Chapter 24: First Battle, Views on Hunting Spirit Beasts
Long-term habits are all knowledge, life is hidden within punches and kicks.
Even the simple, labor-saving movements of a daily carriage driver, when performed by Tang Shan, revealed a bone-chilling murderous intent.
He bent over naturally, like an old farmer tilling the land, and the sharp claws just happened to flash over his head.
Tang Shan's expression did not change; he rose with the momentum, looking like an old farmer swinging a hoe high, his hands clenched into fists and brought down naturally, landing precisely on the connection between the hyena's neck and shoulder.
Crackle!
A series of crisp bone-breaking sounds rang out one after another. The hyena's shoulder bones and ribs shattered in succession; it was now gasping more than it was breathing, its life hanging by a thread.
He swept his hands horizontally, the movement like a commoner carrying water, straightaway flipping the hyena attacking from the side onto the ground; his fists then fell like heavy hammers, just like a blacksmith forging metal—decisive and ruthless.
The hand-to-hand combat Moves Tang Shan displayed, in the eyes of the onlookers Su Haichao and Su Yuan, possessed neither a sense of power nor beauty; they were clearly just the daily movements of ordinary people. Yet, these seemingly ordinary and simple actions brought catastrophic disaster to this group of ten-year Spirit Beasts.
A graze meant death, a touch meant injury; flesh and shattered bones flew together, brains and the vast sky merged into one color.
On the other side, Su Yuntao's movements were far from as composed as Tang Shan's, instead revealing a ferocity like a vicious wolf.
The only hundred-year spirit ring on his body lit up, and his First Soul Skill "Berserk" was triggered, increasing speed by 50% and strength by 25%.
With such percentage boosts, combined with his increasingly formidable physical fitness after long-term training, Su Yuntao charged into the hyena pack, turning it into a one-sided Slaughter.
His sharp wolf claws reached straight down, instantly ripping open the abdomen and heart, grabbing and crushing the prey's burning heart; while his other hand swatted the hyena away, he simultaneously tore open its throat, a clean and decisive fatal blow.
Slaughter, Slaughter, and more Slaughter; the results of long-term training were finally fully displayed today.
Su Yuan raised an eyebrow and said: "Hall Master Su, these two children of yours are truly formidable, especially the one with the Body Martial Soul. Grandmaster certainly lives up to his reputation, being able to train a quasi-Spirit Master with a Body Martial Soul to such excellent combat effectiveness. And that seemingly simple and clumsy fighting style, it must be the Self-Created Soul Skill passed down by Grandmaster."
Facing the praise, Su Haichao did not need to say much, simply beaming with a bright smile and nodding slightly in response.
"However..." Su Yuan paused, his tone carrying a hint of hesitation.
"Old Su, feel free to speak your mind." Su Haichao frowned slightly, unsure of what the other party was concerned about.
Su Yuan sighed and said bluntly: "Fine, Hall Master Su, we have known each other for many years, so I won't beat around the bush. Aren't these two children a bit too brutal? If they could lighten their strength and leave a way for these Spirit Beasts to live, it would be better. Otherwise, what will Spirit Masters do in the future when there are no spirit rings to absorb?"
Hearing this, Su Haichao's brow relaxed, and he looked curious: "How could you have such thoughts? This doesn't seem like your usual straightforward nature, Su Yuan."
Su Yuan pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and revealed a wry smile: "This is the proposition of Yu Xiaogang, who is staying at my academy. Although his so-called Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls are nonsense and contradictory, I quite agree with this point about Spirit Beast protection."
Su Haichao had a strange smile on his face and said: "For this question, it's better to let Grandmaster's... Disciple explain it to you."
He was holding back so much that he almost slipped up, but fortunately, he paused in time and did not arouse Su Yuan's suspicion.
Amidst continuous air explosions, one Spirit Beast life after another vanished. By the time Tang Shan stopped again, there was not a single hyena left standing beside him.
White light spots drifted out from the beast corpses, condensed, and finally merged into ten-year spirit rings.
At this moment, as long as Tang Shan was willing, a slight movement of his mind could pull a spirit ring to absorb and break through his Realm, but he would absolutely not do so.
In Tang Shan's eyes, every Breakthrough in Realm was a qualitative change for his Spirit, and he would never waste such a heaven-sent opportunity.
He took out water from the storage spirit tool gifted by his father, washed off the bloodstains on his body, and then slowly breathed out.
Looking at the blood covering the ground, Tang Shan was unexpectedly calm, without half of the expected nausea; he didn't know if it was because of his own strong adaptability or because his mental force was tough enough.
"Little brother, you are still the better one; big brother admits defeat willingly this time." Su Yuntao deactivated his Martial Soul Possession, tidied up a bit, patted Tang Shan on the shoulder, and the brothers walked back with their arms around each other's shoulders.
"Shan Zi, your Uncle Su has some doubts; you should talk to him properly." Su Haichao smiled and tilted his chin, signaling Su Yuan to ask quickly.
Su Yuan looked at Su Haichao helplessly and asked the previous question again, his tone deliberately much more tactful.
After all, Tang Shan was still just a child; if there really were any problems, they could be corrected slowly later, no need to be overly harsh.
Su Yuntao's expression was also quite peculiar, and he did not interject.
After listening to the inquiry, Tang Shan understood the proposition of that "Grandmaster," the corner of his mouth twitched, and his eyes rolled.
After organizing his thoughts, he first held up a finger, his expression serious: "Dean Su, I have also asked my master this question, and he only asked me two questions in return at that time. Now, I will ask Dean Su the same questions."
Hearing that it was Grandmaster's question, Su Yuan immediately looked solemn: "Tang Shan, please speak."
In his view, this was not Tang Shan asking; it was clearly a wise old man indirectly conversing with him through Tang Shan.
"First, these Spirit Beasts took the initiative to kill us, and we killed them all; is there anything wrong with that?"
These words left Su Yuan speechless for a moment; subjectively speaking, if the other party wanted to kill you, and you fought back and killed them, it was naturally justifiable.
"But killing too many will affect the subsequent acquisition of spirit rings by Spirit Masters, which is ultimately not very good." Dean Su's tone of rebuttal lacked confidence, clearly also feeling that relying solely on this point to make them spare the Spirit Beasts was really untenable.
"Then second, may I ask Dean Su, are there more Spirit Beasts consumed by carnivorous Spirit Beasts daily, or more Spirit Beasts hunted by us Spirit Masters?"
This question completely stunned Su Yuan. Yes, even if the demand of Spirit Masters for Spirit Beasts was large, it was far less than the daily food consumption of carnivorous Spirit Beasts. Moreover, many carnivorous Spirit Beasts would discard leftover food when resources were abundant, causing even more waste.
Calculating this way, excluding differences in food intake, on average, one carnivorous Spirit Beast eats at least three other Spirit Beasts every day, requiring thousands per year. The number of carnivorous Spirit Beasts in the entire Spirit Beast area is huge; how shocking is the consumption?
This was Tang Shan's fundamental view on hunting Spirit Beasts.
As for the subsequent exhaustion of the Douluo Star's life core, the transformation of the environment due to the progress of human spirit tools, and the rise of the Spirit Pagoda leading to the extinction of Spirit Beasts, Tang Shan had not personally experienced these things, so it was not convenient for him to make rash judgments.
But to say that human over-hunting was one of the factors in the extinction of Spirit Beasts, Tang Shan only felt it was laughable—why don't the Spirit Beasts calculate how many of their own kind they consume daily through predation? It can't be that what they eat doesn't count as a reduction, while what humans kill counts as over-hunting.
Tang Shan indeed would not actively Slaughter Spirit Beasts for the sake of Spirit Bones, but if the Spirit Beasts came to his door to die, he would never be soft-hearted.
Furthermore, if these Spirit Beast corpses rotted here after he left, it would be fine, but most of the time, after Spirit Masters absorbed spirit rings and left, the remaining beast corpses would "mysteriously disappear." Where these corpses went was truly puzzling.
"Old Su, do you understand now? The strong among the Spirit Beasts don't worry about the population of their clans; why should we humans, who only hunt for spirit rings, worry about them blindly?" Su Haichao patted Su Yuan's shoulder, signaling him to snap out of it.
Su Yuan rubbed his cheeks with a wry smile and self-deprecatingly said: "I really lost my mind. Knowing that Yu Xiaogang doesn't even count as a real Grandmaster, and it's hard for him to have real talent and learning, I was actually influenced by his propositions in the end. Yes, the Spirit Beasts themselves don't count how many of their own kind they consume every day; why should we Spirit Masters worry about them blindly?"
Listening to Su Yuan indirectly praising Grandmaster, Tang Shan felt so awkward that his toes were curling, full of helplessness.
"Alright, let's continue moving forward; while it's still early, let's go deeper into the forest." Su Yuan finally broke free from his self-doubt, taking the initiative to scout the path ahead, while Su Haichao brought up the rear of the team, guarding against Spirit Beast sneak attacks.
"This is a seven-hundred-year-old Green-Eyed Wolf, Yuntao, do you want it?" Su Yuan's inquiry came from the front.
Su Yuntao's eyes lit up, and he replied: "Uncle Su, I won't absorb this Spirit Beast's spirit ring, but I want to fight it to gain experience; please help me guard the flank."
Seeing that Su Haichao did not object, Su Yuan agreed and stood to the side to observe carefully.
Tang Shan watched Su Yuntao's battle intently, witnessing every bit of his growth, and became more and more convinced of his own ideas.
Everyone has their own exclusive path of growth, and big brother is the same. Mimicking the habits of wolf-type Spirit Beasts and then honing himself through a large amount of actual combat might be the path big brother should take; Titled Douluo might not be his limit.
Awoo!
A miserable howl resounded through the forest; the Green-Eyed Wolf was swatted away by Su Yuntao with one palm. Su Yuntao did not pursue, retracted his Martial Soul, and rejoined the team.
The four set off again; the sun gradually rose and then slowly set. During this time, although they encountered many Spirit Beasts suitable for Tang Shan's and Su Yuntao's Spirits, basically none of them met the age requirement.
The most suitable among them were a nearly nine-hundred-year-old Thousand Jin Ant and an eight-hundred-and-seventy-plus-year-old Storm Wolf.
Su Yuntao certainly could not absorb them. His first spirit ring was already six hundred years old, and after long-term training, if he absorbed a hundred-year spirit ring now and gave up a thousand-year second spirit ring, it could be said that all his previous efforts would be wasted.
Tang Shan was also not particularly satisfied. If it were a nine-hundred-year-old Diamond Mammoth, he might barely accept it, but the Thousand Jin Ant had no advantages, and the age was not enough, so he would definitely not consider it.
The setting sun went down, and the day was about to come to an end. The four, who had gained nothing, were not impatient; after all, it was only the first day of searching for spirit rings.
Many Spirit Masters, even if they reached a Bottleneck for a Breakthrough, would often stall for months unable to advance because they could not find a suitable Spirit Beast. Having no harvest in one day was completely normal.
The group found an open space. Su Haichao took out two tents and had Tang Shan and Su Yuntao set them up; he and Su Yuan went in two different directions to sweep and inspect the surrounding area, and also sprinkled some beast-repelling powder to guard against Spirit Beast harassment at night.
Although they didn't know how effective it would be, it was better than nothing.
After the tents were set up, Tang Shan started a campfire. This was not the Star Dou Great Forest, just an ordinary Soul Hunting Forest; even if it attracted a small number of Spirit Beasts, with the strength of two Spirit Ancestors, they could easily resolve it.
PS: Breakthrough tomorrow, please collect, recommend tickets, monthly tickets, comments, please everything, the small author bows and thanks everyone here.
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