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The Dire Bear's strength was immense.
Furthermore, it was known for its explosive power.
Enhanced by the Starlight Fruit Tree's Starlight Fruits, this Dire Bear's endurance for explosive force also surpassed that of an ordinary Dire Bear.
Its comprehensive strength was equivalent to at least a seven-hundred-year spirit beast.
Even for the three Grand Spirit Masters, who had received systematic training from Spirit Hall, dealing with it was proving strenuous.
The crucial point was that the Starlight Fruit Tree itself was also a spirit beast!
"This Starlight Fruit Tree is an extremely good match for me. I must obtain its spirit ring!"
Sisi wasn't displaying her full strength because she still had to guard against the Starlight Fruit Tree making a move on Su Wen.
Su Wen had summoned his Book Spirit, surrounding himself with its pages, precisely to free up Sisi's combat power.
Sisi wasn't certain of Su Wen's defensive capabilities.
Instinctively—no, even rationally—she didn't believe Su Wen had any defensive power to speak of.
However, Su Wen had reminded her.
The best protection was to eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible.
The faster they dealt with the Dire Bear, the less likely it was that danger would befall Su Wen.
"Be careful!"
As she spoke, Sisi's second yellow spirit ring instantly flared to life.
Su Yuntao noticed this and also activated his own second spirit skill instantly.
"Second Spirit Skill, Bloodthirsty Lone Wolf!"
His speed instantly surged, his green pupils turned red, and the spirit power he emanated grew violent.
He rapidly closed in on the Dire Bear from the flank, then unleashed his first spirit skill.
"First Spirit Skill, Lone Wolf Blood Claw!"
His wolf claws were incomparably sharp. Riding the momentum of his swift approach, he swiped down with one claw.
Roar!
A deep gash instantly appeared on the Dire Bear's left flank, and a large amount of blood sprayed out.
Its eyes turned bloodshot, and the Dire Bear swiped violently at Su Yuntao.
"Second Spirit Skill, Soul-Stealing Whip!"
At the same moment Su Yuntao drew its fire, Sisi also lashed out with her whip.
The whip was now covered in razor-sharp barbs.
Instantly, the whip struck the Dire Bear's right flank.
A vicious crack, and the whip left a bloody welt.
The whip struck, then wrapped around the Dire Bear several times, binding it.
"First Spirit Skill, Whip Bind!"
The barb-covered whip instantly constricted.
The Dire Bear felt a piercing pain, causing its paw strike to hesitate for an instant. When the paw landed, it only grazed Su Yuntao, leaving a wound on his right leg.
The whip continued to tighten. The Dire Bear was experiencing the true meaning of 'soul-stealing' agony.
Su Wen looked at the whip, covered in vicious barbs, and then at the areas where it bound the Dire Bear. It was a bloody, mangled sight.
Hsss...
To be hit by such a whip... that feeling must be beyond 'refreshingly' painful.
Swoosh!
The Starlight Fruit Tree finally made its move.
A thick branch whipped towards Su Wen, faintly whistling as it tore through the air.
Thud!
Su Wen barely managed to see the incoming branch. He crossed his arms in front of him, reinforcing them with five pages from his book.
He was sent flying by the blow. Before he landed, pages folded behind his back, forming a cushion to absorb the impact.
After rolling over ten meters across the ground, Su Wen quickly scrambled into a defensive, half-kneeling stance.
His arms throbbed with excruciating pain.
The Starlight Fruit Tree was not suited for combat. Even when it tried to whip its branches, its movements were awkward. Even so, that single strike had inflicted serious injuries on Su Wen.
"It's a good thing Brother Tao and the others brought me."
If he had encountered this alone, even without the Dire Bear guardian, Su Wen could only have fled for his life, let alone hunt the Starlight Fruit Tree and absorb its spirit ring.
"Little Wen!" Sisi's expression changed, her gaze snapping toward Su Wen.
She immediately manipulated her whip, extending it further to bind the Dire Bear tightly. The whip constricted, biting into the bear's body as it wrapped around its entire frame.
Feng Yuan unleashed his second spirit skill.
"Second Spirit Skill, Berserk!"
Similar to Su Yuntao, his second spirit skill was also an explosive burst-type skill. It enhanced his physical attributes and strengthened his spirit's power. In his current spirit avatar state, a full-power strike was more than twice its original strength.
Bang!
Feng Yuan and Sisi focused on suppressing the Dire Bear. Su Yuntao, enduring the pain in his right leg, shot like a beam of light toward Su Wen to support him.
The Starlight Fruit Tree itself was not suited for combat.
No matter how tough it was, it was, after all, a tree, not a vine. It lacked many combat options.
The branch it had just whipped had a very long wind-up. Although the blow was powerful, it took too much time. It was only because Su Wen wasn't yet a Spirit Master, combined with the suddenness of the attack, that he failed to dodge it.
Normally, the Starlight Fruit Tree wouldn't even participate in the fight, as it wasn't very effective—much like Su Wen hadn't joined Su Yuntao's group in attacking the Dire Bear.
The Starlight Fruit Tree likely sensed the Dire Bear's dire situation and launched a surprise attack on the 'weakling' Su Wen, hoping to distract Su Yuntao and the others.
The Dire Bear was now completely bound by Sisi.
The whip's binding strength was already considerable. Coupled with the damage from the barbs and Feng Yuan's relentless attacks, the Dire Bear had no opportunity to gather the strength to break free.
"First Spirit Skill, Gale Fist!"
Feng Yuan's fist, crackling with wind-attributed spirit power, smashed into the Dire Bear's face. The churning wind energy, sharp as blades, pierced through the Dire Bear's right eye.
Thud!
The Dire Bear collapsed to the ground, roaring in agony.
Sisi used her full strength to keep it bound, preventing it from injuring Feng Yuan in its death throes.
As the Dire Bear's struggles weakened, Feng Yuan joined Su Yuntao in attacking the Starlight Fruit Tree.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Starlight Fruit Tree's defense was impressive. Only under the duo's continuous assault did its trunk begin to shatter.
They attacked for a full ten minutes. Most of the Starlight Fruit Tree's branches were shattered by the pair, and its trunk was riddled with gaping holes.
"Little Wen, sever this final purple meridian! It's the equivalent of cutting its roots!"
Su Wen took a dagger from Sisi, stepped forward slowly, and stabbed viciously at the purple meridian.
After five consecutive stabs, the purple meridian lost its glow.
The entire Starlight Fruit Tree seemed to lose its vitality in an instant.
The nine Starlight Fruits fell to the ground.
A bright, luminous ring manifested above the Starlight Fruit Tree.
"Little Wen, adjust your condition and prepare to absorb the spirit ring!"
Su Wen sat cross-legged on the ground, meditating to recover his expended spirit power.
Fearing it would affect the spirit ring absorption, Su Wen had used almost none of his origin spirit power during the fight.
The pain in his arms had already eased somewhat, though they still felt numb.
"Little Wen, as soon as your spirit power has recovered, absorb the spirit ring," Sisi reminded him.
She was still maintaining the bindings on the Dire Bear.
The Dire Bear's struggles were very weak now. The whip was cinched tightly around its body, and blood flowed continuously.
Moreover, it seemed the whip was coated in poison, causing the Dire Bear to sink into an extremely weakened state.
"Okay!"
Su Wen nodded, his gaze resolute.
He released his spirit. A book emitting a soft, white glow materialized in front of him.
He circulated his spirit power.
The bright yellow spirit ring was drawn by his power, detaching from the Starlight Fruit Tree and settling over Su Wen's body.
Su Wen immediately felt a vast power surge into his body.
Boundless spirit power flowed through his limbs and torso, circulating along the meridians throughout his body.
At the same time, he could feel a fundamental, origin-like energy from within the spirit ring surge into his spirit space.
(End of this chapter)