Slaughter and the Wolf King
"Master, we came here to..."
"To train you in the God-Slaying Finger. Beasts gather here in packs, and in time, some are bound to advance into demonic beasts, threatening the villages at the foot of the mountain. Today, you must slaughter them for your training and collect their blood along the way. Once we return tonight, you'll soak in a medicinal bath."
The streak of light landed and became a master and her disciple. Holding Lin Sui by the shoulder, Su Fuxi brought him lightly to the ground. She withdrew the hand seal at her fingertips, and the flying sword swiftly became a sliver of light that shot into the storage pouch at her waist.
Ancient trees towered before them, and the vegetation was dense and damp. Su Fuxi spread out her spiritual sense and said, "Once you reach Foundation Establishment, you'll be able to fly on a sword yourself."
"Let's go!"
She sensed a brush-filled valley thirty li away where a pack of jungle wolves lived. Their wolf king was showing signs of advancing to the Qi Refinement Second Layer, making it just right for practice.
Holding Lin Sui, Su Fuxi pushed off and used the Windwalking Technique, a basic introductory technique for cultivators. Her figure shot dozens of zhang forward in an instant. After several bounds through the mountain ravines, she landed outside the valley in less than half the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
"Remember, this is your first trial. Although that silver-furred wolf king is at the Qi Refinement First Layer, it has more than a dozen guards around it."
"Unless your life is in danger, I won't step in to help. You must understand that only between life and death, when your killing nature is fully roused, will you have a chance to form slaughter qi. Go on."
Standing on the branch of a giant tree, Su Fuxi finished her instructions and, before Lin Sui could answer, threw him into the wolf pack ten zhang ahead.
Lin Sui had no time to be stunned. He quickly adjusted his posture in midair and formed a seal with both hands, unleashing the God-Slaying Finger before he landed.
Black mist gathered at his fingertip into a violent black gale of force, which became a dark finger imprint and shot out, killing a wild wolf in an instant.
He immediately twisted through the air to shed the force of his fall and landed steadily. At the same time, he drew a magic sword Su Fuxi had lent him and looked with a steady, icy gaze at the dozen or so adult wolves closing in around him.
The wild wolf he had just struck with the God-Slaying Finger gave a pained whimper and collapsed, a sunken finger imprint on its forehead. One finger had killed it, but no slaughter qi had appeared.
The silver-maned wolf king sat at its ease in the distance, though its dark green eyes were bloodthirsty and cold.
"Awoo!" One of the guard wolves attacked first, opening its bloody maw and pouncing at the boy.
Su Fuxi sat cross-legged on a sufficiently thick branch, quietly regulating her breathing. Her spiritual sense remained spread out, keeping watch over the surrounding dozens of li, while a sliver of her attention stayed on Lin Sui.
An ordinary wolf pack was naturally no match for him, but at the moment, the other side had the advantage of numbers.
At first, Lin Sui sparred with several wolves, adjusting to the rhythm of their attacks. He was a little awkward, but when a wolf nearly clawed his arm, a fierce light flashed in his eyes. Panting, he slit its throat with a single stroke.
His arm was unhurt, but the wolf's claws had torn a gash in the new clothes he cherished!
The magic sword was not really suited to Lin Sui, who had only recently begun Qi Refinement. It was quite heavy, and although he had reached the Qi Refinement Third Layer, he had only just entered the path.
He had no combat experience whatsoever, and his sword art was only at the first layer, all show and no substance.
His sword moves flowed together, but he could not release sword qi at will, so he struggled somewhat against the pack. As his strength drained away, his breathing grew heavier, and he knew his master would not step in to help him.
Lin Sui gritted his teeth, gripped the long sword in his slightly trembling arms, and charged at a wolf pouncing toward him. I must never ask her for help and admit defeat! I must never be weak and give up!
His aura suddenly surged, and the sword in his hands grew sharper in its strikes. He had to save his spiritual power for the wolf king, so he gripped the sword with both hands and gathered all his strength to chop at the head of the sharp-fanged, sharp-mouthed wolf. With a bang, he killed it in a single stroke.
"Aow... ooo..." The keen blade sank into the wolf's head, and the wolf whimpered and fell. But Lin Sui's sword was also lodged in its skull, impossible to pull free at once, and a powerful gust of foul wind had already reached him from behind!
Three fierce wolves pounced in concert, snapping at Lin Sui's neck, thigh, and waist.
Lin Sui's heart sank. He abandoned the sword, formed a hand seal with both hands, and sent his spiritual power surging. Killing intent flashed in his eyes, drawing in the spiritual qi between heaven and earth.
As the seal turned, his own spiritual power and killing intent instantly condensed into an illusory finger imprint. As he spun around, the imprint swiftly struck the three wolves' skulls one after another.
It was so fast that it almost left a gray-white afterimage.
Bang, bang, bang. The three wolves' brains shattered on contact, and they fell to the ground.
Lin Sui had exchanged injury for their lives. By now, blood streamed from his lower back and thigh; he had only had time to avoid their attacks on his vital spots.
The intense pain from his wounds made him stagger. He immediately reached back and gripped the sword, kicked the wolf's head away, and charged with the blade at several wolves that had sensed danger and wanted to retreat.
His killing nature had finally been roused! An invisible aura rose from his body, and his eyes were filled with icy coldness.
"Awoo!" A wolf's howl rang out, and the several wolves that had been shrinking back at once bared their fangs at Lin Sui. Wariness flashed in their eyes, but the wolf king had given an order, and they had no choice but to obey.
"Grrr!" The pack growled in unison, sticky drool dripping from their jaws. As Lin Sui drew closer and closer, they finally leaped together and pounced on him.
A melee erupted between one man and eight wolves.
Su Fuxi watched Lin Sui employ the tactic of killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of his own. Although she had done it on purpose, the child was far too earnest; he did not even know how to use a single point to affect the whole.
Ahem, actually, the effect is pretty good! In any case, with her watching over him, he would not die at the wolves' fangs, though a few minor injuries were unavoidable.
If he did not get hurt, he would not understand the cruelty of cultivating immortality.
Over there, Lin Sui held his sword across his body to block the attacks while forming a seal with one hand. With a wave of his right hand, a dark force became a finger imprint and pressed down on a wolf from a distance.
Only after Lin Sui had used the seal to kill several wolves in succession did he discover how marvelous the technique was: it consumed very little spiritual power!
He only needed to form the seal with spiritual power, then draw on the spiritual qi between heaven and earth to merge it into the dark force, which was like wind and mist. Once he sent it out as a finger imprint, it could achieve an effect countless times greater than his spiritual power alone!
After just a few swift parries, wolf corpses already covered the ground. Almost all had been killed with a single finger strike, leaving little blood. From time to time, a wisp of gray qi formed from a wolf's corpse and was drawn to Lin Sui. Five or six gray, mistlike currents had now gathered around him, circling without end-
Slaughter qi!
"Awoo-" The wolf king let out an angry howl that shook the entire valley. All the animals nearby kept their distance, not daring to linger.
But after that howl, the wolf king turned and ran! It was no match for this human, so it could only flee for its life, unwilling though it was.
"Where do you think you're going?" Lin Sui's target was the wolf king itself. How could he let it escape? With a clang, he flung the magic sword into the ground directly in front of it, cutting off its escape.
Seeing that it could not flee, the wolf king's eyes turned fierce. It bared its fangs with a roar, spun around, and pounced at Lin Sui.
Its body was much sturdier than an ordinary wolf's, and it stood nearly as tall as an adult. Lin Sui looked quite unimpressive before it, but he carried an aura that made the wolf king's heart tremble, which was why it had wanted to flee.
Clang!
Lin Sui slashed at the wolf king, only for the blade, despite being imbued with spiritual power, to be repelled. A silver light flashed across the wolf king's mane. Each hair looked as sharp as a silver needle, and its defenses were formidable too; a single sword stroke could not hurt it!
Fortunately, its offensive power lay entirely in its chilling, gleaming fangs and a body stronger than that of a human youth.
After Lin Sui had fought the wolf king for the time it took an incense stick to burn, it knocked him down and pinned him beneath one paw. A dull pain immediately filled his chest, and the taste of blood surged into his throat. He forcibly swallowed it down.
His cheek had also been grazed by the tip of a claw. As the wolf's jaws came down on him with a gust of foul wind, he hurriedly held his sword across them to block the bite.
Now he finally understood Su Fuxi's intention: she wanted him to truly witness the power of a demonic beast.
Just starting out, he had been easily subdued by a wolf king whose cultivation was lower than his own. It showed him that even with outstanding talent, he could still be hammered to death without solid ability!
He thought that he would never again complain about how disgusting the medicinal baths were. Meanwhile, his right hand swiftly formed a seal, and the God-Slaying Finger struck the wolf king's head. It sensed that terrifying aura and tried to escape,
but at such close range, there was simply no time. The finger imprint pressed into its skull, and with a bang, a fist-sized dent caved into its head.
With a thud, the wolf king's heavy body fell onto Lin Sui. The weight immediately brought a dull ache to his chest, and he sucked in a cold breath.
When he finally managed to crawl out, he saw Su Fuxi collecting the other wolves' blood in wooden buckets.
Without turning her head, Su Fuxi said, "Regulate your breathing first."
"Yes, Master." Lin Sui was exhausted. His first trial had involved more than two hours of fighting and left him in a sorry state. At her words, he sat cross-legged and regulated his breathing to restore his spiritual power.
"Rest for a while, then find your next prey."
Lin Sui, who had just opened his eyes with his whole body aching: "..."
Suddenly, a pale pink spiritual light fell upon him. The weariness and soreness throughout his body vanished at once, and even the dull pain in his chest disappeared.
The wound on his cheek visibly healed and faded.
Su Fuxi stood gracefully before him and handed him a dark-gold dagger sharp enough to slice through iron like mud. She lifted her chin toward the wolf king's corpse beside them:
"Go and collect its blood. Put away the demonic beast materials too: the inner core, hide, and bones. You can take them to the market and exchange them for spirit stones."
"All right." Lin Sui agreed and walked over to the wolf's corpse, following Su Fuxi's example as he processed the demonic beast.
He had just cut out the inner core and was about to hand it to Su Fuxi when he noticed how dirty it was, so he found a large leaf from an unknown plant nearby and spread it on the ground.
He planned to give it to her once he had cleaned it. Slowly, he processed the wolf king's materials and arranged them neatly by category on the leaf.
Su Fuxi took another look at the sweating boy. He looked so earnest that she could not help feeling a faint, unfamiliar stirring in her heart-
Lin Sui, like this, was much like she had been back then.
She had had no master to guide her onto the path and had relied entirely on her own care and caution as she learned how to be a cultivator.
"Master."
Su Fuxi had been immersed in memories of the past. Suddenly hearing the boy's voice, she looked up to find that he had already finished processing the wolf king.
The boy held an ivory-white inner core the size of a fingernail and offered it to her. It was perfectly clean, without a trace of filth.
"I have no use for it." Su Fuxi gently shook her head, an unusual gesture for her, and she looked somewhat dazed. "This is the inner core of a first-tier demonic beast. It's suitable for you."
Lin Sui was taken aback. Wang Xiaohu had said demonic beast inner cores contained pure spiritual power that cultivators could refine and absorb to increase their cultivation. He had not expected her to refuse it.
Su Fuxi waved a hand and put the beast blood into her storage pouch. "We'll rest here for now. Lin Sui? Stop daydreaming and find some dry firewood."
She finally remembered that Lin Sui still needed to eat. It was already well past noon, so she could roast the demonic beast's meat for lunch. A demonic beast that had formed an inner core and undergone marrow cleansing did not have particularly gamey meat, and it could replenish the energy a cultivator needed, so it could hardly be considered neglecting her disciple.
When Lin Sui returned, he saw that Su Fuxi had personally prepared skewers of wolf king meat, each marinated in spices.