Chapter 44: The Evil Cultivator’s Past, the Melee Begins

The man paid little attention to Ling Wushuang’s attack. He merely patted the giant ape beneath him.

The giant ape let out a furious roar at Ling Wushuang, knocking him straight out of the air.

It was the giant ape’s Sonic Attack. Anyone below Soul Formation could not defend against it without a Dharma Treasure specifically meant to counter sound.

A shield suddenly materialized before Ling Wushuang. Though he had been forced down, he sustained no heavy injuries.

“What a powerful Sonic Attack! My Dharma Treasure barely blocks the impact, and the sound still disrupts the Spiritual Qi in my body. This will be tricky.”

Even Ling Wushuang had not expected the giant ape to be so powerful; a single roar had thrown his Spiritual Qi into disarray.

“Boy, whatever other tricks you have, use them now. You won’t get another chance.”

Rather than pressing his advantage, the man spoke as though he were a cat toying with a mouse.

He had already swept through the entire second layer of the Abyss Secret Realm. At the passages connecting the upper and lower layers, he had stationed two peak Nascent Soul stage Demon Beasts, ensuring no one could enter or leave. He had ample time to toy with them.

How could he simply kill these people and be done with it, given the old grudge of his sect’s destruction? That would let them off far too lightly.

His name was Fan Hongfei, the youngest son of Fan Kangbo, who had been the Beast-Control Sect’s leader. With only a Yellow Spirit Root, he cultivated very slowly. At twelve, he had reached only the eighth layer of Qi Condensation. That was quite good for an ordinary person, but clearly not enough for a sect leader’s son.

Fortunately, no one in the sect looked down on the sect leader’s son. Instead, they all doted on their little Junior Brother. His cultivation might be poor, but he had great talent for Beast Control.

While still at Qi Condensation, he could already control mid-Foundation Establishment beasts—a whole major realm above him. Most of his fellow disciples could only control beasts at their own cultivation, and even the talented ones managed just one subrealm higher.

Because of their mastery over beasts, Beast-Control Sect disciples nearly always triumphed in same-level battles against disciples of other sects. Naturally, this bred jealousy among rival factions.

At first, the others came humbly to ask for instruction. Under pressure, the Beast-Control Sect could only share its ordinary techniques. Its core methods were out of the question.

But those factions were clearly not satisfied. They gradually began suppressing the Beast-Control Sect, and eventually branded it an evil sect.

Perhaps foreseeing the impending disaster, Sect Leader Fan Kangbo sent his youngest son Fan Hongfei away under an assumed identity, publicly claiming the boy had died in a training accident.

That act by Fan Kangbo saved Fan Hongfei’s life. Afterward, Qingzhou’s major sects joined forces and wiped out the Beast-Control Sect. Every sect then established its own Beast-Taming Department. Tianyuan Sect’s Immortal Beast Peak was one of them.

The destruction of his sect dealt a devastating blow to the twelve or thirteen-year-old Fan Hongfei, leaving him drifting between lucidity and madness.

Later, a small family took a liking to him and adopted him as a son. After he reached Foundation Establishment, he entered the Abyss Secret Realm on that family’s behalf. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.

From the moment he stepped inside, he never left again.

Normally, everyone would be expelled from the secret realm when their time was up. But on its second layer, Fan Hongfei found a cultivation manual. It too dealt with Beast Control, yet its method was unusual: a Blood Essence Contract bound the cultivator and beast together, so that they would flourish or fall as one.

The method was overbearing, but it had an advantage: the cultivator could advance alongside the beast, his cultivation rising with it. With his strength at the time, Fan Hongfei could only find a newly adult giant ape at peak Foundation Establishment. After forming the contract, he and the ape became one entity, so the realm did not expel him.

He could not cultivate in the secret realm, and Demon Beasts grew slowly. He spent three hundred years there before the giant ape finally reached Soul Formation. Then he decided to take revenge.

He knew the secret realm restricted entrants’ ages. Even the most gifted cultivator of fifty could hardly have reached Soul Formation. With his Soul Formation ape, he was now invincible in the realm.

While Ling Wushuang and Fan Hongfei remained locked in a standoff, total chaos had erupted elsewhere.

After Ling Wushuang attacked, everyone withdrew their Spiritual Qi and took down the Formation. The Demon Beasts surged in, and each disciple brought out their best skills.

The Demon Beasts were numerous and stronger than the disciples. Some disciples were killed by their attacks at once.

Qin Xiao bolted in a chosen direction, only to be intercepted by a Golden Core stage Demon Beast. Amidst the swarming horde, avoiding notice was impossible.

Yun Man was holding back a peak Nascent Soul beast. Though it forced her back again and again, she still had room to maneuver and showed no sign of being injured.

Cang Xing was also fighting a peak Nascent Soul beast, but he was trading blows evenly with it. Neither could win any time soon.

“This can’t go on! Cang Xing, let’s break through together, or all the disciples will die!”

Su Lin faced the same problem: he too was fighting one of the three peak Nascent Soul beasts. They would die sooner or later if this dragged on. Putting everything else aside, he shouted to Cang Xing.

Though the two sects were sworn enemies and their disciples often came to blows, this was no time for those grudges. If things went badly, they would all die here.

Qin Xiao could not spare any thought for that. A Golden Core giant bear was keeping him busy enough. His Body Refinement had reached the great completion of the second layer, but it was not the third, and a Golden Core beast could still hurt him.

Before Qin Xiao could think further, the giant bear swung a paw at him. It clearly did not want to waste time: to the bear, a mortal without cultivation would take only one slap.

Qin Xiao had been ready and dodged at the last moment. His speed was already a match for Golden Core, and the bear had only made a casual swipe. Follow the newest chapters on novelping dot com.

The bear was taken aback. It had not expected a mortal to dodge its attack. But it only hesitated briefly before swinging at Qin Xiao again.

This time, the bear was too close for Qin Xiao to dodge. He could only brace himself to take the blow.

Just before the bear’s paw hit him, however, a shield appeared around Qin Xiao. It bounced the paw straight back.

“Oh, right! How did I forget the Heart-Protecting Turtle Shell? It’s a Low Grade Dharma Treasure—it can defend me on its own!”

Noticing the barrier, Qin Xiao remembered his protective gear.

“You damned bear! You almost scared me. Now it’s my turn!”

Now that he had a shield, Qin Xiao decided to fight back. If he did not take down the bear, he would have no chance to leave.

The bear was baffled. It had hit him, so why had its paw bounced back?

But it was a Demon Beast, with limited intelligence. Seeing Qin Xiao charge toward it, it raised both paws and brought them down. Its thinking was simple: if one strike did not work, hit him a few more times.

Qin Xiao did not dodge. Taking the blows, he kicked the bear straight in the groin with all his strength. Human or beast, that was always a weak spot.

The bear had not expected him to fight back and had made no attempt to guard itself. The kick struck home. It immediately curled up, fell, and rolled on the ground.

Its agonized howls echoed across the second layer.

The bear’s howls interrupted everyone, and they all looked over.

“What are you staring at? Run!”

Sensing their gazes, Qin Xiao turned back and shouted, then ran into the distance.

Many quick-witted disciples also fled while the beasts they were fighting had yet to react.

“How amusing. A mortal actually managed to injure a Golden Core stage Demon Beast.”

Fan Hongfei watched Qin Xiao flee and spoke with amusement.

He was in no hurry. He had stationed Nascent Soul beasts to guard the exits. Even Ling Wushuang, standing before him, could not escape, let alone a mortal.