By the time Nie Hanchang walked over, Zhao Yunxiao had already stored away the carcass of the green flash jaguar. Nevertheless, Nie Hanchang's focus was not on the jaguar monster's carcass, but on Zhao Yunxiao himself.
"Are you all right?" Nie Hanchang asked.
"Yeah," Zhao Yunxiao said while wiping some remnant waste off of the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd. "Let's go."
Nie Hanchang did not answer. Instead, he looked up at the slowly brightening sky as he thought about what he wanted to say.
He did not fully understand how Zhao Yunxiao had managed to withstand the charge from the green flash jaguar, but he also did not intend to probe further. Having witnessed first-hand how Zhao Yunxiao had refused to claim credit for forging a mythical tier weapon, he would not be surprised if Zhao Yunxiao was capable of performing far more miraculous feats but had simply kept them under wraps.
That was nothing too uncommon either. All cultivators had their own secrets that they did not want revealed to others, and he was no exception either.
That said, he was fairly certain that Zhao Yunxiao's current attainments must have been either a direct or indirect result of hard work – something that Zhao Yunxiao had always been known for.
"Senior Martial Brother Nie?" Zhao Yunxiao asked while putting away his halberd. "Is something wrong?"
"I know you told Junior Martial Sister Gu that you don't intend to do anything dangerous today, but what do you think about taking on a challenging opponent?" Nie Hanchang asked solemnly.
"What do you have in mind?" Zhao Yunxiao raised an eyebrow.
"There is a spirit beast that I have come across in the past but avoided confronting due to a lack of confidence," Nie Hanchang explained. "But if you are willing to do this, I believe that we can take it down together!"
"A spirit beast that you have avoided confronting due to a lack of confidence? Just how strong is it?" Zhao Yunxiao probed further.
It might not be showing it on his face, but he was actually rather shocked by that comment.
After all, Nie Hanchang had already single-handedly taken down an Advanced Essence Physique realm monster in the past. For him to fear taking on this opponent, it was likely even higher in rank!
"I looked it up, and it's a sky lion," Nie Hanchang said. "It's a spirit beast at the Peak Essence Physique realm. Not just that, but it also leads a pack of around five cloud lions – spirit beasts at the Intermediate Essence Physique realm."
"You want to challenge a minor beast king?" Zhao Yunxiao frowned. "Isn't that a little risky?"
"It is risky," Nie Hanchang admitted. "However, I believe we can do it."
Zhao Yunxiao did not reply immediately. Instead, he rubbed his chin in contemplation as he searched his memory for any information on sky lions and cloud lions.
As Nie Hanchang mentioned, sky lions were spirit beasts capable of reaching the Peak Essence Physique realm – more than a full realm above the duo's current cultivation levels. To successfully take one down, they would need more than pure brute strength.
Sky lions and cloud lions were similar in appearance, looking like slightly larger white lions with blue manes and tails. They were creatures of the water element, and could usually be found living near water bodies. They were also masters of magical techniques, and relied mainly on water element attacks in combat.
Between the two, sky lions were generally larger in size and possessed far greater magical prowess.
Theoretically, if they made enough preparations against water-element attacks and prepared enough traps in advance, it could be possible to take down such a pack. However, it was definitely not without its risks.
Had Zhao Yunxiao been here alone, he definitely would not take such a risk.
But with the offensive support of the Grand Annihilator, perhaps it could be worth a shot?
In the end, Zhao Yunxiao was here mainly to help Nie Hanchang vent and relieve himself of his negative emotions. What better way to do so than achieving a feat worth celebrating?
"Do you know where it is?" Zhao Yunxiao asked.
"Yes," Nie Hanchang nodded. "I tracked it back to its lair a while back. As long as it has yet to move, I can bring you right to it."
"Let's go take a look," Zhao Yunxiao said. "We can decide on our plan of attack after figuring out the terrain."
"Okay, let's do this."
The duo started moving through the woods with purpose, following Nie Hanchang's recollections on where he had last seen the sky lion's lair. Along the way, they continued to take down monsters that were unlucky enough to be in their path, easily collecting up three more monsters at the Primary Essence Physique realm.
After around an hour, they finally arrived at their destination.
"Is that it?" Zhao Yunxiao asked while peering out from behind a tree.
"Yes," Nie Hanchang nodded from behind another tree. "It has to be."
Well aware that sky lions were very sensitive to energy, Zhao Yunxiao squinted his eyes to observe from afar instead of using his spiritual sense.
The target lair was actually more of a large stone structure located at the centre of a clearing. There was a large stream passing through this clearing, home to plenty of fishes. Right beside the stream, numerous huge rocks were stacked together to form some sort of gigantic irregular structure, with a large piece protruding horizontally out near the top.
And atop this huge horizontal rock, a white lioness with a blue tail rested on its belly while looking out into the distance, seemingly enjoying basking in the summer sun.
"That's one of the cloud lions," Nie Hanchang said.
"Yeah, I figured. From the fur condition, it should be around 80 years old. A sky lion of that age would have been 50% larger," Zhao Yunxiao analysed.
Nie Hanchang: "..."
Zhao Yunxiao could tell the lion's age with just a look?
In that case, did that mean he could tell the ages of people as well?
"Are you certain about the number of sky lions and cloud lions?" Zhao Yunxiao asked.
"One sky lion and five cloud lions," Nie Hanchang answered. "At least, that was the case two weeks ago."
"I see. Things won't change too much in a span of two weeks. Even if they reproduced, the new cub would not be strong enough to fight in such a short time," Zhao Yunxiao replied. "If we account for the possibility that one or two might have been out for hunts when you were last here, then there would be one sky lion with seven cloud lions..."
"What do you think? Manageable?" Nie Hanchang asked.
Zhao Yunxiao rubbed his chin in contemplation before turning back to him. "How far can you reach with your arrows?"
"...How far do you need me to reach?" Nie Hanchang answered with a question of his own.
"Relax, Senior Martial Brother Nie. I won't be asking you to shoot at them from somewhere completely out of their range of detection," Zhao Yunxiao said. "While that would be extremely convenient, I understand that it is simply asking for the impossible."
Against ordinary mortals who relied solely on the five senses, it might still be possible to take out an entire group without even being detected. However, that was not plausible against anything that possessed spiritual sense.
Once an arrow entered detection range, any target with a decent cultivation base would be able to sense where the arrow was coming from. In order to completely avoid detection, not only would absolute precision be required to hit the target from afar, but overwhelming power would also be necessary. Only then could the arrows move fast enough for the target to fail to register them with their spiritual sense during their approach.
Not just that, but arrows also lose power over distance. The further away an archer fired from, the more power would be necessary to retain the lethality of the arrows. This only increased the importance of sheer power as a factor.
That was not all.
In order to fire from completely outside of a target's range of detection, an archer would also have to possess spiritual senses far beyond that of their targets. After all, archers would need to be able to sense their targets in order to hit them.
Accuracy.
Power.
Senses.
All things combined, perhaps only someone strong enough to not require firing from outside of their targets' detection range would be capable of doing so.
Nevertheless, Nie Hanchang could not help but clench his fists upon hearing that.
It was not like he did not understand the difficulty of the matter. However, he still felt like he was letting Zhao Yunxiao down by not being the perfect archer.
After all, in Zhao Yunxiao's own words, if he was capable of such a feat, then it would have been extremely convenient...
"Come on, don't look so serious," Zhao Yunxiao patted his shoulder with a smile. "Do you see that tree over there? Would you be able to reach the lair from that distance?"
"Yes, that is still within range of the lair," Nie Hanchang nodded.
"Then it should be fine," Zhao Yunxiao smirked. "Here's the plan..."
After Zhao Yunxiao explained his thoughts to Nie Hanchang, the two of them started getting to work. Traps and mechanisms, weapons and poisons – based on the properties and traits of the lions, Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang started putting together what they deemed the most effective countermeasures.
Nie Hanchang was no array master, so the best he could do was to follow Zhao Yunxiao's instructions. That said, this was not the first time that Nie Hanchang had helped Zhao Yunxiao with such preparations, and thus he was well acquainted with Zhao Yunxiao's habits and methods. This made it much easier for him to follow along.
Despite that, it still took half a day before they were finally done. By then, the sun was already starting to set.
"Good, we made it right before dusk," Zhao Yunxiao let out a sigh of relief. "Do you remember the plan?"
"Yes," Nie Hanchang nodded.
"Well then, let's begin!" Zhao Yunxiao cued before heading off to take his position.
"Understood."
Standing atop a short stump that had been a proper tree just a few hours ago, a cold light flashed across Nie Hanchang's eyes as the two white lions standing atop the protruding rock came into focus within his vision.
At some point in time, another white lion had joined the original cloud lioness, this one far larger than the first. More specifically, it was more than 50% larger.
There was no doubt about it – this was the sky lion.
The two lions and the rock structure were extremely far away. But at this moment, they appeared as clear as day in his eyes.
Nie Hanchang retrieved the Grand Annihilator and raised it slowly. Driving his dantian to the limit, he channelled as much essence energy into his trusted weapon as possible.
The next moment, a massive arrow of energy could be seen tearing through the air, leaving a chaotic storm in its wake as it headed straight for its faraway target. Fallen leaves and branches were blown away in an instant, while trees swayed violently as it passed.
In the blink of an eye, it had already left the cover of the trees and entered the clearing.
The sky lion immediately raised its head, its gaze locked onto the oncoming arrow. Its eyes glowed with a blue light, and the stream beneath the rock structure erupted in response.
Water shot up tens of metres, forming a high wall that stood between them and the arrow.
Bang-!
A thunderous clap echoed through the vicinity as the arrow of energy smashed into the wall of water, revealing the unexpected strength of the latter.
However, that was still not enough.
Despite its strong defensive properties, the wall of water could only slow the arrow of energy for less than half a second before a gigantic gap was blasted wide open, allowing the arrow to continue on its mission to claim the life of its target.
Having penetrated the wall of water, the arrow of energy arrived before the cloud lioness in an instant.
Of course, the cloud lioness did not just lie there like a statue. Right after the appearance of the wall of water, it had sensed danger and started taking evasive measures.
Bang-!
The arrow of energy scraped the back thigh of the cloud lioness before hitting a large rock behind it, blasting a huge hole straight through it. Rocks and debris fell from the newly created hole, while the wall of water rained back down into the stream.
As for the cloud lioness, it tumbled a good few metres away before stopping, revealing a deep gash on its back thigh. It would not be using that leg in the near future.
The sky lion slowly stood up on all fours, its blue mane swaying majestically in the wind as it cast a glance at the injured cloud lioness before turning its head to glare directly at Nie Hanchang in the distance. Behind it, four other smaller white lions started appearing from within the rock structure, all of them focusing their attention on Nie Hanchang.
Roar-!
The sky lion's enraged roar echoed throughout the area, sending lesser monsters and beasts scuttling away in fear.
As though they had just received an imperial edict, the four cloud lions immediately leapt down from the protruding rock in unison, charging straight into the woods towards Nie Hanchang.