A Strike in the Night Alley · Hell Spirit Cat

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The alleys of Suotuo City were darker at night than Nan Feng had expected.

The walk from the Great Soul Arena to the inn in the eastern part of the city took him through the narrow alleys of an old district. The streetlamps were far apart, leaving only a few pale gray patches of light on the ground.

Nan Feng walked through the alleys with his Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light half activated.

After the third turn, the Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light caught an anomalous point of light.

Dark cyan. Its Soul Power fluctuations were faint and sharp, like a thin layer of frost on a blade.

The point of light moved quickly, darting left and right as it approached him. Its position shifted with every flash.

He had seen that kind of movement technique once before. Dugu Yan had used something similar when she was surrounded at the black market outside Nuoding City. This one was more nimble.

Three pale gray points of light followed behind it, their Soul Power fluctuations powerful and savage as they accelerated in pursuit.

Nan Feng stopped and leaned back against the alley wall.

The dark cyan point of light drew closer and closer. It was a slender girl in black, moving at tremendous speed.

She had a wound on her left shoulder. The blood was hard to make out against her black clothes, but Nan Feng could clearly see her left hand pressed to her shoulder, dark liquid seeping between her fingers.

Zhu Zhuqing.

Behind her were three burly men in gray, their footsteps heavy, all with Soul Power above rank thirty. Their leader was close to rank forty and carried a short axe, silver-white Soul Power condensed on its blade. The other two had a long staff and an iron claw as their Martial Souls, and they were closing in from either side.

Zhu Zhuqing was driven into a corner of the alley. A dead wall stood ahead of her, while the three men closed in behind her.

Nan Feng stayed where he was against the wall.

Zhu Zhuqing swept her gaze over the alley and saw him. Her pupils contracted slightly. She recognized him as the person who had been standing in the alley just now.

The three men had already closed to within five paces.

"Hell Spirit Cat." The leader stepped forward with his axe, his voice coarse. "You sure can run. Came all the way to Suotuo City alone, did you? Young master Dai isn't at your side anymore?"

Zhu Zhuqing did not answer. Her gaze swept over the three men's positions. She drew her right leg back half a step and lowered her center of gravity.

Nan Feng saw blood seeping faster between the fingers she held against her shoulder. The wound was serious, and it had slowed her down.

She was gathering strength.

Nan Feng stepped out of the shadows.

He did not walk quickly, and every step fell within the three men's perceptual blind spots. Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light showed him where their attention was focused: the two on either side were watching Zhu Zhuqing, while the Soul Ancestor in the middle was the most focused of all.

Only when Nan Feng reached the middle of the alley did the Soul Ancestor suddenly turn around.

"Who's there?"

Nan Feng did not answer. He activated Tower Suppression. A cyan halo spread from beneath his feet, covering the entire alley.

Tower Suppression: Mountain Suppression was a gravitational suppression. The ground sank, and broken stones were crushed to powder.

All three men felt as though their feet had been filled with lead, and their steps slowed. The Soul Ancestor circulated his Soul Power to break free, but when it reached the edge of the halo, a heavier force pressed it back.

With rank thirty-four Soul Power and the first level operating at full power, the suppression was beyond what an ordinary Soul Elder could break free from.

He failed to break free, and his expression changed.

Zhu Zhuqing reacted with extraordinary speed. The instant Tower Suppression reached her feet, she moved.

The Hell Spirit Cat's speed erupted in an instant. She became a dark afterimage, passing between the two gray-clad men in their thirties. Her left claw drew a line of blood across one man's neck, while her right claw struck the other's wrist, knocking his long staff from his hand and sending it crashing against the wall.

One staggered back, clutching his neck; the other squatted down, holding his wrist.

The Soul Ancestor forced himself around under the suppression and swung his short axe at Nan Feng. A silver-white arc of light formed on the blade and slashed toward his chest with a fierce gust.

Nan Feng did not retreat. He stepped forward half a pace with his left foot and unleashed Tower Realm · Creation.

The halo expanded to twice its size and gained a warm-colored layer: the Power of Creation flowing through it.

The short axe cleaved into the Tower Realm. The arc of light was wrapped in the warm-colored layer, its speed dropping sharply as the Power of Devouring absorbed part of its force.

Nan Feng turned sideways to avoid the front of the axe blade and reached out with his right hand. Five dark purple claw shadows sprang from between the fingers of his External Soul Bone.

Tiger Claw · Star Shattering.

The claw shadows swept across the Soul Ancestor's wrist. The man cried out and released the axe handle, letting the short axe fall to the ground.

Nan Feng followed the motion and closed in, drawing the iron hammer from behind his waist with his left hand. The hammerhead smashed into the Soul Ancestor's shoulder joint. With a crisp crack, the man's right arm fell limp.

Zhu Zhuqing cut in from the side. She pressed her left claw against the Soul Ancestor's throat and drove her right knee into his back, pinning him to the ground.

From beginning to end, it had taken less than ten breaths.

The alley fell quiet. Nan Feng withdrew Tower Suppression and the Tower Realm.

Zhu Zhuqing searched the Soul Ancestor and found a token. She glanced at it, and her expression darkened.

"An external affairs deacon's token from Spirit Hall." She tossed the token at Nan Feng's feet, then backed up two steps and leaned against the alley wall.

Her left shoulder was still bleeding, and her face was paler than before. Her gaze was clear and cold.

"You're Zhu Zhuqing," Nan Feng said.

Zhu Zhuqing looked him over. Moonlight filtered through a gap, illuminating half of Nan Feng's face.

She stared at him for three breaths, then suddenly spoke. "In that alley just now, you said you were passing by."

"That was me."

Zhu Zhuqing fell silent for a while, then looked down at her left shoulder. "Those three chased me for two days, from the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest all the way to Suotuo City. Spirit Hall is looking for people connected to Shrek."

She slid down the wall into a sitting position, her back against the bricks.

"How did you recognize me?"

"Your movement technique. The Hell Spirit Cat's shadow-sensing characteristics are too obvious."

Zhu Zhuqing did not press him. She held her left shoulder wound as blood ran down her arm.

Nan Feng took a small bottle of hemostatic powder from his bundle and handed it to her.

Zhu Zhuqing looked up at him, took the bottle, pulled out the stopper, and sprinkled a layer over the wound. She frowned when the powder touched it. A numbing sensation covered the sting, the bleeding stopped, and the edges of the wound drew together.

"Why are you in Suotuo City?" Nan Feng asked.

"Shrek is on break. I came out to travel, and to look for someone along the way."

Zhu Zhuqing did not say who she was looking for. As she spoke, her gaze shifted toward the mouth of the alley.

Nan Feng knew who she was looking for. Dai Mubai. Those two ill-fated lovers were at odds right now.

"The Soul Power fluctuations around you are different from before." Zhu Zhuqing turned to look at him, her gaze lingering on his dantian for a breath.

"They're very heavy, and there's a sense of something being suppressed. Did you absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring?"

Nan Feng looked at her. He had just seen Zhu Zhuqing's perceptiveness for himself. The Hell Spirit Cat's sensitivity to energy fluctuations far surpassed that of an ordinary Soul Master.

"My third ring. Twelve thousand years."

Zhu Zhuqing's expression did not change, but her fingers curled slightly against her knee.

"You dared absorb a ten-thousand-year ring for your third ring? You're more than ten times crazier than the rumors say."

She paused. "That suppressive power of your tower-when it reached my feet just now, I felt an earth attribute in the pressure. Very solid. From a bear?"

"A ten-thousand-year Fierce Bear King."

Zhu Zhuqing glanced at him, and the corner of her mouth moved slightly. "No wonder."

She closed the medicine bottle and handed it back, then used the wall to push herself up. She stood steadily now.

"What are you going to do with those three from Spirit Hall?"

Nan Feng glanced at the three gray-clad men on the ground. Two were unconscious, and one was still groaning.

He crouched down, turned the Soul Ancestor over, and felt around his waist, finding several things: a key, a letter, and a small bag of gold coins.

He opened the letter and skimmed it. It contained contact information and movements for several Spirit Hall outposts near Suotuo City.

Nan Feng put the letter into his bundle. Spirit Hall's people were active in Suotuo City too.

"Where are you going next?"

"I don't know. Somewhere safe to recover from my injury." Zhu Zhuqing tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear.

"There's a spare room where I'm staying," Nan Feng said.

Zhu Zhuqing stared at him for two breaths. Her dark eyes were deep in the moonlight. She was silent for a while, then nodded.

"Lead the way."

Nan Feng walked in front, with Zhu Zhuqing following behind, as they made their way through the old district's alleys toward the inn.

The night air in Suotuo City was damp and cool after the rain. Puddles still lay on the ground, making soft, scattered sounds underfoot.

Halfway down an alley, Zhu Zhuqing spoke.

"Nan Feng."

"Mm."

"Why did you show up in that alley?"

"I was passing by."

Zhu Zhuqing was silent for a few steps. "You're always passing by."

Nan Feng did not answer. The two continued forward, their shadows stretched long by the moonlight, one in front of the other across the alley floor.

Zhu Zhuqing walked at an even pace, keeping a distance that would let her react in time. It was her habit; the Hell Spirit Cat's vigilance kept her from easily trusting someone else's back.

But at least she was following him.

Back at the inn, Nan Feng rented the empty room next door. Zhu Zhuqing took the key without saying much, then closed the door to tend to her wound.

Nan Feng returned to his room, sat on the edge of the bed, and read the letter again.

Spirit Hall's activity in Suotuo City was more extensive than he had expected. There were contact methods for outposts, personnel deployments, and several names marked "target."

He put the letter away, closed his eyes, and sank into the space inside the tower.

The cyan light in the crack at the tower's base was shining. The doors to the first and second levels were fully open, and warmth seeped through the gap in the third-level door.

His Soul Power was at rank thirty-four, still six ranks short of forty. Only at rank forty, when the third-level door opened fully and the Power of Creation could be released outward, could he help Xiao Wu touch that seal.