Healing and Escape

"If you dare hurt them, I'll cleave you in two!"

At some point, Qian Daoliu, Golden Crocodile, Guang Ling, Jiang Mo, and Bibi Dong had appeared above Xiao Wu and her mother.

"It's you!"

Xiao Wu’s Mother looked at Qian Daoliu and the others in surprise.

Qian Daoliu turned to Xiao Wu’s Mother and said,

"I'm sorry we were a little late."

Just after Da Ming and Er Ming had left, Qian Daoliu, who had been searching for a way to break through but had never managed to grasp it, was roused by a surge of evil power contained within Mad Wolf, whom Er Ming had killed.

After waking, Qian Daoliu learned what had happened from Bibi Dong.

Once he understood the situation, Qian Daoliu ordered them to come to their aid.

He had not expected to arrive a step too late. Though they had made it in time, Xiao Wu’s Mother had still been gravely wounded.

Jiang Mo looked at Xiao Wu’s Mother’s injuries, then swung the Coiling Dragon Staff at the Evil God Tiger’s neck in a blaze of golden light. But the tiger flicked its tail, flinging the beads of blood on the Evil God Hook into an arc that transformed into tiny bone spikes in midair.

"Watch out!"

In front of Xiao Wu’s Mother, Golden Crocodile’s golden soul power wove a barrier just in time. The needlelike bone spikes struck it and dissolved instantly.

As Qian Daoliu watched the eerie blue energy spreading across Xiao Wu’s Mother’s shoulder, his gaze abruptly turned cold.

"This beast can devour soul power. Golden Crocodile, cut off its retreat!"

"Right!"

Golden Crocodile unleashed a soul skill, slamming it into the ground. The resulting shock wave drove back the surrounding low-level soul beasts, but failed to touch the incredibly swift Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.

"Dong'er, take care of them."

Qian Daoliu spoke to Bibi Dong behind him.

Bibi Dong answered, then helped Xiao Wu’s Mother lean against a tree trunk. Xiao Wu’s Mother clutched her bleeding wound and coughed violently.

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's evil soul power not only made the circulation of her soul power sluggish, but also kept devouring her life force. Her vision began to blur, yet she stared fixedly in the direction Xiao Wu had run.

Only when she saw Er Ming's enormous palm sheltering her daughter against his chest did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Pale golden soul power gathered in Qian Daoliu's palm.

Of everyone present, only Qian Daoliu possessed a sacred aura. Only he could purge the utterly evil power contained within the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.

Meanwhile,

"Vile beast!"

Jiang Mo's Coiling Dragon Staff cleaved toward it in a blaze of black and gold, only for the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger to nimbly evade it.

An arrow flashed past. Guang Ling's arrow pierced the tiger's afterimage and embedded itself in the tree trunk behind it, its tail still humming and trembling.

Seeing that his shot had missed, Guang Ling had never expected the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger to possess spatial abilities as well.

"Ling, this tiger has six attributes: evil, space, time, lightning, wind, and strength. Be careful."

Qian Daoliu's voice rang across the battlefield.

Hearing Qian Daoliu's warning, Guang Ling nodded. The soul rings around him lit up, and an icy-blue arrow struck the tiger's left shoulder, only to inflame its ferocity.

It wheeled around, sweeping its long tail sideways. The Evil God Hook skimmed across the shield Golden Crocodile had formed from soul power, leaving a deep gouge in its hard surface.

"Er Ming, keep them safe!"

Da Ming, the Sky Azure Bull Python, lashed his serpentine tail at the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger with a whistle that tore through the air...

"This is all our fault! If only we'd noticed sooner..."

Er Ming had already sheltered Xiao Wu, her mother, Qian Daoliu, and Bibi Dong with his enormous palms. Watching the blood continually seeping from Xiao Wu’s Mother’s shoulder, his already crimson eyes grew redder still.

Xiao Wu’s Mother’s consciousness was beginning to fade. She felt as though she were a punctured waterskin, steadily draining away.

When Qian Daoliu aimed his palm at Xiao Wu’s Mother’s bleeding wound, his golden soul power trembled violently the moment it touched that patch of eerie blue evil energy, like ice dropped into boiling water.

His brow furrowed deeply, his pale golden hair falling beside Xiao Wu’s Mother’s pallid cheek.

Damn it. The power I can muster is less than twenty percent of what I had at my peak.

"Focus."

Qian Daoliu's voice was much deeper than usual. The golden motes gathering at his fingertips forced the eerie blue energy back little by little, but stopped barely an inch from her heart.

The eerie blue energy writhed as though alive, constantly corroding the edges of the golden motes.

Xiao Wu’s Mother bit her lower lip, cold sweat dripping from her chin. She could feel that warm soul power struggling to build a defensive line within her body, yet it could never completely purge the toxin.

"Great Enshrined..."

Her voice was faint, her gaze settling on Xiao Wu, who huddled against Er Ming's chest nearby.

"Don't waste your strength... This is the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's innate..."

"Be quiet."

Qian Daoliu's tone carried unquestionable authority. He gently pressed his other hand against the crown of her head.

"As long as you still draw breath, it isn't over."

Golden patterns of light spread along his arm, weaving half an incomplete shield of light over Xiao Wu’s Mother’s chest.

This was already the limit of what he could do at that moment. He could temporarily contain the toxin's spread, but could not eradicate it.

In the clearing on the other side, Golden Crocodile's crocodile-bone shield had smashed the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's right forepaw into a bloody mess. An icy-blue arrow fired by Guang Ling had pierced its left ear, the feathers at its tail still quivering slightly.

Just as it turned to pounce on Jiang Mo, who was closest, Da Ming, the Sky Azure Bull Python, suddenly struck from the side. His azure body lashed like a nimble, enormous whip, slamming viciously into its flank and sending the eighty-thousand-year soul beast staggering.

"Roar!"

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger let out a furious roar, but a trace of fear flashed through its eyes.

Golden Crocodile's shield constantly blocked its escape route. Guang Ling's arrows closed in relentlessly like soul-hunting streaks of light, while Jiang Mo swung a bone blade, carving a dense web of slashes around its feet. And that was not even counting the enormous azure python, who always attacked from the most treacherous angles.

It knew that dragging this out would only exhaust its soul power.

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger suddenly arched its body, dark purple mist billowing around it.

Dark Demon Evil God’s Wrath!

It abruptly opened its mouth and spat out a dark purple orb packed with terrifying energy. The orb exploded in midair, creating a distorted torrent of energy that forced everyone to retreat before its fury.

Seizing that opening, the Evil God Hook at the tip of its tail suddenly shone with eerie blue light. A pitch-black fissure instantly split the ground-its command of spatial power had taken effect.

"Don't let it escape!"

Jiang Mo's Coiling Dragon Staff cleaved toward the fissure with a fierce rush of wind, only to be bounced back by a dark purple shield.

That was Evil God's Protection! It could withstand attacks thirty percent above its own soul power level.

By now, half the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's body had entered the fissure. It turned its head and spat out a cloud of black mist-Dark Demon Devour. Wherever it passed, even Guang Ling's arrows were devoured without a trace.

"The spatial fluctuations are weakening!"

Guang Ling's arrow pierced the black mist, but merely grazed the Evil God Tiger's hind leg.

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger gave a smug, low growl as its entire body sank into the spatial fissure. All it left behind were a gradually closing crack in the ground and a lingering trace of bloody stench.

"This beast is too cunning! To think it has spatial power!"

Jiang Mo furiously slammed the Coiling Dragon Staff into the ground.

Golden Crocodile dispersed his soul-power shield, then frowned at the spot where the fissure had vanished.

"It's badly wounded. It won't dare return anytime soon. Our immediate priority is to guard this place and keep other soul beasts from being drawn here by the smell of blood."

Da Ming's azure body coiled around an ancient tree nearby, his bovine eyes fixed on where Qian Daoliu was administering treatment.

He could sense that, though faint, the golden soul power was like a tough strand of silk, holding fast to Xiao Wu’s Mother’s ebbing vitality.

Qian Daoliu slowly withdrew his hand. Eerie blue energy lingered in his palm, being purified little by little by his own soul power.

Watching Xiao Wu’s Mother’s breathing settle, he spoke with a hint of exhaustion.

"The evil energy has been suppressed for now, but to eradicate it completely, I'm afraid we'll have to wait until my strength has fully recovered."