Chapter 68 - Man-Made Calamity

“Found them... so they were here, huh.”

Luo He finally spoke.

He stood in front of Su Huanhuan, whose expression was grim, looking at these pained and ferocious resentful spirits.

“The resentment I didn't see at those corpses earlier, so it was all planted inside this tiger demon's body.”

“This is also caused by that evil art?”

When Su Huanhuan saw Luo He walk in front of her, a trace of a smile flashed in her eyes, and the bit of nervousness she originally had also vanished along with it.

She lazily stood to one side and leisurely replied:

“Perhaps, ah. It's not strange at all for this bunch of half-baked amateurs without a proper lineage to concoct whatever weird thing.”

“I was wondering at first, how they could actually raise this tiger demon to the Crystallization Realm just by feeding it mortals... it seems it also had this thing boosting it.”

Only to see these several dozen resentful souls spontaneously form the appearance of a human-faced tiger... This is perhaps the so-called Tiger's Thrall Ghost.

And the main body within it was clearly this tiger demon's original spiritual soul appearance.

It had long since been chewed and devoured by these resentful souls until it was incomparably fragmented.

What it emitted was no longer a tiger's roar, but one deep curse and wail after another.

“......”

Regarding this, Luo He did not speak.

He slowly reached behind his own head, took something down, and afterwards, his hair, which was originally tied up, fell loose.

And in his hand appeared an elegantly shaped, small flute.

He also only knew after waking up that this Willow Flute Huoxin had given him back then... was also a soul artifact, just like the A'Jiao Umbrella.

Back then, he saw the ghost child beside Huoxin could command the souls of the dead by playing this flute; now, he also planned to give it a try.

Luo He brought the flute to his lips.

Clearly, no air could come from his mouth, yet the sound of the flute still drifted out.

The Luo He from a much, much more distant time, once had a period of being passionate about musical instruments.

At that time, his beginner song was named Red River Valley.

This was, after his soul, having experienced many storms, traveled here, one of the few he remembered, a true, little tune from his homeland.

Following his playing, the resentful souls began to stir restlessly.

A quarrel seemed to break out among them; some wanted to break free from this twisted soul shackle, while others wanted to keep them, to continue forming this Tiger's Thrall Ghost.

By the time the last note fell, its entire body was already on the verge of collapsing and breaking apart.

Luo He lowered the flute, quietly watching them.

“The world is vast; there is always a place for you to return to.”

“Go home.”

Go home...

Su Huanhuan looked at Luo He's side profile.

And where is your home?

Whoosh!

A gust of wind blew over, scattering the Tiger's Thrall's body.

The resentful souls, having shed their resentment qi, scattered and flew in all directions.

They were originally just a group of mortals; even if their resentment was deep, it wasn't strong.

Otherwise, with just Luo He's meager appeasement method, how could it possibly have been shaken.

But even so, after these resentful souls gradually dissipated between heaven and earth, Luo He still felt a faint, indistinct golden light enter his body...

It seemed to strengthen his soul power, making his body look a bit more solidified.

It was like his 'saint value' had increased by one.

Luo He put away the Willow Flute.

“Luo He...”

“Mm?”

“That flute of yours, where did it come from?”

“Oh, someone gave it to me.”

“...Who gave it to you?”

“......”

Luo He hesitated whether to tell her about Huoxin's existence.

If he said it, it seemed like nothing.

If he didn't say it, it also seemed like nothing.

After thinking about it, Luo He felt he should just say it. Looking at it now, it was clear his relationship with Su Huanhuan was a bit better.

“Huoxin gave it to me.”

“Huoxin... wait, who?!”

“Huoxin.”

“Her?”

“Mm, we got along quite well later. Actually, I think she's a bit cute too.”

“......”

Su Huanhuan didn't speak, but from her expression, Luo He felt she was saying to him, 'you're fucking crazy'.

Alas, people's preconceptions are hard to change.

However, Su Huanhuan's ability to accept things was very strong; she quickly stopped dwelling on this point.

At this moment, she also noticed that after those resentful souls left, there was still a small, thin figure lying in the middle.

Tiny, somewhat furry, it formed a sharp contrast with the huge, ferocious body beside it.

It was the tiger demon's soul.

Ever since the resentful souls broke free from its body, its physical body had already died.

It was just that after the resentful souls left, its spiritual soul still remained here, and it faintly carried a trace of blood color.

Luo He gently lifted it up and slowly began to examine its spiritual soul...

A rather intelligent little tiger, captured and brought into the mountain village, forced to drink human blood.

It was imprisoned by techniques, its body and spirit tortured, its will and desires suppressed. For these past ten years, the only food it could get was living people.

The villagers treated it as a blood pump. Every time after it ate a person, they would draw its essence blood and break its demon bones.

It didn't like eating people; eating people brought it pain.

Those people who died in its mouth were also torturing it, driving it mad.

It wanted revenge, both for itself and for these people it had eaten.

Its thoughts were very simple, so simple that Luo He could know them all with just a light sweep.

Su Huanhuan, however, looked at the tiger demon soul in his hand and continued to speak:

“The last step in raising a demon is to take its soul and refine it into a soul pill; it is greatly beneficial for nourishing the spiritual soul.”

“I have the pill formula, and I also know where the other medicinal ingredients are... This one Crystallization demon soul can probably spare you from absorbing human vitality for several decades.”

From the very beginning, she was after this tiger demon itself.

Otherwise, the moment she sensed the evil art on that old man, she would have struck and killed him to avoid further complications.

But Luo He ignored Su Huanhuan. He looked at the tiger demon soul in his hand; clearly, due to the gnawing of those resentful souls, it could be considered fragmented and tattered at this moment, incomparably weak.

It was tightly curled into a ball, as if asleep.

“We can be considered to have helped it get revenge. It's just a remnant soul now. A give and take, it doesn't count as seizing by force.”

“Perhaps.”

Luo He replied faintly, then reached out and tapped a finger; strands of soul power flowed from his fingertip into the tiger demon's body.

“Hey, you...”

Su Huanhuan was stunned for a moment, then sighed.

“You cultivated a little spiritual energy, then used it to open that little fool Liu Shuishui's meridians; you saved up a little soul power, and now you're using it to nourish this half-dead little demon spirit.”

“Don't you leave anything for yourself?”

“It's no great loss to me. What's the use of keeping it?”

“This tiger demon's aura from eating humans still can't be changed. It'll be a big problem if it's seen by people. You don't care about that at all?”

“Your aura from killing people and practicing demonic arts also can't be changed. It's also a big problem if you're seen by people. Don't I also not care?”

“......”

Su Huanhuan stared fixedly at Luo He.

Luo He smiled and patted Su Huanhuan's head.

“Just kidding. You're a bit more important to me.”

“Don't pat my head!”

Su Huanhuan dodged Luo He's hand.

At this moment, the tiger demon in his hand also woke up.

It clearly had no human form at all, yet it always had a human-like emotional feel. At this moment, it opened its eyes like a newborn baby that had just woken up.

As expected, ah, they were a field of scarlet blood-red.

Luo He lifted it up before his own eyes, smiling as he looked at it.

“You're awake?”

“......”

The tiger demon, of course, couldn't answer him.

But in its simple consciousness, it could feel a familiar and warm aura from this person's body before it.

This same aura was also flowing within its own spiritual soul.

This was the first time this little tiger had experienced, since its birth...

The feeling of being protected.

It's just like a little cat.

Luo He tried to pet it... Tsk, couldn't pet it.

“Outside Xianfeng City, on a small mountain peak that doesn't have a name yet, there is a small bamboo forest. It's a beautiful place with clear mountains and green waters.”

“Later on, I'll take you there to live, how about it.”

“......”

The little cat didn't speak, nor did it really understand.

It just followed its instincts and licked the back of Luo He's hand.

Of course, it didn't lick anything either.

But Luo He interpreted this as it agreeing.

“From today on, I'll call you Mimi.”

Luo He tucked the little cat, along with the Autumn Maiden Sword Soul, into his bosom.