TDG : rise of shadow army

"That Nie Li, he actually told me to be the bait. Outrageous!" Lu Piao muttered as he looked at the charging horned sheep. Fear gripped him, and he stumbled as he ran backward.

Chan Wei, meanwhile, remained in his assigned position, holding his newly engraved dagger, ready to act if something went wrong. Looking more threatening than Lu Piao, the horned sheep shifted its focus and charged at him instead.

Du Ze and Nie Li were hiding in the bushes, each holding a crossbow.

"My god! This horned sheep is terrifying! Shoot it, shoot it!" Lu Piao yelled as he saw the sheep getting closer, running nonstop.

"That Lu Piao! Didn't we agree he'd stay still and not move? The horned sheep would've fallen into the trap. Luckily, Brother Chan Wei stuck to the plan, and the sheep is now targeting him," Nie Li said.

The trap was a shallow pit, only two fingers deep, designed to fracture the sheep's leg if it stepped in. Shooting it with bolts after it fell would ensure a swift kill. The sheep charged like a devil and stumbled into the trap five meters from Chan Wei.

It collapsed with a thud, letting out cries of pain before two crossbow bolts pierced its body. A few moments later, it lay still, lifeless.

"So fast!" Du Ze was astonished. He hadn't expected Nie Li's concoction to have such a potent effect. Within moments, the robust sheep had completely succumbed.

Lu Piao was also shocked. He knew the strength of these horned sheep—they had the power of two Bronze-ranked Fighters combined. Normally, it would take a long time to bring one down, but this sheep had been defeated with just a simple trap and two bolts.

"That was too exciting!" Lu Piao exclaimed.

"If you hadn't run, that horned sheep wouldn't have been a threat to you," Nie Li said with a faint laugh. "Luckily, Brother Chan Wei stayed put, so the sheep focused on him."

"Alright," Lu Piao muttered, his face turning red. He hadn't followed the plan and panicked the moment the sheep charged at him.

Seeing the fallen sheep, Lu Piao felt like he was still dreaming. Nie Li's actions over the past two days were deeply engraved in his mind, filling him with admiration. For the first time in his life, Lu Piao truly admired someone.

"Hurry up and harvest it. We only need the horns, the neck fur, the demon crystal, and the demon spirit!" Nie Li ordered.

The demon crystal and demon spirit of a horned sheep are located in its brain. Demon crystals are thumb-sized, and most demon beasts have one. As for the demon spirit, only one or two appear among tens of thousands of horned sheep. The demon spirit resembles the flame of a candle. A horned sheep with a demon spirit is usually stronger than the rest.

Chan Wei approached the sheep and noticed something floating in its shadow. He moved closer and tried to extract it. Surprisingly, the shadow resisted more than he expected, clinging tightly to the sheep's lifeless body.

But Chan Wei gripped the shadow with his hand and pulled it from its anchor. Once freed, the shadow stopped resisting and stayed docilely beside Chan Wei.

Nie Li, Du Ze, and Lu Piao froze in shock at this display. Nie Li stepped forward cautiously, but the shadow, in the form of the sheep, lowered itself into an attacking stance, ready to charge.

"Stop! Calm down; they're my friends. Rest," Chan Wei commanded.

The shadow sheep calmed down, moved behind Chan Wei, and then merged into his shadow.

"What was that?" Lu Piao asked, pointing at Chan Wei with a wide-eyed, ecstatic expression.

Nie Li was still lost in thought, while Du Ze remained speechless.

"I don't know," Chan Wei replied. "But I sensed a fairly pure Yin energy. When I tried to grab it, it materialized into the form of the sheep."

He looked puzzled but noted another detail. Pulling the shadow had required both his physical and soul strength, leaving him fatigued. However, when the shadow merged into his own, his energy returned, and he felt stronger, though he hadn't yet crossed the threshold to Bronze rank.

Nie Li snapped out of his thoughts and approached Chan Wei, helping him stand since he was still crouched beside the body.

"Can you inject your soul force into the crystal? I want to check something," Nie Li asked.

Chan Wei nodded, took the crystal, and focused his soul force into it. His soul force now measured 86, even though only four hours had passed since his last measurement.

He stared at the crystal, perplexed, then summoned the shadow sheep again. Observing the crystal, he noted that his soul force level hadn't decreased. He allowed the shadow to return to his own, satisfied yet puzzled.

A bit surprised by the sudden appearance, Nie Li had an epiphany. "You're lucky, Brother. I have exactly the cultivation method you need thanks to this demonstration. Listen carefully; the name of this method is Sovereign God of Darkness." Nie Li then taught the chant, and as Chan Wei repeated it, a small shadow of the horned sheep appeared on the ground before him, bowing repeatedly. Then, there was a booming sound.

Chan Wei had just broken through to Bronze rank as a Demon Spiritualist.

"I feel like my body is overflowing with energy. Thank you, Brother Nie Li. I'll never forget this favor of yours. If you ever need anything from me, just ask," Chan Wei said, bowing deeply to Nie Li.

"Brother, there's no need to bow," Nie Li said. "Let me explain: this cultivation method can only be used with your specific soul form and a special male body type called the Yin King. Normally, men only possess the Yang attribute. You do as well, but you also have a powerful control over Yin energy, as demonstrated in class.

Fear auras used by Fighters will have no effect on you unless there's a significant gap in cultivation. But I see you have something else on your mind?" Nie Li asked, observing Chan Wei.

"Nie Li, you remember the friend I mentioned with Arctic Illness? I think part of her problem comes from her cultivation method. Do you think you could fix it if I bring her to you?" Chan Wei asked, silently praying for Nie Li's agreement.

"No problem. When we return to the institute, you can ask her. For now, let's continue hunting," Nie Li said.

Horned sheep are relatively low-level creatures, only 1-star Bronze-ranked demon beasts.

Their materials are moderately priced. A pair of horns could sell for five demon spirit coins, and the neck fur for three. As for the demon crystal, it could fetch five demon spirit coins. Altogether, even without a demon spirit, a single horned sheep could earn about thirteen demon spirit coins.

It took them at most one minute to kill a horned sheep. At this rate, wouldn't the four of them earn thousands of demon spirit coins in a single day? Du Ze couldn't help but feel excited.

His family was very poor, with an annual income of only two to three thousand demon spirit coins. To enroll Du Ze in the Holy Orchid Institute, his family had borrowed money from friends and relatives. Du Ze was their family's hope! If he hunted horned sheep with Nie Li, he could eventually pay his tuition himself.

Nie Li smiled and said, "We need to move a bit faster. No rest tonight!"

"Understood!" Du Ze responded enthusiastically.

Although they hadn't yet reached 1-star Bronze rank, their bodies were exceptionally strong. Staying up all night wasn't a big deal.

Lu Piao, however, couldn't help but whine. These two were simply money-hungry. They were giving up sleep for money! Despite his complaints, he had no choice. After all, he had boarded this pirate ship willingly.

The four worked closely together, continuously hunting horned sheep. After killing dozens, Lu Piao took the materials to sell while Chan Wei continued extracting their shadows. After twenty shadows, however, Chan Wei found himself unable to extract more.

According to Nie Li, this was likely due to his soul force. Even though he had reached 2-star Bronze rank, it appeared to be his current limit. However, they made an interesting discovery: Chan Wei could embed the refined shadows into empty demon crystals, imbuing them with mutated horned sheep demon spirits. This increased their value to twenty demon spirit coins each.

Over time, as Chan Wei refined more shadows, hunting horned sheep became easier. The shadows he retained grew stronger, reaching close to 2-star Bronze rank.

In one night, Nie Li's group hunted approximately 120 horned sheep, selling the materials for about four thousand demon spirit coins. Splitting the money evenly, each received roughly one thousand demon spirit coins.

This sum was incredible for someone who hadn't even reached 1-star Bronze rank. Even for a Bronze-ranked Fighter, earning twenty to thirty demon spirit coins per day was considered a lot.

For seven consecutive days, they attended classes during the day—except Chan Wei, who cultivated in his room—and at night, all four returned to the training grounds to hunt horned sheep.

Their earnings now totaled over thirty thousand demon spirit coins, an enormous fortune for them. Meanwhile, Chan Wei had successfully reached 3-star Bronze rank, despite the dwindling population of horned sheep. He could now maintain thirty shadows, most of which were 2-star Bronze rank.

On the eighth consecutive night, Nie Li's group was hunting horned sheep in the darkness. The sky was pitch black, and it was already midnight. Lu Piao yawned and said, "Nie Li, I can't go on. I'm taking a nap in the tree."

Seven straight days of uninterrupted horned sheep hunting had left him utterly exhausted. Not just Lu Piao, but even Du Ze was at his limit.

"Nie Li, I need to sleep too," Du Ze said, his eyelids drooping after seven sleepless days. Even a man of steel couldn't endure such strain.

"Perfect, this is just the moment I was waiting for. Plus, I can already sense Xiao Ning'er's Yin energy and her direction," Chan Wei thought.

"You two go ahead and rest. We'll stop hunting tomorrow night; I have other plans," Nie Li said.

With over thirty thousand demon spirit coins in hand, they had accumulated their first fortune. It was no longer necessary to hunt horned sheep.

Lu Piao and Du Ze climbed a large tree, lay down on a branch, and fell asleep immediately. Their youthful faces showed utter exhaustion. Although they were both somewhat precocious, they were still just teenagers.

With no large demon beasts in the area, it was extremely safe.

"Sorry, Brother Nie Li, but I need to go meet my friend. Besides, I'm not tired, and I completely forgot to follow up with her about her illness. I won't be long. See you at the institute tomorrow," Chan Wei said before heading in Xiao Ning'er's direction.

(Author's Note: I'll leave you with this for the week. I hope you won't be too harsh, but to elaborate on my way of interacting with Nie Li and his group, this is partly why I'm writing a TDG fanfic in the first place. I don't like stories where the MC of the fic overshadows the main character for no reason or with some overpowered system—unless the main character actually deserves it. In the original, Nie Li is supposed to be someone with thousands of years of experience, so someone from our world, accustomed to comfort or even a regular soldier capable of enduring the hardships of training, isn't supposed to overshadow a guy like that. But hey, these are just my thoughts. That's why my character starts as a follower, and we'll see where it goes from there ^^)