Scythe Spirit's First Blood

The Hunter Leader stood before the tent with a dark expression. Because it was night, and there was some distance between them, Duanyu Fan and the other three did not notice his face.

"Damn bad luck! Blood everywhere. Let's go over there," Yan said, looking at the ground covered in blood.

"Yeah," Duanyu Fan said, looking at the corpses on the ground.

"Sorry, senior. We went a little heavy-handed." Duanyu Fan and the other three came over to the hunters, and Xie Yue spoke to the leader.

"Not at all! They overestimated themselves and dared to murder people for their goods. If they died, that's just how it is. They can only blame themselves for being too greedy," the leader said heartlessly, not grieving for them at all.

"Oh? Senior, you're not sad?" Duanyu Fan looked at the leader's merciless face and spoke in surprise.

"To be honest with you young brothers, we hadn't formed this team for long. We only put it together temporarily to capture spirit beasts for the Fire Lion Family. It was just because my Soul Power Level was a little higher than theirs that they called me big brother, so we simply ranked and addressed one another by Soul Power Level," the leader explained with a relaxed expression.

Duanyu Fan did not keep digging into whether the man's words were true or false.

"Then, senior, can our cooperation still continue? If we keep working together, the promised Gold Soul Coins won't be short by a single coin. We'll pay you the remaining fifty thousand as agreed," Yan said to the leader with a beaming smile.

"Of course! I've accepted your deposit. Once it's daylight, I'll take you to the Purple Heart Sacred Flame Lion's range." The leader smiled, clearly maintaining his earlier promise.

"Good! Do you want to rest? We'll set up tents again beside yours," Yan said, taking out two tents again.

"Sigh! After something like this, I can't sleep. You don't mind if I go over and get some things, do you?" The leader sighed, then planned to walk over to where the four men were lying on the ground.

"Heh. Do as you like," Xie Yue said, then helped Yan start setting up the new tents.

Duanyu Fan and the other three had prepared several tents, and since the previous tents had been splashed with blood, they naturally could not put them away again.

The leader walked to the side of his brothers and looked solemnly at the four men lying on the ground, each cut in two with a single slash. Silently, he dug out the four bags of Gold Soul Coins that had previously been distributed to them.

"Brothers, ah! Why didn't you listen to me? Why were you in such a hurry? Now look. You can't enjoy them anymore, and I'm the one who benefits." The leader held the four bags of Gold Soul Coins and sighed.

After that, he piled the four bodies together and took out a piece of cloth to cover them.

Duanyu Fan and the other three silently set up the tents and exchanged a glance. Clearly, they did not believe the hunter's nonsense, but they still needed the hunter to lead them to the spirit beast.

"You guys rest first. I'll keep watch for the second half of the night," Yan said to Duanyu Fan and the other two after seeing that the tents had been set up.

"Okay. Be careful," Duanyu Fan said, then walked into the tent.

Yan remained seated beside the campfire. Before long, after the leader finished what he was doing, he also came over and sat by the fire.

"You young brothers truly are young talents with promising futures. You must be extraordinary figures even in Heaven Dou City," the leader said, chatting quietly with Yan.

"Not at all. It's all because the academy teachers taught us well. Oh, right, the four of us are members of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Battle Team. The three of them saw that I had broken through to rank 40, so the teacher had them accompany me to the Star Dou Forest to obtain a Soul Ring. It also counts as wilderness training. As it happens, I'm a fire-attribute beast Spirit Master, so when I heard what you said, I couldn't help speaking up," Yan replied casually.

"Oh! So you're elites of Heaven Dou Royal Academy. No wonder you're all around your teens and already at the Soul Ancestor level, and you cooperate so tacitly. No wonder you made a deal with me. The Purple Heart Sacred Flame Lion is indeed one of the best choices for a fire-attribute Spirit." The leader spoke as if he understood. As for whether he believed Yan's nonsense, only he knew.

"I've also been in the Star Dou Forest for three days, searching for a fire-attribute spirit beast for a long time. It's all thanks to you, senior. Otherwise, who knows how much longer I'd have to search," Yan continued talking nonsense.

"It's all fate! But why didn't your academy send anyone to protect you? Aren't they afraid something might happen?" the leader asked curiously.

"To be honest, there's also quite a lot of competition in the academy. Heaven Dou Royal Academy has geniuses like rain, and any member's place on the team could be replaced by someone else at any time. That's why we refused the academy's protective arrangements," Yan said with such sincerity that the leader could not tell whether his words were true or false.

"Oh! That really is impressive. Blazing Fire City also has a Blazing Fire Advanced Spirit Master Academy, but by comparison, it's inferior to Heaven Dou Royal Academy. As expected of an academy bearing the name royal," the leader praised Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

The second half of the night quickly passed. The hunter made no moves, and nothing happened.

They got up in the morning at about eight o'clock. Everyone casually packed up, and the hunter led Duanyu Fan and the other three to search for the Purple Heart Sacred Flame Lion.

The Purple Heart Sacred Flame Lion was a snow-yellow lion, but there was a purple patch where its heart was. Its entire body gave off pure white flames, which was why it was called the Purple Heart Sacred Flame Lion.

Duanyu Fan and the other three followed the hunter for about two hours, passing through the ant nest they had destroyed earlier along the way.

Of course, while following the hunter, Duanyu Fan and the other three kept their guard up. If the hunter led them into some other dangerous dead end, they would not even know how they died.

After going a little deeper in the direction of the ant nest, the hunter finally stopped.

"This is it. The place where the Purple Heart Sacred Flame Lion roams. Our previous plan was disrupted by the Purple Armor Devouring Gold Ants, so we had to return empty-handed," the leader said after stopping.

"Oh? Why don't I see it?" Yan could not help saying as he looked at the silent surroundings.

"What's the rush? Search around the area. I don't think this senior has any need to lie. You and Moon Blade search around the left side. Demon Fox and I will check the right side," Duanyu Fan assigned the tasks, then led Hu Liena in one direction.

"Okay!" Xie Yue took Yan to the left.

"I'll help you search too!" the Hunter Leader said, then followed behind Duanyu Fan.

As they searched, Duanyu Fan's group and Xie Yue's group completely pulled apart, until they could no longer see each other.

"Haha! You two really are a handsome man and a beautiful woman. You're a Support System Spirit Master and a Control System Spirit Master, right?" the leader said with a cheerful laugh at this moment.

"Senior has sharp eyes. You observed very carefully." Duanyu Fan turned around, both hands behind his back, and spoke to the leader indifferently.

"Not at all! Didn't I see you two release Soul Skills last night? Oh! Careful, there's movement ahead," the leader suddenly cried out as he looked forward.

"Where?" Duanyu Fan also prepared to turn around.

Seeing Duanyu Fan about to turn around, the leader gave a sinister smile.

"Fourth Soul Skill, Long Blade Straight Thrust." Seeing his chance, the leader immediately summoned his long blade Spirit and released a Soul Skill to attack Duanyu Fan.

"Heh!" But the leader also failed to notice the faint smile that appeared on Duanyu Fan's face.

"Guillotine!" Duanyu Fan had already released his Second Spirit, the scythe, in his hand, and released the Guillotine skill's one-second invincible state.

"Twin Martial Souls!" the leader cried out in shock.

"Hehe! Fourth Soul Skill, Soul-Seizing Hook of the Gods." Hu Liena also released her Fourth Soul Skill, charming the leader.

"Double Cut!" Duanyu Fan used another basic skill of the scythe Spirit.

"Pfft!" The leader was awakened from Hu Liena's charm by the pain and fell to the ground, his entire body almost split into three sections.

Duanyu Fan's Double Cut had carved open two huge wounds deeply. The leader's body had nearly been severed.

"How is this possible!" The leader lay on the ground, unable to move, his face full of disbelief.

"Hook Neck Slash!" Duanyu Fan did not explain. He only coldly placed the scythe against the leader's neck and hooked hard, sending the man's head to the ground. The leader died with his eyes open.

I was busy from morning till night. Luckily, I wrote half of it last night.

Speaking of which, in the anime, Xie Yue and Yan trained in Death Canyon. Does the original novel introduce it? If not, I'll just make it up.