Compared with ordinary people, Wu Ling reaching level twenty spirit power in two and a half years was already fast. Compared with Bibi Dong, who had done it in two years, he was half a year slower.
Because of that, Bibi Dong had comforted him. "There is no need to rush. That extra half year was spent laying your foundation. If the current you fought the version of me who had just obtained her second Spirit Ring, even I would not be confident in winning."
Faced with Bibi Dong's comfort, Wu Ling had only nodded silently and continued burying himself in hard training.
At the time, Bibi Dong thought Wu Ling wanted to make up the gap through effort. Only Wu Ling himself knew he was not in a hurry at all. He already had an idea for the Heroic Spirit tied to his second Spirit Ring.
That idea came from the training method of a certain yellow-haired prince from a long-running shonen series.
That was why Wu Ling had set his target on the Ghost Tiger that appeared in the original story.
Ghost Tigers were known for terrifying speed and attack power. They were powerful Soul Beasts, extremely fierce, and any opponent that dared invade their territory would be met with a fight to the death.
Because their speed was so frightening, most Soul Beasts with similar cultivation were unwilling to fight them. They also possessed the innate ability Shadow Clone.
In the original story, Blair Lockehart obtained her fourth Spirit Skill, a clone ability, by killing a Ghost Tiger.
Because of that innate ability and that terrifying speed, Wu Ling had been quite confident he could summon that person.
That Heroic Spirit's strength was not something Wu Ling had much confidence in, but if the ability was used for training and support, it could be called a cultivation cheat.
Now, however, his target Ghost Tiger was dead right in front of him. Wu Ling was not disappointed. He was excited. The Soul Beast emerging from the stone cave was an even stronger Soul Beast, one that fit his plan better: a Netherworld Ghost Leopard.
An ordinary Ghost Leopard was a Soul Beast half a grade below a Ghost Tiger. A Netherworld Ghost Leopard was different. It was a mutated species among Ghost Leopards. If a Ghost Tiger barely counted as the bottom tier among high-grade Soul Beasts, then a Netherworld Ghost Leopard had one foot in the ranks of top-tier Soul Beasts.
"Its fur is entirely black. Purple stripes run along both sides of its body. Its limbs are half black and half purple. When it moves, you see only its shadow, not its body. It is like a purple ghost, a true apex killer of the night.
"This Netherworld Ghost Leopard is just over one thousand years old. At night, its threat level can rival a true top-tier Soul Beast. No wonder a Ghost Tiger of the same thousand-year class was killed by it without leaving a wound."
In Wu Ling's memory, the Netherworld Ghost Leopard's attack power was not weaker than a Ghost Tiger's, and its speed was even higher. Its innate skill was Netherworld Shadow Clone, a more advanced ability than an ordinary Ghost Tiger's Shadow Clone.
An ordinary Shadow Clone could create a clone for only a limited time, and the clone's strength could not compare to the main body.
Netherworld Shadow Clones, however, could exist for a long time, and their strength could almost equal the main body's. When not in use, the clones could hide in the main body's shadow. At night, that meant attacks could come from almost any direction.
When the main body lacked spirit power, it could also use its clones as batteries, absorbing them to restore spirit power. In battle, the main body could switch places with a clone to avoid fatal injuries.
An innate skill that combined ambush, group attacks, recovery, and life-saving escape was flashy to the point of absurdity, but there was no denying how excellent it was.
There was even a saying among Spirit Masters: better provoke a Dreadclaw Bear in daylight than a Netherworld Leopard at night.
The logic was simple. A Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear poured all of its points into attack, so either you could beat it or you could not.
But if you ran into a Netherworld Ghost Leopard at night, losing meant death. Even if you could beat it, once it released its clones and fled, you would not know which one was real. In the end, you would draw water with a bamboo basket, wasting an entire night for nothing.
Normally, anyone who wanted that kind of Soul Beast's Spirit Ring would need an elder from their family to act, suppressing it with overwhelming strength before killing it.
Wu Ling did not need that. Spirit Hall's internal secret manuals recorded that the Netherworld Ghost Leopard's strength differed greatly between day and night. At night, it possessed top-tier Soul Beast strength. During the day, it had only ordinary high-grade Soul Beast strength, and its Netherworld Shadow Clones were restricted by light. That was why it was called a creature with one foot in the top tier.
When the Netherworld Ghost Leopard came out and dragged the Ghost Tiger into the cave, Wu Ling used Vitrification to lower his presence as far as possible and avoid its search.
Wu Ling looked at the sky and estimated the time.
"Dawn should be less than half an hour away. I can wait that long."
Once the plan was set, Wu Ling began waiting.
The humidity was heavy in the early morning. Several drops of dew had already gathered in Wu Ling's slightly long black hair.
At last, a ray of sunlight slipped through the layers of leaves and struck Wu Ling straight on the face.
"Plan start."
The moment the sun rose, Wu Ling ran toward the cave in that huge stone. He wanted to smash the stone open directly, but as a mere one-ring Spirit Master, he did not have that kind of power. To lure it out, he used another method.
He took out three torches he had prepared earlier, lit them, and threw them into the cave.
Less than three seconds after the torches entered the stone cave, their flames were suddenly slapped out. In that instant, Wu Ling saw the leopard's body. It stood about 1.5 meters tall and was more than 2 meters long.
Perhaps Wu Ling had disturbed its rest, or perhaps it saw such a weak little human daring to provoke it. The Netherworld Ghost Leopard charged out without hesitation, determined to make Wu Ling's corpse its midnight snack.
Wu Ling's naked eye could not keep up with the Netherworld Ghost Leopard's speed, but Mind's Eye could.
Just as the leopard was about to reach him, Wu Ling abruptly turned and cut toward the Netherworld Ghost Leopard that had appeared behind him at some unknown moment.
As if sensing the threat, the Netherworld Ghost Leopard stopped and turned in a way that seemed to violate physics, perfectly avoiding Wu Ling's strike.
Once it had pulled away, it was surprised Wu Ling had found its real body. But its own act of dodging made it even angrier.
It was a proud Netherworld Ghost Leopard, a being capable of matching top-tier Soul Beasts in the night, yet it had been frightened back by a young human.
"Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable."
As that thought rose in the Netherworld Ghost Leopard's mind, two more Netherworld Ghost Leopards leaped out from its shadow.
Wu Ling keenly noticed that three more pairs of claws were still lingering at the edge of the leopard's shadow, unable to emerge.
"Those must be the clones it cannot use during the day."
Facing the Netherworld Ghost Leopard and its clones, Wu Ling opened with everything he had. A yellow Spirit Ring appeared before him and lit up.
In an instant, the possession was complete. Wu Ling set his stance, ready for the attack of three Netherworld Ghost Leopards.
Wu Ling and the Netherworld Ghost Leopard faced each other in silence. Thus began the long standoff between an assassin and a killer of the night.