Just as the giant bear's paw slammed down, Mu Qingxue flashed to the side. Seeing that Ling Yu was still frozen in place, she stepped forward, grabbed his hand, and ran straight toward the cave entrance.
Recovering his senses, Ling Yu looked at Mu Qingxue's back, feeling an inexplicable sense of security.
Suddenly, he felt a chill down his spine. The next moment, the bear's paw slammed down less than half a foot behind him, startling him into a leap that accelerated his pace.
The dynamic instantly reversed: instead of Mu Qingxue pulling him, he was now pulling Mu Qingxue as they sprinted wildly.
Running, Ling Yu yelled, "Holy crap! What on earth is that thing, it's huge!"
Once outside, Ling Yu wanted to look back to see if the giant bear was chasing them, but a blast of air knocked him flat on the ground.
The giant bear's roar shook the bamboo forest, causing bamboo leaves to shower down and startling the birds nesting in the grove, sending them scattering into the sky in all directions.
Mu Qingxue was also driven backward by the airflow, but not enough to knock her down.
The giant bear emerged from the cave, looking down with condescending eyes at Ling Yu, who had yet to get back up from the ground.
Ling Yu refused to show weakness and met its gaze.
"Who are you?"
The giant bear actually spoke, which shocked Ling Yu. Since it could talk, its realm definitely could not be lower than a General Demon.
The cultivation of Demon Beasts was extremely arduous. When the world was first born, the creator bestowed upon Demon Beasts massive bodies and formidable physical prowess, but for the sake of balance in the world, they could only absorb spiritual energy mixed with various impurities, making their cultivation speed much slower.
Upon reaching the General Demon realm, they would awaken spiritual consciousness, learn cultivation methods unique to their race, and gain the ability of human speech.
Upon reaching the Stage 3 Demon King realm, they could choose to transform into human form, practice human cultivation techniques, and absorb purer spiritual energy—the consequence being the abandonment of the Demon Beast's formidable physical body.
The moment those words were spoken, Ling Yu felt a massive wave of pressure wash over him, making it difficult for him to breathe.
Mu Qingxue, standing behind him, felt no such pressure; given her realm, this level of pressure could not cause her any harm.
The giant bear looked at the human boy before it, finding him somewhat amusing. The pressure it had released had already reached Level 3.
Judging by the boy's age, he was at most at Level 2, yet he was able to withstand Level 3 pressure without collapsing.
This shocked the giant bear slightly, prompting it to increase the pressure further, raising it to the Level 3, Stage 2 level.
Feeling the surrounding pressure intensify, Ling Yu could no longer hold out. His spine slowly bent, and breathing became exceptionally difficult, yet he still stubbornly forced his head up and said disdainfully to the giant bear:"Is that it? And here I thought you were actually impressive!"
Faced with this blatant mocking, the giant bear grew somewhat irritated, ramping up its pressure to Level 4, Stage 1.
Ling Yu could no longer hold his ground and collapsed onto his knees, planting his hands on the earth. The immense pressure caused sweat to stream down his face, pasting his hair—mixed with rain and perspiration—to his cheeks, while his clothes were soaked through and plastered against his body.
The giant bear directed its increased pressure solely at Ling Yu, so Mu Qingxue, standing right behind him, felt no increase in pressure at all.
Yet seeing Ling Yu in such agony, she guessed the reason and hurried to his side.
She had been standing a few paces away from him, but as she closed the distance to within a single pace, she too felt the shift in the surrounding pressure.
Mu Qingxue frowned slightly. The pressure of a Tier 2 Dharma Demon made her own body feel somewhat uncomfortable. Although the pressure was only one stage higher than her own, once past Level 4, a difference of a single stage meant a massive disparity in strength; the gap in spiritual power was like comparing a single drop of rain to a rushing river.
Some cultivators, upon stepping into the Level 4 realm, exhausted their entire lives without managing to advance even a single minor stage.
Mu Qingxue used Qingqiu Void to render herself ethereal, then hurriedly grabbed Ling Yu's upper garments, intending to fling him backward.
Yet just as she prepared to exert her strength, an immense coercive force erupted from within Ling Yu's body.
This pressure instantly shattered the force field released by the giant bear and blasted Mu Qingxue, who was right beside him, flying backward.
The giant bear's expression went blank, its entire coat of fur standing on end as it completely lost the haughty demeanor it had worn just moments before.
Yet it lasted only for an instant before it recovered its composure.
For a split second, its very soul had seemingly been shaken by the spiritual power Ling Yu released.
This only fueled its rage further. It immediately raised its massive paw and brought it smashing down toward Ling Yu.
For some reason, even though the coercive pressure had vanished, Ling Yu remained frozen in his previous posture, completely motionless.
Mu Qingxue rushed forward to pull him up and toss him behind her.
"Qingqiu Sacred Shield!"
An ethereal voice rang out. A cyan shield materialized before Mu Qingxue's hands. Unlike when they were at Tianling Spring, this time the shield appeared instantaneously, rather than expanding outward from a single point.
In truth, the speed and sturdiness of this Spirit Skill's release were directly tied to the caster themselves. The higher the caster's realm and the more abundant their spiritual power, the sturdier the shield would be and the faster it would deploy.With Mu Qingxue's cultivation realm, she was fully capable of instantaneous release. However, this Spirit Skill demanded exceptionally high control over one's own spiritual energy; because the energy had to be directed precisely to every point on the shield, releasing it instantly risked losing control and unleashing all the spiritual energy in one unguided rush, resulting in spiritual depletion.
Therefore, even with her current realm, Mu Qingxue dared not release it instantly without hesitation.
The bear's paw crashed onto Mu Qingxue's shield with a dull thud, and in an instant, the shield was covered in cracks.
The giant bear was stunned. Its own Stage 3 Demon King realm had actually been blocked by this seemingly diminutive young woman before it.
"Qingqiu Nine-Tailed? Hmph, truly a rare sight!"
Mu Qingxue did not reply to him. Having blocked the attack, she retreated at lightning speed.
Dragging Ling Yu, she pulled back another twenty meters or so, widening the distance between them and the giant bear to guard against any sudden assault.
"So what if I am?"
Mu Qingxue spoke calmly.
"In the Fa-Yao Realm, taking human form—how did you manage that? That lass Jiu Qing is about your age! Yet even that little girl had to reach the Demon King realm to take human form. Why have you already assumed human form back at the Tier 2 Dharma Demon stage?"
These words left Mu Qingxue momentarily stunned. She had been born a human baby. It was not that she lacked the Qingqiu Nine-Tailed bloodline within her, but rather that Jiu Qing had already attained the Demon Venerable realm by the time she became pregnant, having long since evolved into a Qingqiu Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox.
Mu Yun, too, had been a Sword Immortal at the time. Because both of them were Level 7 powerhouses, Mu Qingxue had been born in the shape of a human infant and had no need to transform.
The reason she still maintained the appearance of an eighteen-year-old was simply because she routinely consumed numerous beauty-enhancing celestial herbs, coupled with the nourishment of spiritual energy; retaining her youth was only natural.
When the giant bear uttered the name "Jiu Qing," Mu Qingxue froze visibly, a look of anger surfacing on her face.
Ling Yu, who had just recovered his wits, took in every word of the exchange, though he could not quite make sense of it. He had heard Mu Qingxue mention this demon beast before—wasn't their kind already scarce? And what was this about the giant bear calling Mu Qingxue a Tier 2 Dharma Demon?
Who on earth was Jiu Qing, and why did hearing her name make Mu Qingxue so angry? Could it be... that the two of them had a grudge?
While Ling Yu was still turning these questions over in his mind, Mu Qingxue, standing beside him, spoke in a tone of extreme fury: "Calling my mother a little girl! I'll turn you into a bear pancake, old hag!"
With those words, Mu Qingxue soared forward. Cyan flames condensed in her palms, gradually swelling into a ball of fire, after which more fireballs materialized in a ring around her, shooting one by one toward the giant bear.
By the time the giant bear reacted, the fireballs were already closing in on its face. It hurriedly slammed its paws against the ground, erecting a towering barrier in front of itself to block the incoming attack.
Demon beasts were also capable of using magic. Just like humans, they could only cultivate a single type of magic; the difference was that humans could later cultivate magic of other elements for their own use, though it was extraordinarily difficult. If two elements conflicted, it would inflict severe trauma upon the body, and moreover, multiple elements placed extremely high demands on physical resilience.
Demon beasts, on the other hand, had to wait until they attained human form before they could even begin.
Some humans were born with an awakening to two elements, but in this world, there were only two known dual-element Mages: one was the president of the Mages Association, and the other was a wandering rogue cultivator who traveled the world.
Aside from them, there was not a third dual-element Mage in existence. It wasn't that no one else tried to cultivate it, but rather that all who attempted had died because their awakened element conflicted with the other.
As the tall barrier faded away, the giant bear looked at Mu Qingxue and felt another jolt of shock. Members of the Qingqiu Nine-Tailed clan usually cultivated grass-type magic after taking human form, yet Mu Qingxue was actually able to cultivate the fire-type without her body rejecting it.
"Who is Jiu Qing to you? Even if I were to address her directly like that to her face, she wouldn't take offense. Why are you reacting this way?"
Moments ago, the giant bear had not heard what she had said, which was why it asked the question.
Ling Yu's jaw was so close to dropping to the ground that it nearly hit his chest. *A grass-type Mage, yet you play with fire!*
By now, Mu Qingxue had returned to Ling Yu's side. The cyan flames in her hand had not dissipated; instead, upon hearing the giant bear's question, they burned even more fiercely.
"She is my mother,"
Mu Qingxue answered coldly, a trace of sorrow in her eyes. She was never particularly fond of bringing up her parents to others, because whenever she mentioned them, she could not help but recall the scene from back then. Even though thirteen long years had passed, she still remembered it with crystal clarity.
It was a very simple statement, but upon learning that she was Jiu Qing's daughter, the giant bear roared excitedly toward the sky, then changed its tone entirely, speaking as if it were a completely different bear: "You're that little girl Jiu Qing's daughter! You really do look just like your mother!"
The flames in her hand gradually died down. Mu Qingxue lowered her hand and asked with some perplexity, "You... know my mother?"
The giant bear replied, "How could I not know her? When that little lass was small, she didn't badger me a few times to pluck my fur!"