Immortal Path to Heaven

The wind was whistling as Ou Yangming ran wild.

 As Qi and blood circulated inside his body, there was an agitation of essential Qi that caused an increase in speed, but he was not tired at all.

 Although the Brown Earth Bear had died, it gave Ou Yangming a huge benefit. His only regret was he could not take the whole bear away.

 The feeling as a result of running wildly made his bulging head feel much better. This time, his Qi and blood, as well as his mental power, improved greatly. That said, the negative impact due to the fast improvement in a short span of time was slowly beginning to show.

 Needless to say, the pain was nothing compared to the benefit gained.

 Even though Ou Yangming was running fast with a bad complexion, he did not slack at all. He exploited fully the 1 point of Vision attribute in his helmet, so he could immediately notice if something unusual was ahead.

 His eyes lit up all of a sudden because he noticed a familiar figure. It was Yan Haobo, the first person who escaped in this direction.

 After slowing down a little, sure enough, Ou Yangming heard Yan Haobo’s voice. “Master Ou, why are you here?”

 Ou Yangming halted and pretended to have just noticed him by expressing cheerfully, “Squad Leader Yan, you’re here too, it’s so nice to have met you!”

 When Yan Haobo approached Ou Yangming and noticed that he was fine, he finally sighed a breath of relief but somewhat reproached. “Master Ou, didn’t we ask you to follow Squad Leader Jiang? Why did you run out by yourself?”

 Yan Haobo did not suspect anything upon seeing the ghastly expression and the nervousness on Ou Yangming’s face. In actual fact, it would only be suspicious if a person was extremely calm while panting heavily.

 “Squad Leader Yan, I was too fascinated when I watched you fend off the half-spirit beast, so I separated from Squad Leader Jiang. What should we do now?” Ou Yangming explained with a bitter smile.

 “It’s okay, we’ll leave from here and see what we can do once we find the others.” Yan Haobo shook his head slightly but dared not scold him. He sighed and said, “We’re awfully unlucky this time to have attacked that fella when it incited the Blood Meridian Power. Ah, the probability is extremely low, yet we encountered it, how unfortunate!”

 Ou Yangming was moved so he asked, “Squad Leader Yan, what’s the Blood Meridian Outbreak?”

 Yan Haobo pondered for a while before answering, “The Blood Meridian Outbreak is a spirit beast’s unique ability. Once spirit beasts activate the Blood Meridian Power, they’ll gain overwhelming power in a short period of time. However, the outbreak is followed by a residual effect, where the beasts will be in a weak state for some time.”

 Ou Yangming nodded and finally understood why the Brown Earth Bear collapsed after pursuing four men.

 A spirit beast that simulated the Blood Meridian Power would normally enter a weak state, but when the injured big fellow underwent the outbreak, it could only withstand the residual effect for a brief moment, and eventually had to give up its life.

 Yan Haobo lamented about their luck while leading the way. “The Blood Meridian Outbreak is usually only possible for spirit beasts, and it’s difficult for half-spirit beasts to execute it even if one wanted to. Ah, it looks like the Brown Earth Bear that we encountered possessed a rich spirit-beast bloodline…”

 Ou Yangming finally returned to their original spot under his lead.

 Jiang Chengwei and the rest had returned long ago. They were joyful upon seeing Ou Yangming, but also looked like they were condemning him.

 Ou Yangming could not distinguish it, hence he apologized with a bitter smile.

 When Jiang Chengwei asked Ou Yangming what had happened after they parted, Ou Yangming told him that he escaped upon hearing Yu Hailiang’s order, and was only able to return safely because of Yan Haobo. Nobody was dubious of his explanation because they could not have done any better if they were in his position, after all.

 Yan Haobo looked around and asked with a heavy look on his face, “Where’s Captain Yu? Has he not returned yet?”

 If Yu Hailiang was not back at that point, he was likely in a bad spot. Besides, he had the highest status among everyone, so if he accidentally died, they would definitely be in a terrible position too.

 Jiang Chengwei sighed and answered, “Captain Yu came back already.”

 “Ah, where is he?”

 “He heard that Master Ou went missing, so he left to look for him.” Jiang Chengwei glanced at Ou Yangming helplessly.

 It was then when Yan Haobo and Ou Yangming understood why Jiang Chengwei reacted so hugely when they returned.

 Ou Yangming wondered and responded, “Captain Yu is a blessed man, he’ll be fine.”

 Jiang Chengwei exhaled. “I hope so.”

 A noise was suddenly heard ahead at that instant, and when everyone looked, they found a person running in their direction. It was the soldier who was previously sent to keep an eye on the Brown Earth Bear.

 He shouted as soon as he stopped in front of them, “Everyone, great news!”

 Ou Yangming guessed what it was when he saw the soldier’s expression, but pretended to look puzzled like everyone else.

 The soldier announced, “I followed Captain Yu back to the battle zone, and found that the Brown Earth Bear had died!”

 Everyone was instantly in an uproar and began discussing the matter with each other.

 “Quiet!” Jiang Chengwei roared angrily, and his voice drowned out the other people.

 There was a clear hierarchy in the military, thus even when most of the soldiers present were not under Jiang Chengwei’s command, they dared not contradict him when he gave an order.

 “Tell us what happened exactly,” Jiang Chengwei instructed sternly.

 “We found the Brown Earth Bear’s carcass. Captain Yu inspected it personally and said that it incited the Blood Meridian Power, but was too heavily injured that it collapsed and died,” the soldier was a little taken aback before he answered, then he added after a pause, “Captain Yu wants me to inform everyone to return to carry the brown bear’s carcass.”

 Everyone looked at each other in disbelief as though they were dreaming.

 The Brown Earth Bear caused many casualties, so even when everyone hated it to its bones, they were equally fearful of it.

 When they suddenly heard that the brown bear had died, as well as the reason behind it, they found it hard to accept it.

 Yan Haobo spoke after a brief moment, “If that’s the case, let’s go over.”

 The rest responded to him. Other than a few men who stayed to keep watch, the other people strode away in a row. After a moment of hesitation, Ou Yangming decided to follow as he wanted to see if Yu Hailiang noticed anything suspicious from the carcass.

 Once everyone hurried back to the battle zone, they saw the huge carcass indeed. Other than that, there were also four disfigured corpses that were covered in blood.

 They knew that those were their companions, who were killed by the Brown Earth Bear when it gained extreme strength from activating the Blood Meridian Power.

The cheerful atmosphere disappeared the moment everyone saw the corpses.

 “Brothers, don’t forget who we are. As soldiers, our deaths are worthy if we die in a warzone,” Yu Hailiang frowned as he said, then continued after a short pause, “Collect their remains for an elaborate burial back at the camp.”

 “Yes.”

 The other soldiers quickly began working. They either took care of their companions’ corpses or prepared tools to carry the Brown Earth Bear’s carcass away.

 Jiang Chengwei, Yan Haobo, and Ou Yangming naturally went forward to inspect the huge beast.

 “Master Ou, you’ll be credited the most for the successful slaughter of the beast this time,” Yu Hailiang remarked with a deep voice, “Squad Leader Jiang, you’re ranked second to have shot its vital points with your arrows without a miss.”

 Jiang Chengwei’s face changed, and he quickly responded, “Sir, you should be ranked second instead.”

 Yu Hailiang waved his hand. “The few of us didn’t contribute much. Heh, if the Brown Earth Bear wasn’t heavily injured, it wouldn’t have died after killing four of our brothers, and we might’ve lost many more men.”

Everyone’s face changed when they recalled the threatening aura released by the Brown Earth Bear at the very end.

 Ou Yangming observed the brown bear’s carcass and especially looked at the big hole in its eyeball. “Captain Yu, did you hurt its eye?”

 Yu Hailiang shook his head. “No, perhaps it’s a residual effect of the Blood Meridian Outbreak.”

 Ou Yangming was relieved. In actual fact, nobody would have suspected him even if someone noticed an abnormality.

 Finally, the preparations were done, and the soldiers began cutting the Brown Earth Bear’s carcass with sabers because it was impossible to carry its huge body away as a whole. Nonetheless, Yu Hailiang and the others were extremely cautious throughout the process as they collected all of its blood without wasting a single drop.

 Ou Yangming was more certain after watching the process that the half-spirit beast’s flesh and blood were far more valuable than a normal ferocious beast’s.

 Once everything was handled, they made their way out of the forest.

 After what had happened, nobody was interested in staying anymore.

 Yan Haobo called out to his squad as well, so they grew in numbers when everyone gathered. Given that they were journeying out of the dense forest in such a big squad, ferocious beasts would avoid them without sneaking an attack at all.

 Though ferocious beasts had no wisdom, they had survival instincts, hence they knew what was feasible and what was not.

 If a ferocious beast actually dared to attack the squad, it would only be courting death.

At last, the soldiers left the dense forest, and cheers were heard when they looked up at the dazzling sun in the sky.

 Most of them had actually entered the dense forest numerous times.

 Despite that, this trip was exceptionally thrilling, and they were excited at the thought of the half-spirit beast that was being carried.

 Outside the dense forest, a squad was already stationed there to aid them. After each squad was contacted, they gathered and returned to the military camp proudly in a row.

 Before they had even returned to the camp, the news of a half-spirit beast being slaughtered had already spread across the entire camp.

 There was a sensation as soon as the squad returned to the military camp, but Ou Yangming returned to his courtyard to rest as he was exhausted.