To The Crystal Calamity River

“There is one thing I would like to ask. I have heard that a Taoist practitioner’s martial arts exist for dealing with yōma. If that is so, then is there really a need for complicated tactical maneuvering?”

When I asked that, Elder Shanshi turned to look at Elder Tsuen with a face that seemed to say, “You have not even taught him something like that?”

“Outer disciples do not need to know that.”

“That may be so, but is this not the sort of thing that falls within common knowledge?”

“A difference in opinion, I suppose.”

“…Well, fine. It is true that many of a Taoist practitioner’s martial arts are for dealing with yōma. However, yōma are not limited to beast-type and insect-type ones. There are also times when humanoid yōma are born.”

Elder Shanshi, whose skin was tanned a reddish bronze color, looked like a red ogre on the outside. But inside that head, he possessed the knowledge fitting to be called an elder.

“When you say humanoid, do they perhaps use weapons?”

“That’s right. Among the humanoid yōma I have fought, there was one who was a master swordsman.”

With that, I understood why Elder Shanshi had pointed out that my attacks were “repetitive.” Techniques for fighting people were necessary too.

“By the way, what will you do about the Thunder Bear’s ‘Lightning Claw’ and ‘Lightning Charge’?”

Lightning Claw was an attack that extended demonic qi from its claws and cloaked it in intense electricity, while Lightning Charge meant covering its whole body in lightning and ramming into the opponent.

“I am not planning for a long battle, so I will just dodge or evade them.”

“A short battle, hm. You must be very confident in the power of your Fox-Flame.”

When Elder Shanshi said that, Elder Tsuen shot me a sharp glare.

“If your confidence is excessive, it will get you killed.”

“I’ll do my best so that does not happen.”

We passed along the shore of Crystal North Lake and reached the great river, the Crystal Calamity River. The width of this river looked to be several hundred meters.

“This way.”

It seemed Elder Shanshi knew where the Thunder Bear’s lair was. Guided by Elder Shanshi, we headed upstream and entered a forest thick with tall trees.

“Look. These are claw marks from a Thunder Bear.”

Large claw marks were carved into the trunk of a tree. Part of those claw marks had been carbonized and turned black. They had probably been made by Lightning Claw.

The problem was the height of the claw marks. They were made at a position higher than I had imagined.

“It seems the Thunder Bear is bigger than I thought.”

Elder Tsuen gave a thin smile and turned his eyes to me.

“You are not getting cold feet, are you?”

“That is not the case.”

I searched for signs in the surroundings and sensed the presence of a yōma to the left. I took the lead and advanced, and instead of a Thunder Bear, we encountered a Flame Spider.

“So Flame Spiders live in a place like this too.”

When I said that, Elder Shanshi looked at the Flame Spider and then spoke.

“It is rare for one of these to be here. I can kill it for you, if you want.”

In the inner disciple test, even the yōma encountered along the way were meant to be defeated by the outer disciple taking the test. However, that was not a matter of formal rules, but to check the outer disciple’s skill and see whether it was safe for him to fight the Thunder Bear.

“No, I will fight it.”

There was no way I was going to hand over such good prey. I put down my backpack and stepped forward, then began refining my qi. Heavy Yin Qi and Floating Yang Qi circulated through my body.

Through the effect of the Floating Yang Qi flowing through my yang meridians, I entered the state of Moment of Foam, and the Flame Spider’s movements seemed to slow down. Even so, the Flame Spider was about three meters long, so it had an imposing presence.

The Flame Spider approached using its long legs. While watching closely to read its movements, I stayed on guard against the Flame Spider’s flame attack.

Suddenly, sparks flew around the Flame Spider’s mouth.

“Watch out!”

I heard Elder Shanshi’s warning. I leaped to the side to avoid the burst of flames, then circled around to the Flame Spider’s flank and put strength into the hand gripping the Demon Spider Greatsword as I swept at its long legs.

Flames burst from the blade of the Demon Spider Greatsword and cut off two of its legs. The enraged Flame Spider tried to spew flames again. I swung the Demon Spider Greatsword down toward its mouth, which was just about to spit out flames.

The Flame Spider leaped sideways to avoid it, and because of that, the flames it spewed scorched off in a completely wrong direction. Watching that, Elder Shanshi smiled happily.

“Splendid. You are reading the Flame Spider’s attacks.”

Elder Tsuen was watching the fight with an irritated face.

“Even if you can defeat a Flame Spider, that does not mean you can defeat a Thunder Bear.”

When I heard those words, I felt anger toward Elder Tsuen. It was because he spoke as though he wanted me to fail the inner disciple test. Did he have some reason for that?

The Flame Spider tried to back away warily. Using muscles strengthened by qi, I stepped in swiftly and swung downward while pouring compressed Floating Yang Qi into the Demon Spider Greatsword. The Demon Spider Greatsword, swinging down while spewing flames, severed the Flame Spider’s head.

“Splendid.”

Elder Shanshi praised me, but Elder Tsuen still wore an irritated face. I quickly stripped the oil sac, the Oil Generator Tube, and eight pieces of spider glass from the Flame Spider.

“Hurry up. This is a test.”

Elder Tsuen’s cold attitude had not changed.

“Understood.”

I moved on while searching for signs in the surroundings. And this time, I finally found the Thunder Bear. It was a huge bear that looked to be about three meters in body length, with lightning-like patterns standing out on its black fur. And on top of that, it had a horn on its forehead that shone gold.

“There’s a crackling sound coming from its horn.”

I cried out in surprise.

“That is the Thunder Bear.”

Elder Shanshi said it in a calm voice. Was a Thunder Bear basically like an electric eel? Why had they made a monster like this the subject of the test? How many inner disciples were there who could actually defeat one?

Question after question began to swirl around inside my heart.