The Frost-Tusk Behemoth was not merely a beast; it was a calamity of the northern wastes.
As it emerged from the blizzard, its presence suppressed the air itself. This was a Middle Foundation Establishment monster, possessing a physical strength and spiritual density that made it the undisputed king of the valley.
"Middle Foundation..." Tie Shan gasped, his face draining of color as he gripped his axe.
"Lin Chen, run! We can't handle this level of power!"
Lin Chen didn't move. He stood at the front, his white-and-gold robes whipped by the freezing gale. In his mind, the Heaven-Devouring Scripture began to hum. He didn't need to burn his life force or overdraw his potential; he needed to master the power he already possessed. As a cultivator, every clash was a lesson, and every wound was a teacher.
The Behemoth roared, and the sound shattered the ice beneath their feet. It lunged, a mountain of white fur moving with the speed of a lightning bolt.
BOOM!
Lin Chen crossed his arms to block. Even with his Initial Foundation cultivation, the impact felt like being struck by a falling star. He was sent tumbling back, his boots carving deep furrows in the permafrost.
"Too slow," Lin Chen hissed at himself, wiping a trail of blood from his lip.
The Behemoth didn't give him a moment to breathe. It reared up, its obsidian tusks glowing with a lethal blue light, and slammed its front pillars down. A shockwave of jagged ice spikes erupted from the ground, racing toward him.
Lin Chen blurred. Phantom Void Step! As he moved, he felt the turbulent Qi from the Han Clan guards finally beginning to align. The high-intensity combat was forcing his meridians to adapt. He reappeared in the air, his iron sword wreathed in a terrifying, pitch-black Qi. He struck, but the Behemoth swiped its massive tail, catching him mid-air and sending him crashing into a cliffside.
He slumped into the snow, his ribs groaning. But as he stood up, his gaze was sharper. He wasn't just fighting; he was observing. He saw the way the beast's muscles bunched before a charge, and the way the spiritual flow in its tusks flickered before a strike.
The Behemoth charged again, its tusks lowered to impale him.
This time, Lin Chen didn't block. He stepped into the beast's reach. He moved with a newfound fluidity, his movements becoming more refined with every passing second. He parried a tusk with the flat of his blade, the friction sending sparks flying, and slid beneath the beast's underbelly.
"Void-Shattering Palm!"
His hand struck the beast's soft abdomen. He didn't just hit it; he timed the strike with the beast's own rhythmic Qi flow, disrupting its internal circulation. The Behemoth let out a pained shriek, its momentum faltering.
Lin Chen spun, his sword singing a song of dark light. He was no longer struggling with his new realm; he was inhabiting it. He leaped onto the beast's back, his sword carving deep gouges in its hide. The Behemoth thrashed, trying to shake him off, but Lin Chen was like a shadow attached to its skin.
He saw his opening—the small, unshielded gap behind the beast's skull where its spiritual nerves met its spine.
Lin Chen focused his entire Initial Foundation sea of Qi into the tip of his sword. The blade turned a deep, light-eating black. He didn't use raw strength; he used the perfection of the Heaven-Devouring Scripture to find the path of least resistance.
SHINK.
The blade sank to the hilt.
The Behemoth went rigid. Its massive roar was cut short into a wet gargle. It took two stumbling steps, its eyes losing their blue glow, before it crashed into the snow with a weight that shook the entire valley.
Lin Chen stood on top of the carcass, his chest heaving, his body covered in bruises and blood. He hadn't overdrawn his future; he had simply learned to wield his present. The fight across levels had forced his combat skills to evolve in minutes what usually took months of meditation.
Slowly, he carved out the Middle Foundation Beast Core. It was warm and pulsed with a dense energy.
He looked at his team, who were staring at him in stunned silence.
"The task is done," Lin Chen said, his voice steady despite his exhaustion. "Let's return."