Outside Qing City, L Town Disaster Area.
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse.
An E-Class Blood Mantis, nearly three meters long, stood in a standoff with a young man; neither side made a move immediately.
Unlike its previous prey, it felt no fear from the prey before it.
Cheng Xing, however, was actually unsure, because whether it was a human or a Disaster Beast, every ten-level mark was a threshold.
From level nine to level ten, crossing it would be a qualitative change.
"Hiss!"
Not long after, the Blood Mantis was the first to lose patience, suddenly rushing towards Cheng Xing with extreme speed, reaching him in the blink of an eye.
Cheng Xing's eyes narrowed, and he dodged to the side, his movement speed not much slower than the E-Class Blood Mantis.
After all, speed was also Cheng Xing's strong suit.
With one attack missing, the Blood Mantis's remaining forelimbs, like a scythe of death, slashed towards Cheng Xing's waist.
Cheng Xing reacted quickly, jumping up abruptly, causing the forelimbs to strike a wall behind him.
The concrete-poured wall was torn open like paper, creating a several-meter-long gash, then collapsed with a crash under the strain.
Seeing that the Blood Mantis's casual strike had such power, Cheng Xing couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
If he had taken that hit, he would have been scattered everywhere.
Amidst his thoughts, his feet landed, and Cheng Xing was already in motion; a cold gleam flashed, Cheng Xing's figure vanished, and his Tang Blade slashed at the Blood Mantis from a tricky angle.
"Screech, screech, screech..."
The slash landed on the Blood Mantis's body, emitting a sound like metal colliding, with sparks faintly flying.
The attacked Blood Mantis hissed, swinging its forelimbs at Cheng Xing.
Cheng Xing lightly tapped his toes, his body retreating rapidly, letting the Blood Mantis's attack land on the road, kicking up fragments.
"So tough."
Cheng Xing shook his hand; that previous strike had made his tiger's mouth ache.
The consecutive missed attacks made the Blood Mantis agitated, and it charged again, its speed increasing by a few points.
Cheng Xing continued to dodge, seizing the gaps in its attacks, and delivered another slash.
However, the effect of the slash was still very poor.
Seeing that Cheng Xing couldn't break its carapace, the Blood Mantis ignored his attacks and continued to swing its forelimbs.
For a time, they were in a stalemate where one couldn't hit and the other couldn't be defended against.
As the intense battle raged, the streets on both sides were completely reduced to ruins.
"I need to change my approach."
After multiple probes, Cheng Xing pondered for a moment and made a decision.
At this moment, the Blood Mantis lunged again, Cheng Xing's body shifted, and after dodging the attack, he closed in and delivered another slash.
However, after the slash, Cheng Xing loosened his grip, reversed his hold on the hilt, his left hand climbed up, both hands exerting force, and a fluid stab landed on the Blood Mantis's side.
"Splat!"
The Blood Mantis's proud carapace didn't work this time; the Tang Blade plunged into the Blood Mantis's body, and foul-smelling green blood dripped along the blade.
"I found your weakness."
With a successful strike, Cheng Xing pulled out his blade and retreated, while the Blood Mantis launched a frantic attack.
However, in Cheng Xing's eyes, now that he had discerned its weakness, its attacks only gave him more opportunities to strike.
As successive stabs landed on the Blood Mantis, its body was already covered with wounds of various sizes, and large amounts of foul-smelling green blood flowed from them.
The Blood Mantis's health was already less than one-fifth.
Seeing that the time was ripe, the next stab aimed directly at the center of the Blood Mantis's eyes.
"Crack!"
Just as he was about to finish off the Blood Mantis with one blow, Cheng Xing heard a whooshing sound, followed by a sound like a long whip cracking.
Cheng Xing felt a searing pain in his waist, and then he was sent flying.
He endured the pain, flipped over, and used his blade to steady himself.
He saw that the Blood Mantis's antennae, which had previously only twitched sluggishly, were now wiggling flexibly like earthworms.
"So that thing wasn't just for show? Stereotypes kill people, huh?"
"Such high damage."
Cheng Xing quickly scanned his stats panel and found that that one hit had knocked off over 100 health points.
His small frame couldn't withstand many such hits.
Thinking of this, Cheng Xing no longer continued to probe; after taking a deep breath, he stepped forward.
"Four Direction Slash!"
The next moment, Cheng Xing's figure vanished, leaving only spiderweb-like cracks where he had stood.
The Blood Mantis's two antennae instantly tensed, then it decisively spread its wings and took to the air to avoid damage.
However, its movements were still a bit too slow; as four streaks of blade light flashed, the Blood Mantis's four hind limbs, along with its posterior abdomen, were neatly severed.
"Hiss!"
The Blood Mantis let out a miserable shriek, its flight becoming wobbly, but the antennae on its head continued to attack at a very strange angle.
The antennae's attack speed was even faster, and even the current Cheng Xing found it hard to keep up, so he had to retreat to avoid its edge and wait for an opportunity.
After suffering heavy injuries, the Blood Mantis no longer had any desire to continue fighting; it only wanted to escape the area.
But Cheng Xing wouldn't let this big fat sheep get away; who knew what good things an E-Class Blood Mantis would drop after being killed?
Fortunately, the heavily injured Blood Mantis didn't fly very high or fast, and Cheng Xing could easily keep up.
Just as Cheng Xing thought victory was assured, an unexpected event occurred.
A dark shadow darted out from some nearby debris; upon closer inspection, it was a Level 4 Mad Rabbit.
As soon as the Mad Rabbit appeared, the Blood Mantis's antennae on its head shot out, then pierced it, and after coiling around the corpse, it opened its bloody mouth and began to tear at it.
Immediately, the Blood Mantis's health recovered at a visible rate, and its injured body quickly healed.
"Damn it!"
Seeing this situation, Cheng Xing inwardly cursed, stepped forward, and delivered another Four Direction Slash.
However, the recovered Blood Mantis immediately spread its wings and flew, moving away from Cheng Xing's attack range.
The Blood Mantis, now airborne, stared fixedly at Cheng Xing; it memorized the man's appearance, planning to eat the previous prey and then deal with him.
It had a premonition that once it ate that prey, it would be able to level up again.
Then it prepared to fly in the direction Liu Gu had fled.
Seeing this scene, Cheng Xing felt like his cooked duck was about to fly away.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, the sound of a longsword being unsheathed rang out, and a figure rushed out from the roof of a three-story building not far away, accompanied by a sharp sword light.
The sword light precisely sliced across the Blood Mantis's back, leaving a huge gash, and then the Blood Mantis's wings were cleanly severed at the root.
The wingless Blood Mantis crashed heavily to the ground.
"Let's see where you can run now."
The figure, who had landed on a broken wall on the other side of the street after that one strike, said breathlessly.
Cheng Xing, who had witnessed the splendor of that sword strike, couldn't help but look up at the figure.
"There's someone else?"
Su Yanran also sensed something and looked down.
Their eyes met, and surprise appeared in both their eyes simultaneously.
"A little handsome."
"A little pretty."
After the surprise, Su Yanran, realizing the Blood Mantis still wanted to escape, tried to extend an invitation.
"Team up?"
"That's great, but I refuse."
Cheng Xing refused without even thinking.
Are you kidding? He had been soloing for so long; how could he team up? Even a beautiful woman couldn't share his experience...
