# Chapter 15: Pack of Ghouls
The attack came at dawn, when the spiritual energy mists were thickest and visibility was reduced to barely twenty meters. They were less than a day's march from the Blood Iron Stronghold, following a well-established caravan route that Grakh had assured them was regularly patrolled and relatively safe.
The hobgoblin's definition of "relatively safe" apparently didn't account for the pack of seventeen Corrupted Ghouls that emerged from the mist like nightmares given flesh.
"Defensive formation!" Sarah shouted, her Tactician class immediately analyzing the threat composition and enemy positioning. "They're using the mist for concealment—standard pack hunting tactics with supernatural coordination!"
But even as she called out tactical instructions, Xìng Huáng could see the mathematical reality: seventeen Black Iron - Mid to High level ghouls against three novice cultivators and one mentor who was deliberately limiting his intervention to "training purposes only."
CORRUPTED GHOUL PACK *(17 Enemies)*
Individual Cultivation: BLACK IRON - MID to HIGH
Pack Leader: BLACK IRON - PEAK*
Special Abilities: Mist Concealment, Coordinated Assault, Spiritual Energy Drain
Threat Assessment: EXTREME
The ghouls themselves were grotesque amalgamations of human and beast characteristics—elongated limbs that moved with unnatural joint flexibility, faces that retained enough human features to be disturbing, and claws that dripped with a substance that made the morning air hiss where it touched. Most unsettling were their eyes, which held the intelligence of their former human lives corrupted by whatever process had transformed them.
"These were survivors," Mark said, his Resonance Keeper abilities allowing him to sense the spiritual signatures beneath the corruption. "They used to be people like us."
"Failed cultivators," Grakh confirmed grimly, his massive war-hammer materializing in his hands despite his stated intention to limit involvement. "Humans who attempted rapid advancement through essence theft rather than earned progression. The corruption eventually consumed their original personalities."
The pack leader, distinguishable by the crown of bone spikes that had grown from its skull, fixed its attention on Xìng Huáng with disturbing focus. When it spoke, its voice was a rasping parody of human speech.
"Blood... Seeker... we... smell... your... power..."
"It can sense my class," Xìng Huáng realized. "They're specifically targeting me because I represent the kind of earned advancement they rejected."
The hidden Lord of Greed interface flickered briefly in his peripheral vision, invisible to everyone else:
DIVINE AUTHORITY DETECTED: CORRUPTED ENTITIES
RECOMMENDATION: DEMONSTRATION OF MERIT-BASED SUPERIORITY
HIDDEN CLASS RESONANCE: MODERATE
WARNING: EXCESSIVE POWER DISPLAY MAY REVEAL DIVINE HERITAGE
The message vanished as quickly as it appeared, but its implications were clear. These ghouls represented everything his divine heritage opposed—power gained through theft and corruption rather than earned merit. His hidden class was responding to their presence, but revealing its influence could expose his secret.
"Standard engagement protocols," he called out to Sarah and Mark. "We handle this with our current capabilities. No experimental techniques."
The first wave struck with coordinated precision that spoke to retained tactical intelligence despite their monstrous transformation. Three ghouls burst from the mist on each flank while the remainder created a frontal assault designed to overwhelm their formation through sheer numbers.
Sarah's Tactician abilities shone in the chaotic combat. Her enhanced spatial awareness allowed her to track enemy positions even through the concealment mist, and her tactical commands guided Mark's defensive positioning with supernatural precision.
"Mark, left flank support! Two ghouls incoming, ground-level assault pattern! Xìng Huáng, the pack leader is circling for a isolation strike—don't let them separate you!"
Mark's Resonance Keeper class proved its worth by maintaining group cohesion despite the pack's divide-and-conquer tactics. His spiritual harmony abilities created subtle energy links between the three of them, allowing for coordinated responses even when visual communication was impossible.
But it was Xìng Huáng's Blood Seeker specialization that turned the encounter from desperate defense to active hunting opportunity. Each ghoul he engaged provided tactical data that his Combat Evolution ability immediately processed and integrated.
BLOOD SEEKER ABILITY: WORTHY OPPONENT DETECTION ACTIVATED
ANALYSIS: CORRUPTED GHOULS PROVIDE MODERATE ADVANCEMENT POTENTIAL
DIVINE GREED TRAIT SYNERGY: ENHANCED REWARDS FOR PURIFICATION KILLS
His improvised blade work became a flowing dance of precision strikes, each one guided by the accumulated knowledge of dozens of previous encounters. The Divine Greed trait, synergized with his Blood Seeker class, turned every successful strike into a learning opportunity that enhanced his next attack.
The first ghoul fell to a combination strike that severed both its primary tendons and its spiritual energy circulation—a technique he'd improvised by combining patterns from the Forest Wolves with insights from the Treent Bear encounter. The essence that flowed from its dissolution was cleaner than normal corruption absorption, his trait somehow purifying the stolen power back to its original form.
PURIFICATION KILL ACHIEVED
ENHANCED ESSENCE ABSORPTION: CORRUPTION CLEANSED
COMBAT EVOLUTION: ANTI-CORRUPTION TECHNIQUES LEARNED
"Impressive adaptation," Grakh called out, his war-hammer crushing a ghoul that had attempted to flank Mark's position. "Your class shows excellent compatibility with purification combat. Most Blood Seekers require formal training to achieve those techniques."
But the pack leader had been watching, learning, adapting. As Xìng Huáng engaged the third ghoul, the corrupted entity launched itself from an impossible angle—apparently able to partially phase through the concealment mist itself.
Claws raked across his Crimson Boar Fur Armor, the spiritual energy conductivity actually working against him as the ghoul's corruption attempted to flow directly into his cultivation system. For a terrifying moment, he felt the same essence-theft process that had originally created these monsters trying to establish itself in his meridians.
But the Divine Greed trait reacted with violent rejection of the stolen power. Instead of allowing the corruption to take root, his trait actively purified the ghoul's essence-drain attempt, turning the attack into an inadvertent power donation.
DIVINE AUTHORITY RESONANCE: AUTOMATIC PURIFICATION
CORRUPTION IMMUNITY: TRAIT-BASED PROTECTION ACTIVE
WARNING: PURIFICATION EFFECT VISIBLE TO OBSERVERS
The pack leader stumbled backward, its claws smoking from contact with power that fundamentally rejected everything it represented. The other ghouls hesitated, sensing that their standard attack patterns were not only ineffective but actively counterproductive against this particular opponent.
"What did you do?" Sarah asked, her Tactician abilities detecting the shift in enemy behavior patterns. "They're actually afraid of you now."
"Natural immunity," Xìng Huáng replied, hoping the explanation would satisfy his companions' curiosity. "The Blood Seeker class apparently includes some protection against essence theft."
It wasn't entirely false—his Blood Seeker class did provide resistance to corruption. But the level of purification he'd just demonstrated was clearly beyond normal class abilities. He could only hope that Grakh would attribute it to unusual talent rather than hidden divine heritage.
The remaining combat devolved into systematic elimination as the ghouls' coordination broke down in the face of their inexplicable inability to corrupt their primary target. Sarah's tactical guidance and Mark's group enhancement allowed them to methodically eliminate enemies that should have been far beyond their current capabilities.
When the last ghoul fell—purified by Xìng Huáng's blade rather than simply destroyed—the morning mist began to clear, revealing the aftermath of their victory.
COMBAT RESULTS:
GHOULS ELIMINATED: 17
PURIFICATION ACHIEVEMENTS: 6 *(Personal record)*
CULTIVATION ADVANCEMENT: ALL PARTICIPANTS
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: ANTI-CORRUPTION SPECIALIST DETECTED
But it was the pack leader's final words, spoken as its corruption dissolved under his trait's purification effect, that gave him the most to think about:
"Divine... light... why... do... you... hide... among... mortals...?"
The question hung in the air as the creature's consciousness finally found peace in dissolution. Only Xìng Huáng had been close enough to hear it, but the implications were terrifying. If corrupted entities could sense his divine heritage, how long before more perceptive opponents made the same connection?
"Excellent combat performance," Grakh announced, apparently having missed the pack leader's final words. "Your group coordination has improved dramatically, and the purification techniques were particularly impressive. The Blood Iron Stronghold will be very interested in your progress."
As they resumed their journey, Xìng Huáng found himself walking a increasingly dangerous tightrope. His divine heritage was providing crucial advantages in combat, but those same advantages risked exposing his secret to anyone with sufficient spiritual perception.
The hidden interface flickered one final time:
DIVINE SIGNATURE MANAGEMENT CRITICAL
RECOMMENDATION: DEVELOP MASKING TECHNIQUES
WARNING: CONTINUED EXPOSURE WILL RESULT IN IDENTIFICATION
REMEMBER: SECRECY EQUALS SURVIVAL
He was becoming more powerful, but he was also becoming more visible to forces that could crush him before he reached the strength necessary to defend himself.
The path to godhood was proving to be as much about stealth as it was about strength.