Chapter 534: One Problem After Another
Qi Han's battle with the Man Faced Demon Spider had not been without cost.
Thanks to his excellent footwork and evasive maneuvers, he had avoided being wounded by the spider's venomous spear-like legs. However, the consumption of his spirit power was unavoidable.
Using his Five-Skill Fusion twice in succession, along with the spirit power expended throughout the battle, had drained nearly thirty percent of his reserves. On top of that, he had inevitably inhaled some of the toxins the Man Faced Demon Spider had released into the air.
The poison was not fatal, but during his journey it left him feeling dizzy and lightheaded.
In his current condition, even if he reached the Three-Eyed Battle Bear, defeating it would be difficult. There was even a chance that he would end up delivering himself right to its doorstep as prey.
So after forcing himself to travel another one or two kilometers, Qi Han finally stopped.
There was no point in rushing.
He needed to restore himself to peak condition before continuing.
The appearance of that Man Faced Demon Spider had already wasted a great deal of his time.
The more he thought about it, the more resentment he felt toward the creature.
After carefully checking his surroundings and confirming that nobody was nearby, he quickly entered the Training Space.
Inside the Training Space, time flowed at 240 times the normal rate.
Even if he spent an entire day inside, only six minutes would pass outside.
This allowed him to recover without worrying that his target would wander away, while also guaranteeing complete safety.
Only a fool wouldn't take advantage of that.
. . .
The moment Qi Han vanished, a gigantic black spider suddenly appeared nearby.
Its appearance was somewhat strange.
One of its spear-like legs had been severed at the base, making its movements slightly awkward and unbalanced.
Nevertheless, the terrifying aura it emitted remained as threatening as ever.
Following Qi Han's scent all the way to the location where he had disappeared, the spider stopped and stood there.
It seemed unable to understand why Qi Han's presence had suddenly vanished.
After shaking its head in confusion, it concealed itself once more.
. . .
Qi Han knew nothing of what had happened outside.
By the time he had fully restored his spirit power and purged the remaining traces of poison from his body before exiting the Training Space again, the black spider had long since disappeared.
Not even the slightest trace of its aura remained.
Taking out the map Ru Yi had given him, Qi Han checked it briefly.
A satisfied smile quickly appeared on his face.
His second target—the eighteen-thousand-year-old Three-Eyed Battle Bear—was still obediently staying exactly where it had been marked.
Excellent.
He increased his speed once again.
However, having learned from his encounter with the Man Faced Demon Spider, Qi Han was far more cautious this time.
Soon, the straight-line distance between him and the Three-Eyed Battle Bear shrank to roughly one kilometer.
At that range, he began noticing unusual activity.
His expression gradually became strange.
A bizarre and ferocious beastly roar echoed faintly from ahead.
At the same time, intense spirit power fluctuations could be felt clearly even from his position.
There also seemed to be a special kind of energy spreading through the area, causing even Qi Han's spiritual power to tremble slightly.
Spiritual power fluctuations?
Listening to the bear-like roars and sensing the waves of spiritual power spreading outward, Qi Han suddenly realized something.
Oh no!
Could the Three-Eyed Battle Bear be fighting someone else?
Is somebody trying to steal my target?
Carefully concealing himself, he slowly moved toward the source of the disturbance.
Taking cover behind a sufficiently large tree, he cautiously peeked out.
What he saw was not another spirit master battling the Three-Eyed Battle Bear as he had expected.
Instead, two extremely ferocious spirit beasts were fighting each other.
One of them was a bear-type spirit beast that stood seven or eight meters tall when upright.
Its body was powerfully built, covered in bulging muscles beneath a coat of short dark-gray fur.
Ferocious roars continuously erupted from its savage maw.
Most striking of all was the third eye standing vertically on its forehead, giving it an especially eerie appearance.
It was precisely the target Qi Han had come for—the eighteen-thousand-year Three-Eyed Battle Bear.
At the moment, several dark wounds covered its body.
The injuries showed signs of corrosion, eating through flesh and fur alike without the slightest resistance.
Although its roars remained fierce, Qi Han could sense a hint of bluff and weakness beneath the aggression.
The bear was clearly at a disadvantage.
Its opponent, meanwhile, was an extraordinarily bizarre spirit beast.
It had no limbs whatsoever.
Instead, it floated in midair like a giant balloon.
Its main body was perfectly spherical.
It was a gigantic blood-red eye, nearly a meter in diameter, with six pitch-black tentacles extending from behind it.
This bizarre spirit beast made very few movements. It merely unleashed beams of black light from its pupil, effortlessly forcing back the charging Three-Eyed Battle Bear.
It was obvious that it held a complete advantage in the battle.
Qi Han's pupils contracted slightly.
He had already recognized the creature.
An Evil Eye.
The most powerful race in the Evildemon Forest—without question.
The ruler of the Evil Eye race was the Evileye Tyrant Emperor, ranked second among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts. Within this forest, it was an absolutely invincible existence.
As long as the Evileye Tyrant Emperor resided in the Evildemon Forest, no other spirit beast dared hunt members of the Evil Eye race. Even setting that aside, Evil Eyes were among the most powerful spirit beast races in existence. Their unique and rare spiritual abilities alone made them top-tier creatures.
The race itself was highly unusual.
Even within their own species, Evil Eyes existed in many different forms.
While all Evil Eyes possessed spiritual attributes, they could also wield additional elemental powers. However, the more mixed their attributes became, the weaker their overall potential tended to be.
For example, the Evileye Tyrant Emperor possessed only a single attribute—spiritual power—and it was precisely because of this purity that it had survived seven heavenly tribulations through sheer strength.
Both an Evil Eye's cultivation level and elemental attributes could be determined from its tentacles.
The distinct aura of darkness emanating from the black tentacles clearly revealed the nature of the creature before him.
It was a dual-attribute Evil Eye, possessing both Spiritual and Darkness powers.
A ten-thousand-year Evil Eye possessed six tentacles.
Thereafter, it would gain one additional tentacle for every ten thousand years of cultivation.
Once it possessed fifteen or more tentacles, it would evolve from an ordinary Evil Eye into a hundred-thousand-year-level Evil Eye Tyrant.
The seventh tentacle of this Evil Eye had not yet emerged.
That meant it had only recently entered the ten-thousand-year tier.
Compared to the Three-Eyed Battle Bear, its cultivation age was significantly lower.
Even so, it completely dominated the battle.
That alone demonstrated just how terrifyingly powerful the Evil Eye race was.
Seeing this situation, Qi Han's heart tightened.
This isn't good.
The Three-Eyed Battle Bear looked as though it could barely withstand the Evil Eye's attacks.
If this continued, his mission would fail yet again.
Maybe...
I should help the Three-Eyed Battle Bear kill the Evil Eye first, and then kill the Three-Eyed Battle Bear afterward?
Having made up his mind, Qi Han was just about to move.
Then the Evil Eye suddenly turned toward the direction where he was hiding.
Before he could react, a terrifying beam of black light erupted from its pupil and shot directly at him.
I've been discovered?!
Qi Han was startled.
Then he immediately felt annoyed with himself.
Careless.
Both of those spirit beasts possessed spiritual attributes.
Detecting his presence was hardly difficult.
Fortunately, he had kept himself tense and prepared for danger the entire time.
The moment the Evil Eye launched its attack, he threw himself sideways, narrowly avoiding the black beam.
When he looked up again, he saw something utterly absurd.
The two spirit beasts that had been fighting to the death moments earlier seemed to have instantly reconciled.
As though all hostility between them had vanished, they simultaneously turned and charged toward him.
Qi Han: "???"