“Whoosh—”

Fierce as a gale, before the great foolish bear’s massive paw even landed, the gust of force it carried arrived first, its power every bit as ferocious as Ziqing’s own wind-blade technique.

The great bear paw was almost upon her — but at that critical instant, the great foolish bear’s motion suddenly froze.

Despite its huge face, its expression changed with remarkable speed — the fury on its face vanished in an instant, replaced by naked fear!

What was going on?

The great foolish bear abruptly spun around and bolted for the cave entrance. Honey was the single most important thing in its world — what else could possibly make it forget about honey?

Only one thing mattered as much as honey: its own life!

The great foolish bear had caught that scent — the scent that only a top-tier poison beast in the world of poison beasts could give off, the thick, reeking stench of medicinal-poison blood!

In the world of poison beasts, first-tier beasts of the great foolish bear’s size typically ruled their own territories, each claiming their own domain — poison beasts too weak to fight them didn’t dare come near.

But there was one kind of poison beast that even the first-tier ones feared: the top-tier poison beasts!

Top-tier poison beasts weren’t just larger in body than the first-tier ones — their toxicity was greater too.

Wherever they passed, they left behind a thick reek of medicinal-poison blood, strong enough that even first-tier poison beasts would smell it and instinctively avoid the area!

In the whole world of poison beasts, top-tier beasts numbered only a handful — just four in total.

Whichever one you happened to encounter, escape was nearly impossible.

The great foolish bear had lived in this place for hundreds of years, and had never once smelled that terrifying scent inside its own den!

Terrified, it scrambled to the cave mouth to look, and only then did it notice how much of Ziqing’s blood had spilled just outside its entrance. Though it had dried, the scent hadn’t faded at all!

So that explained it — that was why the scent had lingered so long without drawing other first-tier poison beasts. Because a top-tier beast had been present!

That trail of blood scent had drawn the top-tier beasts here!

The great foolish bear trembled uncontrollably. Hiding behind a large rock at the cave mouth, it peered out and saw, beneath a great tree outside, two top-tier poison beasts locked in a standoff!

At the sight, the great foolish bear shuddered several times, terrified nearly senseless.

There were only four top-tier poison beasts in the entire world of poison beasts — and two of them had shown up at once!

Was it only because they’d been locked in confrontation with each other that they hadn’t yet turned their attention to its den?

Every hair on the great foolish bear’s thick white fur stood on end — utterly bristled.

Bristling was an instinctive bodily response, yet the great foolish bear wasn’t willing to let this go at all — the thing equal in importance to its own life was its honey!

Every year it risked its life, getting stung nearly to death by poisonous bees, just to steal a few honeycombs.

Now all its honey was gone, thanks to that monster in its den — it couldn’t swallow this insult!

It was throwing caution to the wind — it was going to avenge its honey personally!

Even if it got eaten by a top-tier poison beast in the process, it didn’t care — it had to eat that monster in the cave first!

Thinking this, the great foolish bear couldn’t help but let out a low growl, and turned back toward the cave.

Just then, the two top-tier poison beasts outside seemed to sense something. They exchanged a glance, and with startling unison, both charged toward the cave!

These two top-tier beasts — one was called Howling Hare, shaped like a rabbit, but several times the size of an ordinary one, its white fur gleaming with a purple sheen, far more noble-looking than the great foolish bear. Its ears were long and pointed, jet black, and its wide mouth held no rabbit teeth at all, but rather two pairs of great fangs, one on each side.

When it roared, the sound crashed like thunder, earth-shaking — hence its name, Howling Hare.

The other top-tier beast was called Henggong Fish, with the body of a carp and the head of a lion, its whole body a blazing scarlet like fire, its scales glinting with a layer of flame-light as though it bathed in a raging inferno. Its scales were several times harder than black shark scales — able to rival even the golden shark.

Stab it and it wouldn’t bleed to death; boil it and it wouldn’t be destroyed.

Arriving before the cave, Howling Hare sneered contemptuously, “Henggong Fish, looks like that bear’s about to eat our prey!”

Unlike other poison beasts in the world of poison beasts, top-tier poison beasts could speak, and could freely shrink or expand their size.

Henggong Fish didn’t answer, only lowered its head and rammed straight at the boulder blocking the cave mouth. The impact shattered the massive rock instantly, and the cunning Howling Hare darted in ahead of it.

“You wretch!”

Henggong Fish cursed, chasing in close behind.

Inside the cave, the great foolish bear had just scooped up Ziqing, about to eat her, when it saw the two top-tier beasts charge in. It immediately set her down, planting itself in front of her, bracing for a fight.

Seeing the great foolish bear’s stance, Howling Hare burst out laughing. “Henggong Fish, am I seeing things right? Does this bear even know who we are?”

“If you don’t like the look of it, eat it — but that prey is mine!”

Henggong Fish, not waiting for an answer, charged straight at the great foolish bear. The great foolish bear knew perfectly well it was no match for Henggong Fish, but it still reared up and swung a paw down with all its might.

“Smack!”

A deafening blow — the bear’s paw nearly shattered, while Henggong Fish’s head didn’t so much as flinch.

“Overreaching little beast!”

Henggong Fish sneered — not out of contempt for the bear specifically, but for any poison beast beneath top-tier rank. It charged again immediately.

But the great foolish bear didn’t give up, its heart crying out for its honey, both massive paws swinging at Henggong Fish from either side. But just then, the cunning Howling Hare slipped past to Ziqing’s side, its sharp fangs gleaming as it gloated silently, about to sink its teeth into her head —

The great foolish bear suddenly swung a paw and slapped Howling Hare hard across the face!

Howling Hare didn’t have Henggong Fish’s tough scales, and it immediately reeled dizzily, leaping up and roaring furiously at the bear, “Rooowl!”

The great foolish bear’s ears rang from the sound, and it staggered back several steps, nearly falling — but it had no time to worry about that, throwing its body between Ziqing and the charging Henggong Fish.

“Thud!”

One blow, slamming savagely into its belly.

“Whump!”

Another blow, straight into its chest!

At that exact moment, Ziqing finally broke through the limits of her body, snapping her eyes open!

If this had happened before, she might have been able to hold on — because she hadn’t yet been pushed to her absolute limit. But this time, she had already given everything she had back when fighting Lord Situ. She had no strength left of her own; she didn’t even know why, but at this very moment, some power seemed to be surging up from within this body itself — as though it had been hidden deep within, secretly stored, and only now finally burst forth!

From behind the great foolish bear, what she saw was nothing like what she’d assumed.

She saw a great foolish bear risking everything to protect her. She didn’t understand what was happening, but at this moment, only one thought filled her mind: protect the great foolish bear!

…