Grunts came from every direction.
Li Changsheng's disembodied soul watched helplessly as porcupines gathered around him.
That's right.
On the edge of the one-meter-deep pit stood a scarred porcupine at the head of a group of roughly fifty smaller ones.
"Soul Beasts!"
Li Changsheng had lived in God Soul Village for so long that he could easily tell the difference between Soul Beasts and ordinary animals.
The porcupine at the head of the group was enormous, over two meters long. A faint white halo covered its body, and wisps of crystalline white mist seeped from the scars covering it. The mist seemed to be drifting toward Huang Zegan.
Soul Power! The Soul Power of a Ten-Year Soul Beast—a porcupine on the verge of reaching the Hundred-Year level.
"I forgot to move away before starting my cultivation. I was careless."
"God of Wisdom, stop cultivating! We're surrounded!"
As Li Changsheng assessed the situation, he shouted to warn the God of Wisdom skill, which was still cultivating with its eyes closed.
Li Changsheng's physical body was strange, too.
The crimson crystals analyzed from the Night-Startling Spear had all melted into his body.
Under the God of Wisdom's control, his entire body glowed bright red. His pale skin was covered in pores that had opened wide, and a few impurities had seeped out of him, forming a thin layer.
The Porcupine King snuffled. Its nearly fifty-centimeter tusks gleamed menacingly. After confirming the scattered chicken feathers around it and catching the faint scent of blood in the air, its ruthless gaze fixed on Li Changsheng.
The smaller porcupines rooted around, sniffing at the scattered feathers.
Li Changsheng's disembodied soul watched the Porcupine King's eyes and suddenly shuddered.
His soul trembled.
If he had a body right now, it would be shaking uncontrollably.
Was he afraid?
How could he be?
He was excited—overwhelmingly excited, with a thrill and delight that came from deep within his soul.
"I want to kill them."
Even as dozens of porcupines, including a Porcupine King close to reaching the Hundred-Year level, stared at him, he felt no fear. Instead, his excitement only grew.
<Notice. You have reached today's blood-qi tolerance limit. Cultivation time: one hour and five minutes. End your cultivation and return to your body.>
The God of Wisdom's icy voice rang out.
Li Changsheng, brimming with delight and excitement, hurriedly guided his soul back to his body.
There was no resistance at all.
Li Changsheng slipped right back inside.
"Mm..."
Warmth, comfort, fullness—countless pleasant sensations washed over him at once. Li Changsheng let out a moan, and his upper body twisted slightly as his soul settled in.
A surge of strength spread through his limbs. He gently clenched his hand, and his five fingers cracked crisply. With a light squeeze, his fingernails pierced his palm and dug into the flesh.
Li Changsheng glanced at his palm, dazed for a moment, then quickly got to his feet.
He looked up at the Porcupine King at the head of the group.
<Answer. Special species detected: Soul Beast. Initiate analysis?>
The moment their eyes met, the God of Wisdom's icy voice rang out.
Li Changsheng grabbed the Night-Startling Spear, felt the surging power within him, and sneered. "A dead pig doesn't need analyzing. Unless you want to carve it a tombstone?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Changsheng shot into the air. The Night-Startling Spear transformed into the snarling Night Piercing Dragon, carrying boundless killing intent and a frigid gleam as it struck at the Porcupine King, who had raised its head.
Black light surged like a river of stars. The air trembled, rippling with waves of force.
The Night-Startling Spear drained Li Changsheng's surging strength: ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent. By the time he thrust out that earth-shattering spear, half the blood qi in his body had been drained!
As Li Changsheng soared through the air, his thoughts raced, and a smile spread across his face.
The God of Wisdom really was amazing!
Before, a single thrust would have drained more than ninety-five percent of his strength in an instant. Now, he could still manage a second!
"Die!"
The black spear light stabbed into the earth.
The ground cracked in every direction. The ordinary porcupines surrounding the Porcupine King were blasted to pieces by the tremendous force, their souls scattered.
Blood qi streamed like a rainbow.
The Night-Startling Spear instantly absorbed the exploding blood mist and stored it inside its orb.
Li Changsheng landed on the earth pierced by the Night-Startling Spear.
Before he could react, his keen senses flared, and a wave of danger washed over him.
Li Changsheng thought, This is bad! He raised the Night-Startling Spear like a pole, vaulted into the air, and leaped to his left.
Just as Li Changsheng sprang up, the Porcupine King reappeared from the black light.
Its hard tusks, accompanied by a pillar of white Soul Power shooting skyward, rammed into the spot where Li Changsheng had been standing!
"It's still alive?"
Li Changsheng was startled as he watched from the air, but he didn't waste time complaining.
He held the Night-Startling Spear upright and thrust it straight through the head of a porcupine. Before it could even cry out, Li Changsheng let go of the spear.
Boom!
The Night-Startling Spear weighed twenty thousand jin even when it wasn't in his hands. It crushed the porcupine into bloody pulp.
Splurt.
A streak of blood sprayed across Li Changsheng's cheek, and his clothes were spattered with chunks of flesh. The air was thick with the stench.
Li Changsheng stood in the middle without a care, pulled the Night-Startling Spear free with one hand, and warily watched the Porcupine King, only a few meters away.
Let's go back to what had just happened.
The Porcupine King was a Soul Beast, after all. Even though it had yet to reach a hundred years, it had already gained some intelligence.
It had come here after smelling the strong scent of blood, hoping to feed.
But when it arrived, it discovered a human cultivating.
It watched him warily while letting out a series of low-pitched growls—a secret signal to summon its underlings, who had been far away, so they could come and protect it.
Sure enough, while the two of them should have been facing off and searching for each other's weaknesses, Li Changsheng suddenly launched an attack. Sensing the terrifying power of the black spear, the Porcupine King took advantage of the shifting view to retreat.
The porcupines in front of it were reduced to powder.
"I'm running on fumes! Is this Porcupine King really that clever? It's facing a kid, and it's still this cautious?"
Standing amid the porcupines surrounding him, Li Changsheng looked drenched in blood and radiated dominance.
But he was suffering inside!
That sudden attack had been meant to catch the Porcupine King off guard.
With the God of Wisdom skill guiding him, he'd begun cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill, but he'd only cultivated for an hour before his body was already saturated. That proved just how poor his constitution was. Without an awakened Martial Soul, ambushing the Porcupine King was his only option.
Even with a divine weapon like the Night-Startling Spear.
That was the biggest problem.
He hadn't fully mastered the Night-Startling Divine Spear. One thrust left him completely drained. Even if he could manage two now, look at the Porcupine King...
The Porcupine King stood behind several porcupines, its vicious eyes gleaming with relief and cunning.
It had decided that there was no way this guy could unleash another attack of that caliber!
I'm strong, but I'm still not stepping up front! Hey, I'm just having fun!
The situation seemed to have reached an impasse.
Li Changsheng stood motionless like a blood-red statue, forcing a vicious glare as he stared down the porcupines around him.
The Porcupine King didn't seem to be ordering them to attack, either.
It wasn't angry that Li Changsheng had killed the other porcupines.
Instead, it cowered behind a wall of porcupines, peering at Li Changsheng through gaps only a few centimeters wide.
"I..." Even Li Changsheng's usually steady mind was ready to curse.
You coward, get out here!
<Notice. Individual Soul Beast Porcupine King is about to advance to the Hundred-Year Soul Beast level.>
Suddenly,
the God of Wisdom's icy voice rang out, carrying a note of warning.
"Advance to a Hundred-Year Soul Beast?"
Only then did Li Changsheng remember—and notice.
A faint yellow light was gathering in the Porcupine King's many scars.
It had looked the same when it first arrived.
Now, the yellow Soul Power spilling from it seemed even stronger and more abundant.
"Has this pig become a spirit? It even knows how to stall?" Li Changsheng stared at the Porcupine King, his mouth slightly agape.
<Answer. Individual Soul Beast Porcupine King is currently advancing. It must replenish a vast amount of energy to keep the Soul Power of the Hundred-Year level from draining the flesh and blood from its body during the advancement. That's why it followed the faint traces of blood in the forest and came here. Because you just killed several porcupines, it absorbed a great deal of blood qi the moment it fled, and thus began to advance.>
"You mean it might have been trying to use me to kill its own people and help it advance?" Li Changsheng suddenly felt his head grow hot.
<Answer. Highly possible, though an accident cannot be ruled out.>
Li Changsheng instinctively tightened his grip on the Night-Startling Spear. Feeling the coldness of its shaft, the heat buzzing in his head gradually subsided.
"The Night-Startling Spear's thrust is an area attack, but its range is only one meter. The Porcupine King is standing at the back, so I can't hit it. If it advances to a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, I'm dead for sure..."
After analyzing the situation for a moment, Li Changsheng suddenly realized how serious the problem was.
"What should I do?"
<Answer. Given the current circumstances, I recommend activating the God of Wisdom's automatic combat mode.>
"Automatic combat mode?"
Li Changsheng suddenly remembered that the God of Wisdom had mentioned it not long ago.
Besides helping him cultivate, it could also fight.
And its cultivation and fighting techniques, as well as its insights, were all top-tier!
"Then, can you take care of this group of porcupines?" Li Changsheng asked eagerly.
<Answer. You don't understand spear techniques. The Night-Startling Spear is as vast as the darkness and chaos that shroud heaven and earth. Every kind of attack will trigger its special attacks, and may even unleash combined techniques. However, this is also related to your inability to control the Night-Startling Spear.>
"Hey, are you saying you have a better affinity with the Night-Startling Spear than I do?" Li Changsheng used a term from the games of his previous life.
Answer. Yes.
Li Changsheng: "...Would it kill you to put that tactfully?"
"Fine, fine. Since you're so good, then you go ahead. Stop talking and kill that clever pig for me."
As he said this, Li Changsheng dropped his imposing act and yawned, looking bored.
<Understood. Activating the God of Wisdom's fully automatic combat mode.> <Supplement. After the battle, you are expected to remain unconscious for twelve hours.>
Li Changsheng had been halfway through his yawn when he heard the added warning. He froze for a moment.
"You didn't say..."
He had only just started to shout when he suddenly felt himself being pushed aside.
This time, his soul didn't leave his body. Instead, he remained inside it.
Through his own eyes, he watched the God of Wisdom take control of him and launch into a slaughter unlike anything he'd ever seen...
The God of Wisdom took control of Li Changsheng's body. Unlike the vicious, cold, and heartless act Li Changsheng had put on, the God of Wisdom was an auxiliary skill with one defining trait: it was utterly merciless. It treated all life with the same indifference.
It took hold of the Night-Startling Divine Spear.
It didn't leap. Instead, it began spinning the Night-Startling Divine Spear in its hand with a strange motion that defied Li Changsheng's expectations.
A flourish of the spear?
It clearly wasn't that simple.
"Is the wind picking up?"
Li Changsheng's consciousness suddenly felt a sinister wind sweeping in from the surrounding forest.
Before he could react,
his own field of vision suddenly rose. A sharp, deafening roar rang out from beneath his feet.
Using his keen senses, he saw it.
What did he see?
"A dragon? I—am I seeing a black dragon?"
Li Changsheng swore. He couldn't be blamed; the truth was horrifying enough to make anyone react that way.
Let's call Li Changsheng, under the God of Wisdom's control, "the God of Wisdom."
As the God of Wisdom spun the Night-Startling Spear, the black wind surged in from all sides, forming a colossal, hundred-meter-long black dragon with horns and eight claws. Its enormous head slowly lifted him up.
The God of Wisdom held the Night-Startling Divine Spear diagonally in its right hand and stood atop the dragon's head.
Its eyes held not a trace of emotion, and it looked down upon all living beings. The God of Wisdom paid no heed to the trembling porcupines. It simply took a few steps forward.
The black dragon wielded its tail like a blade, and the countless shards swept up by its movements shot out like bullets, reaping the lives of the ordinary porcupines.
The God of Wisdom gently stamped its foot. With a boom, the Night-Startling Spear in its hand erupted in a world-shaking beam of black deathlight.
It stripped away every last trace of blood qi from the dead porcupines.
Soon, only the Porcupine King remained from the encircling herd.
While Li Changsheng stood utterly stunned,
the God of Wisdom pressed its index finger to its lips. All things fell silent. The black dragon bowed its head. Its expressionless gaze swept over the Porcupine King, and in a mechanical voice it said:
"Whenever I, Li Changsheng, make a move, all things change and slaughter floods the heavens. You dead pigs will be reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye!"
The enormous dragon head came down like Mount Tai. Its whiskers swept across the earth, and its gaping jaws crunched the Porcupine King, which had been frozen in shock.
"Hey, who taught you that ridiculous line? How are you so strong? Even a Soul Emperor couldn't be that over-the-top, could they? Why is the Night-Startling Spear so powerful in your hands, while I can only manage one thrust?"
Li Changsheng complained furiously. He couldn't help it—this was just too shocking!
The God of Wisdom spun the Night-Startling Spear, and just like that, it summoned a terrifying black dragon.
What about him?
Could the gap really be this huge?
But the God of Wisdom didn't answer him. No, perhaps he had answered, but Li Changsheng could no longer hear him. Weariness washed over Li Changsheng. He crumpled to the ground, his stunned eyes slowly closing as he fell asleep...
That was what the God of Wisdom had just added.
The price that had to be paid for gaining power.
Of course, the main reason was that Li Changsheng was physically weak and hadn't even awakened his Martial Soul yet.
He fell into a heap of porcupine flesh and slept until nightfall, when Youyou finally woke up...
Before you continue