Chapter 194: Bite-Scorpion and Boom-Beast

Inside the arena, the Red-eyed Five-form Beast relentlessly attacked the black mist that Green Bean had transformed into. Its fiery wings stirred up miniature wind vortices laced with fire-element spiritual energy, trying to scatter the mist apart.

However, the seemingly weightless mist was surprisingly solid. It stood like a wall, directly blocking the assault.

Green Bean had thick blood and a high pain threshold, taking the hits head-on without fear. But up on the high platform, Lian Mu could clearly feel the pain radiating from Green Bean’s body.

Gong Yu wasn’t faring much better. The extreme-grade demonic beast was too domineering. He was using all his strength just to suppress it. But for the flame beast to attack General Bean, it had to use spiritual energy—and every time it did, Gong Yu could feel it on the verge of breaking free from his control.

Lian Mu realized that the Red-eyed Five-form Beast posed a serious threat to Green Bean. Its rank was already beyond what could be easily countered, and with its constant absorption of emotional energy, its power was rapidly rising.

With the battle unfolding like this, the spectators outside were undoubtedly fired up, which only fueled the Red-eyed Five-form Beast further.

Lian Mu felt like her entire body had been pummeled. She gritted her teeth—now was the time.

She immediately activated her spiritual link, merging her consciousness with Green Bean’s. When she opened her eyes again, she was seeing through Green Bean’s perspective—right as three fire-laced wind vortices came hurtling toward her.

She adapted almost instantly to the scorpion-shaped body, twisting to the side to dodge. As the vortices brushed past, they tore away a wisp of black mist, causing a sharp, slicing pain.

Lian Mu finally understood the source of the pain. The wind stirred by the Red-eyed Five-form Beast’s wings acted like blades, slowly shaving away at the opponent. In its wind-fire form, it was the perfect counter to Green Bean’s mist form.

“Out of tricks,” Gong Yu said coldly. “It turns into black mist? Perfect. I’ve got flame wind blades. If brute force doesn’t work, let’s try finesse.”

Gong Yu couldn’t merge his consciousness with his Spirit Pet like she could. Seeing her fall silent, he assumed she’d realized the gap between them and was feeling defeated. That thought put him in a good mood.

But just as he increased the frequency of the wind vortex attacks, General Bean suddenly moved like it had been possessed. It became incredibly agile, not only dodging dozens of flame wind blades that shot like arrows, but even reassembling its mist form into a black-shell shape that deflected the blades right back.

The black mist scattered in all directions, darting and weaving, charging straight toward the Red-eyed Five-form Beast.

General Bean didn’t strike head-on. Instead, it buzzed around like a bee, circling and harassing.

Using Green Bean’s eyes, Lian Mu observed carefully. Finally, about three inches below the beast’s tail, she spotted a patch of skin not covered by the red rock-like armor.

Immediately, she split the black mist—one part attacked from the side, another zipped around its hooves to draw its attention. Once the Red-eyed Five-form Beast was distracted, she quietly maneuvered a tiny, unassuming wisp of black mist straight toward the vulnerable spot.

The next moment, the Red-eyed Five-form Beast flared with even brighter firelight. It lashed out indiscriminately at everything around it, and the falling embers from its body scattered the black mist completely.

The burning sensation hit Lian Mu at the same time. She gritted her teeth and endured the pain—this was the moment.

Right under the Red-eyed Five-form Beast’s tail, the tiny wisp of black mist bit down on the exposed skin, tearing off a chunk of flesh and swallowing it whole.

Gong Yu’s arm flared with pain, and his face instantly darkened.

Damn it!

A sharp-eyed spectator caught the moment. “General Bean bit Gong Yu!”

The crowd erupted.

Everyone knew—once General Bean bit an opponent’s Spirit Pet, it could steal traits from its blood and flesh.

Linghu Meng had once lost to General Bean in exactly this way.

So General Bean had been stalling all along, trying to gauge how many moves Gong Yu had, then waiting for the perfect moment to strike back—using the opponent’s own strength against them.

Gong Yu had done everything to keep General Bean at bay, yet still failed to stop it.

Fury clouded Gong Yu’s features. The pain in his arm from the torn flesh was a constant reminder of his mistake.

“……”

He couldn’t accept that a demonic beast he’d trained so hard had just had its techniques stolen by some bizarre, modified creature.

He formed a hand seal, and a Red Lotus Fire bloomed in his palms, blazing fiercely.

“Kill it,” Gong Yu commanded.

The Red-eyed Five-form Beast paused, glanced at the fire in his hand, then let out a roar and launched an even more ferocious assault on the black mist.

As Lian Mu controlled Green Bean to fend it off, her peripheral vision caught sight of the thing in Gong Yu’s hand.

That’s… spiritual energy?

How could someone without a Spiritual Root, someone who didn’t meet the basic threshold for cultivation, possibly summon fire-element spiritual energy?

She quickly figured it out.

It wasn’t Gong Yu’s spiritual energy—it was the flame beast’s. He must’ve used some method to transfer the demonic beast’s spiritual power into himself.

No wonder this so-called extreme-grade flame beast wasn’t as powerful as the one in the Illusion Realm.

Snapping back to the fight, Lian Mu sensed the Red-eyed Five-form Beast reacting to its own spiritual energy being used. Its pressure intensified, making it hard to breathe.

Its speed surged. The fiery wings swept past the black mist, aiming directly for the face.

After being bitten, it had thrown all caution to the wind, hell-bent on beating General Bean to death.

Just as General Bean dodged to the right, the Red-eyed Five-form Beast suddenly changed direction. Its fiery wings twisted, gathering countless small vortices into one. The scales on its tail flared open, casting a multicolored light into the mist—some kind of hypnotic effect that caused the fleeing black mist to freeze for a heartbeat.

A massive flame wind blade tore through the air!

Gong Yu sneered, “You’ve lost.”

At that critical moment, the entire audience held their breath.

Just as the wind blade was about to strike General Bean, a silvery chime rang out from outside the arena.

“Time’s up!”

Gong Yu froze, instinctively turning his head—only then realizing the match was over.

In an instant, the wind blade was repelled by a surge of powerful spiritual energy, deflecting it into the hidden boundary around the arena with a thunderous boom.

It was General Bean’s Life Lamp activating to protect it. Once the match was officially over, any further attacks were considered invalid.

This match, like the last, ended in a draw. Both Life Lamps had remained stable throughout.

“Second match: ‘Gong Yu’ versus ‘Invincible General Bean’—draw!”

As the result was announced, the spectators were still frozen in disbelief. The entire Beast Fighting Arena fell into a moment of silence.

Then, a thunderous roar erupted from outside the arena, shaking the skies.

“General Bean! I knew you wouldn’t lose! Next round, crush him for me!”

“Damn it, that’s just dirty—modifying a demonic beast like that is disgusting!”

“Gong Yu, screw you! You blew a winning match! I bet everything I had on you, you bastard! Give me my money back!”

The crowd was in an uproar—some cheering, others furious. Their voices surged like a tidal wave, piercing through the barrier and reaching the ears of the two contestants.

Inside the arena, however, only wreckage and a deathly silence remained.

Lian Mu’s consciousness returned to her body. As she opened her eyes, she saw Gong Yu standing across from her, dazed.

That was the second match.

Only one round remained. If it ended in another draw, the tournament would be extended.

Gong Yu slowly came back to his senses and looked toward the Red-eyed Five-form Beast, which was crouched on shattered rocks, growling lowly after being knocked down. The rebellious glint in its eyes was barely contained.

High-rank demonic beasts had pride. They hated being controlled for too long. The longer the bond lasted, the more they would try to break free…

But now, General Bean had already fused with its flesh and blood. From the earlier moves, anything the Red-eyed Five-form Beast could do, General Bean could do too. The tide had completely turned.

A ruthless gleam flashed in Gong Yu’s eyes—he couldn’t lose to General Bean!

“These two matches—you got lucky, that’s all. In the final round, I won’t hold back,” Gong Yu said coldly.

Lian Mu’s whole body ached, and she wasn’t in the mood: “Then go ahead and try. Even if your Spirit Pet turns into an ant, I’ll still slice it in half.”

The two glared at each other, unwilling to back down, until the Silver-masked Person came over and dragged them both away.

According to the rules, both Spirit Pets were to be temporarily held by the Flying Sea Pavilion. Due to the intense battle, the Red-eyed Five-form Beast was emotionally unstable, so the Silver-masked Person covered its cage with a black cloth. To keep things fair, General Bean’s cage was covered as well.

When General Bean had just taken mist form, it was covered in wounds, but its self-healing ability was so strong that it had already fully recovered. In contrast, the Red-eyed Five-form Beast still hadn’t calmed down. Its fiery red eyes locked onto Gong Yu, growling incessantly.

Gong Yu hesitated, then reached out to try and touch it. The Red-eyed Five-form Beast bared its fangs and slammed into the cage.

Gong Yu quickly stepped back two paces.

“Tsk, looks like it doesn’t like you anymore,” Lian Mu said with a cheeky grin, twisting the knife.

Gong Yu snapped, “What are you so smug about? You didn’t win either.”

Lian Mu replied, “Gong Yu, do you really think your Spirit Pet, in its current state, can win the next round?”

“Even if I don’t win, it won’t be you,” Gong Yu narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing in them.

“So what, you planning to keep drawing with me? I don’t have the patience to play this game forever,” Lian Mu said.

Gong Yu fell silent. He didn’t respond again. Clearly, the outcomes of the two matches had shaken his confidence.

He turned and walked away, unwilling to linger another moment.

Lian Mu slowly let her smile fade as she watched the two cages, now draped in black cloth, being taken away.

She could feel it—the Red-eyed Five-form Beast was running out of patience.

When it finally lost control, Gong Yu would suffer a powerful backlash. With their contract binding them, their lives were linked. If Gong Yu was seriously injured by the backlash, it would weaken the Red-eyed Five-form Beast significantly.

And when that happened, it would be the perfect time to strike.

Lian Mu turned back, the pain in her body still sharp. She thought of asking Ji Mingyue for some pain-relieving pills. Instinctively, she looked toward the spectator stands—but Ji Mingyue was nowhere to be seen.

She frowned and scanned the area again. Still nothing.

Without wasting time, she stepped over the broken rocks and crossed the river of fire, stopping at the edge of the barrier near the stands.

Bai Su and Silver Crane were both in the front row. With a glance downward, they spotted her. Seeing her approach, Silver Crane beamed, “Congratulations, little friend. Another draw with Young Master Weng—there aren’t many in the Flying Sea Pavilion who can pull that off.”

Lian Mu ignored him and asked Bai Su directly, “Where’s my friend?”

Bai Su blinked, then turned to look—sure enough, Ji Mingyue was gone. She said, “Maybe something came up and she stepped out. Don’t worry, I’ll ask the guards at the exits.”

As she spoke, Bai Su gathered spiritual energy at her fingertips and released a spirit butterfly. A moment later, the butterfly fluttered its wings twice.

Bai Su’s brows furrowed slightly.