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Even without Liu Erlong's warning, Kurama and the others knew how aggressive wild soul beasts were, especially toward humans.
After all, humans grew stronger by hunting them. Hatred was only natural.
And if soul beasts here were equivalent to wild animals in their own world, then some of them definitely traveled in packs.
Running into a powerful group would be very bad news.
Worse still, once a fight broke out, the blood scent and noise could easily attract even stronger soul beasts.
At that point, combat would be unavoidable.
Not that it was a big deal, but it would make asking Liu Erlong to guide them completely pointless and waste unnecessary energy.
And if they ran into the Void after that, things would get troublesome.
Kurama clicked his tongue in disdain but didn't argue.
Letting a local lead the way was something he agreed with.
Of course, if this were his own world, he'd just bulldoze straight through.
Whether he could actually do that here was another question.
Flying ahead of the group was the three-eyed crow Sam had summoned earlier for scouting.
Now that the target had been found, all the other crows had already returned to Hell, except the ones keeping watch.
Time passed slowly. To avoid provoking the soul beasts and interfering with the mission, Sam dismissed the mounts after entering deeper into the forest, and the group continued on foot.
By now, they'd been walking from noon until dusk.
As they went deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest, everyone began to feel something was off.
"What's going on? There isn't a single soul beast around," Liu Erlong said, stopping and frowning at the eerily silent forest.
"That's normal," Elsa replied calmly. "I can already sense an ominous presence. Our destination isn't far."
Wu Liuqi pulled out the gaiba egg Chicken Da Bao had given him and grinned mischievously, speaking in his thick Cantonese-accented Mandarin."Want me to go scout ahead first?"
"…"
Scout your head.
Sam rolled his eyes and had the three-eyed crow fly higher to check the situation.
"There's a strange area in the distance," the crow reported. "It's shrouded in heavy fog."
"Based on yesterday's intel, the spatial rift should be there."
"Perfect!" Sam clapped his hands. "We finally found them!"
"So," Kurama's lips curled into a grin that looked anything but friendly, "want me to give them a little welcome gift?"
"…A gift?"
Given Kurama's track record, that "gift" was definitely a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Opening with a Tailed Beast Bomb as a sign of respect?
Yeah… maybe not.
That thing was way too loud. If it drew in all the nearby soul beasts, that'd be a nightmare.
Then again, who knew if there were even any soul beasts left around here.
"Hm?"
Kurama's ears twitched. "Careful. Some little pests are coming."
"pests?"
Liu Erlong focused her gaze and spotted a group of weasel-like rodents. Their cultivation wasn't low at all. Each one was roughly at the thousand-year level.
"This—this is a gnawing ferret! Not some little mouse or anything…"
Liu Erlong stared at the swarm of gnawing ferrets, the corner of her mouth twitching.
Damn it. This just got troublesome.
These soul beasts had insanely sharp senses of smell. They'd probably already caught their scent.
And judging by how aggressive they looked right now, they definitely weren't here to say hello.
"Analysis complete. These gnawing ferrets contain Void energy."
The voice of the King of Wisdom echoed in Sam's mind. Hearing that, Sam finally understood.
No wonder they looked so wrong.
Hell, normally a pack of gnawing ferrets wouldn't be that hard to deal with. But Void-infected ones? That was a whole different nightmare.
Couldn't the universe let people have a little fun in peace?
These ferrets were originally close to a thousand years old in cultivation. But after being corrupted by Void energy, each one was at least at the five-thousand-year level.
This wasn't fair. The enemy was straight-up cheating.
"Be careful," Sam warned. "They're all infected. Don't screw this up at the last second."
Gnawing ferrets weren't big, and their attack power wasn't that impressive, but their teeth were terrifying. They could chew through metal with ease.
And now that they'd been strengthened by Void energy, biting a hole clean through someone would be effortless.
"Are these the targets?"
Nine-Tails' massive chakra erupted instantly. "Then I won't hold back!"
In a flash, its figure vanished.
Seeing that, Wu Liuqi didn't draw the Thousand Demon Blades. Instead, he calmly pulled out his scissors.
"Heh, watch this. Qi-guided scissors!"
All his qi was concentrated at the tip, giving the attack surprisingly lethal power.
Elsa joined the fight as well. Even though she was kind by nature, she showed no mercy toward the ferrets. With a wave of her hand, they were frozen solid.
"So… so strong…"
Liu Erlong stared in shock as Nine-Tails, Wu Liuqi, and Elsa went all out. She forgot to join the fight entirely and didn't even summon her martial soul.
"Hey, hey, snap out of it!"
Sam nudged her, pulling her back to reality. "I don't have the energy to protect you the whole time this round."
"….."