"Hey, kid, you're not deaf or mute, are you? Why aren't you answering?"
"Exactly. You don't have the presence for it, so why pretend to be all mysterious? You'd be better off acting like a big shot!"
"He doesn't look like much, either. How about we go at him together, take the battle suit and treasures off him first, then hand him over to our master to deal with?"
The Prison Clan Members kept chiming in one after another, growing more and more brazen. They didn't take Wu Sheng seriously at all.
But a red gleam flashed in Wu Sheng's eyes, revealing a hint of murderous intent!
These men were clearly subordinates of some Elite Trial Taker. Bai Yu had told him that the Elite Trial Taker was a Prison Clan Member named Li Hu, whose clan was the Li Ling Clan, one of the most prominent clans in the Nine Spirits Society of the Blood Sun Tribe.
In Trial Ground CKHX-3819, Li Hu alone, as an Elite Trial Taker, wasn't someone to fear. But with his powerful clan behind him and his older brother Li Long, a Special Elite, he was bound to be someone extraordinary.
Although Li Hu had joined the Blood River Squad relatively late and ranked only seventeenth, his influence was second only to Di Fei and He Na.
Li Hu was hopelessly devoted to He Na. In fact, he had chosen to enter the Blood Trial with his older brother Li Long for her sake.
In the past, when He Na's Blood River Squad was still together, there had been no need to pay much attention to Li Hu's advances.
But now, to make up the numbers in the Blood River Squad, they'd had no choice but to grit their teeth and bring him in.
None of this had anything to do with Wu Sheng—not even a single Cosmic Crystal's worth. But ever since Li Hu had joined, He Na always sent someone to ask whether Wu Sheng had emerged from seclusion before every mission. After this happened a few times, how could Li Hu, with his lofty and arrogant nature, possibly stand it?
Bai Yu, who was guarding the entrance, could just about handle other people's probing. But when it came to someone like Li Hu, two or three times was already his limit.
Fortunately, Wu Sheng emerged from seclusion before Li Hu lost his patience.
"You want to rob me, then force me to stand before your master and await his judgment? What a bunch of idiots!"
Wu Sheng sneered. Red light blazed in his eyes as he swept his Spiritual Force over them, and the Prison Clan Members were immediately caught in it.
The men seemed possessed. Their faces went blank and their movements stiffened, but their hands moved in perfect unison. One after another, they removed the ownership bindings on their Space Rings and Force Battle Suits, then tossed them to Wu Sheng.
Still, Wu Sheng wasn't about to let them off so easily. Several red orbs shot from his hand. Inside each one was a wriggling creature about the length of a finger, thick in the middle and tapered at both ends.
Shielded by the red orbs, the creatures burrowed straight into the Prison Clan Members' minds.
When Wu Sheng released them from his Soul Illusion and the red light faded completely, the men finally showed a hint of confusion.
"Why, you little runt! You dare sneak attack me—ah! It hurts! What...'s...going on? Ah!"
The leader came to his senses and was about to threaten him, but a sudden, violent pain erupted in his mind. It felt as if something were wriggling around inside his head, even slowly devouring his Spiritual Force. His face, covered in tiny scales, contorted into a wrinkled mess.
"Ah, it hurts... me too! How is this possible?!"
"Spare us... We won't... won't dare again!"
Some of them screamed and rolled on the ground, while others seemed to realize what was happening and repeatedly kowtowed to Wu Sheng, begging him to show mercy.
Unfortunately, Wu Sheng remained unmoved. He even forcibly increased the output of his soul power.
"Roar!"
At last, the men could no longer utter a single word from the pain. They rolled back and forth through the passage, and some even slammed into the stone walls, oblivious to the blood streaming from their bodies.
The ground and rocks in the Prison Clan's Strange Trap Land were incredibly hard. Even the weakest stones could only be broken by a Planetary-level powerhouse exerting their full strength.
Yet these men smashed into the walls with their own bodies, sending fragments flying without even realizing it. That showed just how excruciating the pain in their minds was.
"What's going on?"
Several people hurried into the passage. He Na was at the front.
Wu Sheng glanced around and saw that he barely recognized anyone. He merely nodded at He Na, then continued to use his own Soul Art as he pleased.
"You! Did you do this?"
"Is that a Soul Leech?"
Two voices rang out at once. The first was full of fury; the second was He Na's startled cry.
"Wu Sheng, stop! They're members of our Blood River Squad, after all. Whatever happened, you can talk to me. I can make the decision."
He Na immediately recognized the Soul Art Wu Sheng was using. It was the most sinister technique in the latter half of Soul Art Mind Confusion, which she had taught him—the Soul Leech. She hurriedly spoke up.
But the nearly two-meter-tall Three-Eyed Freak standing beside her, with a vertical eye in the middle of his forehead, wasn't so polite. He roared:
"Kid, withdraw that Soul Art right now, or I'll make you regret it!"
Wu Sheng furrowed his brow and thought for a few seconds before waving his hand. The wriggling creatures were pulled out of the men's minds and turned into streaks of red light, which flowed back into his body.
Anyone observant would have noticed that the creatures were more than twice their original size, each one plump and robust.
After absorbing the red light, Wu Sheng looked more invigorated than ever, as if he'd just taken a powerful tonic.
"It really is a Soul Leech! I can't believe you can create so many!" Once He Na got a good look at the creatures, a strange feeling rose in her heart—perhaps fear, perhaps anticipation.
"Tell me, what happened?" The Three-Eyed Freak viciously kicked a half-dead Prison Clan Member at his feet, growing even more irritable.
"They said they were going to take my belongings and battle suit, so I taught them a little lesson," Wu Sheng said with a faint smile, his tone casual. "You must be Li Hu. Keep your dogs in line. If they dare bother me again, they'd better be ready to meet their end."
Wu Sheng gave the Three-Eyed Freak a warning, then turned and went back into his cave.
Although the Three-Eyed Freak had a Special Elite for an older brother and came from a powerful clan in the Nine Spirits Society, he was only at Planetary Level Nine. He was still one or two levels below someone like He Na, a true descendant of the Imperial Clan.
Besides, Wu Sheng had only taught these underlings a lesson. He hadn't killed anyone, so it shouldn't be a big problem.
Hadn't the Seventh Squad under Jin An remained perfectly polite to him even after he'd cut down three of them and captured two?
Unfortunately, Wu Sheng had made an unexpected mistake!
When you beat a dog, you had to consider not only its master, but where that master was.
Now that Wu Sheng had thoroughly humiliated Li Hu in front of He Na, Li Hu's expression turned ugly.
And when he saw He Na walk into Wu Sheng's cave without hesitation, both of Li Hu's hands clenched into fists. The vertical eye in the middle of his forehead glinted coldly.
"Bastard, you'll regret this!"