Hell Spirit Cat

"The Hell Spirit Cat," the gray-clad man spoke, his voice like sandpaper, "It really is you."

A flash of light.

Lin Xiao was faster than a flash of light. Blood was still flowing from his left shoulder, but he was no longer where he was. The dagger pierced his ribs at a tricky angle.

The gray-clad man twisted his body, his long sword slashing horizontally. The blade, imbued with a chilling Soul Power, whistled as it swept through the air.

It's empty.

Lin Xiao circled around to the left and stabbed again.

Lu Yuan retreated to the edge of the rock, his pupils shrinking slightly. This was no ordinary speed—the boy's feet landed almost silently, his figure leaping between the shadows of the pine trees like a streak of black smoke skimming the ground. Every change of direction defied common sense.

Moreover, his right hand was slightly open, with the fingertips covered in a dark, almost black light. It didn't look like an outward projection of Soul Power, but rather like some kind of keratin.

Beast Martial Soul: Top-tier Agility Attack System.

"Is this all the geniuses your family has trained you to be?" The gray-clad man parried the dagger with his longsword, raising his left hand. A dark green halo appeared in his palm, instantly spreading outwards.

Lin Xiao's dagger pierced the halo of light, causing his movement to pause.

"Poison?" he groaned, pulling back. Dark green lines had already spread along the blood vessels from the wound on his left shoulder.

He stumbled a step.

The man in gray approached. "Your father ordered me to take you back alive."

Lin Xiao licked his canine teeth, his amber pupils shrinking to pinpoints. "Dream on."

He stomped off the ground, his figure blurring as he spun rapidly around the gray-clad man, leaving numerous afterimages, his daggers thrusting out from different angles.

The man in gray frowned. He brandished his long sword, parrying most of the blows, but still managed to cut several wounds on his shoulder and arm.

He was annoyed.

His left hand clenched loosely with five fingers. Dark green Soul Power surged out, transforming into dozens of thin threads that coiled around the afterimage.

Lin Xiao stopped abruptly and slashed repeatedly with his dagger. The thin threads were extremely resilient; he cut several, but more kept wrapping around him. The poison in his left shoulder slowed his movements slightly.

Just this one point.

A thin thread was wrapped around the right ankle.

His body swayed. More fine threads surged up, wrapping around his arms and waist. He struggled, but the threads tightened even more.

The man in gray walked up to him, a long knife pressed against his throat.

"Don't move." The voice was flat. "This poison is called ' Bone-Binding Silk.' The more you struggle, the deeper it penetrates. If it's not cured within a quarter of an hour, your Soul Power and meridians will be completely destroyed."

Lin Xiao's chest heaved, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were fixed intently on the screen.

The man in gray turned his head. "You... come here."

Lu Yuan didn't move.

"Count to three." The knife tip pressed down, drawing blood from Lin Xiao's throat. "If he doesn't come closer, cripple his arm first."

Lu Yuan took two steps forward.

As the distance closed, he could see clearly how the gray-robed man's Soul Power flowed in his palm—dark green threads were drawn out from a tiny vortex. With each thread drawn, the vortex darkened a little.

It requires a continuous supply of Soul Power. And...

Lu Yuan's gaze swept over. The gray-clad man was facing away from the sunlight, his face towards the shadows. The fine silk threads were pale in the sunlight, but deep and dark in the shadows.

Sensitive to light?

A thought flashed through his mind.

"Halt," the man in gray commanded. "Take everything out of your pockets and throw it on the ground."

Lu Yuan slowly untied the cloth bundle, squatted down, and took out the items one by one: notes, medicine packet, dry rations, and several small cloth bags.

He paused, pointing at the last cloth bag.

Inside were materials from the lab: bristles of Bristle Rat, fragments of lizard molts, snake venom powder... and a small clump of dried Fluorescent Moss debris.

Fluorescent Moss. It emits a faint blue light at night, and its brightness can be temporarily increased when stimulated by Soul Power.

He raised his eyelids and looked behind the man in gray.

There were several half-dead vines twining around the pine trunk. The undersides of the leaves were covered with a moss-like, velvety substance—also fluorescent, but weaker.

The man in gray's attention was entirely on his hands. "Hurry up."

Lu Yuan's fingers rummaged inside the cloth bag, pinching a fragment of moss. A tiny wisp of Soul Power seeped from his fingertips, seeping into the fragment.

The debris emitted a pale blue light that was almost invisible to the naked eye.

Too weak.

A brighter light was needed, and suddenly it appeared.

How did you do that?

Lin Xiao suddenly coughed, coughing up blood. He struggled to lift his head, his amber pupils looking at Lu Yuan, a strange glint in his eyes.

Then suddenly twist your body to the right!

The thin threads binding him were stretched taut. The man in gray frowned and increased the force with his left hand. But Lin Xiao twisted with all his might, and the threads creaked.

Chance!

Lu Yuan's Soul Power suddenly increased. Instead of injecting it into the moss fragments, it silently spread along the ground towards the vines.

The Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul trembled slightly in his palm. The Soul Power output was compressed into a thin thread, which clung to the withered leaves and soil, precisely drilling into the roots of the vines.

Fluorescent plants react to Soul Power —common knowledge from my past life. As long as the Soul Power frequencies match...

The velvety substance on the underside of the vine leaves suddenly lit up.

A very faint layer of pale blue hue, like flickering will-o'-the-wisps in the dim forest.

The man in gray instinctively turned his head.

Just this one moment.

Lin Xiao tensed the muscles in his right arm, gripped the dagger upside down, and slashed fiercely at the thin threads binding him! The blade grazed the surface of the threads, leaving a trail of dark green sparks.

The fine threads trembled.

The man in gray snapped back to his senses and clenched his left hand. But Lin Xiao had already used the force of that slash to slip half a foot through the gap like an eel.

not enough.

The wound on my left shoulder reopened, and blood gushed out. I was a beat too slow.

The man in gray swung his long sword down.

The blade was only three inches from his head.

Lu Yuan gritted his teeth and poured all his Soul Power into the vines.

A sudden flash of blue light!

A near-blinding bright blue. The fluorescent, velvety object seemed to be ignited, bursting out with light far exceeding normal levels in a mere instant.

The gray-clad man's pupils contracted.

His Martial Soul was somewhat sinister, and his years of cultivation had made his eyes exceptionally sensitive to bright light. The sudden brightness made him instinctively close his eyes, causing him to freeze for a second.

Half a beat is enough.

Lin Xiao's body suddenly blurred.

It wasn't an afterimage; it truly melted into the shadows. When it reappeared, it was already behind the man in gray.

With his right hand's five fingers together, the dark keratin at the fingertips swelled three inches, transforming into five black claws.

Wave.

A soft sound came from his throat, like tearing open a thick cloth.

The man in gray clutched his neck, his eyes wide. Blood gushed from between his fingers, gurgling and gurgling. He tried to turn around, but his strength drained away with the blood. The long sword slipped from his hand and plunged into the earth.

Kneel down, then fall forward.

It stopped moving.

Lin Xiao staggered to the ground, retracting his right claw. His chest heaved violently, the wound on his left shoulder reopened, and blood stained half of his body, dripping down.

He turned his head, his amber pupils fixed on Lu Yuan.

His eyes held a complex mix of surprise, doubt, confusion, and a hint of wariness.

"You just now..." His voice was terribly hoarse, "How did you do that?"

Before he could finish speaking, he swayed.

Lu Yuan strode forward.

Lin Xiao fell straight forward.

Lu Yuan caught it. It was cold and sticky to the touch—all blood. The wound on his left shoulder was deep enough to expose the bone, and dark green lines of toxins had spread up to his collarbone.

His breathing was faint, but still there.

Lu Yuan laid him flat, tore open the hem of his inner garment, and shredded it into strips. He first applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding, then took out the medicine packet that Bai Zhi had given him.

There was half a packet of Moonlight Orchid Powder left; I sprinkled it all on.

The powder made a soft hissing sound upon contact with the wound. The dark green lines spread more slowly, but didn't stop.

The poison hasn't been cured.

Lu Yuan frowned. He didn't understand toxicology and only had ordinary hemostatic medicine on hand. If this continued, he would surely die within half an hour.

He got up and walked toward the gray-clad man's corpse.

He crouched down and rummaged through the bag. Inside was a small leather pouch. He opened it to find a few silver coins and a folded piece of paper. The paper contained a portrait of a young boy, with the words "Lin Xiao, fifteen years old, Mutated Martial Soul Hell Spirit Cat martial soul, captured alive" in small print below.

She really was pursuing him.

Continuing to search, I felt a hard object inside the belt. I pried it out and found a flat jade bottle about the size of a thumb.

I uncorked it and smelled it. It had a fishy, bitter smell mixed with a faint minty coolness.

Pour a little into your palm. The liquid is dark green, the same color as the fine threads. Is it poison, or an antidote?

An ant crawled across the ground.

Lu Yuan dripped a drop onto the ant. The ant struggled violently, then stopped moving after a few breaths, its body turning a dark green.

It's poison.

My heart sank. There was no antidote?

Just as he was about to search again, he caught a glimpse of the gray-clad man's left palm—the vortex that had formed fine threads had dissipated. However, there was a faint bulge under the skin where the vortex had been.

Use the tip of a dagger to pry it open.

Buried beneath the skin are rice-grain-sized dark green beads. When dug out, they feel warm to the touch and have a faint herbal fragrance.

Holding the bead, she returned to Lin Xiao's side and tentatively pressed it against the wound.

The spread of the dark green veins stopped.

efficient.

Lu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. He pressed the bead onto the wound and secured it with a strip of cloth. He pried open the lip and fed the wound some water.

Lin Xiao was still unconscious, but his breathing was more steady.

Lu Yuan sat on the ground, leaning against the rock, looking at the mess.

A wild boar carcass, a gray-clad man's carcass, and an unconscious boy. In the distance, a few vines—the fluorescent light had died down, and the leaves were charred black, as if burned.

He raised his hand and looked at the dull Blue Silver Grass in his palm.

That instantaneous manipulation of Soul Power almost drained all of my level three Soul Power reserves. But the effect... exceeded my expectations.

It's not about strength, it's about timing.

The man in gray was clearly stronger, possessed a strange Martial Soul, and was poisonous. In a head-on fight, ten Lu Yuan would be no match for him.

But he won.

He relied on a bit of plant characteristics, a bit of knowledge about light, and Lin Xiao's reckless fighting instincts.

Knowledge is the Key. But the Key must be inserted into the right lock, and someone must turn it.

Lin Xiao was the one who turned the Key.

Lu Yuan looked at the unconscious boy. His wheat-colored skin had turned pale from blood loss, and the claw marks on his cheeks were particularly noticeable. With his eyes closed, he had lost his arrogance and looked like an ordinary boy.

She's only fifteen.

Family pursuit, Mutated Martial Soul, captured alive like merchandise. This young man's story is probably no less complicated than his.

It got dark.

A wind blew through the woods, howling mournfully. In the distance came the piercing cry of an owl.

We can't stay here overnight. The smell of blood is too strong and will attract Soul Beast.

Lu Yuan stood up and carried Lin Xiao on his back. The boy was taller than him, but very light, with a stiff frame. The wound on his left shoulder bled again with the slightest movement.

We need to find a place to handle this.

Identify the direction and head east—the gray-clad man came from the west, so we can't go there. The terrain gradually rises to the east, where there might be a cave.

Every step was heavy.

His Soul Power was exhausted, and his physical strength was also at its limit. Breathes on his back sprayed onto the side of his neck, causing alternating periods of heat and coolness.

Lu Yuan gritted his teeth and continued walking.

Moonlight filtered through the pine needles, casting dappled shadows on the ground. Looking at those shadows, he suddenly recalled a sentence from Shen Moxin's notebook:

"The path of Soul Master is never walked alone."

I didn't think much of it at the time. Now, I understand it a little better.

A faint sound came from behind.

"Put... me down."

Lin Xiao woke up.