Slaying the Firemane King

Monster beasts? Fire Hyenas?

An Yi raised an eyebrow as he saw the crimson-furred creatures with fangs dripping foul saliva.

As expected, places abundant in spiritual energy always had some bizarre things.

Take that Gourd Immortal, for example—his true form was a gourd, only taking human shape after being nourished by spiritual power.

Roar!

A fire hyena lunged at An Yi first.

Swoosh!

A blade of wind slashed through the air!

Blood splattered!

The fire hyena collapsed, drenched in its own gore.

An Yi smirked disdainfully. "That's it?"

Rustle!

In this world of lava and flames, countless fire hyenas emerged from the mountains, their eerie green eyes fixed on him as they closed in.

An Yi took a step back, swallowing hard, and summoned the Dragonfang Demon Sword into his hand.

"What the hell?!"

He must have pissed someone off—why else would he end up in a nest of fire hyenas?

"Get the hell away from me!"

With a roar, An Yi unleashed swirling blades of wind in all directions!

Splat!

Fire hyenas that failed to dodge were instantly shredded into pieces!

But compared to the hundreds swarming around him, the number he killed was pitifully small.

An Yi panted slightly.

"Damn it, slaughtering these things is getting old. Did I stumble into some fake secret realm?"

Roar!

From atop a hill, an enormous fire hyena emerged from the pack, its cold green eyes locked onto him.

An Yi's eyebrow twitched.

This one was massive—standing five meters tall on all fours, while ordinary fire hyenas barely reached one meter.

"The Fire Hyena King?"

Focusing, An Yi recognized it instantly based on his past-world experience.

This was a third-tier monster beast.

Fire hyenas were pack hunters, obeying their leader's commands.

"Interesting. If I kill you, this ends, right?"

Grinning, An Yi let his aura surge around him.

The Fire Hyena King stared back, its lips curling in an eerily human-like smirk.

Fire hyenas leaped at him from all sides!

An Yi's lips curled as he rested the demon sword at his waist, assuming a draw stance.

A storm of energy erupted, and even the airborne hyenas began to panic.

"Third Form of the Dragon-Slaying Nine Swords—Storm of Blades!"

In an instant!

A tempest of sword energy bloomed across the scorching world!

The shrieks of fire hyenas filled the air!

A rain of foul blood and severed limbs painted the ground crimson.

The Fire Hyena King's green eyes flickered with terror, its powerful limbs trembling.

An Yi erected a wind barrier, shielding himself from the bloody downpour—

But a single drop still landed on his lips.

Locking eyes with the Fire Hyena King, An Yi licked the blood off with a wild grin.

To the beast, his handsome face now looked like a nightmare.

"Blergh—!"

The murderous aura vanished as An Yi suddenly doubled over, retching.

"Goddammit! Shouldn’t have copied those cool blood-licking scenes—this tastes like sewage!"

Seizing the chance, the Fire Hyena King pounced!

"Looking to die?!"

Wiping his mouth, An Yi raised his sword.

A third-tier monster beast was roughly on par with a peak martial artist.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Three strikes later, the Fire Hyena King's claws trembled—its panic growing.

It realized this human was beyond it.

Just then, the remaining hyenas closed in from all sides.

An Yi flicked his wrist, sending steel needles flying like a scythe through wheat—hyenas dropped dead in waves.

The Fire Hyena King seized the opening, lunging again with jaws wide!

"Trying to bite me?"

An Yi eyed its fangs—

Then flames erupted from the beast's maw!

"Holy shit!"

An Yi barely had time to curse.

This thing had awakened spiritual fire!

Inferno engulfed him.

The Fire Hyena King paused, gleeful—

Then its eyes bulged as agony tore through it.

An Yi had slid beneath it, evading the flames and driving the Dragonfang Sword into its soft underbelly.

Like a hot knife through butter, the blade split it open.

Guts and blood spilled—

Thud!

The king collapsed.

Leaderless, the surviving hyenas scattered, leaving only corpses behind.

An Yi flicked blood off his sword, shrinking it to a dagger as he carved out a fiery spirit core from the king's skull.

Coming from that world, he knew the value of these cores.

In this era of scarce spiritual energy, they were priceless treasures.

After wiping it clean, he stored it away.

Other cores might be hidden among the corpses, but the stench made him hesitate.

Mask on, he wavered—

Then his ears twitched at approaching voices.

"Damn, Big Brother Wei, ranked 74th on the Hidden Dragon List—your dissection skills are insane!"

"Hah, just basics. But this haul? Jackpot!"

"Spirit cores! Even one sells for 100k at auction—and they’re near impossible to find!"

"Hey, this corpse has one! Lucky us!"

"Who’s the dumbass that killed these and didn’t loot the cores?"

Two young men chatted while scavenging, their initial wariness forgotten amid the windfall.

Pockets overflowing, they grinned at their blood-soaked bounty—

Until a black-clad youth materialized before them, sword in hand.

"Where’d my spirit cores go?"

Scanning the area with feigned confusion, he asked flatly,

"You guys seen 'em?"

---

Cliffside.

Floating stones hovered like inverted spikes above a bottomless abyss.

Mist swirled as strange birds darted through the clouds.

Lin Chen leaped between rocks, dodging avian assaults with his Cloudrend Hook in hand.

"Air Quake!"

He clenched his fist—

The sky rippled like disturbed water.

Birds froze mid-flight before plummeting into the void.

"Impressive. Even Cheng Yuanfeng’s Qi Control pales next to this."

Jiang Cheng of Azure Dragon applauded, smirking.

"Though, some birds had cores. Bit wasteful, no?"

Lin Chen’s grip tightened on his weapon, killing intent sharp.

Jiang Cheng smiled and said, "Don't get the wrong idea. We don’t have any conflicting interests right now. Let’s focus on getting out of here first."

Just then, a massive, eerie bird soared through the air overhead.

"Boring."

Standing atop the bird’s back was Zhang Qianyu, his expression cold and detached.

His gaze locked onto Jiang Cheng, brimming with provocation.

Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes, his demeanor sharpening. With a chuckle, he remarked, "Interesting. This just keeps getting more interesting."

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