Chapter 81: The Black Bear Falls

Waves of black mist and golden light flashed repeatedly at the heart of the village, accompanied by tremors shaking the ground again and again. By the time Chen Jin arrived at the center, the earth god’s shrine had already collapsed, several village houses lay in ruins, and the ground was pockmarked with craters. Roaring in the midst of the chaos was a massive black bear, its form identical to the one from before. Billows of black mist poured from its maw as it surged at a golden barrier of light.

Within that golden shield—visible only to Chen Jin—stood the earth god and a young boy. Chen Jin recognized the child as one of Zheng Chang’s kin, a great-grandson of the earth god. Without hesitation, Chen Jin drew forth his Tiger Fang flying sword, sending it darting straight at the exposed chest and belly of the black bear.

This beast, unlike the impostor outside, was truly formidable. Its reflexes were swift: a single swipe of its paw batted down the flying sword, severing the connection between Chen Jin and his blade. The bear’s claws were terrifyingly potent, dispersing the mixed elemental energy Chen Jin had imbued in the weapon with a single blow. Had Chen Jin not reacted quickly, sending forth fresh energy to reclaim the sword, who knew where it might have ended up.

“Roar! You wretched priests, you disgusting lot—I’ll kill every last one of you!” The black bear thundered, battering at the shield set by the earth god while hurling threats at Chen Jin.

Chen Jin was not inclined to show mercy; he promptly conjured a fireball and flung it straight into the bear’s open jaws. With a crunch, the bear bit down, the fireball reduced to wraithlike embers, achieving nothing.

But Chen Jin didn’t relent. He followed up with a burst of white light, which unfurled into a massive net, sweeping over the bear and binding it tightly. Yet the bear’s body erupted with black mist, which corroded the net in an instant, dissolving it into gray vapor that drifted away.

Chen Jin could only sigh inwardly; there was no room to let up with attacks. He had no intention of turning this into some turn-based contest—he needed to keep the black bear suppressed, pressing the assault single-handedly. If he gave it a chance to strike back, the entire village would be laid to waste.

A quick glance at the earth god told him the deity could hold on for some time yet. Chen Jin was well-versed in many spells, but this black bear was truly powerful. Demonic energy in monsters like these was usually far more robust than that of humans—mainly because their bodies could grow so much larger, allowing them to contain and convert more of the world’s energy into demon essence. Human cultivators, by contrast, typically compressed and condensed their own internal energy, which eventually led to the creation of true essence. In fact, true essence at the Spirit-Focusing realm was originally developed to counter demons—though nowadays, it had become simply a symbol of cultivation.

At present, Chen Jin lacked true essence, but his spiritual strength was close to the level of the Spirit-Focusing realm. Once his elemental energy transformed into true essence, his spirit would likely ascend to that stage as well. Even so, his current spirit was stronger than that of the black bear before him.

With that in mind, Chen Jin decided to assail the bear’s will with his own spirit, while using the Tiger Fang flying sword to probe and distract it. The combination should yield results.

Just as Chen Jin was preparing to act, villagers arrived and began attacking the black bear from afar, hurling whatever makeshift “weapons” they had. Some even wielded homemade bows, loosing arrows at the beast.

“Cursed vermin!” The bear bellowed, spewing black mist at the villagers. But a ray of golden light coiled around the black mist, dragging it to the ground—where it exploded with a bang, gouging a small crater. This was the earth god’s doing; even while enduring relentless blows from the bear, the deity still managed to spare some energy to protect the villagers. Nonetheless, his face had grown ashen, bearing the marks of fresh wounds.

Chen Jin kept his focus—there was no time to worry about others. Killing the black bear here and now was the only priority. The villagers, undeterred by the bear’s poisonous breath, continued to fire arrows and hurl projectiles.

By now, Chen Jin had unleashed all his elemental energy, filling a radius of thirty feet around him with his own essence. Any arrows or weapons that entered this zone were caught and held aloft by his energy, then flung with force at the black bear. Raising his voice, Chen Jin bellowed, “Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Sect!”

His shout rang out, echoing through the village. Every “weapon” the villagers had thrown gathered and hovered around him, assembling in midair. Once he reached the limits of what he could control, Chen Jin let loose—dozens, perhaps hundreds, of weapons surged toward the black bear.

The display was terrifying—a storm of makeshift missiles akin to a barrage of guided missiles—enough to make anyone’s skin crawl and courage falter. The black bear, too, was stunned by this formidable spectacle, momentarily abandoning its assault on the earth god.

The mass of weapons crashed down upon the black bear, but its body was shrouded in black mist. The projectiles struck home—yet they might as well have been scratching an itch, inflicting no pain, let alone injury. Still, the bear let out a pitiful howl as blood spattered across the scene.

A spike of earth, rising suddenly from below, had driven itself straight into the bear’s lower half—it was standing upright at that moment—tearing it open. Now was no time for Chen Jin to gloat. His Tiger Fang flying sword had long since gathered layer upon layer of elemental energy, and this was the moment to end the beast’s life.

With a hiss like a hot knife through butter, the flying sword plunged straight into the white crescent mark on the bear’s chest. Chen Jin guided the sword to twist and turn within, slicing through the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—every organ churned to pulp.

The black bear let out a furious, humiliated shriek, snapping off the earthen spike still lodged in its rear, then smashing a paw against the golden shield. At the same time, a jet of black blood shot from its mouth at Chen Jin like a blade.

All this happened in an instant. But Chen Jin was hardly idle; he had already leapt from his original spot, a platinum-white blade—formed of condensed elemental energy and spirit—gripped in hand. He vaulted into the air toward the bear’s head; his blade flashed, and it fell.

Blood sprayed three meters high. The bear’s head flew a foot from its shoulders. As Chen Jin landed, the black bear’s corpse crashed to the ground with a dull thud.

With a whoosh, the flying sword returned to Chen Jin’s hand, not a single drop of blood marring its surface.

The rest was filled only with the villagers’ jubilant cheers.