107:

  In a mere thirty minutes, the cultivator’s breathing had gone from a measured calm to a ragged pant, yet he continued to sprint at the same breakneck pace he had been keeping earlier. The skulk of void foxes that were chasing him had not attacked the cultivator even once, yet the cultivator’s desperation had only grown.

  Fire Dao strikes turned into a drizzle of hail.

  Earth Dao constructs were reduced to a waterfall of sand.

  Frost Dao spikes turned to a harmless spray of water before they reached their target.

  The void foxes were not attacking from range because they were incapable of doing so, but rather because it was unnecessary. Without having fired a single attack upon the cultivator, they were gaining on them.

  Through the memory bank his predecessor had inadvertently given him access to, Xiao Feng had gotten to study the chaos of the battlefield from the safety of his dorm room, even if it had been a terrifying experience. But even the incalculable nature of the battlefield, where one’s training, skill and techniques could mean nothing in front of a random quirk of fate, where a weaker cultivator could defeat a cultivator with a far greater cultivation in the blink of an eye, one moment of distraction being all that was needed to achieve such a feat and where the the demons employed the most heinous of techniques without restraint— even such a grand battle had not been as one sided as the one unfolding before his eyes.

  And that was not because the cultivator fleeing with the void fox egg was weak— no, not at all. Even at the peak of his predecessor’s strength, he was nowhere near unleashing even a tenth of the qi contained in even a single attack from the cultivator and the understanding contained behind each of his strikes was so vast that there was no hope or point in trying to learn from it. So the cultivator was definitely beyond the foundation establishment stage, but how much further, Xiao Feng had no idea.

  Where is this battle even taking place? Xiao Feng couldn’t help but ask himself, certain that his predecessor had not heard of a land where the sun could not pierce the sky’s curtain and where spiritual beasts that wielded Phantom Dao roamed, capable of nullifying seemingly any attack that was based upon an elemental dao. Beast Master Zen’s study of the Beast Egg had yielded minimal results, as even a book that recorded both the facts and legends surrounding rare spiritual beasts had no records that matched.

  Xiao Feng didn’t get the answer to his question as the cultivator, who had been relentlessly fleeing after his latest attack had failed, sheathed his blade.

  “I really did not wish to use this,” The cultivator whispered, still speaking the beast tongue.

  Xiao Feng watched as the silver-haired cultivator outstretched his now free hand outwards, his open palm pointing skyward. A golden light brighter than any Xiao Feng had ever witnessed in his life flared, with him only being able to see it because of the egg shielding him from the brunt of its intensity.

  A predator did not turn its gaze away from danger, so Xiao Feng watched as what he could only describe as a miniature, golden sun came to float above the silver-haired cultivator’s open palm.

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  The next sequence of events unfolded so quickly that Xiao Feng’s cognition barely registered it, only noticing the dozen or so golden rays that had been unleashed in a multitude of directions that were all converging on the location of the charging void foxes due to the clear, unbroken trail they were leaving behind in their charge—- though even then, he had only registered the rays when they were on the verge of impact.

  Instead of unhinging their jaws to unleash the Phantom Qi to defend against the attack that surpassed anything Xiao Feng had seen even in his predecessor’s memories, the silhouettes of the void foxes had begun to glow in a sparkling silver as they unleashed their hidden strength in unison.

  In the next moment, or perhaps the same one, Xiao Feng couldn’t tell because the response time was so quick, a dome of sparkling silver dust that was continuously swirling had been erected to defend against the onslaught of the rays of light.

  Xiao Feng watched in awe as the scorching hot rays of light that looked like they could melt spiritual silver with the ease of a knife slicing through pureflow gel collided with the sparkling silver dust and…

  Where there was light flaring with the might of the sun, now dripped pools of shadow that harmlessly splattered across the blackened earth outside of the barrier.

  The miniature sun in the cultivator’s hands blinked out of existence and he immediately began to pant heavily, his gaze somewhere between shock and awe.

  Unable to tear his eyes from the scene, Xiao Feng watched as the silver dust began to fade— no, not fade—- upon a closer examination, he realized that the silver dust was being suctioned inwards, within the dome construct that was rapidly falling apart.

  For some reason, the void foxes were inhaling all the silver dust, the Phantom Qi, they had utilized to defend against the attack against the rays of light. Which was odd, because if they could do that to their advantage, why hadn’t they done so earlier?

  As the silver dust cleared, Xiao Feng’s keen gaze picked out the crests on the void foxes’ forehead, which were no longer glowing silver.

  They were glowing a bright gold instead.

  The cultivator carrying Xiao Feng moved and this time, he didn’t feel anything. One moment, they had been standing near a jagged scar that ran across the surface of the blackened earth and the next, Xiao Feng could spot that identifiable scar in the earth fifty meters away, an incredibly powerful ray of light punched through the spot where the cultivator had been standing before and streaked out into the distance.

  Xiao Feng knew that he was just watching a memory, unlike when he had stepped into Liulian’s soul space and his emotions had synchronized with what she was feeling at the time and although he still retained his sense of self, there were points where he had gotten so immersed into the role of the umbral fang that he could still vividly recall those moments of terrible grief, of incredible rage and of surprising comfort.

  But he felt no such pull from the baby kit whose memories he was watching, likely because the kit was as confused as Xiao Feng and because besides the ancestral memories that granted it knowledge, had yet to develop a true sense of identity whereas Liulian had been a powerful, bonded spiritual beast of another cultivator and had lived longer than Xiao Feng’s predecessor had.

  Despite knowing all that, Xiao Feng still felt genuine fear as the cultivator and consequently, himself, once again blinked out of existence, only to reappear in the distance. Except that moment of relief barely registered, as the cultivator blinked again.

  And again.

  He blinked as many times as there were void foxes.

  “How arrogant of you to assume that I would not have a way to counter my own attacks,” The cultivator bellowed out in a still slightly stilted beast tongue and now, Xiao Feng could see clearly that the void foxes frames were heaving for breath, clearly having expended a lot of energy in retaliating against the cultivator.

  Then the cultivator vanished from their sight, chaining together a sequence of blinks that had his face turn a light crimson, with bulging veins visible on his forehead before he finally came to a stop.

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