Li Taihang stood over the dying black-cloaked figure, his telekinesis tightening its grip on the man's mind. "Why were you able to track me?" he demanded.
The black-cloaked man, coughing up blood, managed to rasp out a few words. "You… have a Black Soul Card on you…"
Li Taihang's expression darkened. "And if I keep killing your people, will the Black Soul Hall ever stop hunting me?"
The man's eyes flickered weakly. "No… not until you… either remove the card… or destroy the Black Soul Hall itself."
With that, the last flicker of life left the man's eyes. Li Taihang sighed, releasing his telekinetic hold. "Dead already? Looks like I was a bit too rough." He frowned momentarily before shaking his head.
As he crouched down, Li Taihang began to collect the spoils, meticulously searching each of the bodies for storage rings. His telekinesis flicked through the underbrush, even locating the ring of the dismembered shadow he'd hidden earlier. "You may be dead, but these treasures won't go to waste." He chuckled softly, holding up the five storage rings he'd recovered.
Once satisfied with his findings, he glanced around the area. The bear spirits he had summoned stood silently nearby, their ferocity hidden behind their calm demeanor. "Good work, all of you. Time to go back." With a wave of his hand, the bear spirits disappeared into his pet space, leaving the forest in eerie quiet.
Li Taihang pulled out the Black Soul Card from his pocket. The ominous aura it emitted made him feel uneasy. Without hesitation, he destroyed it. Whether that would stop future attacks remained uncertain, but it was a problem for later.
Just as he was about to leave, he heard a rustling sound. Turning quickly, his posture eased when he sensed it was his pets approaching. Moments later, the Spider Queen appeared, leading the group.
"Master, are you alright?" the Spider Queen asked, her many eyes scanning him anxiously.
"I'm fine," Li Taihang assured her. "Let's head back."
"Yes, Master," she responded, leading the way as they returned to the cave.
---
Meanwhile, back at the battle site, Wang Xuanwu stood, observing the carnage that had occurred. The corpses of the shadowed assassins lay sprawled in grotesque disarray. She studied them quietly, her sharp mind piecing together what had transpired. After a brief moment of thought, she snapped her fingers, and the bodies turned to ash, scattering in the wind as if they had never existed. With that, she disappeared from the scene.
---
Back at the cave, Li Taihang looked at his pets. They stood in a line before him, their eyes gleaming with excitement. Despite their strength, they would need to become even stronger to face the full might of the Black Soul Hall.
"It seems it's time to raise your strength," he declared, catching the eager looks in their eyes.
But before he could proceed, he turned to the Spider Queen, giving her a nod. "Xiaozhu, prepare the area. We need to make sure no one senses what we're about to do."
The Spider Queen responded immediately, leaving the cave to put up a barrier of webs around the entrance. Her small spiderlings scattered outside, acting as sentinels in case of any intruders. Within moments, the entire area was securely sealed off.
When she returned, she said, "Master, everything is ready."
"Good. Return to the others." Li Taihang gestured her back into line.
With all his pets gathered before him, Li Taihang waved his hand. In front of each of them appeared a glowing, powerful inner elixir, each corresponding to their individual attributes. The pets' eyes widened in amazement at the sight of the treasures laid before them.
"Eat," Li Taihang instructed. "Devour them and evolve."
Without hesitation, the pets eagerly began to consume the inner elixirs. The bear spirit sat down immediately, devouring the earth-attributed pill, while the others similarly began refining the power of the fierce beasts within them.
As he observed them, Li Taihang's eyes lingered on the Spider Queen. Unlike the others, who were tearing through their elixirs ravenously, she was savoring hers, consuming them slowly but surely.
"Xiaozhu," Li Taihang mentally called out, ensuring not to disturb the others.
"Yes, Master?" the Spider Queen responded telepathically.
"Do these inner elixirs still help you?" he asked, curious about her progress.
"They do," she replied, "but the effect is much weaker now. Before, I could break through with around 200 pills. But now, even if I eat 2,000, the improvement is very small."
"How many would you need to reach the Nascent Soul Realm?" Li Taihang inquired, thinking ahead.
The Spider Queen hesitated for a moment. "It's hard to say… Hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions."
Li Taihang nodded thoughtfully, then smiled. "In that case, here's something to help." He waved his hand again, and a massive pile of five million poisonous beast inner pills materialized before her.
The Spider Queen stared in shock. "Master! This is… too much!"
"Eat them," Li Taihang commanded, his tone light but firm.
"Thank you, Master," she whispered, her voice trembling with excitement, as she dove into the pile.
As his pets focused on their evolution, Li Taihang's mind turned to his own cultivation. He had reached the ninth level of the Foundation Building Realm, but the next step—a breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm—eluded him.
'I've come so far in such a short time,' he mused. 'But now I'm stuck. The billion-fold amplification system can only take me so far if I don't find a way to break through this bottleneck.'
He sighed, frustrated. His thoughts wandered to his pets again, envying how they evolved so rapidly with the right resources. 'If only I could evolve like they do…'
Suddenly, his mind snapped to the storage rings he had collected earlier. 'Wait a minute,' he thought. 'I looted those assassins… Maybe they left something useful.'
Li Taihang's heart raced with anticipation. He quickly summoned the rings, eager to discover what treasures they might hold.