After Stealing the Soul Ring, Steal the Soul Bone; After Stealing the Soul Bone, Steal Xiao Wu!

"Star Dou Forest lies at the border of the two great empires."

"It is one of the most famous Soul Beast gathering grounds on the entire continent."

"Legend says that there are even Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beasts in its depths."

"Our target this time is in the rocky region on the northern side."

On the way to their destination, Hu Liena gave a brief introduction to the situation.

She was quite familiar with Star Dou Great Forest.

Before she had met Xiao Xuan, she had come here more than once.

She had followed her companions from the Spirit Hall Battle Team to hunt Soul Beasts around its outskirts.

"The intelligence says that, based on reverse deduction..."

"The elder's descendant wasn't the first person to disappear nearby."

"Before this, over a hundred commoner Soul Masters..."

"Entered the rocky region and never came back out."

"However, ordinary Soul Masters already suffered considerable casualties when they came here."

"So no one paid attention at first, until that foppish young master..."

"Hired a group of Soul Masters, insisted on solving the mystery, and then vanished without a trace."

As she said this, Hu Liena's face revealed a look of disdain.

Though she had been a commoner orphan and did not reject nobles outright,

she still looked down from the bottom of her heart on those brainless young dandies.

If you wanted to show off, you needed the capital to back it up.

Take Xiao Xuan, for example. Three Lives Martial Soul, Innate Full Spirit Power, invincible combat strength among those of the same rank.

Any one of those was enough to crush a pretentious fool.

And even with all that, he usually kept a low profile.

A mere descendant of an ordinary elder from Suotuo City's Spirit Hall—

being spoiled into that state, he deserved to die.

"Mm, it is indeed a little strange."

"Judging from the intelligence, it should be the work of the same culprit."

"But whether it was done by a person or a Soul Beast, there's no conclusion for now."

"It says here that among the Soul Masters hired by that fop..."

"The strongest was level forty-two, yet even a Soul Ancestor was no match."

"If it was a single Soul Beast, it must have had at least several thousand years of cultivation—perhaps even more."

"Sister Nana, we should just take a look around and call it a day."

In theory, one could absorb a five-thousand-year soul ring as their fourth ring.

But being able to absorb it and being able to defeat it were two entirely different things.

Without counting auxiliary tools or the superior intelligence of humans,

in terms of combat strength alone, a level-sixty Soul Emperor could not defeat a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast and could only barely protect themselves.

Only a level-seventy Soul Sage had a chance of soloing one.

According to the intelligence, that level-forty-two Soul Ancestor

had a rhinoceros martial soul, a typical beast martial soul with high physical defense and great strength.

If he encountered a dumb brute of a Soul Beast, he could probably contend with one that was two thousand years old.

But if he encountered an attribute that countered him, even fifteen hundred years would be difficult.

Xiao Xuan and Hu Liena working together might still have a chance against the latter.

But if they encountered one that was three or four thousand years old, or even older,

it was better not to act recklessly, just to be safe.

Unless Chrysanthemum Douluo acted personally, their chances of winning were practically zero.

In any case, they had only come here to go through the motions.

There was no need to take it seriously. They could wander around the forest for two days,

then head straight back to Spirit Hall and count the mission as complete.

"Indeed, this mission won't be easy."

"With our strength, dealing with that level-forty-two Soul Ancestor would be simple."

"But facing a Soul Beast that's several thousand years old, even surviving would be a problem."

"We'll just stroll around. As long as we can save face, that'll do."

Hearing Xiao Xuan's analysis, Hu Liena nodded gravely.

Though the two of them were both exceptional geniuses,

they were still young and had yet to fully mature.

Nor could they deliberately develop the habit of relying on Chrysanthemum Douluo.

So they had to act within their capabilities and think things through carefully.

After several days of travel,

they finally reached the edge of the forest, entered the rocky region, and began wandering around according to plan.

"Sister Nana, have you noticed something?"

"This so-called rocky region should be where small Soul Beasts and earth-attribute Soul Beasts prefer to live."

"But we've walked for most of the day, and aside from countless spiders..."

"We haven't seen anything else. That's clearly not normal!"

"It's like... we've entered a spider nest?"

Xiao Xuan carefully observed his surroundings and quickly reached a reasonable conclusion.

His expression was solemn, mixed with helpless disbelief.

That strange feeling he had before coming here was growing stronger and stronger.

Could it really be this much of a coincidence? Did I run into the other one too?

That was right!

Speaking of the outskirts of Star Dou Great Forest,

which spider Soul Beast was the most famous?

Without question, it had to be the Man Faced Demon Spider.

Seeing the countless little spiders all around them,

it was impossible for Xiao Xuan not to make the connection.

"Xiao Xuan, I think we're in trouble."

"Look at the paths these spiders are taking."

"Doesn't it look like they're surrounding us?"

"Most of these small spiders don't even count as Soul Beasts."

"But I can feel that a Soul Beast is definitely hiding nearby."

"Perhaps the disappearance of that fop from the mission has something to do with these spiders!"

The moment Xiao Xuan finished speaking, Hu Liena's gaze also turned wary.

She looked around, her expression growing uglier and uglier.

As she spoke, a pink halo appeared over her body.

Sensing danger, she directly summoned her martial soul.

"I've heard that spiders need to eat heavily before and after laying eggs to replenish their nutrients."

"In the eyes of Soul Masters, Soul Beasts are key to our advancement."

"But in the eyes of Soul Beasts, aren't Soul Masters also the most delicious food?"

"Something's wrong. We should head ba—"

Before Hu Liena could finish, the spider swarm around them suddenly stirred.

Great masses of spiders surged in from every direction.

The sheer number was enough to instantly destroy anyone with a fear of clustered patterns.

At that moment,

several bloated spider Soul Beasts, each as large as boulders,

converged on them from every direction at the same time.

They were each only a few hundred years old and posed little threat individually.

But with more than a dozen of them together, they were still troublesome to deal with.

Seeing this, Xiao Xuan did not underestimate them and released his martial soul.

Golden radiance, dark mist, and scarlet currents

swirled around his body at once, forming an invisible field.

The towering figures of the Three Illusion Gods appeared behind Xiao Xuan, radiating soul-shaking pressure.

Immediately, the spider Soul Beasts approaching them

stopped moving, hesitating as though uncertain.

The next second, they split apart down the middle in unison, clearing a path with respectful postures.

Then, a giant spider appeared, its main body more than one and a half meters in diameter.

Its eight legs stretched over three meters, and strange patterns covered its abdomen.

White stripes vaguely formed the shape of a human face.

It truly was the nightmare of small Soul Beasts,

a terrifying, evil killing monster that devoured all life.

"Damn, did it really have to be such a coincidence?"

"A Man Faced Demon Spider—one that can drop an External Soul Bone."

"And judging by its size, it looks very similar to the one in the original story."

"Its age is probably just over two thousand years too. Could it be..."

Looking at the demon spider closing in, Xiao Xuan was not surprised.

Instead, a helpless smile appeared on his face.

He had already intercepted the Mandala Snake and stolen Tang San's opportunity.

He had not expected to encounter this Soul Beast now as well.

So this is really the rhythm of stealing the soul ring, then stealing the soul bone, then stealing Xiao Wu?