Chapter 21 - Seeker (1)

There are two reactions that most people have when faced with a hostile adversity, be it a fellow human or an apex predator. The first is to flee with all their might; to get away from an opponent which could reap their place in this world of the living. The second is to gather their strength and try to overcome this enemy on their own accord and triumph in the dangerous battle of life or death. Of course, there's a third option to just stand there in a stupor and just wait to die, but that would obviously be akin to suicide which isn't really helping anybody.

However, when Yu Yin came face to face with such a threat, he didn't display any of three above responses. In front of him was a giant leopard-shaped creature of the like which he didn't recognize. It must have been at least 2 meters tall, with a long slender body with tones slimline muscles. The leopard was well camouflaged with its deep green coat of fur blending into the surrounding forestry. Giving it a closer look, it was evident that evolution had meticulously designed this beast to be at the top of the food chain. It's slimline figure and powerful legs granting it an extreme agility was matched with its gaping maw, containing two sets of jagged teeth that would really do a member on a human's flesh. It would be safe to say that this giant leopard could be described as a "hostile adversity".

Yu Yin looked extremely exasperated whilst examining his foe and perhaps even delirious. In the end, the white-haired youth's course of action was to attempt to casually walk around the beast which was blocking its way, hoping it would just let him pass in peace.

The leopard jerked its head back in surprise, shocked at the strange scene of a tiny person taking a stroll around the apex predator of the Windwing Forest.

'Why isn't this human running?! Did the stupid thing even see me?!"

That's what the leopard would think if it was smart enough to maintain a train of thought anyway. Unfortunately for the leopard, it could barely be called sentient or else it might have had a suspicion that this human wasn't to be messed with. It wasn't intelligent in the slightest, but rather was more one of those "brawn over brain" type creatures, like how most of the low-levelled wildlife was. Hence, what would happen next was simply inevitable.

The giant leopard let out a ferocious roar that was loud enough to even create a small gust of wind, causing the leaves on the surrounding plant-life to flutter about in the opposite direction before tensing its humongous leg muscles and pouncing towards Yu Yin at a shocking speed! Its hulking figure glided through the air like a bird in flight, swooping down on his position. Yu Yin narrowed his eyes at the overambitious cat, a flicker of pure annoyance flashing across his face. Despite the leopard closing in on him at a pace that no mortal could ever hope to escape from, Yu Yin wasn't such a mortal anymore.

"[Acceleration]..."

After fuelling his unique ability with just a little of his bloodforce, he leapt towards the green leopard in an instant motion, causing the giant cat to overextend on its advance. Yu Yin waved his hand, materialising a white crescent blade 2 meters in length which appeared in thin air! He looked up at the sorry excuse for an animal above him before reaching out his right arm, his finger clutching the hilt of his oversized weapon. One would have thought that a man would struggle to perform even one swing with Yu Yin's crescent blade, yet this didn't seem like a problem at all at this moment. The white light of his blood skill which enveloped his body re-condensed onto his sword arm, spreading up it and onto his blade and making it visibly shine! He slashed up at the leopard with all his strength, unleashing a devastating force.

While the leopard might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, it sure wasn't stupid. It could see the incoming threat which was Yu Yin with its all-encompassing sight and instincts. It unleashed a powerful kick downwards with its entire body weight behind it, landing a clean hit on the blade which resultantly cut into its paw. It roared in pain before landing on its feet and spinning around to face its enemy. While its counterattack may have cost it an unfortunate wound, the leopard had still succeeded in its goal of throwing Yu Yin off balance. The young man was staggering backwards, the collision of forces causing the heavy weapon to drag him away from the frightening sets of sharp teeth waiting to bite into him. If the leopard was capable of such a thing, it would sneer inwards at this scene. "Serves you right for being full of yourself" it would think. As it was the perfect time to strike, that's exactly what it did.

The leopard pounced at Yu Yin for the second time who was still trying to regain his footing, dashing towards him at a mind-boggling rate! It wasn't until the leopard was just a meter away from him that it noticed something was wrong. Perhaps it was the calm and collected look in his emerald eyes, or maybe it was the smirk which spread across his face. He was not giving off the aura of a defeated prey at all, but rather it was more like a cunning fox which had baited its prey into a deadly trap. Regardless, by the time the leopard's instincts began to scream "DANGER", it was already far too late. The giant beast was already mid-air in motion and simply couldn't stop itself. The last thing it saw was a radiant glistening of silver light as its "prey" stabbed out at with some sort of spear it pulled out from its robes. In its final moments, it couldn't help but admire the magnificent craftsmanship of the boy's second weapon. It shined so brightly that it could possibly even eclipse the sun and those golden patterns simply looked divine! Its exotic shape was the most captivating of all; its strange but aesthetically pleasing curves spread across its figure only magnified the splendour of the sharp points jutting out at its multiple ends. 'Multiple ends?' For both the first and last time in its life, just before its moment of death, the leopard actually formed its very own fully coherent thought!

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'That's not a spear... it looks more like a...' SPLAT!!!!!!

The leopard never got to finish its final moment of miraculous wisdom as a foreign object had unfortunately found itself inside the leopards head. Yu Yin pulled out his Silver Qilin horn from the skull of the now unmoving corpse of the leopard, cursing and grumbling the entire time.

"Bloody house-cats! This is the 7th time this week now! I swear these damned house-cats think they own the place!"

He let go of his blade which dissipated into motes of light and then proceeded to swish the Qilin horn, flinging the crimson red blood off it and onto the grassy earth. He had never actually lost balance from the leopard's kick earlier. While its attack still hurt like a bitch, Yu Yin had only pretended to stagger so he could pull off a sneak attack that would finish his foe in one hit. The entire plan could have been said to be a resounding success! Yu Yin looked at his precious "Darling" which was now covered with bloodstains from a filthy animal. It actually made a surprisingly good weapon with its sharp pointy ends and unlimited durability. While it could only be used for stabbing attacks due to its unique shape, the Qilin horn would be great for surprise attacks later on. As for getting it dirty, Yu Yin wasn't too bothered about it. All it needed was a little cleaning and it would as good as new! He kicked the corpse of the leopard one last time before leaving the carcass to rot and decay.

"I just can't live a day in peace with all the wildlife running around like this! If anything good has come about in the last few days, it's that my newfound cultivation isn't giving me a headache anymore..."

Whilst roaming the foreign terrain of the Earthen Wyvern Continent for last few days, Yu Yin had somehow managed to get used to the unusual additions to his senses. His awareness now only entered his soul abode when he willed it, and as for the "cloud vision", it was actually not as big of an issue as he thought it was. Having the ability to see the energies of heaven and earth now only seemed to enhance his vision as the subtle movements of the mist would give him an extraordinary awareness of his surroundings. All he had needed was a little time to get used to it and it was no longer a hindrance, but more of a blessing in disguise! In fact, there was one shocking revelation that this said blessing had brought him.

'This conjuring ability of the [Myriad Blades of the Endless Night] doesn't work how I thought it did...'

Initially, Yu Yin had thought that this blade was a direct manifestation of his soul power, but his new abilities told him his theory was far from the truth! Yu Yin waved his hand to conjure his white crescent blade on more time. The strange phenomena caused by the miraculous cultivation technique fascinated him every single time! His awareness partially entered his soul abode to watch the events unfold. His soul looked exactly the same as before, a sphere of light with a miniature version of himself inside, resting amidst a room cloaked in fog. It opened its eyes slightly and rapidly emitted Yu Yin's emerald green soul power which converged into his long white blade. The blade floated next to his soul, slowly spinning around it. What baffled Yu Yin about this ability was the next part of the process. His eyes flickered on his true body as he saw the misty clouds of heavenly energy seemingly mimic his internal soul power and form a blade identical to the one inside him! He grabbed the blade for the 17th time this week and felt it's weight, not that it actually had any.

'This ability is rather strange. The amount of soul power I use to internally create this blade is directly proportionate to its mass when it's formed in the real world, yet, it always forms a weapon of the same size and consistently remains weightless to me no matter how much soul power I pump into it! It makes me wonder what would happen if somebody else tried to lift it...'

This was the conclusion that Yu Yin had come to after a week of lonely wondering through this unknown land. After a few rounds of testing, he quickly realised that his blade would do varying amounts of damage each time it was conjured, minus the buff it got from [Acceleration] of course. As he had successfully made this observation, it was only a matter of time until he discovered the blade's variable mass. Ever since then, he had been trying to control his input of soul power into the blade. He hadn't got the hang of it yet, but he was getting there.

Suddenly, Yu Yin caught sight of something interesting in the corner of his eye. He dissipated his blade and watched as the motes of light became mists of heavenly energy once more. The blade inside him also transformed back into soul power, half of it drifted off into the air while the other half was absorbed by his soul itself, replenishing it. Yu Yin walked over to a certain area of shrubbery whilst admiring yet another perk of his new power.

'When I'm finished with my blade, half of the soul power I used to forge it is replenished. How convenient...'

He shook his head to remove himself from these trivial thoughts so he could focus on the task at hand. In front of him, he saw a set of footprints leading off into the distance. Yu Yin couldn't help but let a smile form on his lips.

"Looks like there is human life around here after all! About time I found some as well..."