Nine Astra Skie

“Little Tanuki, let’s finish them together,” Ye Chen mumbled under his breath. Then, his right hand flickered, and a piece of Explosive Seed was immediately in his palm.

However, Little Tanuki screeched as he rocked the young man’s arm violently with its paws.

Since he had been with Little Tanuki for a while, Ye Chen’s instincts in understanding it had gone beyond the confines of language. He sneaked a glance at Little Tanuki and asked, “I shouldn’t be using this, is that right?”

Little Tanuki nodded in affirmation as its eyes widened in distress. Ye Chen had once described the function and effects of detonating an Explosive Seed to the little creature. So now, when Little Tanuki showed obvious aversion to it, Ye Chen could not help but be convinced. Perhaps Little Tanuki was afraid that the Explosive Seed might create noises that would attract even more enemies on their heels!

‘Could it be that these three Demon Wolves weren’t the only party responsible for the massacre of the tanuki clan?’

Echoing that thought, Ye Chen immediately retracted the Explosive Seeds back into his sleeve. However, resigning his fight only to the confines of fisticuffs would muddy the chances of their survival as mystical beasts were known to be far more resilient than humans ever were, and hence very much harder to subdue. Ye Chen may believe that he could match an Early Seventh Stage fighter now, but he would not be so quick to assume the same to three Seventh Stage Demon Wolves.

He would need to rely on Little Tanuki’s disruptive abilities now. “Little Tanuki, I’m gonna need your help.”

On cue, Little Tanuki heaved out its signature blinding white fog from its stomach. Ye Chen, on the other hand, extended his astral body form to remotely secure the locations of all three Demon Wolves. With a sudden burst of speed, he hurtled towards one of them.

In the fog, three pairs of wraith-like blue eyes pierced through the white curtain of fogs, yet their vision never did manage to pierce through when the fog got too thick. Moreover, as the fog came from within Little Tanuki’s body, it was saturated with the Little Tanuki’s scent, which then muffled Ye Chen’s scent so much that the Demon Wolves lost the ability to track him.

So, Ye Chen positioned himself at the side of one Demon Wolf. Sensing a sudden presence close by, the beast snarled and opened its jaw, with its teeth glittering under the moonlight before it turned towards Ye Chen.

‘Primordial Thunder Body!’

He activated his Primordial Thunder Body form and sidestepped out of the Demon Wolf’s reach before riposting with a Rumbling Thunder Burst towards the attacking Demon Wolf’s right cerebrum.

The wolf was about to swerve to dodge the attack when its eyes caught a blinding flicker from Ye Chen’s shoulder. Just like that, it abruptly froze in mid-action; its eyes glassy and glazed. It had been stunned by Little Tanuki’s illusionary spell!

There was a muffled rumble when Ye Chen cuffed at exactly where he had aimed, his force penetrating through the Demon Wolf’s skull and forcing half of its brain to gorily eject out from the other side of its head.

Normally, hitting a Demon Wolf’s head wouldn’t be this easy. Yet, with Little Tanuki’s abilities, the scale had been tipped. Their team-up was panning out perfectly!

Ye Chen had not expected his attack to be this effective, but it was not yet the time to celebrate. There were still two more foes he had to take down!

In a blink of an eye, he leaped to the side of his next target.

The two remaining Demon Wolves, perhaps in an effort to protect one another, stood side-by-side. However, just as the two were about to launch a concerted attack on Ye Chen, their eyes were once again glazed — a sure symptom of falling under Little Tanuki’s illusion attack. Not one to let off an opening, Ye Chen immediately unleashed an attack onto one of them.

There was another rumble, and another wolf fell dead.

With the illusion spell broken, the last Demon Wolf made a one-eighty in an attempt to flee. Yet, before it could, its body was suddenly covered by a blanket of frost, its artic temperature capping the Demon Wolf’s speed. As it was forcefully slowed down, Ye Chen caught up to the last Demon Wolf and landed a palm on its head which burst upon impact.

“That spell, did you do that?!” Ye Chen turned to Little Tanuki and asked in shock. Little Tanuki was really a gift that was full of surprises. He couldn’t believe that Little Tanuki could even perform the Ice-styled phantasmal technique!

With Little Tanuki’s phantasmal techniques and his Explosion Seeds, Ye Chen would never need to fear for any pugilists that were of Stages even higher than his own!

However, Little Tanuki squeaked frenetically as if urging its human friend to run right away.

Being Seventh Stage mystical beasts, Ye Chen bet that all three of the Demon Wolves must have housed Spirit Pills in their body. What a waste it would be to not extract these marketable rewards! Yet judging from how frantic and insistent Little Tanuki was at leaving, Ye Chen found himself following its instruction. Hence, he dashed straight towards the direction of home with Little Tanuki without a moment to lose.

His mind raced. Even if Little Tanuki wasn’t equipped with any lethal skills, those Demon Wolves were still way behind the little critter’s league to pose as any kind of serious threat. Little Tanuki’s many amazing abilities would have been enough to allow it to flee without a single ruffle in its fur, let alone gravely wounded by them per the two instances Ye Chen had found it. In other words, Little Tanuki’s attackers could not possibly be something as ineffective as those three Seventh Stage Demon Wolves. It must have been the work of an Eighth, Ninth, or even more powerful mystical beasts!

Just this conclusion alone prompted Ye Chen to hasten his speed. He was not going to flirt with disaster by remaining here any longer!

Along the way, as they frantically fled to the direction of home, Little Tanuki had been gulping the air around them non-stop. It was probably trying to swallow every lingering scent of the duo from being picked up by any other mystical beasts.

Three hours later, he could see the silhouette of Ye Castle on the distant horizon.

Suddenly, Ye Chen heard a shrill howl that echoed from the mountains behind them. In that instance, Little Tanuki’s fur immediately stood on its end as fear oozed out from its eyes.

“Don’t worry, Little Tanuki! Most mystical beasts know better than to come to humans’ turfs,” Ye Chen said reassuringly as soon as he sensed the critter’s fear.

‘I wonder what the Celestial Chi Stage of the Demon Wolf that howled like that,’ he added in his head.

Dawn was breaking, as sunlight shattered the blinds of a perilous night.

“We’ll be home very soon,” Ye Chen said to himself as he heaved a sigh of relief. The world may be a dangerous place, but the sight of Ye Castle had always been his personal lighthouse. It was a reminder that he would never need to be alone.

Yet just as Ye Chen was about to enter the Ye Castle, a flurry of sounds surrounded him. In a flash, five silhouettes had emerged from nowhere and stationed around him.

Naturally, Ye Chen ‘s attention landed squarely on the first person and his gaze hardened. What luck did he have as he stared at the man with daggers in his eyes — Ye Moyang! He did not recognize anyone beyond Ye Moyang, but the young man knew that the others must be from the House of Yun!

On top of the disgraced House of Ye’s Elder, there were one Eighth Stage, two Seventh Stage, and two Sixth Stage enemies outside of Ye Castle. What was their intention?

Ye Moyang was just as shocked to see Ye Chen, but his expression was soon displaced by a wicked curl on his lips.

‘There you have it, Yun Laoliu — Ye Zhantian’s precious son. Allow me to catch him for you!” Ye Moyang said, milliseconds before hurling himself towards the young man. His words may sound like he was going to take Ye Chen alive, but his eyes belied a profound killing intent!

He had not expected to see Ye Chen right here at all. Yet, as luck would have it — there he was!

To the members of the House of Yun, kidnapping Ye Chen would yield the most benefit for their family as they could use him as a hostage to coerce Ye Zhantian into their demands. Yet, to Ye Moyang himself, everything about this bastard was personal. He wanted the young man dead and that was why he had to be the first person to strike, and strike fatally!

“I can’t believe you ran out of your safe little haven on your own like that! Sailing close to the wind and tempting fate, aren’t you? I guess I can’t fault you for thinking that your luck is going to take you everywhere. After all, you did manage to recover all of your damaged meridian channels… But this time, I don’t think you’re gonna be just as fortunate!”

Ye Moyang thought of the suffering his son was enduring right now and his heart turned stone cold.

Seeing Ye Moyang coming towards him, Ye Chen backtracked a little, putting up a farce of being a deer in the headlights even though his Celestial Chi was already swirling for a good fight. Outnumbered by the enemies, Ye Chen was looking for ways to save himself, but no matter what, Ye Moyang would have to die first!

Yun Laoliu took a few steps to the side, blocking Ye Chen’s path back to Ye Castle. He then cried out in glee, “Hey, Elder Ye, don’t you kill the little brat! He’s still useful to us, you know!”

He remembered their intel describing Ye Chen to only be a Sixth Stage fighter and given that, there should be no need for the rest of them to jump into the fight. A Seventh Stage fighter like Ye Moyang should already be enough to capture him alive.

The other four clansmen from the House of Yun, obviously sharing the same sentiments, stood afar and surrounded Ye Chen. They all smirked in contempt.

“Oh, I understand you perfectly,” Ye Moyang replied; the twisted smile never left his face. “You die, brat!”

Ye Moyang then revolved his Celestial Chi and turned the center of his palm black. When one first started to learn the Shadow Storm Talon, their entire hand would be blackened. Though with more experience and mastery, that patch of blackness would reduce farther and farther in its size until it was in the middle of the palm. With just one look at his hand was enough to confirm that Ye Moyang’s Shadow Storm Talon was a lot more advanced than his son’s!

The former Elder leaped into the air and swung his jab to Ye Chen.

Yun Laoliu studied Ye Chen’s expression and felt a surge of certainty coursing through his mind. ‘This brat isn’t going to make it through in one piece, that’s for sure,’ he thought to himself in cruel glee. ‘Handsome rewards await for this catch and I can’t wait!’

At that thought, Yun Laoliu’s lips quivered.