Chapter 120: Wang Che’s Intuition, A Battle of Wits in the Void?
Chapter 120: Wang Che’s Intuition, A Battle of Wits in the Void?
“Never imagined the Ghost Disciples had uncovered how to spread the Black Blood Plague. This is serious.” The captain’s voice was icy. “But they also exposed themselves. We’ll relay this to the War Zone HQ immediately, then report to the Federation. All major War Zones will take precautions.”
“Student Wang, you’ve accomplished great things again!”
Wang Che understood the captain’s meaning.
Those Ghost Disciples had risked revealing this secret just to eliminate him.
If they’d succeeded in killing him, it might’ve been worth it.
Failing to kill him meant a huge loss.
The Black Blood Plague was definitely no ordinary illness.
It might hold secrets tied to the war against the otherworlders from years ago.
But for now, Wang Che naturally wouldn’t dwell on it.
“I think those Ghost Disciples might have another scheme,” Wang Che said casually. “Was exposing this secret truly just to kill me? Or were they testing this method while getting rid of me in the process? There’s a fundamental difference.”
If it was the latter, it meant the Ghost Disciples weren’t afraid of the secret getting out.
His death was simply an added bonus to their experiment.
That would mean even more terrifying measures were coming!
The captain stiffened, shocked by this thought.
“You’d better investigate this thoroughly,” Wang Che advised.
“You’re absolutely right,” the captain said grimly.
Just then, a voice called out from afar:
“Captain, come take a look!”
The captain turned to Wang Che. “Rest up and tend to your Soul Pet first. We’ll head back together soon.”
Wang Che gave a nod.
He then reflected on the battle details.
The gains were immense.
Forget teaching the Magnetic Sword Blade Techniques or cultivating the Divine Sword Thunder Control True Scripture.
Just the growth of the Green Caterpillar alone was extraordinary.
First was the Telepathy.
True growth only came through life-and-death combat.
Reaching the level of Telepathy with the Green Caterpillar filled Wang Che with deep satisfaction.
For the upcoming Qihang Cup, he was certain no Soul Pet and Soul Pact Master pair could achieve this.
Normally, without years of bonding, Telepathy was impossible.
How potent was Telepathy?
Instantaneous Soul Skill activation. Master and Soul Pet moving as one. Skilled pairs could unleash powerful Soul Skill combos.
In less than half a year? No high school student, no matter how damn talented, could pull that off.
Even incredibly rare Psychic-Type Spirit Pets born with innate Telepathy couldn’t!
Their Telepathy only flowed one way—the Soul Pet sensed its master’s mind, but not vice versa.
It paled compared to the Telepathy achieved through the Life Soul Pact.
Unless, like Wang Che and his Green Caterpillar, they forged a high-tier Life Soul Pact and survived true life-or-death battles.
Second, mastering the ultimate move: Rebirth from Mortal Peril.
Learning it had been grueling.
But its effects were undeniably dramatic.
Martial Spirit Armament. Rattler Tail Strike. Insect Sound. Insect Concealment. Blazing Charge. Energy Bomb… Rebirth from Mortal Peril… Practically every Soul Skill was used.
Wang Che shook his head. Every ace, all potential unleashed, every tactic deployed.
Without that timely Energy Bomb from the Green Caterpillar, it would’ve been wiped out instantly.
Every Soul Skill played a crucial role.
And yet, against an Art Soul Master—even severely weakened and grazed below level 30—they still couldn’t secure victory.
They failed to finish off that Ghost Disciple in the end.
A Soul Master with a Soul Pet, even a support-focused Art Soul Master, was overwhelmingly strong.
If the Rescue Team hadn’t delivered the final blow…
He might’ve truly had to risk it all himself, weakened as he was, for one last strike.
Of course, even then, Wang Che still had a way to eliminate that Art Soul Master.
It would just have cost him dearly.
“After this battle, the Green Caterpillar has genuinely matured.”
A Soul Pet’s growth wasn’t just visible improvements—physical strength, Soul Power Cultivation, new skills.
It also included unseen aspects: combat awareness, Spiritual Intelligence, accumulated experience, mental fortitude.
These intangible gains mattered just as much.
At the same power level, a Green Caterpillar tested in life-or-death battles would be vastly stronger than one raised conventionally.
While Wang Che analyzed the fight,…
…the captain approached the scene.
His breath hitched instantly, sucking in rain as he saw them.
A vast stretch of the wilderness lay dotted with Thousand-Legged Flying Ants.
Every single one crackled faintly with residual lightning.
He hadn’t grasped the full picture while rushing to support.
The distance was too great, the storm too fierce. His Communicator’s signal had been dreadful. Most equipment malfunctioned.
His agile-focus teammate had seen only the immediate Ghost Disciple area, allowing precise targeting and mental locks for the high-level Battle Soul Master’s kill shot.
Full details were impossible then.
But this…?
“The Thousand-Legged Flying Ants are all paralyzed. Minimal physical injuries. Roughly 4,500 total… including two Thousand-Legged Winged Ants. Mostly below thousand-year cultivation, some slightly above.”
A team member reported. “But… how was this done? Paralyzing them all without direct harm… Even a high-rank Soul Pact Master couldn’t manage it. Judging by the paralysis’s depth, they’ll likely recover within 30 to 60 minutes.”
“My guess? Only a precise strike of Heavenly Thunder onto the swarm during this downpour could achieve this.”
“Yet, realistically, a single thunderbolt shouldn’t hold enough power to paralyze an entire colony like this.”
“And the odds of such a precise strike? Astronomical…”
“Now, four high-level Healing Soul Masters have entered a healing state… The good news is, because they fell into paralysis, the Black Blood Disease did not spread. We should be able to slow the illness; there should be no deaths. We have sent more high-level Healing Soul Masters. We expect to complete the healing fully within a few hours.”
“Without high-level Soul Pact Masters to suppress them… I absolutely did not expect this situation…”
The captain listened carefully to the team member’s report and fell silent.
Several team members were clearly very shocked by this situation.
Even he, the captain, a formidable Level 68 Soul Pact Master, was deeply shocked upon hearing it.
If it were like the other routes, with two or three squads of high-level Soul Pact Masters suppressing these diseased Soul Beast hordes…
That would be normal.
But…
This is just a student!
“Is this Wang Batian, the Young Hero who foiled the Ghost Disciples’ plot in the Floating Forest?” the captain couldn’t help but mutter quietly. “How did he do it? This is just too incredible.”
He had lived for decades and seen many geniuses.
He had served in the military for many years and encountered all sorts of complex situations.
But this was truly the first time he had encountered a situation like this.
Just then, another team member called out:
“Captain, over here!”
The captain hurried over.
“Captain, this Ghost Disciple’s identity has been confirmed.”
This team member coughed and said, “His name is Xue Zhendi. He was an elite Ghost Soldier. Thirty years ago, he disappeared into a Soul Ghost illusion in the wilds of the Donghai Continent. When he came out, his will was broken, and his mind was in chaos. He was developed into a Ghost Disciple. His Martial Soul was a common form in the Donghai Continent, the Demon Conch. His three Soul Pets were the Rain Demon Butterfly, the Sky-Speed Bird, and the Slippery Giggling Ghost.”
“Simultaneously, he was also the sworn brother of that Xue Batian who escaped from the Floating Sky last time.”
“What was his condition?” the Captain asked.
“Strange,” the team member thought for a moment. “When Third Brother used his perception and saw him, he was already in an extremely weakened state.”
“Theoretically, an Art Soul Master wouldn’t be so foolish as to have no defensive measures at all.”
“But Fifth Brother took him out with one shot, without any resistance. The victory was very easy… Even with a level difference of over twenty, it was genuinely surprising…”
“It felt like we were just collecting a free kill…”
“…” The Captain was speechless.
“It wasn’t until we carefully inspected the scene that we found… all of this guy’s Soul Pets had already lost their combat ability,” the team member couldn’t help but say. “There were also signs of Heavenly Thunder on his body… Furthermore, judging by the state of the three Soul Pets, they experienced a major battle… But we cannot analyze the specifics of the combat situation…”
“How so?” the Captain frowned and asked.
“The Rain Demon Butterfly’s wings had burns from fire. Based on the destruction at the scene, there should also have been energy beams, a Gale, and Energy Bombs – traces left by several types of Soul Skills.”
“Most importantly… the Soul Skill that caused the fatal wounds is unknown.”
“We cannot determine information about the Soul Skill from the fatal injuries they sustained… It’s as if they were struck by some powerful force,” the team member paused. “But we cannot determine what the Soul Skill was…”
“Cannot determine?” The Captain was stunned.
They were all experienced high-level Soul Pact Masters.
Traces caused by Hundred-Year or Thousand-Year Soul Skills could be easily identified and analyzed.
But they couldn’t determine the fatal wound?
“The ground shows signs of being split open by force. Judging by the size, it seems the Green Caterpillar burrowed into it… Burrowing-type Soul Skills don’t have that much power… And it’s not something a Green Caterpillar could learn either.”
“Judging from the various Soul Skill traces, perhaps other Soul Pets joined the battlefield?”
The more the team member spoke, the more confused and shocked he became. “But that also seems unlikely…”
How did a Level 30 Ghost Disciple Art Soul Master end up extremely weak with his Soul Pets incapacitated when he was discovered?
What kind of battle took place in between?
They were very confused.
Whether it was the situation with the Thousand-Legged Ant horde, or the Ghost Disciple and his three Soul Pets, they couldn’t analyze the detailed process.
They simply couldn’t imagine how that Wang Batian had done it.
“Forget it,” the Captain said after a moment of silence, waving his hand and glancing towards Wang Che’s location. “No need to know. It’s enough to understand the general situation. Focus on the healing efforts!”
The team members nodded in agreement.
Wang Che felt the captain’s gaze but paid it no mind.
In this battle, although the Green Caterpillar’s trump cards were all exposed.
That Ghost Disciple was gone, though.
No one saw him use the Heavenly Thunder Slash to summon the Heavenly Thunder and paralyze the ant horde.
Nor did anyone see the process of his battle with that Ghost Disciple.
These high-level Soul Pact Masters from the Military Department could deduce a lot. Except for Rebirth from Mortal Peril and the Martial Spirit Armament, they could probably deduce everything else.
But not only would they not talk about it, they would keep it confidential.
However…
Wang Che slightly raised his head and looked upwards.
His Divine Sense didn’t detect anything.
But Wang Che had an intuition, a feeling that someone was watching him.
This intuition wasn’t related to Divine Sense.
It was an instinct born from countless battles and experiences.
Whether it was accurate or not was hard to say…
If the intuition was wrong, it didn’t matter.
If it was right, then there must be a powerful Soul Pact Master, far stronger than he was now, hidden in the shadows.
‘But, even if my intuition is right, that person certainly means no harm. Otherwise, they would have appeared and dealt with me long ago.’
Wang Che pondered for a few seconds. ‘It definitely isn’t from the Military Department. Although I have the Wang Batian identity, the Xiyue Continent wouldn’t assign such a powerful Professional Soul Contractor to protect me secretly. Furthermore, since they didn’t take action against the Ghost Disciple or the ant horde, they definitely aren’t from the Military Department.’
‘More accurately, they probably aren’t official. So, it’s a powerful Soul Pact Master from a neutral faction?’
Wang Che’s mind stirred.
A neutral faction meant they didn’t take sides.
Either they just happened to be there, watching the show.
Or, they were secretly observing me, which would mean someone sent them!
It’s also unlikely they were here to save me, otherwise they would have intervened earlier…
If they were just watching the show, then they were just passing by, a mere coincidence.
‘If my intuition is right, the most likely possibility is that someone sent them to observe me… If that’s the case, based on the people I’ve met and what I know, the only one with that kind of background and resources would be… Lin Xi?’
Wang Che slightly frowned, as if he had thought of something. ‘Given Lin Xi’s background, for trips outside the city, she wouldn’t normally need to take the maglev with classmates… If she followed me out, given her background, it would make sense for a powerful Soul Pact Master to be protecting her secretly.’
‘Furthermore, she seems to have channels to know about my Wang Batian identity… and guessed a few things. Could it be that she even guessed I would be attacked by a Ghost Disciple outside the city… and would expose my strength? So she secretly had the Soul Pact Master protecting her come to observe me?’
‘To see some of my trump cards… and then prepare accordingly for the Qihang Cup?’
‘If that’s the case, this Lin Xi… is quite a schemer…’
Wang Che sank into thought.
But the entire premise was based on his intuition being correct.
‘Maybe I’m just fighting wits with the air… Battling intellect against the void.’
Wang Che pretended to look up at the sky and washed his face.
Not long after, the Soul Pact Master squad took Wang Che and quickly evacuated the area…
Later, in the void, a figure gradually materialized…
“What’s with this kid… I thought he discovered me… gave me a scare,” the figure murmured. “He just wanted to wash his face?”
As the sole witness to the entire event,
Throughout, she had wanted to intervene multiple times due to Lin Xi’s request.
Yet… she forcefully held back every time.
Because it seemed, from start to finish, that student had everything calculated perfectly.
She seemed… superfluous?
One had to admit.
She had seen many grand, spectacular battles.
But only this one, a battle not particularly high in intensity, managed to make her feel thrilled and apprehensive while watching!
From the moment the Heavenly Thunder fell, her shock hadn’t stopped…
“Such a freakish Green Caterpillar… That mysterious Soul Skill where its body changed color, and especially that final move… I’ve never even seen it before… never even heard of it…”
The figure muttered a few times, her voice suddenly taking on a note of interest. “Miss Xi… if you meet him in the Qihang Cup…”
She chuckled a few times, a hint of mischief in the sound.
“I’m actually quite looking forward to it… just how badly will you get beaten…”