touch.

He recognized this ore. It was called Cold Ice Profound Iron, a material far tougher than ordinary metal. It also had excellent conductivity for both Water and Ice Attribute Inner Qi, making it a superior material for crafting Magical Soldiers and quite valuable.

Fang Han placed his hand on the ore and summoned his system panel.

"Recharge."

With a thought, the basketball-sized piece of Cold Ice Profound Iron vanished in an instant, as if wiped away by an invisible hand.

[Wealth: 780,000 gold → 840,000 gold]

’My wealth increased by 60,000 gold, reaching 840,000.’

Fang Han’s gaze lingered on the line of numbers for a moment, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

He was one step closer to the one million gold needed to unlock Level 8 Amplification.