"What an adorable little bunny."
Xu Xiaoyan looked down at the White Rabbit gazing curiously up at her. Smiling, she crouched and stroked its head and body.
The rabbit was snowy white all over, its fur as soft as a ball of cotton fresh from the sun. Its ears stood upright, their tips faintly pink, and its ruby-like eyes stared at her without blinking.
Its round body looked like a little ball of fluff as it sat there. When Xu Xiaoyan petted it, it merely twitched its ears, showing no sign of running away.
In the hour since entering the Spirit Ascension Platform, she had been looking for her companions. She avoided aggressive Soul Beasts, and when she found harmless ones, she tried petting them a couple of times before moving on.
As a Control-Type Battle Spirit Master, she had virtually no offensive abilities apart from the fighting skills and weapon techniques Wu Changkong had taught her.
That left her stuck in an awkward spot: she couldn't beat the strong ones and couldn't bear to hurt the weak ones.
The rabbit nuzzled against her hand as though enjoying the attention. It even pushed its head into her palm.
Boom!
Just then, a tremendous crash shook the surroundings, and even the ground trembled several times.
The sound was deep and heavy, as if something enormous had fallen from above and sent a shock through the entire area when it struck the ground.
The rabbit, which had been sitting quietly, bolted in fright and vanished in a flash. Only a few trampled blades of grass remained, spinning where it had been.
Xu Xiaoyan was startled too, but she knew that shouting in a situation like this might attract a powerful Soul Beast. Without hesitation, she found a patch of tall grass and