Chapter 14: The Thunderous Demon Wolf

When Bai Chenxiang awoke again, it was already noon the next day.

Her body felt as if it had been disassembled and reassembled, every muscle lingering with soreness. Yet beneath that ache surged an unprecedented warmth, brimming with power.

Her spirit was vibrant, her soul force abundant.

She sat up and immediately looked at her wrists and ankles.

The heavy Star Iron weights that had accompanied her for days, almost part of her body, had been quietly removed and placed on the low stool by the bedside.

She tried moving her arms and lifting her legs.

Then, her entire body froze.

An indescribable sensation, as if she were breaking free from the earth’s bonds, swept over her.

Her body felt as light as a feather, as if with a single thought she could float away.

This feeling was both unfamiliar and marvelous.

She threw back the blanket, placed her feet on the ground, and tried to stand.

The next moment—

Boom!

A tremendous crash echoed through the room, dust falling from the beams above as if the whole house had trembled.

Elder Bai Shan, who had been standing guard outside, was startled and rushed in, pushing the door wide open.

“Xiangxiang! What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

But the room was empty.

Bai Chenxiang had vanished.

“Where is she?” Bai Shan looked around, dumbfounded.

“Cough, cough, Grandpa, I’m here.”

A somewhat helpless voice came from above.

Bai Shan looked up sharply to see Bai Chenxiang in an extremely awkward position, limbs spread wide like a gecko, clinging tightly to the ceiling.

Her face was full of bewilderment, as if she had just survived a catastrophe and was still unfamiliar with her own body.

She had only tried to stand, but her legs instinctively exerted the strength she had used to bear the seventy-pound weights.

The terrifying burst of power had launched her like a cannonball straight upward.

If not for her quick reflexes to spread her limbs at the moment she hit the beam, using friction to cushion the impact, she might have punched a hole right through the roof.

Bai Shan stood there, mouth agape, staring blankly at the ceiling where Xiangxiang clung.

Should he marvel at her now formidable leg strength, or laugh at her absurd ceiling-climbing antics?

Finally, after much hesitation, he said only one thing:

“Come down first.”

“I’m afraid to move.”

Bai Chenxiang’s voice trembled slightly.

She now deeply understood what it meant to lose control after a surge of strength.

In the end, Bai He came rushing over, half amused and half exasperated, and flew up like rescuing a frightened kitten, carefully bringing his granddaughter down from the ceiling.

“You brat, can’t you make things easier on us?”

Bai He grumbled, but a smile spread across his face.

For the next half day, the entire residence of the Minzhi Clan witnessed a series of comical scenes.

Bai Chenxiang’s rehabilitation training had begun.

She tried to lift a teacup to drink, but the precious porcelain shattered into powder in her hand.

Bai He twitched his eyelids and silently had a set of heavy iron cups brought in.

She tried walking a few steps to acclimate, but in a flash, she had darted from one end of the courtyard to the other, crashing headlong into the wall and seeing stars.

The elders hurriedly placed thick straw mats around the courtyard walls.

Since then, the elders looked at her as if she were a walking, highly dangerous living weapon.

By evening, after countless mishaps, Bai Chenxiang finally barely adapted to her new body.

Standing at the courtyard’s center, she closed her eyes.

Without the weights, she felt the wind’s flow more clearly.

With a thought, her black-tailed swift martial soul quietly appeared behind her.

Then she stepped forward.

No sound, no warning.

Her figure vanished instantly from where she stood.

The next moment, she reappeared at the other end of the courtyard, several meters away.

Fast.

Unprecedented speed.

This was not a mere sprint but a true instantaneous movement imbued with terrifying explosive power.

“Bow Stance” had been perfected; this was the first time, unshackled, she drew the string and shot the arrow without reservation.

Bai He and the four elders stood aside, their pupils contracting in unison.

They could not even trace her movement path, only glimpsing a fleeting afterimage.

“This is...” Elder Bai Shan’s voice trembled.

“Wind Instant Movement,” Bai Chenxiang whispered the three words, naming her new ability.

Looking at her hands, feeling the surging soul force within and the seemingly reborn body, her eyes sparkled with confidence.

“Grandpa,” she turned to Bai He, “we can go claim the first soul ring now.”

A satisfied smile appeared on Bai He’s face.

He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

In the study, the old map was spread out once more.

Bai He’s finger habitually rested on the location marked “Wind Whisper Canyon.”

“The hundred-year-old Wind Falcon, pure in speed and cunning in tactics, remains the best choice for you now.”

Its soul skills, “Rapid Dash” and “Airflow Glide,” enable you to reach a high level of speed early on.

Bai He spoke gravely, having pondered this countless times.

But Bai Chenxiang shook her head.

“No, Grandpa.”

Her finger slid off Wind Whisper Canyon, slowly tracing across the map until it stopped on a mountain range marked in red as a dangerous zone.

“Sunset Forest.”

Bai He frowned.

“Sunset Forest? It’s full of mixed soul beasts, the terrain is complex, and it’s far from us. What soul beast are you after?”

“The Wind Falcon is too light.”

Bai Chenxiang struck at the heart of the matter.

“Its speed is like a feather in the wind. It excels at riding the flow but lacks decisive power.”

“My ‘Bow Stance’ is already strong enough; I need a ‘bowstring’ equally bursting with power.”

“I don’t need it to fly far or glide long. I need it to unleash its strongest speed and impact over the shortest distance!”

Her eyes gleamed with a thirst for strength.

“My first soul skill shouldn’t be a tool for escape—it must be a weapon!”

Bai He and the elders were shaken by her words.

Only now did they realize that with Bai Chenxiang’s clear path, her choice of soul rings had fundamentally diverged from that of traditional agile offensive soul masters.

“What kind of soul beast do you want then?” Elder Bai Shan couldn’t help but ask.

“A thousand-year-old Wind and Thunder Demon Wolf.”

Wind and Thunder Demon Wolf?

The elders exchanged bewildered glances.

Racking their brains and scouring clan records, they found only scattered descriptions of this soul beast hidden in obscure corners.

“I remember now,” one elder spoke hesitantly, uncertainty thick in his tone.

“The records say it’s an extremely rare variant soul beast.”

“Legend has it that it’s a Wind-element demon wolf that on stormy days calls down lightning on the mountaintop, surviving near-death to become a mutated form.”

“Its temperament is violent and extremely aggressive. It’s not purely Wind-elemental!”

“That’s right!” Elder Bai Shan seized the point immediately.

“Its power combines Wind and Thunder! This contradicts our Minzhi Clan’s pure path of speed!”

“Impure attributes will affect your future soul force quality and might even destabilize the foundation of your martial soul!”

“Xiangxiang, this is too risky!”