The big foolish bear started out only applying a little force, but before long it was gritting its teeth with the effort!

Yet very quickly, it found itself alarmed — no matter how much strength it exerted, it couldn’t budge Ziqing’s hand even a fraction of an inch!

Could it be…

The big foolish bear paused, puzzling over it. Could it be that this sharp thing was actually this strange creature’s own claw, grown right into her hand?

At the thought, the big foolish bear glanced again at its own claws — and just then, a rustling sound suddenly came from not far away. Another beast was approaching!

The big foolish bear immediately went on alert. It had found this creature first — there was no way it would let any other beast take it away!

It quickly scooped Ziqing up, slinging her over its shoulder, and even remembered to lick over the patch of grass where she’d lain once more before leaving.

Foolish as ever, the big bear cleaned the grass spotlessly, without ever realizing that Ziqing’s back was still bleeding the whole time.

Sure enough, this trail of blood didn’t just draw the attention of the beast that had originally caught the scent — it drew in a great many other passing beasts along the way as well.

Before long, a whole pack of beasts had gathered behind the big foolish bear, all giving chase.

There were venomous wolves, venomous tigers, venomous leopards, venomous elephants, venomous lions, and a number of other poisonous beasts whose names were entirely unknown.

In short, any creature bold enough to chase down a poison bear had to be of comparable size and strength.

Every one of them was strange in shape, massive in build, terrifying just to look at.

It had to be said — bears were probably the clumsiest of this whole pack of beasts. How could it possibly outrun the others?

Before long, the big foolish bear found itself completely surrounded by the pack.

Ziqing lay slumped against its furry shoulder, deep in severe unconsciousness, entirely unaware of any of this — except that her hand still gripped the dagger Liuguang tightly, as if she would never let go, even in death.

Watching the pack of beasts closing in, eyes gleaming with hunger, the big foolish bear finally dropped its endearing act, baring its fierce fangs and letting out a thunderous roar!

Among poisonous beasts, competition was the most primal form of predatory combat.

Once a confrontation began, there were only two outcomes: death, or fleeing in disgrace. There were no rules in the fight, no morals — only one law: kill or be killed.

With so many beasts converging at once to fight the poison bear over its prey, none of them would cooperate — it would be pure chaos, every beast for itself, and whoever managed to seize the prey from the bear’s shoulder would be the victor.

Soon, the venomous leopard and venomous tiger lunged forward first, followed immediately by the venomous wolf and venomous elephant, with the rest of the pack surging in right behind.

The big foolish bear immediately shifted Ziqing to its waist, curling one massive paw around her protectively, while pressing the other paw to the ground, ready for battle at any moment!

The venomous leopard lunged straight for Ziqing. The big foolish bear wasn’t as fast as the leopard, but it twisted around to block the strike, snapping its fangs viciously at the leopard’s throat!

An instant later, its other paw came crashing down toward the leopard’s head!

A bear’s signature killing blow was, without question, the single crushing paw-strike — one swipe capable of killing a beast of equal size outright.

But the venomous leopard was remarkably agile and dodged just in time, retreating a safe distance. The leopard could afford to rest, but the big foolish bear could not — the venomous tiger’s fangs were already bearing down on it from another side, forcing it to swing its paw around once more.

At the very same moment, the venomous elephant stomped down with tremendous force, while the venomous wolf seized the opportunity to sink its teeth into the big bear’s leg, tearing flesh and drawing blood, nearly severing the bone.

The big foolish bear roared in agony, but never once loosened its hold on Ziqing, keeping her perfectly protected, without a single new wound.

The melee raged on, blood flowing like a river, the scent growing ever thicker in the air. Smaller beasts that happened upon the scene gave the battle a wide berth.

In the world of poisonous beasts, creatures like bears, tigers, wolves, leopards, and elephants ranked among the first-tier poisonous beasts — second only to the exceedingly rare special-grade beasts, they stood at the very top of the food chain.

Unless a beast was of comparable size and strength, none dared join such a battle.

The chaotic slaughter raged on and on, until at last a venomous wolf was kicked away with such force that its skull cracked open, brains bursting from the impact — only then did the carnage finally come to an end.

Ziqing remained hidden the entire time against the big foolish bear’s furry waist, one massive paw still curled protectively around her, the other braced against the ground, the bear panting heavily from exhaustion.

Its once-pristine white fur was now stained entirely crimson with blood, its dopey, endearing face soaked red and split with several deep gashes.

All around, the venomous tiger, the venomous elephant, the venomous leopard, and every other beast that had joined the fray were likewise covered in wounds, bleeding without pause.

None of them knew what might happen if the fight continued — but they understood, with absolute certainty, that this big foolish bear would never, ever give up its prey.

The remaining beasts glanced once at the venomous wolf lying dead on the ground, then, one by one, turned tail and fled in defeat.

Once certain that every last beast had retreated, the big foolish bear finally slumped down onto its haunches, turning to look at Ziqing curled safely in the crook of its arm, baring its white, gleaming teeth in something like a grin.

It looked almost like a smile of joy at its victory — and yet also, somehow, like a sinister smile of triumph at having secured its prize.

The big foolish bear didn’t linger long — there were plenty of other first-tier poisonous beasts its own size roaming about, and it needed to retreat to a cave to hide.

One thing had to be said in its favor: this bear was remarkably diligent and thrifty.

Even in its hurry to leave, it still meticulously, painstakingly licked up every last trace of blood bearing Ziqing’s distinct scent from the ground, before finally gathering her up again and making its escape.

But it overlooked one crucial thing entirely — Ziqing was still bleeding, even now!

Before long, the big foolish bear had carried Ziqing back to its den.

This was an extraordinarily well-hidden cave. In the world of poisonous beasts, every creature’s den — even one belonging to a first-tier beast like this bear — was kept exceptionally well-concealed.

After all, during hibernation, beasts retreated into their dens for safety — if a den wasn’t well hidden, a beast could be devoured in its sleep without ever knowing what happened.

The big foolish bear set Ziqing down in the deepest part of the cave, right beside its most treasured stash of honey, then made its way back to the entrance, dragging an enormous wooden stake to block the opening. Only once it was certain everything was secure did it finally allow itself to collapse, sitting down heavily right where it stood.

Panting hard, utterly drained of strength, it lay sprawled out, tongue lolling from its mouth again and again.

But before long, it hauled itself back up. Rather than rushing to attend to Ziqing, it instead began licking the blood from its own claws first!

This diligent, fastidiously clean big bear proceeded to lick every last trace of blood from its entire body, starting with its claws, refusing to leave even the smallest trace behind.

There was no telling how long it spent doing this, but eventually its fur returned to its original spotless white, soft and warm once more.

At that point, it lay perfectly still on its back, and had it not been for the dramatic rise and fall of its chest, one might have mistaken it for nothing more than a giant plush toy.

That white fur was so immaculately clean it hardly seemed to belong to a beast at all!

And as for the cave itself — far from the foul, musky stench one might expect of a beast’s den, or even the ordinary mustiness of any regular cave, the air here was instead filled with the faint, pleasant fragrance of honey, sweet and refreshing to the senses.

Amid that delightful scent of honey, the utterly exhausted big foolish bear soon drifted into a deep, heavy sleep.

And as it slept, Ziqing was, little by little, beginning to wake.

It wasn’t that her strength had returned enough to rouse her — rather, she had begun to instinctively sense another consciousness within her mind, one that was trying to seize control of her.

The sensation was like having another soul, another consciousness, fighting to claim this body from her!

That feeling instinctively put her on guard. Exhausted as she was to the very limit of her endurance, she forced herself to hold on, rallying what strength of will she had left.

Even unconscious, she was determined to fight back against that unfamiliar consciousness.