Chapter 4: Reversal

With just a “0.1” increase, Ning Xuan felt his strength, stamina, and even his reaction speed had slightly improved.

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

His life, that is, his constitution and spirit, were both only 1 point. In the process of fighting the bear demon, he had injured it and thus plundered a part of its power. This part of the power was external, which was why there were the words “Heavenly Demon Record additional increase” and “1 (1.1)”.

His true life was 1.

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

Ning Xuan recalled the scene of fighting the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon before.

As the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon was wounded, the black smoke was transmitted to him. He became stronger, and the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon became weaker.

Although he didn’t understand what was going on, it must be related to the “Heavenly Demon Record.”

‘So, the key is how to inflict more damage on the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon more efficiently.’

Ning Xuan’s eyes showed a thoughtful look.

‘In a head-on confrontation, I will be sent flying by the enraged Mountain-Crashing Bear demon in almost an instant, and even my hand bones will be instantly shattered…’

The scene of [Four of Ten] flashed in his mind.

He had exhausted all his strength, used all the skills he had learned in his life, summoned all his courage, and with the will to die, he had swung that most ferocious and fierce strike.

That strike had landed on the rumbling, high-speed charging black hill.

He was sent flying backwards, his arms shattered. Even suicide was only barely accomplished by moving his body and sliding his neck across the upward-facing blade on the side.

The memory flashed by, and Ning Xuan came to a conclusion.

‘Avoid head-on confrontations as much as possible.’

He suddenly got up, put on his boots. He remembered that there was an armory in the villa’s warehouse.

He didn’t know what his father did, but there were even repeating crossbows, which were strictly forbidden by the dynasty, in that armory.

These things, along with armor, were listed as prohibited items, and private possession was punishable by death.

His father, however, had hidden many.

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

He turned his head and looked at the narrow opening of the mountain peak, at the mountain mist rolling with an uncertain gray light.

Except for when he practiced martial arts with Martial Master Zhang, he had never woken up so early.

At this time, he was always hugging a beautiful girl in a warm and fragrant bed, thinking about what to do today.

Should he feast? Visit a brothel? Go hunting? Watch beast fights? Go horse riding? Appreciate paintings? Appraise jade? Or go to the Fugui Merchant Guild, which tried to curry favor with him every two or three days, to see if there were any novelties from other places, especially the Western Regions.

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

He didn’t know how.

He was a pretty boy, the only son of Old Master Ning. How could he fight for his life? Why should he fight for his life?

If he threw a handful of silver, there would be plenty of people to fight for his life for him.

But now, he knew how.

He was all alone, facing this terrifying demon, “enjoying” this endless hell-like cycle alone.

He stood quietly in the hanging basket, his eyes slightly closed, his whole body relaxed, to avoid meaningless consumption, in the hope that he could do his best in the battle to come.

His heartbeat should have been fast, but it was forcibly suppressed by a kind of calmness, and it beat with a rhythmic and peaceful rhythm.

A line of light finally appeared between his eyelids.

A deathly pale light.

A “drip” sound of falling water finally came from above his head.

The bear demon’s saliva.

Ning Xuan suddenly noticed that the bear demon seemed to have weakened a little. This was an unexpected joy, because it meant that in the “ten cycles,” as long as he plundered the bear demon’s power, he would be permanently enhanced, and the bear demon would be permanently weakened.

Almost the next moment, time seemed to speed up.

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

Ning Xuan jumped out of the basket, grabbed the dagger with one hand, and hung on the cliff.

The bear demon climbed down like a gecko.

Ning Xuan let go.

The bear demon tried to grab him.

The black metal tube in Ning Xuan’s left hand shot out hundreds or even thousands of pear blossom needles, which shot into the bear demon’s eyes. At the same time, the bear demon’s claws also grabbed his waist, piercing into his flesh.

Ning Xuan swung his saber, a Flying Swallow Chasing the Wind strike, expanding the battle’s result.

The bear demon cried out in pain and loosened its claws.

Ning Xuan fell, then suddenly pulled out a dagger and used all his strength to insert it into a crevice in the rock again. There was a residual root of a dead pine tree in this crevice, which he had observed for a long time.

Blood was dripping from both sides of his waist. He also inserted the long saber into the crevice, then flipped over and stood up, then looked up and faced the bear demon from a distance again.

The bear demon roared angrily, no longer holding back. It brandished its sharp claws, each claw tearing at the rock, and climbed towards him, but its speed was not as fast as on the ground.

He took out two repeating crossbows from his back and repeatedly pulled the trigger upwards.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!!

The crossbow bolts broke through the air, whistling fiercely.

A little black smoke appeared on the bear demon’s body, and his body seemed to have a suction force, sucking in all the black smoke.

He was getting stronger, and the bear demon was getting weaker.

In the blink of an eye, the bear demon was in front of him. He no longer attacked, but jumped into the cliff and appeared in the bedroom.

He took a few breaths, and the sound of everything being shattered came from the distance again, the rumbling thunderous drumming coming from far to near.

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

Boom!!

The door shattered!

Dust rolled in, and he pulled the trigger.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh! The crossbow bolts shot into the dust, but with little effect.

Bang!

He felt himself being hit by a crushing force.

He pulled out his spare dagger and quickly cut his neck.

[Six of Ten]

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

[Seven of Ten]

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

[Eight of Ten]

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

[Nine of Ten]

Cliff, before dawn, hanging basket…

But there was no longer just one hanging basket. Many hanging baskets were hanging in mid-air.

At [Eight of Ten], Ning Xuan found that his constitution was already comparable to that of the Mountain-Crashing Bear, and even slightly surpassed it. So he planned to fight it head-on, but… he was still paralyzed by a single blow from the Mountain-Crashing Bear, his muscles congested after another blow, and his bones shattered after a third blow.

He understood a principle: this Mountain-Crashing Bear demon not only had a powerful constitution, a powerful life, but also very likely had its own demonic arts.

Even if his constitution was on par with the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon, as long as the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon used its demonic arts, he was still no match for it.

The enhancement of his constitution had made his past work much easier. Originally, he needed most of the night to design a hanging basket, but now… there were at least ten hanging baskets hanging on the cliff.

The enhancement of his constitution was not only in stamina, but also in strength and speed. This speed included running speed, reaction speed, and so on…

When he practiced the “Wind-Chasing Swallow Saber,” he had also practiced footwork.

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

At this time, with the enhancement of his constitution, his figure became more and more agile.

The sky finally brightened.

Ning Xuan mechanically raised his head and met the bear demon’s ferocious face, a look of fear in his eyes.

The familiar scene happened again…

But what was unfamiliar was that when a hanging basket was destroyed, Ning Xuan, like a mountain ape, quickly flew to another hanging basket with the help of his dagger and the crevices in the rock.

And in each hanging basket, there were two repeating crossbows.

The bear was like a gecko, and the man was like a spirit ape.

The hanging baskets swayed back and forth, and the crossbow bolts pierced through the air, making a piercing whistling sound.

In the back-and-forth battle, the bear demon suddenly seized an opportunity and leaped, pouncing on Ning Xuan, who was running towards the next hanging basket.

“I’ve got you!”

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

A strike in mid-air.

The saber light was like splashing snow!

Slash!!

A large gash, an inch deep, was directly cut into the bear demon’s left arm. Rolling black smoke flowed out from it and was sucked towards Ning Xuan.

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

In its eyes, the agile food still had fear in its eyes, strong fear, but after one strike, the food flexibly used the momentum to leap away, grabbed a hanging hemp rope on the side, and like swinging on a swing, came towards it again.

Ning Xuan’s eyes were still filled with fear.

But the bear demon understood that this food was tricking it.

This food’s power was not inferior to its own at all.

It no longer faced the food, but turned and climbed up the cliff.

Its demonic arts could only be used on flat ground, and it needed a “running start” to activate them.

And just then, a heart-wrenching pain came from behind. It turned its head and saw that the food had fiercely stabbed the long saber into the most vulnerable part of its buttocks.

“Aooooo!!!!”

The bear demon let out an unimaginable, blood-curdling scream.

It exhausted all its strength, used all the skills it had learned in its life, summoned all its courage, and with the will to die, it made a most ferocious and fierce leap.

It leaped onto the cliff and looked down in a state of shock.

In its eyes, the food seemed to have been inflated, its whole body had swelled a circle, while it was like a deflated ball, becoming thin and weak.

A look of fear appeared on the bear demon’s face, and it turned and fled.

Ning Xuan glanced at the panel:

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

[Life (Constitution): 1 (2.7)]

[Nature (Spirit): 1]

He grabbed a black protruding rock on the cliff with one hand, and with a burst of strength, his body leaped ten feet and landed steadily on the top of the cliff.

He twisted his neck, then flicked his saber in a flourish. His whole body was filled with endless power.

Originally, he had also arranged a repeating crossbow mechanism in his bedroom, where one pull could fire several crossbows at once. Now it seemed that it was not needed.

He walked into the mountain villa.

The mountain villa was very quiet at this time, so quiet that the thin bear demon seemed to have disappeared.

Ning Xuan focused his mind slightly and listened.

His perception had become much sharper.

He heard an extremely suppressed breathing sound.

It was in the direction of the side courtyard.

He dragged his saber and walked over.

He saw an ornamental rockery, and the faint breathing sound was coming from within.

He approached quietly.

The bear demon was hiding inside. It didn’t know what had happened. It only felt sweat all over its body, and it was afraid.

Suddenly, it felt that something was wrong. It mechanically, slowly turned its head, and then met a ferocious saber light.

With the death of the bear demon, the mountain villa under the deathly pale sunlight shattered…

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

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

Looking again, his pupils slowly shrank.

[Ning Xuan]

[Heavenly Demon Record]

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

[Life (Constitution): 1]

[Nature (Spirit): 1]

He looked closer, and some new information appeared.

[Mountain-Crashing Bear]

[Heavenly Demon Life Attribute Gate, Bear Order, Common Family, Mountain-Crashing Species (Constitution): 3.2] (Only main attribute is displayed) (Can provide an additional 2.7 Life attribute when summoned)

[Innate Demonic Art: Bear Crushing the Mountain Peak: Its speed is like the wind. The faster it is, the more ferocious its momentum. A single blow can shatter a human’s physique.]

Looking again…

Another piece of information.

[Heavenly Demon Record: Perceive the coming of the Heavenly Demon, observe the root of its life and nature, forcibly refine the record. If the refinement fails, the body and dao will be destroyed. If the refinement succeeds, it can be used for one’s own purposes.]

Ning Xuan was stunned for a moment.

Did this… mean that in the near future, that Mountain-Crashing Bear would have to come again?