Chapter 82

500 meters outside the cave where Xu Nian'an and the others were staying, Xu Nian'an set up two small stoves.

The fire rose, and the sound of oil heating in the pot rang out: sizzle, sizzle~~~

Xu Nian'an, unhurriedly, put the fish he had caught into the pot to fry.

These were some little things he had prepared in advance, originally intended for camping when going out in the future, and for some food preparation for Er Gou.

He didn't expect that, in the end, they would be used on himself.

As for why he didn't grill inside the cave, please, this is the Core Area. If you're not careful, high-level soul beasts will appear—a place where thousand-year soul beasts become food, ten-thousand-year soul beasts are worse than dogs, and hundred-thousand-year soul beasts walk everywhere.

If they cooked food where Xu Nian'an and the others were currently living, and soul beasts followed the scent, wouldn't they be dead?

Actually, cooking food 500 meters away from where they were living was still a bit unsafe.

But... there was no other way.

Xu Nian'an had no other choice; this was already the furthest distance he could see the cave from.

If he went too far, what would happen if soul beasts came to the cave while he was away, or if the cave was discovered by soul beasts?

There was no choice; Xu Nian'an could only adopt a compromise.

Killing fish and cooking rice at a place that was relatively far from the cave but still allowed him to see the cave.

At this distance, he could retreat to lure away soul beasts or advance to observe the situation of the cave.

The setting sun spilled onto Xu Nian'an's body. Xu Nian'an found a tree branch and skewered a few fish to grill.

He had been out for a full hour.

Beside him were two stoves; one was cooking porridge, and the other was frying fish.

It looked like a leisurely life, but no one would know that all of this was just a facade; Xu Nian'an was releasing his spiritual power to its full extent to guard the surroundings.

"Sigh~ I wonder how long this kind of life will last."

Xu Nian'an sighed. After all, this was the Core Area of the Star Dou Great Forest; it could be said that any soul beast that jumped out could grind him into the ground.

At such a moment concerning his life and death, Xu Nian'an certainly couldn't be careless.

Fortunately, Xu Nian'an finished cooking and eating without waiting for any soul beasts.

He glanced at the sky.

"If you release a distress signal flare during the day, the light of the flare is limited. You must wait until night. Only at night can the distress signal flare exert its effect perfectly."

Looking at the last remaining Xuanming Sect distress signal flare in his hand, Xu Nian'an sighed.

He had only taken three of these when he left the Xuanming Sect. Earlier, to lure the Xuanming Sect people over, Xu Nian'an had used two.

Now there was only the last one left in his hand; this was probably... the last hope for Xu Nian'an and the others.

There was no other way. If Zhang Lexuan and the others were all fine, it wouldn't be impossible to lead Xu Nian'an and the others out of the Core Area.

Unfortunately, there were four wounded, all unconscious, and the only one who was intact, Xu Nian'an, only had a cultivation level of 30.

He could only wait for reinforcements.

"Awoo, awoo, awoo!!!"

Splash, splash, splash!!!

Just as Xu Nian'an was still thinking about the problem, 100 meters away, strange sounds suddenly came.

Xu Nian'an instantly turned his head to look, and his pupils shrank fiercely.

"Vision Shielding!!!"

Waving his large hand, he put away the fried fish and the cooked porridge. Xu Nian'an didn't even have time to extinguish the fire and quickly hid himself.

He saw three small creatures, 40 to 50 centimeters long, playing and frolicking in the river 100 meters away.

Two of them were covered in brown-yellow fur, but golden patterns flickered on their bodies from time to time, and their front two claws were sharp golden claws.

Perhaps these two little guys didn't look like anything special; at most, they were brown bear cubs.

But in front of these two little guys, there was another cub with a larger body and a broader frame.

There were three golden claw marks in the center of its forehead, its whole body fur was pure black, the golden light on its body was incomparably brilliant, its front claws were strong, it walked with great momentum, and the front claws it revealed when lifted were pure gold, a full 10 to 20 centimeters long.

Perhaps the first two could only make Xu Nian'an conclude that they were bear-like creatures.

But this last one instantly made Xu Nian'an lock onto their breed.

Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear!

This was a top-level soul beast of the Star Dou Great Forest; even compared to dragon-type soul beasts, it was not inferior.

Their patriarch had a cultivation level infinitely close to 500,000 years, named Xiong Jun!

Looking at the size of these three Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear cubs, there was no need to think that they hadn't reached adulthood. Since they hadn't reached adulthood, it meant that there must be a mother bear nearby.

Bang! Bang, bang!

Sure enough, not long after the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear cubs appeared, the water surface all around suddenly began to explode, and a massive creature with a fierce look, 6 or 7 meters tall, began to walk over slowly.

It was massive like a small mountain, its muscles were round and full of explosive power, golden patterns flickered with brilliant light all over its body, and the moment its front claws were lifted, Xu Nian'an saw golden claws that were over a meter long.

Gulp~

"This... this size... I'm afraid it's already over 10,000 years, right?"

Xu Nian'an swallowed his saliva when he saw the size of the mother bear.

Good guy, good guy...

You have to know that because the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear has a powerful bloodline, once it reaches 1,000 years, ten-thousand-year soul beasts have to take a slap if they look at it. It runs rampant in the Star Dou Great Forest and has almost no natural enemies.

Once the cultivation reaches 10,000 years, even a Titled Douluo... wouldn't want to provoke it.

The soul beast encyclopedia knowledge in his mind was triggered. Xu Nian'an, based on the golden patterns, claws, and size of this mother bear, finally determined a rough age for it.

The cultivation was over 50,000 years, probably 65,000 years... a cultivation infinitely close to 70,000 years.

Good guy, with this cultivation and age, even if Yan Shaozhe came now, he would have to shake his head, right?

Yan Shaozhe in a full-soul-bone state could definitely win, but it's hard to say if it's worth it. You have to know that the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear is an existence that combines offense and defense.

Not only does it have extremely strong defensive capabilities, but the attack power of those two claws is even more unquestionable.

After all, they are famous for their unparalleled metal-attribute attack power.

Bang! Bang, bang, bang!

Not long after the mother bear appeared, it quickly caught up with the few bear cubs.

As it walked, Xu Nian'an could clearly feel that the mother bear's mood suddenly became very irritable.

It was as if it had sensed something, as if something would threaten the bear cubs, and it looked around from time to time.

"Damn it..."

Looking at the fire stove still burning not far away, and the grilled fish stuck in a circle around it, Xu Nian'an secretly said that it was bad.

This distance...

He looked up again; it was less than 20 meters. If he went back to get it...

Forget it. Even on Blue Star in his previous life, the most ordinary brown bear could kill you in an instant from a distance of 20 meters, let alone a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear with 60,000 to 70,000 years of cultivation.

At this distance, I'm afraid he would be killed in seconds if he moved even a little bit.

Run!

Xu Nian'an's first thought was to run. Anyway, he was in a stealth state now, so it was better to stay away from such dangerous creatures.

Less than three minutes after he started walking, Xu Nian'an felt the atmosphere begin to become oppressive.

Roar!!!

Buzz, buzz, buzz... buzz~!

Bang~! Boom!

Following a roar, the earth trembled. Xu Nian'an turned around; the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear from just now was furious and grabbed a massive humanoid soul beast 100 meters away with one claw.

The massive humanoid soul beast fell to the ground, and a black ten-thousand-year soul ring floated up. When he saw that familiar Silver Moon mark, Xu Nian'an's pupils shrank fiercely.

(End of chapter)