Book 1 - What Is A Genius - Chapter 6 - Fox Bear

That huge tree swayed as if it had been blown by a fierce gale of wind, furthermore, the leaves at the top of the tree floated down as if they had been scattered down by angels.
He Yiming’s center of palm slowly left the tree trunk. That spot didn’t seem to have changed in any way, however, He Yiming’s eyes had an extremely pleased expression. Because he’d sensed that his fist had done a tremendous damage to the big tree.
He slightly reached out with his hand and lightly touched the region he’d just struck. It immediately turned into a fine powder and slid down like quicksand. After a short while, a cavity, which was dark enough to frighten people, appeared in that region.
As He Yiming looked at the masterpiece he’d created, he sighed inwardly. The Internal Energy at the sixth layer was truly incomparable to that of the fifth layer. Although the Ripple technique was primarily a water-based technique which was far below the Primordial Energy in terms of offensive might, the damage caused by the former’s sixth layer was higher than the latter’s fifth layer.
This was the advantage of formidable Internal Energy. Sometimes, a difference of one layer felt like a difference of thousand li.
Suddenly, a radiance flickered in Yiming’s two eyes. He immediately turned around and looked towards his lateral-back side.
He’d heard an extremely faint sound of footsteps coming from that region. If this had happened yesterday, He Yiming wouldn’t have necessarily been able to hear this sound. However, after cultivating up to the sixth layer, his five senses were a notch above. Thus, at this moment, his hearing was extremely clear.
The sound was extremely faint. Based on He Yiming’s previous experiences, it seemed like the sound of footsteps of mountain chicken, or fox, or some other small creature. However, he didn’t know why, but he felt a sense of indescribable crisis, and he didn’t dare be neglectful in the least.
Eventually, a black hand stretched forward after pushing aside the branches and leaves in that area, revealing a black bear of two meters behind the branches and leaves.
He Yiming was a bit startled. His vision circled the body of the big black bear two times. Specifically after looking at the two ears of the big black bear, the expression on his face immediately turned heavy. In his mind, he cursed at his perfect luck.
He merely wanted to test his power after attaining the sixth layer. He never expected that he would actually run into this big guy at the periphery of the mountain forest. Moreover, looking at the manner of this big guy, he seemed to have come after being attracted by the recent noise produced by the trembling of the big tree.
This big guy was not a bear. Its build wasn’t any different from the other normal bears, however, it had two long fox-like ears. It was a well-known ferocious beast in the Mountains, the Fox Bear. Not only was it as strong as a bear, in addition, it was also cunning and nimble like a fox.
The might of this guy after combining these two properties couldn’t be looked down in any way. Even those tyrants that resided deep within the forest wouldn’t easily provoke such a guy. Usually, the fox bears always resided in the deepest parts of the forest, however, today one had surprisingly come out and had even founded He Yiming. The latter could only curse at his own bad luck.
He Yiming slightly crouched his body. He didn’t turn around and escape, rather he calmly confronted his opponent.
Although he wasn’t willing to provoke this guy even when he was extremely confident after just advancing to the sixth layer, if his opponent tried to get over his head, he wasn’t much afraid either.
The fox bear also seemed to have sensed that this little human couldn’t be easily provoked. It didn’t immediately pounce onto He Yiming, instead, it began to slowly circle around He Yiming.
As He Yiming saw his clumsy and slow movements, he coldly laughed in his mind.
When a fox bear came across humans, it would first display slow movements like that of an ordinary bear, causing the people to be a bit negligent. However, if one were to truly relax his guard, it would immediately attack, and its opponent would very clearly understand its true speed.
The degree of this thing’s craftiness could easily cause the people who were facing it for the first time to suffer a big loss. If He Yiming had not previously seen his eldest uncle strike down a fox bear with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have necessarily been convinced that it could be so agile with such a huge body.
The fox bear had already circled around the He Yiming two times. It was also acting a bit strange. To it, this small guy didn’t seem strong at all, however, it still felt an extremely dangerous feeling coming off from his opponent.
Perhaps because the it was feeling hungry from its journey from the deep forest, it eventually lost its patience. It lifted its thick bear palms and rushed towards He Yiming in vigorous steps.
Its gigantic body, which gave off a mountainous pressure, furiously pushed towards He Yiming. At this instant, the fox bear was thoroughly displaying the strength of a bear-kind species.
He Yiming neither backed or dodged. Because he knew that if he made any kind of strange movements, this bear would certainly become dexterous and catch up with his movements.
No one knew how many beasts and humans had been caught completely unaware by it and had finally turned into a feast for its mouth.
With a cold snort, a section of Internal Energy burst out from He Yiming’s Dantain and arrived on his palms through the meridians of his shoulders.
At this moment, both, the might of the water type Ripple technique and the formidable Internal Energy of the sixth layer, were being displayed by He Yiming to the extreme.
An arm like a leaf fan, and an immature arm, resolutely clashed against each other.
The advancing footsteps of the Fox Bear immediately halted and its body stood up straight. At this moment, it wasn’t giving off a mountain pressure like it did a moment ago, instead, it quickly retreated back at an extremely fast speed. Its movements were as quick as lightning and as nimble as a fox. In a flash, it had already retreated two meters away from He Yiming, furthermore, it concealed its body in between thick trees.
He Yiming’s mouth slightly twitched as he grimaced in pain and sucked in a mouthful of cold air.
He’d already pushed his Internal Energy to the extreme and had also employed the Ripple technique as much as he could, however, his opponent had been able to resist his strike just by relying on its physical strength, moreover, the repercussions of this clash had brought him an indescribable pain.
However, that Fox Bear most certainly wouldn’t be feeling too good either. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have unhesitatingly revealed its lightning fast speed seeming like a bird who was afraid of a mere pull of bow, moreover, it wouldn’t have left either.
He Yiming waved his palm. He recalled what his eldest uncle had once said about the nature of the fox bears.
This big guy not only was extremely cunning, in the mountain forest, it was reputed as an existence that intimidated weak and was afraid of strong. He Yiming knew that although he’d scared it into retreat in the first confrontation, it hadn’t retreated too far, instead, it was lurking somewhere nearby and watching his every moment and action.
If he tried to turn around and flee or showed any weakness, it would never let him go, like a fungi sticking to a bone.
He Yiming sucked in a deep breath. The sixth layer Internal Energy once again entered his palms. His palms, which were a bit swollen, immediately felt a trace of ice-cold air.
This ice-cold air felt extremely cozy and the pain in his palm began to subside little by little.
Sixth layer Ripple technique cannot be compared to the same layer of metal type techniques in terms of offensive might, however, the former was unusually effective in a little bit of healing. Especially in his current situation, Ripple technique was extremely advantageous since he could heal himself with its help and proceed on to the next round.
He Yiming raised his leg and slowly yet resolutely advanced towards the direction in which the bear had retreated a moment ago.
Since this big guy was not willing to leave, he could only make him leave. As long as he could let it know that his strength was above it, going by its innate tendencies, it would certainly show respect to his strength and leave.
As He Yiming advanced step by step, a sound like that of pounding of a drum was echoing in his mind. His eyes were on full vigilance, and a bit of sweat was trickling down his upper garment.
He swore in his mind that after returning he would immediately go into the Scripture Pavilion. With his sixth layer Internal Energy, he was already qualified to study Martial Skill Scriptures. If he’d learned a martial skill beforehand, he would have been able to exhibit many folds more strength, thus, he would have been able to scare the bear out of its wits in a single strike.
Suddenly, He Yiming paused his footsteps, and his eyelids slightly jumped. It was a kind of feeling which one would have on the brink of an impending danger. Even He Yiming himself didn’t understand how could he have such a sharp perception; this was a fortune that couldn’t be obtained by searching for it.
He looked at his front but couldn’t find the figure of the black bear in the thick bushes ahead.
‘That guy’s figure is enormous; if it was truly hiding in these low bushes, some clues certainly would have been left behind. Don’t tell me that thing actually cowered back?’
Both the ears of He Yimin slightly trembled, and his entire being immersed itself inside a wonderful state.
In the face of the unknown danger and pressure, his body was getting aroused by itself. He was single-heartedly observing every movement that occurred in his surroundings.
However, at this moment, he wasn’t able to take notice of the fact that his Internal Energy was not circulating according to the Ripple technique, instead, it was circulating in accordance with the Primordial Energy which he’d cultivated for eight years.
Although the Ripple technique was formidable, He Yiming had, after all, only cultivated it for a single night. In ordinary circumstances, He Yiming was able to divert his attention towards this point, however, at this moment, he’d entered a bizarre realm. He wasn’t able to spare his attention anywhere else other than observing his surroundings. Thus, the circulation of the Internal Energy inside his body had involuntarily returned to the course which it had diligently followed for eight years.
However, the thing He Yiming, even more, wouldn’t have expected was that his Primordial Energy, after circulating up to the fifth layer, didn’t stop at all. Instead, it began to circulate through the course of the sixth layer in an extremely natural manner.