During his battle with the three wolf claws, Li Heng’s waist was scratched. His bloodstained white robe was torn with three gashes.
The wounds didn’t bleed. Instead, they turned a deep black and had already begun to rot. The sensation of being devoured by countless insects suddenly flooded Li Heng’s entire body.
And the pain was only intensifying!
’Damn it! At this rate, I won’t be able to hold on! Should I go all out?’
The pain kept getting worse. Li Heng felt that if this continued, he was going to die. After a moment’s thought, he charged straight for the Blood Wolf God Shadow’s neck.
Feeling he was at his limit, Li Heng made up his mind. He would use up a Talisman and pour all his strength into the Ghost Butterfly Illusion Sword’s techniques, all to sever the Blood Wolf God Shadow’s head from its neck.
The last time he had used his full strength was when he forcefully tore a Teleportation Talisman during his second time in the secret realm, when he encountered that swarm of Cold Ice Pythons.
So Li Heng struck with tremendous force!
During this process, the Blood Wolf God Shadow was not idle. Waves of black fog rushed toward Li Heng.
Li Heng swung his Cloud Cold Treasure Sword amidst the waves of black fog, its cold light glinting under the dark sky.
Previously, Li Heng would have definitely dodged when the black fog approached, sticking to his principle of avoiding injury.
But since he had decided to risk it all, when the black fog swarmed his face this time, Li Heng only furrowed his brow slightly. He let the fog lash against him and simply continued his attack.
It hurt!
As the black fog hit his face, Li Heng felt a sharp pain in his cheeks, which then spread to his entire head.
The black fog then enveloped Li Heng’s body. The sensation of being devoured by millions of insects washed over him again, causing the hand gripping the Cloud Cold Treasure Sword to falter for a moment.
But Li Heng didn’t give up his attack; he continued to execute the techniques of the Ghost Butterfly Illusion Sword.
After about ten seconds, Li Heng was completely covered by the black fog. Even the cold, glinting light of the Cloud Cold Treasure Sword vanished, swallowed by the darkness...
Li Heng swung his sword through the pain, enduring it until he lost consciousness completely...
[Ding! You have exited the Divine-level Wolf King Mountain Dungeon upon death. Talisman uses consumed: 1. No loss of gains or rewards.]
[Ding! Divine-level Wolf King Mountain Dungeon results!]
[Blood Wolf God Shadow heavily injured!]
[Clearance Rating: D]
[Dungeon Reward: Shadow Wolf Cub.]
[Rating below A-rank: unable to obtain Epic Points. Rating below S-rank: unable to obtain Mythic Points. Rating below SS-rank: unable to obtain Treasure Points.]
[Consume 1000 Soul Energy Points to enter the Divine-level Wolf King Mountain Dungeon?]
HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...
A moment ago, Li Heng’s vision had been completely obscured by black fog, his body wracked with the excruciating pain of being devoured by countless insects.
But both the darkness and the agony vanished in an instant. When his vision returned, he found himself back in his detached wooden cabin.
Every time he died in a Dungeon, Li Heng felt a momentary sense of suffocation upon his return, causing him to gasp for air.
The system’s notifications chimed in his ears, but Li Heng didn’t rush to read them. He just took a moment to recover.
This time, coming out of the Divine-level Wolf King Mountain Dungeon, the pain he had suffered was particularly unique. The feeling of being devoured by insects had only been the prelude.
It had grown harder and harder to breathe, and that difficulty carried over into the "real" world. This time, it took Li Heng a long while to recover—nearly an hour.
Only after an hour did Li Heng finally feel normal again and begin to review the system notifications.
The first thing he did after recovering was to check the system rewards for this run of the Divine-level Wolf King Mountain.
’I fought so desperately... and only managed to injure it heavily?’
Li Heng stared at the system message. While equipped with the Cloud Cold Treasure Sword, his Strength was as high as 65, and at the very end, he had given it his all.
That final burst of power had probably even exceeded 65 Strength.
Yet the damage he dealt to the Blood Wolf God Shadow wasn’t fatal. He’d lost count of how many times he had used the Ghost Butterfly Illusion Sword’s techniques on it.
Any other Soul Beast, even a Tier Five one, would have likely been killed.
’This Divine-level Dungeon really is hard!’
After briefly reading the system information, Li Heng couldn’t help but complain to himself. He had truly given it everything he had this time, exhausting all his means, yet he still couldn’t kill the Blood Wolf God Shadow. He had no other options for now.
His clearance rating was still a D. It seemed he’d have to wait until his realm advanced before he could hope to conquer this Divine-level Dungeon.
Besides, his gains from this trip to the Divine-level Wolf King Mountain were already substantial. At the very least, he had figured out a few things.
But after he was done complaining, Li Heng turned his attention to the reward from the Divine-level Dungeon.
Shadow Wolf Cub: Pet
Level: 36
Value: Legendary
Tier: Tier Three Middle-Grade Soul Beast
Strength: 35
Agility: 35
Spirit: 40
Soul Energy Skills: Erosion Wind, Night Howl, Shadow Meld.
Intimacy: 183
[Consume 1000 Soul Energy Points to increase Intimacy by one point?]
[Intimacy is not yet 255. Unable to level up this pet.]
’A Tier Three Middle-Grade Soul Beast? And its Intimacy... is this high? This thing... it must be some kind of direct descendant of the Blood Wolf God Shadow, right?’
The moment he saw the Shadow Wolf Cub, Li Heng guessed it was a pet. After seeing its detailed stats, he was quite surprised.
He couldn’t help but connect this Shadow Wolf Cub to the Blood Wolf God Shadow.
Besides the cub’s breed, Li Heng was also surprised by its Intimacy level. After all, when he had tamed the Ice Simurgh, its Intimacy hadn’t even reached the passing mark.
Even now, the Ice Simurgh’s Intimacy had only just broken 200.
He hadn’t expected this Shadow Wolf Cub to appear with an Intimacy of 183 right off the bat. But after a moment’s thought, it made sense. After all, his affinity with wolves was very high!
After browsing the system information, Li Heng had a much better grasp of the situation. He glanced to make sure his door was locked, and once confirmed, he summoned the Shadow Wolf Cub.
Yip... Awooo...
The moment it was summoned, before Li Heng could even get a good look at it, an intermittent wolf howl sounded in his ear.
Without a second thought, Li Heng rushed over and clamped the Shadow Wolf Cub’s mouth shut.
The origin of this Tier Three Middle-Grade Shadow Wolf Cub was not something he could easily explain.
At least for now, Li Heng didn’t want the Shadow Wolf Cub to be seen by anyone else.
"Don’t make a sound!"
Since he had tamed the Ice Simurgh Bird before, Li Heng was able to communicate with the Shadow Wolf Cub to some extent. He had some experience, after all.
After receiving some compliant feedback from the cub, Li Heng slowly released its muzzle.
Despite being just a cub, it had a majestic appearance, faintly reminiscent of the Blood Wolf God Shadow. Though its body was entirely black, the tips of its ears were wreathed in wisps of black fog that swirled like flowing clouds.
In addition to the cloud-like black fog at the tips of its ears, the same fog swirled around its paws on all four legs.
Overall, Li Heng was very satisfied with this Shadow Wolf Cub—from its Intimacy and Tier to everything else, he felt it was excellent.
He also had six Divinity Points, which he immediately allocated entirely to his Snow Affinity. Then, he casually reached out to stroke the fur on the Shadow Wolf Cub’s back.
But when his hand made contact, Li Heng discovered it wasn’t fur at all, but the same flowing cloud-like fog. It was incredibly soft, like touching cotton candy!
’Eh? I seem to remember... I still have the Wolf Soul Blood Crystal, right? Should I give it to this Shadow Wolf?’
Li Heng’s mood was pleasant as he stroked the flowing clouds on the Shadow Wolf Cub’s back. As he did, something suddenly occurred to him. He pulled the deep-red Wolf Soul Blood Crystal from his medium-sized Space Stone and looked at the Shadow Wolf Cub.