Chapter 68: Thunderstorm Demon Bear

[🎉 Shoutout to StrawHatD & Rogue_Demon for joining patreon. Thank you very much.🤗]

Within the Evernight Forest, ancient trees towered skyward, their massive branches intertwined, casting deep shadows across the forest floor. Though Lin Ye had only just stepped into the outskirts of the forest, the age and size of the trees already gave it a primeval feel. The dense canopy above blocked most of the sunlight, leaving the forest floor in an almost perpetual twilight.

Amidst the dimness, clusters of strange, glowing plants stretched out, their faint luminescence casting an eerie glow in the gloom, giving the forest an otherworldly appearance.

"Rustle... rustle..."

With his sharp iron sword strapped to his back, Lin Ye tread carefully through the forest. Each step crunched softly against the thick layers of fallen leaves and branches, filling the silence with the sound of his progress.

Since entering the Evernight Forest, Lin Ye had been walking for nearly fifteen minutes, delving deeper by the second. He had already ventured close to a thousand meters into the dense woods.

Finally, the first soul beasts began to appear within his field of vision.

Though they were nothing more than herbivorous soul beasts of the lowest grade, mere ten-year soul beasts, their presence brought a spark of life to the quiet, shadowy woods. From the antlered budhorn deer nibbling on leaves to the golden squirrels darting up the ancient trees and the curious three-tailed black ox, the beasts filled the surroundings with their energy.

Their presence lifted Lin Ye's spirits. After the eerie silence, the forest finally felt more alive.

"Meow~"

Suddenly, a soft cry echoed from a nearby bush. A lithe, purple figure leaped out from the underbrush, startling Lin Ye. The creature, a cat soul beast with a pale violet coat streaked with darker purple patterns, paused in its tracks. With a curious tilt of its head, the beast fixed its deep, emerald eyes on Lin Ye.

The cat's glowing green eyes, shining faintly in the dim forest, gave it an unsettling presence. But Lin Ye remained calm. He recognized this creature.

It was a Nether Spirit Cat, a small predatory soul beast known for its agility and stealth. With few natural enemies due to its speed and reflexes, it was a formidable hunter in its own right. Despite being a predator, it rarely attacked larger creatures like humans unless provoked.

Of course, this depended on one crucial condition: that humans didn't provoke the Nether Spirit Cat first. The cat was notoriously vengeful, and if someone dared to offend or harm it, they would pay dearly. The cat wouldn't hesitate to kill.

"Meow~"

The cat stared at Lin Ye for a moment longer, clearly intrigued by the human who stood so still. It blinked, its green eyes shining in the dim light, before emitting another soft meow.

Lin Ye remained equally curious, watching the beast without moving. It was his first time seeing a Nether Spirit Cat, having not encountered one during his time in the Soul Hunting Forest.

"Meow~"

Apparently growing bored, the cat lost interest. It let out another soft sound before turning away, its lithe form slipping effortlessly back into the dense undergrowth until it vanished completely.

Lin Ye chuckled softly to himself as the cat disappeared. Judging by its small size—it was barely half a meter long—it was probably only a young adult. Likely, it had never seen a human before, which explained its curiosity.

As Lin Ye ventured deeper into the forest, he started encountering more dangerous soul beasts.

There were omnivorous soul beasts like Wind Baboon, Forest Ape, and Striped Panther, as well as carnivorous soul beasts such as Nether Wolves, Wind Wolves, and Phantom Leopards.

Among them, Lin Ye also began to spot hundred-year soul beasts, a sign that he was approaching more dangerous territories.

With a bit more progress, he was sure he would encounter a thousand-year soul beast soon.

After training at Nuoding Academy for over three months, Lin Ye had already made significant progress in cultivating the first layer of his Dragon Elephant Prajna Technique, advancing past the halfway point.

His raw strength in one arm alone had reached an explosive five thousand pounds, and when he added his soul power, it surged to almost seven thousand pounds.

Only a thousand-year soul beast would be a worthy opponent for him now!

Of course, that was assuming Lin Ye fought without using his iron sword or employing the Solitary Nine Swords technique. If he decided to fight with those skills, paired with his Phoenix Dance Six Phantasms movement, even a typical thousand-year soul beast would struggle to stand against him.

After leaving Evernight City and covering a long distance using his Phoenix Dance technique, Lin Ye had reached the depths of the forest. The sun had now climbed to its zenith, and feeling a bit hungry, Lin Ye found an open patch of ground where he sat down to eat some dried rations and drink water before continuing on.

Hours passed as he pressed further into the heart of the forest.

As Lin Ye ventured deeper, the hundred-year soul beasts became more common, their appearances increasingly frequent.

Most of these hundred-year beasts were carnivorous. Creatures like Nether Wolves, Wind Wolves, Phantom Leopards, and even Ghost Tigers roamed the woods.

Many of these beasts were highly territorial, and Lin Ye found himself repeatedly attacked as he crossed through their domains.

However, none of these sub-thousand-year beasts posed any real threat to Lin Ye.

If they were thousand-year soul beasts, Lin Ye might have been forced into a more difficult battle. If they were two-thousand-year-old beasts, Lin Ye might have had to consider retreating. But against anything less than a thousand years old, Lin Ye had no fear.

As he pushed deeper into the forest, Lin Ye noticed something peculiar. The frequency of carnivorous soul beasts began to dwindle. After walking for nearly ten minutes, he hadn't seen a single large predator, only a few grazing herbivores.

Realizing this, Lin Ye felt a surge of excitement.

The absence of carnivores in such a large territory could only mean one thing—this area had been claimed by a much more powerful predator, likely a soul beast of substantial strength. Considering the size of the territory, there was a good chance the dominant soul beast was a thousand-year soul beast.

Even if it wasn't, it had to be a hundred-year soul beast with the power to rival a thousand-year one.

Suppressing his growing excitement, Lin Ye advanced cautiously.

His steps were light, barely disturbing the thick blanket of leaves covering the ground. Then, suddenly, he heard a faint buzzing sound.

Following the noise, Lin Ye used his Phoenix Dance movement to rush toward its source, darting swiftly through the trees.

Finally, in the heart of a dense thicket, Lin Ye spotted a massive creature.

It was a giant bear, nearly four meters tall, its entire body covered in pitch-black fur. What was even more striking were the vivid purple lightning-like patterns running along its body. Its head was enormous, with short, rounded ears, giving it a fearsome appearance.

At that moment, the giant bear was standing before a large beehive, swatting at it with paws the size of fan blades, greedily stuffing honey into its mouth and occasionally licking the sticky residue off its fur with a long tongue.

"This... is a Thunderstorm Demon Bear?"

═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═

patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator

🥰 Support the translation and help me grow.🤓

Read upto 20 Extra chapter in Patreon