Chapter THIRTY-FOUR

BAM!

The force of the blow slammed into Li Feng’s sword, sending violent tremors through his entire right arm. However, he refused to let the two-spiked gorilla have its way, or else the situation would become dire very quickly.

So he did the exact opposite of what the beast was expecting.

Li Feng’s leg flashed outward as he unleashed one of the many combat techniques he had learned over the years.

Gale Whip.

His leg sliced through the air at incredible speed, qi surging through every bone and muscle in his right leg before it made contact with the two-spiked gorilla a second later.

BANG!

An even louder explosion echoed outward as the gorilla’s head whipped violently to the side. Blood burst from its mouth while cracks spread across parts of its skull under the immense force and concentrated qi Li Feng had poured into the attack.

Li Feng’s eyes sharpened.

His sword flashed.

He intended to end the beast right there.

SWOOSH!

The blade descended toward the gorilla’s neck, aiming for one of the softer and more vulnerable areas of its body.

But before the sword could pierce through, another spiked fist intercepted the killing blow.

Then another attack came from behind.

A deadly spiked punch shot toward the back of his skull.

Li Feng maneuvered quickly, barely avoiding the fatal strike. Even then, the force behind the attack pushed him backward. His boots dug deep trenches into the ground before he finally came to a stop.

Blood dripped from a wound that had opened somewhere during the battle, crimson droplets staining the earth beneath him.

"This is unfair," he thought with irritation.

After all, if he were facing only one or even two beasts, he was completely confident in his ability to defeat and kill them.

But five?

That was simply too much, even for him.

It wasn’t as though he hadn’t accomplished anything. He had already managed to kill one of them, though that victory had earned him a painful injury in return.

And it hurt.

Still, there were more enemies ahead.

He couldn’t retreat.

Nor could he allow doubt to enter his mind.

Because the moment that happened, he would die.

Taking a deep breath, Li Feng raised his dark sword once more.

Then, with a thunderous battle cry, he rushed back into the fray, utilizing the signature movement technique of the Li Clan... Sky Flash... to evade attacks and strike at the beasts from unexpected angles.

His battle of attrition continued.

Again and again he was pushed backward.

Again and again he charged forward.

Despite everything, he refused to yield.

Meanwhile, he wasn’t the only one being pushed toward his limits.

Li Xie and Li Jie were having an equally difficult time dealing with their opponents.

One had to remember that their cultivation realms were significantly lower than those of the beasts they were facing.

Although both brothers possessed combat power beyond their realms, facing enemies nearly five stages above them wasn’t something they could simply ignore or brush aside.

So yes.

They were getting absolutely battered.

A loud BAM echoed through the battlefield as Xie was launched through the air like a sack of potatoes.

He crashed heavily onto the ground and let out a pained groan.

Looking up, he saw a black blur rapidly approaching.

Before he could react, a body slammed directly into him.

It was Li Jie.

The impact sent both brothers crashing and tumbling across the ground once again.

The two let out tortured groans before slowly standing up.

Their bodies were covered in bruises.

Several wounds bled freely.

Yet neither of them was ready to give up.

Honestly, Xie would have surrendered already if this were one of Elder Han’s brutal training sessions.

But this wasn’t training.

Giving up here wouldn’t earn him punishment or solitary confinement.

It would earn him death.

They would die if they gave up.

So no.

That wasn’t an option.

"Next time Li Feng and Li Yuexin decide to go on another adventure, remind me not to tag along," Li Jie complained as he struggled back to his feet.

"I’m breaking my friendship with that rascal after I survive this Beast Forest," Li Xie declared while standing up as well.

"I signed up for friendship, not a deathship. So yeah, after this we’re cutting ties."

Li Jie snorted.

"Cutting ties or not, if you don’t focus on surviving first, your body might get cut before any ties do."

Although he was joking, his expression remained serious.

Qi flowed throughout his body as he reinforced his muscles and bones while watching the beasts close in once more.

The two brothers exchanged a glance.

Then both of them suddenly burst into laughter.

It wasn’t because the situation was funny.

Rather, it was because they had reached a point where laughter was the only thing stopping them from crying.

The next second, both brothers released thunderous battle cries and charged back toward the beasts.

The battle became increasingly desperate.

The brothers fought with everything they had.

Every strike.

Every dodge.

Every drop of qi.

Everything was poured into survival.

They fought as though their lives depended on it.

Then again...

Who were they kidding?

Their damn lives really did depend on it.

So they fought as though they had no future beyond this battlefield.

And with that grit, their skills, and their deep understanding of each other, the brothers managed to take down yet another beast.

However, victory came with a brutal price.

Jie’s lower abdomen was pierced by one of the two-spiked gorillas during the battle, leaving a gruesome wound that immediately began pouring blood.

But there was no time to nurse injuries.

No time to rest.

No time to complain.

Xie immediately covered for his brother, holding back the incoming beasts while Jie hurriedly tied a band around his stomach to slow the bleeding.

The moment he was done, Jie rushed straight back into the fight.

As the battle continued, the brothers managed to take down another beast.

Then after a while, another gorilla had its head pierced clean through as Xie’s sword thrust directly into its brain.

The beast collapsed instantly.

Yet that victory came at another cost.

Jie suffered another heavy injury.

One of the dark spikes pierced straight through his left shoulder.

The pain nearly made him black out.

Still, all he could do was grit his teeth, wrap another band around the wound to stop the bleeding, and charge back into battle once more.

He was tired.

Really tired.

His muscles screamed in pain.

His vision occasionally blurred.

Yet there was no time to even think about resting.

After all, the beasts wouldn’t politely wait for them to recover.

The only thing they could do was continue fighting.

Fight.

Fight.

Fight.

And hope that somehow they would emerge alive from this madness.

Beyond all expectations, the brothers managed to bring down another two-spiked gorilla.

Then another.

And then another.

By the time they had slain their fifth gorilla, both brothers had already reached their breaking points.

Soon another loud BANG echoed across the battlefield.

The sound of blood spraying through the air followed immediately afterward. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The two brothers were sent tumbling across the ground like discarded toys.

They rolled several times before finally crashing into each other.

Blood poured from their mouths, staining their faces crimson.

For a moment neither spoke.

They simply lay there, struggling to breathe.

Then Xie slowly turned his head toward his older brother.

"Are we really dying here, brother?" Li Xie asked in a low, solemn voice.

His gaze rested on Jie, whose condition was far worse.

The older brother looked as though he was already standing at death’s doorstep.

His numerous injuries had drained so much blood that his complexion was becoming increasingly pale with every passing second.

Li Jie remained silent for a moment.

Then he finally replied.

"I don’t know, Xie."

His expression was equally solemn.

They had all known from the beginning that this was insanity.

Facing over twenty beasts that were stronger than them wasn’t bravery.

It was practically a death wish.

Still, they had chosen this path for their own reasons.

And while those reasons might seem foolish to outsiders, at least they wouldn’t have any regrets.

"Brother... I don’t want to die," Xie said sadly.

"Grandma wouldn’t want that. I don’t want to make her unhappy."

Li Xie’s face became even more somber as he coughed out another mouthful of blood.

Li Jie simply looked at him for a moment before speaking.

"Even now you’re more worried about the old woman than yourself."

A faint smile appeared on his blood-covered face.

"I don’t want to die either."

His smile quickly faded.

"But it seems we’re doomed."

His gaze drifted toward the approaching beasts.

"Unless some radiant angel from the legends suddenly descends from the heavens, we’re dead."

Li Xie sighed.

His heart refused to accept such a fate.

Yet reality was right before his eyes.

They were exhausted.

Broken.

Spent.

There was nothing left.

As he raised his gaze slightly, he saw the looming figure of a two-spiked gorilla standing directly before them.

The beast raised both fists.

Sharp spikes protruded from its knuckles.

Then it punched downward with terrifying force.

One fist for Li Jie.

One fist for Li Xie.

The two brothers could only watch helplessly as death descended toward them.

They were too weak to move.

Too injured to dodge.

Too exhausted to resist.

The giant fists rapidly closed in.

Then suddenly—

A strange wind swept across the battlefield.

SWOOSH!

Blood exploded into the air.

The brothers froze.

Wait.

If their heads had been crushed, they shouldn’t still be able to think.

Realizing that, both brothers immediately opened their eyes and looked up.

What they saw left them stunned.

The two-spiked gorilla was dead.

Its head had been cleanly severed from its body.

Blood erupted from the neck like a crimson fountain before the corpse crashed heavily to the ground.

Standing before them was the one responsible.

Blood stained her blue dress.

The once neat and elegant black hair she carefully maintained had become wild and disheveled from battle.

Yet despite her appearance, her cold blue eyes remained as calm and sharp as ever.

She stood there like an unmovable mountain.

Looking down at the two brothers.

"An angel..." Li Jie muttered weakly in his head.

Then he shook it away.

No.

That wasn’t an angel.

That was Li Yuexin.

The strongest among them.