"Don't overthink it. Unless it's a matter of life and death, I won't intervene."
Cursing inwardly, Blaze Regret's feet were quickly engulfed in flames, and Red was also fully prepared, its small claws glowing with scorching fire.
"Heh heh!"
A raspy laugh, like that of an old man on his deathbed, suddenly echoed ominously through the dense forest. Before Blaze Regret could react, a sinister, grinning face abruptly appeared in front of him, staring directly at him!
"Smack!"
Reflexively, Red was about to pounce when a vine lashed out, striking its body hard and sending it flying more than ten yards away.
The eerie, close up grinning face made Blaze Regret's heart race. A term he least wanted to think about bitterly surfaced in his mind.
"Ghost Face Flower..."
The Ghost Face Flower, naturally of medium rank at the warrior level, is true to its name with a large ghostly face in the center of its flower petal, surrounded by dozens of writhing tendrils.
Of course, what makes this spirit beast terrifying is not its appearance, but its behave nature. They take great pleasure in toying with weaker creatures, and once their victims are completely consumed by fear, they devour them.
This frightening trait causes spirit masters across the continent to avoid them at all costs.
Red, who had been struck away, endured the pain in his abdomen and charged forward again, his sharp claws sweeping towards the eerie flower petal of the Ghost Face Flower.
"Heh heh!"
The Ghost Face Flower glanced sideways at Red, letting out a sharp laugh. The tendrils around its flower petal suddenly turned back, shooting out straight like steel spears.
The tips of the tendrils gleamed with an extremely sharp luster.
"Dodge!" Blaze Regret's expression changed, and he shouted urgently.
However, Red's strength was clearly far inferior to the Ghost Face Flower. Even though he reacted immediately, one of the Ghost Face Flower's tendrils still pierced through his abdomen and nailed him to the ground with a clang.
"Heh heh!"
Excited laughter rang out as the Ghost Face Flower's petal began to spin rapidly. The remaining tendrils suddenly converged, forming a green spiral spike that pierced the air with a shrill sound, hurtling towards the struggling Red.
"Spirit Portal, open!"
Seeing this, Blaze Regret hurriedly tried to open the Spirit Portal to recall Red, only to find that the gate was unresponsive.
"Controlled spirit beasts cannot be recalled," came the sudden voice of Master Magi, which briefly lingered before fading away again.
"Damn it!"
Blaze Regret's eyes reddened with rage. He kicked out forcefully, only managing to momentarily jolt the Ghost Face Flower. However, its momentum remained unabated as it continued to charge at Red, intent on killing him on the spot.
The green spiral spike shrieked through the air, making a mournful sound. Blaze Regret had no doubt that the Ghost Face Flower had the capability to kill Red in an instant.
"Clang!"
However, just as the spiral spike was about to strike Red, a fiery barrier suddenly enveloped his small body, repelling the Ghost Face Flower with a loud snap. The tendril that had pierced Red was also severed at that moment.
"Whoosh!"
Freed from its control, Red transformed into a streak of red light and was finally recalled into the Spirit Portal by Blaze Regret.
Without pausing to investigate the origin of the fiery barrier, Blaze Regret turned and swiftly darted in the opposite direction, with intense fire elements spreading through the air.
"Heh heh!"
The Ghost Face Flower let out a sinister laugh as it watched the disappearing figure ahead. Its body spun, and the swinging tendrils once again formed a spiral spike that plunged into the ground.
"Grumble!"
The ground quickly bulged, and the bulging path chased after Blaze Regret at an alarming speed.
In the silent jungle, a dark shadow darted quickly, landing on a tree trunk. With a swift push off the branch, it vanished in an instant.
"Did I shake it off?" Blaze Regret, hidden beneath layers of leaves in the dense forest hundreds of feet away, exhaled in relief with lingering fear.
Since birth, this was his closest brush with death. Indeed, a spirit beast of the warrior level was formidable!
"Heh heh!"
However, before Blaze Regret could fully recover, the excited laughter echoed in his ears again. To his horror, he saw the trunk he was standing on peeling away layer by layer from below. A grotesque bulge pierced through the entire ancient tree, and in a flash, that bizarre laughing face appeared behind him!
"Damn!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Blaze Regret rapidly mobilized the remaining spiritual power in his body, transforming into a dark shadow and darting away. The ancient tree exploded into splinters the instant he left, sending shattered wood flying in all directions.
The flower disk spun rapidly, and seeing Blaze Regret's terrified expression, the Ghost Face Flower was ecstatic. It loved nothing more than to toy with its prey; the more fearful the prey, the more excited it became!
"Whoosh!"
The spinning Ghost Face Flower, resembling a disk, flashed through the dense forest, accompanied by its gleeful laughter.
Half an hour had passed, and Blaze Regret's mind was on the verge of collapse. Every time he thought he had found a suitable hiding place, the Ghost Face Flower quickly chased him out, its laughter echoing like a demonic sound in his ears, torturing his nerves relentlessly.
If it were any ordinary spirit master, they would have given up resisting by now, becoming like a walking corpse under its control. But Blaze Regret was different; his willpower was strong enough to sustain him up to this point, though it was clear he couldn't hold on much longer.
Hidden in a narrow crevice above a flowing stream, Blaze Regret stood in a space barely enough for one person, his expression somewhat wooden.
He knew that no matter how concealed his hiding spot was, it wouldn't escape the Ghost Face Flower's pursuit, and his spiritual power was nearly exhausted.
"Heh heh!"
Gently parting a leaf, the Ghost Face Flower revealed its flower petal. The ghostly face on it looked as innocent as a child's, with a radiant smile fixed on Blaze Regret.
"Mmm!"