Chapter 22: Hint of Evil (2)

Chapter 22: Hint of Evil (2)

The Spirit Master surnamed Tai erupted with violent might as his already muscular body stretched. Grey fur covered his back and his palms turned coarse and wide. His short hair seemed to grow from the sides of his cheeks as he started beating his chest.

The Spirit Master surnamed Bai gave a surprising chirp. His physique didn't change much aside from the light blue feathers growing out of his arms sneaking out through his sleeves. He even held a pair of sharp daggers in his hand.

The Spirit Master surnamed Niu was the smallest of the group. But his Martial Soul came in the form of a large shield with its exterior layered in green scales and silver spikes piercing out. The shield was large enough to cover the man's front easily.

Standing closest to the bears, the spirit master surnamed Yang produced a glimmering steel spear, the staff of which had his four rings rotating around it.

"Let them waste energy on the bears. Then I'll make a move," Ja Sun whispered as the spirit masters and spirit beasts fought each other. Their methods were too specific and linear. Each of their spirit skills enhanced the most primal quality of their Martial Soul Strength, Attack, Defense, and Speed.

Bai continued to harass the bears. Even though his daggers didn't do any major damage, his method frustrated the bears. Meanwhile, with a glowing dome around the three spirit masters that raised their defenses, Niu held off one of the bears while Tai attacked with his fists. His attacks actually made the bear's body creak and it roared in anger and pain.

Meanwhile, Yang dealt with the remaining bear himself. With the bear occupied by Bai, Yang continued to collect spirit energy and prepared a drastic attack to deal with the beast in a single blow.

Ja Sun, on the other hand, continued to form needles formed from mental energy.

Out of the 256 punctures, Ja Sun had already completed 184 punctures and could create a total of 424 mental needles (16+32+64+128+184). Of course, the consumption of mental energy just to keep these needles on standby was simply too great and Ja Sun only created 200 needles. He only had to surprise the master and nothing more.

"You can leave your back to me," Ah Yin nodded seriously.

"Is this a confession?" Ja Sun smirked but found Ah Yin focusing on the battle instead. They needed to know the full extent of the spirit masters, after all.

*Grooooughhhh*

One of the bears fell. Its collapse made the ground slightly tremble as the other beast grew even more ferocious but it simply couldn't do anything.

Two purple spirit rings rose out of their corpses as the Spirt Masters finally sighed.

The most expended of the group was naturally the Yang guy. His attacks were extremely damaging but the consumption of his spirit energy seemed to be the burden of this clan.

"I will stand guard," Niu whispered. He was the one who still hadn't sweated at all.

Before the group could begin, they suddenly heard a crisp sound of a twig or something light snapping and their expressions turned sharp.

"Who is it?" Tai instantly growled and stood in front of the cage cautiously.

"Come out or don't blame me to go all out!" Yang's spear emerged and he hissed.

"Wait! Wait! Don't attack me!"

A somewhat young and frightened voice hurriedly called out. The group looked at each other before gazing in the direction of the voice. Bai stated calmly once he felt the fear, "Come out. We won't attack."

"But if you try to escape, we will have to pursue you. We are from the great clans of Heaven Dou City and will keep our words," Niu spoke up.

Instantly, they saw a young man peeking his head out from the back of a tree. He had short black hair and a healthy, light tanned skin.

"Clans? Which one?" Ja Sun inquired, his expression still cautious but in his mental scape, the Bright Goddess Butterfly took the flowing needles as an obstacle course and began flying around in excitement.

"Have you heard of Clear Sky Clan?" Yang stated with a proud expression.

Seeing Ja Sun nod, Yang continued, "Our four clans are the subsidiary of the great Clear Sky Clan! Seeing that you didn't try to attack us or covet the corpses of these spirit beasts, we won't harm you."

"Ah, thank you!" Ja Sun hurriedly nodded. However, the moment his right arm tilted slightly, Niu's expression changed. He hid it quickly enough and spoke with a low tone.

"If you want to leave, do it with your abilities. If you don't want to die, follow us without any struggle."

The sudden change made the three companions of his frown before they observed the youth.

Bai suddenly exclaimed.

"Evil Grandson!"

"What?" Yang and Tai looked towards Ja Sun's right arm with shock as he quickly hid it away and revealed an ugly expression.

He didn't like his nickname spread around Evil Grandson. But what could he do? He was already titled Evil and his name meant grandson. In a matter of few months, he had already become the nightmare of all the grandfathers of the continent who would hide their wives and their granddaughters!

"Ja Sun... you're Ja Sun?" Green flickered in Yang's eyes as he instantly activated his spirit rings.

"Wait! Don't kill me! I don't have any spirit rings!" Ja Sun gasped and hid away. His words stunned the four and they frowned instantly.

"We won't attack. But the bounty on your head is too great. Follow us. Maybe the Spirit Hall will let you live. But if you struggle..." Tai growled.

"Alright..." Ja Sun slowly walked out from behind the tree before running in the opposite direction.

"Heh, going somewhere?" In a blue flash, Bai appeared in front of Ja Sun. The speed stunned Ja Sun as he instantly came to a stop and looked at Bai with a defiant expression.

Storm Steps.

He shot back, his speed surprising the group but also relieving them greatly. If he didn't have any spirit rings, then he must have other qualities to survive or it would be too weird that Ja Sun was found here.

The smile on Bai's lips turned amusing. He estimated the direction and instantly shot towards the appointed location but in the middle, his expression changed.

'Fleeting Storm.'

Ja Sun's entire momentum was gathered on his left toe before he changed direction at an even greater speed. The third form of Storm Steps fused Storm Grace and Storm Disgrace. The momentum can be used as he wishes and to the limits of his physical body!

"Not good!" Niu growled and his fourth spirit ring gave a bright light.

A piercing glow shot out of Niu's shield and covered Ja Sun instantly before turning into a protective dome but it also stopped him from moving at all!

"Let me go! Do you think the current Pope is weaker than you?" Ja Sun growled.

"Of course, not. But if you could have killed us, how would the lot of us still be alive?" Yang sneered as Niu controlled his ability and pulled the shield towards him.

As it turns out, the defense-type spirit master actually had a control-type hybrid skill.

"Infuse your spirit energy. How do we divide the loot?" Ah Yin inquired.

"Do you want to pool it all and then divide equally or just two of the tools and be done with it,?" Ja Sun inquired.

"This and this. Mine." Ah Yin instantly snatched a wrist band from both of his palms and infused her spirit energy in them.

Meanwhile, Ja Sun did the same.

It was at this moment Violet spoke again.

"Aside from my specifies as a spirit beast, I don't know what am I"

"Will you shut up? I'm trying to concentrate," Ah Yin rapped the bars of the cage with a thick vine. Violet instantly shuddered and quietened down.

'Hmm... 2 cubic meters in each of them. A hammer... a pair of daggers. Coins, clothes, currency cards, and food. Nothing too different. I can even move the items within the space using spirit energy.

Cleaning the wrist bands against his robes, Ja Sun wore one of them. The wristband was made of the leather of a spirit beast and was red in color. When Ja Sun tried to absorb the other wristband into this one, it worked almost instantly.

"Woah!" Ja Sun smiled and looked at Ah Yin, "You got the keys?"

"Not only keys..." Ah Yin replied with a mysterious smile before she tossed the key towards Ja Sun.

"Alright, Violet, we're getting you out. Be very careful if you want to attack us because my partner... well she is a rank 58 spirit king and she killed your kidnappers single-handedly."

Violet shuddered and nodded quickly.

There was only one key that worked on every shackle and the door of the cage. Once freed, Ja Sun still spoke again, "Keep your blindfold on unless we tell otherwise."

"Yes!" Violet slowly moved. Her body stood upright and from a distance, she had the height of a normal girl. She didn't even look much older. Only around her early twenties.

Meanwhile, her movement was rather elegant as she slowly slithered out. Her actions attracted Ja Sun's and Ah Yin's attention as they kept their distance.

For a moment, Ja Sun glanced towards the corpse of the spirit bears.

The previously stagnated cultivation of the butterfly skyrocketed. Every minute, she absorbed enough potent spirit energy that would need a long period to collect.

"Thank you once again," Violet spoke up as she tore away the pieces of clothes over her body.

"Phew..." Ja Sun almost whistled.

"Ah Yin... they are far... far... greater than..." Ja Sun had a smirk which felt the most annoying thing to his partners as Ah Yin narrowed her eyes. She couldn't blame a spirit beast for not wanting to wear clothes.

'It took granny three years to get me comfortable in clothes,' she sighed internally.

"I will answer every one of your questions but I request that you let me go. I don't like being away from my tribe!"

"Fine," Ah Yin replied this time and spoke up, "Tell us whatever you know."

Violet nodded.

"The spirit masters who captured me... called me a variant. Along the way, they continued to boast and chat about various rumors so my knowledge itself is based on their words.

They said that among human beings, there are rare Martial Souls that can bring permanent bestial features to a spirit master's body. For instance, cat eyes, dog tails, or strange ears. Similarly, there was once a spirit beast that was mutated and had human features. This mutation is random."

"Can you cultivate like a human or a beast?" Ja Sun inquired as Violet shook her head with a bitter smile.

"I suppose this information won't hurt others since the possibility of more variants is quite low. For me, the first thousand years of cultivation were a struggle. There is a great misconception amongst the Human world that Spirit Beasts' actual age is also the same as their Cultivation. Most often than not, we are quite younger than our actual cultivation. But not me.

To me, the first thousand years feel like a dream. Despite having a different body, Medusas have a certain scent that prevents them from attacking another of the tribe unless they act with hostility.

But one day... I just woke up. That day was 23 years ago when I completed my thousandth year. Everything before that felt like a dream."

"Who taught you human speech?" Ah Yin inquired.

"The Ruler of the Star Dou Great Forest! He arrived in front of me the next day. For the next 15 years, he accompanied me and taught me greatly about many things. But disappointed by my cultivation speed, he left. Since then, I have tried to find various ways to restart my cultivation."

"What's your current cultivation?" Ah Yin inquired with a frown.

"Ever since I woke up, I never had an increment. I'm still a complete thousand-year-old spirit beast."

Violet sighed.

Ah Yin and Ja Sun glanced at each other.

"Well, my curiosity is filled. I would love it if you could stay with me since my partner leaves every now and then but... I don't think you will."

Ja Sun shrugged.

"I don't have any more questions," Ah Yin walked towards Violet and took off her blindfold.

Ja Sun and Ah Yin saw that her eyelids and the area near the corner of her eyes had scales, too.

She slowly opened her eyes, revealing a set of enchanting yellow eyes with black vertical pupils. Violet looked towards Ah Yin with a smile that seemed to convey envy and bitterness before looking towards Ja Sun. Her lips instantly parted in shock.

"You... really are a"

"Let's go," a vine instantly covered her mouth as Ah Yin and Ja Sun turned around.

Violet hurriedly looked at her surroundings and seeing the corpse of the bears alongside the gory corpses of the spirit masters, Violet felt her stomach churn.

"Hmm?" She felt a soft flash disappearing from the side of the spirit beasts.

***

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