The green vine was insidious, seeping in everywhere.
Chu Lingguang had seen the Demon Cloud Vine at Wolf Valley Pass. The vine currently attached to him looked exactly the same.
He took out the box Lin Shirong had given him. Inside was a caterpillar that could release a green light, which was supposed to scare away the Demon Cloud Vine.
He opened the box.
At first, the caterpillar inside seemed disoriented, as if sniffing the air.
Then, it seemed to sense something. It grew so agitated that its body stood completely erect before it shot out of the comfortable box, landing on Chu Lingguang’s waist.
It began to gnaw on the vine.
The vine, under attack, quickly released Chu Lingguang’s waist and coiled around the caterpillar.
A moment later,
the caterpillar was defeated and completely absorbed by the vine.
The vine then wrapped itself around Chu Lingguang’s waist once more.
The heartbeat he felt against his body grew even stronger at that moment.
The three hundred and fourteen remaining responses in Chu Lingguang’s body flickered. In a daze, he saw the scene everyone had witnessed outside the valley after the young man opened the wooden box.
Inside hadn’t been a heart.
It had been a blood-stained, throbbing meridian.
At the time, they all thought that meridian had been extracted from the Mother Wolf Empress, which was what had attracted all the Wolf Demons, along with the people from the Demon Suppression Bureau.
Recalling the scene from that day now,
Chu Lingguang realized the meridian in the wooden box might have been a living creature, just like this vine, only it was incapable of helping someone awaken their responses.
’The heart is inside the vine?’
’Don’t tell me the heart *is* the vine?’
’If that’s the case, how did the vine get on Xie Xiaohuan?’
Chu Lingguang couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought.
He felt like he was trapped in a mystery, completely lost.
But his intuition told him that he couldn’t let the vine on his waist enter his body, even if it could help him awaken all his responses.
He couldn’t take such a risk until he figured out what this vine was.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a tremor came from behind him.
Chu Lingguang turned to look and saw a burly young man on a Ferghana Horse leap out of the castle. He was so fast it was as if he also possessed Consciousness Manipulation Power.
’It’s him.’
Chu Lingguang was shocked.
The burly young man was the Little Prince who had nearly killed him with a single palm strike at the National Border.
They hadn’t seen each other in years.
The Little Prince had bulked up, transforming into a brawny man resembling the Thunder God. Riding his Ferghana Horse, his long hair flying, he looked like a wolf king soaring low to the ground as he chased after Chu Lingguang.
"HYAH!"
This was Turkic territory; Chu Lingguang couldn’t afford to get entangled in a fight.
Once the Little Prince tied him down and he was surrounded, fighting his way out would not be so easy.
’His power has grown considerably since we last met.’
’With my current cultivation, I’m not sure if I can even take him.’
Chu Lingguang thought to himself.
He charged straight toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Although Turkic soldiers, hearing the horns, tried to block his path, Chu Lingguang killed them all in a single move. Even when they managed to form ranks, he easily broke through them.
Absolutely no one could block his path.
"Yan Zhen!"
The Little Prince roared.
His voice rolled in like thunder.
’He actually mistook me for Yan.’
Chu Lingguang chuckled to himself.
He didn’t answer, focusing only on running toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains. He noticed that his opponent’s Ferghana Horse was fast at the start, but it quickly reached its limit and had to slow down.
It seemed the Little Prince had not mastered Consciousness Manipulation Power.
Just like that, Chu Lingguang charged into the Hundred Thousand Mountains first. Obscured by the forest, he vanished from the Little Prince’s sight.
By the time the Little Prince rushed into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Chu Lingguang was long gone. The prince could only roughly judge Chu Lingguang’s direction by the tracks on the ground and the disturbance of bird flocks in the distance as he continued his pursuit.
Chu Lingguang’s raid into Turkic territory to risk his life and kill Xie Xiaohuan had been all about one thing: speed.
He retreated immediately after succeeding, without any hesitation. Even when he realized the Little Prince was chasing him, he didn’t think about having a showdown. He had only one thought in his mind: leave immediately and return to Great Yuan.
With this mindset, Chu Lingguang successfully shook off the Little Prince, crossed the Hundred Thousand Mountains, and returned to Great Yuan Territory three days later.
By now, the vine around his waist was plastered to his skin like a tattoo.
For the past few days, aside from stopping it from burrowing into his body, Chu Lingguang still couldn’t figure out what on earth this thing was.
He needed to go back and see Guo Wei.
Before he knew it, he had entered the territory of Chishui Prefecture, arrived in Dingyuan County, and saw the Blood Wolf Cave.
He couldn’t help but go over.
He wandered around the Blood Wolf Cave for a bit.
Ever since the Mother Wolf Empress was killed, the Wolf Demons of the Blood Wolf Cave had all but vanished. Chu Lingguang circled the area and searched carefully several times, but he couldn’t find any trace of other vines.
’Hm? Someone’s coming!’
Suddenly, Chu Lingguang sensed people approaching.
He quickly hid.
A moment later, two familiar figures appeared in his line of sight.
It was the Demon Suppression Bureau’s Vice Capital City Commander, He Mingxuan, and School Director Hu Yanlin.
’What are those two doing at the Blood Wolf Cave?’
Chu Lingguang found it strange. Hiding in the shadows, he watched as they, just like him, turned the Blood Wolf Cave inside out, only to find nothing.
"Someone has already been here,"
He Mingxuan said, noticing the many tracks on the ground.
At the same time, he released a Spiritual Sense Fluctuation, blanketing the surrounding area.
Chu Lingguang used the Divine Breath Technique to conceal himself, so He Mingxuan couldn’t find him. However, while He Mingxuan couldn’t detect him, he *could* detect his Han Gao Steed.