Nine Heart Begonia

"Hm?" Madara suddenly felt as though someone was watching him. Highly alert, he turned his head and scanned the surroundings.

There were experts nearby!

Madara appeared relaxed on the surface, but inwardly, he had raised his guard to the utmost.

"That kid seems to have noticed us?" In the forest some distance away, a figure was crouched silently, completely motionless. Seeing Madara look in their direction, he asked his companion uncertainly.

"You're overthinking it!" His companion clearly disagreed and said somewhat disdainfully, "There isn't even a five-ring Soul Master in that group!"

That was true! How could a mere two-ring Soul Grandmaster possibly discover two Soul Emperors?

"Focus on protecting the young lady!" The voice fell silent again, blending into the surrounding environment.

"What should I call you, Miss?" Lisa felt that, as women, she and the other girl had to have plenty in common, so she confidently moved closer.

The cold girl could not even be bothered to turn her head. She merely glanced at Lisa casually, then let her words go in one ear and out the other.

"How boring!" Lisa returned dejectedly after being thoroughly snubbed.

Although Lisa's martial soul was a fox, she lacked a fox's cunning. Instead, she was more like a silly little fox.

Perhaps Old Fury had spoiled her too much. Even a fox had become a pet!

"What's going on these past few days? Why do I keep running into icebergs like this?" Lisa squatted there boredly, wondering what kind of bad luck she had run into lately.

A few days ago, when Madara had first joined them, she had eagerly gone up to him, only to get the exact same response.

"Hey! Do you want to go ask her?" Lisa began stirring things up again from the side.

"I'm only interested in fighting!" Madara wore the same indifferent expression as he turned and walked away.

Leaving behind only a blank-faced Lisa, utterly disheveled in the wind!

Madara silently stood in a spot that was easy to defend and hard to attack. This was an instinct forged through decades of experience as a shinobi. Yet he had not expected the girl in black to actually walk over on her own.

The girl held one arm with the other hand. A trace of emotion appeared in her eyes as she said in a crisp, ethereal voice, "You're very special. I feel as though I've seen you somewhere before."

"Seen me before?" Madara could not help but sneer, feeling that she was simply looking for trouble.

Seen Madara before? Back when he and Hashirama had formed an alliance and swept across the nations? Or when he had single-handedly crushed the entire Allied Shinobi Forces?

Compared to Madara in his previous life, the girl in black was like mud and dust beneath his feet.

"My name is Ye Lingling!" Madara's disdain did not escape the girl in black, but she did not care in the slightest and instead took the initiative to reveal her name.

Ye Lingling did so because, in this strange person, she seemed to see the shadow of a peerless prodigy—her Soul Fighting team captain and senior.

No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that her senior seemed like Madara's shadow.

Both possessed an indescribable aura, as though everyone else was prey in their eyes—so arrogant and disdainful.

If Madara knew what she was thinking, he would surely fly into a rage.

Since when could an insect with an insect martial soul be mentioned in the same breath as him?

The rest of the group's journey passed peacefully, but danger was everywhere in the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Something feels wrong!" Old Fury was the first to notice the anomaly. Along the way, they had not encountered a single low-level Spirit Beast.

That was highly abnormal! Unless there was an exceptionally powerful Spirit Beast here, claiming this place as its territory!

"Captain! I suggest we stop!" Old Fury raised a hand, bringing the advancing group to a halt. He then stepped forward and discussed it with Li Jia. "There should be something ahead."

"Then we should be cautious. I'll take a few people ahead to scout the way!" Li Jia took it very seriously as well. After all, this old man had spent decades surviving in the Star Dou Great Forest, and caution was always the safest course.

"No need!" Madara suddenly interrupted from the side. He quietly removed the weapon from his back, clearly prepared for battle.

Ye Lingling also stepped out from the protected center of the group and moved to the front, just in time to hear his words.

Before she could ask why, the tremors coming from the distance had already given her the answer.

"Prepare for battle!" Pan Chui shouted so hard that his voice nearly broke.

Under everyone's solemn gazes, a scorpion the size of a calf, its entire body covered in armored plates, crawled out from the depths of the forest step by step.

The scorpion possessed a thick, heavy shell, layered defenses leaving no gaps at all. Its flexible tail swayed continuously, its stinger flashing with a faint jade-green glow. It was clearly highly venomous.

"Roar!" This scorpion Spirit Beast had clearly come with hostile intentions. The moment it appeared, it roared at the group, brimming with aggression.

"Golden Armored Jade Poison Scorpion! This one looks to be around a thousand years old!" Old Fury also served as the group's strategist, and he immediately explained, "It's one of the most troublesome among thousand-year Spirit Beasts. Even a Soul Elder would have only a slim chance of survival if stung!"

"Should we retreat?" Lisa swallowed hard and asked in a trembling voice.

Li Jia gave a bitter smile. Lisa was thinking too simply. Judging by the Spirit Beast's posture, it clearly had no intention of letting them retreat peacefully.

"What's going on?" Even Old Fury was uncertain. "The thousand-year Spirit Beast that was originally here should have been a Soul-Devouring Tiger!"

Madara said nothing. He had encountered this sort of thing countless times in the shinobi world. Before facing an enemy, no one knew what would happen the next second.

But no matter how powerful an enemy was, they would die if killed! So just kill it!

Yet no one had the chance to answer his question now, because the Golden Armored Jade Poison Scorpion, which had been prowling about moments ago, suddenly charged toward them with ferocious momentum.

Do not underestimate this calf-sized scorpion. Once it moved, it was not slow in the slightest—swift as the wind.

Its eight legs scuttled rapidly. Even through the forest, it moved as though on level ground, madly closing in on the group.

Countless ninja tools shot from Madara's hand like streaks of light, his attack far faster than the ranged soul skills the others had only just begun preparing.

Madara had long since noticed that a Soul Master's long-range soul skills all shared one weakness: they had to be used after Martial Soul Possession.

Madara's ninja tool throws did not require so much preparation. They were fast, numerous, and often allowed him to strike first.

However, his previously unstoppable ninja tools suffered a setback this time. Dozens of kunai and shuriken clanged against the scorpion's shell before falling away, leaving only tiny white marks on its sturdy carapace.

The Golden Armored Jade Poison Scorpion shook its body, then continued charging forward completely unharmed. Only then did one long-range counterattack after another come flying in.

Madara had yet to prepare to engage this Spirit Beast in close combat when the melee Soul Masters swarmed forward, intending to use their numerical advantage to hold back the Golden Armored Jade Poison Scorpion.

But they had clearly underestimated the massive scorpion. Every swing of the Golden Armored Jade Poison Scorpion's claws and every sweep of its tail injured a Soul Master.

To those behind them, the Golden Armored Jade Poison Scorpion looked as though it were cutting down grass, advancing as if no one stood in its way.

"Nine Heart Begonia, possess!" A sweet cry rang in everyone's ears, followed by a soul skill glowing with a life-like green radiance.

The Soul Masters who had been gravely injured in battle and were on the verge of death gradually regained their vitality beneath the light.

The Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul had entered the fray!