"Go!"
With a sharp cry, Shu Feng waved his hand. A burly, powerful tiger with a ferocious glint in its eyes suddenly appeared and pounced toward the bizarre Void Demon, which had taken the form of a black-haired little girl.
Ma Jin was the boss of Lei Jiang City's Underworld, and his network was incredibly vast. All it took was a single word from Shu Feng, and Ma Jin had sent him a hundred-milliliter sample of blood from every animal in the Lei Jiang City zoo.
The tiger was the trump card Shu Feng had been saving.
"A Beast Master? You've certainly awakened an interesting Ability! Thanks for the gift of this big cat!"
The Void Demon, in its guise as a black-haired little girl, grinned. Its figure blurred, transforming into a streak of black light that shot onto the tiger's body.
The tiger's body stiffened for a moment. Then, its muscles tensed, its fangs jutted out, and its body swelled by a full size. Its eyes turned crimson as it began to radiate an exceptionally ferocious aura.
"Shu Feng, cover me! Heart Moon Swordsmanship—Moon Flash!"
A cold glint flashed through Ding Xiaoxue's eyes. With a sharp cry, her Spiritual Power flared. She lunged forward, her sword slashing down like a sliver of brilliant moonlight that flashed across the tiger's body.
In an instant, the tiger was sliced to pieces, its remains scattering in every direction.
"You wretched, lowly human. You'll be my next skin."
A horrifying, crimson monster that looked like a flayed human shot out of the tiger's corpse and lunged straight at Ding Xiaoxue.
After executing Moon Flash, Ding Xiaoxue had clearly exhausted too much of her Power. All she could do was wave her hand, sending a yellow Spirit Talisman flying out, which instantly burst into flames.
When the yellow Spirit Talisman struck the crimson, flayed-looking monster, it let out a wretched scream and stumbled back several steps.
Big Black shot forward like a Sharp Sword, pouncing on the crimson, flayed-looking monster. It sank its teeth viciously into the creature's throat, its claws wreathed in wisps of black energy as it raked frantically at the monster's body.
Plumes of black mist began to rise from the monster's body.
Inside the room, two transparent white figures appeared. One flew toward Ding Xiaoxue on the ground, while the other lunged directly at Shu Feng.
"Spirit Shield Technique!"
Shu Feng's expression changed. He frantically cast the Spirit Shield Technique, and a thin membrane of Spiritual Power materialized around him as he threw a punch at the transparent figure.
His fist struck the transparent figure as if punching through a thin curtain, causing faint wisps of gray mist to rise.
The transparent figure, however, wrapped its arms around Shu Feng. The membrane of Spiritual Power around him began to rapidly dissipate, and a bone-chilling cold spread through his entire body.
Meanwhile, the flayed-looking Void Demon, being mauled by Big Black, endured for a moment before letting out a final, wretched scream. It dissolved into plumes of gray mist, leaving only a pile of residue behind.
Just as Shu Feng was about to freeze and lose consciousness, Big Black shot over like an arrow. It sank its teeth into the transparent figure, and with a flash of black Demon Light, it bit down hard, tore the entity from Shu Feng's body, and violently flung it to the ground.
Big Black immediately pounced, tearing at the transparent figure and ripping it to shreds.
The moment it had torn the first figure to pieces, Big Black lunged at the one attacking Ding Xiaoxue. It tackled the second figure to the ground and, with another flurry of frenzied bites, ripped it to shreds as well.
"So cold!! I'm freezing to death!!"
Shu Feng's face was pale and his whole body trembled. He could feel a deep chill spreading from his very bones, threatening to freeze him solid. He couldn't even circulate his Spiritual Power.
"This is a Yang Spirit Pill. It's specifically for countering the corrosive yin energy of ghostly creatures!"
Ding Xiaoxue took out a Jade Bottle, swallowed one of the pills herself, and then tossed the bottle to Shu Feng.
Shu Feng swallowed a pill in one gulp. A warm current immediately rose from his lower abdomen and spread throughout his body.
Under the power of this warm current, the sinister chill that had pervaded Shu Feng's body was completely driven out.
'This time, the rewards were incredible!'
A flicker of excitement flashed in Shu Feng's eyes. The battle had earned him 35 units of Soul Power, 2,000 Ghost Energy, and 50 units of Spiritual Power.
Those 35 units of Soul Power and 2,000 Ghost Energy were more than enough for Big Black to evolve again and become even stronger.
'With the residue from that monster, maybe I'll be able to create a creature like that in the future.'
Shu Feng looked toward where the corpse of the Void Demon that had controlled the white figures had been, only to see that nothing was left but some gray residue.
Shu Feng stepped forward, grabbed a small pinch of the residue, and with a mere thought, sent it into his mysterious Base Space.
'What's this?'
Shu Feng reached down and picked up a blackened brass statue from beside the Void Demon's remains, looking at it curiously.
The brass statue was carved with the image of a terrifying monster. It had two goat horns sprouting from its head, a gaping, bloody maw on its forehead, and a humanoid torso covered in black scales. Both its hands and feet had Sharp Claws, and its face was twisted into a savage, cruel expression, like that of a ghastly demon.
"Pure Evil God's Power detected. Absorb?"
A notification echoed in Shu Feng's mind.
"Yes!"
Shu Feng's eyes lit up as he mentally gave the command.
Today's battle was another harsh reminder of Shu Feng's own weakness. His Void Demon, Big Black, possessed ferocious and unparalleled combat strength, but he, the master, was merely a lowly Third-level Spirit Warrior Apprentice. His only defensive measure was the Spirit Shield Technique, which was of little use in a real fight. He desperately wanted to become stronger—much stronger.
Wisps of an incomprehensible Power sank silently into Shu Feng's body.
"Acquired 0.4 points of Demon God's Power."
"This is a Divine Statue of the Void Demon King, the King of Strange Evil! The Qidemon Cult is one of the major Demon Sects within our Qianyuan Republic. Zhong Jietong's family must have been chosen as sacrifices for the cult. The only reason she's still alive is probably because the cultists wanted to keep her and offer her to their higher-ups for their... enjoyment."
Ding Xiaoxue picked up the brass Divine Statue and examined it, a grave expression crossing her face as she spoke.
"The Qidemon Cult... So it was the Qidemon Cult that murdered my family, right?"
Zhong Jietong, her eyes bloodshot and her face pale, drifted over like a Ghost and spoke through gritted teeth. Not long ago, her parents were still alive. They had doted on her, and her family had been a happy one. But now, all of it was destroyed! Her heart was filled with nothing but hatred for the Qidemon Cult.
A flicker of sympathy crossed Ding Xiaoxue's eyes. "That's right. The Qidemon Cult murdered your entire family."