The Rise of the Fallen Prodigy

Liam Smith ran forward desperately, not daring to stop and look back even once.

He could clearly feel the heavy breathing of the Frenzied Fire Ox and that intense heat that lingered for a long time.

He estimated that as soon as he stopped, that huge body with its powerful impact force would definitely smash his small body to pieces.

In the dark night, Liam Smith couldn't see the road ahead clearly. The senses of a warrior enhanced as their cultivation improved. A warrior with high cultivation could see in the dark as clearly as in the daytime, but Liam Smith was still far from that realm.

Although his eyesight was a bit stronger than that of an ordinary person, under the thick branches and leaves of the Cloud-Connecting Mountains that blocked out the sky, the moonlight and starlight in the sky couldn't shine on the ground at all. It was basically pitch-black, where one couldn't even see their own hand in front of them.

Although the night made Liam Smith lose his vision, it didn't affect his speed at all. Although the possibility of encountering danger increased greatly when running at high speed in such a dark night, at this moment, Liam Smith thought that no matter how great the danger was, it couldn't compare to the Frenzied Fire Ox behind him.

After several consecutive sharp turns, Liam Smith gradually distanced himself from the Frenzied Fire Ox. When Liam Smith finally crossed a mountain stream, the Frenzied Fire Ox finally stopped chasing.

It seemed to be very afraid of the water in the mountain stream. It stretched out its front hoof and tentatively touched the water. Immediately, a hissing sound was heard. The Frenzied Fire Ox withdrew its front hoof and let out a low growl while looking at Liam Smith on the opposite side.

Seeing that the Frenzied Fire Ox didn't dare to cross the water, Liam Smith grew bolder. He stopped running, turned around and looked at the Frenzied Fire Ox with a mocking expression, saying, "You big fool. If you have the guts, come over here. I'm right here. If you have the ability, come and catch me."

Although the Frenzied Fire Ox couldn't understand Liam Smith's words, Liam Smith's annoying expression made it very angry. Its front hooves kept waving in front of it, and the low growls kept coming.

After a while of confrontation, the Frenzied Fire Ox finally turned around and left.

Naturally, Liam Smith wouldn't go looking for trouble and continue to entangle with it.

He let out a big sigh of relief and began to look around at the place where he was.

In the dark night, Liam Smith could only see a forest. The rustling sound of the leaves flapping against each other as the breeze blew was constant.

There were also some scattered stones and patches of weeds among the trees, and there was nothing unusual.

Liam Smith found a big tree, leaned against it and sat down. Finally, he could take a rest.

"Little guy, are you tired so soon?" Alistair's voice sounded again at that moment.

Liam Smith snorted and said, "You ignored me when I called you just now. What do you want now that you're here?"

Alistair let out a sigh and said, "It's nothing. I just think that Frenzied Fire Ox was too disappointing. It really let me down."

"You say it's disappointing? I almost got cooked, you know?" Liam Smith said unhappily.

"But you're still fine, aren't you?"

"You..." Liam Smith suddenly thought Alistair was being very unreasonable. He calmed himself down and said, "When you noticed the Frenzied Fire Ox earlier, why didn't you notify me in advance?"

Liam Smith firmly believed that Alistair had known that the Frenzied Fire Ox was approaching earlier. If he had told him at that time, he wouldn't have been in such a mess now.

However, Alistair's answer completely exceeded Liam Smith's expectations.

Alistair said indifferently, "If I had told you, this game wouldn't have been fun."

"Game?" Liam Smith pondered for a moment and suddenly thought of a possibility. His tone became serious as he said, "That big guy wasn't led here by you, was it?"

"You're half right. To be exact, it was led here by both of us." Alistair admitted frankly.

"Both of us?" Liam Smith sneered and said, "I'm not stupid. Why would I lead such a big guy to deal with myself for no reason?"

Alistair pretended to be apologetic and said, "I forgot to tell you that the Frenzied Fire Ox likes to move towards the place with firelight the most."

"Damn it!" Liam Smith was instantly furious and couldn't hold back from swearing.

He never expected that the mastermind behind all this was actually Alistair. This made Liam Smith find it a bit hard to accept.

"Have you been plotting against me from the very beginning?"

"Don't put it so harshly. I'm doing all this for your own good."

"For my own good?" Liam Smith sneered and said, "Then I beg you to stop being so 'good' to me in the future. I'm afraid I can't bear it."

"Young people are hot-blooded. I can understand that, and I can pretend that you didn't say those words just now." In the face of Liam Smith's rudeness, Alistair seemed very magnanimous.

Liam Smith became alert at once. Alistair's sudden kindness made him feel an inexplicable fear. He didn't know if Alistair was hatching some more schemes.

Alistair paused and then said, "Actually, your master is teaching you a lesson. The world is full of traps everywhere. You can't trust anyone. The only person you can trust is yourself."

Liam Smith wasn't stupid either. After thinking carefully, what Alistair said seemed to make some sense. Although he didn't like this way of teaching, it was much more effective than just talking about it.

After calming down for a moment, Liam Smith's mood recovered a bit, and he asked in a deep voice, "You didn't plan all these things in advance, did you?"

"Of course. From the moment you entered the Cloud-Connecting Mountains, everything that happened here was part of your training. I'm just carrying out the things I planned. If something happens outside of the plan, it has nothing to do with me."

"What are the things outside of the plan?" Liam Smith was slightly shocked.

Alistair chuckled and said, "I just thought you were smart a moment ago. Why are you being stupid all of a sudden? Since it's something outside of the plan, how would I know?"

"Then please, can you tell me the content of this training clearly at once? If it goes on like this, I'm really afraid that my heart won't be able to take it, and I'll break down."

"The ability of your heart and will to withstand pressure is also part of the training content."

Alistair's short sentence directly made Liam Smith feel as if he had fallen into an abyss.

In short, Alistair wouldn't reveal any inside information.

Liam Smith gritted his teeth and said, "Old man, you're really something."

Suddenly, Alistair seemed to have sensed something and said happily to himself, "I was just complaining that the Frenzied Fire Ox wasn't powerful enough. I didn't expect that there would be other little guys to take its place so soon."

Alistair's words made Liam Smith a bit scared. He scanned his surroundings but didn't see anything unusual.

He composed himself and asked, "Master, what did you find?"

Alistair obviously didn't want to tell Liam Smith and just said lightly, "You'll know soon enough, won't you?"

Liam Smith cursed Alistair in his heart. He thought that the best strategy was to leave. While the "little guy" in Alistair's words hadn't arrived yet, he decided to leave this place full of trouble.

Just as Liam Smith stood up and was about to leave, suddenly a clear birdcall broke the silence of the night.

Liam Smith didn't dare to breathe heavily and stared fixedly at his surroundings.

After a few breaths, Liam Smith found four small red dots among the trees on his left. They were probably only the size of a fingernail.

What was terrifying was that these four small red dots were floating in mid-air, like ghosts, making one's hair stand on end.

At the same time, the four small red dots were approaching him at a visible speed, as if they had already discovered him.

When the red dots got closer, Liam Smith clearly heard the sound of wings flapping. The outlines of two black shadows came into view.

These were two birds whose names he didn't know. The small red dots were their eyes, and they weren't very big, probably only the size of a palm.

Just as Liam Smith wanted to take a closer look, the two little things suddenly accelerated and swooped towards Liam Smith with screams.

Liam Smith only saw two sharp long beaks. He quickly dodged, but it was still a bit too late. The sharp claws were like blades, leaving a scratch on Liam Smith's face, and a trace of blood had already oozed out.

Liam Smith felt that the wound was especially painful, as if it had been burned by fire.

With a successful strike, the two birds let out excited screams. They swung their bodies in the air, turned around and continued to attack Liam Smith.

This time, Liam Smith didn't dodge. Instead, he stood his ground, turned his neck to avoid the attacks of the two sharp beaks, and then bent over to avoid the four sharp claws.

But Liam Smith did more than that. While bending over to avoid the attack, Liam Smith's right hand shot out quickly, and his Mountain Break Fist directly struck the abdomen of one of the birds. The violent fist force poured out.

Although Liam Smith's cultivation was only at the second level of the Refined Gas Realm, this unknown bird didn't seem to be a high-level monster either. After being hit by Liam Smith, it fell straight to the ground, lying there struggling continuously. It couldn't stand up for a while and could only let out a pitiful cry.

Seeing that the bird was so easily defeated, Liam Smith immediately gained confidence. It seemed that his Mountain Break Fist was really powerful.

The anger that had been pent up from being chased by the Frenzied Fire Ox seemed to have found an outlet.

He said contemptuously, "I thought it was some tough guy. Turns out it's so easily defeated."

But as soon as he finished speaking, Liam Smith regretted it. After the bird let out a few pitiful cries, before he knew it, many more birds flew over from around.

Roughly estimating, there were at least fifteen or sixteen of them.

Although they didn't have much attack power on their own and were also easily defeated, the sudden appearance of so many of them was really terrifying.

Moreover, considering the sharpness of their beaks and claws, Liam Smith didn't think he could defeat so many birds. As the saying goes, two fists can't defeat four hands. Although these guys were relatively low-level, they couldn't be underestimated due to their overwhelming number.

Liam Smith didn't stay any longer and ran towards the forest on his right.

He took a moment to look back and saw that the bird he had injured earlier was actually being eaten by its companions. Its long intestines were held in the mouth of one of its companions and were suspended in the air. From a distance, he could feel a thick smell of blood.

Liam Smith almost vomited and felt sorry for that bird.

"Old guy, did you cause this again?" Liam Smith said angrily.

Alistair explained, "Don't wrongly accuse me. This matter really has nothing to do with me."

"I'll believe you for now."

Liam Smith still knew a bit about Alistair's character. If he said he wasn't responsible for this, then he probably wasn't.

"Then what are these guys? Why don't they spare their own companions?"

"Blood raven." Alistair said lightly.

Hearing Alistair's words, Liam Smith had some impression of them.

These guys were naturally bloodthirsty. As long as there was the smell of blood, they could smell it within a li. And whether it was an enemy or one of their own, as long as someone was bleeding, they wouldn't let it go.

Blood ravens were level-one monsters, and among level-one monsters, they were one of the weakest in individual strength. Any warrior in the Refined Gas Realm could fight against them.

But they had a habit of living in groups. People below the sixth level of the Refined Gas Realm could only run away when they met them.

Liam Smith now understood how he had suddenly provoked these monsters. When he was avoiding the pursuit of the Frenzied Fire Ox earlier, he had accidentally been scratched by thorns and thatched grass in some places on his body. Presumably, these blood ravens had come attracted by the smell of his blood.