Chapter 42: Ambush Robbery

"Iron Tower, are you okay?" Jianchen asked with concern.

Iron Tower shook his head, took a deep breath, and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm fine, just very hot. It was so hot that I almost couldn't stand it."

"Good, I'm relieved." Jianchen immediately sighed in relief. He had been worried when he saw Iron Tower surrounded by raging flames.

At this moment, Jianchen's gaze suddenly sharpened. He turned his head slightly to look at a dense area of leaves behind him. A flash of insight appeared in his eyes, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile curved his lips.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The ground began to tremble slightly. The Fire Cloud Beast, with heavy steps, approached Jianchen and Iron Tower. Each step it took caused the ground to shake. In its mouth, red flames flickered, as if ready to spew out at any moment.

Iron Tower stared intently at the slowly approaching Fire Cloud Beast and said in a grave voice, "Changyang Xiangtian, this big guy has very tough skin. How are we going to kill it?"

Jianchen also stared solemnly at the approaching Fire Cloud Beast and said, "The Fire Cloud Beast is covered in a very hard skin. Unless we reach the level of a Saint, the weapons we have can only pierce its fur. It seems we can only target its eyes to attack its brain."

As soon as Jianchen finished speaking, the Fire Cloud Beast let out a roar, opened its massive mouth, and spewed out another fiery snake.

Jianchen and Iron Tower quickly dodged. Jianchen gripped the iron rod in his right hand and shouted, "Iron Tower, you attract its attention."

"Don't worry, leave it to me!" Iron Tower picked up a stone from the ground and threw it forcefully at the Fire Cloud Beast, then ran to the side.

The stone flew through the air and hit the Fire Cloud Beast, striking the broken fang that Iron Tower had snapped off.

The broken fang seemed to be a source of pain for the Fire Cloud Beast. Its eyes turned bloodshot, filled with blood vessels, and it began to spew flames at Iron Tower.

Jianchen's gaze was sharp as he watched the Fire Cloud Beast, which was now completely focused on Iron Tower. He tightly gripped the slightly bent iron rod and moved his feet at an extremely fast pace, running towards the side of the Fire Cloud Beast's head.

Jianchen's speed was very fast. He seemed to be flying over the short grass on the ground, as if dancing in the air.

In an instant, Jianchen reached below the Fire Cloud Beast's head. Ignoring the intense heat from the flames spewing from its mouth, he leaped up, his body rising high. When his body was level with the Fire Cloud Beast's head, he suddenly thrust his right arm, driving the iron rod quickly towards the Fire Cloud Beast's fist-sized eye.

Despite Jianchen's speed, the Fire Cloud Beast's reaction was not slow. Just as the iron rod was about to reach its eye, it suddenly closed its eyes.

A flash of determination appeared in Jianchen's eyes. This was the moment of truth. His mind was highly focused, and under his powerful perception, he slightly adjusted the direction of the iron rod, changing its tip to pierce the gap between the Fire Cloud Beast's eyelids.

The iron rod easily pierced through the gap in the Fire Cloud Beast's eyelid, encountering no resistance. Immediately, a gush of fresh red blood flowed from the Fire Cloud Beast's eye.

"Roar!" The piercing pain made the Fire Cloud Beast let out a mournful cry, the sound echoing through the air and spreading in all directions.

Jianchen's right arm exerted more force, driving the iron rod deeper into the Fire Cloud Beast's eye, trying to pierce its brain directly.

The Fire Cloud Beast's cries grew more mournful, and its head began to shake violently, trying to shake off the iron rod. However, the rod had already penetrated deeply, and it was not easy to shake off. Moreover, with Jianchen still hanging on, the more it shook, the more intense the pain became. After a few violent shakes, the increasing pain made the Fire Cloud Beast stop moving its head.

The Fire Cloud Beast's cries continued, and finally, its massive body collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain. Although the wound was not yet fatal, the intense pain was unbearable for its brain.

Seeing the Fire Cloud Beast lying on the ground, Jianchen's eyes lit up with joy, and he immediately shouted, "Iron Tower, quickly push the iron rod deeper!" This task was best suited for Iron Tower, who possessed innate strength.

"Sure thing, I'm coming!" Iron Tower ran over excitedly, seeing the light of victory.

Iron Tower quickly approached the Fire Cloud Beast, grabbed the iron rod in its eye, and pushed it further with his right hand. Instantly, the one-meter-long iron rod was completely embedded in the Fire Cloud Beast's eye, with only a small part of the rod protruding.

"Roar!" A high-pitched cry echoed from the Fire Cloud Beast's mouth, so loud that it made Jianchen and Iron Tower's eardrums throb. After the cry, the Fire Cloud Beast seemed to lose all its strength. Its massive body twitched a few times on the ground and then stopped moving, its other eye slowly closing.

Seeing the Fire Cloud Beast finally dead, Jianchen and Iron Tower both sighed in relief. Although this Fire Cloud Beast was not the most powerful among second-stage magical beasts, its defense was outstanding, making it very difficult to kill.

"Finally dead. This magical beast was really troublesome, even spewing fire and burning off my hair." Iron Tower rubbed his bald head, looking dejected.

Jianchen chuckled, looking at Iron Tower's tattered school uniform, and said, "You should put this on!" He then took out a wolf skin from his spatial belt. They had prepared many wolf skins, and there were still plenty in the belt, intended for making clothes, as they would likely go through many battles in the forest and one set of clothes would not be enough.

Iron Tower didn't hesitate, quickly making a simple piece of clothing from the wolf skin.

Afterward, Jianchen and Iron Tower extracted the magic core from the Fire Cloud Beast's brain and continued their journey.

Just as Jianchen and Iron Tower disappeared into the forest, a red figure dropped from a tree with lush leaves. It was a tall woman in her thirties, wearing a fiery red outfit. Although she was not particularly beautiful, she had a gentle and quiet demeanor.

The woman looked at the Fire Cloud Beast's corpse, her eyes still showing a hint of shock. After taking a deep breath, she murmured, "Iron Tower, Changyang Xiangtian, you two are indeed as famous as your reputation. To kill a second-stage Fire Cloud Beast, known for its defense, with just two ordinary iron weapons and without reaching the Saint level, is truly astonishing. I must report this to the vice-principal." With that, she quickly left the area.

Not long after the woman left, five young men with weapons in hand arrived at the scene. Their faces were blackened, making it impossible to see their features, but they wore tattered school uniforms. Three of them held massive two-handed swords, one had a large cleaver, and the last, a burly youth, wielded a large hammer.

"From the sound, that roar must have come from here," one of the young men with a massive sword said.

The young man with the cleaver nodded and said, "Right, if the magical beast hasn't gone far, it should be nearby..." He paused, his eyes fixed on something ahead, and exclaimed, "Look, what is that?"

The others looked in the direction he pointed and saw a large, fiery red object lying on the ground, resembling a magical beast.

"Let's go check it out."

They quickly approached the magical beast. When they recognized it, their faces turned serious.

An experienced young man squatted beside the Fire Cloud Beast's corpse, dipped his hand in its blood, and said, "This is a Fire Cloud Beast, with strong defense but not very powerful attacks. The blood is still warm and not dried, indicating it died recently. The roar must have come from it."

Another young man with a massive sword looked around and then at the direction Jianchen and Iron Tower had left, saying, "Let's chase after them and see who killed this Fire Cloud Beast. If they are strong enough, we can recruit them to hunt magical beasts together. If they are too weak..." He smiled sinisterly.

The other four young men seemed to recall something and also smiled sinisterly. They then quickly pursued the direction Jianchen and Iron Tower had gone.

Jianchen and Iron Tower were cautiously walking through the forest, moving slowly to avoid any sudden appearances of magical beasts and the treacherous swamps on the ground.

Suddenly, Jianchen's ears twitched, and he stopped Iron Tower, saying, "Be careful, someone is following us from behind."

Iron Tower immediately stopped and turned to look behind them.

Soon, five figures appeared before Jianchen and Iron Tower. Their faces were blackened, making it impossible to see their features, but the weapons they held emitted a strong aura of Saint-level power.

The five young men, upon seeing only Jianchen and Iron Tower, showed a hint of joy in their eyes. They exchanged glances and, as if they had agreed beforehand, simultaneously sped up and surrounded Jianchen and Iron Tower.

Seeing this, Jianchen and Iron Tower felt a sense of unease.

"What do you want?" Jianchen asked sternly.

One of the young men waved his massive sword and grinned, "What do we want? What do you think we want?"

"Hand over your spatial belts, and we won't harm you. Otherwise... hehehe..." The burly young man with the hammer sneered.

Iron Tower's face turned red with anger, "Hand over our spatial belts? Ha, not a chance." He now understood what these young men were up to—ambush robbery.

Jianchen patted the spatial belt around his waist and sneered, "The spatial belt is right here. All the magic cores we've collected are inside. Come and get it if you can."

Despite knowing that the five young men were all at the Saint level, Jianchen and Iron Tower showed no fear.

"Hmph, since that's the case, don't blame us. Everyone, attack!" With a roar, the five Saint-level young men simultaneously attacked Jianchen and Iron Tower. However, their attacks were aimed at non-lethal areas, as they all knew they were fellow students and could not harm each other fatally.