Chapter 53: Battle against the Wolf Sky Mercenaries (Part-3)

Song Fengxi barely had time to react before a sharp pain exploded in his arm.

Xiao Hei opened his small jaws and tore off a chunk of flesh, blood spraying as Song Fengxi screamed in agony.

“What kind of monster is this?”

Shock and horror twisted Song Fengxi’s face.

He had assumed the creature beside Ryan was nothing more than a pet.

Yet it had caught up to an Upper Exalt with ease.

Before Song Fengxi could recover, Xiao Hei darted again, snapping and tearing, leaving bloody wounds behind.

“This thing… it’s strength rivals an Upper Exalt?”

Realization struck Song Fengxi like a hammer.

No wonder.

A fifth-rank monster could already suppress human cultivators of the same level. Against a Golden-Blood Blue Tiger, Song Fengxi stood little chance.

His counterattacks missed again and again as Xiao Hei danced around him, agile and ruthless.

In mere moments, Song Fengxi was drenched in blood. His body was a horrifying mix of scorched black and vivid red, a living picture of misery.

If Xiao Hei were more experienced in fighting humans, Song Fengxi would already be dead.

“This can’t go on!”

Song Fengxi grit his teeth, enduring the pain as desperation surged.

No longer holding back, he unleashed all his power at once.

With a violent burst of battle qi, his body shot upward.

He flew to escape.

Xiao Hei was forced back by the sudden surge of power. By the time he steadied himself, Song Fengxi was already high in the air, retreating rapidly.

“Meow…”

Xiao Hei stared upward, puffed his cheeks, and flattened his ears in frustration.

No matter how he jumped or clawed, he could not touch the sky-bound figure anymore.

He had failed.

All the beast could do now… was return to Ryan.

“Hm?”

Ryan frowned slightly in the distance.

He had originally intended to let Xiao Hei gain some real combat experience, but he hadn’t expected Song Fengxi to take to the skies. No matter how strong Xiao Hei was, he was still a land animal, not an aerial beast. Against an enemy flying freely in the air, there was simply no way for him to close the distance.

Shaking his head, Ryan decided to handle it himself.

He raised his arm.

“Wind Blade”

Five wind blades burst forth in rapid succession.

The blades aligned perfectly, forming a straight killing line that tore through the air toward Song Fengxi. Though Song Fengxi could fly, his speed was nowhere near that of the Golden-Blood Polar Shadow Bird. In an instant, the wind blades were already pressing in from behind.

Song Fengxi heard the shrill tearing of air and felt danger clawing at his back. His expression changed drastically as he twisted his body, trying to dodge the unseen attack.

But at that very moment, Ryan’s arm moved again.

The wind blades curved midair.

This was Ryan’s latest refinement, a fusion of control and consecutive strikes.

Curved Five-Strike Combo.

“What?”

“Impossible!”

Song Fengxi’s pupils shrank in terror. He had already evaded, yet the attack still followed him like a curse, bending through the air as if it possessed a will of its own.

Then—

Boom!

Five wind blades struck one after another.

The final blade sliced cleanly across Song Fengxi’s neck.

“Ah—!”

A short, hoarse scream echoed through the sky. Song Fengxi’s body lost all strength and dropped like a broken kite, blood spraying in a crimson arc before he slammed into the ground below.

The Upper Exalt Warrior was dead.

From beginning to end, he hadn’t touched a single hair on Ryan’s body. His full strength had never even been unleashed before he fell beneath a wind blade.

Xiao Hei let out an excited cry and sprinted toward the landing spot.

Moments later, he returned, proudly carrying a blood-soaked human head in his mouth.

A gruesome sight.

Yet Xiao Hei looked quite pleased with himself.

After all, Ryan had only told him to bring back Song Fengxi’s head, not to defeat him personally. From his perspective, the mission was a complete success.

“Meow~”

Xiao Hei dropped its head at Ryan’s feet and sat down obediently, tail swaying slightly, eyes full of expectation.

“Well done.”

Ryan smiled faintly.

Since Xiao Hei couldn’t fly, this outcome wasn’t his fault at all. Ryan reached out and patted the little tiger’s head, then retrieved an all-attribute pill from his system backpack and tossed it over.

Xiao Hei opened his mouth with perfect timing, swallowed the pill, and immediately showed a blissful expression.

Ryan had discovered this peculiar habit early on.

Xiao Hei loved attribute pills.

When he had first rescued Xiao Hei from the Golden-Blood Polar Shadow Bird, the little tiger had been injured. Unsure how else to help, Ryan had fed him a small gold sore pill.

To Ryan’s surprise, the injury healed instantly.

That was when he realized that items from the system backpack could be used on monsters.

After that, Ryan occasionally fed Xiao Hei attribute pills, and the little fellow became more and more enthusiastic whenever Ryan fought. Fear aside, a large part of his motivation was clearly tied to rewards.

*

Later, Ryan incinerated Song Fengxi’s severed head with a burst of flame, then walked to the fallen body and reduced it to ashes as well. Once everything was cleaned up, he clapped his hands lightly, preparing to leave.

At that moment, an old man approached him.

Ryan had noticed the beast carriage pulled by a three-headed unicorn long ago. He knew they were not affiliated with the Wolf Sky Mercenary Corps, so he hadn’t paid them any mind. He hadn’t expected them to come to him instead.

The old man, Uncle Shi, bowed respectfully and said, “Young master, my lord wishes to invite you into the carriage. I wonder if you would be willing to honor him?”

Strength deserved respect.

From Uncle Shi’s perspective, someone who could single-handedly slaughter so many Exalts and even an Upper Exalt was nothing short of a peerless powerhouse.

Ryan glanced toward the beast carriage, then nodded calmly. “Very well.”

“Excellent, please, this way.”

Uncle Shi’s face lit up with joy. The respect in his eyes deepened, tinged now with genuine admiration.

Ryan instructed Xiao Hei to wait outside and entered the carriage without hesitation. He wasn’t worried about any ambush. From Uncle Shi’s demeanor alone, it was clear there was no hostile intent.

Inside the carriage sat a middle-aged man with a square, dignified face. His appearance wasn’t striking, but his bearing radiated authority and calm confidence. When he saw Ryan enter, a warm smile appeared on his face, instantly putting Ryan at ease.

It seemed likely that the man had seen Ryan’s display of strength and wished to befriend him.

Besides the middle-aged man, there was also a young woman inside.

She was beautifully dressed, her features delicate and refined. While she might not surpass Li Xue or Shangguan Siyu, she was undeniably stunning in her own right. At that moment, her large, bright eyes were fixed on Ryan, filled with curiosity.

“Good, very good,” the middle-aged man praised as soon as Ryan stepped in. “Young and accomplished, truly rare. Come, please sit. Sit beside Bi’er.”

Ryan followed his gaze, the faint smile still resting on his lips.

Ryan did not stand on ceremony. Following the middle-aged man’s gesture, he folded his legs and sat down.

The carriage wasn’t particularly spacious. Two people could sit comfortably, but with three inside, things became… intimate.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep