His spirits lifted, and he quickened his pace. Before long, he spotted the two demons still near their old spot, having never moved. They were no longer gnawing on the scraps, though. Each had found a smooth stone to sprawl on, eyes closed as if dozing and resting, but the two reddish clumps of Monster Qi on their bodies still expanded and contracted. Clearly, they were not truly asleep.
Wang Quan drew a breath, instantly putting on that same cowardly, scared-stiff expression. He charged over on all fours, his voice even taking on a sobbing note:
"Two honored sirs! This is bad! Something happened!"
The two young Candlejackal Monsters snapped their eyes open. Four balls of green fire stared straight at him. The impatient one immediately sprang up and demanded, "What happened? Where's Teacher? What about that giant Spider Demon? Didn't you take Teacher over there?"
The other one—the one who had seemed steadier before, the one they called Big Brother—didn't hurry to speak. It merely narrowed its green eyes and looked Wang Quan up and down, suspicion glinting in its gaze.
Wang Quan threw himself up close and dropped onto the ground, slapping his chest with an expression of lingering Soul-Shaking terror. "My lord! This is, this is terrible! I'd just taken that honored sir to the cave entrance when the Spider Demon suddenly pounced out! It hadn't suffered any serious injuries at all—it was pretending! The two of them immediately started fighting, turning heaven and earth upside down!"
He pointed back the way he had come, his finger trembling. "That honored sir, that honored sir told me to hurry back and warn you two to leave! He said the Spider Demon was formidable, and that he'd come find you after killing it. He told you absolutely not to wait for him—withdraw first!"
"What?!" The impatient young Candlejackal Monster exploded at once. Its green eyes darted about. "Teacher told us to run first? No way! Big Brother, we have to go help! Teacher might need a hand! If he really kills that Spider Demon, its Monster Core..." As it spoke, it couldn't help licking the blood crusted at the corner of its mouth again, its eyes shining. "It might let the two of us establish ourselves firmly right away, and even climb another step higher!"
The Big Brother slowly rose to its feet, still staring at Wang Quan. Its voice was low and heavy. "Wait. You said Teacher sent you back to warn us and told us to leave first?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Wang Quan nodded frantically, his expression utterly sincere. "My lord, that honored sir said it himself. That Spider Demon is treacherous and slippery. If you go over there, wouldn't you just be delivering yourselves into its mouth? He told you to leave first for your own good! Hurry and go—don't dawdle!"
"Big Brother!" The impatient young Candlejackal Monster pawed at its brother, its eyes blazing. "Stop thinking about it! Let's go! This is the perfect chance to show Teacher that we can pull our weight too! From now on, we can go out hunting for food ourselves. The flesh of those martial artists is so nourishing—pure essence! Just smelling it makes me lose control!"
The more it spoke, the more excited it became, until even its tail began swishing. "Maybe one day we can be like Father and reach Core Condensation—or even... surpass him! Let's go, Big Brother! I can't wait. I'm going to tear open that Spider Demon's belly with my own claws!"
The Big Brother's ghostly green eyes shifted as if it were weighing the matter. After several breaths, it finally said in a low voice, "Teacher is powerful. Since he told us to leave, perhaps he has his reasons... However, we should still send word to the clan. This place, after all..." As it spoke, it raised one foreclaw. A faint red glow gathered at the tip, seemingly preparing some method of sending a message.
Wang Quan's heart lurched. He absolutely could not let that message get out!
Before the Big Brother could finish speaking, at the instant the red glow at its claw tip was about to shine, Wang Quan's perpetually drooping eyelids suddenly flew open, cold light bursting from his eyes! The strength granted by his minor mastery of Turtle Snake Coiling Dragon Strength erupted in an instant. His limp body shot up as if spring-loaded, and the Blood Drinking Saber he had kept clenched in his hand carved a dim yet ruthless arc straight toward the Big Brother's neck!
The sudden strike was swift and vicious, landing precisely while his opponent was distracted by casting the spell. His timing was dead-on!
Yet the Big Brother seemed not to have been entirely undefended. The moment Wang Quan moved, it let out an enraged, startled growl and jerked its neck unnaturally backward while swinging a claw to block!
"Pfft!"
The saber did bite deep, but it missed the neck and instead hacked into the base of the raised foreleg the Big Brother had used to block. It nearly severed the claw entirely! Dark-red demon blood sprayed high into the air.
"Roar! You damned cur! How dare you rebel!" The Big Brother howled in pain, green fire racing through its eyes as murderous intent surged. "So you're that Spider Demon's lackey! Today, I'll teach you what happens when you offend the Candlejackal Monsters!"
The impatient young Candlejackal Monster reacted as well. It lunged at Wang Quan from the side with a howl, its claws reaching straight for his heart!
Wang Quan's saber had failed to kill it, so he had no intention of lingering in battle. He pulled back at once, narrowly evading the claw that came from the side, but the force of the blow still grazed his chest and ripped open a bloody gash. He grunted, the Fierce Light in his eyes burning even brighter. Instead of retreating, he twisted around and lunged again at the wounded Big Brother, seemingly prepared to take the other one's attack head-on!
"What happens when I offend you?" Wang Quan bared his teeth in a cold smile. "I'm not trying to offend you. I'm trying to cut open your chest and dig out your Monster Core!"
Before his voice had even faded, the impatient young Candlejackal Monster's claws had already reached his back! Wang Quan neither dodged nor evaded. He merely shifted his body slightly and took the blow head-on with the thick flesh of his back!
"Riiiip!" The clothes across his back tore apart, skin splitting and flesh gaping as blood poured down. Yet Wang Quan borrowed the momentum of the impact, and his speed instead increased by another threefold. The Blood Drinking Saber, carrying the strength of his entire body and the fierce force of his minor mastery of Turtle Snake Coiling Dragon Strength, thrust forward like a venomous snake darting from its hole, straight into the opening exposed in the Big Brother's chest as it reeled from its wound and shock!
"Die!"
The Big Brother had truly never expected Wang Quan to be so ruthless—to take a claw from its brother just to stab it. Gravely wounded, it was half a beat too slow. It could only watch as the gray saber tip rapidly grew larger before its eyes!
"Pfft!"
The blade pierced straight through, its tip emerging from the Big Brother's back! The green fire in its eyes froze instantly, filled with utter disbelief. It lowered its head and stared at the saber hilt lodged in its chest, a gurgling sound rising from its throat.
At that moment, the impatient young Candlejackal Monster that had struck Wang Quan from behind found that, because he had charged forward, its claws had only opened a deep gash across his back without stopping him. Seeing its Big Brother skewered through by a single saber thrust, it howled in shock and rage before pouncing again, its claws slamming straight toward the back of Wang Quan's head!
Without even turning his head, Wang Quan yanked out the saber! A great gush of scalding demon blood came with it. At the same time, he let the force of the withdrawal carry him into a forward-sideways dive, rolling across the ground.
"Crack!" The impatient young Candlejackal Monster's claws missed and slammed viciously into the stone where its Big Brother had stood moments before, sending fragments of rock flying.
Wang Quan rolled to his feet and dropped to one knee, holding the Blood Drinking Saber horizontally before him, blood still dripping from its tip. The wound across his back burned like fire, but his gaze was cold as ice as he locked onto the only remaining young Candlejackal Monster, its eyes gone red after its Big Brother's death.
The young Candlejackal Monster stared at the corpse of its Big Brother twitching on the ground, then looked at Wang Quan. Green fire leaped wildly in its eyes, yet it did not immediately pounce. Instead, it retreated half a step, a threatening growl rumbling from its throat. But if one listened closely, that growl seemed to contain something besides fury—something else?
Before you continue