Killing Intent

It was indeed the sound of a horse neighing, but it was strangely human-like; one could even hear the sobbing tone and pain in it.

Just hearing the sound made it seem as though one could feel the pain on one's own body.

"He should have gained intelligence. He isn't a wild beast anymore, only he hasn't undergone Form Transformation yet," Shen Shuibi said. At the same time, the way she referred to him changed from "it" to "he."

In this world's language, "it" and "he" had different pronunciations, so the distinction could be clearly heard.

"Then we should be able to communicate. I'll pick up the pace!" Li Qi said. He took a deep breath, held back a burst of strength, and continued sprinting madly through the mountains.

He leaped over obstacles, crossed ravines, even swam through streams, climbed down cliffs, and forced his way through thickets and countless other barriers. After running for roughly two quarters of an hour, Li Qi estimated that he had covered at least ten li.

Shen Shuibi could hear that far?

She could hear a horse neighing from more than ten li away?

This... truly was worthy of a rabbit spirit.

Before long, however, Li Qi saw it. There really was a horse in the mountain ravine ahead.

"Wow... it looks so miserable." Li Qi frowned, somewhat stunned.

From where he stood, the horse looked exceptionally vigorous. It bounded through the mountains, each leap carrying it twenty or thirty meters, enough to clear ravines more than ten zhang wide.

But this horse was clearly in terrible condition.

It had no saddle, but it wore horseshoes. It probably was not a wild horse; a wild spirit horse would hardly have horseshoes nailed on.

Its hide was covered in wounds. White worms even wriggled in some of them—it had likely become infested with maggots.

The horse was nothing but skin and bones, though its frame showed that it had once been enormous, at least eight chi tall.

"Shall we help him?" Shen Shuibi poked Li Qi's shoulder and asked him.

"Mutual help, mutual help. We help him, and he gives us a ride." Li Qi nodded. Since they had been lucky enough to encounter such a horse, there was no harm in helping each other out.

Thus, Shen Shuibi climbed up from Li Qi's back. Rather than being carried as before, she shifted into a riding posture, raised her hand high, and shouted, "Hey! Over here!"

"You think he can understand you talking like that?" Li Qi asked curiously.

"Look how tall he is. He definitely understands," Shen Shuibi said with certainty.

"Why do you say that?" Li Qi asked.

"There is an ancient book called the Book of Rites. It says, 'A horse eight chi or taller is a dragon.' This horse is so tall that it already counts as a Dragon Steed. It has definitely gained intelligence; it simply hasn't undergone Form Transformation like I have."

"Besides, look at him. He isn't merely tall—when he gallops, faint clouds and mist even gather beneath his hooves. The ancient Record of the Strange says, 'Once, a group of dragons emerged from the water and entered the Han River. The large ones were several zhang long, the small ones over a zhang long. They bore the colors of the five directions and had forms like oxen, horses, donkeys, and sheep.' All of this speaks of the resemblance between horses and dragons."

"It is said that dragons have many offspring, and one of them is the horse! Besides, among a dragon's many traits, one can see the shadow of a horse. Look—the phrase 'dragon-horse spirit' alone is enough to show their connection."

"Discourse on Balance has a chapter called 'Dragon Falsity,' which says, 'The common folk paint dragons with horse heads and snake tails.' Dragons are 'of the horse-and-snake kind.' The Explanations of Dragons chapter in the Erya says that a dragon's head resembles a horse's head. Look at that horse—tall and graceful. Though injured, he is still vigorous. A horse's form resembles a dragon's form, so he must be a Dragon Steed!"

Shen Shuibi spoke with great fluency, effortlessly citing passages from all kinds of ancient texts, leaving Li Qi utterly dumbfounded.

This girl might be foolish in certain ways, but her store of knowledge was truly vast.

She was so good at memorizing texts, so why did her intelligence seem somewhat lacking...

Shen Shuibi had no idea what Li Qi was thinking. Watching the horse run toward them, she continued explaining, "Besides, even if he isn't a Dragon Steed, horses still possess dragon nature."

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas records: 'Horses are truly dragon Essence, and thus emerge among water-kind.' A memorial from the Tang Kingdom, Memorial on the Dragon Horse, recounts: 'A horse gave birth to a Dragon Steed... its body bore scales but no hair.' Furthermore, I once heard that Lingchang Commandery obtained a strange horse west of the river. It had dragon scales and a viper's tail. When it reached west of Xianyang, it entered the Wei River, transformed into a dragon, and swam away, its final destination unknown. This shows that even ordinary horses possess dragon nature to some extent."

As she said this, she sat on Li Qi's shoulders, excitedly grabbed his hair, and exclaimed happily, "Maybe he came because he sensed the Azure Dragon Spirit Qi on you!"

"Look how badly he is hurt! The Azure Dragon Spirit Qi on you is precisely Great Forest Wood Qi, strongest in springtime, with tremendous vitality. That must be why he hurried this way!"

"Easy! Easy!" Shen Shuibi yanked a handful of his hair, making Li Qi jump in pain.

I won't get patchy baldness, will I?

If the hair follicles get pulled out, they seem like they won't grow back...

Li Qi shuddered.

Forget it. This was not the time to worry about going bald. He should look at that horse first.

After Li Qi spoke, Shen Shuibi sheepishly lowered her hand. Yet her eyes plainly gleamed with excitement as she waited for the horse to run over.

Li Qi also watched the horse approach, but the longer he looked, the more alarmed he became.

Not only was it injured, it looked very old.

Its hide had already sagged, its hooves were covered in wounds, and its mane was filthy, clumped together by congealed blood and dirt.

Yes, clumped together—not even in strands. All of its mane had stuck together, and its color was unhealthy as well, a mixture of brown and grayish white, like the graying hair of an elderly person.

On top of that, it limped on one leg. There was a blade wound roughly one chi long across its thigh. It was likely an old injury, but because it had long since festered and refused to heal, maggots wriggled through the wound while pus constantly seeped out.

There were also all manner of tiny wounds across its body. Its horseshoes had nearly been worn flat, and even the hooves themselves were severely damaged. It was truly hard to imagine how he had survived until now.

No wonder he had come looking for Li Qi. He had already reached the end of the road.

"He's badly hurt. Not only that, there's also a kind of qi inside him preventing him from recovering naturally," Shen Shuibi said worriedly.

Li Qi also circulated his spirit qi to his eyes.

He could see that this Old Ma was giving off several mingled currents of qi.

There was a faint trace of Dragon Qi, similar to what he had seen on the Eastern Azure Dragon. But the difference in density was like pure ink compared to a single drop of ink diluted in the sea. It could only be said that there was barely a trace of it; compared with the Azure Dragon's, it was so far inferior that no number could describe the gap.

Beyond that, Li Qi could see a red tinge around the blade scar on the horse's thigh.

That red carried a sharp, chilling sensation.

It resembled the red on Ba Kui's blade.

Was it Killing Intent?