Ye Huaiyao had not moved from his original position from the very beginning. When the others heard the scream and rushed toward the second victim, he remained where he was, still examining the “Fan-shixiong” who had died beside him.
Ji Lanying had said that the wound resembled a ghost claw, but to Ye Huaiyao, those sharp scratches looked more like the work of some kind of wild beast.
The reason nobody had considered that possibility was simple. Even if some beast in Ghost Wind Forest had gained sentience and cultivated into a spirit, it would still fall under the category of a “monster,” something that magical artefacts and protective talismans should have been able to detect.
Ignoring the commotion nearby, Ye Huaiyao slowly ran his fingers over the man’s chest. Suddenly, his gaze sharpened. He picked something up and held it before his eyes.
—It was a slightly stiff, short strand of fur. At first glance it appeared yellow, but upon closer inspection, the tip was faintly tinged with black.
Ye Huaiyao had experienced every kind of life over the centuries, from fine clothes and rich food to sleeping beneath the open sky. Based on his experience, this fur resembled that of a tiger or leopard.
The Record of Strange Phenomena once contained such a description: “In the Western Wilderness dwells a strange beast. After devouring a human heart, it can assume human form. It wears tattered clothes and possesses tiger claws on its hands and feet. It is called the Faux Leopard.”
Ye Huaiyao had only casually flipped through that book as a boy, treating it like a collection of entertaining tales. Being able to recall this passage after several hundred years was remarkable enough. As for everyone else, they had even less opportunity to think in that direction.
After all, the incident had happened too suddenly, and the interval between the deaths of the two victims had been far too short to give anyone time for careful consideration.
The Faux Leopard was born as this sort of strange beast and did not even qualify as a true spirit. But after living in a place like Ghost Wind Forest for so long, it was inevitable that its body would undergo some changes.
The only flaw that could expose its identity lay in those few words: “Tiger claws on its hands and feet.”
Ye Huaiyao turned his head toward several Vajra Fist disciples standing not far away, their backs facing him.
They had been the last group to arrive. Their feet were hidden inside boots, which was nothing unusual, but several of them also had their hands tightly wrapped in cloth.
Not everyone whose hands were bandaged had to be a Faux Leopard. But among them, there was certainly at least one.
Ye Huaiyao was still thinking this when whoosh! That ominous sound of wind rang out once again, like a premonition of death.
Yan Lin reacted extremely quickly. He drew his sword in one motion and shouted, “Stand back-to-back! Watch your surroundings!”
His warning was perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, the danger was not surrounding them. It was among them.
The wind came so quickly that Ye Huaiyao did not even have time to tell everyone what he had discovered. His eyes flashed like lightning as he swept his gaze across the Vajra Fist disciples. Two of them moved at the exact same moment.
Yan Lin had just finished shouting his warning. His drawn sword was held horizontally before his chest when he suddenly felt a numbness in the Quchi acupoint at his elbow.
He froze in surprise. The longsword instantly flew from his hand, shooting toward the southwest.
Sword light flashed, accompanied by the sharp rush of wind. Had the blade accidentally struck one of their companions, it could have killed them instantly.
Yan Lin was horrified. He lunged forward, intending to call his sword back. But at that very moment, he sensed a gust of wind behind his head. Someone was attacking him from behind!
If he had not just lunged forward to retrieve his sword, he would have been struck.
Could the person who knocked his sword away actually have been trying to help him? But if so, wouldn’t it have been easier simply to kick him aside? Why go through such an indirect method?
All these thoughts flashed through Yan Lin’s mind in an instant. His body had already reacted on instinct. He swung his arm backward to block. Bang! His arm collided heavily with another extremely sturdy arm.
Yan Lin immediately seized the attacker’s wrist and spun around. The ferocious face before him belonged to one of the Vajra Fist disciples who had been standing beside him.
During their clash, the bandages around the disciple’s hand had come undone. What emerged from beneath them was… a furry leopard paw.
Yan Lin instantly understood. He shouted, “Everyone, be careful! It’s a Faux Leopard!”
Chaos erupted through the crowd. Some people fled. Others rushed forward recklessly to help. Still others frantically asked what had happened to the Vajra Fist disciple and what exactly a Faux Leopard was.
Several Xuantian Tower disciples charged forward together. The Faux Leopard possessed tremendous strength, and the demonic energy permeating the forest had enhanced it even further, making it exceptionally difficult to deal with. The two sides became locked in fierce combat. Yan Lin finally had a moment to spare, and his companions helped him to his feet.
“A-Lin, are you all right?”
Yan Lin wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and shook his head. “I’m lucky. I escaped by a hair.”
As he spoke, he glanced toward the direction in which his sword had flown. His expression suddenly sharpened. There was another Faux Leopard there. And the person currently fighting it was none other than the Chensu Sect disciple everyone had been discussing earlier.
Yan Lin was young, but he was exceptionally perceptive. Seeing this scene, a thought immediately occurred to him.
“So he discovered the Faux Leopards first. My sword flying away not only forced me to lunge forward and avoid the attack, it also happened to strike another Faux Leopard that was attacking from a different direction… How could that possibly be a coincidence?”
If all of this had been calculated within such a brief instant, then this person’s ability to control the situation, and the speed of his mind, had reached an utterly terrifying level.
With this thought, Yan Lin couldn’t help taking another look at Ye Huaiyao. Sure enough, when Ye Huaiyao attacked, there wasn’t the slightest trace of spiritual power around him. Yet his techniques were extraordinarily refined. And once Yan Lin’s own longsword reached Ye Huaiyao’s hands, it seemed to possess an entirely different level of power.
Strangely, although Ye Huaiyao was clearly using the orthodox sword techniques of the Chensu Sect, Yan Lin couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something inexplicably familiar about him.
He steadied his mind. This was not the time to dwell on such things. Suppressing all his doubts, he shouted, “Young Hero Ye! I’ll come help you!”
He called out first so that Ye Huaiyao would know he was coming. But before he could make his way over, one of his companions grabbed him. “Can’t you see? Nobody can help him over there. We can’t get through!”
Yan Lin frowned. “Why?”
Because Ye Huaiyao was simply too unlucky.
The moment he discovered that Faux Leopards had infiltrated the group, two of them attacked simultaneously. One lunged toward Yan Lin. The other, a little farther away, charged at an unknown female cultivator.
There was no time to warn anyone. Ye Huaiyao knocked Yan Lin’s sword away, briefly disrupting the attack, then immediately flashed toward the other side and grabbed the female cultivator, pulling her out of harm’s way. He had always been someone who cherished beautiful women.
After pulling the young woman so abruptly that she nearly stumbled to the ground, he hurriedly caught her around the waist and gently set her back on her feet.
Having rescued two people, he was just about to retreat when Huaijiang suddenly shouted inside his sea of consciousness: “Kid! You’ve encountered the Leopard King!”
Ye Huaiyao didn’t quite understand the emotion behind those words. In the middle of the chaos, he hurriedly replied, “So… should I run faster?”
Huaijiang answered concisely: “The Leopard King’s blood can repair your spiritual veins. It’s far more effective than the medicinal herbs growing here.”
Ye Huaiyao’s footsteps abruptly changed direction.
Given his current circumstances, he had originally had no intention of showing off in front of everyone. There was also no need to take such a risk just to kill a Faux Leopard. After all, there were plenty of people here.
But repairing his spiritual veins was too important. He had no choice but to take the gamble.
At that very moment, the so-called Leopard King behind him revealed its ferocious form. With a roar, it lunged toward Ye Huaiyao from behind.
The female cultivator whom Ye Huaiyao had pushed aside had twisted her ankle and was now leaning against a tree, panting. Seeing the scene, she cried out: “Fellow cultivator, watch out!”
As she shouted, she grabbed the longsword Yan Lin had dropped beside her and hurled it toward Ye Huaiyao.
Ye Huaiyao possessed no spiritual power. He stamped his right foot against the ground, borrowing the rebound to launch his body diagonally forward. His hand shot out and caught the longsword in midair.
With two swift movements, he spun the sword through an elegant flourish unleashing the “White Rainbow Piercing the Sun” technique. His broad sleeves billowed as he leaped into the air, twisting his body and turning around in midair before thrusting the sword straight toward the Leopard King.
At the same time, Yan Lin’s side came under attack. Several other Faux Leopards, realising their identities had been exposed, also began launching assaults, throwing themselves into battle with the cultivators.
Everyone was struggling merely to protect themselves. No one had the leisure to worry about anyone else.
Yet when Ye Huaiyao’s sword descended, it contained not the slightest trace of spiritual power. And still, everyone suddenly felt as though a brilliant, crystalline light had filled their vision. The sword intent soared into the heavens. Countless hearts trembled. One after another, people turned their heads to look.
A disciple of the Wisdom Sword Sect was the first to locate the source of the sword intent. He looked up and couldn’t help shouting: “Excellent!”
“The azure sky split beneath violet lightning; the sword’s radiance met the sun, its peerless edge eclipsing all beneath heaven—“
That dazzling, breathtaking brilliance was so pure and beautiful that it seemed to pluck a string within the heart. Wherever the eye could reach, it was as though waves surged and seas rolled, vast and boundless.
The snow-white blade swept through the dark, sinister forest, scattering a boundless radiance.
The Leopard King let out a furious roar. Blood sprayed through the air. A deep sword wound had been carved across its chest, and it staggered backward.
The entire forest fell silent. For a moment, the only sound was the rustling of the wind.
Nothing could surpass the elegance of that single sword. Nothing could surpass the brilliance of that single sword. Nothing could surpass its peerless grace.
