Yuan's eyes sharpened, locked on the scene before him. As the stone flew toward the demonic bear, his thoughts raced.
"How should I attack?" he asked himself, eyes narrowing.
In the blink of an eye, the bear turned its head, its massive form shifting and momentarily disappearing from Yuan's direct line of sight.
His heart pounded harder. His grip tightened around the fang taken from the horned demonic beast. His blood surged, his fatigue vanished as if it had never existed. Even the dull pain in his body from earlier dodges was gone.
In that moment, his entire world narrowed to one thing, the demonic bear.
He stepped forward, fast and silent. Only two paces separated him from the beast.
Then, with all the strength his small body could muster, Yuan leapt into the air, his eyes locked on a single point, the beast's neck.
As he rose, he adjusted his posture midair, the fang ready in his hand. He aimed to strike swiftly and cleanly.
But just as he closed in, the demonic bear shifted, too quickly. His attack missed the neck.
No hesitation.
Yuan instantly redirected the fang downward, aiming instead for the beast's chest, right where the heart should be. With a powerful thrust, he drove the fang into flesh.
"HOOOWL!" the bear let out a piercing cry of pain, thrashing violently.
Yuan had anticipated this. He twisted the fang sharply before yanking it out, causing another wave of agony to surge through the creature.
"HOOOWL!!" it howled again, enraged, and swung its paw at him with all its might.
But Yuan was already gone, dodging to the side, his movements smooth and precise.
For a brief second, their eyes met. The beast's blood red glare locked onto Yuan's cold black gaze.
Then, unexpectedly, the bear let out another howl, not one of rage, but confusion and began hitting at its own body.
Yuan paused, narrowing his eyes.
"Heh.", seeing the demonic bear clawing at itself, Yuan found the sight oddly amusing. A faint smile tugged at his lips, he even considered laughing at how pitiful the beast looked, possibly even breaking its own ribs in panic, but just as quickly, his mind returned to focus, the calmness in his eyes settling like cold steel.
As he landed back on the ground, a jolt of pain ran up through his legs. The impact stunned him momentarily, but there was no time to rest. Another barrage of stones flew toward the bear, Tianyu and then Meilan hurling them without hesitation.
Yuan grit his teeth, forcing himself to endure the pain. He staggered back a few paces, steadying his balance.
Just like before, the demonic bear grew irritated by the thrown stones. It let out a furious growl, eyes flashing toward the two culprits, but Tianyu and Meilan didn't flinch, they kept throwing, undeterred.
"Grrr…", the bear growled deeper, agitated that its silent threats weren't working. That distraction, however, was all Yuan needed.
He limped forward, no longer leaping high but moving low and fast, crouched like a predator. His target: the bear's foot.
Without hesitation, Yuan drove the horned fang into its ankle. Unlike the bear's tough upper hide, the flesh here was thin and vulnerable, the fang pierced through easily.
The bear didn't react immediately, but the moment Yuan yanked the fang free and stomped hard on its wounded foot, the creature roared in agony.
"HOOOWL!", this time, it was pure pain. The beast howled for several heartbeats straight, and when it tried to shift its weight, the injured foot gave way.
With a loud crash, the demonic bear toppled backward, landing flat on its back.
Yuan didn't waste a second. He rushed to the bear's head and, using both hands, plunged the fang deep into its neck. Again and again, he twisted the weapon, driving it further into flesh and bone.
The beast thrashed, but Yuan held firm, pinning it down with all the strength his small body could muster.
"HAAAH!" His breathing turned ragged. Blood soaked his hands, warm and slick, but he didn't stop, not until the beast's resistance began to fade.
The bear's growls turned into heavy, uneven breaths. Its limbs twitched, then went still. Eventually, even its struggling chest fell quiet.
The Demonic bear is dead.
Yuan, now drenched in sweat and blood, let out a deep exhale and collapsed to the side, his chest rising and falling with heavy, exhausted breaths.
Fighting a beast this size, this powerful, was no small feat for a nine year old with a mortal body, but he had endured.
Letting himself fall to the ground, Yuan leaned against the lifeless body of the demonic bear. He tilted his head back and focused on steadying his breath, which came in heavy, uneven bursts. As he slowly calmed, he noticed the sweat soaking his clothes and the fresh blood coating his hands once again.
"Sigh..." Yuan exhaled, glancing at his stained palms. "Same problem again. How annoying," he muttered to himself.
Just as he allowed himself a moment of rest, a familiar voice echoed through the cave.
"Brother Luanyuan, i-is the demonic bear... really dead?"
Yuan recognized the sweet, anxious tone instantly. Without even turning his head, he responded between gasps for air:
"Yes."
Though his voice was dry and tired, it was steady. He hadn't been injured, just completely drained, but the others didn't know that.
"Are you hurt? Do you have any injuries?" Yuxin asked again, her worry clear in her voice.
"Nothing serious. Just... exhausted," he replied, still catching his breath.
"How lucky," Yuxin murmured with a sigh of relief, finally sinking to the ground, her heart still pounding.
"Thank the heavens Brother Luanyuan is okay. Otherwise, we'd all be dead. How the hell are we supposed to survive this Young Talent Tournament? This isn't training, it's torture! Torture I say!" Tianyu exclaimed loudly, slumping down beside the corpse of another beast.
Everyone nodded in silent agreement, the weight of his words settling heavily in the air.
Yuan let out a faint chuckle at Tianyu's outburst. Cruel? Yes. Deadly? Absolutely, but so was the cultivation world. There was no fairness, only strength and survival.
His thoughts drifted, back to darker times, back to missions under the Howling Wind Sect, where killing and robbing had been routine for him. Back then, he had moved like a shadow through the bloodstained paths of Robbing and killing, even becoming a infamous bandit in the name of the sect, though nobody knewn about his Identity.
"Sigh..." He closed his eyes, and a sharp pang gripped his chest. His heart throbbed not from exhaustion, but from the bitterness of memory, resentment he welling up toward Truth.
For several minutes, Yuan clenched his teeth, trying to swallow the anger. Then, slowly, his breathing evened out. The heat in his blood began to fade, and he exhaled, steady and deliberate.
He opened his eyes again, not the past, not the pain, only the present.
The here and nowm that was what mattered.
"Is it still raining?" Yuan thought for a moment, then asked aloud, directing his question toward the others near the small cave entrance.
"It is," Haoran replied from his spot near the entrance. "But it sounds lighter now. Maybe in half an hour it'll stop."
Yuan sighed. "This cave is too open. Too many entrances leading into this one chamber..."
He cursed his luck. The cave had provided shelter, but it was hardly safe.
"Once the rain stops, we'll head out and look for a water source. After that, we'll find a proper place to rest and eat. Let's avoid as many beasts as possible and especially stay clear of any demonic ones," Yuan instructed. The others nodded in agreement.
Pushing himself up from where he had been resting against the bear's corpse, Yuan reached for the bag of holding tied to his left arm. With a smooth motion, he waved his hand over the bear, and the massive corpse disappeared into the spatial pouch.
Then he paused, checking the bag's internal space using his spiritual sight. His brows furrowed. The bear's corpse had taken up a significant portion of the remaining volume.
"Only enough space for maybe two more demonic beasts..." Yuan muttered, disappointed."So, it can hold around four demonic beasts total."
He sighed again, his expression thoughtful.
Though Yuan couldn't determine the exact strength of the demonic beasts they fought, he could estimate based on the intensity of spiritual essence each one gave off. Still, it wasn't an exact science. Guesswork was all he had for now.
Reflecting on the horned wolf, Yuan suspected that beast had awakened at least three spiritual senses, definitely Spiritual Sight and Spiritual Hearing, and possibly Spiritual Touch as well. He was sure of the first two, less so about the third.
As for the demonic bear, Yuan guessed it had likely awakened two senses: Spiritual Sight, and perhaps Spiritual Smell. Despite being powerful and fast, the bear had behaved clumsily, its instincts less refined than they should be.
That suggested its strength was likely within the first or second stage of Mortal Awakening.
"Even with awakened senses, demonic beasts only grow truly dangerous once they learn to use them intelligently," Yuan thought.
The bear had been strong, but not smart.