After Ling Yue finished off that King Fire Wolf with her partner there, she can definitely feel her body gasping for air already. But before she can relax, another issue quickly creeped up on her, its Little Squeakâs transformation. According to her memories, it doesnât seem to last very long.
Fifteen minute? Half an hour? Or one hour? She had no clue how long the transformation can be maintained. Then before she can think further, a sudden pop occurred under her groin. Next thing she knew, the big and majesty fox had reverted back to his tiny cuddly selfâ¦.
Even when heâs firmly plastered to the ground already, Little Squeak was still oblivious to whatâs going on, âSqueak? (What happened?)â
Likely startled by how strange this whole mess was, the other predators lurking in wait were all taken aback by what they saw. Taking a step backward, they kept their distance, thus creating a gap in their formation.
âRUN!â Ling Yue showed no hesitation here. Swiftly grabbing the tiny fella off the floor, she made a furious dash for the small gap in their encirclement.
Now they finally got it, That big monster must be this little furball! How dare he play us!
The entire Black Valley was now fully riled up, roars and howls constantly reverberated across the forest due to their anger. Itâs been so many years since someone would dare take them for a fool. Unrelenting and furious, hundreds of pursuers are now onto Ling Yueâs tail.
The game of cat and mouse continued for hours today until things became extremely desperate. Hiding in the bushes, Ling Yue was at her wits end because normally she would jump straight into her pocket by now. Clearly thatâs out of the option.
Creak~ The sound of a branch breaking off alarmed her to the presence drawing close to her back.
One stepâ¦
Two stepâ¦
Three stepâ¦
They are only meters apart now!
As the situation reaches a critical state, Ling Yue has had it. Sheâs been running all night long with no end in sight. If sheâs going to go down then sheâs going down fighting! Invoking every fiber of her body, energy surged from within, thatâs when something mysterious occurred.
Prior to this moment she had never invoked her spirit cauldron to raise her cultivation, but now that she did, the binding that had kept her from connecting to the Red Mist Sky was gone.
Kapoof!
Like how she devoured the illness inside her patients, the snake like smoke surging through her veins had somehow absorbed whatever force was at play here and released her from the seal.
Not willing to wait another second, she instantly snatched the shivering furball off the ground and in they went. Good thing too, another second and the drooling lion wouldâve came face to face with them after coming out of the shrubbery.
âI just knew it, the male population are all unreliable.â In coherent with her sigh of relief, Ling Yue didnât forget to give the tiny fox a heavy knock on the head. Very quickly, a swollen bun had grown out of Little Squeakâs head.
âSqueak (Please have mercy, please forgive me!)â He too felt aggrieved at how things turned out. Not wanting to be hated, Little Squeak paws at the girlâs dress to ask for forgiveness.
Although thereâs no impending danger here in the Red Mist Sky, they canât exactly stay here forever either.
First off was the letter she left behind for her big sis at the camp. Ling Yue was worried her sister would rush into the Black Valley out of urgency. If that happensâ¦. She donât even want to imagine what would happen then.
After taking some sustenance and some water, Ling Yue calms herself first before continuing. Though she too was anxious to get back, she knew far too well that she mustnât lose her cool in this situation, especially after what she went through today.
Going over every piece of image inside her head, she carefully assesses the situation.
First off was how the spirit beasts would only seem to attack humans while mostly keeping to themselves. This she can confirm by how hostile they were against herself while ignoring Little Squeakâs existence at first. If thatâs the case, does that mean thereâs a hidden force driving them to defend against foreign intruders?
Of all times to think this, Ling Yue suddenly had the silly thought of wanting Little Crowâs transformational ability. This way she can just waltz in and out of this dreaded valley without worry.
Spirit beastsâ¦. Transformationâ¦. While sheâs busy strolling back and forth to come up with a solution, an idea suddenly hit her, The Tai Yi Schoolâs beastification technique used by An Ming Xia to change into a stone beast!
âIf I can learn the ability then I can turn into a stone beast. That means I would have the chance to enter into the depths of the Black Valley!â Murmuring this to herself, Ling Yue had no choice here really.
Crossing her legs on the floor, she begins reading through the scroll carefully. According to the information displayed on the leather skin, itâs said that those who practices this ability must have a strong state of mind; otherwise, the user will succumb to the powerful mindset of the beast core used in the ritual.
Now that explains a lot. An Ming Xia was a weak hearted person who lacked will and determination. Adding in the fact that her cultivation was very weak too, itâs no wonder she became an inhuman monster that had lost her mind.
Sheâs not bragging, but Ling Yue can honestly say sheâs a person of strong determination. Then thereâs the matter of her soul, she havenât forgot this wasnât her first life. Though she canât quite remember the past still, that doesnât mean its not there.
With all those conditions in her favor, itâs decided, she will do it. Why wait when she can do it now. Not bothering to go anywhere, she directly pulls out the beast core and stuffed it down her throat. Next thing she knew, her organs are burning up.
As expected of a seventh rank stone beast, even its beast core is no laughing matterâ¦. Her bones starts making a series of crunching and creaking sound while the beast core attempts to devour her sanity.
Not going to be outdone here today, Ling Yue presses on and activates her cauldron again. Sweat drenched her dress, blood seeped out of her palm, and her very existence shook tremendously due to the excruciating pain. Nevertheless, the spirit smoke was able to envelop the beast core to grind away at the wild nature inside.
Seconds later⦠minutes later⦠then hours later, itâs over. No longer raging with the will to consume her, the beast core was now pearly white with a gentle gloss over the surface.
First things first, Ling Yue wanted to have a look at herself. Moving over to the rainbow creek, thatâs when she got her first look at her newfound beastified image.
Green all over, she had the look of a feministic stone beast with the eyes of a human. Oddly enough, she lacked the threatening features of the other stone beasts. In fact, Ling Yue found herself rather cute in some ways.
How unexpected, my spirit smoke not only refined the brutal nature of the skill, it also removed my human scent.
And of course, we canât forget Little Squeak now can we. Squirming around, the little guy was constantly sniffing Ling Yue to catch a whiff of her scent. If he didnât see the transformation first hand then he never wouldâve believed this creature was his mistress.
With the preparations complete, itâs time they headed out again. Once outside, Ling Yue quickly realized sheâs been inside her pocket dimension for over a day now due to that setting sun. Its imperative she figure out the secret lurking inside this Black Valley, otherwise everything sheâs gone through wouldâve been in vain. Plus thereâs still her big sister and Feng Shen back at camp. they must be worried sick.
Realizing her mind had inexplicably worked its way back to the boy, she couldnât resist sighing at the situation, Why is he ignoring meâ¦.
âSqueak!â All of a sudden the little fella broke into a panic and hid under her belly.
Perplexed by the strange behavior, Ling Yue looked up to the sky. In that look, even she was dumbfounded by what she saw.
Within that foggy gray mist, a shadowy figure with a golden mask was descending down to her location. She knew exactly who this person was, its Wu Chong, the Ghost Emperor!
Holy shit, what is this enigmatical man doing here?
She mourned her own misfortune because their numbers of encounter were way too high to be a coincidence.
Did he come for me?