C16 The Grudges

The air was thick with tension, a veritable powder keg waiting to explode. The man with the bear's head spoke with conviction, and it was clear from the conversation that the Soul Beast responsible for the little fox's earlier injuries was none other than the Big Bear before them, Duanjiu. Duanjiu's formidable presence, with his half-human, half-beast form, spoke volumes about his power.

The little fox watched Duanjiu intently, her eyes flashing with a ferocious light, yet she remained silent throughout.

Ye Mo was at a loss, unaware of the events that had unfolded. The sight of Duanjiu, a beast with a human's speech, had taken him aback. The white fox, though silent, conveyed her thoughts to Ye Mo telepathically, "You fell from the sky, landing next to me. The one who injured me is this very individual before us. Now that he's here, we might... come to an end here, unless..."

"Unless what?" Ye Mo asked, his voice low, sensing the gravity of the situation from the little fox's solemn tone.

The little fox lifted her head to gaze at Ye Mo, her eyes brimming with tenderness and reluctance.

A warm smile spread across Ye Mo's face as he felt a stir in his heart. "How could I have forgotten? Your inner core is still in my possession. My life has been a gift these past days; it's time to return what's yours. How can I extract your inner core?"

Seeing the little fox's eyes, as clear as water, Ye Mo understood the implied 'unless.' His heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but recall the intimate encounter they had shared. How could he selfishly keep her inner core and put everyone at risk?

The white fox, hearing Ye Mo's soft words, nodded slowly and lapsed into silence.

"Roar! Roar! (Duanjiu, turn back. We'll plead with our big sister; her kind heart might spare you.)"

While the white fox silently communicated with Ye Mo, the winged tiger on the ground moaned in the language of beasts.

"Hahaha! Xiangfeng, you're both blind to loyalty. I've been good to you, yet you abandoned me. I despise betrayal above all else. Now, you all must die."

Duanjiu's jovial expression faded, and a hint of red appeared in the corner of his eyes. A wave of deadly and powerful pressure surged forward, causing the winged tiger and the horned beast to buckle under the weight as if a thousand-kilogram boulder had suddenly descended upon them.

Roar! Roar!

The two Soul Beasts let out mournful howls, their legs collapsing beneath them in weakness, kicking up clouds of dust.

"Roar! Roar!" (Bastard! Big sister won't let you off the hook!)

Despite being Seventh Level Soul Beasts, they were brought to their knees by Duanjiu's formidable pressure. They restrained their roars of rage, their growls conveying the fury and defiance within their hearts.

"Haha, what laughable creatures. I can't believe you fail to see that Bai Qing'er is no longer her usual self. Her cultivation has weakened to the point where she can't even speak. Yet you continue to delude yourselves," Duanjiu said, speaking clearly and not resorting to mere growls like the lion and tiger Soul Beasts.

"Roar! Roar!" The lion and tiger Soul Beasts continued to growl, refusing to accept the reality before them.

Bai Qing'er's gaze was intense as she observed the scene, while Ye Mo, shielded by an invisible force field, remained undisturbed.

"We're out of time," Ye Mo declared, his voice resolute, bracing for the end.

Weeping...

Without further hesitation, Bai Qing'er emitted a piercing shriek. A blinding radiance burst forth from Ye Mo's inner core. The light converged to a single point before splitting in two; half remained within Ye Mo, while the other half transformed into a rainbow-colored essence that flowed like water into Bai Qing'er's forehead.

The seven-colored gas, having separated from Ye Mo's inner core, gradually merged with his body. In that moment, the air around them seemed to freeze, as if in a vacuum. With a deep breath, Bai Qing'er's aura exploded in intensity. She leapt from Ye Mo's arms and soared into the sky.

Everything transpired in a flash. Ye Mo could hardly comprehend what had just occurred, but there stood the little fox, suspended in midair, her body shrouded in a blinding cascade of light, too intense for the naked eye.

Buzz! Bzzz! The area began to resonate with peculiar sounds. The formidable presence sent the low-level Soul Beasts hiding in the green miasma scattering in terror. Amidst the radiant display of colors, Bai Qing'er underwent a silent transformation. Below, Duanjiu sensed the shift in the atmosphere, his brow furrowing in a grave expression as a red flame flickered in his palm.

Ye Mo, unaware of any change within himself despite the seven-colored aura that had separated from his dantian, watched as Bai Qing'er's little fox form underwent a transformation. The space around them quivered, and she emerged as a human woman clad in a long white dress, her flawless face ethereal, floating like a solitary, stunning fairy.

The woman before him was the spitting image of the one who had bestowed her inner core upon him that fateful night—a memory Ye Mo could not possibly erase. Glancing down, he noticed the luminescence of the inner core still present in his dantian, albeit significantly dimmer. "What is she doing?" he wondered, the realization that the little fox's inner core remained within him sending a jolt of shock through his body.

Xiangfeng and Duanjiu, both Seventh Level Soul Beasts, looked up, their eyes wide with terror and bewilderment.

"What kind of person is this kid, to have her entrust him with her inner core? She'd rather forcibly absorb the Soul Power than remove it..." Duanjiu had witnessed the extraordinary scene and understood the gravity of it. He was aware of Bai Qing'er's sudden decline in power but had not imagined it was due to the loss of her inner core, which explained the fear gripping the lion and tiger Soul Beasts.

"To think, big sister, that you would actually give your inner core to someone else. No wonder you've ended up like this. Haha... How uncivilized," he scoffed.

As the last of the light dissipated, Bai Qing'er, now in human form, gazed down at Duanjiu with a poised and icy demeanor. Unperturbed by his taunts, she casually summoned a surge of pink flames from within her. The flames crackled as they scorched the air and the surrounding miasma, creating a symphony of snaps and pops.

"Soul Fire! Such a potent presence. Has she completely recovered?" Duanjiu, witnessing Bai Qing'er enveloped in the pink flames, instinctively retreated, murmuring under his breath. He was all too aware of the significance of the pink flames dancing around her.

"Bring it on! The Forest of Nine Illusions is mine!" With a jolt of realization, Duanjiu composed himself. Flames burst forth around his towering figure as he bellowed a challenge to the sky, mirroring Bai Qing'er's fiery display.

"I've said all that needed to be said long ago!" Bai Qing'er appeared to be talking to the air, her voice trailing off as her aura surged. She transformed her palm into a claw, reaching through the air towards Duanjiu with a claw wreathed in endless Soul Fire.

Duanjiu's brows knitted together in anger, and with a furious roar, he reached out with both hands, tearing at the incoming claw marks without flinching.

Clang! Clang!

Their brief clash, a mere exchange of blows, had already wreaked havoc on their surroundings, even dispersing some of the green miasma.

The seemingly simple strike was laden with immense power. Duanjiu had managed to withstand it, partly to test himself and partly to gauge the strength he'd gained at the peak of the eighth level.

Yet, Duanjiu's reception of the attack was far from perfect. Under the onslaught of Bai Qing'er's Soul Fire-enhanced Soul Power, he felt a tumultuous surge of blood in his chest.

Bai Qing'er knew she couldn't afford to delay, unwilling to give Duanjiu an opening. Her figure flickered through the void, leaving a trail of afterimages as she charged directly at Duanjiu.

Duanjiu's prowess at the peak of the eighth level was not to be underestimated. His speed matched Bai Qing'er's, and in an instant, they collided with a flurry of punches and kicks, leaving streaks of radiant light in the air. Ye Mo slowly rose to his feet on the back of the winged tiger Xiangfeng, his mind no longer on consequences but filled with concern.

The lion and the tiger watched the battlefield with a menacing glare, ready to leap into action at any moment. Xiangfeng glanced back at Ye Mo, a ferocious glint in his eyes, and with a thunderous roar, he shook his wings violently. Ye Mo felt as though he had been struck, and in an instant, he was hurled through the air, crashing into the expanse of miasma.

"Aooo! Damn it! If it weren't for Big Sis giving you the inner core, we wouldn't be in such a perilous situation!"

As Ye Mo tumbled down, he caught Xiangfeng's roar. Wincing in pain, he opened his eyes to find the murky green miasma pouring into his mouth and nose, the invisible shield that had once protected him now gone without a trace.

"Oh no!" Ye Mo, having learned of the miasma's potency from Bai Qing'er, cursed silently. With no time to spare, he hastily covered his mouth and nose to fend off the miasma's threat. With his mouth and nose covered, Ye Mo slowly lifted his head, only to be met with a thick fog that limited his vision to a mere ten steps ahead. "Where did that Soul Tiger fling me?" he muttered, gazing down at the increasingly dim inner core within his dantian.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield where Bai Qing'er clashed with Duanjiu, the lion and tiger Soul Beasts had sprung into action, engaging Duanjiu in fierce combat. Duanjiu had already noticed Bai Qing'er's dwindling Soul Power and Soul Fire and had quickly gained the upper hand, pushing her to a seemingly unbeatable position. He had been looking for an opening to unleash a powerful strike to finish her off, but the sudden appearance of the lion and tiger gave Bai Qing'er a much-needed respite.

Duanjiu, seething with frustration, circled the massive beasts, launching relentless attacks with his Soul Power, enhanced by the Soul Fire. Yet, the Soul Beasts possessed the most formidable physical forms in the world, particularly in their beastly states, and even someone as mighty as Duanjiu couldn't easily overcome them.

Bai Qing'er, finally able to breathe, extended her hand to gaze at the flickering pink flame, her expression tinged with sorrow. However, when she looked around, Ye Mo was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did that man go?" she exclaimed, caught off guard and feeling suddenly adrift.

"Aooo!" (I threw him out, not sure where he ended up. Sister, you need to come help, I'm struggling here...) Winged Tiger Xiangfeng, barely holding on, responded without really understanding the significance of the man to Bai Qing'er.

Bai Qing'er's mind was a whirlwind, the face of the man she had once cherished incessantly flashing before her eyes. Scenes of agony, death in the miasma, surfaced one after another. "Can I truly not live without him?" she pondered, lost in thought as a tear silently traced down her exquisite face. Her Soul Fire was dimming, and the Soul Power she had drawn from her inner core was gradually slipping away.