Chapter 5: Defeat the enemy and win

It tossed aside the wild deer it had been halfway through eating.

Its hind legs kicked off the ground with explosive force, and its massive body surged toward Luo Qingchen with the momentum of a crashing mountain.

The earth trembled beneath its weight.

“Holy crap!”

Luo Qingchen let out a curse in a moment of panic, turned around, and bolted.

This thing was over 2 meters tall!

One slap from those paws could flatten her small frame into a two-dimensional piece of paper!

As she ran, Luo Qingchen’s mind raced at high speed, desperately searching the original owner’s memories for sect manuals and combat techniques.

She was currently a cultivator at the peak of Qi Condensation!

Surely there must be some spells like Fireball or Wind Blade, right?

Even a Sword Art would do!

Memories flooded in.

Shadowless Hand: Can swipe spirit stones from a target’s storage bag without physical contact.

At the Great Circle stage, it can even steal a person’s undergarments from a distance.

‘Is this what a proper cultivator should be learning?! I’m an unmarried woman, whose clothes am I supposed to go around stealing?!’

Lock-Picking Guide: Proficient in breaking all kinds of formations and dealing with stubborn locks.

It claimed that there was no door on the Mysterious Continent that could not be opened.

‘If I can’t survive as a cultivator, am I supposed to go to Qingyun Town to be a locksmith? Leave my contact info at the entrance of people’s cave dwellings?’ The more Luo Qingchen looked, the more horrified she became.

Breath-Concealing Art: Perfectly hides one’s aura.

An essential skill for faking death or hiding.

Perfect for avoiding pursuers.

Snowless Step: A movement technique specifically for running away.

Once used, not even a dog can keep up.

Luo Qingchen cursed as she ran.

What kind of junk was this?!

Why were they all shady skills for thieves and cowards!

‘Cheap Master, you could have at least taught me a Heart-Crushing Palm or something!’

This sect didn’t have a single decent offensive technique.

No wonder it was wiped out so easily by those powerful figures.

They probably didn’t even put up a fight!

A foul stench of blood filled the air behind her, and the black bear’s roar sounded right at her ear.

“Roar!”

A massive, furry paw swung through the air with a whistling sound, aimed straight for Luo Qingchen’s back.

In that split second, her body reacted instinctively.

Snowless Step!

Spirit power flowed through her feet, and her body jerked to the side in an eerie, fluid motion.

*thud*

The bear’s paw slammed heavily into the cave wall, shattering a large chunk of rock.

Stone fragments flew in every direction.

Luo Qingchen used the momentum to dash forward several meters, escaping certain death by a hair’s breadth.

‘That was close!’

‘I almost became a bear biscuit!’

Having missed its target, the black bear grew even more furious.

It spun around and lunged again.

Luo Qingchen could only grit her teeth and continue to dodge.

She didn’t have any offensive moves at the moment, and she hadn’t figured out how to deal with the beast.

She ducked to the left.

She jumped to the right.

She ducked and rolled.

The sequence of movements was as smooth as flowing water.

At first, she was frantic and clumsy, nearly getting scratched by the bear’s claws several times.

Those claws whistled past her scalp, carrying a stench that made her break into a cold sweat.

But as time passed, the movement techniques from the original owner’s memory began to merge perfectly with her body.

After all, she was at the peak of Qi Condensation.

Her physique and reaction speed had long surpassed those of ordinary mortals.

Luo Qingchen’s dodging became smoother and more effortless.

In her eyes, the black bear’s massive body gradually became clumsy and slow—even a bit adorable in its stupidity.

With every lunge, Luo Qingchen could predict its move and avoid it with ease.

She even found the time to reach out and pluck a tuft of fur from the bear’s back during the gaps between dodges.

“Hey, little bear, you’re getting a bit slow!”

“Hit the right side! Tsk, missed again. So this is what the perspective of an expert feels like. I feel like I could kill an ox with one punch!”

Luo Qingchen taunted the beast with a cheeky grin as she dodged.

The black bear roared in frustration.

It swung its paws wildly, smashing the rocks in the cave to dust, yet it couldn’t even touch the corner of Luo Qingchen’s clothes.

However, after dodging for a long time, Luo Qingchen was starting to breathe heavily.

She couldn’t keep this up forever.

She had to find an opening to counterattack!

Since she had no spells, she would use her fists to pave the way!

She was a cultivator about to reach Foundation Building, after all.

If she put some spirit power into her punch, it had to hurt, right?

Luo Qingchen took a deep breath, and the spirit power in her dantian surged frantically toward her right arm.

The black bear stood up on its hind legs again, opening its bloody maw.

It brought its paws together, smashing down toward the top of Luo Qingchen’s head.

‘Now!’

Instead of retreating, Luo Qingchen lunged forward.

Her feet kicked off the ground, launching her like a projectile.

She avoided the bear’s frontal assault and circled to its side.

Her right fist clenched tight, infused with all the spirit power of a peak Qi Condensation cultivator, and she slammed it hard into the bear’s left shoulder.

*boom*

A dull, heavy sound echoed.

Immediately following that was the crisp sound of a bone snapping.

*crack*

The black bear’s thick left arm was actually forced into a bizarre, twisted angle.

The arm had been fractured on the spot!

“Awoooo—”

The black bear let out an incredibly shrill cry of pain.

Its massive body lost its balance and slammed heavily into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Luo Qingchen used the recoil to leap back several steps, putting distance between them.

She looked down at her fair, delicate fist.

Then she looked up at the black bear wailing and rolling on the ground.

Silence filled the air once more.

Luo Qingchen was stunned.

‘Holy crap?’

‘Am I really this strong?!’

‘I broke the arm of a 2-meter-tall bear with one punch?’

‘Then what was I running for just now?!’

‘I should have just walked up and punched it from the start!’

The black bear lying on the ground was also stunned.

Ignoring the piercing pain in its arm, it stared at Luo Qingchen with an expression of utter disbelief.

Those large eyes were filled with grievance: ‘If you were this strong, why did you run?! I was the one who should have been running!’

Luo Qingchen rubbed her wrist.

She finally realized something.

This was just an ordinary wild animal.

Even though it looked huge and terrifying, she was a peak Qi Condensation cultivator.

If Wu Song could kill a tiger, she could certainly handle a bear.

Once she took that final half-step and consumed the Foundation Building Pill, she would officially enter the ranks of true cultivators.

Dealing with a mortal black bear should have been a piece of cake.

She had spent too much time as a corporate slave in her previous life.

Her first instinct upon seeing danger was to run; she hadn’t fully adapted to her status as a cultivator yet.

“Ahem.”

Luo Qingchen cleared her throat and resumed her persona as a powerful expert.

She walked slowly over to the black bear.

The bear trembled all over and desperately tried to shrink back.

Its massive body squeezed into a crevice in the corner of the cave.

It covered its head with its paws and let out a whimpering moan, making itself look like a victim while Luo Qingchen looked like a cruel bully.

The little bear had turned into a cowering pet.

It had completely surrendered.

“It would have been better if you’d acted like this from the start.”

Luo Qingchen brushed the dust off her hands.

“I’m requisitioning this place.”

“You, go guard the entrance for me.”

“If you let even a single mosquito in, I’ll break your other arm. Do you understand?”

The black bear nodded repeatedly.

It scrambled to its feet and ran toward the cave entrance.

Its speed was at least 30% faster than when it had been chasing Luo Qingchen.

Watching the bear’s silhouette as it stood guard at the entrance, Luo Qingchen nodded in satisfaction.

Not only did she get a free cave dwelling, but it even came with a security guard.

Perfect.

She turned and walked to the deepest part of the cave.

Finding a relatively flat stone, she sat down cross-legged.

She pulled out the Foundation Building Pill, which was emitting a rich medicinal fragrance, from her storage bag.

A faint glow swirled over the surface of the pill.

Just catching a whiff of it made the spirit power within Luo Qingchen’s body start to stir.

“Foundation Building stage…”

Luo Qingchen licked her lips, her eyes full of anticipation.

If she could snap a bear’s bone at peak Qi Condensation, wouldn’t she be able to punch a hole straight through it once she reached Foundation Building?