Forbidden Zone of the Human Race

Xiang Ning loudly cracked his neck. “You guys help him out.” He tossed them a bottle of healing potion. He was only generous towards people he deemed worthy. Why was he willing to give Li Zihao a bottle worth hundreds of thousands of Fury Points? Naturally, it was because he didn’t want Li Zihao to be incapacitated and unable to carry on. Xiang Ning didn’t want to turn around when they were halfway to their destination. 

“Uh… you be careful out there.” Li Zihao was shocked to see Xiang Ning holding a 1.7-meter-long weapon. He hadn’t seen Xiang Ning carry a weapon like this just now; he was holding a short blade. What shocked him even more was that the fresh blood on Xiang Ning’s weapon slowly faded as if it was being absorbed. And the attachment on the hilt seemed to be cheering, as if it were celebrating something. He couldn’t believe he could sense the emotion of a weapon. Li Zihao suddenly thought of something, then looked at Xiang Ning and his weapon in disbelief. How is that possible? That’s an extremely precious weapon, how could they let a student use it? 

Li Zihao shook the thought out of his head. Right, right, that was impossible. However, he didn’t actually return to the truck to treat his injury. His wound wasn’t severe enough to kill him, he just needed disinfection. It just looked very serious because he was bleeding a lot and the wound was big. 

He didn’t want to miss this rare battle. When Xiang Ning had unleashed his first attack, the grace in that one move was artistic and natural, as if he was nonchalantly doing it. He had experienced that feeling before. It only happened when the user had mastered the skill terrifyingly well. Li Zihao estimated Xiang Ning was at least at the Awakened level for his Mountain-Splitting Slash. However, he knew that Peak Mastery was possible, too, based on the depth of the cut left on the Grimclaw. But he subconsciously couldn’t believe it. He felt like Xiang Ning and he were both the same age, how could he be that good? 

They were all the chosen ones of each city, the elites of the younger generation who were idols back home. It was difficult to accept that there were people of the same age who were better than them. 

“Li Zihao, you should go treat your wound first!” 

“Yeah, you should.” 

Li Zihao’s eyes were glued on the confrontation between Xiang Ning and the Grimclaw. He placed a finger on his lips and said, “Shhh, watch them. Didn’t you see how Xiang Ning’s sword cut into the Grimclaw’s arm? You can’t make a cut like that with just any sharp weapon, the technique he displayed was a sign of absolute mastery!” 

“So what? Can he win without our help? He merely caught it by surprise. Now we should quickly travel around the Grimclaw or retreat. An assignment like this… even with two complete teams, they might not even be able to kill the Grimclaw.” One of the teammates could no longer stay. He had always been against recruiting Xiang Ning. He felt that his leader had been worried for nothing—they had already faced more than ten powerful beasts, but they’d killed them without a problem. Xiang Ning hadn’t even been needed once. In his opinion, Xiang Ning was a useless addition. And he would take up twenty percent of their earnings, too! He never said a word since no one else had spoken up, but now, could he stand by and remain silent? 

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

The other teammates looked at Li Zihao while Liu Yi, who was in the truck, heard them and stormed out of the vehicle. He huffed, “Don’t you criticize Xiang Ning with your judgemental gazes, I think you’re disgusting.” 

“You punk, what did you say? If it wasn’t for our kindness, do you think you would’ve made it to Fortress One?” 

“Hehe, forgive me for saying this, but based on the past beast encounters we had, didn’t you guys stop us from fighting so that you can earn more points?” 

The rest of their expressions darkened immediately. Bringing that to light was very anger-provoking. 

Li Zihao frowned, looking at the teammate who had been accused. He wanted to explain, but Liu Yi cut him off. “We just want to quickly reach Fortress One. Hurry up and use the medicine Brother Xiang gave you, don’t delay any further.” When he finished speaking, he turned and went back into the truck. He felt that Xiang Ning was being wronged. These people were already thinking of retreating when they couldn’t defeat a beast on their own, not even considering letting Xiang Ning fight. It made it look as if they really were hitching a free ride. 

“Zihao—” 

“Shh, watch the fight.” Li Zihao shook his head, then downed the bottle of healing potion. He didn’t ask for help, treating his own wound. It was a rough and unsophisticated treatment; he poured medicine on his wound while his teammates cringed. 

On the other side, Xiang Ning was focused on his fight. He had no time to think about the opinions of Li Zihao’s team. He licked his lips, a surge of hunger gushing from his heart. Yes, hunger. It wasn’t his own, but from the Devourer in his hand. The purple lines on the silver blade were extra bright now, the amber substance in the attachment flashing a subtle yellow. 

The presence of the Grimclaw, a tyrant of the beast world, made the Devourer drool for its powerful energy and likely its beast core. The Devourer hadn’t had a good meal in a very long time. 

The Grimclaw felt a huge, intimidating presence, but didn’t plan to run. This was its new home, its territory. The blood coursing through its veins would never let it retreat—it contained the pride of a beast tyrant. 

“ROAR!” The Grimclaw unleashed a roar that shook the skies, scaring every beast within a two-kilometer radius. Beast Generals weren’t affected, but any Beast Soldier of tier one or two immediately evacuated the area.

Fury Points +999 

The Grimclaw slammed an angry paw into the ground. It could tell that the ant before it was treating it like prey, and that was utterly unacceptable. 

Seeing the Grimclaw charging at him, Xiang Ning activated Keen Observation and targeted it. It wasn’t very powerful—just tier four, three-star—which was one star higher than him. However, he mustn’t take the fight lightly. One slap from the beast would be destructive. 

Fury Points +999

He didn’t plan on fighting with direct force. Utilizing his Peak Mastery Shadowmist Ghost Step, he barely dodged the bear; the clumsy-looking giant was in reality more agile than expected. If Xiang Ning were just a second slower, he would be hit by a force strong enough to shatter a boulder. Of course, thanks to Keen Observation, that wasn’t likely to happen. Xiang Ning would have preferred to dodge the attack earlier, without such difficult, dangerous maneuvering, but he had to surrender to Keen Observation’s instructions. 

He suspected that the person who designed it must be some psychopath. Every time an attack looked like it was about to hit him, he would escape by the skin of his teeth. The feeling wasn’t relief to have escaped the attack, but that the creator of the system was toying with him. It was frightening.