"I really do prefer you assault-type battle Spirit Masters—your blood is rich, your life force strong."
The Evil Spirit Master leader narrowed his eyes in pleasure as he casually blocked Lang Yan's attacks.
"Little wolf cub, don't worry. Your turn is coming soon."
The Evil Spirit Master leader's second Spirit Ring lit up.
"Second Spirit Ability—Ghost Mire!"
The moment he spoke, the air around them thickened, becoming sticky and suffocating, pressing heavily on both Lang Shan and Lang Yan.
Their eyes went bloodshot. Their breathing faltered. Lang Yan tried to attack, only to realize he couldn't move at all.
The Evil Spirit Master leader walked unhurriedly to Lang Shan and raised his claw toward Lang Shan's head.
Just as he was about to strike, he sensed Third Brother approaching and said irritably,
"Third Brother, didn't I tell you—don't disturb me when I'm feeding!"
Of course, the controlled Third Brother didn't respond. When the distance closed to fifty meters, he unleashed his strongest fourth Spirit Ability.
"Crimson Rending Claw!"
A bloody glow enveloped Third Brother's body as he charged at the leader's back at incredible speed, leaving behind a red afterimage in the narrow valley.
The leader clearly did not expect his own subordinate to ambush him. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
The crimson claws pierced straight through his chest, chilling him to the bone.
He turned around with disbelief etched across his face, looking at Third Brother.
He opened his mouth to speak, but blood gushed out, drowning his words into gurgles.
Already severely injured by the Golden Crow Saintess Wu Ming, he struggled only a few times before dying with an expression of unwillingness.
Everyone around them was stupefied—both the mercenaries and the Evil Spirit Masters stared wide-eyed.
The mercenaries never expected the enemy to turn on each other.
The Evil Spirit Masters never expected their own Third Brother to betray them.
When Third Brother casually threw their leader's corpse to the ground, everyone snapped back to reality.
The remaining two Evil Spirit Masters immediately distanced themselves from the mercenaries and shouted at Third Brother:
"Third Brother!!! What have you done?!"
"Without big brother, how are we supposed to fight the Shrek Inspection Team?!"
Third Brother—now devoid of self-awareness—certainly wasn't going to smile and recite poetry.
He activated his fourth Spirit Ring again.
Crimson Rending Claw.
He charged straight at the other two Evil Spirit Masters.
The two turned pale. Having lived with Third Brother day and night, they knew exactly how terrifying his fourth Spirit Ability was.
It was the strongest single-target breakthrough attack among the four of them—powerful enough to tear through a Spirit King.
The only reason they had escaped the Shrek Inspection Team last time was because Third Brother and Big Brother had teamed up to heavily injure a Shrek Spirit King.
They fled only because the Golden Crow woman was momentarily distracted.
One of them reacted instantly and released his fourth Spirit Ability:
"Fiend Armor Shell!"
A gray energy turtle shell materialized in front of Third Brother, directly clashing with the Crimson Rending Claw.
The shell gave a sharp, grating cry as cracks spread across its surface.
The Evil Spirit Master shouted,
"Fourth Brother! What are you doing?! Attack! Third Brother has f***ing lost it!"
Fourth Brother finally snapped out of his daze and activated his fourth Spirit Ability:
"Demon Vine Strangulation!"
Countless dark-green vines with cold, gleaming barbs shot toward the blood-colored figure.
Third Brother, whose defense was weak, was immediately impaled through the abdomen.
The blood glow around him faded as his body was flung to the side.
A pool of blood spread rapidly beneath him. His life force drained visibly—he looked moments from death.
Just as Second Brother and Fourth Brother finally breathed in relief, Third Brother stood up again.
He didn't care about his wounds. He didn't care about his bleeding life force.
He forcibly pushed his body and released his fourth Spirit Ability again.
The two Evil Spirit Masters were nearly numb with disbelief.
Second Brother wanted to shout,
"Bro, when we were being chased by the Shrek InspectionTeam together, since when were you this fierce?!"
"Why are you burning your life using your fourth Spirit Ability on us?!"
They retreated rapidly. Third Brother, seeing this, charged directly at the weakest—Fourth Brother.
Seeing Third Brother right behind him, Fourth Brother nearly lost his soul from fright.
"Third Brother! I never did anything to wrong you!"
"It was Big Brother and Second Brother who forced you to slaughter your own hometown—it had nothing to do with me! Don't chase me!"
"And besides—didn't you enjoy it at the time?!"
Fourth Brother naturally had no idea that Third Brother was already under Huo Yuhao's control—he thought Third Brother was acting out of old grudges.
When Huo Yuhao erased Third Brother's consciousness, he implanted a supreme directive into him: "Kill all your companions."
So before Third Brother completely died, even if he could still move a single finger, he would hunt them down.
Fourth Brother's Martial Soul was clearly plant-type, so in terms of speed he could never match the agility-type Heart-Eater Rat. In the blink of an eye, Third Brother had already reached Fourth Brother's back.
Feeling the chilling aura behind him, Fourth Brother knew he couldn't escape. His second Spirit Ring shone brightly as his arm turned into a black wooden spike, and he turned to clash head-on with Third Brother.
As the black wooden spike and the Crimson Rending Claw collided, countless barbs exploded from Fourth Brother's body, stabbing straight toward Third Brother.
Fourth Brother expected Third Brother to dodge, but instead Third Brother didn't evade at all, allowing the spikes to pierce straight into his flesh.
Meanwhile, the Crimson Rending Claw slowly tore through the wooden spike and was just about to shred Fourth Brother to pieces.
Realizing this, Fourth Brother's eyes went completely feral.
"Third Brother, if you won't let me live, then we die together!"
"Wood Explosion!"
His third Spirit Ring lit up, and the black wooden spike in his arm emitted an eerie red glow as it swelled with terrifying energy.
After a brief charge-up, a violent explosion swept both of them away. Dark green light engulfed a fifty-meter radius.
From afar, Huo Yuhao sensed the rampaging energy through his spiritual power and couldn't help but click his tongue.
"Good lord… that Spirit Ability is the same type as Corpse Burst or Ice Explosion. Good thing I didn't try to block it. One hit from that and I'd have to use the Kingdom of Roots."
"Never underestimate the heroes of the world."
Huo Yuhao felt the "nail" in Third Brother's spiritual sea completely shatter—meaning Third Brother was dead.
He then moved toward the direction where Second Brother was fleeing. He intended to kill him; after all, he still had a long journey ahead and didn't want to leave behind any hidden threats.
Second Brother's Martial Soul should be turtle-type, which made him naturally slow. Besides, he was heavily wounded and had consumed a huge amount of Spirit Power resisting the Crimson Rending Claw.
Finally, under a large tree, Huo Yuhao found him.
Second Brother was gripping a rabbit-type Spirit Beast, absorbing its life force to recover.
He cursed under his breath,
"What the hell happened? Why did Third Brother suddenly go insane?"
"This is just terrible luck. Without Big Brother, I'll have to go join the Holy Spirit Cult."
Huo Yuhao tapped lightly on the ground and quietly approached. When he was within fifty meters, Second Brother sensed something wrong and suddenly turned, alert and tense.
"Who's there?!"
He dropped the rabbit Spirit Beast, the blood around his mouth still uncleaned, and glared viciously toward Huo Yuhao's direction.
When he was about five steps from a bush, he stopped.
His expression twisted as he lit up his second Spirit Ring—its bright yellow glow stunningly vivid in the dim forest.
"Fiend Fire!"
Ghostly blue flames swept through the entire area, burning every possible hiding place to ash.
Second Brother gasped heavily, his lungs wheezing like a torn bellows. Even using his second Spirit Ability strained him severely.
But the scene before him didn't match his expectations—there were no screams, no sound of an enemy being burned. Only branches crackling in the flames.
He waited until the flames had fully died and confirmed there was no one there before he turned around.
Just as he exhaled in relief—
A sharp, soul-piercing pain erupted from his chest.
Second Brother's blood-shot eyes widened as he slowly lowered his head, seeing a delicate dagger piercing straight through his heart.
The pain made his mind blur, and the world around him warped.
The rabbit Spirit Beast was still in his hands.
He was still sitting under the large tree.
There were no scorch marks around him.
He had never moved at all.
At that moment, he finally understood everything.
He tried to turn his head to see who had killed him, but with his life force draining rapidly, he couldn't. In his final seconds, he trembled and forced out several broken syllables:
"So… so that's it… a spi… spiritual-type…"
Very soon, all strength left his body. His head drooped, his eyes went dull, and the blood pouring from his heart painted a grotesquely beautiful flower on the ground.
Behind him, Huo Yuhao drew out the White Tiger Dagger, flicking it casually to shake off the blood.
He said nothing.
He didn't even spare the corpse a glance.
After confirming the death, he turned and left.