Chapter 779 – Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 46

Three days later, Mo Lan and the others finally emerged from Giant Toe Meadow and beheld a magnificent stone forest.

Enormous wind-eroded rock pillars stood in bizarre and fantastical formations, casting intricate shadows that shifted continuously with the passage of time.

The air carried the distinctive dry scent of earth and stone, along with a faint, barely perceptible musk of wildness.

“Everyone hold on. According to our reference materials, this is very likely an active territory for the leopard cat clan.” Mo Lan’s gaze swept across the deep crevices and shadows between the rocks.

Although she had no intention of extracting beast core skills anymore, she still needed to collect beast cores to study the skill imprints within them.

The beast cores left behind by her original body’s parents didn’t include one from a phantom leopard cat.

“Look here!” Chen Xingye crouched on a patch of relatively soft sand, pointing at several clear paw prints. “The claws are slender, the stride is long, the movement is light — they look very similar to the wind-stripe leopard cat prints described in the books!”

Almost simultaneously, beneath a shaded rock formation nearby, Bai Wei also noticed something unusual. “There are some scratch marks here. Were they left by a leopard cat?”

Mo Lan walked over and gently traced the scratches with her fingers, noticing that the shadows in the surrounding area were noticeably denser than elsewhere. She said with certainty, “It’s a phantom leopard cat! It sharpened its claws here — the residual trace of faint shadow energy has affected the light.”

She looked up at Wang Jingnan. “It seems we’ll all have something to show for this trip!”

Wang Jingnan’s face lit up with excitement. “Leopard cats are highly alert. Too many people would only spook them. We need to search on our own and regroup here afterward.”

He took a deep breath and retrieved from his storage equipment a pair of boots with a peculiar design, engraved with patterns resembling flowing wind.

These Gale Boots had been specially prepared for hunting wind-stripe leopard cats. Wind-stripe leopard cats were fast, and these boots were the perfect counter.

“I’ll head out first!”

With that, Wang Jingnan departed ahead of the others, following the direction of the paw prints. His speed was remarkable, and within moments he had vanished among the stone pillars.

Mo Lan turned her attention to the traces left by the phantom leopard cat and addressed the others. “I’m heading out too.”

She didn’t swap out any equipment, still wearing her standard field combat gear, gripping her refined iron long blade as she tracked the phantom leopard cat’s trail.

The further she went, the more complex the terrain became, with light and shadow sliced into fragmented, shifting patterns.

After tracking for roughly a quarter of an hour, she stopped before a narrow natural passage formed by three massive stone pillars.

The passage was dimly lit, but at its far end, a sliver of light fell through, illuminating a small clearing.

Right there at the boundary between light and dark, a phantom leopard cat stood — its form sleek and elegant, its body entirely jet-black save for eyes that gleamed with an emerald-green glow. It was surveying its surroundings with wary vigilance.

It seemed to sense something, and a low, threatening growl rumbled from its throat.

Mo Lan didn’t hesitate. She raised her hand, brandishing the high-powered flashlight she had prepared in advance.

A blinding beam of light instantly pierced through the dimness of the passage, engulfing the phantom leopard cat with pinpoint precision.

“Raowl!” The phantom leopard cat let out a sharp howl of pain and fury. The intense light weakened both its strength and its senses. It instinctively leaped backward, trying to retreat into the shadows.

In the instant it leaped back, its figure split in two midair. Two identical phantom leopard cats landed gracefully — one darting into the shadows, the other staying nearby and snarling at her.

It was the phantom leopard cat’s skill — Lesser Mirror Image!

An ordinary person would have inevitably hesitated for a split second, unable to distinguish the real from the fake. But that didn’t apply to Mo Lan, who was well-versed in shadow magic — she had already captured the energy fluctuation.

Mo Lan’s gaze didn’t linger on the lifelike clone for even an instant. The moment she fired the beam of light, she was already shooting forward like an arrow loosed from its string, her target locked squarely on the retreating true body.

The phantom leopard cat clearly hadn’t expected Mo Lan to see through its clone instantly. It had just slipped into the shadows and hadn’t yet had time to fully conceal itself using the environment when Mo Lan’s blade arrived.

The cold flash of steel tore through the air, cleaving straight down!

The leopard cat screeched and twisted to dodge, its speed extraordinary, but the blade still grazed its hind leg, sending a trail of blood droplets scattering through the air.

Now thoroughly enraged, it lashed out with razor-sharp claws, the tearing sound of wind accompanying a strike aimed at Mo Lan’s throat.

Mo Lan parried, stepped back, her footwork steady and grounded. She kept herself positioned where the faint light from behind could still reach her, never allowing the leopard cat to fully meld into the darkness.

Her attacks were clean and efficient. Every swing of her blade targeted the leopard cat’s vital points, forcing it to dodge relentlessly.

The clang and clash of their exchanges echoed between the stone pillars.

The leopard cat grew increasingly agitated. The relentless interference of the bright light was making it deeply uncomfortable. In a moment of reckless, all-or-nothing lunging, Mo Lan deflected its pounce with her blade, leaving it wide open. A cold glint flashed in Mo Lan’s eyes. Her left hand, which had been coiled and ready all along, whipped out a dagger in a swift arc, slicing precisely across its abdomen.

“Mrowl!” The leopard cat’s body went limp, and it crashed heavily to the ground.

It still tried to struggle and flee, but it was already too late.

Mo Lan’s figure leaped high into the air, both hands gripping her refined iron long blade, and brought it crashing down with all her force.

A dull thud. The phantom leopard cat’s body convulsed violently once, then its eyes went unfocused as it lost consciousness completely.

The motionless clone wavered briefly, then dissolved into the air like a bursting bubble, vanishing without a trace.

Silence returned to the stone forest passage, broken only by Mo Lan’s soft panting. Using the storage mirror accessory as cover, she fed the phantom leopard cat’s carcass to the Book of Cards as material, then recreated a {Phantom Leopard Cat Carcass} card and materialized it inside the storage mirror accessory.

Mo Lan retraced her steps and hurried back.

Beneath the stone pillar where the leopard cat traces had first been discovered, the other students were already setting up a simple camp.

Bai Wei was the first to spot Mo Lan and asked in a gentle voice, “Mo Lan, you’re back? Did everything go smoothly?”

Mo Lan nodded, her gaze sweeping across the group before a slight frown creased her brow. “Where’s Wang Jingnan? He hasn’t come back yet?”

“No. Wind-stripe leopard cats are good runners — maybe his tracking took him further than yours. He’s wearing his Gale Boots and came well prepared. Even if he can’t manage to kill a wind-stripe leopard cat, he’ll be fine.” Bai Wei said.

The words had barely left her mouth when a rapid, chaotic thundering of footsteps erupted from deep within the stone forest, interspersed with furious bestial roaring and… Wang Jingnan’s voice, strained with forced composure: “Quick! Get ready to back me up! I’ve brought everyone a ‘gift’!”

Everyone in the camp tensed immediately, turning to look in the direction of the noise.

Wang Jingnan came charging out in the lead, the Gale Boots on his feet flickering with a faint glow, propelling him at such speed that he nearly left afterimages in his wake.

But his appearance at this moment was far from dashing — his hair was disheveled, and his clothes were covered in dust.

And behind him, clouds of dust billowed!

First came five stone-armored badgers, their bodies entirely encased in grayish-brown stone armor, their tusks razor-sharp, snorting furious huffs as they barreled after him with heads lowered. Their heavy footfalls pounded the ground with a booming rhythm.

And that wasn’t all. Behind the stone-armored badgers lumbered two earth-shaker bulls — massive in frame, muscles knotted and rippling, nostrils blasting jets of white vapor.