Chapter 24: The Whetstone and the Pursuit

Yawning widely, Nia, her eyes heavy with sleep, gazed at the large sun slowly ascending on the horizon.

“I’m so sleepy. We’ve been walking all night—how is it that we still haven’t found the person Qi Lin is looking for?”

Listening to Nia’s murmur beside her, Qi Lin, brimming with energy, looked towards Ailin, who was leading the way.

“Nia, stop complaining. The scent trail of the elf Qi Lin is searching for is practically spread throughout the entire Firefly Forest. To find her quickly without being led astray, we have to meticulously distinguish the nuances of the scent lingering in the air. It’s already quite good that we’ve managed to get this far.” Ailin sighed, casting a glance at Nia.

Having been reprimanded by Ailin, Nia instinctively drew her head back slightly.

Her ears twitched. Qi Lin, having caught a faint sound, looked towards the bushes behind them, where something seemed to be stirring.

“What’s wrong?” Ailin asked, gazing at Qi Lin, who had suddenly halted, a flicker of doubt in his voice.

However, his doubt soon vanished, as his own ears also picked up the faint rustling.

Following the direction of the sound, Ailin’s gaze quickly followed Qi Lin’s towards the bushes.

Nia, standing nearby, did the same.

Amidst the tense atmosphere, the bushes ceased their trembling.

But before Qi Lin and the two others could fully relax, a colossal dark shadow burst through the bushes and charged out.

Upon discerning the form of the shadow, the trio’s expressions turned grave. It was a gigantic black bear, its chest marked with a crescent moon tattoo.

If it had merely been a black bear of ordinary size, Qi Lin, now a vampire, would not have feared it. However, this bear stood a staggering five or six meters tall.

Awooo!

The black bear roared and swung its massive paw directly at Qi Lin, who was closest.

Seeing the oncoming paw, Qi Lin immediately rolled on the ground, dodging to the side.

Where she had just stood, a deep gouge was torn into the earth by the bear’s claws.

Its attack evaded, the thwarted black bear pounced towards Ailin, who was nearby.

Gazing up at the black bear, its maw gaping like a bloody chasm above him, Ailin, without a moment’s hesitation, instantly chanted a spell, summoning a shield.

As the shield held the black bear at bay, Ailin grabbed Nia’s hand and sprinted towards Qi Lin.

No sooner had the two moved away than the shield shattered, and the black bear, following its momentum, crashed to the ground.

Spitting out fragments of the shield from its mouth, the black bear turned its head and glared at the trio, baring its fangs.

“This bear truly has teeth of iron and fangs of bronze,” Ailin remarked softly, meeting the black bear’s gaze, “It actually bit through my shield.”

Qi Lin, however, under the bear’s scrutiny, felt a surge of nervousness. After all, this was her first encounter with a bear—and not just any bear, but an otherworldly black bear, five or six meters tall, capable of gouging a small crater into the ground with a single swipe of its paw.

Saliva dripping from its jowls, the black bear let out another roar and charged once more.

Suppressing the nervousness churning within her, Qi Lin, having made up her mind, addressed the two who were preparing to intervene: “Leave this black bear to me. I want to see just how strong it is!”

She wanted to know if her physique had changed after transforming into a girl and consuming liters of blood whose origin she didn’t even know. This emergent black bear, she decided, presented the perfect whetstone.

Though a part of her felt nervous about facing the black bear alone, her excitement was no less potent than her anxiety.

Perhaps, even Qi Lin herself hadn’t realized that in the mere few days since her transformation into a bloodline, her personality had begun to shift.

Had it been the Qi Lin of old, before becoming a bloodline, upon seeing a five or six-meter-tall black bear, she would have barely had time to flee, let alone contemplate fighting it alone.

Indeed, when encountering a bear, a normal person’s first thought is simply to get away.

Taking a deep breath, Qi Lin took light, agile steps and ran towards the black bear.

Gazing at the tiny figure a few meters away, who, instead of showing fear, was charging towards it, the black bear let out an enraged roar and swung its massive paw.

Hearing the powerful gust of wind slice through the air, Qi Lin immediately raised her arm to block.

With a resounding thud, Qi Lin, who had been blocking the black bear, was sent flying like a stone.

“Qi Lin!” Ailin and Nia cried out in alarm, seeing Qi Lin sent flying.

“Cough, cough, I… cough, cough, I’m fine.” Qi Lin, who had been thrown back, endured the intense pain throughout her body and, despite her fractured arms, pulled herself to her feet to respond to them.

The black bear watched Qi Lin stand up, its eyes momentarily bewildered. ‘How could this person still be standing?’ it seemed to ponder.

Shaking its head, the black bear snarled, baring its teeth, and charged towards Qi Lin.

‘If they can still stand,’ the black bear’s shallow mind conceived, ‘then I’ll just keep hitting them until they can’t.’

Gazing at the pouncing black bear, Qi Lin gritted her teeth and leaped to the side. A pang of regret suddenly struck her; ‘she shouldn’t have stopped Ailin and Nia from fighting the bear with her.’

Having evaded the pounce, Qi Lin scrambled quickly to her feet, then, with a light leap, she raised her foot and aimed a kick directly at the black bear’s face.

The powerful, heavy kick sent the black bear flying.

“Hmph, that’s what they call an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!” Qi Lin scoffed softly, gazing at the black bear she had just kicked away.

Ailin and Nia, who were not far away, stared blankly for a moment at the black bear, which remained sprawled on the ground, before rushing to Qi Lin’s side.

“How are you feeling now? Do you need healing?” Nia asked immediately, a touch of anxiety in her voice, having just witnessed Qi Lin being flung by the black bear.

“I…” Qi Lin, who was about to answer that she had fractured something, paused in confusion. She realized she was completely healed. Her back no longer ached, and her legs felt no fatigue.

Gazing at the stunned and silent Qi Lin, Ailin furrowed his brow. ‘Could she have hit her head too hard?’ he wondered.

“Well, I’m fine. My body’s perfectly alright. That black bear? It wasn’t even worth a single kick from me.” Qi Lin declared, hands on her hips, her voice full of bravado.

Observing Qi Lin’s demeanor, Ailin fell silent for a moment. ‘It seems this one truly is fine,’ he thought. ‘Tsk, terrifying recovery indeed.’

He grew increasingly curious about what race Qi Lin truly belonged to. Despite such incredible regenerative abilities, she still suffered from an incurable congenital illness.

As the trio continued their conversation, the fallen black bear shook its head, dazed, and slowly rose to its feet.

Nia, noticing the black bear had risen, spoke up to warn them: “The black bear is back on its feet.”

In truth, Nia’s warning was unnecessary. The moment the black bear opened its eyes, Qi Lin and Ailin had already sensed it.

“To find Aali quickly, this time, I’m going to finish this fast and use my demonic energy.” Summoning her scythe, Qi Lin stared directly at the black bear.

Feeling Qi Lin’s transformed gaze, the black bear, whose head was still slightly dazed from the kick, felt a seedling of fear sprout deep within its heart.

Awooo!

Letting out an enraged roar, the black bear dropped to all fours and sprinted towards Qi Lin. It was determined to destroy that seedling before it could grow into a towering tree.

Gazing at the steadily approaching black bear, Qi Lin held her scythe, preparing to swing it.

Yet, an unexpected turn of events occurred.

“Rebels, we’ve finally found you!” A low, deep voice echoed.

Hearing the voice, Qi Lin, Nia, and Ailin, who had just raised their arms to strike the black bear, looked around them.

The black bear, upon hearing the voice, halted its charge towards Qi Lin, crouched low, and let out a guttural growl at its surroundings.

Regular, synchronized footsteps sounded as a Youth, clad in armor engraved with wave patterns and wearing an iron helmet, slowly emerged, leading several enormous Giant Turtles.

“War Fiends? You are…” Ailin’s pupils contracted upon seeing the War Fiends.

“I, by order of the supreme Emperor of the Dithes Empire, have come to apprehend you rebels who destroy imperial property!” The Youth looked down on the trio with disdain, slowly conjuring a slender longsword.

“As expected, the Dithes Empire’s people have caught up to us. We should have left Firefly Forest before looking for anyone!” Ailin’s expression turned grim as he clenched his fists.

Qi Lin and Nia remained silent, their gazes fixed on the several War Fiends behind the Youth.

Those War Fiends were not the usual green, but yellow.

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