Making a Move

The Thunder Pattern Leopard charging forward wasn't targeting Chu Ruolan at all—it was merely chasing a millennium-aged soul beast, the Dark Rock Bear.

But as luck would have it, the direction the Dark Rock Bear was fleeing happened to be exactly where Su Qing was absorbing her spirit ring.

Chu Ruolan wasn't afraid of this Thunder Pattern Leopard, but she knew well that she couldn't take it down quickly in a short time.

Once she engaged it in battle, the combat fluctuations would likely attract other soul beasts.

So she hid in the shadows and quietly activated her second spirit skill, 'Mist Vine,' hoping to alter the Dark Rock Bear's escape route.

Yet, despite her caution, the Thunder Pattern Leopard chasing from behind still spotted her.

The moment the Thunder Pattern Leopard caught sight of a human, it immediately abandoned the already severely wounded Dark Rock Bear, twisted its body around, and squared off against Chu Ruolan.

A soul beast over three thousand years old, equivalent to a human Soul Ancestor of level forty-six or forty-seven, already possessed simple intelligence—it could sense that this human before it was not to be trifled with.

The Thunder Pattern Leopard crouched motionless, and Chu Ruolan likewise dared not act rashly.

She held her breath and focused her mind, only hoping that Su Qing would be a bit faster and finish absorbing the spirit ring as soon as possible.

Just as Chu Ruolan and the Thunder Pattern Leopard were locked in a stalemate, a figure was rapidly approaching the area.

Xiao Chen spotted Ma Yan and his group from afar but didn't see Chu Ruolan's figure, and he immediately understood—she had most likely gone ahead alone to scout.

He didn't stop, bypassing them directly and continuing to race forward.

Moments later, the stalemated human and beast fell into Xiao Chen's line of sight.

"Thunder Pattern Leopard, three-thousand-six-hundred-year Agility Attack System soul beast! Host's strength is far inferior to the opponent, it is recommended to withdraw immediately!" The System Spirit flashed out and warned Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen naturally knew he was no match for this Thunder Pattern Leopard, but if he simply walked away, once this Thunder Pattern Leopard started fighting with Chu Ruolan, it would most likely affect Su Qing, who was absorbing her spirit ring, and the battle could easily attract other soul beasts.

"System, if I share 'Shadow Step Dash' across both my martial souls, can I burst out with even greater speed?" Xiao Chen asked.

"Naturally, but the host has not yet mastered this skill proficiently. If it fails, even if you aren't backlashed by the spirit skill, your spirit power and mental energy will be exhausted in an instant. At that point, I don't need to explain what situation the host will face," the System said.

Xiao Chen understood the consequences well enough, but sharing 'Shadow Step Dash' across both martial souls was different from archery—archery required controlling too many factors, making it hard to manage.

But 'Shadow Step Dash' was only for escaping; Xiao Chen just needed to set a general direction. As long as he could put distance between himself and the Thunder Pattern Leopard, his chances of survival were still very high.

Moreover, he was a long-range attacker by nature. Even while retreating, he could run and shoot arrows simultaneously, slowing the Thunder Pattern Leopard's pursuit.

Besides, this was still the outer edge of the Star Dou Forest; the Thunder Pattern Leopard wouldn't chase him beyond the forest's boundary.

With this thought settled, Xiao Chen immediately decided to lure this Thunder Pattern Leopard away.

Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to just show himself and provoke it directly.

Even if he wanted to lead the Thunder Pattern Leopard away, he first had to find a way to wear it down.

Xiao Chen approached while adjusting his position. Once the Thunder Pattern Leopard entered his shooting range, he concealed himself and waited for the right moment.

Before long, the Thunder Pattern Leopard could no longer hold back and launched a fierce attack.

Its speed was astonishingly fast; Chu Ruolan's vine control couldn't keep up with the Thunder Pattern Leopard's pace at all.

However, most of a Control System soul master's skills were area-of-effect. Though she couldn't catch the Thunder Pattern Leopard for the moment, the Thunder Pattern Leopard also found it hard to get close to her.

Chu Ruolan's fingertips surged with spirit power as she activated two spirit skills in succession, Vine Bind and Mist Vine, layering interference after interference.

Supple vines madly shot out to entangle and block, while the Mist Vine released a faint purple haze to disrupt its senses, step by step luring the Thunder Pattern Leopard into a pre-laid trap zone.

When the moment came, her spirit power exploded, and she directly activated her fifth spirit skill: Thousand Silk Cage!

Countless fine, tough spirit power vine threads instantly wove into a giant cage, crashing down to trap the Thunder Pattern Leopard firmly in the center.

Only, she wasn't a soul master like Tang San who combined control and offense. Aside from restraining, controlling, and disrupting, she had no powerful killing methods. Without a teammate's help, killing this Thunder Pattern Leopard would require slowly shrinking the Thousand Silk Cage to exhaust it to death.

But this process would inevitably take a long time.

Moreover, the Thunder Pattern Leopard's resistance grew increasingly violent; every charge and bite battered the Thousand Silk Cage. Such sustained confinement drained Chu Ruolan's spirit power heavily.

The Thunder Pattern Leopard's desperate, trapped-beast roars were shrill and piercing, echoing continuously through the forest.

Such intense commotion could at any moment attract other wandering soul beasts nearby.

The longer the delay, the more disadvantageous the situation became for Chu Ruolan.

Just as Chu Ruolan was pondering how to break the deadlock, she suddenly sensed a fluctuation of spirit power.

She looked up and saw a black streak shooting out from the dense forest. Before she could clearly see what it was, the black streak disintegrated above the Thousand Silk Cage, transforming into a rain of needles that fell downward.

Chu Ruolan reacted very quickly. Though she didn't know who was making a move from the shadows, this skill was clearly aimed at the Thunder Pattern Leopard.

So the moment she saw that rain of needles descending, she unhesitatingly withdrew the vines from the top of the Thousand Silk Cage.

Her timing in retracting the vines was impeccable—it happened to coincide with the instant the Thunder Pattern Leopard was charging fiercely, about to break out of the cage.

This allowed the arrows to strike the Thunder Pattern Leopard without obstruction, while also preventing it from fully escaping its restraints, perfectly creating an ideal attack window for Xiao Chen.

The needle rain poured down, instantly engulfing the Thunder Pattern Leopard.

At the same time, an extremely fast arrow shot out from the dense forest, piercing through the gaps in the Thousand Silk Cage's vines in an instant and accurately hitting the Thunder Pattern Leopard's left eye.

This arrow was Xiao Chen's killing move.

With his bow and arrow martial souls fused, combined with the three spirit skills 'Brute Force,' 'Arrow Speed Boost,' and 'Piercing Wound,' this arrow was absolutely the strongest attack Xiao Chen could unleash without using Spirit Skill Sharing.

Xiao Chen knew very well that this arrow wouldn't kill the Thunder Pattern Leopard, which was why he aimed for its eye.

His original intention was to shoot out both eyes of the Thunder Pattern Leopard, but unfortunately the beast reacted swiftly, causing the arrow to deviate slightly. As a result, it only struck the left eye without piercing through.

That single arrow thoroughly enraged the Thunder Pattern Leopard.

With a furious roar, it leaped out from the Thousand Silk Cage, which had yet to be fully sealed from above.

Without even glancing at Chu Ruolan, it charged straight toward Xiao Chen's direction.

His goal achieved, Xiao Chen turned and ran, not forgetting to toss a parting remark to Chu Ruolan: "This Thunder Pattern Leopard is mine. It would be best if you didn't follow, milady!"

Chu Ruolan had originally intended to lend a hand to the one making a move from the shadows, but upon suddenly hearing those words, she immediately halted.

Since someone had taken the initiative to help resolve her predicament, she naturally welcomed it.

Seeing the Thunder Pattern Leopard chase after that shadowy figure into the distance, she hesitated no longer. Turning back at once, she hurriedly returned to Su Qing and the others.