"Blood spirit cats..." Wei Zhao's expression turned several degrees graver. These nine blood spirit cats were only a little larger than ordinary house cats, inconspicuous enough in daily life were it not for the blood dripping from their bodies—but now, pinned by those uncanny feline eyes, Wei Zhao found the hair on his scalp prickling involuntarily, as though he had been marked by a ferocious beast that was his natural predator.

Cats had always been mysterious, unfathomable creatures; spirit cats, legend held, were born with the power to commune with the unseen. And these nine blood spirit cats were things that had crawled out from heaps of countless spirit-cat corpses, existences like vengeful ghosts, vicious to the extreme. If there really were ghosts in this world, they would be gnawed clean within a minute—and the Wei Zhao of today would be no exception.

In the blink of an eye the nine blood spirit cats had ringed Wei Zhao completely, their bizarre cat cries rising and falling in turn. Never mind Wei Zhao, a mere spirit-body—even Leng Leng, a living, breathing person standing nearby, felt her flesh crawl at the sound.

"Get away!" Fearing Wei Zhao would be swarmed, Leng Leng immediately lashed out with a kick at the nearest blood spirit cat. But the creature neither dodged nor flinched—her foot passed straight through it as though kicking empty air, without the slightest effect.

"Hahahaha! My blood spirit cats are spirit-bodies, you fool—what makes you think a mere early Foundation Establishment cultivator has the means to deal with a spirit-body? Did you really believe your shattered-ice constitution made you invincible?" Sun Baimei laughed uproariously at the sight, then his face turned cold and savage: "Since I've let the blood spirit cats out, that spirit-body is as good as dead. As for you—I'll take my time playing with you myself."

With that, three more pitch-black arrows shot from his sleeve. This was in truth a despicable trick that should never see the light of day; used so many times in a row, any opponent would surely be on guard. But he was preying precisely on Leng Leng's injury and hampered movement—this one move alone was enough to put her neatly to death. Besides, even now his chest remained icy cold; he truly dared not exchange blows with Leng Leng at close range again.

But he had miscalculated one thing. At that very moment, ringed on all sides by the nine blood spirit cats and plainly unable to save himself, Wei Zhao threw himself in front of Leng Leng and once again kicked three pitch-black arrows out of the air.

"Hmph, truly not afraid to die—still playing the hero saving the beauty at a time like this. Aren't you afraid my blood spirit cats will bite you to death alive?" Sun Baimei sneered.

Sure enough, the instant Wei Zhao threw himself into blocking those three pitch-black arrows for Leng Leng, the nine blood spirit cats around them pounced as one, their speed even a shade faster than Wei Zhao's own. In a blink they were on him, biting and clawing like cats gone mad. Blood streamed down Wei Zhao's face and body, and the aura of his entire spirit-body dimmed considerably.

"Wei Zhao!" Leng Leng was horror-stricken at the sight. From where she stood, Wei Zhao was almost entirely engulfed by the nine blood spirit cats, flesh and blood flying—a scene of unutterable misery!

Leng Leng hurled herself at them recklessly, desperate to drive the blood spirit cats off, but it was useless. These blood spirit cats were spirit-bodies like Wei Zhao, yet nowhere near as solid and materialized as he was; to touch them at all required specialized spiritual-sense techniques or countermeasures—otherwise there was simply no way to affect them.

"Wahahaha! It's useless—all you can do is watch helplessly as he's bitten to death alive. It makes no difference to me so long as it's a spirit-body; alive or dead, either will do!" Sun Baimei sneered smugly. He had changed his mind now: since Wei Zhao insisted on playing the hero to the bitter end, he would just wait for the blood spirit cats to finish him off first. There was no rush.

Once the nine blood spirit cats were unleashed, no spiritual entity could survive before them. There had never been an exception.

"No... don't!" Though she knew it was futile, Leng Leng was still frantically, recklessly trying to drive the blood spirit cats off Wei Zhao. She could accept that Wei Zhao was a spirit-body—but she could absolutely not accept Wei Zhao dying before her eyes. And dying such a wretched death at that!

"Weep, weep to your heart's content. But you needn't worry too much—you'll be going down to keep him company soon enough. I'll be merciful and let the two of you be a pair of lovers in death. Of course, that little item on your person—I'll help myself to it without ceremony." Sun Baimei said, arms folded.

Even as he spoke, Wei Zhao had been torn and bitten by the nine vicious blood spirit cats until he was barely recognizable, his spirit-body showing faint signs of instability, as though it might collapse at any moment. The situation hung by a thread.

Leng Leng's help was futile, and Wei Zhao was making his last deathbed struggle, staggering and lurching about beneath the covering of the nine blood spirit cats—until, before anyone quite realized it, only three short paces remained between him and Sun Baimei.

Sun Baimei paid this no mind at all. Without these nine blood spirit cats, he would indeed have had to be wary of Wei Zhao after the strength he had displayed—at such close range he could easily be made to suffer again. But now he was plainly overthinking it. In his eyes, Wei Zhao was lucky to live another moment; what threat could he possibly pose?

Just then, for some unknown reason, the nine blood spirit cats clinging to Wei Zhao suddenly began howling madly. Their cries had been unnerving enough before; now they were so shrill and baleful that they set the scalp crawling, like screams echoing up from hell itself.

"Strange—why have the blood spirit cats suddenly become so excited? Could it be because they've devoured this spirit-body?" Sun Baimei was somewhat puzzled. He did not mind sharing some of the spirit-body with the blood spirit cats—they were his trump cards, after all—and given the strength of this particular spirit-body, half would be plenty for him to make his push toward the golden core.

It had never once crossed his mind that his blood spirit cats might run into trouble. These were vicious creatures made specifically for dealing with spiritual entities; Wei Zhao was on the verge of being torn to pieces. The only remaining question was how much of the spirit-body would be left over—beyond that, there could be no mishap.

Be that as it may, the blood spirit cats' current state was truly peculiar, and a faint unease still stirred in Sun Baimei's heart. He immediately made to beckon one over and see what was going on.

But before he could raise his hand, the shrill cries of the nine blood spirit cats suddenly pierced the heavens—and then a ferocious blaze erupted from their bodies. Savage as they had been a moment before, in the blink of an eye they were burned by that fire until not even ashes remained.

"Core... core fire?!" Sun Baimei violently spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Ever since these blood spirit cats had been tamed, they had been linked to his spirit-body; with the blood spirit cats burned alive to ash, he naturally suffered a tremendous backlash.

"A keen eye. Pity your reflexes are too slow." Wei Zhao gave a cold snort and, at point-blank range, landed two successive Wildfire Eight-Trigram Palms square on the other man's face. Sun Baimei was sent flying backward, not only scattering teeth across the ground but leaving his face visibly knocked askew.

"Wei Zhao!" Behind him, Leng Leng watched this scene with both shock and delight! (To be continued.)

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