thefictionvixens Chapter 10 Taking Action
Chapter 10 Taking Action
The lightning-patterned leopard that rushed towards them was not targeting Chu Ruolan; it was simply chasing a soul beast that was about a thousand years old—the Nether Rock Bear.
Unfortunately, the direction the Dark Rock Bear fled was exactly the direction Su Qing was absorbing the soul ring in.
Chu Ruolan wasn't afraid of the Thunder-Patterned Leopard, but she knew very well that she would have a hard time dealing with it in a short time.
Once you engage in battle with it, the resulting battle fluctuations could very likely attract other spirit beasts.
So she hid in the shadows and secretly activated her second soul skill, "Bewitching Smoke Vine," in an attempt to change the escape route of the Dark Rock Bear.
Despite her extreme caution, she was still spotted by the Thunder-Patterned Leopard chasing from behind.
The moment the Thunder-Patterned Leopard caught sight of humans, it immediately abandoned the severely injured Dark Rock Bear, turned around, and confronted Chu Ruolan.
A soul beast that is over three thousand years old, equivalent to a human soul master of level forty-six or forty-seven, already possesses basic intelligence and can sense that the human opposite is not someone to be trifled with.
The Thunder-Patterned Leopard remained motionless, and Chu Ruolan dared not make any rash moves either.
She held her breath, hoping that Su Qing could be a little faster and complete the soul ring absorption as soon as possible.
Just as Chu Ruolan and Lei Wenbao were locked in a stalemate, a figure was rapidly approaching this place.
Xiao Chen spotted Ma Yan and his group from afar, but did not see Chu Ruolan. He immediately understood that she had probably gone ahead to investigate alone.
He didn't stop, but went straight past them and continued speeding forward.
A moment later, the man and the beast in the standoff came into Xiao Chen's view.
"Thunder-patterned Leopard, a 3,600-year-old agility-type soul beast! The host's strength is far inferior to its opponent, it is recommended to retreat immediately!" The system spirit flashed out and reminded Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen naturally knew that he was no match for this Thunder Pattern Leopard. However, if he left, the Thunder Pattern Leopard would likely start fighting with Chu Ruolan, which would probably affect Su Qing, who was absorbing the soul ring. Moreover, the battle might attract other soul beasts.
"System, if I use 'Shadow Step' on both of my martial souls, will I be able to unleash an even faster speed?" Xiao Chen asked.
"Of course you can, but the host hasn't mastered this skill yet. If you fail, even if you don't suffer a backlash from the soul skill, your soul power and mental power will be exhausted in an instant. I don't need to tell you what kind of situation the host will face then!" the system said.
Xiao Chen was naturally aware of the consequences, but the use of "Shadow Step" by two martial souls was different from archery. Archery required controlling too many factors, making it difficult to control.
However, "Shadow Step" is only for escaping. Xiao Chen only needs to determine a general direction. As long as he can create distance between himself and the Thunder Pattern Leopard, his chances of escaping are still very high.
Moreover, he is a ranged attacker, so even when retreating, he can shoot arrows while running away, thus slowing down the Thunder Leopard's pursuit.
Moreover, this is only the outer edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, so it's impossible for the Thunder Pattern Leopard to chase the enemy outside the forest.
With this thought in mind, Xiao Chen immediately made up his mind to lure the Thunder-Patterned Leopard away.
Of course, he wouldn't be foolish enough to show himself and provoke them directly.
Even if we want to lure the Thunder-Patterned Leopard away, we need to find a way to weaken it first.
As Xiao Chen approached, he adjusted his position. Once the Thunder Pattern Leopard was within his firing range, Xiao Chen concealed himself and waited for the right moment.
Before long, the Thunder Leopard could no longer restrain itself and launched a fierce attack.
Its speed was incredibly fast; Chu Ruolan's vine control couldn't keep up with the Thunder Leopard's speed at all.
However, most of the skills of control-type Soul Masters are area-of-effect. Although she couldn't catch the Thunder Pattern Leopard for a while, it was also difficult for the Thunder Pattern Leopard to get close to her.
Chu Ruolan channeled her soul power into her fingertips, activating the Vine Binding and Bewitching Smoke Vine soul skills one after another, creating layers of interference.
The supple vines burst forth wildly, entangling and blocking the area, while the misty vines emitted a pale purple fog to disturb its senses, luring the Thunder-Patterned Leopard step by step into the trap that had been laid out beforehand.
When the time was right, her soul power surged, and she immediately activated her fifth soul skill: Thousand Threads Cage!
Countless fine and resilient soul power vines instantly wove into a giant cage, which crashed down, trapping the Thunder-Patterned Leopard in the center.
However, she was not a Soul Master like Tang San, who possessed both control and attack abilities. Apart from restraint, control, and interference, she did not have any powerful means of killing. Without the help of teammates, the only way to kill this Thunder Pattern Leopard was to slowly shrink the Thousand Silk Cage and wear it down.
However, this process will inevitably take a long time.
Moreover, the Thunder-Patterned Leopard's resistance became increasingly ferocious, and each charge and bite impacted the Thousand Silk Cage. This continuous confinement greatly depleted Chu Ruolan's soul power.
The leopard's desperate roars echoed through the forest.
Such a loud noise could attract other wandering spirit beasts at any moment.
The longer the delay, the more disadvantageous the situation will be for Chu Ruolan.
Just as Chu Ruolan was pondering how to break the deadlock, she suddenly sensed a fluctuation of soul power.
She looked up and saw a black light shooting out from the dense forest. Before she could see what it was, the black light disintegrated above the Thousand Silk Cage, turning into a rain of needles that fell down from the sky.
Chu Ruolan reacted very quickly. Although she didn't know who had made the move in secret, the skill was clearly aimed at the Thunder-Patterned Leopard.
So the moment Chu Ruolan saw the needle-like rain falling, she didn't hesitate to remove the vines above the Thousand Silk Cage.
She timed the removal of the vines perfectly, just as the leopard was charging and about to break free of its cage;
This allowed the arrows to hit the Thunder-Patterned Leopard without hindrance, while also preventing it from completely escaping its restraints, thus perfectly creating an excellent opening for Xiao Chen to attack.
The rain of needles poured down, instantly engulfing the Thunder-Patterned Leopard.
At the same time, an extremely fast arrow shot out from the dense forest, instantly piercing through the gaps in the vines of the Thousand Silk Cage and accurately hitting the Thunder Pattern Leopard's left eye.
This arrow was Xiao Chen's killing move.
With the fusion of the bow and arrow spirits, plus the three spirit skills "Brute Force," "Arrow Speed Boost," and "Arrow Penetration," this arrow is undoubtedly the strongest attack Xiao Chen can launch without using the shared spirit skills.
Xiao Chen knew very well that this arrow wouldn't kill the Thunder-Patterned Leopard, which was why he targeted its eyes.
His original intention was to blind both of the Thunder-Patterned Leopard's eyes, but the leopard reacted quickly, causing the arrow to deviate slightly, so it only hit the left eye and did not penetrate it.
This arrow completely enraged the Thunder-Patterned Leopard.
It roared and leaped out of the not-yet-completely-sealed cage above.
It didn't even glance at Chu Ruolan, and rushed straight towards Xiao Chen's direction.
Having achieved his goal, Xiao Chen turned and ran, not forgetting to leave Chu Ruolan with a parting shot: "I'll take this Thunder-Patterned Leopard. You'd better not follow me!"
Chu Ruolan was originally planning to help the person who had secretly intervened, but upon hearing this, she immediately stopped.
She was naturally delighted that someone offered to help her resolve her troubles.
Seeing the Thunder Leopard chasing after the figure in the shadows, she no longer hesitated, immediately turned back, and quickly returned to Su Qing and the others.