Chapter 22: Hint of Evil (2)

The Spirit Master surnamed Tai erupted with violent might as his already muscular body stretched. Grey fur covered his back and his palms turned coarse and wide. His short hair seemed to grow from the sides of his cheeks as he started beating his chest. 

The Spirit Master surnamed Bai gave a surprising chirp. His physique didn't change much aside from the light blue feathers growing out of his arms sneaking out through his sleeves. He even held a pair of sharp daggers in his hand.

The Spirit Master surnamed Niu was the smallest of the group. But his Martial Soul came in the form of a large shield with its exterior layered in green scales and silver spikes piercing out. The shield was large enough to cover the man's front easily.

Standing closest to the bears, the spirit master surnamed Yang produced a glimmering steel spear, the staff of which had his four rings rotating around it.

"Let them waste energy on the bears. Then I'll make a move," Ja Sun whispered as the spirit masters and spirit beasts fought each other. Their methods were too specific and linear. Each of their spirit skills enhanced the most primal quality of their Martial Soul— Strength, Attack, Defense, and Speed.

Bai continued to harass the bears. Even though his daggers didn't do any major damage, his method frustrated the bears. Meanwhile, with a glowing dome around the three spirit masters that raised their defenses, Niu held off one of the bears while Tai attacked with his fists. His attacks actually made the bear's body creak and it roared in anger and pain.

Meanwhile, Yang dealt with the remaining bear himself. With the bear occupied by Bai, Yang continued to collect spirit energy and prepared a drastic attack to deal with the beast in a single blow.

Ja Sun, on the other hand, continued to form needles formed from mental energy. 

Out of the 256 punctures, Ja Sun had already completed 184 punctures and could create a total of 424 mental needles (16+32+64+128+184). Of course, the consumption of mental energy just to keep these needles on standby was simply too great and Ja Sun only created 200 needles. He only had to surprise the master and nothing more.

"You can leave your back to me," Ah Yin nodded seriously.

"Is this a confession?" Ja Sun smirked but found Ah Yin focusing on the battle instead. They needed to know the full extent of the spirit masters, after all.

*Grooooughhhh*

One of the bears fell. Its collapse made the ground slightly tremble as the other beast grew even more ferocious but it simply couldn't do anything.

Two purple spirit rings rose out of their corpses as the Spirt Masters finally sighed.

The most expended of the group was naturally the Yang guy. His attacks were extremely damaging but the consumption of his spirit energy seemed to be the burden of this clan. 

"I will stand guard," Niu whispered. He was the one who still hadn't sweated at all.

Before the group could begin, they suddenly heard a crisp sound of a twig or something light snapping and their expressions turned sharp.

"Who is it?" Tai instantly growled and stood in front of the cage cautiously. 

"Come out or don't blame me to go all out!" Yang's spear emerged and he hissed.

"Wait! Wait! Don't attack me!"

A somewhat young and frightened voice hurriedly called out. The group looked at each other before gazing in the direction of the voice. Bai stated calmly once he felt the fear, "Come out. We won't attack."

"But if you try to escape, we will have to pursue you. We are from the great clans of Heaven Dou City and will keep our words," Niu spoke up.

Instantly, they saw a young man peeking his head out from the back of a tree. He had short black hair and a healthy, light tanned skin.

"Clans? Which one?" Ja Sun inquired, his expression still cautious but in his mental scape, the Bright Goddess Butterfly took the flowing needles as an obstacle course and began flying around in excitement.

"Have you heard of Clear Sky Clan?" Yang stated with a proud expression.

Seeing Ja Sun nod, Yang continued, "Our four clans are the subsidiary of the great Clear Sky Clan! Seeing that you didn't try to attack us or covet the corpses of these spirit beasts, we won't harm you."

"Ah, thank you!" Ja Sun hurriedly nodded. However, the moment his right arm tilted slightly, Niu's expression changed. He hid it quickly enough and spoke with a low tone.

"If you want to leave, do it with your abilities. If you don't want to die, follow us without any struggle."

The sudden change made the three companions of his frown before they observed the youth. 

Bai suddenly exclaimed.

"Evil Grandson!" 

"What?" Yang and Tai looked towards Ja Sun's right arm with shock as he quickly hid it away and revealed an ugly expression. 

He didn't like his nickname spread around— Evil Grandson. But what could he do? He was already titled Evil and his name meant grandson. In a matter of few months, he had already become the nightmare of all the grandfathers of the continent who would hide their wives and their granddaughters!

"Ja Sun... you're Ja Sun?" Green flickered in Yang's eyes as he instantly activated his spirit rings.

"Wait! Don't kill me! I don't have any spirit rings!" Ja Sun gasped and hid away. His words stunned the four and they frowned instantly.

"We won't attack. But the bounty on your head is too great. Follow us. Maybe the Spirit Hall will let you live. But if you struggle..." Tai growled.

"Alright..." Ja Sun slowly walked out from behind the tree before running in the opposite direction. 

"Heh, going somewhere?" In a blue flash, Bai appeared in front of Ja Sun. The speed stunned Ja Sun as he instantly came to a stop and looked at Bai with a defiant expression.

Storm Steps.

He shot back, his speed surprising the group but also relieving them greatly. If he didn't have any spirit rings, then he must have other qualities to survive or it would be too weird that Ja Sun was found here.

The smile on Bai's lips turned amusing. He estimated the direction and instantly shot towards the appointed location but in the middle, his expression changed.

'Fleeting Storm.'

Ja Sun's entire momentum was gathered on his left toe before he changed direction at an even greater speed. The third form of Storm Steps fused Storm Grace and Storm Disgrace. The momentum can be used as he wishes and to the limits of his physical body!

"Not good!" Niu growled and his fourth spirit ring gave a bright light.

A piercing glow shot out of Niu's shield and covered Ja Sun instantly before turning into a protective dome but it also stopped him from moving at all!

"Let me go! Do you think the current Pope is weaker than you?" Ja Sun growled.

"Of course, not. But if you could have killed us, how would the lot of us still be alive?" Yang sneered as Niu controlled his ability and pulled the shield towards him.

As it turns out, the defense-type spirit master actually had a control-type hybrid skill.

"The Spirit Hall will not reward you with a 10000-year-old spirit bone! Let go!" Ja Sun shouted but the moment the dome disappeared, Tai grabbed onto Ja Sun and bound his arms with a piece of thin rope!

Instantly, Ja Sun felt his spirit energy blocked out while the group smiled in satisfaction.

"Huff... almost gave me a scare," Bai scowled.

*Pah*

His hand instantly struck Ja Sun on his face as his head moved to the other side. 

"Where did you learn that technique?" Bai inquired while grasping Ja Sun's hair in his fist. Seeing the red mark on his cheek and the thin trail of blood leaking from the corner of Ja Sun's lips, the sadistic glint in his eyes grew deeper.

"Brother Bai, don't harm the goods! This is our chance of finally breaking free!" Tai chuckled and patted the shoulder of the lanky man. All of them relaxed and smiled slightly.

"Who would have thought—" Yang began when all of their pupils shrunk.

"Aaagggghhhhhhh!"

They howled at the top of their lungs while clutching their heads. After all, in the last second, Ja Sun decided to double the number of needles piercing their heads.

In the next moment, a bright, misty blue domain spread out and thick vines wrapped around the four individuals. The vines were sharper than knives as Ja Sun was stunned by the gory sight for a moment.

*Thp*

*Thp*

*Thp*

The sliced bodies of the four individuals fell on the ground. Blood gushed out but their internal organs also revealed the greatest educational presentation of biology. Their arms and legs were flung aside due to the tearing force as Ja Sun took a deep breath.

"Puh!"

Spitting the collected blood in his mouth over their corpses, he felt his injured cheek healing greatly.

"That slap is the highlight of my day," A cool voice appeared behind Ja Sun as he felt a pair of warm hands undoing the rope around his wrists.

"You really can kill," Ja Sun chuckled as Ah Yin retracted her domain.

"I... did this to be efficient. Nothing more." Ah Yin stated calmly and then glanced towards the gory sight, "Of course, I will leave the collection of the loot to you."

"Sure, sure," Ja Sun returned to his bestial form since the blood was definitely going to attract beasts. He glanced towards the two floating rings and then towards Ah Yin walking towards the covered cage.

'Go,' Ja Sun stated internally as an extremely faint phantom of the Bright Goddess Butterfly flashed out from the middle of his brows and instantly landed close to the corpse of the bears and away from the naked eyes.

"What's in the cage?" Ja Sun inquired while he crouched over the pool of blood and began to strip away the four spirit masters of the possessions Ja Sun could identify. The essence tools were one of them. He even picked the rope on the side that could restrict spirit energy and then walked towards Ah Yin quickly. The blood on his knees flowed down without getting absorbed by his robes at all.

"Clearly, a slave," Ah Yin stated and unzipped the cloth cover before pulling it away.

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The two of them instantly felt amazed by the sight behind the iron bars.

With her eyes covered by a blindfold and her arms... and her serpentine body shackled to the cage, a violet-haired woman continued to struggle. Her appearance was the perfect blend of a snake and a human girl. She had small, rhombus-like green scales from her shoulders to her arms which ended in human hands and sharp nails befitting a claw. Her body was barely covered and she had pale skin for her face and exposed torso. From her waist down, she didn't have a set of legs but a long serpent tail. The green scales were set in an amazing pattern with diamond-shaped violet scales in the middle of the body. 

The tail itself was coiled and locked down but the full length would be almost 2 meters.

"Ah Yin... what is this?" Ja Sun inquired with a gulp. He didn't know what they called a lamia in the Douluo Continent. All his guides never revealed such an exotic existence to him because he was sure that the woman wasn't simply a spirit beast or a human. 

"Hmmm!" The woman's shouts were muffled and Ah Yin finally controlled a vine to pull the gag over her mouth away.

"I can feel you! You're her brethren, are you not? I know I bullied her in the past but please save me! Both of you should understand this the most!" 

Ah Yin's expression changed slightly and she pushed the gag in the woman's mouth once again.

Ja Sun's lips twitched and he spoke up, "If you can hear us, then calm down. If you spout... more incomprehensible nonsense then we won't help you. If you understand, nod."

The woman hurriedly nodded.

Ja Sun looked at Ah Yin as she reluctantly freed the woman's mouth once again.

"Thank you!" she finally gasped and turned silent. Her breathing was still rough but she wasn't panicking for the moment.

"Why are your eyes... blindfolded?" Ja Sun inquired and he felt that he knew the answer.

"I'm a variant medusa, or that's what those bastards who captured me called. Of course, turning spirit energy into stone using my eyes is my innate skill so they covered my eyes to prevent any accidents."

"Alright. I want you to know that even if you're... something, we don't mean to hurt you. We found those fours and wished to help whoever they had captured," Ja Sun glanced towards Ah Yin as she rolled her eyes.

"O... okay. Can you free me?" The woman inquired.

"But, we need assurance that you won't hurt us. After all, I and my partner are humans. Once again, we don't want to hurt you."

"Humans?" Medusa muttered in confusion. Her nose twitched again and she continued to mutter under her breath.

"Less nonsense," Ah Yin stated plainly, "From your spiritual pressure, you're still far away from hitting the ten-thousand-year-old mark. Capturing you may be hard but killing you isn't."

"No, please stop talking about deaths. I... I don't like to hear about it! Anyway, I promise that I won't hurt you! I simply cannot hurt you! Even keep my eyes closed. I just want to leave this cage!" 

"Do you have a name?" Ja Sun inquired.

"Obviously, her name is—"

"Violet."

"Du Nu."

Ah Yin glanced at Violet. Violet felt confused. Ja Sun mockingly smirked at Ah Yin.

"Violet, let us find the keys to the cage. Meanwhile, tell us what you really are?" Ja Sun stated and he looked at Ah Yin, "Um... how do we use these?" He moved the four essence tools in his hands.

"Infuse your spirit energy. How do we divide the loot?" Ah Yin inquired.

"Do you want to pool it all and then divide equally or just two of the tools and be done with it,?" Ja Sun inquired.

"This and this. Mine." Ah Yin instantly snatched a wrist band from both of his palms and infused her spirit energy in them.

Meanwhile, Ja Sun did the same.

It was at this moment Violet spoke again.

"Aside from my specifies as a spirit beast, I don't know what am I—"

"Will you shut up? I'm trying to concentrate," Ah Yin rapped the bars of the cage with a thick vine. Violet instantly shuddered and quietened down.

'Hmm... 2 cubic meters in each of them. A hammer... a pair of daggers. Coins, clothes, currency cards, and food. Nothing too different. I can even move the items within the space using spirit energy.

Cleaning the wrist bands against his robes, Ja Sun wore one of them. The wristband was made of the leather of a spirit beast and was red in color. When Ja Sun tried to absorb the other wristband into this one, it worked almost instantly.

"Woah!" Ja Sun smiled and looked at Ah Yin, "You got the keys?"

"Not only keys..." Ah Yin replied with a mysterious smile before she tossed the key towards Ja Sun.

"Alright, Violet, we're getting you out. Be very careful if you want to attack us because my partner... well she is a rank 58 spirit king and she killed your kidnappers single-handedly."

Violet shuddered and nodded quickly.

There was only one key that worked on every shackle and the door of the cage. Once freed, Ja Sun still spoke again, "Keep your blindfold on unless we tell otherwise."

"Yes!" Violet slowly moved. Her body stood upright and from a distance, she had the height of a normal girl. She didn't even look much older. Only around her early twenties.

Meanwhile, her movement was rather elegant as she slowly slithered out. Her actions attracted Ja Sun's and Ah Yin's attention as they kept their distance.

For a moment, Ja Sun glanced towards the corpse of the spirit bears. 

The previously stagnated cultivation of the butterfly skyrocketed. Every minute, she absorbed enough potent spirit energy that would need a long period to collect.

"Thank you once again," Violet spoke up as she tore away the pieces of clothes over her body.

"Phew..." Ja Sun almost whistled.

"Ah Yin... they are far... far... greater than..." Ja Sun had a smirk which felt the most annoying thing to his partners as Ah Yin narrowed her eyes. She couldn't blame a spirit beast for not wanting to wear clothes. 

'It took granny three years to get me comfortable in clothes,' she sighed internally.

"I will answer every one of your questions but I request that you let me go. I don't like being away from my tribe!"

"Fine," Ah Yin replied this time and spoke up, "Tell us whatever you know."

Violet nodded.

"The spirit masters who captured me... called me a variant. Along the way, they continued to boast and chat about various rumors so my knowledge itself is based on their words.

They said that among human beings, there are rare Martial Souls that can bring permanent bestial features to a spirit master's body. For instance, cat eyes, dog tails, or strange ears. Similarly, there was once a spirit beast that was mutated and had human features. This mutation is random."

"Can you cultivate like a human or a beast?" Ja Sun inquired as Violet shook her head with a bitter smile.

"I suppose this information won't hurt others since the possibility of more variants is quite low. For me, the first thousand years of cultivation were a struggle. There is a great misconception amongst the Human world that Spirit Beasts' actual age is also the same as their Cultivation. Most often than not, we are quite younger than our actual cultivation. But not me.

To me, the first thousand years feel like a dream. Despite having a different body, Medusas have a certain scent that prevents them from attacking another of the tribe unless they act with hostility.

But one day... I just woke up. That day was 23 years ago when I completed my thousandth year. Everything before that felt like a dream."

"Who taught you human speech?" Ah Yin inquired.

"The Ruler of the Star Dou Great Forest! He arrived in front of me the next day. For the next 15 years, he accompanied me and taught me greatly about many things. But disappointed by my cultivation speed, he left. Since then, I have tried to find various ways to restart my cultivation."

"What's your current cultivation?" Ah Yin inquired with a frown.

"Ever since I woke up, I never had an increment. I'm still a complete thousand-year-old spirit beast."

Violet sighed.

Ah Yin and Ja Sun glanced at each other.

"Well, my curiosity is filled. I would love it if you could stay with me since my partner leaves every now and then but... I don't think you will."

Ja Sun shrugged.

"I don't have any more questions," Ah Yin walked towards Violet and took off her blindfold.

Ja Sun and Ah Yin saw that her eyelids and the area near the corner of her eyes had scales, too.

She slowly opened her eyes, revealing a set of enchanting yellow eyes with black vertical pupils. Violet looked towards Ah Yin with a smile that seemed to convey envy and bitterness before looking towards Ja Sun. Her lips instantly parted in shock.

"You... really are a—"

"Let's go," a vine instantly covered her mouth as Ah Yin and Ja Sun turned around. 

Violet hurriedly looked at her surroundings and seeing the corpse of the bears alongside the gory corpses of the spirit masters, Violet felt her stomach churn. 

"Hmm?" She felt a soft flash disappearing from the side of the spirit beasts.

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