Kill with a wave of hand

Under Xiaohua's horrified gaze, the violent bear, standing over a zhang tall, lunged at Long Chen, extending a paw the size of a millstone to strike him down.

The violent bear's greatest strength lay in its front claws, which could easily shatter rock. Once a flesh-and-blood body was struck, it would instantly turn into a pulp of meat.

This was why Xiaohua and her people never dared to target violent bears; their attacks couldn't cause any real damage to the beast, while a casual strike from the bear would cost them their lives.

"Bang."

With a loud explosion, Xiaohua reached out to cover her cherry lips tightly, her eyes filled with disbelief.

The violent bear's terrifying strike had actually been blocked by Long Chen. Waves of energy rolled out, and the ground trembled, yet Long Chen hadn't taken a single step back.

Though his figure was not imposing, he had easily blocked the violent bear, which was dozens of times larger than him. At this moment, with his long hair fluttering, Long Chen looked like a war god possessed, inspiring awe in those who saw him.

Blocking the violent bear's strike with one fist, a faint smile appeared on the corner of Long Chen's mouth. Apart from experts in the Tendon Tempering Stage, even a violent bear, known for its strength, was nothing in front of him.

Long Chen slightly estimated that the violent bear's strike had the force of about ten thousand catties. An average Qi Gathering stage expert would basically be slapped to death by it.

Even Blood Condensation stage experts would need to be at the Middle Stage or higher to barely withstand this strike. This was the terror of a strength-type Demonic Beast.

However, in front of Long Chen, this strike posed no threat. At the same time, Long Chen thought of A-Man. If A-Man were here, he would probably pounce on it and twist its neck off.

"Whoosh."

Blocking the violent bear with his fist, Long Chen didn't want to waste any more time. Taking advantage of the beast being staggered by his blow, a broadsword appeared in his hand, slicing through the air with a sharp glint.

"Pfft."

Blood splattered as Long Chen's broadsword struck heavily onto the violent bear's head. The terrifying force sliced off half of the beast's skull, and the violent bear collapsed to the ground with a thud without even a whimper.

Xiaohua stared blankly at everything, feeling as if she were in a dream. It wasn't that she had never killed a Demonic Beast, but this was the first time she had seen such a way of killing.

Usually, when they killed Demonic Beasts, they needed to make full preparations in advance: setting traps, applying poison to weapons, and occupying advantageous terrain. To deal with a single Demonic Beast, they would spend nearly a month preparing.

Even so, gathering the entire village's strength to kill one Demonic Beast was a cautious and terrifying affair. If things went wrong, someone would be injured or even killed.

Yet, Long Chen had killed this violent bear—which they considered incredibly terrifying—as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

"How should we deal with this thing?"

Only when Long Chen asked did Xiaohua snap out of it. Looking at the massive corpse of the violent bear, she said, "How about we return to the village now and carry this Demonic Beast directly to the Forest God?"

"How about we keep it and offer it as a sacrifice later after we catch some other prey?" Long Chen thought for a moment and said.

Everyone was currently living on thin porridge, which wasn't a sustainable way to live. Besides, it didn't take much effort for him to kill such Demonic Beasts anyway.

"No, we cannot betray the Forest God's trust in us; that would be a blasphemy," Xiaohua said with a solemn face.

"Alright then."

Long Chen sighed helplessly. He stretched out his hand and stored the violent bear's corpse directly into his spatial ring.

"You… how did you do that? Are you also a god?" Xiaohua looked at Long Chen with horror.

She had seen Long Chen wave his hand, and the giant violent bear corpse had vanished into thin air. At the same time, she remembered the broadsword that had appeared out of nowhere in Long Chen's hand.

When they had first brought Long Chen back, they had also brought that broadsword, but it was too heavy and required two people to carry it.

Later, the broadsword had been kept at Long Chen's bedside until he put it away. Thinking back on it now, Xiaohua couldn't help but look at him with a mix of surprise and suspicion.

Seeing Xiaohua's horrified expression, Long Chen couldn't help but burst into laughter. "I'm no god. This is a spatial ring; it can store items."

After saying that, Long Chen wiped his ring, and the violent bear's corpse appeared once more. Xiaohua then looked at Long Chen's ring with envy, praising it endlessly.

Clearly, Xiaohua had never heard of such things as spatial rings. They likely only sold low-grade items like prey furs and beast cores, earning only a small amount of gold coins, so they had no contact with luxury items like spatial rings.

"Xiaohua, let me give you a gift."

Long Chen felt a stir in his heart and took a ring from his bosom. It was the only trophy he had gained from killing Xia Changfeng.

During the time he was being hunted by the Marquis of Ying, Long Chen had checked the contents. Aside from some gold coins and a few weapons, there was nothing of use to him.

However, there was one good item inside: a Secret Manual—the Three Styles of Departing Wind. That was the treasure Xia Changfeng had bought at an auction.

In the surrounding Empires, Earth Rank battle skills were already the pinnacle of battle skills. It could be said that Xia Changfeng was lucky to have been able to bid five hundred million gold coins for this battle skill.

However, this luck didn't belong to him; it belonged to Long Chen. Other than taking out the Three Styles of Departing Wind, Long Chen hadn't touched anything else inside.

"No, Long Chen, I cannot accept your gift," Xiaohua said, startled when she saw Long Chen handing her a ring, and quickly tried to refuse.

"Why? Didn't you say I was your man? Why won't you accept a gift from your man?" Long Chen couldn't help but laugh.

Although there was some joking involved, he felt a genuine fondness for this vibrant, kind, and lively young girl. While it wasn't romantic, it made Long Chen feel willing to be close to her.

"This… this…" Xiaohua was clearly still a young girl harboring romantic thoughts. She secretly looked at the ring in Long Chen's hand, her conflicted expression fully exposed.

Clearly, she was filled with curiosity about this ring that seemed like a divine object, but she was also a bit embarrassed.

"Take it, just treat it as a gift from me."

Long Chen smiled and placed the ring on Xiaohua's hand. Xiaohua's hands were beautiful, but there was a layer of hard calluses on her fingertips—the mark of a hunter, left by long-term drawing of bows and arrows.

Xiaohua's face turned red with shyness. She lowered her head, continuously rubbing the ring on her hand. This was the first time Long Chen had seen such a shy side of Xiaohua.

"I will teach you how to use it. Focus your attention on the center of your forehead, using that as a guide, then focus your attention on the ring while using your other hand to input a trace of Spiritual Qi…"

Mortals could not open a spatial ring, but cultivators were different. They only needed to reach the Qi Gathering stage, be able to drive True Qi, and combine it with a portion of Soul energy to open it.

However, Xiaohua knew nothing about Soul energy and needed Long Chen to guide her. What surprised Long Chen was that Xiaohua was very clever; she tried a few times and quickly understood the method.

This made Long Chen sigh endlessly; if A-Man were half as smart as Xiaohua, he would save so much worry.

Thinking of A-Man, Long Chen couldn't help but feel some worry. He wondered if A-Man had taken Xiao Xue away and if he had returned to the Empire capital.

However, according to Long Chen's calculations, he had held off the Marquis of Ying, and the others shouldn't know A-Man. A-Man should have a very high chance of returning to the Empire capital.

As long as A-Man returned to the Empire capital and sought help from Great Master Yun Qi, the Long family could be safe for a while. However, plans could never be perfect, and he needed to return to the Empire capital quickly.

But before returning to the Empire capital, he needed to do two things. One was to pay off the debt the village owed; otherwise, with their simple and honest nature, if they really went to hunt second-rank Demonic Beasts, he didn't know how many people would die.

Second, he needed to improve his cultivation. The battle with the Marquis of Ying had shown him his shortcomings. In front of Tendon Tempering stage experts, he was powerless to resist, and he didn't like that feeling.

"Wow, so many things!"

After trying repeatedly, Xiaohua finally opened the spatial ring. Seeing the contents inside, she couldn't help but exclaim.

Inside was a space about a zhang square, with gold coins piled up like a small mountain, along with many weapons that gleamed with a cold light.

Clearly, this was the first time Xiaohua had seen so many fine weapons. She wasn't surprised by the gold coins at all, because she didn't even recognize what they were.

They would leave the mountains once every one or two years, walking for nearly half a month to reach a remote town to trade beast cores and animal hides directly for the ironware, food, and living tools they needed. They basically never touched money.

But the cold, gleaming weapons were what Xiaohua, as a hunter, loved most. Looking at the weapons inside, Xiaohua almost fainted from happiness.

"Spiritual Qi is used to open the ring. To take things out of the ring or put things in, you need to combine it with Soul energy. Give it a try," Long Chen said with a smile, watching the excited young girl.

"Mm."

Xiaohua tried to drive her Soul energy several times, but failed. One reason was that her Soul energy was too weak; not everyone had such powerful Soul energy like an Alchemist.

Another reason was that Xiaohua was an outsider when it came to Soul energy, so it was exceptionally difficult for her to use. Long Chen had long anticipated this and didn't rush her, constantly encouraging her.

If Xiaohua could use the spatial ring, the weapons inside would greatly increase the entire village's combat power, greatly reducing casualties during hunting.

Moreover, from now on, whether they were taking things out or bringing things into the village, they would no longer need to carry them on their backs. It would be much more convenient.

"Clang."

After the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Xiaohua finally used her Soul energy to retrieve a long sword from the spatial ring. However, because her Soul energy was insufficient, it didn't appear where she intended and fell to the ground as soon as it materialized.

"Yay! That's great, I can use the magical ring!"

Xiaohua picked up the long sword and hugged Long Chen, shouting excitedly.

"Hey, hey, watch out, your sword is about to poke me," Long Chen said with a wry smile.

Xiaohua remained incredibly excited, looking at the long sword in her hand from all angles, and reached out to slash at a small tree about the thickness of an arm beside her.

"Swish."

With a soft sound, the small tree was severed without any effort. The sharpness made Xiaohua shriek with excitement. Clearly, the ironware they exchanged in the towns could not compare to such a weapon.

Seeing that Xiaohua had initially mastered the method, Long Chen helped her take out a spear from the ring. For a hunter, a spear was much more practical than a long sword.

The two continued forward when suddenly a wild boar darted out from the front. It was just a wild beast, looking to be about three hundred catties. Perhaps because the two had walked into its territory, it launched an attack.

Seeing the wild boar, Xiaohua flicked the spear in her hand. The sharp spear, as if cutting through tofu, pierced through the wild boar's tough skin, went through its heart, and came out the other side.

Today, Xiaohua had used up a lifetime's worth of excitement. Killing an adult wild boar with a wave of her hand was an indescribable sense of accomplishment.

The two continued on their journey until noon the next day, when Long Chen and Xiaohua arrived at the edge of a pool, and a giant tree appeared before Long Chen.