Chapitre 32: A Gentleman's Fox Hunt!
Another hour had gone by since Sheng Feilong and the others have fled from the Terrorghost Elk, and, fortunately, they hadn't met any strong Soul Beasts since then. They kept advancing northeastward while being most alert in fear of running into another Guardian. On their way, they passed a few rather large flocks of Beasts, but still decided to avoid them due to their numbers.
When faced with sole beasts, they would create distractions using Xia Yuewu's speed and Sheng Feilong's illusions in order to allow Jian Wang to strike critical hits to the beasts, effectively taking them out in the fastest manner. Jian Wang was allowed to absorb the Soul Beasts lingering Spirit Power most of the time as none of the others would profit much from it since all of them had special elements.
Occasionally they would kill a flying beast for Xiao Yuewu to absorb which benefited him quite a bit. As an Agility Type Soul Master who's Spirit Soul was related to the wind element, flying beasts always provided him with suitable Spirit Power, even if they're elementless. Su Liyun mostly kept in the background as she didn't have much offensive capabilities. Her Fairy Vine Spirit Soul was a plant spirit related to the light element with slight healing effects and they would have to find plant spirits for her to absorb efficiently.
Honestly though, for this trip to the Spirit Ascension Platform, Sheng Feilong's reasoning was suite selfish. He had chosen the northeastern direction as he knew that there are a few spots where Soul Beasts of spiritual natures would live. Spiritual Soul Beasts were quite rare, even in ancient times, but just as powerful. The Terrorghost Elk they encountered before was only a mid level beast when compared to other spiritual Soul Beasts, but it was already considered to be on par with Beasts that ranked in the top ten of their specialities.
Sheng Feilong prodded his team to halt and gather around him. He gave signal to Xiao Yuewu and he also came back. Sheng Feilong then told them about their situation.
"We've been walking in this direction for about two hours now, minus the escape from the elk. If we continue at this pace, we'll enter the territory of a few spiritual Soul Beasts soon. All of you have to be on alert even more. Don't easily trust your eyes and try to feel your surroundings with your Spirit Power. The beasts we'll most likely encounter are called Cunning Foxes, and they're living up to their name quite well. They like to make traps and place illusions around them to lure prey in before assaulting them in groups."
He paused for a moment before looking at Xiao Yuewu.
"You'll have the hardest job out of us all. Cunning Foxes mostly hide and flee at the first sign of danger, so in order to lure them out, we have to step into their traps... After that, it'll be easy for me to trap about 5 of them in an illusion to prevent them from fleeing as long as they're below 800 years of age. We'll dispose of them easily then."
Xiao Yuewu frowned and stared at Sheng Feilong for a moment.
"So we'll lure a flock out, then you'll trap a few of them n an illusion and you guys show yourselves to force the rest to flee. And you want me to play the bait to lure them out?"
Sheng Feilong scratched his head awkwardly and slightly smiled.
"Well, Cunning Foxes are quite fast, you're the only one who can keep up with them if they attack en masse. Jian Wang could probably block them, but his Spirit Power is too low to keep them in check and I'm not physically strong enough to deal with multiple 100-year-old Soul beasts at once. You'll just have to block their initial assault and I'll place the ones closest to you in an illusion immediately."
Xiao Yuewu nodded, but still asked another question.
"What if you can't trap them? You said it'll be easy as long as they're not 800-years-old Soul Beasts? What if the rest of the flock doesn't flee after you emerge?"
"I can still trap them if they're 800-years-old variants, but just 2 or 3 at most. Anything below that level isn't a problem as they have a major spike in Spirit Power every 100 years of age. The flock will flee no matter what. Cunning Foxes are physically weak and can barely compare to normal Soul beasts a tenth of their age. So facing a 600-years-old Cunning Fox in melee combat is like battling a 60-years-old Brown Wolf for example. Their only strength is their Spirit Power, and if we all emerge with out Soul Power released, they'll flee. I'll also lock onto them with my Spirit Power, that's even superior to 1.500-years-old Cunning Foxes. That'll scare them to the grave."
Xiao Yuewu relaxed slightly and eventually agreed to Sheng Feilong's plan. They walked further into the forest and soon reached the territory of the Cunning Foxes. Sheng Feilong locked onto Jian Wang, Su Liyun and Xiao Yuewu with his Spirit Power to tell them to be on high alert before reaching out into the forest with it and hiding it to the best of his ability. Xiao Yuewu summoned his Moonlit Curved Daggers Spirit Essence and also spread his Spirit Power, looking for traps, while the other three hid their presence about 50 meters behind Xiao Yuewu.
After a while, Xiao Yuewu spotted a strange fruit at the side of the road. It was a juicy, red apricot like fruit that radiated a dense Soul Power. He quickly checked it with his Spirit Power and found out that it's actually a rotting green fruit with brown spots; It was a trap set by the foxes. He feigned being exited and quickly plucked the fruit, storing it in his pocket and looked around for more. He found a stalk of the same fruits but that one was nearly buried in the dirt. He crouched down and started digging in the dirt with his hands.
Just as he started, he felt a sharp pain in his head, a Spiritual Attack, and quickly jumped back, brandishing his daggers. Luckily his Spirit Power was high enough and he could block the attack, and saw a bunch of red foxes with white heads jump at him. He quickly blocked the first attack and dodged a second and thirg before using his second dagger to block the fourth! More foxes stormed out of the forest but quickly froze and looked into the direction Xiao Yuewu came from.
Sheng Feilong and Jian Wang had released their Soul Power and charged into the direction of Xiao Yuewu the instant they felt him use his Soul Power to block the first fox. When they saw Xiao Yuewu and the foxes, the former just blocked the fourth fox and they saw the rest storm out of the forest. Sheng Feilong quickly used his first Soul Skill, Toad Prison, on the four that had attacked Xiao Yuewu before while striking the rest with the blunt of his raw Spirit Power.
The foxes froze for a moment, before a slightly bigger Cunning Fox howled loudly and all the foxes, with the exception of the four trapped in Sheng Feilong's Toad Prison, fled explosively, completely abandoning their prey. Jian Wang summoned his Mountain Splitting Axe Spirit Essence and used his first Soul Skill, Full Moon Cleave, to send a energy wave at one of the foxes, directly cutting it in half, with blood splattering about!
Xiao Yuewu quickly disposed of the third fox that he dodged earlier as it stood still, trapped in Sheng Feilong's Toad Prison, by cutting its throat. He then distanced himself a few steps from the rest, allowing for Jian Wang, who was still charging at the group of foxes, to rush past him and attack another fox. By now, Sheng Feilong had led the last Cunning Fox to run in his direction and stop a few steps away from him, then took out a knife from his Spatial Ring and cut the foxes throat. He grabbed the fox by its neck and pulled it towards Xiao Yuewu and Jian Wang, then high-fived both of them.
Su Liyun came out from her hiding spot and joined the rest of the group. She looked at Xiao Yuewu with a concerned expression and quietly asked if he was alright. Xiao Yuewu shrugged at her question.
"Just a bit sore, since I had to block two of them, nothing of concern." Su Liyun nodded and released her Spirit Essence, the Fairy Vine. It was a rather fragile looking, reddish white vine with bright, yellow flower buds all over it, that radiated a light, soothing aura. She activated her Soul Skill and the vine grew rapidly, lightly encasing Xiao Yuewu and the vine lightly lit up in a yellow light. Xiao Yuewu closed his eyes and felt his fatigue dwindle and his sore arms relax.
Xiao Yuewu thanked Su Liyun, while Jian Wang and Sheng Feilong waited for them to finish. Sheng Feilong then walked over to the fox's bodies and sat down at a clean spot next to them, before he spoke to the rest of the team.
"Keep watch for a while, please. I'll absorb leftover power of the foxes."
After saying so, he summoned his Ancient Hypnotic Toad Spirit and a yellow Soul Ring appeared beneath his hand. He closed his eyes and began cultivating according to the method the Spirit Pagoda's employee taught them to draw the Spirit Power of the dead Soul beasts towards his Spirit Soul.
Xiao Yuewu and the others were on guard against any Soul Beasts, especially the flock of Cunning Foxes that fled earlier. Nothing happened for about half an hour and they slowly relaxed while Sheng Feilong absorbed the Spirit Power of the dead foxes. After a while, though, Xiao Yuewu suddenly turned around and brandished his daggers.
"Who's there?!"
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