Crackle, pop~
As sparks sputtered from the dry wood and it gradually charred, Xuan Zi was also left quite stunned, his eyelids twitching incessantly. That damned kid—it was one thing for him to fall into the path of an evil soul master himself, but he actually wanted to abduct Shrek Academy's only successor as well.
It was simply... unpardonable!
However, he would likely have to head back first to report to Elder Mu. Seeing that the girl's words were solemn and didn't seem like a joke, it would be disastrous if Elder Mu was caught off guard later.
As for this place, it was still technically the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest's core zone. The probability of encountering a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast was very low, and Zhang Lexuan, Ruo Mu, and the others could handle other ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts.
Let's go.
Xuan Zi took another swig of wine and shook his head.
"I wonder how Elder Mu will respond. Oh well, it's just a pair bound by an ill-fated destiny..."
With that, his figure vanished from atop the tree branch.
...
The night passed without incident.
Zhang Lexuan and Ruo Mu were naturally unaware that Elder Xuan had already departed. They quite confidently led the team further into the depths of the core zone.
The forest grew increasingly dense, with lush ancient trees surrounding them that pierced the clouds, reaching heights of several hundred meters. The light filtering through the leaves became sparser and sparser.
The surroundings grew dark.
"Wait... Something seems wrong."
Ruo Mu's brow furrowed slightly as her figure paused, raising a palm to signal a stop.
The team came to a sudden halt, all eyes falling on Ruo Mu.
This was the core zone of the Star Dou Great Forest. Powerful soul beasts that were rarely seen elsewhere were everywhere here. Even with a powerful teacher leading them, they didn't dare be the least bit careless.
"Senior Sister Ruo Mu, what's wrong?" Seeing Ruo Mu's grave expression, Zhang Lexuan approached and spoke in a low voice.
"The situation isn't right..." Ruo Mu's eyes narrowed slightly as an emerald light rose from beneath her feet, and green vines quietly surged out into the surroundings.
"Such terrifying pressure! No, it's a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast!!" A moment later, Ruo Mu abruptly opened her eyes, her face full of solemnity. "It has sensed our presence and is rapidly approaching!"
"A hundred-thousand-year soul beast?!"
A flash of astonishment crossed Zhang Lexuan's beautiful eyes.
She hadn't expected to encounter such a terrifying existence, one at the top of the food chain in the Star Dou Great Forest, so soon.
"Elder Xuan, we can't handle this... we'll have to ask you to step in." Ruo Mu slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, a smile curling at the corners of her mouth.
Elder Xuan, as a level ninety-eight Super Douluo of the Inner Court, was a top-tier powerhouse on the continent comparable to a four- or five-hundred-thousand-year beast. He could easily handle just one hundred thousand-year-old Soul Beast.
"Just as well... this hundred-thousand-year soul beast will serve as your eighth soul ring," Ruo Mu looked at Zhang Lexuan with a beaming smile.
They had already begun allocating the Soul Ring.
"For me?" Zhang Lexuan lowered her head and murmured softly.
In her memory, that person's seventh soul ring was from a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. Her physical body had been tempered to be extremely powerful from a young age; even her seventh Soul Ring was from a ninety-nine-thousand-year Soul Beast, just one step away from the hundred-thousand-year mark.
But all of this... had been nurtured by his own hands, bit by bit.
She could still remember herself playing playfully in the medicinal baths and the doting look in that person's eyes.
He clearly didn't love her and was clearly the true culprit who killed her family, a cruel and incomparable evil soul master—so why did he go to such great lengths to help nurture her body every day and every month?
While the beauty was lost in a daze, Ruo Mu was becoming a bit bewildered.
"Elder Xuan? Stop joking around; people will really die. There are many disciples at the Spirit King realm in the team; it'll be hard to protect them if we run into a hundred-thousand-year soul beast like this..."
But the surroundings remained deathly silent.
That slovenly old man did not appear.
"Elder Xuan..." Ruo Mu's throat moved, her voice carrying a hint of a tremble.
That old man—he wouldn't have really left them behind to go steal bird eggs or find ingredients for brewing wine in the forest, would he?
This is a fucking hundred-thousand-year-old soul beast, you bastard!
People are really going to die!
...
Star Dou Great Forest.
Periphery of the core zone.
Two dark figures slowly emerged atop a towering ancient tree. The view here was vast, allowing one to see everything within dozens of miles.
"This should be the place..." Crow peered toward the end of his vision, nodding slightly.
"Your crow tracking great method is not bad. I thought your crows were only good for running away," the other dark figure spoke indifferently.
Crow: ⁽⁽(੭ꐦ •̀Д•́ ) ੭* ⁾⁾
"Kid, you're quite arrogant... Let's have another duel when there's time. This old man will definitely let you witness the prestige of my Dark Crow."
"Sure..."
The black robe pulled back its hood, revealing a handsome yet slightly eerie young face. His eyes held a hint of crimson, and a three-legged strange bird was tattooed on his neck.
For some reason, while his looks weren't top-tier, his temperament gave off a captivating and irresistible aura.
"Then I shall wait and see." Lu Cheng curled his lips.
"Tsk tsk... You kid, you were born to be a demonic cultivator." Crow glanced at him, a flash of amazement in his eyes. This guy's foundation was already good, and paired with those Blood Pupils, his wicked and demonic aura was practically a guaranteed kill among the female Disciples of the Holy Spirit Cult.
Who knows how many beautiful female disciples in the cult wanted to climb into his bed... It was said that not long ago, Cain, the young Sect Master of the Mingyu Sect—a subordinate sect of the Holy Spirit Cult—was also so infatuated with him that she couldn't even walk straight.
"Heh, they are all just skeletons beneath the skin." Lu Cheng gave a contemptuous laugh. "If not for wanting to win over the Mingyu Sect, why would I have any dealings with that woman?"
"I always feel like you're playing a big game of chess." Crow frowned slightly, his eyes seriously sizing up Lu Cheng. "But I can never quite understand it..."
Lu Cheng remained indifferent and did not respond.
His impression of Crow was decent; this guy was purely unlucky. Because he cultivated a dark cultivation technique, he was often hunted. Once, unable to endure the frustration, he turned around and killed his pursuer, simply joining the Holy Spirit Cult after that.
Since joining the cult, he had always focused on cultivating dark energy and did not engage in the same actions as other members—relying on devouring the flesh and souls of others or killing the innocent to rapidly increase his cultivation.
"Crow, you're a good person," Lu Cheng sighed softly.
"But good people don't get good rewards..."
Crow: ???
"You must be out of your mind. We've both joined the Holy Spirit Cult; what kind of 'good person' could we be?" Crow sneered, though a hint of nostalgia flashed in his eyes.
If there were a choice, who would want to be a notorious evil soul master, abandoning their past worldly relationships to huddle together with a bunch of bottom-feeders...?
Rumble!!
While the two were chatting, a deafening sound suddenly came from the distance. Looking down from above, billowing dust and smoke rose in the distance, followed by the aftershocks of a battle.
"A hundred-thousand-year soul beast?" Crow's expression was one of shock.
"Didn't they say Xuan Zi was following them? Where did that old thing go? Why is there only a group of young Disciples fighting for their lives?
Are the lives of Shrek's inner academy disciples that worthless?
"You're just realizing that?" Lu Cheng stretched lazily. "Shrek Academy's Inner Academy Disciples are all consumables... If those old fogies in the Sea Gods Pavilion really intended to wipe out the Evil Soul Masters, they wouldn't be sending disciples one by one to their deaths."
"Decadent and bloated—is this Shrek Academy?" Crow lamented. "It seems the Righteous Path and the Demonic Path are both the same."
"But speaking of which..." A playful glint flashed in Crow's eyes. "Are we going to save them?"
Lu Cheng looked down at all of this indifferently.
With his mental force, he could even clearly capture the micro-expressions of every Inner Academy disciple in the battlefield thousands of meters away.
But he was in no hurry to act.
"She's made a lot of progress over these years."
Lu Cheng's gaze fell on a figure dressed in the red and white Inner Court uniform. Her figure had grown taller and more slender, and her jet-black hair was slightly disheveled across her shoulders due to the sudden encounter with a powerful enemy. Her temperament was more mature and steady than three years ago, and her pretty face had become increasingly cold yet soft...
He sighed softly.
"Level seventy-nine, Peak Spirit Saint. She truly deserves the title of Genius. She must be the leader of the third-generation disciples that Shrek Academy is focusing on cultivating." A flash of admiration and playfulness appeared in Crow's eyes.
"However... it looks like your little lover is about to kick the bucket?"
...
Pfft~
Zhang Lexuan spat out a mouthful of blood, her face growing increasingly pale. Clutching her chest, she narrowly avoided the Hundred-thousand-year Blood-Eroding Python's sudden strike and landed on an ancient tree branch, her other hand supporting her against the trunk.
A hundred-thousand-year soul beast was enough to make the vast majority of Spirit Douluo experts close their eyes and wait for death.
Let alone their team, which had only one Spirit Douluo leader, three Spirit Saints, and the rest were inner academy disciples at the Spirit Emperor and Spirit King levels.
"Ah!"
Several screams came from the distance.
Inner Academy disciples were whipped against tree trunks by the blood-eroding python's tail, their clothes corroded by the crimson blood it spat out, and their physical bodies suffered significant trauma...
Yet for some reason, the python clearly hadn't delivered a killing blow.
It only heavily injured the junior brothers and sisters of the Spirit King realm, causing them to lose their ability to move.
"It wants to deal with us first, then take everyone back to its nest to slowly torture and devour us. Its blood-eroding venom can melt our bodies and soul power, turning them into its nourishment," Ruo Mu growled, her eyes turning red.
Elder Xuan's disappearance was now a confirmed fact; they could only rely on themselves now...
"Lexuan, how many more times can you release your Martial Soul True Body?" Ruo Mu pressed her hands together, and a thick sea of trees rose up, striving to briefly trap the Blood-Eroding Python within. She looked urgently at Zhang Lexuan.
"Once! "My soul power is nearly bottomed out," Zhang Lexuan said with difficulty.
That one time would also require using a blood-burning method.
"Old Chen, give Lexuan healing and recovery," Ruo Mu gritted her teeth, feeling the Blood-Eroding Python within the massive wooden cocoon frantically spitting crimson blood, corroding the cocoon. It probably wouldn't hold for much longer.
The only healing-type Spirit Saint in the team gritted his teeth. His Soul Power was also nearly drained, but in a life-or-death moment, he couldn't care about that. He haphazardly stuffed two elixirs for soul power recovery into his mouth, and beams of holy light fell upon Ruo Mu, Zhang Lexuan, and the other Spirit Saint.
"Phew... I'll release the wooden cocoon in three seconds. Lexuan, try to trap it once more. This time, everyone bring out your trump cards. Success or failure depends on this." Having received the recovery treatment, Ruo Mu's complexion looked slightly better. She gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with madness.
"Damn it, it's just a hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beast. You want to devour me? Dream on!"
"Good!"
The others all looked at the wooden cocoon with determined eyes.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
With Ruo Mu's command, the wooden cocoon vanished instantly. The blood-eroding python was dazed for a moment but was immediately trapped by a silver moon, followed by a succession of crackling, violent strikes.
The atmosphere was quite quiet.
Ruo Mu's eyes were bloodshot as she stared intently into the rising smoke.
"Is it over?" The healing spirit saint disciple leaned against a tree, his legs trembling. The feeling of surviving a disaster was truly...
"No! Retreat!"
Ruo Mu's pupils suddenly constricted. Her wooden vines pulled the bodies of the others, violently retreating backward.
At the same time, an extremely foul-smelling crimson liquid splashed onto the tree trunk where everyone had just been standing. The massive ancient tree was instantly corroded into a puddle of sludge, terrifying and gruesome.
Gulp-
Ruo Mu and the others stood silently where they were, watching as the nearly hundred-meter-long giant python slowly crawled out of the dust and mist, flickering its tongue. Its vertical pupils looked down at them indifferently from above.
And in its eyes, there was also a hint of anger.
On its back, large patches of hard scales had fallen off, revealing a large area of severe injury, and blood was also flowing steadily from the python's abdomen...
Clearly, although it wasn't dead, it was in a heavily injured state.
However...
Ruo Mu and the others were in even worse shape.
They were at the end of their ropes.
"Everyone, I'm sorry..." Ruo Mu wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, bitterness flashing in her eyes.
Zhang Lexuan just quietly looked up at the giant python.
Her hairpin emitted a crisp ringing sound.
A hint of relief flashed in her eyes.
If he heard the news of her death... would he be sad?
Perhaps. But for some reason, even though she clearly hated him to the bone, the first person she thought of before her death was that guy.
Hiss!
The giant python flickered its tongue, a mocking and playful glint in its eyes.
It opened its bloody maw and lunged downward to swallow them.
Zhang Lexuan slowly closed her eyes, quietly waiting for death to arrive.
But in the next instant.
BOOM!!!
A roar resounded throughout the entire Star Dou Great Forest.
A blazing Three-Legged Golden Crow, like a rainbow piercing the sun, shot straight through half of the Blood-Eroding Python's head. Countless trees along the way were incinerated, and the terrifying solar essence fire burned the Blood-Eroding Python so badly that it rolled frantically on the ground, wailing.
The Shrek Inner Academy Disciples all looked blankly at this sudden turn of events.
It seemed... they didn't die?
The trace of that arrow was so obvious that everyone immediately looked in the direction it had come from.
As far as their eyes could see, no trace of the archer was visible.
"Such terrifying range, it's at least several miles away..." An inner academy disciple, having survived the disaster, had a look of shock in his eyes.
"Did a powerhouse from the academy come to save us?"
"Why haven't I seen a single elder who uses a bow in all my years in the Inner Court?"
Many Disciples who had joined the Inner Court in recent years, with cultivations at the Spirit King and Spirit Emperor levels, grew excited and chattered about it.
But only the four Spirit Saints and a few Disciples who had joined the Inner Court earlier stood frozen in place, their scalps tingling.
No one knew better than they did.
Who the owner of that arrow was.
The one who once suppressed the entire Inner Court, making countless prodigies tremble, and whose identity as the Saint of the Holy Spirit Cult was exposed three years ago on that night, becoming a taboo existence that could not be mentioned in the Inner Court...
Everyone's gaze shifted to Zhang Lexuan.
But the beauty was frozen in place, staring blankly into the distance.
Her eyes were vacant.
"Haven't seen you in three years, yet you're still this weak..."
A playful voice rang out leisurely.
Two black-robed figures slowly emerged in everyone's field of vision.
"My dear... sister."
The leading black-robed youth looked down at the beauty with a light laugh and spoke slowly.
Notes:
ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
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