"Its feathers are too thick!" Qiu Lingshan and the others hastily called out from behind. Unless Jumang charged in, they dared not strike rashly, and could only help in this manner.

Only then did Leng Leng realize what was happening: the creature's feathers were thick, and the outermost layer was hard as armor, so even when the Shard Ice Palm landed, the Shard Ice Aura could not penetrate its body, and naturally had no real effect.

Since striking the wings was useless, then she would have to aim somewhere else, especially the places where the feathers were sparse—such as that horrifying human face of its!

With a flick of thought, Leng Leng immediately aimed her Shard Ice Palm at the creature's face. To her surprise, Jumang did not block at all; instead, a faintly humanlike smirk hung on its face. Only when the Shard Ice Palm was almost upon it did it suddenly open its mouth and spit out a stream of green venomous gas.

Wherever the venomous gas passed, even hard stone was corroded into a bottomless little hole. Fortunately, Leng Leng reacted quickly enough and pulled back in time, narrowly dodging the green gas—otherwise the consequences would have been unthinkable.

"This thing is just too damn sinister!" The others stared in stunned disbelief. They knew that many spirit beasts possessed no small amount of intelligence, and even so, spirit beasts generally tended toward straightforward attacks; those that truly enjoyed scheming were few, and those like Jumang that deliberately held back to play dirty tricks were even rarer.

Leng Leng was startled as well. Having witnessed the power of the venomous gas, she immediately abandoned the notion of striking the creature's face. That face was no exploitable weak spot—it was a trap deliberately set to lure in the unwary.

For a time, Leng Leng found herself at a loss. Fortunately, she at least possessed the strength of Foundation Establishment major completion. So long as she responded carefully, this Jumang could not harm her for the moment.

However, she had only traded a few blows with it when Jumang suddenly changed tactics. After sweeping her aside with one claw, it lunged straight at Qiu Lingshan and the others!

"Aiya!" Wu Chengtian and the rest started in alarm. This thing truly deserved its human face—it knew to pick off the weak, cunning to the core!

"Hold the line, everyone!" Qiu Lingshan shouted quickly. Shocked as they were, they had not descended into panic, and with her as the spearhead they managed to withstand Jumang's first charge.

In terms of strength, Qiu Lingshan ranked second among them only to Wei Zhao and Leng Leng. After the trial contest she had successfully broken through once more, and was now a peak expert of early Foundation Establishment. Yet even so, before a creature like Jumang she was still no match. But she was not alone—the defensive formation Wei Zhao had made them drill could withstand attacks far beyond their own strength, and even a Foundation Establishment major completion expert could not break it in a short time, as was the case with Jumang now.

The strike missed. A slightly surprised expression appeared on Jumang's face; it had never imagined that a mere bunch of soft persimmons could actually withstand its surprise attack!

By then Leng Leng had already tangled with it again. That last move had truly drenched her in cold sweat. Fortunately, Qiu Lingshan and the others had performed well enough; otherwise, if anyone had been killed by its sneak attack, she would have been consumed by guilt for the rest of her life.

Jumang repeated its old trick, turning to deliver a kick with its leg-claws. Its legs were long and slender, its claws extremely sharp, and once its speed reached a certain level the threat was immense—even an expert like Leng Leng at Foundation Establishment major completion dared not take it head-on lightly. Besides, Leng Leng had never been one for brute force and direct confrontation.

But this time, unexpectedly, Leng Leng did not retreat. Gritting her teeth, she met the blow with her Shard Ice Palm. There was no help for it. She dared not retreat again; otherwise she would give the creature a second chance to launch a surprise attack on Qiu Lingshan and the others. The first time had been a narrow escape, but the second time might not be so fortunate.

Pfft! Leng Leng violently spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Pitting her weakness against the enemy's strength was never a pleasant affair; from the moment she made her resolve, taking injuries and spitting blood had been inevitable.

"Jiligulu?" Jumang was clearly taken aback. It abruptly discovered that its leg-claw had failed to retract in time—it was being gripped tightly by Leng Leng. The longer it stayed that way, the more a piercing cold seeped up from its leg-claw, spreading gradually through the rest of its body, until signs of freezing began to appear all over.

"Wonderful! Sister Leng Leng, beautifully done!" Ying Ziyu was overjoyed and immediately wanted to rush up to help; she was eager to let this hideous-looking thing taste her close-range instant strike.

"Don't!" Leng Leng and the others were badly startled by her reckless move. Jumang was only affected by her Shard Ice Aura; it was far from being completely frozen. With Ying Ziyu's level of strength, rushing in would be tantamount to throwing her life away.

Just then, Jumang turned its head and opened its mouth to release a stream of green venomous gas. Leng Leng could boldly take its leg-claws head-on, but this stuff she dared not touch; she quickly released its leg-claw and twisted aside to dodge. Even a slight brush with that venom could mean death.

"Jiligulu!" A savage, ferocious look flashed across Jumang's eerie human face. After driving Leng Leng back, it lunged once more straight at Qiu Lingshan and the others, and this time its target was even clearer—Ying Ziyu, who had clearly positioned herself too far forward!

"Ziyu, fall back quickly!" Qiu Lingshan and the others were frantic at the sight. Even though they had formed a defensive formation that allowed them to share the vast majority of the pressure among themselves, it still required a spearhead figure as its core.

That person could be Qiu Lingshan, could be Wu Chengtian, could be Yu Bing, but could not be anyone else, because among them only those three were peak experts of early Foundation Establishment who had broken through again after the trial contest. Everyone else, Ying Ziyu included, was still only at early Foundation Establishment and utterly incapable of shouldering such a burden.

But Ying Ziyu's position at this moment was too far forward. The others could either exclude her from the defensive formation or force her into the role of its spearhead—either way, Ying Ziyu would inevitably be placed in extreme danger, especially since she was Jumang's preferred target. The outcome was simply unthinkable.

"Uh-oh..." Ying Ziyu was frozen stiff under Jumang's stare, utterly dumbstruck. Though she had been exceptionally active and forceful ever since learning the close-range instant strike, seemingly able to gain the upper hand against most opponents of her level, in the end she was still just a young girl inexperienced in the ways of the world, and in every other respect she was far from comparable to Qiu Lingshan and the others—just as at this very moment. (To be continued~^~)