Ye Lingling looked at his broad back, clenching her fists. The power coursing through her was intoxicating, but the image of Arthev stepping into the bloody mist to save her was burned deeper into her mind than any spirit bone.
"Right," she answered, her voice firm. She followed him, her steps lighter, ready to face whatever lay ahead.
The forest blurred around them as they moved, a verdant smear of greens and browns. Ye Lingling found that she didn't even need to use her soul power to keep up, the passive enhancement to her physique was staggering.
Suddenly, Arthev skidded to a halt, his boots carving furrows into the loam.
Ye Lingling stopped just as quickly, her reaction time sharpened. "Arthev?"
"We didn't leave fast enough," Arthev said, his voice dropping an octave. "The blood mist... it lured a scavenger."
From the dense canopy above, a screech tore through the air ,a sound like metal grinding on glass. Shadows detached themselves from the tree line, blotting out the sun.
Three massive figures landed in a triangle formation around them. They were Iron-Beak Vultures. While not apex predators, these scavengers were notorious for their pack tactics and beaks capable of crushing granite.
"1,500 years," Arthev noted, his eyes sweeping over their metallic plumage.He didn't draw fighting stance. Instead, he stepped back, crossing his arms.
"Not a threat to me. But for a support Soul Elder..." He stepped back, crossing his arms. "This is your test, Lingling. Show me the price of your pain."
"You're not going to help?" she asked, a flicker of uncertainty breaking through her newfound confidence.
"I already did," he replied, his gaze unwavering. "I gave you the power. Now prove you can wield it. Or was all that suffering for decoration?"
One of the vultures, sensing the hesitation, lunged. It was a blur of grey feathers and snapping steel, aiming straight for her neck with the intent to sever the spine in one blow.
Time seemed to dilate for Ye Lingling. In the past, she would have frozen, waiting for a teammate to intercept. But now, she could see the trajectory of the beak, the shift in the bird's muscles.
"Too slow," Ye Lingling whispered.
She didn't dodge with her legs. Instead, a thought sparked in her mind, a neural pathway that hadn't existed an hour ago firing with instinctual precision. The reality behind her shifted.
Boom!
Silver light exploded from her back. The Celestial Feather Wings unfurled in a split second. With a single, powerful flap, she didn't just jump, she vanished from the vulture's trajectory, shooting straight up into the air with the grace of a raptor.
Passive Ability: Skyward Dominion.
The vulture snapped its beak on empty air, crashing into the dirt.
Arthev watched her hover ten meters above, his Shinragan analyzing the energy flow.
"Just as I thought," he murmured to himself. "That Phoenix Crane wasn't a normal 2,000-year beast. It was a Variant."
He watched the silver wings shimmer, refracting the sunlight. "A normal Soul Beast accumulates power through time. But a Variant... it occurs when a bloodline mutates, awakening ancient, dormant genes. That Crane had traces of the true Phoenix in it. That density of power is why it dropped an External Spirit Bone, and why the bone is far stronger than its cultivation age suggests. It's not about how long it lived, but the quality of its existence."
In the air, Ye Lingling felt the wind obey her. It wasn't a struggle to fly, it felt as natural as breathing.
The two remaining vultures shrieked and took flight, flapping their heavy wings to rise toward her. They were aerial predators, they wouldn't let prey escape into the sky.
"They think I'm weak," Ye Lingling said, her eyes narrowing.
As the first vulture closed in, its iron talons extended, Ye Lingling didn't retreat. She pulled her wings forward.
Passive Ability: Plume of Argent Defense.
The feathers instantly lost their soft, ethereal quality. Soul power flooded the structures, hardening them into layers of spirit-grade iron. The wings interlocked, forming a silver cocoon that gleamed like a fortress.
CLANG!
The vulture's talons raked across the wings, producing sparks and a sound like a hammer hitting an anvil. The beast cried out in pain as its claws were jarred by the impenetrable defense.
Ye Lingling unfurled the wings violently, the kinetic force knocking the bird back into a tumble. She hovered there, the Nine Heart Begonia materializing in her hands. The pink petals glowed with a strange, predatory light.
Three rings rose from beneath her feet: Yellow, Yellow, Purple.
"Third Soul Skill: Reflective Petal Rain!"
The Begonia spun in her hands. Instead of a beam of healing light, the flower exploded into thousands of petals. But unlike her usual healing, these petals swirled violently, creating a storm of pink and silver.They didn't drift, they cut.
As the vultures flew into the storm, the petals latched onto them. Ye Lingling clenched her hand.
"Drain."
The vultures screeched in confusion as their movements became sluggish. The vitality was being siphoned from them, turned into motes of pure light that rushed back toward Lingling and, more importantly, down toward Arthev.
"Interesting," Arthev murmured, feeling the warm energy wash over him. "A parasitic healing ability. It drains the enemy's stamina and soul power to replenish the ally. It forces the enemy to weaken while the team gets stronger."
"A vampiric support skill... truly vicious."
"Now, finish it!" Arthev called out. "Don't give them time to recover!"
Ye Lingling nodded. She felt the energy brimming inside her. She needed to be faster, stronger to finish this.
She focused on her wings again, this time calling upon their supportive power.
Active Ability: Merciful Featherfall.
A soft, chime-like sound resonated through the clearing. Her wings shed a glowing rain of soft, phantom feathers that drifted down over her own body.
Instantly, a surge of vitality washed over her. Her muscles tightened with newfound power, and the world seemed to slow down as her perception and speed skyrocketed by 30%.
"Incredible," she gasped. "Healing and amplification... at the same time."
With her speed boosted, she became a blur. She darted above the confused, sluggish vultures. Her eyes turned cold.
"Disappear."
The silver wings flared with blinding intensity.
Active Ability: Heavenly Feather Storm.
Thousands of feathers formed from pure soul power detached from her wings. Like a torrential downpour of silver needles, they rained down in a devastating radial burst.
Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!
There was no escape. The area denial was absolute. The feathers pierced the iron-hard hides of the vultures as if they were paper. The three beasts plummeted from the sky, riddled with holes, and crashed into the forest floor, dead before they hit the ground.
Ye Lingling descended slowly, the silver feathers of the storm dissolving into light. She landed softly beside Arthev, the wings retracting into her back with a warm pulse.
She was panting slightly, not from exhaustion, but from the adrenaline.
"I did it," she said, looking at her hands. "I killed three 1,500-year soul beasts. Alone. And I'm a healer."
"You are no longer just a healer," Arthev corrected, walking over to inspect the carcasses. "With that Soul Bone, you have high-speed flight, absolute defense, crowd control, and a mass buff that rivals the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.You are a mobile fortress."
He turned to her, his expression serious. "Do you understand why the backlash was so severe now? You stripped the divinity from a creature that thought itself a god. That Variant Crane condensed ten thousand years of potential into two thousand years of life.You have stolen its future to build your own."
Ye Lingling touched her back, feeling the dormant power resting there. "Celestial Feather Wings," she named them softly.
Then she looked up at Arthev, a fierce determination in her eyes. "With this... I won't be a burden. I can protect myself too, Arthev."
Arthev smirked, turning back toward the depths of the forest. "We'll see. But for now... let's go. The smell of blood is only getting stronger."
To be continued....