Rewind

Su Weiyu caught the heavy scent of blood. Her expression changed abruptly, and she immediately got up and ran toward Xia Shou.

"Oh no! The Blood Demon found us!"

Su Weiyu hoisted Xia Shou onto her shoulder and tried to flee. But after only a few steps, his shadow stretched impossibly long. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and bloody tears streamed from both eyes.

Behind Xia Shou, Alice kept one hand clamped around his neck while reaching out with the other to grab a chunk of rubble, preventing Su Weiyu from moving him any farther.

"Ah! I'm sorry! ...Are you... are you okay?" Su Weiyu immediately realized what was happening. She stopped carrying Xia Shou and hurriedly put him back where he had been.

Su Weiyu looked around frantically, standing helplessly in place, at a loss as to what to do with Xia Shou.

The smell of blood in the air grew stronger, but Su Weiyu still did not leave. Xia Shou could see her trembling.

Xia Shou was a little afraid himself. Even with the chance to Rewind after death, dying was always terrifying, not to mention all the pain he would have to endure before it came.

And Su Weiyu had no chance to Rewind after death. Her fear of dying had to be a hundred times greater than his.

Unfortunately, he could not speak. Otherwise, he would have reassured her and told her to run ahead.

Just as Xia Shou was thinking this, Su Weiyu's expression hardened. As though she had made up her mind, she turned and ran!

Watching her flee in panic, Xia Shou felt considerably relieved.

Honestly, she should have run ages ago.

That was the right choice.

After all, her new companion could no longer fight, and she already knew she was no match for the Blood Demon herself. Staying here would accomplish nothing but getting her killed.

Besides, he and Su Weiyu had known each other for barely an hour. In her place, Xia Shou would have fled immediately too.

In a situation like this, running was the sensible thing to do.

Time continued to pass, and the Devouring bar kept creeping forward. But it was still only at 15%. He doubted he would get to see what this ability did. The Blood Demon would probably kill him before Devouring finished.

Still, he had learned quite a bit this time. At least he now knew that moving too far while Devouring would injure him.

He had also learned that he could not devour everything. Some anomalous things were especially difficult to devour and could even leave his body immobilized.

The shadow continued eating away at the charred corpse. Xia Shou simply stood there, quietly awaiting the Blood Demon's arrival.

The Devouring bar continued to rise as time crept by, yet the smell of blood in the air grew fainter.

For some reason, the Blood Demon had not come to him. It even seemed to have moved farther away, giving him more time to devour.

Xia Shou felt that he might have been inside for over an hour already. On his next attempt, he would have to budget his time carefully to devour these six corpses as quickly as possible.

[Devouring progress: 98.1%...]

At last, the progress bar was nearing the end.

Just then, a beast's low growl suddenly came from behind him.

Immediately afterward, the same strange oppressive sensation returned. Only this time, the killing intent came from behind!

Unable to turn his head, Xia Shou could only listen as the sound drew closer. Then he saw an enormous beast, its entire body wreathed in black flames, pass beside him and approach the Tamer's corpse.

Xia Shou's scalp prickled. He understood instantly: this beast-shaped Grudge Spirit was the Tamer's real trump card!

If this Grudge Spirit had been here earlier, Su Weiyu could never have killed the Tamer so easily. Her special ability only worked on humans.

Was he going to die?

Not because of the Blood Demon, but because of this Ghost Leopard?

Still, that was fine. It felt like it was almost time to Rewind anyway. Devouring had already reached 98.1%. If he hurried here earlier next time, he should be able to finish without trouble.

"ROOOAR!!!" The Black Panther let out a heart-wrenching howl of grief, and the black flames covering him erupted outward.

The next second,

an enormous red creature descended from above amid a drenching rain of blood. Like a giant pinning down a puppy, its massive palm clamped firmly around the back of the Black Flame Leopard's neck and slammed the spectral beast into the rubble.

A forest of thorny spears made of scarlet crystal materialized out of thin air. The dense sounds of piercing rang out incessantly. In the blink of an eye, the spears filled every part of the area Xia Shou could see.

The precarious mound of rubble collapsed with a thunderous crash under the tremendous force. The terrain changed in an instant, and a forest of blood-red crystals filled his entire field of vision.

Dust billowed out at once, obscuring his sight.

The light began to redden, and his vision turned crimson, as though everything had been washed in red light. The thick stench of blood was nauseating. The blood inside Xia Shou's body began to stir restlessly, and he could distinctly feel every blood vessel... they were all itching.

The atmosphere around him underwent an eerie change. An anomalous power was tangibly affecting Xia Shou's body.

The dust slowly settled, finally giving Xia Shou a chance to observe the Blood Demon with his own eyes.

It was a humanoid creature formed entirely of liquid blood. Its body was enormous, its limbs slender and elongated like bamboo poles. At the palms, however, they abruptly widened, ending in five huge, long fingers as sharp as guillotine blades.

It had no defined bodily details or facial features. Its whole body had a fluid texture. Countless red threads of blood spread upward from what could only be called its head, resembling strands of hair.

Like sightless worms, these blood threads probed the air. They clung to the ceiling and floor of the ruins, spreading into every corner like fungal filaments and weaving a carpet of red mycelium.

Xia Shou observed his target calmly. Then his pupils suddenly dilated, and his heart nearly stopped.

He saw Su Weiyu...

The blood clung to her hair, suspending her in midair. Her body had been completely severed from her left shoulder to her right ribs. Her lower half was nowhere to be seen. Only her head, chest, and right arm remained connected.

Her dull eyes were half-open, all the sorrow and regret before her death etched into her dim pupils. Even at the very last moment, her dangling right hand still clutched the Compass from earlier.

Xia Shou suddenly understood why the smell of blood had faded back then.

...Su Weiyu had gone to lure the Blood Demon away, buying him time.

Suddenly, Xia Shou saw a flicker of light in Su Weiyu's dull eyes. Her hand jerked, flinging the Compass toward him, and her lips trembled soundlessly.

Although there was no sound, Xia Shou knew what she wanted to say: "Run."

Xia Shou's mind went blank. For a moment, he could not tell whether Su Weiyu was still alive.

At the same time, the slowly advancing Devouring progress finally reached 100%, and control of his body returned.

[Devouring complete! You have gained a skill-[Reach the Pinnacle Where No One Is!]]

The text before him changed rapidly, and the skill's description appeared before Xia Shou's eyes.

The instant he finished reading it, Xia Shou understood why Devouring had taken so long this time!

"Lord Xia Shou, it's a pleasure to meet you. That red thing is the enemy, right?" A gentle female voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Alice?!" Xia Shou was startled. He had not expected Alice to awaken at this moment.

But he immediately brought his attention back to the present and asked instead, "Alice, what will happen if I turn around?"

"You will die. I will snap your neck," Alice replied calmly.

"Haha, that's pretty convenient. We've only just met, and we already have to part, but we'll see each other again soon." With that, Xia Shou turned his head fully for the first time. For the first time, he saw Alice floating behind him with his own eyes. She hovered in midair like an angel, her golden hair hanging before his eyes.

Then Xia Shou's vision spun wildly, as though his head had been placed on a rapidly spinning top. In an instant, he saw everything around him in a full 360-degree sweep.

Xia Shou felt a violent impact against his head. Then his viewpoint dropped extremely low, almost flush with the ground.

He saw his own headless body, blood roaring from his severed neck. The bloody rain drenched Alice from head to toe...