Inkshadow Leopard

On the way back, the atmosphere was far more relaxed than it had been on the way out.

Eleven Earth Gnawers—each one fat and robust, with thick hides and plenty of meat.

The prey weighed heavily on the tribesmen's shoulders, yet every step they took was lighter than before.

Someone began humming an old tune passed down through the tribe, broken and intermittent, like the mournful whine of wind through a hollow tree. Yet for some reason, it set everyone at ease.

Mang walked at the very front. The Earth Gnawer on his shoulder pressed his sturdy body several inches shorter, but he wore a smile, turning back now and then to trade jokes with the others.

Even Biao's shoulders had relaxed.

The hands that had been clenched around his knife hilt finally loosened. He shook out his wrist, tilted his head toward Lin Yi, and said, "This haul will give the tribe room to breathe. That spear of yours—"

His words cut off halfway up his throat.

A black shadow shot out from the dense forest to the left of the group! It moved so fast it did not seem to be moving at all, but rather appearing out of thin air. One moment, it was deep within the treetops dozens of yards away; the next, it had pounced before Lin Yi with a gust of foul, icy wind!

Sharp claws shot out. Jet-black claw tips flashed beneath the sunlight as they plunged straight toward Lin Yi's face.

Too fast.

The smiles had not yet fully vanished from anyone's faces. Even the tail end of Biao's praise still hung in the air.

By the time Biao's pupils constricted and he tried to draw his blade, that black shadow was already nearly pressed against Lin Yi's body.

Lin Yi himself could not react in time either.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a blurred black shape breaking into his vision. Before his brain could issue a single command, the claws had already arrived.

Only ten centimeters remained between them and his face.

The ghostly gleam on the sharp claw tips had already reflected in his eyes.

At that instant, a violent explosion erupted from the depths of Lin Yi's mind!

The sound was both shrill and heavy, as though something stretched taut for a long time had finally been pulled to its limit before snapping with a crack.

A current both icy and scorching surged explosively from the base of his skull, blasting down his spine and into every limb and bone, faster than consciousness itself could travel.

His body moved on its own.

Without thought or judgment, Lin Yi's waist and back bent like a hard bow suddenly drawn taut and then violently released. His whole body arched backward at an almost impossible angle, his spine curving into an exaggerated arc. His upper body tipped back until it was nearly horizontal, and the claws swept past the tip of his nose, the airflow they raised slicing off several loose strands of hair from his forehead.

Then, following the motion, he spun and leaped backward more than ten feet. The instant he landed, he was already crouched low in a defensive stance.

The entire process was as clean as if it had been rehearsed countless times.

Lin Yi's heart hammered wildly in his chest. Cold sweat seeped out layer by layer across his back, instantly soaking through his inner clothes.

Only then did he belatedly realize what had happened. At the line between life and death, his body had moved by itself.

An instinct beyond consciousness had taken control of his limbs faster than his mind could.

He had never experienced such a sensation before. He could not tell whether it was his mind's quick wit projected onto his body, or whether this flesh, tempered several times over, had developed a memory of its own.

But now was not the time to investigate.

The black shadow failed in its first strike and landed lightly atop a bluestone three or four zhang away, without immediately giving chase.

Sunlight slanted down through gaps in the canopy, illuminating its black outline clearly. Its entire body was ink-black, its short, dense fur smooth as satin and pressed tight against sleek, powerful muscles.

Its limbs were long and strong, while its thick, lengthy tail swayed slowly behind it like a whip.

Its emerald-green eyes stared unblinking at Lin Yi. Its pupils had narrowed into needle-thin vertical slits, holding the calm, almost indifferent gaze of a hunter.

Biao finally reacted. He yanked the broadsword from his back and took one broad step sideways, placing himself in front of Lin Yi.

The other hunting party members closed in at the same time. Everyone stood back-to-back in a circular defensive formation, their weapons uniformly aimed at the black figure.

Once Biao saw the creature's full appearance, his pupils abruptly shrank, and even his breathing paused for a beat.

"Inkshadow Leopard... How could it be this thing..."

His voice was extremely low, carrying a gravity Lin Yi had never heard from him before.

The muscles in Biao's cheeks tightened until they turned stiff. His Adam's apple bobbed before he forced out the rest of his words. "It's a creature on par with the Dragonlike Blood-Qi Realm. We... have truly run into rotten luck."

"Dragonlike?" Lin Yi's eyes twitched.

"The peak of the Four Blood-Qi Realms—over a hundred thousand jin," Biao said rapidly under his breath. "But an Inkshadow Leopard is even harder to deal with than an ordinary Dragonlike Realm beast. It carries Mengji blood in its veins, and it is born skilled at lurking and ambushing. Its short-range burst speed ranks among the best of all vicious beasts at the same level.

"And it definitely possesses a Bloodline Divine Ability. We just don't know what kind."

The other hunting party members' faces sank the instant they heard the words "Inkshadow Leopard."

Mang gripped his stone axe tightly, his knuckles turning white, but his feet did not retreat even half a step.

The other members tensed their muscles and reduced their breathing to the shallowest, lightest level. Every gaze was locked tightly onto the black figure atop the bluestone.

Lin Yi's gaze met the Inkshadow Leopard's.

Those emerald-green vertical pupils stared straight at him. Its gaze was like two icy currents nailed to his face, shifting faintly with every tiny sway of his body.

Lin Yi noticed that the Inkshadow Leopard's gaze barely swept over anyone else. Almost all of its attention was focused on him alone.

That first strike just now. It had come straight for Lin Yi. Fast, precise, and ruthless, aimed directly at his face.

If this had merely been a random encounter, then by a hunter's instinct, it should have attacked the nearest or weakest target first.

Yet the Inkshadow Leopard had leaped across dozens of yards, bypassed Mang in front, crossed past Biao beside him, and accurately pounced on Lin Yi in the middle of the group. This had been premeditated.

Lin Yi's mind rapidly reconstructed the complete picture. The Inkshadow Leopard had been there all along.

When they had hunted the Earth Gnawer herd, it had already been lurking in the shadows. It had witnessed Lin Yi spear straight through an Earth Gnawer, seen the instant the blood-gold markings across his body blazed brightly, and sensed that burst of one hundred and twenty thousand jin.

To the Inkshadow Leopard, Lin Yi was the only threat in this group.

As long as it killed him first, everyone else would be lambs awaiting slaughter beneath its claws.

Lin Yi's heart sank.

"Brother Biao," Lin Yi said in a voice low enough that only Biao could hear, "take the others and leave first. I'm its target.

"It was there when we hunted the Earth Gnawers. It saw me activate the Savage Bull Diagram and knows my burst power can injure it.

"As long as I remain here, it won't divert its attention to attack anyone else."

Biao's brows immediately knotted. "What the hell kind of nonsense are you spouting? I'm not leaving you here alone—"

"Listen to me first." Lin Yi cut him off. His eyes remained fixed on the Inkshadow Leopard, but his words came fast and steady.

"It wants to deal with me first, then the others.

"So I'll keep it occupied while you withdraw first. It won't chase you. Only after you leave will I have a chance to maneuver around it. Otherwise, if we all stay gathered here and it goes mad biting at random, our side will suffer terrible casualties."

Biao's lips pressed into an iron line, the muscles in his jaw drawn taut.

He understood Lin Yi's words. He understood the logic behind them. Yet his feet seemed nailed to the ground, unwilling to move even one step.

"Mang!" Biao suddenly growled. "Take the others and withdraw! Go!"

Mang whipped his head around. "Biao—"

"Don't fucking dither like a woman!" Biao kept his voice low, but every word struck the ground like a stone. "If we all die here, the tribe is finished! Go! Return and find the village chief. Have him bring sacrificial offerings to support us!"

Mang clenched his teeth until they creaked.

He looked at Lin Yi, then at Biao. Then he abruptly turned and waved at the others behind him. "Go!"

No one hesitated any longer. They all pushed off at once and sprinted wildly toward the tribe.

Their figures rapidly withdrew into the forest, quickly vanishing amid the rustling of leaves.

The Inkshadow Leopard's emerald-green eyes flicked between Lin Yi and Biao.

Lin Yi saw its vertical pupils narrow slightly. It had noticed those retreating people. But it did not move.

Once the sound of Mang and the others' footsteps had completely faded away, the forest sank into a long silence.

The wind swept through the grass, making the Inkshadow Leopard's short, dense black fur tremble faintly. It whipped Lin Yi's clothes around him with a hunting roar.

The hunter's patience had run out in those emerald-green vertical pupils.

The Inkshadow Leopard's hind legs suddenly lowered. It was about to move.