At the same time, it twisted its thick, long body and lunged toward Feng Piaoling, baring its fangs.
The light shield emitted by the scabbard of the Thunder Tribulation Sword was designed by Feng Piaoling based on his own conception of the protective aura from the Azure Lotus Sword Technique. In addition to possessing excellent defensive capabilities, it could completely isolate toxic gases.
"Courting death." Feng Piaoling completely ignored the Datura Snake's poisonous mist. He poured soul power into the Thunder Tribulation Sword and, using the eighth form of the Nine Gale Sword Technique, 'Wind Leaves No Trace,' as a guide, he executed a backhand flick.
Under the dappled sunlight filtering through the woods, the Thunder Tribulation Sword reflected a cyan sword light, like a continuous breeze through a lonely valley. It sliced cleanly through the Datura Snake's head and proceeded to sever its thick, long body.
The powerful thousand-year Datura Snake, which Tang Ya and Bei Bei had only barely managed to kill in the original story with Huo Yuhao's assistance, didn't even last two moves in Feng Piaoling's hands. It lay on the ground, cut in two, clearly not long for this world.
Tang Ya was stunned, Huo Yuhao was stunned, and Bei Bei was stunned as well.
Deep within Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, the Tian Meng witnessed this scene, and the corners of his mouth twitched violently. Previously, he had almost been hacked by this cunning brat. If not for his powerful spiritual power allowing him to dodge in advance, he would have been finished.
"This Datura Snake is not suitable for me."
Feng Piaoling sheathed his sword. He didn't care how the trio reacted; he simply spoke a few words calmly and leaned against a large tree nearby, cradling his sword.
Tang Ya froze for a moment before blurting out, "So... so powerful."
Bei Bei hurriedly took out a short knife and handed it to her. "Xiao Ya, since Brother Feng doesn't want this Datura Snake, you should go and absorb it. This soul ring happens to suit you."
"Mhm." Tang Ya knew the snake wouldn't survive much longer. After taking the knife, she wasted no time and plunged it into the Datura Snake's eye.
The Datura Snake gave a cry of agony and its life aura vanished completely. Shortly after, a purple soul ring manifested above its corpse.
"Th—Thank you." Tang Ya's lips parted slightly, her gaze toward Feng Piaoling filled with a fair amount of shame. After all, not long ago, she and Bei Bei had stood up for Huo Yuhao and excluded Feng Piaoling.
Seeing Feng Piaoling help his beloved hunt a suitable soul ring, Bei Bei's gaze also showed a hint of apology.
As for Huo Yuhao, seeing Feng Piaoling slay a thousand-year Datura Snake in two strikes made him involuntarily recall his own ten-year Wind Baboon first soul ring. The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. He began to blame Feng Piaoling in his heart—why, why didn't he tell him earlier? If he had known Feng Piaoling had such strength, he never would have absorbed that damned ten-year Wind Baboon ring. He even wondered if his first soul ring might have come from Tian Meng-ge's sacrifice instead.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao once again felt the terror of being dominated by the ten-year Wind Baboon.
Feng Piaoling ignored them, his mind already anticipating what kind of third soul ring Huo Yuhao's providence might provide him.
Regardless of whether a Datura Snake was ideal for the Blue Silver Grass martial soul, it certainly suited Tang Ya, as her first two rings were already of the poison attribute. It was too late for her to switch to the life attribute now.
As for himself, he estimated his third soul ring's age to be between five thousand and ten thousand years. He wondered what kind of soul beast it would be.
Time passed minute by minute as the soul ring was absorbed. Tang Ya's figure seemed to grow slightly more slender, her aura strengthened at an alarming rate, and her skin became more lustrous.
An hour later, Tang Ya finished absorbing the soul ring.
"Phew..." She let out a long breath and slowly opened her eyes. Her beautiful eyes sparkled with spirit, and her entire presence seemed significantly elevated. At this moment, her soul power had reached Rank 31.
"I succeeded!" Tang Ya leaped up excitedly. As she circulated her soul power, three soul rings—two yellow and one purple—rose from beneath her feet.
Before she could share the joy of breaking through to Soul Elder, Feng Piaoling, who had been guarding the perimeter, spoke up. "Since you have finished absorbing, it is time to find a soul ring for me."
"Okay." Feng Piaoling had just killed the Datura Snake for her, so Tang Ya agreed without a second thought.
Since Tang Ya agreed, Bei Bei naturally had no objections. As for Huo Yuhao, he maintained his cold and solitary demeanor. Before receiving the Tian Meng's sacrifice, everything had looked like it provided security to him; now, everything looked displeasing. Unknowingly, the ten-year Wind Baboon soul ring had become an inescapable nightmare for Huo Yuhao.
The four continued deeper into the Great Star Dou Forest.
The formation remained the same: Tang Ya led the way, Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei followed a step behind, and Feng Piaoling was two steps behind. However, they shifted from their previous rapid pace to a steady walk.
As they ventured deeper into the Great Star Dou Forest, the danger increased. They could no longer charge blindly as before; they had to be careful.
Originally, Tang Ya wanted Feng Piaoling to lead the way, as his strength was likely the highest among the four. But Feng Piaoling refused on the grounds that he was not in the habit of leaving his back to others.
Two and a half hours later, the figure of a giant bear lying on the ground came into view. The bear was over five meters long and extremely sturdy, its black fur reflecting a faint metallic luster.
It was clearly suffering from severe injuries, its body covered in blood. It looked as though it had recently fought a powerful soul beast. Seeing the four approach, it merely gave a weak roar and did not stand up. It had clearly lost the ability to move.
Seeing this, Feng Piaoling's mouth twitched slightly. Judging by its physique, this was undoubtedly a Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear. In the original story, a two-thousand-year Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear could defeat a ten-thousand-year soul beast; this one was at least five thousand years old.
Before leaving the Sun Moon Empire, Xu Tianran had bestowed upon him an eighth-level soul tool greatsword. Normally, Feng Piaoling would only be confident in slaying a Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear by utilizing that sword. After all, the creature's defense was terrifying; ordinary means simply couldn't break its guard.
Now, this bear was heavily wounded and immobile, a lamb led to the slaughter. It had to be said—was this the perk of being near the Son of Providence? Following him allowed one to encounter such good fortune.
At the same time, Bei Bei recognized the bear.
"It's actually a Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear, and one that is at least five thousand years old. How could such a powerful soul beast appear on the outskirts of the Great Star Dou Forest?" Bei Bei gasped.
When Tang Ya heard it was a Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear, her face turned pale with fright. It was fortunate the beast was injured; otherwise, all four of them might have died here today.
Huo Yuhao realized the terror of this beast seeing how fearful Bei Bei and Tang Ya were. Just then, the voice of the Tian Meng rang out in his mind:
"Dammit, dammit! This is infuriating! This Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear carries the aura of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast that once hunted me. That beast must have been attracted by the massive energy surge from my sacrifice. It didn't find me, so it casually crippled this bear. Now, it's going to benefit that cunning brat Feng Piaoling! This is infuriating! Simply infuriating!"
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