Chapter 124: Exhausting Every Effort, Each Showing Their Own Prowess

Within 1.5 seconds, the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast had endured eight strikes from Qin Chuan’s sword. Although it sustained no damage, the creature was filled with both shock and regret. It realized that Qin Chuan’s blade remained as smooth as jade, without a single scratch; it had clearly fallen for Qin Chuan’s ruse. Had Qin Chuan blinked over at the very beginning, the beast would never have been deceived. Unfortunately, the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast’s overwhelming desire for victory had caused it to inadvertently lower its guard, leading to the current predicament.

At that moment, Qin Chuan found it difficult to determine the duration of the beast’s immunity. However, the next instant, the whistling sound of the giant scythe spinning came to an abrupt halt. Qin Chuan was overjoyed: "Holy crap, heaven is helping me! Freshly baked snacks are served!"

Without hesitation, Qin Chuan struck down, simultaneously unleashing his aura. "Intimidation!" The advantage became even more pronounced in that instant. The Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast had just finished executing its skill and was still in the recovery phase; though the window was incredibly brief, it was enough for Qin Chuan. The longsword descended, and even with its speed value exceeding 2000, the beast could not evade it.

"Ding! Critical hit triggered, damage increased by 150%, and knock-up effect applied."
"Ding! 40% slow effect triggered."

"Puff!"
"Ah!"

The Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast suffered immense damage instantly, its eyes filled with shock and disbelief: "This is impossible! How can his sharpness value be so high?!"

Indeed, the sharpness was that high. During a critical hit, the sharpness value reached over 2600, making the beast’s toughness, which had dropped to 1520, seem inadequate. With this strike, the three thieves breathed a collective sigh of relief, the oppressive tension instantly vanishing. The situation had reversed, and the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast, trapped in the knock-up and slow effects, found itself in a dire state. The only thing it could be grateful for was that Qin Chuan’s blade had not triggered a freeze effect, leaving it with a sliver of hope.

"Red Spirit Poison Mist!"

As the beast’s ultimate move, the Red Spirit Poison Mist could be unleashed at will, even from within its own body while airborne. A ten-meter radius of red toxic mist instantly obscured the view, buying the beast a moment to catch its breath. It swung its three-meter-long scythe fiercely into the ground.

"Puff! Sshhh!"

The scythe carved a deep crack into the earth. The beast’s goal was to reduce its landing time. It must be said that having long limbs certainly has its advantages. The Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast reacted with extreme agility, finding the most efficient method to recover. It quickly landed on both feet, retracted its giant scythe, and then raised it high before slamming it into the ground.

Indeed, the beast was clearly preparing to unleash "Red Spirit Angry Scythe," a skill combining crowd control and heavy damage. Because the poison mist obscured the view, it believed Qin Chuan would be unable to detect the motions of this skill. However, a flash of fire erupted as the Dragon-Pattern Cold Jade Sword tore through the mist, landing on the beast in the blink of an eye.

"This... how is this possible?!"
"Why is he completely unaffected, and how can he block the poison mist?"
"I will risk taking another hit to unleash the Red Spirit Angry Scythe; that will be the moment of my comeback!"

The surprises for the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast were coming one after another, but it did not give up on using its skill. If it could just hit Qin Chuan, the final victory would still be its own. By this point in the battle, both sides were pulling out all the stops, and the outcome remained uncertain.

Seeing the beast’s movements, Qin Chuan knew it was about to use a crowd-control skill. "I didn't expect this guy to land so quickly. If I let this hit, the consequences would be unimaginable. Protective Dragon Aura!"

To be safe, Qin Chuan activated this skill, instantly raising his toughness to over 2300. Even if he were hit, he could survive for at least three seconds. The Dragon-Pattern Cold Jade Sword struck the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast 0.1 seconds before the giant scythe touched the ground.

"Ding! 40% slow effect triggered."
"Ding! Freeze triggered, duration three seconds."

Because Qin Chuan had perfectly timed the freeze, he narrowly avoided the devastating hard-control effect. Once frozen, the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast was completely bewildered. It had been so confident in controlling Qin Chuan, only to have its skill interrupted at the very last second. That sense of frustration is something only those who experience it can understand. It could only be said that Qin Chuan was lucky, and the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast was not.

With the skill interrupted, the Red Spirit Angry Scythe entered cooldown, requiring eleven seconds to recharge. But in its current state, could it last another eleven seconds? The beast felt like crying; would these surprises never end?

The Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast was right—the surprises were not over. Within those three seconds, Qin Chuan performed superhuman maneuvers. Under the effect of "Intimidation," his sharpness value was around 1750. Combined with the 5% additional ice damage from the freeze state, the damage was substantial. This three-second flurry of rapid strikes left the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast in agony.

Even worse, Qin Chuan refilled his rage meter, granting another chance for a critical hit. At this point, the freeze had not yet worn off, signaling the end of the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast’s life.

"Goodbye, have a safe journey."

As Qin Chuan spoke, he swung his sword, shattering the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast into pieces.

"Ding! Killed level 30 Five-Colored Purple Spirit Beast, gained 1,000,000 experience points. Bonus 100% experience for cross-level kill; congratulations to the host for gaining 2,000,000 experience points."
"Ding! Discovered high-grade Three-Soul Bead, increases all attributes by 20%."
"Ding! Discovered Five-Colored Red Poison Bead."
"Ding! Discovered Red Spirit Fluid, grants immunity to Red Poison Mist damage."

It was the standard set of three, but the addition of the high-grade Three-Soul Bead sounded excellent. Before dying, the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast was filled with reluctance and regret. It was clearly much stronger than its opponent, yet it had lost in such a miserable fashion. Perhaps it was just a little less lucky than Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan had succeeded in slaying the beast through calm judgment and mastery of the battlefield, aided by a bit of luck. Thus, for him, this battle had been heart-stopping. A single misstep could have meant the end for all three thieves. Qin Chuan then consumed the beast’s spirit core, gaining 150,000 evolution points. At the same time, his quality upgrade probability increased by 10%—this increase was noticeably lower than that of the Ancient Vine Black Dragon Sword. After all, the sword had been a ninth-tier red spirit weapon, so it was normal for it to have a higher upgrade probability.

"That’s a bit strange, but whatever, too lazy to think about it." Although Qin Chuan didn't understand, he was still happy. "In the blink of an eye, the quality upgrade probability has reached 48%. Perhaps there will be more surprises at that treasure mine."

The Sleepy Bug, having just finished absorbing the red poison mist, saw the scene of Qin Chuan slaying the beast and shouted excitedly: "Big Brother, you are truly amazing! There is nothing you cannot do!"

Purple also ran over, praising Qin Chuan highly: "Qin Chuan, you were incredible! We were so worried about you just now."

"Yeah, yeah, Purple and I were just about to step in. I didn't expect you to take down this big guy all at once, Big Brother."

After slaying the Five-Colored Red Spirit Beast, Qin Chuan relaxed and chuckled: "These powerful opponents keep reminding me to stay low-key, but..."

Before he could finish, Purple interrupted: "Tch, were you going to say, 'I want to be low-key, but my strength won't allow it'?"

"Haha! Purple knows me well!"
"Tch, showing off again!"