196: Chapter 196 Breakthrough of the Myriad Spirit Seal

Two Vicious Beasts lunged from left and right. The Iron-Backed Gray Wolf's fangs were less than three feet from Lin Tian's throat, while the Red Flame Tiger's sharp claws, wrapped in faint red flames, aimed straight for his heart.

Lin Tian used his Cloud Shadow Step, his feet lightly tapping the ground. With a slight shift of his figure, he slipped through the gap between the two beasts' pincer attack, his movements as effortless as sidestepping a hanging willow branch while strolling by a lake.

While dodging, his hands had already reached into his sleeves. He gripped a moyuan flying dagger between his fingers, his wrists flicking slightly as the tips of the blades aimed at the vital points of the two Vicious Beasts.

Just then, the Iron-Backed Gray Wolf and the Red Flame Tiger turned their heads simultaneously. In the dim dense forest, their four eyes gleamed with an eerie, dark red bloody light.

Lin Tian was all too familiar with that glow—it was exactly the same as the light flickering in the eyes of the Black-Armored Lizards controlled by the Demonic Cult in the valley.

Blood-Bound Beast. His hand paused, and the flying daggers spun half a turn between his fingers before being pressed back into his cuffs.

He had walked this path dozens of times and had never encountered a Blood-Bound Beast, let alone two appearing at once. It was very likely that people from the Demonic Cult were nearby, perhaps patrolling or re-establishing control over this area.

Killing these two beasts was simple; it would take only two flying daggers. But once the Blood Pact was broken, the caster would immediately sense the death of the Blood-Bound Beast. If they followed the aura and tracked him down, his private fish pond would no longer be hidden.

He couldn't kill them, nor could he just let them go—if he let them go, they would attract more Blood-Bound Beasts, which would also turn this area into a search zone for the Demonic Cult.

He had to find a win-win solution that would neither alert the Demonic Cult to anything unusual nor allow these two beasts to lead the cult members toward his fish pond.

Lin Tian put away his flying daggers, and his Cloud Shadow Step exploded into action once more. This time, he did not retreat but actively closed the distance.

Leaving an afterimage in his wake, his true form appeared like a ghost at the side of the Iron-Backed Gray Wolf. His right hand reached out, fingers splayed, and his Great Strength Vajra Palm, wrapped in faint green force, clamped down on the Iron-Backed Gray Wolf's skull. The wolf's head was smashed hard into the ground by this palm.

Soil and gravel splattered everywhere. The wolf's body struggled desperately, its four sharp claws gouging deep furrows into the ground.

At the same time, his left hand was not idle. With a backhanded slap, he struck the Red Flame Tiger on the forehead, using the same technique to pin it to the ground as well.

He spread his legs, pinning the two Vicious Beasts tightly, one on each side. Deep purple spiritual threads emerged from between his ten fingers, piercing through the crowns of the wolf and tiger heads, traveling along their spines deep into their Sea of Consciousness.

The moment the spiritual threads entered their brains, he sensed the Blood Pact planted by the Situ Family of the Demonic Cult—it was a layer of dark red Restriction, wrapping densely around the outer layer of the two Vicious Beasts' Sea of Consciousness like a spiderweb, emitting an intense aura of Evil Qi.

The Blood Pact Restriction and the Beast Taming Technique's spiritual thread Restriction were completely different paths: the Blood Pact relied on blood sacrifice to forcibly suppress the beast's nature, making the Restriction itself crude and simple but possessing immense brute force; the Beast Taming Technique relied on the precise coordination of Mental Energy and spiritual threads, making it more refined and durable.

Under normal circumstances, a Vicious Beast already controlled by a Blood Pact is very difficult to be controlled a second time, because the old Restriction would actively reject external Mental Energy.

However, this was not absolute—if the person acting the second time had stronger Mental Energy than the original owner, or if their understanding and control of the Restriction were more refined, they could forcibly cut into the gaps of the old Restriction and overwrite it with a new one.

Lin Tian's Mental Energy was only at an average level for a fifth-grade Martial Artist, but his Beast Taming Technique had long since broken through to the Major Achievement Realm during the last half-year of day-after-day rigorous training.

As for the Situ Family's Blood Pact, to put it plainly, it was a brute-force method piled up with blood and Evil Qi; it had strength in abundance but lacked precision.

His spiritual threads darted rapidly around the outer periphery of the two Vicious Beasts' Sea of Consciousness. He did not clash head-on with the Blood Pact Restriction but drilled in through the gaps in that spiderweb-like Restriction, weaving his own network of spiritual threads beneath the Blood Pact Restriction.

The two controlling forces clashed fiercely in the depths of the beasts' Sea of Consciousness. The power of the Blood Pact constantly lashed back, each backlash feeling like a dull hammer striking his own Sea of Consciousness. Soon, fine beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and the veins on his temples throbbed slightly—a reaction to the continuous consumption of Mental Energy.

He gritted his teeth and persisted for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. The dark red bloody light in the eyes of the Iron-Backed Gray Wolf and the Red Flame Tiger finally faded bit by bit, replaced by a familiar, submissive, pale purple glow.

They stopped struggling. The sharp claws that had been digging into the ground relaxed, the low growls in their throats turned into soft whimpers, and their four legs slowly bent, crouching at Lin Tian's feet.

Lin Tian released his palms and looked down at these two Vicious Beasts that he had forcibly snatched from the Demonic Cult, a smile slowly spreading across the corners of his lips.

He did not delay further. He extended his index finger and pointed in the direction away from his private fish pond, issuing a concise and clear command to the two Vicious Beasts:

"Leave this place. Follow the ridgeline and head east. Along the way, disguise yourselves as if you are hunting normally. Do not stay anywhere for too long, and certainly do not lead anyone to this area."

"If the owner of the Blood Pact summons you, continue to respond. Do not let them realize that the Restriction has been overwritten."

The two Vicious Beasts nodded in unison, stood up, shook their fur, and darted into the dense forest, one after the other, running toward the eastern ridgeline. The sound of their footsteps was gradually covered by the wind and birdsong in the forest, and they soon disappeared into the layers of tree shadows.

Lin Tian also turned and left. He used the Cloud Shadow Step to dash several miles in the opposite direction of the fish pond, found a hidden cave in a completely unfamiliar dense forest, turned to slip inside, and sat down cross-legged.

Mental Energy exhaustion was completely different from physical exhaustion—when physical strength is depleted, limbs feel heavy and breathing is ragged, but the consciousness remains clear.

Mental Energy overdraft felt like countless thin needles piercing into one's brain; it was dizzying, and his eyelids felt too heavy to lift.

He closed his eyes to rest, silently waiting for his Mental Energy to recover. He did not know how much time had passed, but that needle-like fatigue finally slowly dissipated, and the sense of emptiness in his Sea of Consciousness was replaced by a sense of re-replenished fullness.

But he did not open his eyes immediately—because he discovered that the Mental Energy in his Sea of Consciousness had not only recovered but was continuing to rise. It was an extremely subtle transformation, as if a small, dormant force deep within his Sea of Consciousness had been accidentally awakened by the exhausting tug-of-war just now.

Immediately afterward, a proficiency panel appeared in his mind, and a line of text silently appeared on it: Wanling Seal, Entry Level, 1-100.