First Star Mortal Turmoil

Although there was only a single Swift Wolf ahead, it did not mean the situation was easy to handle.

Lin Mu Yu and Chu Yao slowly sat up and confronted the wolf with their gaze. Quietly standing up, Chu Yao held her dagger in hand while Lin Mu Yu gently pulled out the steel sword at his side. Fitting for its nature, the Swift Wolf remained still as it waited for the best opportunity to strike. Fortunately Chu Yao woke up early, or else the two of them would have been the wolf’s meal by now.

……

Quietly moving in front of Lin Mu Yu, Chu Yao guarded him with her dagger in a reverse grip while energy quickly gathered around her body. As a newly advanced Level 20 Battle Spirit, Chu Yao’s energy was able to shape a bowl-sized armor plate. Gently revolving around her body, that was the War Spirit’s signature martial skill: Spirit Armor. War Spirits could shape a Spirit Armor to help improve their defenses. A Level 29 Battle Spirit can have a maximum of 5 pieces of Spirit Armor, commonly known as a 5-Plate War Spirit, thus right now Chu Yao was a genuine 1-Plate War Spirit.

Comparing martial art experience, Lin Mu Yu was far weaker compared to Chu Yao, and as such, he did not dare to be careless. Firmly holding his sword, he locked his eyes onto the Swift Wolf. Since he did not have any tricks to deal with the wolf, he would have to rely on brute force to kill the beast.

Chu Yao calmly looked at the Swift Wolf’s tail and could not help but complain, “Eight-tailed Swift Wolf…d.a.m.n it, that’s an 800-year-old Swift Wolf…”

“Is it really strong?” Lin Mu Yu asked.

Chu Yao responded, “An 800-year-old spirit beast has about the same strength as a level 45 Battle Master. It’s even stronger than Hawkeye. Ah Yu, we have to be careful. We survived the chase of a Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger, we can’t just die in the jaws of a 800-year-old Swift Wolf.”

“Alright.”

Lin Mu Yu silently nodded and took out a bottle of Stone Skin potion, “Big sis Chu Yao, right now you’re stronger than me and those dagger should be quite sharp, so I’ll attract the wolf’s attention while you try to surprise it. Whether we could kill this b.a.s.t.a.r.d or not will depend on how well we can work together.”

Slightly surprised, Chu Yao said, “Ah Yu, you…. You have to be careful!”

“Don’t worry!” Lin Mu Yu chugged down the bottle of Stone Skin potion and felt his body becoming increasingly tough. Streams of energy appeared on top of his skin as an effect of the increase in defensive power.

Following that, he poured a whole bottle of paralysis poison onto the arrows in his quiver and slowly walked away from Chu Yao. When Lin Mu Yu arrived at about a 5 meter distance away from her, he raised his bow and channeled energy into his arm. Unexpectedly, the firm bow was pulled fully back into the shape of a crescent moon!

“Voos.h.!.+”

The arrow flew straight at the Swift Wolf, but the wolf was even quicker to act. With an angry roar, it pounced towards Lin Mu Yu at a blinding speed!

As the arrow missed its target, the wolf was already atop Lin Mu Yu’s body. That single leap covered at least 10 meters of distance; it was indeed worthy of being a 800-year-old spirit beast, as it’s almost about to transcend into a Spirited Fiend!

[TL Note: In Chinese legends, Spirited Fiends or 妖精 were originally animals that obtained the power of transforming into human form. In most stories, they were portrayed as beautiful women who preyed on men and women alike after luring them into lowering their guards.]

Seeing the wolf ferociously biting down at him, Lin Mu Yu knew that he couldn’t allow his neck to be bitten or else it would spell death for him.

Quickly raising his left arm to block the bite, Lin Mu Yu felt a sharp pain from his arm as he heard a slight tearing sound. The Swift Wolf’s bite surprisingly left a few rows of imprints on his Stone-Skin-fortified arm. What kind of jaw strength was this? If he did not have those first tier Stone Skin potions, that bite would have probably torn his arm in half!

The Swift Wolf ferociously tore at his arm as it violently swung its head. Feeling the immense pain, Lin Mu Yu pulled out his sword and took a heavy horizontal swing at the wolf. With a sound of tearing through flesh, the sword stabbed into the wolf’s hind leg, but it wasn’t a fatal strike. Hastily, Lin Mu Yu pulled it out of the wound and stabbed once more while Chu Yao came around on the other side and also swung fiercely with her twin dagger.

“Shhhahhh!”

Having a sharpness like no other, the dagger easily sliced two large lumps of flesh off of the wolf’s rump!

“Huuhuuu…”

The Swift Wolf screeched in pain and immediately loosened its bite on Lin Mu Yu’s arm. Taking a few steps back, it raised its head and howled towards the sky. Quickly, rounds after rounds of biting whirlwinds formed in the surrounding area. Chu Yao worryingly yelled, “Be careful Ah Yu, those are Wind Blades, the special ability of Swift Wolves!”

Before she could even finish, several wind blades had already sliced down at the two. Immediately, the Lin Mu Yu’s clothes were quickly torn to pieces while Chu Yao was quicker on her feet and dodged the wind blades with a back step.

“Roar!”

The Swift Wolf roared in anger. It was quite intelligent; knowing that Chu Yao was more threatening to itself, it pounced towards Chu Yao following a single roar. However, Chu Yao did not have the protection of Stone Skin and could definitely not take the hit, so she quickly opened her palm and yelled, “Violet!”

Accompanying a piercing screech, a purple mink-like pet materialized from Chu Yao’s body. That was Chu Yao’s beast-type martial spirit!

“Keeeekee!”

The purple mink leaped towards the opponent but a Level 20 Battle Spirit’s martial spirit was nowhere near the strength of a Swift Wolf. With a single swipe by the wolf, it was flung away towards the bushes. Chu Yao fell onto floor with a meek cry and raised her dagger to guard her neck as the Swift Wolf opened its jaws to chomp down at the girl!

“HUNNN!”

Right as the wolf’s teeth landed on the dagger, suddenly the dagger shook as a shadow of a wolf leaped out from within and crashed into the Swift Wolf.

With a loud blast, the Swift Wolf was forced to take a step back. Chu Yao looked at the dagger in shock and saw that its l.u.s.ter dimmed slightly after that attack. She couldn’t believe that the beast spirit infused in the dagger would save her life.

……

The Swift Wolf was wounded but not dead. With a flip, it turned towards Lin Mu Yu, who was behind it.

Seeing this, Lin Mu Yu quickly wielded his sword with both hands and used all the strength in his body to stab at the wolf. With a tearing sound, the steel sword pierced the Swift Wolf’s body but seemingly was unable to kill it. The wolf ferociously swung its claws in front of Lin Mu Yu’s chest , and in a blink of an eye, left behind rows of heart-wrenching wounds. Struggling to fend off the Swift Wolf as it inflicted immense pain onto him, Lin Mu Yu grabbed a fallen arrow and stabbed towards the wolf’s belly.

“Huuuuhuu!”

The arrow covered in paralysis poison pierced through the wolf’s skin; at the same time, although the wolf was whimpering in pain, it was still ferociously trying to bite at Lin Mu Yu with its mouth opened wide. Lin Mu Yu did not dare to even show his head, because if the wolf was able to bite down on his neck, this life of his was going to end there and then.

Just like this, the stalemate lasted for half a minute until the Swift Wolf’s moments began to slow down, as the paralysis poison finally took effect. But right as Lin Mu Yu lowered his guard, the wolf quickly went at his neck with a bite.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Mu Yu faced the threat of death. Not knowing where he suddenly obtained the strength, he hastily put up his fist and struck at the wolf.

“Booom!”

In the split second his punch made contact with the wolf, a mysterious energy danced around his fist as if it was bending the s.p.a.ce around it. At the same time, a chime sounded in Lin Mu Yu’s head:

First Star: Mortal Turmoil!

[TL: This was originally called “First Luminary: Turmoil of The Mortal Plane” in the GT translation.]

This was… the Mystical Strength of Seven Stars?

The Swift Wolf cried out painfully as it flew back from the strike. Its internal organs were shattered into powder with a single punch. Lin Mu Yu knew that not even a sharp sword could pierce the wolf’s tough skin with ease, yet his single punch had blasted the wolf’s skin to pieces!

If I can actually use the Mystical Strength of Seven Stars, won’t that be horrifying?

“Kaacha…”

Swinging down with his sword, a wolf’s head dropped ground. This 800-year-old Swift Wolf was finally killed by him and Chu Yao. Yet before Lin Mu Yu was able to rejoice, a wave of pain rushed forward from his chest. Looking down, he could only see a mess of flesh and blood; the wounds inflicted by the wolf was really too much!

“Ah Yu…”

Chu Yao was stunned at the sight of Lin Mu Yu’s powerful punch, but when she looked at the wounds on his body, she cried worryingly, “What do I do… what do I do….Ah Yu, you…”

Conversely, Lin Mu Yu was much calmer and took out  a bottle of Gold Sore ointment to apply on his wounds to stop the bleeding. Slumped on the floor as if all his strength had dissipated, he said, “This hurts….if only I had tier 4 healing potions, then this wouldn’t be a big deal…”

Chu Yao wiped the tears on her face and laid next to him, “I’m so sorry….Ah Yu, it’s all my fault that I’m useless.”

Seeing this senior uppercla.s.sman crying at his side, Lin Mu Yu was speechless but felt warm in his heart. Gently stroking Chu Yao’s long hair, he comforted her smilingly, “I’m okay, I won’t die. Don’t worry too much, big sis Chu Yao.”

Chu Yao could only continue to blame herself. She was a Level 20 Battle Spirit, and in terms of martial training, she was far above Lin Mu Yu. Yet when they confronted the Swift Wolf, her own display couldn’t even match half of his. For some reason this untrained kid was cruel and fierce with his attacks when they started fighting. Truthfully, it wasn’t as if Chu Yao didn’t know that everything he did was clearly to protect her.

……

Nearby, the Swift Wolf’s beast spirit had gathered in the air.

Lin Mu Yu asked, “Big sis Chu Yao, why don’t you refine that beast spirit?”

“That was your kill… I can’t…” Chu Yao replied.

“It’s alright.” Lin Mu Yu faintly smiled, “Haven’t you told me before? Only those with martial spirits can absorb beast spirit to use for refining their own martial spirits. I don’t even have one, so how would I absorb it anyway?”

Chu Yao sat on one side as her eyes began to tear up, “Ah Yu, you don’t have to be so great to me….”

“No. This is what I’m willing to do.”

Chu Yao was deeply moved but due to her shyness as a young girl, she didn’t know how to voice her feelings. So she just sat on one side and began to absorb the beast spirit. Truthfully, a 800-year-old beast spirit should be refined by an equally powerful Level 45 Battle Master, and in that case could be 100% absorbed. For a Level 20 Battle Spirit, she could probably absorb no more than 5% of the power, which is quite a waste.

……

Waiting for Chu Yao to finish refining the beast spirit, sunrise had already came. Lin Mu Yu’s first tier Gold Sore medicine is indeed magical, as the wounds had closed and the pain had lessened quite a bit.

Picking up his sword, he quickly cut open the wolf’s head, and the spirit stone was removed.

Chu Yao was rejoicing excitedly, “An 800-year-old spirit beast’s chance to form a spirit stone is less than 20%. Our luck isn’t half bad. When you start training in the future, this stone should come in handy for you.”

“Aye.”

Chu Yao stuffed the spirit stone into Lin Mu Yu’s pouch and supported him by his arm, “We should go home now. It’s been two days and two nights. Grandpa is definitely worried about us.”

“You’re right.”

Lin Mu Yu stood up but surprisingly, his strength was surging within him. Is a heavily wounded person supposed to feel this lively?

As he walked, he kept repeating a notion in his mind:

Oh Seven Star Emperor, has you spirit already taken root in my heart? Why was it that when I was killing that wolf, the murderous intent in my heart was so heavy?

……

“Hua Wan and his guards escaped and have probably gone back to Silver Fir City.” Lin Mu Yu said.

Chu Yao nodded, “Yeah, what about it?”

“Hua Wan didn’t die, but Hawkeye’s crew had all died. Do you think Hua Wan will let us be?”

“This…” Chu Yao only came across this though now, and a chill pa.s.sed through her heart, “Hua Wan is Lord Hua Tian’s son, if he knew we are still alive, he probably won’t let us live. We simply know too much of their dirty business.”

“Yeah.”

Lin Mu Yu frowned and said, “Maybe, Silver Fir City is no longer safe for us to live in.”

Chu Yao bit her lips, “But…for generations our family had lived in Silver Fir City. Bai Ling Pharmacy is Grandpa’s everything. Especially now that we have the Medicine G.o.d’s Index, we’ll be able to revive the family business. I don’t think Grandpa will be willing to leave Silver Fir City behind…”

“Then… let us go home first to discuss this with Grandpa.”

“Sounds good!”