Inside the Nine Spirit Ring, Elder Du knew the moment Zi Linling’s eyes lit up that she was going to pick the Spirit-Attracting Grass.
This girl truly valued medicine over her life, but he liked it!
Cultivators always fought for their lives against heaven; how could there be a path to power without risking it? Without the courage of burning one’s bridges, one could never become strong.
Therefore, Elder Du greatly admired Zi Linling’s actions. But admiration was admiration; he still had to offer his reminders.
Thus, Elder Du’s voice echoed in Zi Linling’s mind.
“Girl, be careful! The Man-Eating Boar has a special ability that can suppress souls. So, after you pick it, immediately hide inside the Goddess Hall!”
“Mhm!”
Zi Linling nodded and continued to approach the Man-Eating Boar.
Three meters, two meters, one meter!
Zi Linling’s hand reached out and gently grasped the five Spirit-Attracting Grasses.
It was fortunate that these five Spirit-Attracting Grasses grew in a cluster, allowing her to hold them all at once.
Zi Linling’s eyes fixed on the Man-Eating Boar, noticing that it was sleeping soundly and showed no signs of waking.
Excellent!
Zi Linling gave a strong tug, and the five Spirit-Attracting Grasses were uprooted.
The Man-Eating Boar’s aura suddenly intensified, and its tiger-like eyes snapped open.
“Woof!”
A piercing dog bark immediately sounded.
Not good!
Zi Linling dared not delay. She contacted the Goddess Hall with her mind and rapidly vanished from the Man-Eating Boar’s sight.
Then, under Yi Nan’s control, the Goddess Hall transformed into a grain of sand and fell to the ground.
“Woof!”
Another sharp bark rang out, and the Man-Eating Boar stood up.
It seemed to be angrily questioning who had stolen its Spirit-Attracting Grass.
The Man-Eating Boar’s gaze swept around the cave dwelling, finding no one. It then stomped its claw furiously on the ground and stood outside the dwelling.
It had clearly sensed the thief’s soul fluctuations just now; why couldn’t it see anyone?
“Woof! Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”
The Man-Eating Boar’s furious barks resounded throughout the entire border region.
Fu Liuyun, Xie Shenghua, Xiong Tai, and Li Luo, who had just emerged from the miasma, were startled by the Man-Eating Boar’s cries before they could even catch their breath.
“What is that sound? It sounds like a dog barking!”
Xiong Tai plopped onto the ground, saying with a grin.
Li Luo, having taken an antidote pill, shot him a glare. “Fool, would your dog enter the Misty Forest?”
Xie Shenghua frowned, remaining silent. She had a bad premonition.
Fu Liuyun also looked towards the direction of the sound with a shocked expression.
“Thump, thump, thump!”
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Fu Liuyun’s face was filled with vigilance.
“It seems we’ve run into trouble!”
“Trouble? What trouble?”
Xiong Tai asked nonchalantly.
Li Luo and Xie Shenghua also looked at Fu Liuyun in confusion.
“If I’m not mistaken, that sound should be the Man-Eating Boar.”
“Man-Eating Boar? What is that?”
Xiong Tai asked, his eyes wide.
Li Luo and Xie Shenghua also looked puzzled.
“The Man-Eating Boar, an ancient ferocious beast. It resembles a tiger with a cow’s tail, and its voice is like a dog’s bark. It lives in Mount Fuyu and feeds on humans. Its cultivation is higher than that of ordinary level nine ferocious beasts, comparable to level three demonic beasts!”
Fu Liuyun recounted to the three what he had read about the Man-Eating Boar in ancient texts.
After hearing this, the three were first stunned, then they burst into laughter.
“Sect Master Fu, you are truly one for sensationalizing. A level three demonic beast, equivalent to the Human Soul Fusion realm, and you call that trouble?”
Xiong Tai said with a dismissive laugh.
Fu Liuyun frowned and said, “Left Protector Xiong, you seem to have forgotten one thing: ferocious beasts refine their bodies, making them stronger than humans of the same level.”
“Hahaha!”
Xiong Tai burst into laughter. “Sect Master Fu, aren’t you too timid? Even if ferocious beasts are stronger than humans of the same level, can the four of us in the Soul Fusion realm not defeat one level three ferocious beast?”
Li Luo chimed in, “Sect Master Fu, what Xiong Heizi said is right. Can the four of us in the Soul Fusion realm not defeat one ferocious beast?”
Fu Liuyun shook his head in disappointment, not saying anything more.
What Xiong Tai and the other two didn’t know was that every ancient ferocious beast possessed a unique ability, and the Man-Eating Boar’s ability was its innate suppression of soul power.
This meant that anything with soul power, whether human or beast, would be suppressed by the Man-Eating Boar.
The result of this suppression was that their souls would be devoured by the Man-Eating Boar, turning them into walking corpses for its consumption.
Xie Shenghua was silent for a moment. “Judging by the Man-Eating Boar’s roar, it seems extremely angry. Why is it angry?”
“Angry? Are you sure?”
Fu Liuyun looked at Xie Shenghua in surprise.
“Yes, it’s highly likely. The ‘Heart Sutra of Seven Emotions and Six Desires’ from the Hundred Flowers Palace is extremely sensitive to emotions,” Xie Shenghua nodded.
“Angry? Of course, it’s because someone angered it!”
Xiong Tai said carelessly.
Someone angered it?
Who could it be?
Could it be her?
Fu Liuyun and Xie Shenghua’s eyes simultaneously conjured an image of a person.
But before they could confirm, the Man-Eating Boar’s roar sounded again. This time, it was extremely close to them.
“Not good, it’s coming this way!”
Fu Liuyun cried out, intending to retreat back into the miasma. He didn’t want to become a soulless walking corpse and become the Man-Eating Boar’s prey.
“Sect Master Fu, what are you running for?”
Xiong Tai’s voice was full of mockery.
As soon as he spoke, a tiger appeared in his sight, but upon closer inspection, it seemed strange, for the tiger had a cow’s tail.
“This is… the Man-Eating Boar?”
Xiong Tai’s voice even stuttered, for the Man-Eating Boar's body was more than three times larger than an ordinary tiger.
“It should be! It’s so big!”
Li Luo watched the Man-Eating Boar warily and said.
“Ah! My head hurts so much!”
Xie Shenghua suddenly clutched her head and rolled on the ground.
“Ah! My head hurts too, it feels like something is tearing at my soul!”
Xiong Tai also fell to the ground, rolling around.
Li Luo was startled and was about to flee into the miasma, but he had barely taken a few steps before he also fell to the ground and rolled about.
“Ah… this… the Man-Eating Boar… can ignore physical… obstruction and gnaw at souls… truly… too sinister!”
“Woof, woof woof, woof woof woof!”
The Man-Eating Boar barked again. It wanted to ask these people who had stolen its Spirit-Attracting Grass.
Unfortunately, although it possessed a trace of sentience, it could not express its intentions.
Xie Shenghua, Xiong Tai, and Li Luo had no idea what it meant, so they couldn’t tell it.
The three’s heads grew increasingly painful. Xiong Tai shouted, “No wonder Fu Liuyun ran away. This Man-Eating Boar is simply too sinister.”