A bloodcurdling scream shattered the silence of the mountain forest, filling the air with an ominous premonition.
"What's happening? Is someone trying to kill me?!"
Shen Changchuan snapped awake, the hair on his body standing on end.
Every muscle in his body tensed in that instant. He lowered his stance, his Heart Spirit stretched to its absolute limit, ready to leap from the carriage and flee at a moment's notice!
At the same time,
two Golden Needles, each about an inch long and as thick as a little finger, appeared in his palm.
Although these two Golden Needles weren't high enough quality to be considered Magical Artifacts when forged, they had been mixed with Gold Essence. This gave them a certain conductivity for Magical Power, making them far superior for a Cultivator to use than any so-called hundred-times-refined steel weapon of mortals.
Shen Changchuan clutched the deadliest weapon in his arsenal,
his gaze fixed dead ahead,
his mind taut, prepared to either fight or flee at any moment.
Just then,
BOOM!
A roar echoed from ahead, followed by a visible tremor in the ground, as if some colossal creature was stampeding violently.
Immediately after, the dense forest ahead seemed to be split asunder by an unstoppable force. The tall trees, so fragile before this power, groaned as they were ruthlessly crushed, toppling to either side!
A massive shadow burst from the woods. The savage, murderous aura of a wild beast rushed toward them, whipping up a gale that swept in all directions, instilling a terrible dread in everyone's heart!
It was a gigantic tusked boar,
three to four meters tall, its massive, bloated body like a writhing hillock. Its muscles were knotted and bulging, and its skin was a tough, dark black, as if clad in a thick suit of armor, densely covered with bristles that stood on end like steel needles.
At that moment, a vicious light glinted in the eyes on the tusked boar's enormous head. Below, two long, sharp tusks jutted from its mouth, having pierced through a person's stomach, hoisting the body high into the air.
The unlucky soul who had been clearing the path was disemboweled, clearly beyond saving.
Bright red blood streamed from the body, dyeing the gleaming tusks crimson. It splattered across the boar's nose and head, adding a bloody, malevolent air to its already hideous face.
It looked just like a blood-soaked demon emerged from the depths of hell!
At this very moment,
the other ordinary people, intimidated by the giant boar's ferocious might, found their limbs growing weak and began to tremble uncontrollably.
The horses and other beasts of burden in the convoy, terrified by that malevolent aura, panicked and retreated.
The Mortal Martial Artist guards patrolling the flanks, though also gripped by fear, held fast to their duty, gripping their weapons and rushing forward from the rear to provide support.
While everyone else was panicking,
Shen Changchuan, on the other hand, breathed a small sigh of relief internally.
'Thank goodness. It's not them sending people to ambush me.'
'It makes sense. I've kept a low profile in the Shen Family for the past two years and haven't made any enemies. Now I'm even taking the initiative to leave the heart of the storm for a remote posting. No matter how intense their struggles get, they wouldn't go out of their way to target an insignificant nobody like me.'
The anxiety that had gripped Shen Changchuan's heart began to subside.
It was then that,
"You beast! You're courting death!"
next to Shen Changchuan's carriage, his maternal grandfather, Han Qinhu, saw the giant boar burst from the woods and let out an enraged roar.
His eyes went wide, and his voice boomed like a clap of thunder!
In an instant, he vaulted from his horse. While still in mid-air, he drew the Beheading Great Saber from his back with a reverse grip and brought it down in a single slash!
The biting glint of the blade illuminated the mountain forest, tracing a full-moon arc through the air. The brilliant edge whipped up a sharp gale, descending with the immense power to split mountains and shatter stone as it chopped down heavily toward the giant boar's head!
A piercing whistle echoed through the air—the sound of the impossibly fast blade tearing through it!
Such was the ferocious and domineering power of Han Qinhu's strike that even a block of cast iron would have been cleaved in two!
But now,
the giant boar sensed the attack from above. With a nimble flick of its hideous head, it flung the unlucky soul impaled on its tusks aside.
Almost at the same instant,
the Beheading Great Saber descended, its edge striking the giant boar's long tusks, which glinted with a cold, bloody light!
CLANG!
The crisp sound of metal on metal rang out as a shockwave of air blasted out from the point of impact.
A violent tremor ran up the blade, making Han Qinhu's hands go numb.
His strike, empowered by Innate True Qi and strong enough to sunder steel, had had no effect whatsoever. All its force had been completely blocked by the giant boar's tusks.
Han Qinhu's pupils contracted sharply.
"What a beast! Be careful, this thing is a Demon Beast!"
he roared as a warning.
A Demon Beast,
a creature that had awakened its Demonic Power and possessed extraordinary abilities!
Its power was almost equivalent to that of a Cultivator!
The fact that Han Qinhu's full-power strike had been deflected, leaving his arm numb from the rebound, was clear proof!
But now,
Han Qinhu did not retreat. Instead, he advanced, his figure shifting to evade the sharp points of the boar's tusks, flashing a dozen feet away in the span of a breath.
At the same time, the saber in his hand became a bolt of lightning, tearing through the air as he struck again, slashing viciously at the beast's thick neck from a different angle!
"Triple Wave!"
Faced with such a terrifyingly strong opponent, Han Qinhu unleashed the ultimate technique he had once used to dominate the mortal Martial World!
In a split second,
he delivered three slashes as fast as lightning.
They were so fast,
it was as if the three slashes had overlapped, striking at the exact same time and landing precisely on the giant boar's neck.
SHK!
Han Qinhu's blade sliced into the boar's tough, thick hide.
However,
the giant boar's hide was terrifyingly defensive.
The blade only managed to cut a small gash in the tough, heavy hide, drawing but a thin line of blood!
An all-out attack had resulted in nothing more than a shallow cut.
This made Han Qinhu suck in a sharp breath of cold air.
'Forget the long tusks, but how is its hide this tough?!'
At this moment,
the pain from the wound on its neck enraged the giant boar. Its eyes became bloodshot, and its two heavy hooves, carrying the weight of a thousand jun, suddenly slammed into the ground.
BANG!
In an instant, the ground, as if made of tofu, caved in, forming a bowl-sized crater. At the same time, a wave of Demon Qi erupted, blasting outwards in all directions.
Han Qinhu was struck by the wave of Demon Qi. It was as if he'd been hit by a sledgehammer. He let out a muffled grunt and was sent flying like a ragdoll for several dozen feet, crashing to the ground with bright red blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Having sent Han Qinhu flying with a single blow, the giant boar pressed its advantage.
It pawed the ground a few times with its front hooves, its massive body crouching low. Bending its legs to gather power, it aimed its cold, blood-stained tusks at the thrown figure of Han Qinhu, preparing to charge and smash the two-legged creature that had wounded it into a pulp!
If such a terrifying giant boar were to build up a charge, Han Qinhu's fate would be sealed—he would have no chance of survival!
From the rear of the group,
Shen Changchuan's expression changed as he prepared to make his move.
The hand holding the Golden Needles quickly formed a Technique seal. Magical Power poured into the two needles, and under its stimulation, they began to glow with a faint, cold golden light.
But at that exact moment,
"Dad!"
another enraged roar was heard.
From the other side, his eldest maternal uncle, Han Dayong, had arrived!
In fact, as soon as Han Qinhu had leaped up and charged the giant boar with his saber, Han Dayong had also grabbed his own vicious Wolf Fang Club and rushed forward.
It was just that Han Qinhu had engaged and been defeated so quickly that by the time Han Dayong arrived, his father had already been sent flying.
But because of this, Han Dayong's arrival was perfectly timed to interrupt the giant boar's charge!
Han Dayong gripped the huge Wolf Fang Club with both hands, swinging it down from the side and smashing it onto the giant boar's head just as it was about to charge.
BANG!
It was another heavy blow.
The immense force slammed the giant boar's head into the ground, cracking the earth and making it tremble.
At the same time, the heavy blow from the Wolf Fang Club drove its sharp spikes into the beast's head, opening up numerous bleeding holes.
ROAR!!!
The repeated attacks made the giant boar even more furious.
With a sudden heave and slam of its head, it unleashed an enormous, irresistible force that sent Han Dayong flying as well!
The giant boar threw its head back and roared.
A malevolent aura swept across the entire scene.
The Han Family's Martial Artist guards, who had already moved in to support and had surrounded the beast with their weapons drawn, were hit by that murderous aura and could not help but stumble back.
But clearly,
the attacks from Han Qinhu and his son had, in the end, had some effect on the giant boar.
Especially Han Dayong's powerful, heavy blow,
which had left its head groggy and made it difficult for it to move for a moment.
And in that instant,
behind the crowd, a sharp glint flashed in the eyes of Shen Changchuan, who was still in his carriage.
'A perfect chance!'
Shen Changchuan, long prepared, abruptly pointed toward the giant boar. The Golden Needles in his palm, already charged with Magical Power and brimming with immense energy, shot out in an instant!
WHOOSH!
A subtle flash of golden lightning seemed to streak through the air.
All anyone saw was a fleeting, residual glimmer of gold.
Then,
BANG! BANG!!
The giant boar's two eyes exploded in a spray of blood and gore!
Its once crimson, frenzied pupils were instantly blasted into two bloody holes!
But it wasn't over!
The two Golden Needles, as thick as little fingers and backed by Magical Power, possessed a terrifying might no less than that of a sniper bullet. They shot through the eye sockets, pierced the skull, and scrambled the giant boar's brain into mush.
The giant boar's enormous body tensed up, then slowly collapsed, falling to the ground with a thunderous rumble and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Phew!
Seeing the giant boar fall, utterly dead, the battle turned in the span of a breath. Everyone present let out a sigh of relief, but they were also stunned into stillness, unable to process what had just happened.
"Alright, clean this up quickly. We need to leave as soon as possible."
Shen Changchuan flicked his sleeve and spoke to the surrounding Martial Artist guards, who were frozen in place, reeling from the emotional rollercoaster.
Although these men had been of no real use in the fight,
'given that they haven't even reached the Innate realm, they would have just been cannon fodder if they'd charged in. The fact that they were willing to surround it, protecting me from behind, and could have provided some cover for my escape in an emergency—that's enough.'
Shen Changchuan wasn't about to criticize them for it.