Nine people were divided into three groups and sneaked into the night, making their way towards the direction where the Ice Rabbit might be.

  All of them were veterans who had been on the verge of life and death all their lives. They had a certain level of skill in hiding their tracks. Along the way, they tried their best to avoid large groups of magical beasts. When they couldn't avoid them, they would rush forward together. The strength of the mercenaries was originally much higher than that of the magical beast group. Moreover, they were extremely quick and efficient in dealing with the beasts. After killing the magical beasts, they immediately buried them on the spot. Therefore, until they sneaked into the hinterland of the magical beast group, they didn't cause any commotion at all.

  Chen Yue was grouped with Thorn and a mercenary named Uri, and they also sneaked into the hinterland without any difficulty. However, what was obvious different from the other two groups was that the number and quality of the magical beasts they encountered were much higher. Moreover, as they continued to move forward, they gradually had a feeling that it was getting harder and harder to move forward.

  Thorn and Uri were both very excited. They knew that this situation undoubtedly indicated that the direction they had chosen was correct.

  They were a bit lucky that they could hit the mark by accident even though they had chosen a direction randomly.

  Chen Yue, however, was a bit at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He could feel that the Ice Rabbit had already noticed his arrival and was approaching here. Unfortunately, it was still far from the distance where he could put it into the subspace.

  "It seems that I still need to find an opportunity to get rid of them." Chen Yue's slender fingers gently slid on the blue-striped card. He was deep in thought and didn't say a word. However, glancing at Thorn not far away...

  It was very difficult.

  He could understand that Thorn had grouped him together with the intention of protecting him. Along the way, he hardly had a chance to make a move. Moreover, his body was still far from recovering to its best state. I'm afraid it would be very difficult to break away by normal means.

  The magical beasts were getting denser and denser, as if someone was waving a whip behind them to drive them to gather here. Gradually, Thorn also noticed something was wrong. Now it wasn't that they were penetrating deep into the hinterland of the magical beast group, but that an endless stream of magical beasts were rushing towards the direction where they were, forcing them to keep retreating.

  "How could this be?" Thorn and Uri looked at each other in horror. They couldn't figure out the reason even if they racked their brains.

  It was no wonder they couldn't understand. Those adventurers had malicious intentions and didn't tell the truth even at the last moment. When a summoned beast took action, it couldn't hide its life aura. So they must have known the identity of the Ice Rabbit as a summoned beast and even guessed that there must be an apostle lurking nearby. However, such crucial information was never leaked out even when they died.

  If Thorn and the others had known that the Ice Rabbit was a summoned beast and that there was a high possibility of an apostle lurking nearby, they would never have chosen to come to kill the Ice Rabbit. However, in that case, those adventurers would have lost their chance to escape. They were so unscrupulous, which showed how malicious their intentions were.

  This was also one of the reasons why Chen Yue insisted on coming along. It wasn't just because all this trouble was caused by his summoned beast.

  Retreat, keep retreating.

  It was no longer realistic to continue moving forward. The magical beasts in front had become so dense that it was very difficult to sneak past them.

  In order not to cause a riot among the magical beasts, the three of them could only keep retreating. After all, the current concentration of the magical beasts was still blind. But if their tracks were discovered, it could be imagined that they would be besieged by countless magical beasts. In such a situation, even someone as powerful as Thorn might not have the confidence to escape unscathed.

  Cold sweat slid down from their temples. Although they were wearing thick cold-proof suits, the three of them still felt as if they were in an ice cave.

  "Captain, what should we do?" Uri asked in a hoarse voice.

  After struggling in his heart for a while, Thorn hesitated between continuing the assassination and giving up for a long time. Finally, the safety of most people prevailed.

  "First, retreat to the camp. Uri, go and call the others over. There's no need to divide our forces. The leader of the magical beasts is right here." Biting his teeth, Thorn said resolutely.

  Uri left in response.

  Looking at Chen Yue, who had a calm expression on his face, a trace of guilt flashed in Thorn's eyes.

  "Brother Chen Yue, I'm sorry for getting you involved. Next, I'm afraid I won't have the energy to protect you either."

  Chen Yue smiled gently and reached out to pat Thorn on the shoulder. Everything was understood without words.

  After Uri left, they were even shorter of manpower. When the two of them were retreating, they encountered several waves of magical beasts. Even Chen Yue, who rarely had a chance to make a move, had to take action.

  "Clang." The long sword and the beast's claw collided together and broke into two pieces in mid-air. A sharp light flashed in Chen Yue's eyes. His left hand shot out like lightning and tightly grasped the throat of the bull-headed magical beast that had launched a sneak attack. With a hard twist, the cervical vertebra of the bull-headed beast was immediately broken, and its head drooped limply.

  "Good skill!" With a light exclamation, Chen Yue turned his head to look. Thorn was pressing one magical beast with each hand, and the flame-like fighting spirit was burning on them. In the blink of an eye, he burned them to ashes. With a two-level difference, it was effortless for him to deal with them.

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  A strange light flashed in his eyes. He was no stranger to this kind of bull-headed beast. It had a body as tough as bronze and iron, and its bones were extremely hard. It was good material for magicians to make magic wands. Usually, an ordinary third-order fighter would have to strike it with all his strength several times to cut it off. Who would have thought that in Chen Yue's hands, it was so easy.

  Moreover, if he wasn't mistaken, Chen Yue didn't use fighting spirit.

  At this time, he realized that he had still underestimated this mysterious young man.

  Thorn was extremely shocked in his heart. Naturally, he wouldn't think that Chen Yue was hiding his strength. If he didn't use it in this situation, it could only mean that Chen Yue really didn't know how to use it.

  "Then how powerful his physical strength must be!"

  Looking at Chen Yue was like looking at a piece of unpolished jade. You should know that outer abilities like fighting spirit and magic power had a very poor nourishing effect on the body. Even someone as powerful as him might not be Chen Yue's opponent just in terms of physical strength. If such a freak cultivated fighting spirit...

  "Why didn't you cultivate fighting spirit? Otherwise, the sword wouldn't have broken." Thorn tried to persuade him patiently, "If you don't mind, Brother Chen Yue, I happen to have a set of fighting spirit secrets that I can teach you."

  Fighting spirit?

  Chen Yue's steps paused. He shook his head with a smile. With the life force, who would still cultivate fighting spirit? Not to mention that the two couldn't coexist. Just in terms of effectiveness, it wasn't of much use to Chen Yue, who had the "Health Cultivation Art". On the contrary, it might even damage his body.

  It was a pity about this long sword. Without fighting spirit, he had a higher demand for weapons. A suitable weapon could greatly improve his strength. This long sword was just an ordinary one borrowed from a mercenary and couldn't withstand high-intensity battles at all.

  Counting up, he didn't know how many weapons had been destroyed by Chen Yue...

  If only he could control the Blade Beast.

  Unexpectedly, Chen Yue's gaze stopped on the blue-striped card on his fingertip.

  It seemed to sense the strong expectation rising in Chen Yue's heart. A dark light flashed on the blue-striped card. Then, without waiting for Chen Yue's summons, the Blade Beast jumped out of the subspace.

  It was as dilapidated as usual, quietly floating in front of Chen Yue. However, for some inexplicable reason, at the moment when the Blade Beast appeared, Chen Yue had a feeling that some unexpected but exciting changes had taken place.

  It was like a child who had been quarreling with his parents, going on a hunger strike to protest, and even running away from home finally gave a friendly look after several days of the cold war.

  Inside his chest, the speed of his heart beating suddenly accelerated.

  "Could it be..." Chen Yue licked his slightly dry lips, calmed down his mind, and firmly stretched out his right hand, steadily landing on the hilt of the sword.

  In the next moment, everything was calm, and nothing abnormal happened.

  His five fingers subconsciously tightened. Feeling the unusually solid presence, Chen Yue finally confirmed that he could initially control the Blade Beast.

  "How could this be? I clearly remembered that the compatibility was still a bit short before I fell into a coma... Could it be because of the second transformation?" Such an unexpected surprise left Chen Yue puzzled. However, this was not a good time to explore it. What he wanted to know more was what the ability of the Blade Beast was.

  "Then..." Gently, Chen Yue murmured a few words, "Life aura, appear."

  Dazzling light shone through the gaps between his fingers. At the same time, a slight burning sensation came from his palm, making Chen Yue loosen his hand a little.

  At this time, Chen Yue was in the mood to carefully observe the form of the Blade Beast.

  Different from the rusty blade, the hilt of the Blade Beast was carved with countless delicate and elegant patterns, which made people feel as if they were going to jump out vividly at first glance. There were nine rings carved on the hilt from top to bottom, dividing these patterns into ten parts. At this time, the top two rings were filled with red exotic energy, flowing slowly in opposite directions.

  This scene was exactly the same as the life aura of the Ice Rabbit. The difference was that the life aura of the Blade Beast was much smaller and barely attached to the hilt. If you didn't look carefully, it would be very difficult to notice it.

  As time passed, they were gradually lit up one by one. A faint red light was reflected from these patterns, adding a bit of murderous aura to the hilt for no reason. A small amount of red energy flowed from the two rings to the patterns between the rings.

  "Hum." After the patterns in the first part were all lit up, the Blade Beast vibrated silently. Immediately after that, the red energy light grew stronger, flowing up along the hilt like running water and permeating every part of the blade. Soon, the blade of the Blade Beast was flowing with this red energy.

  When this red energy finally returned to the rings, the blade of the Blade Beast suddenly took on a new look. It was no longer rusty but faintly shone with red light all over. When it was gently waved, infinite murderous aura dissipated.

  "What a fierce weapon!" If he still couldn't guess the nature of the Blade Beast's ability after seeing this scene, then Chen Yue wouldn't deserve the title of a genius.

  When the Blade Beast first appeared automatically, because Chen Yue's body was blocking it, Thorn didn't notice anything abnormal. However, the appearance of the life aura and the subsequent faint murderous aura immediately caught the attention of Thorn, a strong man who was extremely sensitive to murderous aura.

  His sharp gaze like a blade was fixed on the Blade Beast held by Chen Yue at the first time. However, the life aura of the Blade Beast was already dim, and most of the hilt was covered by Chen Yue's fingers. So Thorn didn't notice anything wrong.

  A trace of doubt flashed through his mind. Thorn frowned slightly and was just about to turn his head when the corner of his eye suddenly caught a dark shadow flashing by. It swiftly crossed a distance of more than ten meters, carrying a fishy wind, and pounced fiercely at Chen Yue, who was standing there in a daze.

  This attack was both fierce and accurate. The dark shadow had sneaked to an extremely close distance unknowingly and chose Chen Yue, who was relatively weaker in strength. Thorn could almost see the tragic scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere in the next moment. His whole heart was in his throat.

  The dark shadow was obviously very good at lurking. Moreover, everyone's attention had been attracted by the changes of the Blade Beast before, so even Chen Yue didn't react. However, his nerves that had been tempered thousands of times subconsciously reacted.

  With a backhand sword strike, the Blade Beast accurately slashed at the claw at the front of the dark shadow.

  There was no fierce collision, nor did it encounter any obstacle. It was as if he was holding an extremely sharp paper-cutting knife and cutting through white paper heavily. The Blade Beast cut through the body of the dark shadow.

  In the next moment, blood spurted out, and the dark shadow that had been cut into two pieces fell limply onto the snow.

  Chen Yue's pupils suddenly widened.