by Tinalynge
As a means of practice and to save spiritual energy, the friends quickly came up with the idea of killing five wolves each before switching out. This would let them have someone with their energy reserved at all times, able to step in should a higher ranked beast appear or any mishaps occur.
Growling could be heard as a wolf tried its luck, moving slowly towards the poisonous flowers and the youngsters behind them.
Its eyes were lit with intelligence, much like the previous wolf’s, and its fangs were bared in a sneer as it slowly inched closer and closer.
The flowers bloomed beautifully in the rays of light, which cascaded out from within the light stone, and Hui Yue could not help but feel a slight anticipation as he waited for the wolves.
The wolf looked at the flowers, but as though it knew they were toxic, it inhaled deeply and held its breath as it tiptoed through the flower field.
Hui Yue had never seen Wang Ju Long using such abilities before, so he looked at her in confusion with a hint of curiosity. Had the wolf truly overcome her flowers?
As soon as Hui Yue turned his head to look at Wang Ju Long, a single word escaped her lips. As soon as the mouth had closed, agonizing howls could be heard from within the flower field.
Hui Yue turned around in shock and the sight caused his eyes to widen in surprise, as the wolf was being dissolved while still alive.
The flowers had released a poisonous fog which grouped around the wolf, attaching itself to the soft fur and slowly corroding its skin. The fog entered the body and turned the petrified wolf into a mass of liquefied flesh and bones.
Seeing this, Hui Yue rose an eyebrow and could not help but let out a praising whistle. Although the flowers were unable to move, it was obvious that they managed to deal with the wolf in a simple and effective way.
The stench of blood quickly aggravated the wolves and one fierce howl after another could be heard from deep within the tunnels. The howls were so piercing that even the guards standing outside the gate leading to the tunnels shivered from the sounds. They immediately sent a message to the City Lord, letting him know that something was amiss within the tunnels. Even these guards were capable enough to know that it was due to the entourage they had allowed in.
Looking at the few scraps left from the first wolf, Hui Yue noticed how flowers close to the carcass seemed to have sprouted roots above the ground which sucked up the liquid goo, causing the poppies to undergo a transformation.
Seeing this unexpected result, Hui Yue stopped with his previous idea of switching between cultivators right away and chose to ask Wang Ju Long to continue for as long as she could, as he found the transformation interesting.
Although it hurt his heart slightly to see the many valuable materials turn into plant fodder, he still did not complain, rather deciding to watch and see if the plants could hold their own.
Seconds after, great shock filled Hui Yue as he saw how the flowers fought each other for the sake of absorbing the beast core. Each flower in the area was frantic in their attempts to absorb the others. Some attacked each other straightforwardly while others seemed as though they preferred ambushes.
The field, which had originally been filled with poppies, quickly grew smaller and smaller while the few poppies that remained grew larger and larger in size. The final poppies were about to start fighting one another when the sound of another wolf appeared; they instantly stopped in their tracks, slowly settling on the stone floor, and once more waited patiently for the wolf to advance into their domain.
The petals which had been a beautiful red now shined with a red hue, a mist very similar to the one within Hui Yue’s dantian cave. This time, Hui Yue did not dare remove his eyes from the flowers and closely observed every moment of the attack.
The wolf was unable to see the corpse of the previous beast, causing it to feel fairly confident as it made its way past the flowers. But as soon as it was within reach, Hui Yue gaped in surprise. He saw how the flowers did not emit the poisonous smog from earlier.They actually used their roots to bind the unsuspecting wolf, transmitting the poison and instantly absorbing the flesh left behind.
The flowers not close enough to partake in the wolf banquet ripped up their roots and made their way to the already dead wolf, injecting their own poison and digesting the wolf, increasing their own strength.
From the point the vines and roots swirled around the wolf till the moment it died was less than the time it took for 1 incense stick to burn. The wolf had no time to scream out in despair.
Although the scent of blood thickened, more wolves appeared in the distance, as they assumed the first wolf had success considering the lack of agonizing howls. However, as soon as they saw the flowers feas on a pack brother, hate and indignation were visible within their intelligent eyes. A few barks resounded out as two wolves squeezed together, moving their target from the young humans to the flowers digesting their comrades.
The wolves were in no way something which should be underestimated, as when the two wolves launched their attacks together, the poppies started losing vines and roots. Unfortunately for the wolves, biting the roots filled them with poison. But even then they kept putting up a fight, determined to take down the flowers with them.
As the two wolves finally succumbed to poison, only one of the poppies was still standing. It was a flower which had not participated in the previous battle, but instead took the opportunity to absorb the two previous beast cores.
Hui Yue finally understood what Lan Feng meant when he said that even flowers had a cultivation base and the ability to gain strength much like humans. These seeds were definitely special, allowing for cultivators with an affinity for the Wood element to share their cultivation base with the flowers.
Pondering a little, Hui Yue turned to Wang Ju Long. “This flower...” he started with a cunning smile on his face. “Does it stay for some time? Or is it alive until broken?”
Wang Ju Long thought about the question for a little while. She had practiced the flowery field often, yet this was the first time she had been in fight where she was capable of using it; although, her previous experience told her that the flower would stay until it was destroyed.
“Perfect!” Hui Yue cheered as he patted the girl’s shoulder. “Call the flower here and bring the wolf corpses too. Feeding these things to your flower seem to make it stronger. Having a watchdog like this is not a bad idea.”
Hearing the suggestion from Hui Yue, Wang Ju Long did not wait long before closing her eyes and allowing for a bit of her will to enter the plant, informing it about the orders.
The plant, as though it were highly intelligent, instantly did as ordered. It twisted two vines about the dead wolves and another three around the dead flowers, tugging all four corpses back to its creator and quickly started digesting the new energy sources.
Seeing how easily Wang Ju Long had dealt with four wolves and had even managed to produce a plant which intrigued Hui Yue, Sha Yun could not help but feel a burning jealousy within her stomach. She rushed forward, dead set on being the next one to face the wolves. She would prove to Hui Yu what true strength was.
Sha Yun grumbled, as no wolves were coming her way, and her tail was slowly tapping against the ground, showing her extreme displeasure.
The wolves, however, showed absolutely no signs of attacking. Instead, they settled down in a group five hundred meters away from the entrance as they patiently waited for the cultivators to give up and try attacking all of them at once.
The wolves were not as intelligent as the young cultivators, but although they were not as intelligent, they were still far from dumb. It had been easy for them to see that every wolf which had tried their luck against the humans perished, and considering how often this happened, it was safe to say that the wolves stood no chance in their current location.
This in turn caused the leading male of the pack to call all his eager wolves back with him, as he relocated to a place where all the wolves were together, but at the sam
e time not allowing for Hui Yue to sneak past them.
Having merged with the earth, which the tunnels were made from, Hui Yue observed the entire retreat and had to admit that the wolves were smarter than expected.
Although they were weaker than his friends and himself, they had an astonishing advantage in numbers. Even if Hui Yue went all out, it was likely that they would get injured in the process.
Getting injured on the way to the magnificent Dragon Corps was not on Hui Yue’s to do list. Instead, he leaned against the chilled tunnel wall and closed his eyes, thinking through their options.
Unfortunately, as soon as his eyes closed, he felt the shadow of a figure flash forward; when he opened his eyes, he noticed that Sha Yun had rushed towards the direction of the wolves. While swearing, Hui Yue rushed up and gestured for the others to follow as he dashed after Sha Yun.
Chapter 14 – Soul Shadows
Dashing after Sha Yun, Hui Yue ended up yelling some quick commands, “Deng Wu, now would be a good time for you to gain some bestial soul shadows.”
Having called out to the black-haired young man, Hui Yue focused on the road in front of him, his eyes narrowed and a slight sigh escaped his lips as he increased his speed, trying to catch up with Sha Yun.
Soul shadows were able to be made from anything living, whether it be humans, beasts, or plants. To refine a soul shadow one had to be a necromancer, however all kind of Metal affinity cultivators were capable of refining and using the energy within a soul shadow inscription.
There were many laws which forbid necromancers from creating soul shadows of humans. Only the very worst criminals got sentences to become a soul shadow and they were usually kept alive until a necromancer appeared who would buy their souls.
Within the entire Taiyang Kingdom only three such criminals could be found by the time Deng Wu took his first steps on the path of a necromancer.
The royal family had one necromancer whose job it was to create soul shadow inscriptions; Deng Wu had spent his life savings along with some money Hui Yue had lent him to purchase the hundreds of years old stockpile of soul shadows that had accumulated over the years.
The reason that many laws had been added about necromancers was due to the soul’s reincarnation. When something died its soul would be able to cross through the rift of the heavens and the earth and arrive within the Netherworld. There they would wander around, waiting for their memories to disintegrate before they once again would be reborn.
Everyone who died would be measured and weighted. The lives of thieves were likely to become a flower or a beast, the likes of a generous person was likely to be born into a wonderful family.
Everything was decided by the King of the Netherworld. He was the one who allowed for these souls to journey into his world. He did, however, have one rule and that was ironclad.
Souls which were not just died had no right to enter his world. This included souls which had been caught by the soul shadow inscription, forcing them to dissipate into the essence of the heavens and the earth upon destruction.
There were no rules about beast soul shadows, and Hui Yue felt little pity towards them. Pity was something which would likely turn into trouble later on. As long as Deng Wu treated his soul shadows with care, he was likely to keep them forever.
While rushing towards the beasts, Hui Yue heard the first agonizing howls and within seconds reached the area where Sha Yun was standing, her silvery eyes gleaming with a merciless look. She summoned multiple Earthen Spears, one after the other, and each and every single one of them shot out impaling the wolves which were running about.
Deng Wu looked at the area and stood to the side where he found one piece of parchment after another before he bit his thumb and used his blood to scribble one inscription after another.
Hui Yue pointed to Wang Ju Long and her oversized poppy. The two instantly stood next to Deng Wu, protecting the young man as his entire focus was on the dying wolves.
Seeing that the two others were safe, Hui Yue joined the fray as he drew Black Blood and rushed at the first wolf which came into sight. Seeing it advancing towards him, the baleful aura burst out from within, and a red gleam appeared in his eyes, as he struck forward with decisiveness. He buried the dagger deep within the eye of the wolf, not allowing it even the slightest moment to react.
Hui Yue had long since activated Velocity Flow and his constant change in speed made it impossible to determine when or where he would appear next.
One wolf after another fell under the hand of Hui Yue and Sha Yun, while Wang Ju Long dealt with the few which appeared next to Deng Wu and herself.
Every time a wolf died, a blood red seal was seen appearing on its body. After which a tremor would run through its body before the seal floated through the air rushing towards Deng Wu, where it would settle down on clear pages of parchment.
The wolves had at first been thrown into disarray due to the unexpected and sudden attack. The leading male of the pack quickly howled and after a few moments the wolves who were still were alive all lined up next to the male.
During these first few moments a vast quantity of wolves died, but in spite of that around a hundred wolves were now moving in formation; they formed a line preparing to pounce at the young cultivators who were slaughtering their kin.
Hui Yue’s eyes locked onto the leading male wolf’s and vigilance could be seen within both of them, as neither wished to make the first move.
Seeing that the wolves pulled back, Wang Ju Long moved forward leaving the guarding of Deng Wu to her poppy flower.
Wang Ju Long’s combat ability was definitely above average and her assistance would greatly help them. She allowed for her Qi to rush through her body activating Qi Lightning.
Wind picked up within the tunnel and a worried expression appeared on the leading wolf’s face. Barking out loud, orders were obviously given as all wolves advanced at once causing tremors to run through the entire tunnel.
Hui Yue had Black Blood within one hand and a red flame within the other. Flicking his finger the flame grew in size as Hui Yue fed it his spiritual energy and slowly divided the large flame into multiple smaller Fire Orbs.
This entire procedure took less time than it takes to blink an eye, as all it required was but a thought, and by the time the wolves arrived next to Hui Yue the young man had a massive fire burning behind his head. This fire was constantly gulping down the spiritual energy it was fed by Hui Yue and smaller orbs of fire kept being produced by the massive flame.
Fire Orbs came to light one after another, and were constantly being flung towards the wolves, leaving behind one charred carcasses after another in their wake.
Unfortunately, this only resulted in the wolves behind the leader to pour forth, a wave of deadly wolves constantly flooding towards them.
The wolves were upon them and Hui Yue could not afford to hold back, releasing the red mist completely. Suddenly every wolf around him grew slower, and Hui Yue’s speed and strength increased; he then took out the Qi dagger wielding it in the hand that finished making the fire orbs.
The soaring flame behind Hui Yue dyed his white hair red and the red mist gave the beautiful icy eyes a blood shot and menacing aura.
A cold chill ran through every wolf close by, but before they could react they had been injured and were soon to be killed by either a slash of the daggers, or a Fire Orb from the large flame.
One wolf after another died at the hand of Hui Yue and every single one of them were sealed as soon as they had died, causing their souls to be reeled in by Deng Wu.
Sha Yun was busy with wolves of her own. Earthen Spears were erupting everywhere, constantly impaling the wolves with perfect aim while she, herself, was dancing through the wolves, her tail flashing here and there. Sometimes rolling around the wolves to strangle them, while other times using her strength to smash them.
Wang Ju Long was similarly holding her own against the wolves, which were attacking her unceasingly. Small scratches co
uld be seen on her body as the wolves got slightly too close, yet none of these scratches were serious injuries and Hui Yue nodded with a stern expression on his face, none dared to approach him.
Looking at the wolves, Hui Yue let out a bestial growl before he once more used Velocity Flow to rush after the fleeing wolves. His growl was answered by a terrifying howl as the leading male rushed towards Hui Yue.
Looking at the wolf in front of him a vicious smile appeared on his face, the red gleam within his eyes grew larger and his canine teeth once more grew out, his entire being emitting an aura of savageness.
Howling out loud, every wolf within the cavern finally stopped their frantic attacks and moved back, Sha Yun and Wang Ju Long did the same, as all eyes within the tunnel were focused upon Hui Yue and the leading male wolf.
Even Deng Wu opened his eyes and stopped his incantation, creating one last soul shadow inscription, preparing for the loser of the battle in front of him.