Chapter 34: The Greed That Devours
The mountain ceased to belong to nature.
Winter itself seemed to hesitate.
On one side stood Lord Shen.
Upon the other...
The creature that now called itself Abyss Bear Xiong Ba.
Neither moved.
Neither needed to.
Their auras had already begun fighting.
Black mist poured endlessly from the Abyss Bear's body.
It spread across the mountainside like living smoke, swallowing snow, freezing streams, and ancient trees alike. Wherever it drifted, life simply... faded. Pine needles blackened. Rocks softened as though centuries of decay had been forced upon them in moments. Even the air became heavy with the scent of rust and rotting earth.
It was not poison.
It was corrosion itself.
A law imposed upon the world.
The creature raised one massive claw.
The black miasma answered like a loyal army, surging outward under its command until the entire mountainside disappeared beneath a sea of darkness.
Lord Shen watched calmly.
His Heavenly Wolf Armor shone beneath the falling snow.
White and sapphire-blue plates fit him perfectly, each engraved with ancient frost runes that pulsed softly with every heartbeat. A long blue cloak fluttered behind him despite the lack of wind, while the sword in his hand glowed with an icy brilliance that rivaled moonlight.
These were not ordinary treasures.
For over ten years they had been nurtured within his soul.
Fed by his Ki.
Tempered by countless battles.
Until weapon, armor, and cultivator had become one.
He slowly lifted his blade.
Blue light spread beneath his feet.
"Frost Mountain Domain."
The mountain answered.
The temperature plummeted.
Snow no longer drifted gently.
It fell in dense sheets.
The ground froze solid beneath an invisible pressure.
The weight of an entire mountain descended upon the battlefield.
Even the surrounding peaks groaned beneath the Domain's authority.
For ordinary cultivators...
The pressure alone would have crushed their bones.
Yet the Abyss Bear merely smiled.
The black corrosion rose to meet the frost.
Two Domains collided.
Blue against black.
Ice against decay.
Neither side surrendered.
For several long breaths...
The mountain shook beneath their struggle.
Then the Abyss Bear moved first.
Its eyes glowed crimson.
Twin beams of corrosive light burst forward, melting everything in their path.
Lord Shen vanished.
His figure dissolved into drifting snowflakes.
"Heavenly Wolf Steps."
He reappeared above the creature, moving so quickly that only an afterimage remained where he had stood.
His sword descended.
One clean slash.
Nothing flashy.
Nothing extravagant.
Yet compressed within that single stroke lay enough frozen Ki to split an entire mountain ridge.
The Abyss Bear reacted instantly.
Two enormous black axes appeared within its grasp.
It spun.
"Abyss Axe Hurricane!"
The axes became a storm of black steel.
The spinning vortex collided with the descending slash.
The mountain erupted.
The icy blade shattered into countless frozen fragments.
The remaining force blasted outward, carving deep scars across the surrounding cliffs.
Without slowing...
The spinning monster charged directly toward Lord Shen.
Its speed belied its enormous size.
Lord Shen's eyes narrowed.
The weather answered his will.
Dark clouds gathered overhead.
Moments later...
The sky rained ice.
Not snow.
Great spears of hail crashed from the heavens, each carrying enough frozen Ki to imprison Foundation Establishment cultivators where they stood.
The mountainside became a storm of falling glaciers.
The Abyss Bear raised its axes.
Each impact exploded into showers of frost.
The hail slowed its advance.
But only slightly.
The creature laughed.
"You cannot freeze the Abyss!"
It burst through the storm.
Lord Shen prepared another strike.
Then...
Every instinct he possessed screamed.
Danger.
Not before him.
Behind.
No...
Upon him.
His Frost Domain exploded outward instinctively.
A grotesque mouth suddenly opened across the shoulder of his own armor.
It had appeared without warning.
Without sound.
Without any visible technique.
Rows of black teeth bit directly into the shimmering blue barrier surrounding his body.
Crunch.
The protective barrier disappeared as though swallowed whole.
Lord Shen's pupils contracted.
"So that's your ability..."
He didn't hesitate.
Frost erupted from every plate of his Heavenly Wolf Armor.
The unnatural mouth froze solid before it could bite deeper.
With one violent pulse of Ki...
It shattered into black fragments.
At the same instant...
Lord Shen swung his sword dozens of times.
The blade became invisible.
Only streams of icy light remained.
"Frozen Gale Severance!"
Hundreds of compressed frost slashes filled the mountain like a blizzard given form.
Each carried enough force to cleave steel.
Together...
They became the wind itself.
The Abyss Bear disappeared beneath the storm of blades.
The mountain echoed with the sound of steel, ice...
And monstrous laughter.
------------------------------------------
The frozen storm settled.
For a heartbeat...
Nothing could be seen beyond the curtain of snow.
Then...
A crimson glow slowly emerged.
Lord Shen did not look surprised.
"I expected as much."
The blizzard burst apart.
Xiong Ba stood exactly where he had been.
Untouched.
Around his enormous body floated a dark crimson sphere no more than a few centimeters from his fur. It pulsed like a living heart, swallowing every remaining shard of frost that touched it.
The countless ice blades simply...
Vanished.
Not broken.
Not deflected.
Devoured.
Even the lingering Frost Qi disappeared into the crimson barrier as though it had never existed.
Lord Shen's blue eyes narrowed.
"So..."
"A defensive Divine Ability."
Xiong Ba spread his arms proudly.
"Devouring Barrier."
"It consumes everything that possesses energy."
"Ki."
"Elements."
"Even your precious Sword Qi."
His laughter echoed through the mountain valley.
"You are stronger than I expected."
"A worthy challenge."
His smile widened into something predatory.
"And..."
"A worthy meal."
Without warning...
The world darkened.
The Abyss Bear's black eyes expanded until they seemed to swallow the sky itself.
"Abyss Gaze."
For the briefest instant...
Lord Shen stood before an endless black sea.
Countless unseen mouths whispered beneath the waves.
Hands reached upward from the darkness.
Promising despair.
Promising surrender.
Promising oblivion.
The Abyss sought to drag his soul into itself.
Lord Shen merely closed his eyes.
His breathing remained perfectly calm.
When they opened again...
His gaze had changed.
It was no longer the gaze of a hunter.
Nor a lord.
It was the gaze of a sword.
Cold.
Absolute.
Unshakable.
"Sword Intent."
An invisible blade split the darkness.
The illusion shattered instantly.
The Abyss Sea vanished.
Snow returned.
The mountain returned.
Xiong Ba frowned for the first time.
"...A soul like tempered steel."
Lord Shen calmly raised his sword.
"I've seen enough."
His opponent's abilities had become clear.
The creature could attack from impossible angles.
It possessed terrifying regenerative power.
Its barrier devoured ranged techniques.
Then...
The answer was obvious.
Close combat.
One decisive strike.
The ground beneath Xiong Ba suddenly exploded.
Spears of blue ice erupted from the snow, each one thicker than a man's body.
They surged upward like a frozen forest, aiming to skewer the Abyss Bear from below.
Xiong Ba laughed.
"So predictable!"
Dark Ki exploded beneath his feet.
"Abyss Bear Rush!"
His gigantic body launched forward.
Far faster than something of his size had any right to move.
The twin axes dragged behind him, leaving trails of black corrosion across the snow.
Dark energy leaked continuously from their blades, staining the mountain itself.
Lord Shen did not counter.
He stepped aside.
Watching.
Studying.
Understanding.
An enormous wall of crystal ice rose before him.
The Abyss Bear struck it head-on.
The axes crashed into the frozen wall.
Instead of breaking immediately...
Tiny mouths appeared.
Hundreds of them.
They spread across the ice like a disease.
Each mouth bit greedily into the frozen barrier.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The entire wall began disappearing from within.
Lord Shen watched carefully.
"I see."
"So that's how your Devouring Authority spreads."
The moment he understood...
He acted.
His fingers closed.
"Frost Prison."
The entire wall detonated.
Not outward.
Inward.
Every fragment instantly became pure freezing Ki.
The explosion swallowed Xiong Ba completely.
The mouths froze shut.
The crimson barrier slowed.
Ice spread across every inch of the monster's body.
For exactly...
One second.
That was all Lord Shen needed.
He vanished.
The sky suddenly darkened.
A colossal wolf of ice appeared above the battlefield.
It towered over the forest itself, its sapphire eyes burning with ancient majesty.
The spirit opened its jaws in complete silence.
At the same time...
Lord Shen's own body began changing.
Silver-white fur spread across his arms.
Sharp claws emerged from his gauntlets.
His pupils became those of a wolf.
Two crystal-blue horns curved backward from his brow.
A magnificent white tail flowed behind him like drifting snow.
His Heavenly Wolf Bloodline awakened completely.
He drew his sword behind him.
Every particle of frost across the mountain answered its call.
"Heavenly Wolf's Strike."
The wolf descended.
Lord Shen descended with it.
Man.
Sword.
Wolf.
All became one.
The frozen mountain itself seemed ready to fall.
Yet...
Before the strike landed...
The enormous mouth upon Xiong Ba's chest suddenly opened.
It swallowed.
Not flesh.
Not ice.
Energy.
The entire Frost Prison poured into that impossible maw.
The frozen Ki disappeared into endless darkness.
Then...
The creature roared.
"Black Requiem!"
A sphere of condensed darkness formed inside its enormous mouth.
Before it fired...
A gigantic crimson formation appeared before the attack.
A seal unlike any Lord Shen had ever seen.
Ancient.
Insatiable.
Its surface was covered in writhing mouths.
"Seal of Greed."
The beam passed through it.
The darkness doubled.
Tripled.
Its destructive force multiplied grotesquely.
Invisible mouths suddenly manifested around the descending Heavenly Wolf.
They tore into the spectral beast.
Devouring its frozen Ki piece by piece.
The two supreme techniques collided.
The mountain vanished beneath light.
Blue.
Black.
White.
Crimson.
The explosion echoed across the entire mountain range.
Cliffs collapsed.
Ancient forests were uprooted.
Snow became steam.
When the light faded...
Both figures stood wounded.
Lord Shen's breathing had become slightly heavier.
Hairline fractures spread across his armored arm.
Already...
The Heavenly Wolf Armor was repairing itself with streams of icy Ki.
The Abyss Bear...
Had fared far worse.
Lord Shen's sword had completed its path.
One massive arm spun through the air before crashing into the mountainside.
Black blood rained across the snow.
Before the creature could react...
Lord Shen's transformed leg struck its chest.
The kick sounded like thunder.
The ten-foot monster became a black comet.
It smashed through one mountain.
Then another.
Then a third.
Entire cliffs collapsed beneath its body before it finally stopped.
Lord Shen lowered his sword.
His eyes drifted toward the distant outline of Mistforge.
The battle had already scarred the surrounding range.
If they continued fighting toward the city...
Nothing would remain.
He would have to force the monster deeper into the wilderness.
Far away...
Laughter echoed through the broken mountains.
Deep.
Joyful.
Hungry.
The severed arm twitched.
Black flesh wriggled.
Bone grew.
Muscle followed.
Within moments...
A new arm had formed.
The Abyss Bear slowly rose.
Its greed had only deepened.
Its body expanded.
Three metres became five.
Five became seven.
Until at last...
A giant ten metres tall stood among the shattered peaks.
Its shadow swallowed the snow beneath it.
Its countless mouths smiled together.
"Yes..."
"This is what I wanted."
"A battle worth devouring."
The mountains trembled beneath the weight of its newfound form.