Chapter 4: 4 Reversals

Chapter 4: Reversal

With the increase of only "0.1," Ning Xuan felt that his strength, stamina, and even his reaction speed had improved slightly.

Combining this with the panel that appeared before his eyes, he made a natural deduction.

His "Life," meaning his physique and spirit, was only 1 point. During the struggle with the bear demon, he had wounded it and thus plundered a portion of its power. This power was external, which explained the "Heavenly Demon Record additional increase" and the "1 (1.1)" notation.

His true Life was 1.

With the addition of the Mountain-Crashing Bear, it had become 1.1.

Ning Xuan recalled the scene of his previous struggle with the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon.

As wounds appeared on the bear, black smoke transferred to him; he became stronger, and the bear became weaker.

Although he didn't understand how it worked, it was certainly related to the "Heavenly Demon Record."

'So, the key lies in how to more efficiently inflict more damage on the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon.'

A thoughtful look appeared in Ning Xuan's eyes.

'In a head-on collision, I would be sent flying by the enraged bear in an instant, and even the bones in my arms would be shattered.'

He recalled the scene from [Ten of Four].

He had exerted all his strength, unleashed everything he had learned, summoned all his courage, and with a heart set on death, he had swung that fierce and violent blade.

That blade had struck the black "small mountain" that was rumbling toward him at high speed.

He had been sent flying, his arms shattered, and he had only managed to commit suicide by shifting his body to slide his neck across an upward-facing blade.

As the memory faded, Ning Xuan reached a conclusion.

'Avoid head-on collisions as much as possible.'

He suddenly stood up and put on his boots. He remembered that the villa's storehouse had an armory.

He didn't know what his old man had been doing, but the armory actually contained repeating crossbows, which were strictly forbidden by the Imperial Court.

Such items, along with armor, were classified as contraband; private possession was a capital offense.

Yet, his old man had hidden many.

Before dawn, Ning Xuan appeared in the hanging basket once again.

He tilted his head, looking at the narrow mountain pass, watching the mountain mist churn into a gray of uncertain light and shadow.

Other than the time he had to wake up early to practice martial arts with Master Zhang, he had never done so since.

At this hour, he would usually be holding a beautiful woman in warm, fragrant bedding, thinking about what to do that day.

Should he feast? Visit courtesans? Hunt in the fields? Watch beast fights? Go horse riding? Appreciate paintings? Appraise jade? Or go to the wealthy merchant guild that fawned over him every few days to see if there were any novelties from abroad, especially from the Western Regions.

He had never imagined that one day, he would have to fight for his life like this.

He didn't know how.

A pretty boy, the only son of Master Ning—how could he fight for his life? Why would he need to?

He could just throw a handful of silver, and there would be plenty of people willing to fight for him.

But now, he knew how.

He was all alone, facing this terrifying demon, "enjoying" this cycle of reincarnation in this living hell.

He stood quietly in the hanging basket, eyes slightly closed, his whole body relaxed to avoid meaningless exhaustion, hoping to give his all in the upcoming battle.

His heart should have been racing, but it was forcibly suppressed by a sense of calm, beating with a rhythmic, peaceful cadence.

Through the slits of his eyes, he finally waited for a sliver of light.

A pale, sickly light.

Above his head, the "drip-drop" sound of water finally came.

The bear demon's saliva.

Ning Xuan suddenly noticed that the bear demon seemed to have become slightly weaker. This was a pleasant surprise, as it meant that in the "ten cycles," as long as he plundered the bear's power, he would be permanently strengthened, and the bear would be permanently weakened.

Almost the next instant, time seemed to accelerate.

The bear demon grabbed the hemp rope, trying to drag its prey.

Ning Xuan jumped from the basket, grabbed a dagger with one hand, and hung from the cliff.

The bear crawled down like a gecko.

Ning Xuan let go.

The bear reached for him.

Ning Xuan's left hand fired a black metal tube, shooting out hundreds of pear-blossom needles. The needles pierced the bear's eyes, and at the same time, the bear's claws grabbed his waist, piercing his flesh.

Ning Xuan swung his blade, using "Flying Swallow Chasing the Wind" to expand his advantage.

The bear felt the pain and loosened its claws.

Ning Xuan fell, then suddenly pulled out another dagger, using all his strength to jam it into a rock crevice. There was a remnant root of a withered pine in this crevice; he had been observing it for a long time.

Blood was dripping from his waist. He inserted his long blade into the crevice as well, stood up, and looked up to face the bear once more.

The bear roared in anger, no longer holding back. It swung its sharp claws, cracking the rock with every strike as it climbed toward him, but its speed was not as fast as it had been on flat ground.

He pulled two repeating crossbows from behind his back and pulled the triggers repeatedly toward the top.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!*

The bolts tore through the air with a shrill whistle.

A faint black smoke emerged from the bear's body, and his own body seemed to have a suction force, drawing that black smoke toward him.

He was getting stronger; the bear was getting weaker.

In the blink of an eye, the bear reached him. He stopped attacking, jumped off the cliff, and appeared in his bedroom.

He took a few breaths, and from afar came the sound of everything being crushed again—that rumbling thunder and drum-like sound approaching from afar.

He took out the crossbow he had prepared in the bedroom and aimed it at the door.

*BOOM!!*

The door shattered!

Dust billowed, and he pulled the trigger.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!* The bolts shot into the dust, but with little effect.

*Bang!*

He felt himself struck by a crushing, massive force.

He pulled out his backup dagger and quickly slashed his own throat.

[Ten of Six]

[Heavenly Demon Record: Mountain-Crashing Bear (17/100)]

[Ten of Seven]

[Heavenly Demon Record: Mountain-Crashing Bear (30/100)]

[Ten of Eight]

[Heavenly Demon Record: Mountain-Crashing Bear (46/100)]

[Ten of Nine]

Cliff, eve of dawn, hanging basket.

But there was no longer just one hanging basket; many were suspended in mid-air.

By [Ten of Eight], Ning Xuan discovered that his physique was already similar to, or even slightly exceeded, that of the Mountain-Crashing Bear, so he intended to fight head-on. However... he was still paralyzed by a single strike from the bear, his muscles congested by the second, and his bones shattered by the third.

He realized a truth: this Mountain-Crashing Bear demon not only possessed a powerful physique and a strong Life, but it likely also possessed its own demonic arts.

Even if he was on par with the bear in terms of physique, as long as the bear used its demonic arts, he was still no match.

The enhancement of his physique had made his past tasks much easier. It used to take him half the night to design one hanging basket, but now... the cliff was already covered with at least ten.

The enhancement of his physique was not just stamina, but also strength and speed—this speed included running speed, reaction speed, and so on.

When he practiced the "Swallow Chasing the Wind Blade," he had already practiced footwork.

The first form, "Flying Swallow Chasing the Wind," required coordination with footwork.

Now, with his enhanced physique, his movements were becoming increasingly agile.

The sky finally brightened.

Ning Xuan mechanically looked up, meeting the bear's hideous face, a look of fear appearing in his eyes.

The familiar scene played out once again...

But what was unfamiliar was that when one hanging basket was destroyed, Ning Xuan, like a nimble ape of the mountains, used his daggers and rock crevices to quickly leap to another.

And in every hanging basket, he had placed two repeating crossbows.

The bear was like a gecko; the man was like a nimble ape.

The hanging baskets swayed back and forth, bolts piercing the air with shrill whistles.

In the midst of the back-and-forth struggle, the bear suddenly seized an opportunity, leaping toward Ning Xuan as he ran toward the next basket.

"Caught you!"

Ning Xuan looked up in fear, then pulled out the long blade from behind his back.

A strike in mid-air.

The blade light was like splashing snow!

*Clang!!*

A deep, inch-long gash was slashed into the bear's left arm, and rolling black smoke poured out, being sucked toward Ning Xuan.

In that instant, the bear's mind was almost blank, buzzing.

In its eyes, the agile food still had fear in its eyes—intense fear—but after that one strike, the food nimbly used the momentum to leap away, grabbing a hanging hemp rope and swinging toward it again like a child on a swing.

Ning Xuan's eyes were still full of fear.

But the bear understood: this food was tricking it.

The food's strength was not below its own at all.

It no longer rushed toward the food, turning instead to climb back up the cliff.

Its demonic art could only be used on flat ground; it needed a "running start" to activate it.

Just then, a heart-wrenching pain came from behind. It turned its head, only to see the food stabbing the long blade fiercely into the most vulnerable spot behind its rump.

"AWOOOOOOO!!!"

The bear let out an unimaginable scream.

It exerted all its strength, unleashed everything it had learned, summoned all its courage, and with a heart set on death, it made its most fierce and violent leap.

It leaped onto the cliff, looking down with lingering fear.

In its eyes, the food looked as if it had been inflated, its entire body swelling, while it felt like a deflated ball, becoming thin and weak.

The bear showed a look of fear and turned to flee.

Ning Xuan glanced at the panel

[Heavenly Demon Record: Mountain-Crashing Bear (65/100)]

[Life (Physique): 1 (2.7)]

[Nature (Spirit): 1]

He grabbed a black protruding rock on the cliff with one hand, exerted force, leaped up a foot, and landed steadily on the cliff top.

He twisted his neck and flicked his blade, his body filled with infinite power.

Originally, he had arranged repeating crossbow traps in his bedroom, where pulling one string would trigger a volley, but it seemed they wouldn't be needed now.

He walked into the villa.

The villa was very quiet now, so quiet that the thin, weak bear seemed to have disappeared.

Ning Xuan focused slightly and listened.

His perception had become much sharper.

He heard extremely suppressed breathing.

It was coming from the direction of the side courtyard.

He dragged his blade and walked over.

He saw a landscape rockery, and the faint breathing was coming from within it.

He approached lightly.

The bear was hiding inside. It didn't know what had happened; it only felt itself sweating, and it was afraid.

Suddenly, it felt something was wrong. It mechanically turned its head slowly, then met a hideous blade light.

With the death of the bear, the villa under the pale sunlight shattered...

Ning Xuan suddenly felt a slight pressure on his left arm and a sticky, warm sensation against his body.

Ning Xuan opened his eyes and saw the beautiful maid lying on his left arm.

Looking back, his pupils slowly constricted.

[Ning Xuan]

[Heavenly Demon Record]

[Life Attribute Gate 1: Mountain-Crashing Bear] (Not yet summoned)

[Life (Physique): 1]

[Nature (Spirit): 1]

He looked closer, and some new information emerged.

[Mountain-Crashing Bear]

[Heavenly Demon Life Attribute Gate, Bear Class, Common Family, Mountain-Crashing Species (Physique): 3.2] (Only main attribute displayed) (Can provide an additional 2.7 to Life attribute after summoning)

[Innate Demonic Art: Bear-Crushing Mountain: Its speed is like the wind; the faster it is, the more violent its momentum, shattering human bodies with a single collision.]

He looked again.

Another piece of information.

[Heavenly Demon Record: Perceive the arrival of the Heavenly Demon, observe the root of its life, forcibly refine the record. Failure in refinement leads to death and dissipation; success in refinement allows it to be used as one's own.]

Ning Xuan was stunned.

Does this... mean that in the near future, the Mountain-Crashing Bear will have to come again?

(End of chapter)