Chapter 29: Return of the Untamed
Translator: Mike Editor: Chrissy
Chu Feng blared and yelled as he charged at the beast.
He could feel the adrenaline pumping as his heart rapidly thumped in his chest. The speed at which the blood flowed in his veins drastically increased!
As a citizen of the modern society, there had never been a situation like this happening to him before. This was the first time in his life where he came toe-to-toe, face-to-face against a giant beast. To adapt to this nerve-wrecking moment, his body immediately adjusted its internal biology in response to this death-or-alive situation.
"Roar…"
The six-meter beast lunged at Chu Feng, brandishing its cutting claws that were sharp as a sickle. The beast flung and swung its trusty claws, desperately attempting to rip the face of this daring intruder.
Chu Feng leapt and hopped, steered clear of the bouncing beast. Before having known the actual strength of his opponent, Chu Feng dared not to confront the tough with toughness. The superhuman agility of his body now came in handy as he nimbly skipped aside. The beast’s claws glanced off his shoulder, but Chu Feng’s rapid movement ensured that he could always went back to safety unharmed.
Crack!
Sparkles spattered as the beast landed its claws on a rigid rock, leaving many deep groove marks on its slick and glossy surface. This was just to showcase how sharp and deadly his claws were.
If those claws were to land on an ordinary person, the poor old soul would certainly have their legs cut off just below the crutch and would die a violent death at once.
Ong!
The air exploded. The beast flung its three formidable tails that are both strong and stiff. It was as rigid as an iron rod!
Chu Feng managed to dodge the fatal swing. The tail landed on a tree instead, and with a clear, sharp crack, its trunk snapped upon impact. The tree fractured then solemnly tumbled with a blaring boom.
Chu Feng was dumbstruck. As a man living in a modern society, he had never seen a beast of such strength and of such valor.
Although all kinds of strange occurrences had cropped up during the upheaval, he had seldom seen many of the events that had occurred, let alone fighting a beast with his bare hands.
The beast was called the three-tailed tiger. It was a variant of a giant tiger. As the name suggested, the beast had three tails. Their bodies were generally giant to say the least. On average, they could measure up to seven meters in length.
It possessed all the available powers of a giant tiger. All of the three tails were stiff and firm like iron rods. The beast could easily split a rocky cliff or snap a person’s body in half.
"Roar!"
The bestial howl trembled the sky and quivered the forest.
The beast thrusted itself onto Chu Feng once again. It opened its bloody mouth which could easily swallow an adult human whole. Its fangs were more than two feet long. They shone with a chilling luster.
Chu Feng evaded the attack once again. Had it not been that Chu Feng had a speed twelve times faster than an ordinary human being, the thrust of this wild beast could well end up with him being gulped by the beast.
"Moo!"
In the far distance, Yellow Ox growled, urging Chu Feng to start attacking and not to be afraid.
"Come on! You bloody bastard! I’m not afraid of you! Come on!" Chu Feng was desperate. He would just have to risk it. He roared like the beast, trembling the forest as well.
His previous defensive maneuvers allowed him to give a rough estimate of the beast’s strength and power. He realized that after all, despite the fearsome look of its cutting claws, the strength and the power that the beast possessed were in fact much less fiercer than his.
"So what exactly am I afraid of? Come on!"
He settled himself into the first position of Demon Ox Boxing Style. His fists were enveloped with a mystical layer of force. After a roar of anger, he charged ahead.
A black yak emerged behind his back. It was the same yak with the same formidable black body. Its dark pupils glared with raging fury. Its pair of tremendous horns pointed towards the vault of heaven. It had a primeval look that made it seem all the more likely that it had come from time immemorial!
"Moo!"
The blaring bellow trembled the forest. Innumerable leaves rustled down, dancing in the air.
The beast was taken aback. The unadulterated white fur on its back stood on end. The beast arched its back, on the alert and combat-ready. It was prepared to respond to any challenges with its swiftest and fiercest attack.
Pong!
Chu Feng landed his fearsome jab on target. As the red marking left by the blow slowly expanded on the skin of the beast, the black yak hovering behind his back began its action. It raised its head, upturning its horns towards the vault of heaven. It shifted like a black bolt of lightning strike, fiercely charging ahead.
The beast opened its bloodthirsty mouth, clapping and spanking its gigantic claws. Clearly, the agitated beast had determined to call forth all its energy and to devote every effort to rip the flesh and drain the blood of its opponent.
The battleground was ringing with the rumbles of the fight. The earth turbulently quivered as the fight carried on. Although the size of the beast and that of the man carried a tremendous contrast, the difference in the actual strength of each respective individual was almost minimal.
"Roar…"
The beast growled in agony. Clearly, it had not anticipated for itself to be injured by an opponent so despicable in size. It staggered and stumbled as it hurriedly retreated. However, its limping limbs made it tumble in the end.
Chu Feng had gained the upper hand, but this did not stop the giant yak from resuming its action. It rammed and packed forcibly into the beast, tumbling the great beast once again.
As the vivid projection of the giant yak dissipated, Chu Feng slammed both of his fists onto the claws of the beast. A wound opened on the claw under the forceful impact, and blood oozed out. Chu Feng then brought the other hand of his into action. He jabbed, dug and punched, snapping the beast’s buck teeth and fractured its backbones.
Chu Feng had perfectly impersonated the essentials of the first position of Demon Ox Boxing Style. He had summoned the ultimate godly spirit that belonged to the style. The black yak emerged as a spiritual figure, hauling an immense amount of force and power into the human body of Chu Feng. Together, their strengths were many times greater than that of the beast.
The forest had become a gory scene. Blood were mixed with pieces of fractured bones and teeth. They looked like shiny daggers, bright as snow.
Blood was streaming out of the beast’s mouth. It sprung up quickly, but its face had become taut and terrified. The unbridled arrogance had long disappeared.
The beast stared at Chu Feng with a cruel glitter in its eyes. It arched its back and buried its punctured claws under the soil. It bared its fractured buckteeth. These were no signs of fear or horror. It was accumulating strength in its torso and its limbs, prepared for a final blow.
The beast came as a descendant of the species of white tiger. It belonged to the fiercest race of tiger. They were born with cruelty and ferocity trickling in their blood, so under normal circumstances, they would not bow in defeat to their opponent. They were bloodthirsty for a fight, and they would not quit until one of the two parties died.
"Come! Come practice boxing with me!"
Chu Feng was fearless. He took the initiative and charged at the beast with an assailing move. He waved his fists in an organized pattern with each position perfectly matching the styles he had already known by heart.
Pong, pong, pong…
The forest was rattling with beating thumps and hissing cries. Chu Feng was ceaseless in his fist movements. It was a pitched battle between a man and a beast. Chu Feng progressed his boxing style all the way up to the eighth position.
During the sequence of combats, Chu Feng found himself more and more skilled and more and more relaxed.
If the fight had continued, the beast would have already stricken dead, but in order to steel himself to become more adept at a more systematic boxing style, he decided to reserve some of his power and drag out the fight for even longer.
Pong!
The beast’s formidable tails stroke again, but they were unpleasantly greeted by Chu Feng with his hardened fists. Chu Feng gave in a deadly blow, almost snapping one of the three tails in an instant. Blood sprayed and spattered.
He frowned, then he retreated a few steps back.
His power and his skills had allowed him to own the beast in this fight, he was, however, not at all accustomed to the blood and gore that the scene had turned into. As a citizen of a civilized society, he was not born for killing.
However, the beast belonged to the wilderness. Regardless of how Chu Feng wanted to withdraw from the fight and spare its life, the beast seemed to have a different agenda of its own. It roared then fiercely attacked in retaliation. Equipped with its bloodthirsty mouth and its cutting claws, it pounced on Chu Feng again after getting beaten off.
Chu Feng was still in a daze, but before he could recollect himself and react to the beast’s retaliation, the claws had almost landed on his face. He hastily shunned away. It was genuinely a close call.
Chu Feng’s blood began running cold. He roared and growled in fury, releasing the primitive savagery within him. He leaped up with a skip, pouncing his fists onto the wounded body of the beast.
Pong, pong, pong!
Finally, the fight ended with three consecutive strikes. Each landed on the claws, the skull and the chest respectively. He pulverized the claws, splintered the skull and penetrated the chest. The beast died a gory death.
The six-meter beast finally rested in peace. Blood was surging out of its chest through a gaping hole dripping with blood.
This time, Chu Feng did not hedge against the outburst of blood. He stood beside the lifeless corpse, allowing the boiling blood of the beast to scald and to stain his body. His body was calm, and his heart was open. He remained composed, as if he was receiving some sort of baptism.
It was not savagery or cruelty. This was not a sacrificial rite either. The spewing blood was the key to unlock his primitive instinct for survival, and also the key to raise it to a higher level.
Chu Feng could feel the ancient indigenous people to this land passing by. He was just like them, fighting and killing beasts of prey then bathing in the hot blood of their quarry. They fought and killed for the odds of survival.
He stood riveted to the ground. It was some minutes before he could finally collect himself.
Yellow Ox had come near the yield of their hunt. It urged him to tow away the corpse at once.
Chu Feng knew that he should not linger here for longer than he needed. The thick smell of blood could easily attract the carnivores and the scavengers. He dragged the three-tailed beast, scurrying along the path where they came from.
Despite the unparalleled speed at which they travelled, the two were still hunted on their way out.
The foul smell of scented blood allured many beasts of prey along the way. Behind the verdant dense leaves of the virgin forest, pairs after pairs of horrifying eyes opened. They looked over to the direction of the smell then rashly chased after.
A journey of battles!
Fortunately, they were near the outer-ring of the thickly forested mountains, and nothing overly terrifying had come in their way.
Event of profound peril occurred just when they were about to leave the mountain. A giant black hand with the size of three average-sized rooms came down from heaven. It swatted down with a horrific force.
Boom! The hand landed, trembling the entire forest like a violent earthquake!
At the same time, almost half of the torso of the dead beast was turned into slush and slime. Blood and flesh splashed in all directions, forming a scene even more horrifying than the gory battleground.
"Moo!"
Yellow Ox kicked up its heels as it hurriedly dashed out of the mountain.
Chu Feng was still clutching onto the smaller half of the corpse. His body was saturated in blood, but right now, he could care no less about his bloodstained image. In his hurry to flee, Chu Feng tossed and rolled before finally tumbling across the boundary of this deadly mountain.
Fortunately, they were only meters away from the mountain pass. They had avoided death, but only just.
That thrilling scene had really made his hair stand on end. What kind of monster was that?
It had the size of a hill, so it was a genuine monstrosity when compared to other animals. It had a humanoid shape. Its body was jet-black with hair as long as six feet. Its hands were of no exception either. Black hair also grew profusely on them.
This beast had lunged itself at the dual, almost squashing them with its abnormally big hands.
It had stood up. Its towering torso was at least two hundred meters tall. The beast had the size of a mountain and eyes of a moon. It glared at the two with a chilling glitter in its eyes.
However, it did not barge out of the mountain. It stood there for a while then slowly retreated. The forest quivered as it stepped back. Leaves rustled down the forest trees.
Chu Feng could fairly catch sight of the beast as it stepped further into the depths of the primitive mountains, eventually disappearing behind the mountain he was at.
Chu Feng gazed into the distance for a long while. His clothes and his body were soaked in blood and cold sweat.
At last, he lowered his head and noticed that the prey he had hunted was only left with two hind legs and a minute section of its fragmented torso. Most part of it had degraded into mud of blood when the hand descended from heaven to earth.
"What monster was that? We almost became mud of blood and flesh too." Chu Feng panicked in fear. He still felt that his body was stiff and cold.
"God of Black Apes." Yellow Ox scribbled down these words. Then, it etched another line of words. "After a year or so, I will kill it."
Although the corpse was only left with two hind legs, it still weighed at least hundreds of kilos. Chu Feng shouldered the lump of meat, briskly hurrying home. The meat was cleaned and trimmed in a short and procedural fashion. Chu Feng skinned the legs then dissected them with his black dagger. Finally, he stuffed everything into a freezer.
"Finally, I can take a break at home for the next few days." Chu Feng sighed in relief.
Yellow Ox shook its head, solemnly telling him that going into the mountains would become a daily routine from now on.
Chu Feng was first astounded, then he nodded his head in agreement. He knew that by hardening himself in the mountains, he could learn to tackle all kinds of dangers. In doing so, he could potentially change qualitatively.
Right now, for instance, he felt that his disposition, his courage and his experience had all increased and improved quantitatively. Overall, he had become a better man equipped with better skills.
Chu Feng knew that as the change in this world started to intensify and aggravate, the reclamation of some of his primitive savagery would be necessary for a future world.
Otherwise, he would have to wait passively until the future rolled in. When a cruel and odious environment like that in the mountain became a general theme across the world, he would have to exchange more of his sweat, blood or even life for the invaluable experiences to survive.
For the following few days, Chu Feng braced himself into the mountains everyday. There, he practiced his boxing style and steeled himself to become accustomed to the cruelty of the wilderness.
His fist started to drive more power and strength. His comprehension of the first eighth positions had become increasingly comprehensive and thorough. Meanwhile, he had also developed a brand new strand of understanding of the boxing style on his own. These, together, had drastically improved the force and power he could harness for his boxing style.
Later, he also mastered the ninth and the final position of Demon Ox Boxing Style. His mastery was achieved as he fought and killed a bird of prey with a body ten meters in length. The fight had allowed him to unlock greater might and higher power.
Buddha threw the elephant!
As far as Chu Feng was concerned, this was not only a mythology; it was a reality that become possible when a human body had reached a certain level of strength. He wanted a firsthand experience of this great extension of human ability!