"Xun'er's Shadow Gourd..."
As these words escaped Lou King's mouth, both Ba Ji and the opponent in front of them were left completely stunned.
"Master, do you know this man?" Ba Ji asked Lou King in astonishment.
[Lou King actually recognized the person in front of him. It was none other than Xun'er's Shadow Gourd protector, Ling Ying, whom the Gu Family had sent to protect her.]
Lou King simply nodded his head. Understanding the silent cue, Ba Ji remained quiet and did not press further.
The most shocked person present was Ling Ying. He was bewildered, anxious, and deeply worried because knowing his true identity implied that the person standing before him could very well belong to one of the ancient Dou Di families.
As Ling Ying stood lost in thought, a dense black energy began to emit from his body, surging aggressively toward Ba Ji and Lou King. Seeing the incoming energy wave, Ba Ji stepped forward, unleashing his own energy to block it.
The colliding energy was incredibly powerful. Even for Ba Ji, holding it back was an uphill battle. The opponent was a high-level Dou Huang powerhouse, whereas Ba Ji was currently only a high-level Dou Ling. The gap between their power levels was immense.
"Blood Formation!"
Technique Breakdown: A low-level Heaven-rank technique. When activated, it allows the host to absorb the opponent's blood energy. This weakens the enemy while continuously funneling that energy into the host to make them stronger. Once the opponent's energy is completely depleted, the host claims victory. However, this technique operates within a specific, restricted spatial domain; if the target moves out of its range, the technique becomes completely useless.
The moment Ba Ji shouted the technique's name, his aura flared up intensely. He initiated the Heaven-rank technique, which immediately began absorbing Ling Ying's attacking energy.
As their opposing energies clashed violently, the resulting pressure wave was so destructive that it could have easily obliterated any third-stage magical beast in the vicinity.
Lou King closely observed Ba Ji's condition. On the surface, Ba Ji appeared perfectly fine, but his energy reserves were depleting at a rapid pace. Although his energy was continuously restoring itself, the recovery speed was simply too slow. It was only a matter of time before Ba Ji's energy was completely drained.
"Stop it. Do you truly wish to fight us and become our enemy? If this continues, we won't hold back either," Lou King's cold and calm voice cut through the air.
Upon hearing Lou King's voice, Ling Ying retracted his energy. Seeing this, Ba Ji followed suit and withdrew his own power. A massive amount of Ba Ji's energy had been drained, though he showed no outward signs of exhaustion.
Ling Ying descended to the ground. He was thoroughly shaken and perplexed as to how Lou King knew so much about them. To hide his unease and maintain an imposing front, he deliberately let his aura flare up slightly.
"Are you going to tell me why you were tailing me?" Lou King questioned Ling Ying directly.
Ling Ying was secretly astonished. The old man standing next to Lou King possessed enough strength to clash with him directly, yet he still couldn't accurately gauge Ba Ji's true power level.
"Miss Xun'er is worried about you, which is why she sent me to follow and protect you," Ling Ying replied, giving a safe, scripted answer.
"Is that so? Because to me, it feels like there is a different motive entirely," Lou King countered with a sly, teasing smirk. Ling Ying flinched slightly, panicking like someone whose deepest secret had just been exposed.
"Forget it. I don't think I'll be needing your protection anymore, so you should head back," Lou King said dismissively.
"Who is this man standing beside you?" Ling Ying asked, looking at Ba Ji with curiosity.
"You can call him Ba Ji. Think of him as my butler," Lou King replied.
"Something feels strange about him..." Ling Ying muttered.
"Ah, that is because he currently has Seven Seals placed upon him, which prevents him from using his full power. Right now, only the first seal is unlocked. You could say he is in a similar situation to you, as you also have a seal on your power. However, yours is slightly different; you have only one seal, whereas Ba Ji has seven..."
"Can you tell me about yourself? How do you know about me and my family?" Ling Ying asked, trying to probe into Lou King's background. He feared that Lou King might have been sent by their enemies to spy on them.
"Ha... haaaa... haaaa!" Lou King burst into laughter. "You are overthinking this. I do not belong to any of the eight ancient Dou Di bloodline families, nor am I your enemy. I simply came out here to travel."
Lou King continued, "Eventually, I arrived here. And you must already know what kind of place this is. Even I didn't expect that two individuals from the ancient Dou Di bloodline families would be present here, let alone that I'd end up getting engaged. That is why I decided to stay here until I could achieve a breakthrough. Now that I have broken through, I will be moving onward."
Hearing Lou King's words, Ling Ying was stunned. However, he was well aware that outside of the eight ancient Dou Di bloodline families, there existed other hidden, incredibly powerful clans that chose to live in isolation—many of which even his own family knew about.
"In that case, could you tell me a little about your own family?"
Hearing Ling Ying's question, a mysterious smile played on Lou King's lips. "You want to know about me? Well... you can call me the Master of the Undead Temple." Lou King introduced himself, wrapping his identity in an aura of deep mystery.
Ling Ying had never heard of the "Undead Temple" in his entire life. Perplexed, he wanted to press for more details, but Lou King merely smiled and refused to elaborate further.
"You shouldn't seek to know too much about it right now. When the time is right, everything will be revealed to you."
"I believe it is time for us to leave. This is enough for today," Lou King said, glancing at Ling Ying before turning his attention back to Ba Ji.
Lou King communicated with Ba Ji telepathically. In response, Ba Ji waved his hand, and the corpses of all the magical beasts he had hunted so far materialized out of thin air. A massive pile of monster carcasses—ranging from the first stage to the third stage—stacked up before them.
Lou King cast a brief glance over the dead bodies and waved his hand. As he did, a green and black flame ignited in his palm, with ghostly shadows visibly drifting out of it.
The moment the flame appeared, Ling Ying felt an bizarre, unsettling sensation. A sharp pain shot through his head, and his surroundings seemed to warp into a dark, void-like space. He felt a chilling dread, as if his very soul could vanish at any moment.
A few seconds later, Ling Ying snapped back to his senses. Trembling with fear, he stared at the flame, sensing an incredibly malevolent energy radiating from it. Though he was highly knowledgeable about Heavenly Flames, he realized he had absolutely no record or knowledge of this particular one.
The only logical explanation he could come up with was that this was a flame hidden from the world, omitted from the official Flame Ranking—much like the legendary, top-ranked Emperor Flame, which most people only know by name and rank without ever witnessing its true nature.
Lou King had no idea what was running through Ling Ying's mind, and even if he did, he wouldn't have cared.
Lou King focused on the flame and activated its power. Instantly, the souls of the slaughtered monsters began drifting out of their corpses, only to be ruthlessly devoured by the flame. Within a few short seconds, the flame consumed and incinerated every single soul. Ling Ying could only watch in horror, the agonizing screeches of the souls echoing vividly in his ears.
Having finished his business, Lou King stored the monster carcasses into a storage ring, handed it over to Ba Ji, and set off toward the city hotel where they were staying. Seeing them leave, Ling Ying transformed into a mist and vanished from the spot.
Later, Lou King kept the valuable third-stage monster body parts and rare herbs for himself, while sending Ba Ji to the Mitel Auction House to sell off the remaining monster materials.
(Note to Reader/Author):
Guys, thank you so much for reading my novel! If you want me to continue this story, please comment "next part". If you like the novel, I will definitely keep writing. I need your support! Thanks, comment below for the next part!