White Dog X Black Dog X Shadow Space

The instant the two words left his mouth, the wolf-head shadow on the wall swelled and twisted. Thick blackness poured out of the shadow, gathering and taking solid form.

The next second, two enormous dogs, pitch-black from head to toe, leaped out of the shadow!

One was pure white, the other ink-black.

Each was as large as an adult lion, with limbs as thick as iron pillars and fangs jutting from its mouth. Saliva dripped to the ground with a sizzling sound.

They guarded Jiang Ye, one on either side, crouching low as deep, thunderous growls rumbled in their throats.

At the sudden sight, the bald man's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

"What the hell are those things?!"

"The shadow... They came out of the shadow?!"

"Dogs... What kind of dogs are those? I've never seen anything like them!"

With the appearance of the Black and White Divine Dogs, fear exploded through the crowd.

The two Divine Dogs gave no one time to react.

The White Dog lunged first, jaws wide, and sank its teeth into the nearest underling's arm. The crack of bone was as crisp as a chopstick snapping.

The Black Dog used its massive body to send two others flying, its claws plowing three grooves as deep as bone into the ground.

In an instant, screams filled the entire alley.

Seeing the severed limbs on the ground and the bloody scene before him, the bald man turned and ran, not even stopping to pick up his dagger.

Jiang Ye slowly rose to his feet against the wall. The Divine Dogs had already bitten through the ropes around his wrists.

He rolled his aching shoulders and watched the bald man flee in a panic, the smile on his face growing wider.

The Black and White Divine Dogs returned to his side and nuzzled his palm docilely, their cold touch carrying the weight of solid bodies.

"Kill."

Jiang Ye spoke calmly, saying only one word.

The next second, two black shapes shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow, catching up to the man in the blink of an eye.

The sounds of the big dogs chewing and tearing reached his ears, mixed with the man's agonized screams.

Jiang Ye stood where he was and let out a heavy breath.

The warm current still lingered in his lungs, while the black vapor around him slowly withdrew into his body, washing through it.

He glanced up at the gloomy sky, then looked down at the shadow stretching out beneath him.

"Ten Shadows Technique."

Jiang Ye spoke softly, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"Things are this exciting right from the start... The days ahead should be interesting."

Just then, a final muffled thud came from the end of the alley.

Looking closely, he saw the Black and White Divine Dogs returning, a torn-off sleeve still in their mouths.

Jiang Ye smiled and patted the White Dog's head.

He had just tried to take a step when an unprecedented hunger swept over him, leaving him so weak he nearly fell to his knees.

"Three days without food. I don't even know how I made it through."

Muttering, Jiang Ye picked up the can he had stolen, pried off the lid, and leaned against the wall as he wolfed down its contents.

It was salty and tasted awful, but with the negative buff of three days of hunger, it was oddly delicious.

"It feels good to be alive."

While Jiang Ye was reflecting, the Black and White Divine Dogs had already brought all the spoils before him.

They included various weapons, food, and a small amount of Jenny.

It wasn't much, but to him as he was now, it was undoubtedly a fortune.

"Not bad."

Jiang Ye immediately opened his Shadow Space and stored all his haul inside, then looked at the Black and White Divine Dogs before him.

As far as he knew, the Black and White Divine Dogs primarily served as scouts and close-combat vanguards. They had an extraordinary sense of smell, could track Aura, and used their sharp teeth and claws to tear at enemies up close.

They were the only Shikigami that required no taming ritual and could be obtained automatically upon awakening the Cursed Technique.

"Go back. With my current Aura, I can't keep you out for long."

Jiang Ye waved his hand, and the Black and White Divine Dogs instantly vanished.

Maintaining Shikigami consumed Aura. Having only just awakened his Nen Ability and with such a frail body, he couldn't maintain even the least demanding Shikigami for long.

Just then, raindrops began falling from the sky.

When the drops struck his wounds, Jiang Ye could distinctly feel his skin being corroded, and the pain in his wounds intensified.

"It's acid rain. I have to get back quickly!"

Jiang Ye immediately realized something was wrong with the rain.

The acid rain continued to corrode his skin, and his exposed wounds soon festered and became infected.

Meanwhile, in the shadows by the outer wall at the corner of the alley entrance, a small, thin figure in a ragged robe clamped a hand over his mouth, trembling all over.

He had seen it.

He had seen everything!

The pair of giant dogs that had leaped out of the shadows, and the drifter controlling them.

He stumbled off toward the middle district.

"I... I have to tell the boss... There's a monster in the outer district...!"

The acid rain striking his skin felt like being repeatedly jabbed with fine needles.

Jiang Ye gritted his teeth as he made his way through the alleys, his bare feet treading on slippery rubble. Every step felt like walking on a blade.

"I don't even have shoes. Am I cosplaying the Barefoot Immortal or something?"

He glanced at his arm.

The wounds drenched by the acid rain had begun to turn white and fester, and the air was filled with the tang of rust and rotting flesh.

Following the route in his memory, he passed through three narrow alleys piled with scrap metal and climbed over a low wall welded together from rusty sheet metal. At last, he saw the house.

Calling it a house was generous; it was nothing more than a shack dug out of a garbage heap.

It was cobbled together from scrap boards, sheet metal, rags, and cardboard boxes. A drafty plastic sheet weighed down the roof, and the acid rain was pounding against it.

Several bags of moldy garbage were piled beside the shack as a wall. Acid rain leaked through holes in the plastic sheet, forming a small, muddy puddle on the ground.

Jiang Ye stood at the entrance, stunned for two seconds.

No matter how poor he had been in his previous life, he had never lived somewhere like this. At least his college dorm had air conditioning and Wi-Fi.

He took a deep breath, ducked, and crawled into the shack.

There was barely enough room inside for one person to lie down with his legs stretched out. Several layers of cardboard covered the floor, with cold earth underneath.

Two empty cans and a plastic bottle lay in a corner. Half a mouthful of murky water remained at the bottom of the bottle.

A fist-sized hole gaped in the plastic sheet overhead. Rainwater dripped directly onto the center of the cardboard, soaking a large patch.

"Even wilderness survival isn't this miserable."

Jiang Ye shifted position and sat down in a relatively dry corner.

His back rested against the rusty sheet-metal wall. The cold seeped through his thin clothes and into his skin, making him shiver involuntarily.

Only now, after the battle had ended and the adrenaline had faded, was the true condition of his body gradually becoming apparent.

First and foremost was the hunger.

Although he had eaten a can of food, that little bit was nowhere near enough to fill a body that hadn't eaten in three days.

Then there were the wounds corroded by the acid rain.

More than a dozen small cuts on his arms, shoulders, and back were red and swollen. The blood seeping from them mixed with rainwater and clung to his clothes.

More importantly, there were the problems with the body itself.

Jiang Ye raised his right hand and examined it.

Thin, dry, and as scrawny as a stick of firewood, ready to be blown over by a gust of wind.

The bones at his wrist were clearly visible, and his skin was thin enough to reveal the blue veins underneath.

He tried standing up and taking a couple of steps.

His knees were weak and unsteady, and his ankles ached faintly. If he ran, he probably wouldn't last a hundred meters.

Malnutrition, old injuries, lack of sleep, muscle atrophy.

This twelve-year-old body was like a hollowed-out bag of skin, barely hanging on its frame.

Jiang Ye frowned.

He clearly remembered one iron rule of Nen cultivation.

Aura depended on the physical body.

The body's strength and health directly determined the upper limit of its Aura and the speed at which it recovered.

For a sickly Nen user, even if all their Aura Nodes were open, their Aura reserves would remain stuck at a low level. No amount of training could break through the limits of their body.

In other words, he not only had to train his Nen, but also had to gradually train this utterly wrecked body back into shape first.

And in Meteor City, food was desperately expensive, clean water was desperately expensive, and medicine was even more so.

Jiang Ye leaned against the sheet-metal wall, closed his eyes, and silently counted for a few seconds.

Then he slowly opened his eyes, his gaze falling on the pitch-black shadow on the ground.

He reached deep into the shadow, his fingertips touching an icy space, as though he had plunged his hand into deep water.

The next second, he pulled a few things out.