Chapter 8 The time has come! Make your move!
Chapter 8 The time has come! Make your move!
Mingfei's mental power captured that instantaneous change.
The woman's breathing shifted from a deep, long sleep pattern to a shallow, rapid, alert pattern.
Her body didn't move, but she was awake.
She was waiting. Waiting for Ghost Tiger to make his move.
Mingfei reassessed the woman in his mind.
She wasn't unaware of the danger; rather, she was pretending not to, deliberately creating the illusion that Ghost Tiger could succeed.
Her sword was placed on her right, within easy reach.
This is a game of hunters against hunters.
Ghost Tiger continued to approach.
Forty meters.
Thirty meters.
Twenty meters.
The man on night watch finally sensed something.
His body stiffened for a moment, and his hand slowly reached for the short knife at his waist.
But it was too late; Ghost Tiger made his move.
A dark shadow burst forth from the darkness, moving so fast that it was almost impossible for the naked eye to see it.
It didn't charge in a straight line, but weaved through the bushes in a strange zigzag pattern, each change of direction accompanied by a sharp tearing sound of air.
Mingfei's mental energy barely kept up with its movement.
Claws, three gleaming claws, aimed straight for the man on night watch's throat.
The man on night watch desperately raised his short knife to parry.
clang!
The sound of metal clashing exploded in the night sky. The dagger was knocked away, and the man's body fell backward. Three deep, bone-revealing gashes were slashed across his chest by the Ghost Tiger's claws.
He didn't die, but he was seriously injured.
Just as Ghost Tiger lunged at the man on night watch, the woman moved.
Her sword sprang up from the ground, and she shot out like an arrow.
Instead of confronting the Ghost Tiger head-on, they cut to its side and rear, a blind spot where the Ghost Tiger would find it hardest to turn around after landing.
Yellow spirit rings shone on her sword, one ring, two rings, three rings.
Three-ring, a control-type battle spirit master.
"Second Soul Skill, Vine Binding!"
The sword tip touched the ground, and several thick vines instantly burst forth from the ground, wrapping around Ghost Tiger's limbs.
Ghost Tiger reacted extremely quickly, leaping up the moment it landed to avoid most of the vines, but its right hind leg was still entangled by one of them.
That momentary hesitation determined the fate of the ghost tiger.
The other man, the second-ring Soul Master who wielded a short sword, had already sprung up from the ground.
Instead of picking up the short knife that had been knocked away, he drew a spare dagger from his waist and, in conjunction with the woman's attack, stabbed Ghost Tiger in the abdomen.
Ghost Tiger let out a low, angry roar, and twisted its body violently, snapping two of the vines that were wrapped around its hind legs.
Its tail lashed out like a whip, striking the man on the Second Ring Road in the chest and sending him flying three meters away, crashing into the mountainside and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
But its speed has slowed down.
The woman's sword pierced Ghost Tiger's ribs from the side and rear, the angle of entry being extremely tricky, perfectly avoiding Ghost Tiger's thickest fur and piercing the gap between the bones.
Ghost Tiger let out a miserable howl and turned around to slap the woman with a claw.
The woman didn't have time to draw her sword and could only abandon it and retreat, but the ghost tiger's claws still swept across her shoulder, creating a cloud of blood mist.
All three were injured. Ghost Tiger was also injured.
At that moment, Mingfei moved.
He didn't rush towards Ghost Tiger, nor towards the three people.
His body sank into the underworld, not in a slow, focused manner, but in a fleeting moment that had become almost instinctive after days of practice.
Disappeared from the tree branch. Emerged from the shadows behind the Ghost Tiger.
The thirty-meter displacement landed precisely in the Ghost Tiger's blind spot, to its right rear, exactly on the side where the woman had just stabbed it.
Ghost Tiger's attention was entirely focused on the woman in front of it. Its body was slightly arched, ready to launch the final attack.
The Hades Sword pierced out of the darkness.
Without the glow of spirit rings, without the enhancement of spirit skills, there is only pure, cold sharpness.
The sword tip pierced behind Ghost Tiger's ear, cut diagonally along the seam of its skull, and pierced through its brainstem in one stroke.
Ghost Tiger's body froze, its eerie green pupils losing all their luster in an instant, and its massive body crashed to the ground.
The Hades Sword trembled violently.
A dark purple light rose from the corpse of the Ghost Tiger and slowly condensed into a purple soul ring.
The Thousand-Year Soul Ring emitted a faint purple light in the darkness.
That was Ghost Tiger's spirit ring, and also the first spirit ring of the Underworld Sword.
Mingfei did not rush to absorb it.
He turned around and looked at the three wounded.
The woman leaned against a tree, blood staining half her body red from her right shoulder. Her sword was stuck in Ghost Tiger's ribs, and she hadn't had time to pull it out.
The man on night watch lay on the ground, blood still gushing from the wound in his chest, his breathing rapid and weak.
The man from the Second Ring Road, who had been thrown against the mountainside, struggled to stand up, but he only managed to prop himself up halfway before collapsing back down, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
All three of them focused their attention on Ming Fei.
A seven or eight-year-old child suddenly appeared from the darkness and killed a thousand-year-old ghost tiger with a single sword stroke.
The scene was so absurd that they didn't even feel fear for a moment, only a strong sense of unreality.
Mingfei gave them no time to react.
He walked up to the man on night watch, and the Hades sword fell cleanly and decisively.
The man's body twitched once, then stopped moving.
An almost transparent phantom rose from his corpse; it was his soul, or rather, the "dead object" needed by the underworld.
Mingfei didn't look at the phantom. His consciousness had already connected to the underworld. Gray mist surged out, engulfing the man's corpse and soul into that gray space.
Then there's his soul power.
A warm energy flowed back from the Hades Sword and into Mingfei's body.
Soul power is increasing, mental power is expanding, and muscles and bones are trembling slightly.
The man's soul power was around level 35. After it was all absorbed and transformed by the Hades Sword, it brought a considerable boost to Ming Fei.
But not all.
Mingfei could sense that the Underworld Sword had not converted all of his soul power into his own strength.
Some of it dissipated, some was absorbed by the underworld, and only about 30% truly benefited him.
This is a good thing.
If every act of killing leads to a surge in strength, it won't be long before he loses control of his power and becomes a monster who only knows how to kill.
The Hades Sword seemed to automatically adjust the proportion of this feedback, ensuring that its foundation remained solid.
Mingfei headed toward his second target, the man from the Second Ring Road who had been thrown against the mountainside.
"What...what exactly are you?" The man's voice trembled.
Mingfei did not answer.
The sword fell, and the man died.
It was very concise, without a single unnecessary word.
Another phantom appeared, and gray mist surged out, sweeping everything away.
This time, the feedback was much weaker, and the soul power of a second-ring soul master was far inferior to that of a third-ring master, resulting in limited improvement.
However, Mingfei could sense that the growth rate of his mental power was higher than that of his soul power.
This man's martial soul seems to be of the agility-based type, and his mental strength is already stronger than that of other soul masters of the same level.
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