"Roar!" A cry rang out. Tang Yan felt a fierce gust of wind to his left. Phantom Step unfurled at once, and he flung himself sharply backward and to the side. A black shadow pounced across the very spot where he had been standing.

Only now did Tang Yan see the thing clearly. It was a beast.

The big fellow ran a good three meters from nose to tail, jet-black all over, its body sleek and supple, cleverly hidden in the dark of night.

He looked twice, and his heart jumped. The way this leopard looked... why did it resemble a Phantom Panther so closely? That was a Spirit Beast!

By bloodline, Spirit Beasts were divided into nine ranks. It was said a Seventh-Rank Spirit Beast could speak the human tongue, cultivate powerful demonic techniques, and wield astonishing battle power. Spirit Beasts of the Second Rank and above carried a Beast Core within them, dense with Spiritual Qi, a top-grade medicinal material for alchemy.

A Second-Rank Spirit Beast he could have managed, but a Phantom Panther was a Third-Rank Spirit Beast, on par with a Black Rank martial artist. With the gulf in strength so wide, Tang Yan made up his mind in an instant: run.

Its first strike having missed, the Phantom Panther studied Tang Yan with a flicker of curiosity, unable to fathom how a creature this weak could move so fast.

Refusing to accept it, the panther hunched back, drove off its hind legs, and shot toward Tang Yan again, swift as a bolt of lightning.

Tang Yan's heart seized. He poured everything into Phantom Step and bolted without so much as a glance behind.

"Roar!" Seeing Tang Yan slip its attack once more and then flee outright, the Phantom Panther howled in fury and tore after him at full speed.

As a Third-Rank Spirit Beast, the Phantom Panther had not only crushing physical strength but blistering speed. What truly made Tang Yan want to curse aloud was this: once the panther began to run, it veiled its aura so perfectly that he could no longer pin down where the beast was, leaving him unable to tell whether it had closed the distance or not.

"Whoosh!" Coming upon a massive boulder, Tang Yan had no choice but to swerve around it. Suddenly a huge form vaulted straight onto the rock, kicked off with its hind legs, and rode that brutal momentum down toward him.

A sharp, murderous aura pricked at his back like a thorn. Cursing inwardly, Tang Yan clenched his teeth and forced the True Qi in his Dantian into furious motion. Phantom Step swept his body into a sudden surge forward.

"Boom!" A heavy sound landed behind him, and the air around him burst apart. A wave of relief at having cheated death welled up in his chest. Had a blow that heavy caught him square, he truly would have gone straight to the underworld.

And in that hair's-breadth moment, Tang Yan had wrung out his own Potential, forcing his grasp of Phantom Step up a whole step.

Feeling his quickened speed, Tang Yan steadied a little. He still was not as swift as the Phantom Panther, but Phantom Step had grown far more nimble, letting him dart off in any direction he pleased. Now, dodging the panther's attacks, he carried far less of the sorry clumsiness from before.

"I say, Brother Panther, you haven't caught me after all this time, and you won't catch me now either. Why not call it off, hmm?" Tang Yan hollered over his shoulder as he ran for his life.

"Roar!" The answer was another vicious pounce.

Tang Yan's feet slid to his rear left, and at an uncanny angle he wheeled about and fled again. Fast as the Phantom Panther was, its bulk was enormous; by the time it twisted around, the distance between them had stretched wide once more.

Running like this for more than ten kilometers, the fruits of fleeing for his life showed plainly. His grasp of Phantom Step had deepened. At first he had staggered with every step; now a single breath carried him far away.

Phantom Step had grown more Proficient, but the True Qi in his Dantian was nearing empty. Tang Yan fished a High Spirit Pill from his robes and tossed it straight into his mouth.

The moment the Pill went down, True Qi surged once more through his all-but-drained Dantian. His spirit jolted awake, and he bent his focus back to dodging.

Circling round and round like this, more than two shichen slipped by in their contest, and Tang Yan had swallowed three High Spirit Pills. Just as he was marveling at how formidable a Third-Rank Spirit Beast truly was, the aura behind him suddenly thinned. Curious, he glanced back, and when he saw the Phantom Panther panting hard as well, he came to a stop.

Damn it, you're finally worn out!

Watching the panther, which seemed to have given up all hope of catching him, a cold smile curled at the corner of Tang Yan's mouth. I've waited a long time for this moment. He scooped up a stone, poured True Qi into it, and hurled it hard at the Phantom Panther. The long sword in his hand quivered, and his body followed close behind the throw.

"Boom!" The Phantom Panther swept out a foreleg and shattered the stone to dust. But Tang Yan's sword had already arrived, stabbing straight for the panther's eye.

The thrust was swift as lightning. Tang Yan had been certain the panther's strength was spent and that it would never dodge in time.

Yet the panther's body twisted nimbly aside, slipping the blade meant for its vital point. Even so, Tang Yan's sword grazed one side of its neck, opening a thin, fine gash across its throat.

"Roar!" To see the prey it had already decided not to pursue turn back and provoke it, the Phantom Panther flew into a rage, roared, and charged Tang Yan once more.

Feeling the panther's fury, Tang Yan's heart lurched. Good grief, this thing still had strength left?

In his fluster, Tang Yan gave up on attacking and spun to run again, while the enraged panther dogged him without let. Another shichen or so passed before the Phantom Panther finally halted once more.

With Pills on him, Tang Yan had no fear of running dry on True Qi.

After nearly four shichen of headlong running, he refused to believe the panther had any strength left. He downed a High Spirit Pill, leveled his sword, and charged in again.

"Clang!" Tang Yan's sword swung out, the Phantom Panther threw up a claw to meet it, and a long, ringing clash of metal sounded. The web between his thumb and forefinger went numb, and he nearly lost his grip on the hilt.

But now Tang Yan had the measure of the panther's strength. His heart settled fully, and the Drifting Cloud Sword unfolded like drifting cloud and flowing water.

For all their immense strength, Spirit Beasts fell far short of humans in both wit and technique. Faced with that fierce, elusive swordwork, the Phantom Panther could only meet it with raw force, trying to crush Tang Yan's edge in technique through sheer power.

But its strength was all but spent, and the panther had reached the end of its tether. It wondered, dimly, how this frail little human possessed such endurance, yet the moment left it no room to dwell on the question.

"Shff-" Tang Yan's sword carved wound after wound into the panther's hide. It could only loose roar after furious roar; drained of strength, it was now as helpless as a lamb to the slaughter.

In the span of a dozen-odd minutes, Tang Yan drove his sword clean into the Phantom Panther's throat. It struggled a few times in unwillingness to die, then crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom.

The clash had lasted barely a dozen minutes, yet this was a Third-Rank Spirit Beast all the same; even spent, the Phantom Panther wielded terrifying destructive force. With the battle over, Tang Yan dropped to the ground, gasping for breath.

Thinking back on the night, Tang Yan gave a wry laugh. He had only meant to drill Phantom Step, and he had reckoned it would take two months at least to master the footwork. Instead, today he had not only grasped it but advanced at a frankly terrifying pace.

Before long, he was certain, he would step into the realm of Minor Achievement.

After resting on the ground a while, Tang Yan rolled to his feet, raised his sword, and split open the Phantom Panther's skull. A golden Beast Core dropped into his hand.

Feeling the Spiritual Qi packed within it, Tang Yan's heart leapt with delight. He was just about to put it away when the long-silent Heaven and Earth Creation Cauldron stirred with a sudden burst of glee. His face went blank. What was this useless cauldron getting all worked up about now?