Chapter 57: The Meaning of the Strange Beast, Seen Through

Zhang Dadan instinctively turned and blocked, yet what came into his sight was nothing at all.

"Damn it!"

When he reacted and tried to turn again, it was already too late.

A claw strike slashed viciously at his back; he could only try to tense his muscles at the last moment to lessen the damage.

Boom!

Dust rose, and strands of bright red blood slid down from Zhang Dadan, who had crashed to the ground.

Yet before much blood could flow from the wound, it was pressed shut by the bulging black patterns coiling around his body.

Those black patterns pulsed with each breath, like living blood vessels.

At this moment, Zhang Dadan also kipped up onto his feet in a single bound, once again warily looking around to guard against another attack from that beast.

Yet Baichuan did not continue to pursue the already wounded Zhang Dadan — as the saying goes, don't chase a cornered foe, especially before he understood the strength of his opponent.

He continued to use the stealth ability brought by Huanjing Moni LV2 to ambush and harass, constantly stirring up "whoosh whoosh" gusts of wind all around him, trying to disrupt his judgment.

Because he had once witnessed Zhang Dadan's battle with those few people — it was utterly exaggerated; every swing and every hammer-strike made the air howl, and the trees he hit were either smashed into huge craters or snapped clean in half. He had to be on guard.

Yet at this moment, Zhang Dadan's heart was heavy — he had misjudged the strength of this Strange Beast.

These Strange Beasts, especially those without weaknesses, are truly not ordinary trouble! He had been careless.

To be fair, this was his first time encountering a wild Strange Beast. In the past, as a disciple of a great sect, the first Strange Beast he had contact with was merely that Ice Silkworm, which had been subdued into complete submission.

So he did not truly understand how terrifying it was when these beings — capable of being ranked on the Strange Beast Ranking in the martial world — fully unleashed their power!

What the eyes see is ultimately not as vivid as experiencing it oneself.

Now that he had made contact, he had to admit that a Dragon Species containing Dragon Blood was truly powerful; fighting it, he could feel the power within his body being suppressed every single moment.

Why did they so desperately seek Strange Beasts? Wasn't it precisely because these Strange Beasts could purify the power within their bodies, allowing them to obtain even greater strength, and thereby crush from the very essence of power those martial artists who merely cultivated using martial stones?

At the same time, they could also help one open the Eighth Limit Gate of the human body.

Otherwise, who would risk their life for a mere beast?

Wasn't it because they represented even greater power and even more mysterious abilities? Possessing them meant possessing the stepping stone to enter the next class above.

Never again to keep company with that rabble of low-class martial artists.

For example, right now — he had clearly already swallowed a martial stone and obtained a seemingly endless supply of powerful force that let him indulge in wanton destruction.

Yet when facing this Strange Beast, he was utterly suppressed, unable to activate the power within his body.

These Strange Beasts truly seized the fortune of Heaven itself — how enviable!

While he was pondering, the great snake attacked once again.

Zhang Dadan could only hastily raise his hands to defend, carefully observing this Strange Beast's abilities the whole while. It was obvious that this Strange Beast's special power was the ability to vanish anywhere, anytime. As for its attack power — judging from the strike he had just taken head-on — it was not especially terrifying; he could still endure it.

It seemed its most troublesome aspect was the ability to vanish anywhere, anytime. This fearsome ability gave it the initiative — it could attack at will and withdraw at will.

To take it down now, he had to come up with a method, find the pattern behind this Strange Beast's ability. As long as he could see through its ability, it would inevitably be taken down by him!

After once again withstanding several attacks from this Dragon Species Strange Beast, Zhang Dadan — now bearing several fresh wounds — watched the Strange Beast vanish once more beneath the shade of the trees…

Wait! Tree shade?

Watching the Dragon Species Strange Beast vanish once more from beneath the tree shade.

Zhang Dadan's eyes lit up — he seemed to have discovered the pattern behind this Strange Beast's disappearance!

Right — tree shade! It seemed that from the very beginning until now, this Strange Beast's disappearances had all happened beneath tree shade or in shadows. Could its disappearance be related to this?

True or false, a test would tell. Thinking this, Zhang Dadan began to instinctively inch his way, bit by bit, toward an open, sunlit area.

Yet at this moment, Baichuan — who had been probing wave after wave — took advantage of the brief gap after his attack had landed and his stealth had re-engaged, and a doubt arose in his heart.

Why was this Zhang Dadan's performance somewhat lacking? He had clearly displayed such dominance back then, yet now it seemed he was concealing his true strength?

Even when taking several of his attacks head-on, he did not unleash his true power.

Could it be that he was trying to make me form a wrong judgment — think he was weak — so that I would grow careless and be taken down by him?

Instinctively, such a thought flashed through Baichuan's mind.

He glanced at Zhang Dadan, who had been carefully observing and sizing him up the whole time. It seemed his tactics needed to change.

While he was pondering, man and snake clashed once more, and Baichuan once again added a few new wounds to him.

Of course, inevitably, a few wounds also appeared on his own body, and in some places his scales had cracked open — fortunately, the impact was minor.

At this moment, Zhang Dadan's upper garment had been completely torn open, and several vicious claw marks on his sturdy frame were a horrifying sight — clearly, even the black patterns that pulsed like living things could no longer suppress his wounds.

Drops of blood began to overflow ceaselessly from the wounds on his body.

Yet he paid it little heed. The next moment, he gathered strength in one leg, raised it high, and simply stomped it down onto the ground.

Boom!!

Instantly, the ground was cracked and shattered by the stomp, and countless clods of earth and dust were kicked up.

Seeing this — and it was not the first time Baichuan had encountered Zhang Dadan trying to use this move to force him to reveal himself — his long, supple snake body arched and sprang, shooting him out of the area.

Yet this played right into Zhang Dadan's hands. After countless observations and deliberate, subtle shifts of the battlefield, he had finally, at this moment, forced it out of the shadowed area!

At this moment, he stared fixedly at the direction in which the Strange Beast had vanished. Finally — finally — he had caught a glimpse of its true nature.

There, on the open ground bathed in golden sunlight, a huge snake-shaped shadow had somehow appeared on the ground — a shadow that should never have been there!

"Ha~ beast! At last this one has seen through your ability!"

Amid his roar, Zhang Dadan — long prepared — used his entire body's Blood Qi as the price to forcibly activate the power within him that had been suppressed.

The next moment, as he ran, the muscles across his entire body bulged high, countless black patterns fully erupted and coiled around his frame, and with each breath vast amounts of white mist billowed up.

As if teleporting, his thick, powerful leg stamped down hard, and he closed in beside the shadow — his massive hands seized forward in a vicious grip!

In an instant, a textured, rough, cold metallic sensation transmitted through his palms — that was the Strange Beast's body.

At this moment, he laughed!

Yet Baichuan also laughed. Having used this stealth ability for nearly a year now, and having relied on it countless times in daily hunts, how could he be ignorant of its strengths and flaws?

How could this be!

When he saw that Zhang Dadan had never once unleashed his true power, and had instinctively glanced at the ground where he had vanished, and afterwards kept deliberately shifting the battlefield.

He had a premonition that his invisibility had been seen through. Since that was the case, why not turn the tables? After all, what he feared most was that fellow's terrifying giant hand.

Perhaps his body could withstand the pounding of that iron fist, but he couldn't guarantee his skull could take it — which was why he didn't dare engage in close-quarters combat, terrified of taking one such punch to the head.

Now that fellow had both giant hands gripping him — wasn't this a case of weaving a cocoon to trap himself?

The supple and agile serpentine body, from the very moment Zhang Dadan grabbed it, had spontaneously begun coiling around him.

……

(End of Chapter)