Chapter 33: Beast Fight

“Yuan Cheng, Lin Kai, extinguish the furnace. Xia Chuan, Yue Feng, the five of you come with me to the cave entrance. Everyone else retreat further inside—hurry!”

Amid the sudden upheaval, Xia Hong swiftly issued orders.

The cold beast was already very near the cave entrance; running out was impossible.

Besides, it was still daytime—if they ran outside, even those with Timber-Cutting realm cultivation couldn’t withstand the extreme cold, let alone the others in camp.

The cave wasn’t large, but moving the group ten or so meters inward posed no problem.

“It’s still daytime. If we put out the fire, they won’t last long…”

Yuan Cheng had been confused upon hearing the order, but with the emergency, he had no time to ask. Only after extinguishing the fire did he finally speak up.

“Don’t you remember? The small torches we used when hunting with the leader came from this furnace.”

Upon hearing Lin Kai’s reply, Yuan Cheng’s expression changed instantly.

They had all witnessed firsthand the cold beast’s frenzy toward those small torches.

This furnace was burning so fiercely—if the cold beast noticed, what would happen?

“Thank the leader for the reminder—we’d have been doomed otherwise. I recall, those torches don’t just heal the cold beast, they also boost its strength.”

“Yuan Cheng, Lin Kai, once the fire’s out, hurry over and help!”

Hearing Xia Chuan’s voice, the two rushed toward the cave entrance.

“Quickly bring logs to block the entrance—just in case.”

The ground still trembled. Xia Hong ordered everyone to move all the stored wood from inside the cave to the center of the entrance, while he himself stepped to the side and carefully dug a small hole to see what lay outside.

The instant the hole opened, a beam of light shot in.

The cave had no firelight left—pitch black.

Outside, it was daytime; sunlight entering through the hole was normal.

Yet alongside that sunlight came a bone-chilling cold.

Xia Hong, closest to the hole, could see with his naked eyes how dust and particles in the sunlight were freezing at an terrifying speed—in just three or four breaths, snowflakes formed out of thin air and drifted gently to the ground.

Xia Hong’s pupils contracted slightly as he cautiously extended his palm beneath the sunlight.

Hssssss…

The moment the sunlight touched his palm, a piercing cold surged straight from his hand to his skull; the skin turned blue-green, and even his blood ceased flowing.

Sensing numbness spreading from his palm to other parts of his body, Xia Hong’s face darkened—he yanked his hand back and rubbed it dozens of times before the numbness slowly faded.

“Daytime temperatures can drop this low? No wonder humans can only survive in shadows—even those with Earth-Digging realm cultivation probably can’t walk freely in sunlight.”

Xia Hong shook his hand back to normal, then pressed his eye to the hole to look outside.

Sunlight already burned his skin this badly—how much worse would it be directly on his eyeballs? The instant his eye met the hole, searing pain shot into his skull; he gritted his teeth and forced himself to observe the scene outside.

What he saw plunged his heart to the bottom.

A massive, six-horned, four-legged creature, resembling a goat and measuring five to six meters in length, seemed startled and was charging wildly toward the slope.

Its shoulder height alone exceeded two meters; in its furious charge, not only trees but even small hills were plowed straight through.

“It’s that goat-like cold beast—it’s charging straight at us!”

Xia Hong’s eyes reached their limit; he pulled back and sealed the hole.

Hearing this, Xia Chuan and the others turned pale.

They had all seen that goat-like cold beast before.

But each time, it was at night—when they spotted it sleeping on the Golden Frost Trees.

Due to its enormous size and their lack of understanding, Xia Hong always deliberately avoided it during hunts.

“Don’t worry. Though it’s heading this way, it may not find our cave—let’s wait and see.”

The cold beast was now dangerously close; fearing discovery, Xia Hong didn’t reopen the hole, instead leading everyone to stand on either side of the entrance.

Everyone hoped the beast wouldn’t find the cave and would retreat on its own.

Thud… thud… thud…

Perhaps their prayers had worked—the beast’s footsteps suddenly slowed. No longer frenzied, the sound now indicated it was moving farther from the cave entrance.

Their hearts eased slightly.

“It must’ve been an accident—the cold beast didn’t find the cave. It’s going back.”

Only Xia Hong frowned deeply, sensing something was off.

Suddenly, he dropped to his knees, pressing his ear to the ground.

After listening for less than three breaths, his face turned ashen—he shot upright and roared at the group:

“Scatter to both sides—now!”

Everyone jolted instantly, moving swiftly to retreat to either side of the entrance.

Thud…

The instant the eight had reached the sides, six horns pierced through the entrance. Not only the branches and grasses previously used to block it, but even the logs they’d just dragged over were instantly shattered by the horns, exploding into splinters that flew everywhere.

The violent impact destroyed the entire entrance.

Deadly cold air, mixed with torrents of sunlight, seeped into the cave. The eight closest to the entrance—Xia Hong included—had their leather skirts instantly coated in frost.

“You all retreat further inside—don’t fight it at the entrance!”

Xia Hong ordered the others to fall back, but he himself gritted his teeth and charged forward, grabbing one of the beast’s horns.

The moment he gripped the horn, he nearly got flung away; even as he forced himself to hold his ground, the beast’s furious charge sent him reeling backward uncontrollably.

Yet even so, Xia Hong used his footing to continually redirect the beast’s charge, retreating twenty to thirty meters until the direction of impact shifted from the cave’s interior to the left wall.

He hadn’t charged forward to wrestle the beast.

This goat-like cold beast was far stronger than Snowmane, even by size alone. With his current strength—barely matching a full-grown Snowmane—he couldn’t possibly hold it.

He only wanted to change the direction of its charge.

If everyone retreated inward and the beast kept charging forward, no one could withstand that force.

Just as it neared the left wall, Xia Hong braced his legs, kicked hard against the wall, released his right hand, drew his stone axe from his waist, and, timing the beast’s next charge toward the right wall, swung it with all his might at its head.

Clang…

Yet the cold beast, its head crowned with horns, didn’t even shift its body.

It merely tilted its head slightly, using its horn to block Xia Hong’s stone axe.

Not only did it block it—it shattered the axe in Xia Hong’s grip.

Staring at the stone axe now reduced to a wooden handle, Xia Hong felt numb.

“Leader, catch the axe!”

Xia Hong reached out and caught the axe Xia Chuan threw him, finally exhaling in relief.

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and the others had gathered around, each holding ropes—three on one side, four on the other—throwing the ropes from both flanks to bind the beast, then pulling together with all their strength, yanking it backward.

Though all seven were only Timber-Cutting realm, their combined strength was formidable; the moment the ropes tightened around the beast’s main body and they yanked, it stumbled, nearly toppling sideways.

Roar…

The cold beast forced itself upright, bellowed furiously, echoing through the entire cave. Realizing it couldn’t break free from the ropes, it fell into a stalemate—and its fury was rising at an alarming rate.

(End of Chapter)