Unlocking New Functions, Encountering a Life-and-Death Battle

The next day, early morning.

Having enjoyed a good night's sleep, Xiao Qing sat up and stretched, feeling a lightness in his body he had never experienced before.

"Hmm? Where did Xiao Feng go?"

Seeing no sign of Xiao Feng, Xiao Qing looked around in confusion, only to discover that there were no traces of the creature's activity nearby.

Considering he had already emphasized the importance of safety to Xiao Feng, he figured it wouldn't disobey his orders to go off on an adventure.

Xiao Qing climbed down from the tree and spent a good while studying his notebook before Xiao Feng finally appeared within his line of sight.

Xiao Qing set down the book in his hands and looked up at Xiao Feng.

At that moment, something held in Xiao Feng's jaws caught Xiao Qing's attention.

"A Red Vermilion Fruit?! This is a rare find. The notes say that if one suffers internal injuries, eating this can temporarily sustain one's life."

"Xiao Feng, you're amazing! I never expected you to be able to find this. Ever since spirit masters learned of the Red Vermilion Fruit's life-saving properties, they have been virtually extinct in the Star Dou Forest for a long time."

Xiao Qing took the Red Vermilion Fruit, still attached to its branch, from Xiao Feng's mouth, wrapped it in a cloth, and tucked it into his cloth bag.

In the blink of an eye, five months passed quietly.

During these five months, Xiao Qing took Xiao Feng out periodically to challenge spirit beasts with weaker combat power but higher cultivation years.

Xiao Qing had tried targeting spirit beasts with lower years than Xiao Feng, but the gains were too low, failing to even reach a one-hundred-to-one ratio.

Furthermore, whenever the Prism Ball granted experience points, it would always automatically round down.

As a result, Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng would spend half a day working for nothing.

Relying on this method, Xiao Qing quickly cultivated Xiao Feng into a three-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Wind Shadow Wolf.

However, when Xiao Feng broke through to become a century-level spirit beast, something unexpected happened.

At the time, he had just helped Xiao Feng successfully kill a one-hundred-and-ten-year-old Golden Horned Deer, and he was happy that their food supply for the coming period was secured.

Xiao Feng, having gained eleven years' worth of experience, successfully broke through and transformed into a century-level spirit beast.

Just then, the Prism Ball suddenly transmitted a piece of information to him.

The Prism Ball stated that because Xiao Feng had transformed into a century-level spirit beast, it had acquired the Wind Shadow Wolf's innate skill: "Wind Shadow."

If it were just that, he wouldn't have been too surprised; after all, the greater a spirit beast's potential, the easier it is to awaken its innate skills.

What truly shocked him was that he could temporarily borrow Xiao Feng's skill.

Based on Xiao Feng's current strength, he could use "Wind Shadow" three times in short succession.

Each use would create a wind-attribute Phantom Shadow; if the phantom were attacked, it would explode, granting him a buff that increased his speed by fifty percent for five minutes.

When Xiao Feng used it, it created a controllable wind-attribute Phantom Shadow while increasing its own body's speed by thirty percent.

Relying on this spirit skill, he would appear as a normal spirit master in the eyes of others, and no one would ever discover the secret of the Prism Ball.

"Awoo!"

A wolf's howl brought Xiao Qing back to his senses.

"Xiao Feng, you're back! How was it? Were there any suitable opponents nearby?"

Seeing Xiao Feng return from scouting the wind, Xiao Qing smiled and took out a water bottle and a wooden bowl to pour some water for it.

After drinking, Xiao Feng walked over to the map Xiao Qing had drawn, pointed its claw at a cliff in the top-left corner, and barked at Xiao Qing a few times.

The map was something Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng had explored bit by bit over the past few months, making it much more convenient to find opponents and gather resources.

"You smelled sheep with horns as hard as rock over there? According to the notes, you must mean Rock Horned Sheep; they aren't very strong, but they are difficult to catch."

"Rock Horned Sheep like to haunt cliffs, which explains why you could smell them in the direction of the cliff."

"Alright, then our target for today is the Rock Horned Sheep!"

As he spoke, Xiao Qing climbed onto Xiao Feng's back. Ever since Xiao Feng transformed into a century-level spirit beast, the wolf had grown significantly, its size now nearly rivaling that of a motorcycle.

This had its benefits, though; now Xiao Qing only needed to ride on Xiao Feng's back to reach their destination, saving him from walking as he had before and greatly conserving time.

Riding Xiao Feng to the base of the cliff, the first thing Xiao Qing did was look up to search for the Rock Horned Sheep.

Sure enough, as soon as Xiao Qing looked up, he saw a group of Rock Horned Sheep standing on the cliff face, licking white salt off the stones.

Xiao Qing squinted to estimate the distance between himself and the sheep, discovering that several of them were within his attack range.

"Looks like my luck is good today; I can show off the results of my recent training!"

Xiao Qing took out a slingshot made from the tendons of a Golden Horned Deer—one of four he had crafted according to his notes.

The first three had been of poor quality and were broken during his training, leaving only this one remaining.

As for ammunition, Xiao Qing used Golden Winged Bird feathers dipped in the juice of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The hardness of the Golden Winged Bird's feathers rivaled that of an ordinary iron sword, and with their moderate length, Xiao Qing used them as poison darts.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Xiao Qing fired three shots in succession, two of which struck the Rock Horned Sheep closest to him.

The sheep cried out in pain, its foot slipped, and it tumbled directly off the cliff face, crashing heavily to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Seeing the Rock Horned Sheep fall, Xiao Qing did not act rashly, but instead looked up at the flock on the cliff face.

Upon seeing them all fleeing in a panic, Xiao Qing spoke to Xiao Feng: "Xiao Feng, find the right moment! Take it down in one strike!"

Having received Xiao Qing's command, Xiao Feng circled the wobbling, rising Rock Horned Sheep for a few rounds before successfully using his claws to slash its carotid artery, causing it to die from excessive blood loss.

However, before Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng could celebrate for long, a snake as thick as a human thigh lunged out from the bushes, its tail sweeping Xiao Feng away from the Rock Horned Sheep with a single strike.

"Not good, it's a Datura Snake over four hundred years old!"

The moment he saw the soul beast attacking Xiao Feng, Xiao Qing identified what it was and realized that with their current strength, they absolutely could not defeat this four-hundred-year-old Datura Snake.

"Xiao Feng, quick—"

Before Xiao Qing could react, the Datura Snake rushed before him, opening its blood-red maw to bite at him.

"Awoo!"

Dragging his heavily injured body, Xiao Feng leaped up and slammed his entire frame into the Datura Snake, causing the jaws that were meant for Xiao Qing to miss him by a hair's breadth, stirring up a nauseating, fishy stench.

Having escaped a brush with death, Xiao Qing did not stand idly by; he pulled out the Golden Winged Bird feather coated in poisonous mushroom extract, attempting to aim for the Datura Snake's eyes.

But because Xiao Feng and the Datura Snake were locked in a life-or-death struggle, Xiao Qing had no opportunity to aim at the snake's eyes.

"Xiao Feng, Wind Shadow! Use a phantom to lure the enemy!"

With sweat slicking his palms, Xiao Qing shouted at Xiao Feng; he needed Xiao Feng to create an opening so that he would have a chance to shoot out the Datura Snake's eyes.

Hearing the command, Xiao Feng dodged the Datura Snake's bite by a narrow margin, channeling his soul power to release a Phantom Shadow that looked eighty percent like him.

The Datura Snake seemed to lack sufficient intelligence, failing to react in time and randomly choosing a target to snap its jaws at.

"Now!"

Taking advantage of the moment the Datura Snake bit at Xiao Feng's Phantom Shadow, Xiao Qing fired the Golden Winged Bird feather.

Just as Xiao Qing thought he would land the hit, the Datura Snake suddenly whipped its head around to bite at the real Xiao Feng, who was unable to dodge in time and was bitten on his front left leg.

However, Xiao Feng did not sit and wait for death, instead backhanding the Datura Snake and rupturing its eye.

Because its eye had been blinded, the Datura Snake immediately released its grip, its tail slamming repeatedly against the ground as its body coiled and began to writhe in agony!