The scholar reached out his hand with bright eyes. He was extremely confident that he could capture the little girl in front of him.

'She's a caster—one that independently grew in the lower realm. What will she achieve if I bring her to the upper realm?' At this point, Ni Yinghong was a huge treasure to the scholar, and she was even more valuable than interspatial bags and magic tools.

Nonetheless, just as the scholar was about to grab Ni Yinghong, he heard a furious roar.

"Woof!"

Following that, a strong wind went after his neck.

It was so intense that his neck could probably be snapped by it. The scholar was appalled, hence he forgot about Ni Yinghong and flew backward because his life was at stake.

Nevertheless, he spotted through the corners of his eyes a yellow figure, which was thrice as fast as him.

'A spirit beast!

'This must be a powerful spirit beast!

'Given its momentum, its speed, and its power… Only a spirit beast can be so unstoppable.'

The scholar turned his wrist to wield his folding fan, causing a fan shadow to appear. He was making every effort to block the fearsome spirit beast's attack. Even so, he suddenly felt his body stiffen as a chillness gushed up his body.

'A magic art attack—this is an ice-mastery magic art. That female caster used this skill with her Skill Equipment earlier, but this can't be compared to hers.'

The scholar felt a penetrating chill as soon as the chillness struck his body, and he slowly lost control over his limbs.

He tensed up and knew he was in a bad spot because the power was definitely possessed by an equal-ranked caster. The scholar would most likely be defeated even if he openly fought a caster like that, but he was being sneakily attacked, which was simply… He did not know how to describe such a shameless being.

All of a sudden, the scholar widened his eyes as the power in his dantian burst out like a volcano.

Although this would cause certain damage to his body, given that he was attacked by a spirit beast and a caster in the dark, he could not be bothered anymore.

With that, mighty power spread all over the scholar's body in an instant, and his face reddened as he forcefully drove the chillness away. He previously got rid of the chillness with ease when he incited his dantian's power but this time, blood flowed out of the corner of his mouth, and he paid a heavy price.

As the scholar lifted his folding fan during the crucial moment, he managed to block Big Yellow's sharp teeth. Despite that, Big Yellow could not be fooled so easily. It bit the folding fan hard and attacked with its front paws. On top of that, sharp nails were seen at the tip of its paws, and it looked like it was going to rip the scholar's chest and belly apart.

The scholar was appalled. He exerted force through his wrist, but how could he snatch Big Yellow's food from it? Feeling helpless, he flashed and twisted his body in an incredibly narrow space, and he succeeded in evading the big yellow dog's claws at the very last second. In spite of that, the scholar noticed a scornful look in the dog's eyes.

It was then when the scholar realized that he was facing a formidable spirit beast, but also an even more dangerous equal-ranked caster in the dark.

He was a decisive person, thus he roared and gave up snatching the folding fan from Big Yellow. However, an intense chillness gushed toward him and almost enveloped him from head to toe. This time, the chillness was released without reservations, so much so that the air around him was affected and turned cold.

Having said that, Big Yellow's movements were not affected by the intense chill. It was as though it could not feel the chillness at all.

The scholar was determined, but he also had the urge to cry out loud because of everything that was happening.

He finally realized that he seemed to have offended someone he could not afford to provoke.

Regardless of the situation, he could not be distracted if he wanted to survive. The scholar channeled the Qi in his dantian and was going to unleash his dantian power again, but he saw the big yellow dog widen its mouth in front of him.

Subsequently, a massive stone awl emerged beneath him. It was evident from the intense momentum and the location of the stone awl's tip that this was a merciless attack, which was intended to kill him.

The scholar's eyes reddened, and he forcefully shifted his body while he could hardly move due to the severe chillness. As such, he went through a little gap.

Even though he avoided the stone awl's fatal attack, he did not fully dodge the attack. The stone awl was so impetuous that it grew upward and knocked him halfway in the air.

Being crashed so hard in mid-air, the scholar felt unwell and wanted to vomit blood. That said, his body was still being filled with a harsh chillness, so he could not vomit blood at all.

Just as he was feeling dizzy, a red light suddenly appeared in front of him. It was a scorching fire, which seemed to have blotted out the sky and instantly wrapped him up.

The outside of his body was hot while the inside was cold because ice and fire appeared simultaneously.

This was the true portrayal of the scholar. His eyes bulged as his dantian power was finally unleashed, but his essential Qi could not hold on anymore due to the hot-and-cold attack. In fact, his body was attacked by the opposite yet connected powers.

Big Yellow flashed and kicked the scholar away. He rolled on the ground before the flames on his body distinguished, but his clothes were already covered in holes. Additionally, the exposed parts of this skin were burnt, and he looked miserable. Moreover, the scholar curled up his body and seemed to be trembling when he landed on the ground.

When Ni Yinghong opened her eyes, she realized that the scholar had not seized her. Instead, he was faced with a series of exceptionally strange counterattacks.

Almost at the same time, she was caught by a pair of warm hands.

Ni Yinghong smiled. She was completely at ease when she sensed the tough chest behind her.

Though it seemed like the scholar was defeated by Big Yellow, she could sense the temperature change around him. Based on that, she knew Ou Yangming was the one behind everything, but she was deeply in love with the feeling.

Big Yellow pressed the scholar hard on the ground and locked on its sharp claws on his vital parts. Nonetheless, it shook its head and stopped watching over him after some time because the badly battered scholar could not resist anymore.

The big yellow dog was not an ordinary spirit beast. It was worth noting that the Heavenly Thunderbolts that it drew when it advanced into a spirit beast were so extreme that even the goshawk exclaimed.

When Big Yellow fought the spirit centipede outside Changlong City alone, it was never in a disadvantageous spot. In the end, it was assisted by Ou Yangming and managed to slaughter the spirit insect. Back then, the young fellow had not broken through his limit yet. Now that his mental power surpassed the 100-points mark, he had better chemistry with the big yellow dog. They attacked openly and covertly through magic art and power, and they took down the scholar, who was caught off guard.

Needless to say, given how capable they had become, the outcome would not change even if the scholar was well-prepared.

There were a lot of movements when they exchanged blows, but the fight ended in a split second. Before Feng Yiyuan and the others could react to the situation, the scholar had collapsed, and they did not know if he was dead or alive.

Upon seeing this, Feng Yiyuan, Xiao Hualing, and the others were stupefied and in disbelief.

'Was he defeated?'

The powerhouse that went past Extreme Grade could contend with the Aquatics' spirit beast and became Canghai City's guardian, but he ended up being defeated. Furthermore, it was such a clean defeat that he did not seem to have the ability to resist at all.

Judging from the disparity, it did not seem he was on his opponent's level.

Feng Yiyuan and Xiao Hualing naturally could not tell Ou Yangming was secretly doing mischief, so they thought Big Yellow did everything itself.

It turned out that the burly dog with Ou Yangming and his companions was such a notable being.

At the spur of the moment, the Supreme Great Ancestors including Feng Yi Yuan broke out in cold sweats. They were far from being respectful when Ou Yangming and his fellows first entered the city.

Nevertheless, they did not bother back then because they could rely on the scholar.

After seeing how their backing ended, they felt like the world was falling apart and were frightened.

Ou Yangming smiled at Ni Yinghong and asked, "Elder Sister Ying, how powerful is he?"

Ni Yinghong answered after some serious thought, "He's exceedingly capable—more than anyone we've met so far."

'That's because you haven't seen how capable I am now,' Ou Yangming thought, but he was too embarrassed to say it out loud.

"Elder Brother, can a spirit beast be so mighty?" Jiang Jiumei approached him and asked softly.

Ou Yangming nodded and responded, "That man's only that capable; many spirit beasts are more potent than him. Hehe, Jiumei, are you afraid?"

Feng Yiyuan and the others felt like digging holes on the ground when they heard him.

'He's only that capable? If he's only that capable, who do you regard as really capable?'

However, when they looked at the scholar struggling to stay alive, they must admit that Ou Yangming deserved to say that.

"I'm not." Jiang Jiumei was highly-spirited. "We weren't experienced enough, so we couldn't coordinate well, but we won't make any mistakes next time."

Ou Yangming could not help but laugh. "You still want to challenge the spirit beast?"

"Yes."

Other than Jiang Jiumei, Ni Yinghong, who was being embraced by Ou Yangming, gave the same answer too.

"Alright, I'll let you play with the Aquatics' spirit beast when we encounter it." Ou Yangming laughed.

Fei Yiyuan and the others could not help but shiver.

'Play with it?'

From their perspectives, Ou Yangming seemed to have become a prince of devils at the moment.

Ou Yangming later turned to say in a deep voice, "Senior Feng, please come over here for a chat."