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Translator: Asuka
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
With Lu Ye’s insight, he could not tell whether this strange girl was a Human or a ghost. Nevertheless, judging from her performance just now, the possibility that she was Human was very low.
She was capable of appearing behind him and launching a sneak attack on him undetected. Moreover, her body seemed neither tangible nor intangible. Being able to move about freely within the rock walls of the cave was clearly not something a Human could achieve. It was his first time encountering something as strange as this girl. Consequently, he couldn’t help feeling extremely wary toward her, especially since she seemed to be in cahoots with the tiger.
Although he currently held a geographically advantageous position, any carelessness on his part could lead to a disastrous ending. In his opinion, he was holding the initiative right now. The best outcome was for him to activate the Spirit Talisman Paper and kill the tiger quickly. However, he did not know how to deal with that mysterious girl and was stuck in a dilemma as a result.
His question seemed to trouble the girl. She hesitated for some time before she replied, “My name is Yi Yi…”
“I didn’t ask for your name.” Lu Ye waved the Spirit Talisman Paper in his hand. The threat behind his words was self-evident. His actions made the tiger lower its body and let out a low growl.
The girl called Yi Yi hurriedly comforted the tiger. In this situation where they were at his mercy, it was in their best interests to cooperate obediently in order to survive. She asked rhetorically, “Have you ever heard of the saying ‘The ghost who helps the tiger hunt’?”
He nodded in response.
She continued, “Some Tiger Spirit Beasts will awaken to a Divine Power as they grow up, which allows them to transform the Souls of the recently departed into a Ghost that will help the tiger hunt other prey.”
“So… are you a Ghost?” He frowned at those words. The saying ‘The ghost who helps the tiger hunt’ was something he had heard of before, but it was just an old saying. He never imagined that there would be such a strange explanation behind that old saying in this Cultivation World.
“No.” The girl shook her head, her black hair fluttering behind her.
“Are you making a fool of me!?”
“I’m not!” She seemed a little anxious. “Generally speaking, a Ghost will be controlled by the Tiger Demon cultivator who created it. The Ghost has neither intelligence nor autonomous thinking. But, I am different. Look at me. Aside from the fact that I don’t have a corporeal body, I am no different from a living person!”
“So, what the Hell are you?”
“A Ghost Spirit?” She tilted her head sideways.
Lu Ye did not bother saying anything. His gaze shifted from Yi Yi to the tiger and back again. He narrowed his eyes and asked, “So, will you also disappear if I killed the tiger?”
“Right… No!” Yi Yi yelled, seeming to have noticed his murderous intentions. “Don’t kill us! We were wrong… We will buy our lives with money!”
The flashing glow coming from the Spirit Talisman Paper in his hands gradually dimmed and died out. He had nearly activated the Spirit Talisman Paper just now.
If it really came down to a fight, he had the confidence to win against the tiger. He originally had some reservations about the girl called Yi Yi, but there was no need to fear her now that he had confirmed that she had a symbiotic relationship with the tiger. Moreover, she was not that powerful. Even when she launched the sneak attack on him before, she had only managed to pull off some small tricks to distract him. She could not actually harm him.
Be that as it may, the battle would surely require sacrificing several Spirit Talisman Papers. He was also bound to get injured during the battle.
Fighting was not worthwhile if the price he had to pay was too high, especially since he was only one step away from breaking through to the First-Order Spirit Creek Realm. More importantly, it would only delay him from breaking through to the Spirit Creek Realm if he exhausted too much Spiritual Power here.
Therefore, Lu Ye decided to suppress his murderous intent upon hearing the last sentence Yi Yi uttered. He frowned and asked, “Buy your lives with money? What do you have?” [What good stuff would a Spirit Beast living in the Spirit Creek Battlefield with a Ghost Spirit for company have?]
“Wait for a bit! I’ll go and get them now!” Yi Yi yelled. Then, she shifted her body and disappeared into the rock wall beside her. However, she soon stuck her head out of the rock wall again. “You can’t kill Amber! I’ll be right back!”
[Amber…] Lu Ye glanced at the majestic tiger in front of him that had an aura comparable to that of a mountain, and his facial muscles twitched slightly.
Lu Ye and Amber were left facing each other with some distance apart after Yi Yi left.
At the same time, Lu Ye kept a watch out for Yi Yi. Although the girl seemed very sincere, he did not know what kind of intentions she harbored inside her heart. Who knew if she would conceal herself in the shadows and ambush him again? His cultivation was still very low right now, so he did not have the means to track or detect her whereabouts.
The girl returned quickly. He had only waited for less than 15 minutes when she appeared again. It was just that she walked out from behind him this time around.
With his back to the rock wall, he asked the girl to enter the cave. She was holding something in her hands. Lifting those items up, she said, “We’ll use this to buy our lives. Please don’t kill us!”
When he saw what she was holding in her hands, he was shocked. Those were several Storage Bags! A Storage Bag was something that belonged to a cultivator, so it was very problematic for them to appear in the girl’s possession. Moreover, it wasn’t just one Storage Bag. She was holding at least 4 or 5 Storage Bags in her hands!
[As expected, this Spirit and tiger duo are not a decent pair. Killing and looting others is probably something they do often.]
“You’re mistaken!” Seeing the expression on his face, she immediately knew what he was thinking. “Amber is not that strong. I’m sure you noticed after exchanging blows with it. All the cultivators that appear in the Spirit Creek Battlefield are in the Spirit Creek Realm, at the very least. There’s no way Amber can kill those people!”
“Then, where did those Storage Bags come from?” It was only logical that he would not believe her so easily.
She squirmed slightly. “From scamming others… Those cultivators are very cowardly. They will leave behind their Storage Bags just by giving them a little scare.”
He thought back on his previous experience. [If not for the fact that I noticed that the tiger was acting strangely or that I truly did not have any Spirit Pills or Spirit Stones in my possession… I might have chosen to give up my possessions in exchange for my life. After all, my life is more important than these extraneous items.]
He had to admit that the tiger’s imposing aura was extremely frightening. Most cultivators with low cultivation would lose their bravado the moment those amber-coloured tiger eyes fixed on them. Combined with some threatening words, who would still retain any fighting spirit? Little did they know, the one hiding behind the tiger and making threats was just a slender and petite young girl.
“Toss them over,” he instructed.
Yi Yi gave a small grunt of effort as she tossed the Storage Bags in her hands over to Lu Ye. Lu Ye lifted his foot to pick one up. A quick inspection made his expression darken. The Storage Bag was locked… The same went for the second… and the third…
After inspecting all the Storage Bags, he lifted his head. “Are you trying to deceive me?”
It wasn’t as if there was no way to unlock a locked Storage Bag. It was just that he did not have the means to do so.
She looked a little aggrieved. “Some guys ran away so quickly that they didn’t even undo the Restraining Lock when they left their Storage Bags behind. There were some that obeyed our instructions to unlock their Storage Bags, but we’ve already used up all the useful things in those…”
That was the truth. Yi Yi and the tiger had obtained more than just these few Storage Bags in this jungle over the years, but they had more or less used up all the usable items within the other Storage Bags. There were only empty bags left, so she didn’t bother to bring them,
Lu Ye’s eyebrows furrowed deeper. “If this is all the sincerity you have, then there’s nothing more to discuss. These items are not enough to buy your lives.”
“How can that be…” She was close to tears, deeply regretting provoking Lu Ye in the first place. The main reason was that she never imagined he would be different from the other cultivators they had met in the past.
All the cultivators that appeared in this area were not very powerful. They mostly consisted of rogue cultivators or the disciples of small Sects because this place was considered the edge of the Spirit Creek Battlefield. When these cultivators encountered a Spirit Beast that could speak the Human language, those with the slightest bit of common sense would be horrified and terrified. That was because a Spirit Beast that could speak the Human language was not something they could afford to provoke.
Unfortunately, Lu Ye had no common sense. He did not know what it meant for a Spirit Beast to speak the Human language. Without that preconceived notion, he only believed in his own judgment.
Too stupid to trick. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this trope played straight.