Chapter Seventeen: Xiao Hui's Strength

  Dà Yāo Shān

  "Ahh——"

  A low, mournful howl came from afar, spreading an eerie and ominous atmosphere in the hazy white fog. Tang Lin's body was hidden in a cave carved out of a massive boulder, with several broken stones piled up at the entrance.

  "Wandering around here for who knows how long, still can't find a way out." Tang Lin furrowed his brow, stuffed the roasted meat block in his hand into his mouth, and slowly chewed, letting the flavors fully spread out before swallowing.

  This piece of meat was obtained a month ago when he encountered a tiger spirit while searching for a path, and after a fierce battle, the entire body of the tiger spirit became his food.

  That great war, even now thinking back on it, Tang Lin still feels a lingering fear in his heart. If not for the fact that he had occasionally gazed at that mysterious painting scroll while searching for a path, and his spirit had received an extreme boost, perhaps at that time he would have already been enchanted by this tiger spirit transformed into a beautiful woman, becoming its food in its mouth.

  After encountering this tiger spirit, Tang Lin did not dare to act rashly again, so he found this huge stone and excavated a cave, hiding inside.

  "This great mountain of monsters is indeed full of strange creatures, all of whom are powerful demons with deep magical abilities. With my current strength as a first-level warrior, it's extremely dangerous for me here." Tang Lin thought to himself, and after gazing out at the entrance for a while, he retreated back into the cave, unrolled the painting, and intently stared at the beautiful woman depicted on it.

  The beautiful woman's slender hands stroked the strings, her movements elegant, her beauty unmatched, exuding a sense of perfect harmony.

  Tang Lin looked a bit dazed, but suddenly, a sense of vigilance rose in his heart. He immediately rolled up the painting and turned to look outside the cave, whispering to Xiao Hui beside him: "There's a monster."

  "Not bad, and quite powerful, don't provoke it." Little Gray said in a low voice.

  Tang Lin's heart tightened, and he quickly reined in his breath. In this Great Demon Mountain, even if he encountered a demon that he could defeat, it was best not to act rashly, otherwise, as soon as he suffered any injury, if he were to encounter the other demons again, there would be a risk of losing his life!

  Must always be in top condition!

  Tang Lin slowed down his heartbeat, and his ears concentrated on listening. Within a hundred feet, the sound of mosquitoes flapping their wings could be heard. He only heard what seemed to be a gust of wind blowing in the air, drifting out of the cave and lingering for a while before gradually moving in another direction.

  "Ever since I swallowed that tree demon's half-piece of demonic elixir, my strength has reached the peak of the mortal realm. All I need is a catalyst to open up the second acupoint and become a Qi Realm warrior, unleashing my inner energy to kill people from afar!"

  Tang Lin secretly thought: "Looking at this demonic aura outside the cave, it seems that even a martial artist with a strong aura won't be able to deal with it."

  As he watched the eerie aura disappear, Tang Lin didn't relax, still holding his breath. After a long while, the eerie aura slowly drifted back, wandered around for a bit, and then dispersed in another direction.

  Tang Lin's eyes flashed, and he secretly let out a breath of relief. Just as he was about to relax, Xiao Hui suddenly warned, "It hasn't left yet!"

  Tang Lin's heart skipped a beat, he tensed up his body and tried not to emit any breath. After a while, Xiao Hui let out a sigh of relief and said, "It's okay, it's gone. This demon is really cunning, I reckon it sensed your presence from outside the cave."

  Tang Lin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately he hadn't made too much noise just now, otherwise he would have startled the demon and inevitably had to engage in a fierce battle.

  "It's been so long." Tang Lin gazed at the cave hidden behind the rubble, "I don't know how Father and Big Brother are doing, I must hurry back as soon as possible, can't delay any longer. With my current strength, plus the power of the dragon pattern in my right hand, if I encounter a demon with about 2,000 years of cultivation, I should be able to barely cope, at least escaping shouldn't be a problem."

  Xiao Hui murmured, "If you want to leave, you can use the tiger's fresh blood to draw a few hiding symbols. It can hide your aura, and with your current strength, it should be possible to escape some monsters' perception."

  "Hmm." Tang Lin nodded, and when he left the post station, he bought some blank cinnabar paper. Although there was no wolf-howl brush at this moment, using the tiger's fine hair to rub together could barely draw talismans.

  With his current arm control power, it's not too difficult to draw some simple concealment talismans.

  "The blood of this tiger is indeed vigorous and hot as fire, it has not dried up into plasma for so long." Tang Lin looked at the pool of fresh blood in the abdomen of the tiger corpse, although it was scattered all over the ground and there was not much left, but drawing a few talismans would be no problem.

  Taking advantage of the faint light outside the cave, Tang Lin focused intently and quickly drew.

  Splash! Splash!

  The strokes were like a dragon walking and a phoenix flying, with a sharp and elegant air. Tang Lin was amazed in his heart, although he knew that the strength of his arm had increased greatly, but he did not expect that when drawing this level of talisman, it would be so effortless and natural, as if the brush was moving on its own accord.

  "Now, your spirit is strong, after so long observing and contemplating, although you haven't truly gained anything yet, under the long-term influence, your consciousness has become extremely powerful. Drawing talismans naturally becomes more fluent. After a long time, who knows, maybe you can use both hands at once, left hand drawing circles, right hand drawing squares, counting ants with one hand and stars with the other, without getting confused at all." Little Gray said with a smile.

  Tang Lin's eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly thought of something, his gaze flashing with insight. "So that means the soul power of a Demon Vanquisher would be extremely strong, right?"

  Xiao Hui smiled and said: "Of course, the soul power of a demon-suppressing master far surpasses that of humans."

  "So, although your body is sealed in the small dog, your soul can still overflow and change the dog's throat muscles. This should be the 'control object' boundary, indicating that your soul has reached a substantial level." Tang Lin's eyes flickered as he looked at Xiao Hui: "So, just now you could sense the departing demon."

  Xiao Hui was taken aback for a moment, not expecting Tang Lin's thoughts to be so sharp. Suddenly thinking of so many things, he fell silent for a moment before saying, "Not bad."

  "So." Tang Lin's eyes sparkled with insight, "You're not without any self-defense capabilities, but rather possess combat strength. I've seen those demons, able to control water and fire, also at the level of controlling objects."

  Xiao Hui's expression gradually sank, saying: "That's right, I indeed deceived you at first."

  Tang Lin's eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his face as he said, "So, you can use your soul power to detect a very wide area, so you can take me away from here, right?"

  Xiao Hui was stunned.

  "Yes, with the soul power that I have currently released, it is indeed possible to detect a range of about one kilometer." Xiao Hui looked at him in surprise and doubt, "Don't you blame me for deceiving you?"

  Tang Lin's smile was bright and cheerful, a genuine smile from the heart. "Of course not," he said. "Everyone has their own secrets. Why would I blame you? Besides, I know you're really good to me."

  Xiao Hui felt a lump in her throat and stared blankly at Tang Lin.

  Tang Lin's face was filled with excitement as he looked out of the cave and said, "I can finally leave this place! Father must be worried about me, I can finally go back!"

  Xiao Hui lowered his head and after a long time, he said: "Don't you ask me why I kept it from you?"

  Tang Lin smiled and said: "Why ask, this is your own secret."

  Xiao Hui fell silent for a moment before letting out a soft sigh, and said with a bitter smile: "I didn't think I'd live so long, only to be taught a lesson by you today. Indeed, I've been hiding this from you - with my current soul power, although it doesn't cause any substantial harm, I can actually enthrall anyone below the level of a Martial God. Although martial artists are powerful, their spirits are still very weak and fragile, making them easy to bewilder."

  "It's so cool." Tang Lin excitedly looked at it.

  Xiao Hui's mouth corners slightly moved, and he said: "Originally, I planned that if you betrayed me, I would use the memory erasure on you, this was my trump card."

  Tang Lin's face wore a childlike smile as he said, "Don't worry, I won't betray you. My father once said that for every drop of kindness, one should repay with a fountain of gratitude. And your kindness to me is not just a drop, but a rebirth! If I were to betray even you, then what's the point of living? I wouldn't be worthy of being human!"

  Xiao Hui nodded slightly and smiled wryly: "I know, maybe the shadow left back then was too heavy, so I had a defensive heart."

  Tang Lin nodded slightly, Zheng Qi's face changed color, and he clenched his fist, saying: "The one who destroyed your physical body and sealed your soul in a small dog's body back then is my arch-nemesis!"

  Xiao Hui smiled slightly, with a hint of relief in his voice, saying: "You're still young, let's talk about this later. Let's go out first. Originally, I didn't want to reveal my identity, but since you've seen through me, there's no way around it."

  Tang Lin smiled and made a face.

  Xiao Hui smiled wryly and shook his head, but he felt warmth in his heart. Through such a long contact, he knew Tang Lin's temperament, pure without any impurities, and very upright from the bone, making him completely trustworthy.

  "Let's go." Xiao Hui climbed onto Tang Lin's shoulder.

  Tang Lin laughed happily and pushed open the cave entrance, his heart filled with longing. "Father, big brother, I'm back!"

  ……

  Longxiang City, sunny and beautiful.

  In the heart of the city, at its most spacious bottom, there is a vast square that can gather tens of thousands of people. As far as the eye can see, it's a sea of people, with countless heads swaying in the air, and the cacophony of sounds crashing like waves.

  Today is an important day!

  The crowd goes wild, this is the biennial Kick-Off Championship!

  Only at the top of the square, there was a red carpet and a giant wooden platform built for martial arts. Far away below the platform, a flag was raised high, with a golden dragon embroidered on it, its claws outstretched. Behind the person holding the flag stood two men and one woman. The leader was a young man in white clothes, his shirt as white as snow, his whole body exuding a sharp aura, like an unsheathed precious sword, making people glance at him sideways.

  "Tianlong Wuguan has entered, look quickly."

  "Ah, that's the genius young man, Xie Jianfeng!!!"

  "He's so handsome, waaah..."

  Several freckled girls with red lights in their eyes almost rushed up to grab the white-clothed boy.

  As the white-clad youth entered, the originally noisy square suddenly fell silent, with everyone's gaze falling on him in unison, filled with admiration, respect, adoration, jealousy and other emotions.

  ……

  The rest schedule has been adjusted, and updates will be made according to the new rules from now on. The usual update times are around 12:00 noon and 5-6 pm, with additional updates calculated separately.