“Come on then!” Zhu Xuan showed a scornful smile. He opened his arms, facing the beast Chen. “I’m right in front of you, kill me if you can!”

The beast Chen was obviously provoked by his words. It let out an angry roar before striking Zhu Xuan with its claws. Zhu Xuan leaped backward and easily dodged the attack.

“Is this all you got? Even a baby’s punch is stronger than that.” Zhu Xuan smiled and easily avoided the beast’s punches over and over again. He deliberately provoked the beast. “If this all you can do, I think I should leave.”

“Change back to your original form and face me! Hiding in a human body, you’re such a coward!” The beast Chen growled and struck with its claws again.

However, Zhu Xuan failed to dodge this time. The claws hit on his shoulder and blood instantly gushed from the wound.

Zhu Xuan clenched his teeth and endured the pain. He looked at it and taunted mockingly, “Is this all you got? You still have a long way to go!”

Then, Zhu Xuan ran into the pouring rain.

“Stop! Damn you, Bai Ze!”

The beast Chen roared and left the cave to chase him. As a result, it was drenched from head to tail by the rain.

Zhu Xuan, who was injured and still in human form, couldn’t move as fast as before and the beast Chen quickly caught up with him. At that very moment, Zhu Xuan stopped abruptly and shouted towards the dense bushes.

“Now!”

Suddenly, a thick hemp rope appeared across the road. It was too late for the beast Chen to stop moving, and resultantly, it tripped and fell.

Although the beast Chen had feathers, it did not have wings. Without even a chance to struggle, it fell directly into a huge water pit right behind the rope.

————————————————

“..So this is our plan.” I looked at them. Though deep inside I was very nervous, I had to keep calm and tell them about my plan. “Water is one of the beast Chen’s weaknesses, so we’ll use this weather to trap it.”

“A trap?” Shi Yitong and Su Xiaoyun looked at each other. “How will you set the trap?”

“A water pit. It’s raining heavily right now, and a pit full of water should trap it for a while!” I said with confidence.

“But that is a giant beast. I think it’s almost two stories high,” Shi Yitong said. “Where are you going to find such a big pit?”

“Yesterday’s battlefield! Didn’t the beast Chen hit the ground and smash open a huge pit when it fought with Zhu Xuan? If we’re lucky, the pit should be filled with water by now.” I looked at Zhu Xuan. “Am I right?”

“Yeah, you’re right!” Zhu Xuan became excited. “I think it’ll work! I can lure the beast Chen to somewhere near the pit, then you can pull a rope taut in front of the pit!”

“Even if the trap is successful,” Su Xiaoyun frowned and asked doubtfully, “what should we do next?”

“Then it will be my move,” Zhu Xuan said solemnly. “If the beast Chen is tricked into the water pit, it’ll need a few seconds to react. I can seize this moment and attack its neck, where its biggest vulnerability is. As long as I can seize this opportunity, I say we have a 50% chance to win.”

——————————————

With a huge beast roar, Bai Ze, the white auspicious beast, jumped onto the beast Chen. He took the opportunity and mercilessly bit the beast Chen’s neck and instantly, its blood splashed out!

“We did it!” Shi Yitong was the first one to jump out of the bushes. He shouted excitedly, jumping up and down in the rain.

“Gu Yu, hurry up!” Su Xiaoyun also rushed out while shouting at me.

——————————————

“You said, we have a 50% chance to win.” I looked at Zhu Xuan, worried. “What’s the next step?”

“Seal it,” Zhu Xuan said. He tucked his wet bangs behind his ear. “I’ll only be able to distract it for a moment. After that, we must immediately seal it.”

“You say we need to seal it..” I looked at Zhu Xuan with doubt. I pointed at myself and asked, “You’re not saying that I’m the one who has to do it, right?”

“Of course it’s you.” Zhu Xuan smiled. “You’re the only one who has a ritual instrument.”

“But, but,” I started babbling incoherently. “I don’t know how to cast a spell or charm. How would I know how to seal such a big monster?”

“You don’t know any at all?” Zhu Xuan asked. “Wen Jiubo, the one who gave you this fan, he never told you how to cast a spell?”

Wait, a spell..? I think I know one!

When I sealed the man-eating beast Gudiao, he held my hand and I repeated the spell after him. I could still remember it.

“I know one. But.. I probably only remember just a few sentences.” I anxiously looked at Zhu Xuan and asked, “Is that all right?”

Zhu Xuan smiled bitterly. “Well, then let’s do with what you remember. There is nothing we can do now. Since you said that you had the experience of sealing an evil beast, you’re the only one we can depend on.”

“But.. what if we fail?” put in Su Xiaoyun.

“If we fail, you must run away immediately,” Zhu Xuan said calmly. “Run as far as you can and let me deal with the beast Chen. I’ll fight with it until one of us dies.”

“How can we do that? Do you think that we’re that kind of person who would abandon our friend?” Shi Yitong said angrily.

“This has nothing to do with the kind of person you are.” The light glittering in Zhu Xuan’s eyes was as bright as the shine on a recently polished knife blade. “If we fail, the beast Chen will kill everyone in its vicinity. It will tear you apart and swallow your flesh and bones.”

After hearing that, we all subconsciously shivered.

—————————————

I rushed out of the bush as fast as I could. I then quickly unfolded the fan, pointing it at the beast Chen which was distracted by Bai Ze for now, and forcefully calmed myself down.

I suddenly remembered the spell Wen Jiubo taught me. I took a breath and began to recite,

“I invoke the power and authority of God.”

“Be humble under the mighty hand of God.”

“Begone, Satan, inventor and master of all deceit, the enemy of man’s salvation!”

However, my aura when casting the spell was much weaker than that of Wen Jiubo. I was not as handsome and charming as he was, not to mention that I was completely drenched by the rain with rain-slicked hair sticking to my forehead. And I couldn’t even open my eyes. I was totally a mess.

However, even though I was a mess right now, the spell worked!

I didn’t know why, but as soon as I finished the spell, the fan emitted a familiar smell, kinda like..

Then, I saw a green light gushing out of the fan and circling around Bai Ze and the beast Chen. While Zhu Xuan, who was Bai Ze at the moment, instantly jumped out of the light circle, the beast Chen remained there.

“We did it! It really worked!” Shi Yitong shouted excitedly.

“Gu Yu, you really did it!” Su Xiaoyun cheered and hugged Shi Yitong.

I did it..?

Though I was still in shock, I smiled at them and felt relieved. We successfully sealed this wicked beast!

However, at that time, I suddenly felt that something was wrong. Yes, the fan in my hand began to shake violently. The green light was not as bright as it was before and began to flicker.

The beast Chen started to struggle! It began to violently fight back against the trap, and obviously, we had enraged it.

“You, you ignorant humans! You will pay for what you did!!”

A low, angry voice suddenly flashed into my mind. I was astounded and almost dropped the fan on the ground.

“Gu Yu, watch out!” Su Xiaoyun’s scream brought me back to reality. I then discovered that the beast Chen somehow managed to get rid of the green light. Its blood-red eyes shone with anger and straightly rushed towards to me!

“We failed! Run!”

Zhu Xuan shouted and pushed me aside. However, I lost balance and fell on the ground. My hair and all my clothes were soaked with muddy water.

Damn.. How could this happen?

I struggled to get up using my arms. After I opened my eyes, Zhu Xuan had already turned into Bai Ze and fought with the angry beast Chen again.

“Run! Can’t you hear me?!” Bai Ze turned back and roared, but immediately, the beast Chen’s sharp claws cut up his white fur.

For the first time in my life, I felt a sense of powerlessness. I didn’t know what to do and how to do it, I just stupidly stood there.

Even though the rain was still pouring down, even though the seal weakened the power of the beast Chen, the beast Chen was still overwhelmingly powerful compared to Bai Ze. It really amazed all of us and made us wonder where the beast had gained this kind of power.

“What should we do? Zhu Xuan will die!” Shi Yitong shouted anxiously. “He..he can’t die! He hasn’t found the boy he loves!”

“I think we should think about how to save ourselves now!” Su Xiaoyun yelled, “If we don’t figure it out, we’ll be the next batch of people to end up in its stomach!”