Sect Leader's Rise to the top!

Kai left his disciples behind to hunt while he went deeper into the Canyon. He was in search of the [Grade-3] beast that was rumored to be living within the deepest part of the canyon.

The difference between [Grade-2] and [Grade-3] beasts was as massive as the earth and the sky. Kai remembered the bug Queen he had encountered when he was in the Southern Catacombs. At that time, all he could do was run away. However, Kai was now looking for a beast of the same level.

Kai was thinking about these random thoughts as he explored the Canyon. He would occasionally encounter a [Stone-Ram], however, they would simply ignore him as long as he did not encroach on their territory. Those that did attack him were quickly disposed of by Kai.

"I wonder how deep this place goes..." Kai thought to himself as he walked along a wide stone path. Kai was no longer running into beasts as if this was a dead zone. Kai had gone so deep that he was completely enclosed in darkness with no bit of light to guide his way. If not for his enhanced eyesight, Kai would have been completely shrouded in darkness.

At that moment, Kai heard an eerie screeching sound echoing from the depths. He could usually see a good distance into the dark even without any light sources, but with this level of darkness, Kai could only see a few meters ahead.

Kai did not waste any time and immediately covered his entire body with scales using [Primordial-Dragon's Scale Armament]. He then further added to his defenses by enhancing his entire body with Wind-Qi. Kai's body began to glow with a soft green aura, which had the bonus effect of increasing his speed and illuminating his surroundings.

When Kai had finished adding all his buffs, he waited quietly while listening. The screeching sound came again, which prompted Kai to move. He ran straight into the heart of the canyon, directly towards the sounds. . Kai's plan was simple. He would intercept whatever was making the noise before it had the chance of ambushing him.

Kai made massive strides as the sounds became louder and louder until Kai turned a corner when he suddenly ran into a small, human-like creature. The beast seems surprised to see Kai running towards it and stopping itself mid-screech to focus on him.

At that moment, the creature's eerie red eyes flashed and it appeared right in front of Kai, brandishing sharp claws towards his face.

Kai was prepared for an attack, so he was able to deftly dodge the attack, but the creature maneuvered in midair, repositioning itself to kick Kai in the chest. Kai was surprised by this and was unable to block it. Kai flew back due to the creature's heavy kick, making him crash into a nearby wall.

"What the hell is that thing..." Kai said as moved the stone rubble off himself while studying the creature. The kick from the creature was powerful and Kai figured that even [Mortal-Grade-4] body cultivators would have already died from it. However, Kai had only received a slight shock thanks to his stacked defenses.

"Qi-Detection!" Kai thought while slowly standing up. The small creature made no move against Kai and only looked at him curiously.

[Chimera, (Failed, Unstable)] [1012 Qi]

Kai was intrigued by the interface that was a lot more descriptive details than usual. The creature was a Chimera which Kai knew to be a beast that is a combination of multiple beasts.

Kai looked closely and saw that the creature was indeed strange-looking. It had goat-like feet and a human-sized torso covered in black fur with a reddish tint. Its arms were tipped with sharp claws sticking out menacingly from three long fingers. Behind its back was a small set of wings flapping slightly. The creature had a wolf-like head with drool falling down its jaw.

The parts had obviously been stitched together somehow using some unknown method. "Can you understand me?..." Kai said as he took a step back from the beast. The creature was terrifying, but it didn't seem to be hostile at the moment so Kai decided to try being diplomatic.

The creature simply starred at Kai in silence while scraping its long claws on the nearby wall. Just as Kai took another step backward, the beast reacted to something and began screeching again. It moved at an incomprehensible speed and appeared before Kai again with its jaw wide open, revealing a row of terrifyingly sharp teeth.

The attack was fast and Kai could not dodge it. The beast bit down on Kai's arm but could not pierce his scales. Kai took advantage of the opportunity to try grabbing the creature, however, it readjusted itself on all fours and jumped away before he could grab it. It then landed a few feet away then charged at Kai again.

"This thing is too fast, I need to finish this in one hit...", Kai thought as he repositioned himself again. He was much larger than it so he was confident in overpowering it if he could just catch it.

As the beast charged again, Kai even try to dodge and threw a fist infused with as much Wind-Qi as he could muster. The creature seemed to have sensed the danger and stopped its attack midway. The corridor was small so there was nowhere to hide as Kai's fist hit the air, creating a small shock-wave that pushed the beast back into the nearby wall.

The beast landed heavily into the wall and howled in pain. This seemed to have angered the beast as it got on all fours and opened its mouth. To Kai's surprise, it quickly charged up a small ball of energy inside its mouth then shot a ball of fire at him.

"Fire-Qi?", Kai thought in surprise as he watched the fist-sized fireball hurdling in his direction at an incomprehensible speed. The attack was too sudden and at such close range that Kai couldn't dodge it. Luckily, Kai had enough time to raise his arms while bracing for the impact. The attack landed on his crossed arms and pushed him back slightly, however, the combination of his scales, encased in Wind-Qi, mitigated the majority of the damage. Kai only suffered scorch marks on his scales but other than that, he was still fine.

"You're really full of surprises...", Kai said as started a full-on sprint through the corridor towards the creature. The beast seemed surprised that Kai had survived its attack and nervously started shooting out more fireballs while trying to keep Kai from approaching its body.

Kai lamented his lack of powerful ranged skills as he dodged the fireballs that he could. However, the majority of the fireball simply landed on his body, slowing him down slightly. His clothing had long since burnt to ashes since they were purely decorative and did not provide much armor. Kai was now fully encased in his scales with Wind-Qi violently swirling around his body. From an outsider's viewpoint, this would seem to be a battle between two beasts.

Kai waited for the right moment then used [Hare Leaps over Moon] to quickly appear In-front of the creature. It was too surprised to react and Kai was able to take advantage of the opportunity, bringing down an enhanced fist onto the creature's head, smashing its head into the ground. The impact made a small crater and floored the stunned creature instantly. Kai had already noticed that the beast seemed to have been built with a complete focus on attack and heavily lacked in defense.

Kai delivered a swift stomp to its neck, ending the creature's life.

Kai fell to the ground to take a breather. His scales had taken a lot of strain from the continuous attacks, however, after a little bit of rest, they would be as good as new. Kai's realized that as good as his scales were, he could not completely rely on them for his defense. They were dependent on the amount of Qi he infused them with so they were difficult to maintain for long and drawn-out fights. Kai was only a few minutes away from completely running out of Qi which was too dangerous.

His real challenges would only come from [Grade-3] or higher beasts, so needed gear that corresponded with this. [Grade-3] armor was rare in Huang City and always in high demand, so Kai had hoped to find a [Grade-3] beast to turn into armor here. However, it seemed that luck was not on Kai's side this time. This beast was too scrawny and had no hide to skin. While it was indeed powerful, it held no material worth to Kai.

At that moment, Kai felt the temperature rise suddenly. Kai turned around and noticed the creature's corpse glowing red hot. It's was giving off an insane amount of heat that kept increasing every second. Kai could also feel the intensity of volatile Qi that the corpse was giving off.

"Is this thing going to explode?!", Kai thought as he quickly distanced himself from the carcass, ready to run for his life, but then remembered his disciples who were still somewhere within the canyon. Kai didn't know what scale of damage the explosion would cause, but he couldn't take the chance of it harming his disciples.

"I need to get rid of this body....", Kai said as he looked at the glowing carcass nervously.