Chapter 4002 — That's One Hell of a Bear

One breath—that was all Xu Lingchong needed. If he could drag himself out of that corner and recover his mobility, then even with a mere tenth of his true qi left in him, crushing Wei Zhao would be as easy as squashing a bedbug.

This was a serious miscalculation. Wei Zhao was frantic with anxiety. There was no one here who could save him. If Xu Lingchong got back on his feet before the Immortal Drunk could be forced down, then today really would be the day he died here.

But the power of the Immortal Drunk was not so easily purged. At this very moment it had not weakened at all—rather, it seemed to be burning fiercer by the second, leaving Wei Zhao utterly unable even to rise, let alone seize the chance to deal with Xu Lingchong.

At last, Xu Lingchong slowly began to move. The wall behind him, caved in by the impact, crumbled with a crackling sound as he climbed to his feet. The scales of victory had begun, ever so slowly, to tip in his favor.

"Ready to die, newcomer Lin?" Xu Lingchong bared his teeth in a cold grin, every inch the victor. But just then, a sound came from behind him—crack, crack, crack...

Xu Lingchong turned his head, and his face went dead white with fright. There, plain as day, was the little curly bear he had kicked away moments ago, charging toward him lugging an enormous pair of shears...

Ordinarily, a cub spirit beast like the little curly bear, with no strength to speak of, posed no threat whatsoever in Xu Lingchong's eyes. That was why he had never taken the little creature seriously from start to finish and had simply kicked it aside. Besides, this cub had already fought to drink the Immortal Drunk downstairs and was muddled out of its wits—even less of a threat.

But Xu Lingchong had forgotten one thing: the curly bear was, as the whole world knew, of the liquor-mad clan. A curly bear that had drunk spirit wine and one that had not were two entirely different propositions.

Before drinking, a curly bear was always gentle and docile, almost never attacking anyone of its own accord. But after drinking spirit wine—especially after getting drunk—not only did its temperament change utterly, its strength too underwent a transformation that turned it inside out, surging severalfold, even tenfold, as a matter of course. The world called this process liquor-frenzy.

Liquor-frenzy was a racial gift shared by the entire curly bear clan. Though the little curly bear was still a cub, it possessed this ability all the same. Now its eyes were not only bloodshot red, but even the fur all over its body had visibly begun to redden, and a distinctly ferocious aura began to radiate from it.

Damn it, how could I have forgotten about that! Xu Lingchong could have slapped himself twice, hard. The reason the curly bear clan could stand among the ranks of powerful spirit beasts was precisely this liquor-frenzy, a racial gift that bordered on defying heaven. Even an ordinary cub with no strength to speak of became a force to be reckoned with once it entered liquor-frenzy.

Had that been all, it might still have been fine. With Xu Lingchong's strength at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment, even a full-grown curly bear in liquor-frenzy would have been something he could handle with composure—let alone the mere cub before him.

The crux was this: he had just expended tremendous effort suppressing the true qi bomb, and at this moment scarcely one part in ten of his true qi remained. What was more, right after that Wei Zhao had struck him head-on with the twenty-three forms of the Wildfire Eight Trigrams Palm, and the resulting injuries had thrown his true qi into chaos. Even though he was now beginning to recover his mobility, he was still far from being able to fight.

Right now was precisely the weakest, most powerless moment of this great Foundation Establishment master!

For the little curly bear to enter liquor-frenzy at this moment—it was, quite literally, coming to collect his life. If Xu Lingchong was not scared out of his wits and pale as a sheet, that would have been the real surprise.

Watching helplessly as the little curly bear shouldered those eye-twitchingly enormous shears and advanced step by step, growling low, radiating an aura of extreme danger, Xu Lingchong was nearly scared pissless.

The great young master of the Chongtian Pavilion, the great senior disciple and steward of the Chongtian Pavilion, a great master at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment—and in the end he was about to die at the hands of a mere cub curly bear. If word of this ever got out, it would go down as one of the wonders of the age.

"Lit... Little White, calm down, I... I'm Xu Lingchong, Xu Lingchong who always used to give you treats, don't you recognize me?" Xu Lingchong was stammering with fright, hastily begging for mercy, his voice visibly trembling.

When had the great Young Master Xu ever sunk to such a pitiful state? Possessed of tremendous strength, yet ground down by that mere newcomer Wei Zhao until he could not move, and now driven to plead with a little curly bear—if word got out, no one would believe it.

Had it been someone like Wei Zhao, Xu Lingchong might not have been this terrified. After all, people had scruples; no one would dare lay hands on him, the great Young Master Xu, without restraint. But the little curly bear was different. No matter how much understanding of human nature the creature had, in the end it was still a fierce spirit beast!

This little thing knew no fear precisely because it knew no better. Give it half a chance, and it really might do anything at all—there was not even room to beg for mercy. That made it far more terrifying than any man.

Off to the side, Wei Zhao, still fighting to suppress the Immortal Drunk, watched this utterly absurd scene and could not decide whether to laugh or cry. He found it impossible to believe, and yet it was happening right there under his nose. He could only sigh that fate loved to play such tricks.

Crack, crack, crack...

No matter how Xu Lingchong begged, the little curly bear shouldered its enormous shears and charged to his side without pausing a single step.

Like master, like pet. Shangguan Lan'er, its master, loathed Xu Lingchong so thoroughly—how could the little curly bear be any different? That disgust came from the bottom of its heart; no casual snack from Xu Lingchong could ever have bought it off.

Then, under Xu Lingchong's utterly horrified gaze, the little curly bear suddenly brought the enormous shears up between his legs.

Wei Zhao gaped at the sight. Only one sentence surfaced in his mind—the very one Shangguan Lan'er had said not long ago: "If he dares harbor any crooked thoughts, this young lady will cut it off for him!"

Wei Zhao remembered clearly: when Shangguan Lan'er said that, the little curly bear had even obligingly performed a snipping motion.

At the time he had taken it for a joke. Now, thinking back, the little curly bear was preparing to put it into practice!

"Hey! Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing! Get away from me, scram, or I'll split you in two with one palm..." Xu Lingchong was so frightened he wet his trousers, cursing in panic even as he strained backward. But the corner of the wall was right behind him—no matter how he squirmed, it was all in vain.