Roar~

At this thought, the giant boar roared at the sky once more. Red gas began to emit from its body, rapidly spreading toward the army's direction.

Its eyes turned blood-red, and a bloodthirsty aura emanated from it, foul-smelling liquid dripping from its mouth. Those soldiers closer to the giant boar, the moment they came into contact with the red gas, their eyes also began to turn red and their emotions grew somewhat agitated.

Yun Hanshuang, taking everything in, knew this giant boar was going to fight with its life. So he called out a warning to the soldiers below. "Hold your breath and stay away from the red gas!"

"All troops, heed my order: retreat."

The army's leader, Wu Kun, was a rugged-looking middle-aged man. At the same time Yun Hanshuang loudly warned the soldiers to stay away from the red gas, he issued the retreat order.

After the soldiers retreated to a safe distance, Wu Kun then raised his head to look at Yun Hanshuang, only to see the other party holding a long saber high and leaping down from the cliff.

After warning the soldiers to keep away from the red gas, Yun Hanshuang drew the long saber from his back and poured all the true qi in his body into the blade. Then he leaped down from the cliff, his long saber aimed at the giant boar's neck.

Boom~

Relying on a beast's sensitivity to danger, the giant boar suddenly swung its head just as Yun Hanshuang's saber was about to slash its neck. Its long protruding tusks happened to block Yun Hanshuang's full-force strike, though a large chunk of its tusk was cleaved off as a result.

Seeing his surprise attack blocked, Yun Hanshuang somewhat helplessly borrowed the force to leap backward, landing lightly about ten meters away.

In this clash, Yun Hanshuang seemed to have the upper hand, but only he knew he had lost. For his right hand had been injured by the recoil to the point of losing all feeling, temporarily robbing him of his combat ability.

Yun Hanshuang turned to look at Wu Kun. "I presume Uncle here is the leader of this army?"

"I am General Wu Kun. I never expected Young Master Yun's strength to be so formidable, able to easily cleave off that monster pig's hard tusks."

Yun Hanshuang was not surprised that Wu Kun knew his identity; the villagers must have told him that he was still on the mountain. However, hearing the other's flattery did not make him happy; instead, he felt the man was overly bureaucratic.

"General Wu, no flattery. If we can't kill it within half 5 or so minutes, none of us will escape. Furthermore, my hand will be unable to exert strength for half an hour."

Yun Hanshuang propped up his right hand with his left hand and waved it in front of Wu Kun. Then, without waiting for the other's reaction, he employed his Lightness Skill and leaped a few times back to the cliff face from before.

Seeing Yun Hanshuang leave, Wu Kun turned and walked up to a thin and small soldier, asking with great respect, "Immortal Master, is what he said true?"

"It's true, but with me here, there's no need to worry. Have the soldiers retreat further away."

Wu Kun, hearing the thin soldier's words, turned and ordered the soldiers to retreat.

‘A wild boar about to evolve into a spirit beast, a family junior who cannot cultivate—could there be some connection between the two?’ The thin soldier looked at Yun Hanshuang sitting cross-legged on the cliff face, and a trace of killing intent suddenly flashed in their eyes.

On the cliff face, Yun Hanshuang suddenly felt a chill. His gaze locked onto that thin soldier.

‘A cultivator? No wonder the army could clear out over ten thousand ordinary boars in such a short time.’

Realizing there was a cultivator present, and that the other seemed somewhat hostile toward him, Yun Hanshuang secretly swallowed a pill, urged his true qi to refine it, and quickly restored himself to full strength. Then, he took a yellow talisman paper from his bosom and stuck it over his heart. Only after doing this did he feel slightly at ease.

Roar~ Crack~

Suddenly, the giant boar let out a great roar. The fur on its body instantly turned snow-white, and it sprayed streams of cold qi from its mouth. The giant boar blew a breath at the chains binding its four limbs, and with just a slight struggle, those chains shattered into iron dregs with a crack.

‘To have such strength right after completing its transformation? Could it have undergone a mutation?’

Seeing the giant boar easily crush the chains into dregs, Yun Hanshuang could scarcely believe it. A giant boar that had just successfully transformed possessed such formidable strength. In his family, Yun Hanshuang had seen battles between spirit beasts. Among first-tier spirit beasts, he truly had never seen one with such strength. In the end, Yun Hanshuang guessed that this giant boar might have undergone some kind of mutation, because only that could explain why it possessed such powerful strength right after evolving into a spirit beast.

At that moment, the thin soldier shared the same thought as Yun Hanshuang and also believed the giant boar had mutated. "Mutated spirit beasts are rare species even in the cultivation world. To think a boar that evolved in this mortal world could actually mutate? Could there be some heavenly treasure nearby?"

"Though the boar is unsightly, for the sake of you being a mutated spirit beast, this young miss will reluctantly take you in!"

Boom~

A sudden loud bang pulled the thin soldier's thoughts back. At this moment, the giant boar was glaring angrily at Yun Hanshuang. It turned out that the noise just now was caused by it ramming into the cliff face.

‘It seems this giant boar has truly come to hate me.’

Seeing the already cracked rock behind him, Yun Hanshuang was about to employ his Lightness Skill to leave when a pleasant voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Wu Kun, take all the soldiers and leave. Young Master Yun, you'd better leave quickly as well. Leave the rest to me."

As soon as the thin soldier finished speaking, she raised her hand and shot out a blue silk ribbon that bound the giant boar. No matter how it struggled, it was useless.

Seeing Yun Hanshuang and the soldiers all staring at him, the thin soldier frowned and released a murderous aura.

"Scram."

Yun Hanshuang was the first to react. He lightly tapped his toes and, like an ape, swept toward the mountain peak. Wu Kun subsequently led all the soldiers away as well.

After everyone had left, the thin soldier flashed with blue light and transformed into a delicate and pretty girl of fifteen or sixteen years, dressed in a blue flowing light skirt.

Having returned to her maiden image, Yang Yun no longer concealed anything and fully released the aura of the Middle Foundation Establishment stage she possessed. If Yun Hanshuang were still here, he would surely be shocked by Yang Yun's cultivation level. A fifteen or sixteen-year-old at Foundation Establishment, no matter the era, was ranked among peerless prodigies.

The giant boar was pressed to its knees by Yang Yun's aura, looking at the girl before it with terrified eyes. "Choose: submit, or die."

Upon hearing Yang Yun's words, the giant boar forced out its essence blood without any hesitation, indicating its willingness to submit. "You know what's good for you."

After completing the contract with the giant boar, Yang Yun immediately searched the other's memories.

"A cave that blew out cold qi? Take me to see it."

Just as Yang Yun was forming the contract with the giant boar, Yun Hanshuang reached the peak. After retrieving the wrapped parcel from the cave, he did not return to Heavenly Wolf Village. Because if he stayed here any longer, the items inside the parcel would be lost, so Yun Hanshuang wanted to leave before that cultivator discovered him.

‘Luckily, all the valuable things are on me. As for the silver and money in the house, it's no loss to abandon them.’

To prevent that cultivator from tracking him by his aura, Yun Hanshuang decided to jump from the mountain peak into the great river at the mountain's base, and then swim away. Although doing this was somewhat risky, compared to facing that cultivator, Yun Hanshuang would much rather jump into the river.