Head Down?!

At this moment, Tang San had already killed the severely wounded Man Faced Demon Spider and begun absorbing its Spirit Ring. Since the Unrivaled Dragon Serpent couple had been badly injured by Gu Chen and Gu Yuena, they naturally would not come out to snatch the Spirit Ring again.

Because he was absorbing a Spirit Ring beyond his limit, even after several years of body training, Tang San still found it rather difficult to absorb the Man Faced Demon Spider's Spirit Ring.

Everyone from Shrek Academy wore grave expressions. Within the circle surrounding them, Tang San, who sat cross-legged at the center absorbing the Spirit Ring, could no longer be seen. His entire body was shrouded in a faint reddish mist.

The red within the mist was not the glow of Soul Power, but Tang San's blood.

Not long ago, as violent Soul Power fluctuations erupted from his body, a layer of fine blood droplets began seeping from Tang San's skin. As they evaporated into the air with his Soul Power, they became this faint reddish mist.

Tang San's brows were tightly furrowed, his lips pressed together. His body continued to convulse without pause, and combined with the blood droplets emerging from beneath his skin, it was easy to imagine just how intense the pain he was enduring was.

However, thanks to the foundation built through years of body training, absorbing the Man Faced Demon Spider's Spirit Ring was not truly that difficult for Tang San. After all, his second Spirit Ring had already been a thousand-year Spirit Ring.

Having seen Gu Chen and Gu Yuena's Spirit Ring Configuration, Zhao Wuji and the others subconsciously believed that Tang San could also absorb Spirit Rings beyond his limit. In addition, his second Spirit Ring had been a thousand-year Spirit Ring, so they were not nearly as worried as they had been in the original story.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the bushes in the distance. Three sets of footsteps approached—one sounded rather heavy, while the other two were much lighter.

"Who's there?" Zhao Wuji's cold gaze turned toward one direction as his Soul Power suddenly gathered. Tang San had reached the most critical moment, and he would never allow anyone or any Soul Beast to disturb him.

"Teacher Zhao." A slender figure ran out of the forest. At the sight of her, not only Zhao Wuji but everyone else was stunned. The person who had suddenly run out of the woods was actually Xiao Wu.

Gu Chen and Gu Yuena followed close behind her.

Xiao Wu looked somewhat bedraggled. Her clothes had several tears in them, and her neatly braided Scorpion Braid had become disheveled, but her complexion was very rosy. She even seemed a little more mature than before.

Gu Chen and Gu Yuena, on the other hand, had directly changed into clean clothes—and matching couple outfits at that...

If anyone asked where their previous clothes had gone, when they had undone the fourth seal and their true forms became the Golden Silver Dragon King, their original clothes had naturally been torn apart.

Fortunately, Gu Yuena had bought who knew how many hundreds of outfits while shopping earlier. Otherwise, the two of them might have had to return naked.

"Xiao Wu, Gu Chen, Gu Yuena, you're not dead?" Oscar only realized after saying it that his words sounded rather unpleasant.

"You could die, and I still wouldn't!" Gu Chen snapped irritably.

At that moment, Xiao Wu noticed the red mist around Tang San. Once she saw Tang San within the faint red fog, her heart instantly clenched, and she rushed over in just a few strides.

"Don't disturb him. He's absorbing his third Spirit Ring." Zhao Wuji hurriedly stopped Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu cried out, "But how could absorbing a third Spirit Ring turn out like this?" Turning to look at the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse nearby, she somewhat understood. "It's the Man Faced Demon Spider. This is bad. This Man Faced Demon Spider's cultivation exceeded two thousand years. Grandmaster said that the limit for a Soul Master's third Spirit Ring is around one thousand seven hundred and sixty years. Little San, he..."

Gu Chen patted Xiao Wu on the shoulder. "His second Spirit Ring was already a thousand-year Spirit Ring absorbed beyond his limit. It's normal for his third Spirit Ring to exceed the limit too. Relax, relax. Little San has a tough life. He'll be fine."

"By the way, Gu Chen, how did you escape the Titan Giant Ape's clutches? Tell us what happened first," Zhao Wuji asked.

Gu Chen tilted his head and began making up a story. It was more or less the same as the story Xiao Wu had made up in the original work, with the only difference being that Gu Chen and Gu Yuena had also obtained Spirit Rings.

"That worked too?" Fatty stared at Gu Chen and the others, looking as though he had seen blind cats stumble upon dead mice.

It would have been one thing if a single person had gained a Spirit Ring through misfortune, but all three of them had obtained Spirit Rings.

"Release your Spirit Rings and let me see them," Zhao Wuji said. He was rather curious about Gu Chen and Gu Yuena's Spirit Rings.

When Zhao Wuji saw Xiao Wu's ordinary Spirit Ring Configuration, he said nothing. But when he saw Gu Yuena's sixty-to-seventy-thousand-year fourth Spirit Ring, he could not help but marvel.

After all, Gu Yuena's fourth Spirit Ring was already comparable to his Seventh Spirit Ring!

However, when Zhao Wuji saw Gu Chen's fourth Spirit Ring, he even forgot about Tang San beside him and cried out, "Black with a hint of red—this is a ninety-thousand-year Spirit Ring! How is that possible?! Never mind how you absorbed it, but a ninety-thousand-year Soul Beast couldn't possibly faint from a single roar, even if the owner of that roar was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast."

Gu Chen felt that the story was about to fall apart, so he hurriedly lowered his voice. "Little San is still absorbing his Spirit Ring! Back then, that ninety-thousand-year Soul Beast had only suffered internal injuries, but Na'er and I used our Martial Soul Fusion Skill again and killed it. It was really dangerous at the time. If there had been other Soul Beasts nearby, our weakened state after exhausting our Soul Power could have gotten us killed. As for Na'er's sixty-thousand-year Spirit Ring, she and I killed it together after I absorbed my fourth Spirit Ring."

After thinking it over seriously, Gu Chen felt that this version of the story should have no loopholes.

"Your Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Gu Yuena is actually so powerful that it can even kill a ninety-thousand-year Soul Beast!" Zhao Wuji exclaimed.

At that moment, some movement came from Tang San's side, drawing Zhao Wuji and the others' attention. Gu Chen wiped nonexistent sweat from his forehead. Making up stories really is exhausting.

At this moment, faced with Tang San's unyielding willpower, all the energy within his body began to yield. It began the process of mutual absorption and conversion.

The fine blood droplets no longer seeped out, and Tang San's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. A faint blue glow quietly began to flow from within his body.

Zhao Wuji said delightedly, "He made it. The most dangerous moment has passed. Now comes the Soul Power conversion process. Tang San really is worthy of being a creator of miracles. He actually withstood a two-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider Spirit Ring. He really is a little monster. Though he can't compare to Gu Chen and Gu Yuena, he's still good enough!"

Although Tang San did not open his eyes, he could still hear what Zhao Wuji said. He was somewhat speechless. Teacher Zhao, is it really okay to praise one person while putting down another right in front of me?

Suddenly, pain struck. Tang San let out a miserable cry as his body convulsed violently. His chest thrust upward sharply, his entire upper body arching into a terrifying posture. At the same time, eight protrusions appeared on his back.

"Brother!" Xiao Wu screamed.

Immediately afterward, the eight protrusions suddenly burst open. Strangely, the skin on Tang San's back did not curl back. Eight fist-thick, dark purple objects drilled out from those protrusions and began growing wildly at an astonishing speed.

When the eight protrusions burst and the dark purple objects emerged, Tang San seemed to relax. His expression eased considerably, though his body continued to convulse.

Under everyone's astonished gazes, the dark purple objects grew more than a meter long in the blink of an eye, still extending at an incredible speed. When they surpassed one and a half meters, they paused slightly. Joint-like structures grew at their ends, and when the dark purple limbs extended again, they stretched from the joints in another direction.

"Th-this is..."

The eight purplish-black objects did not stop growing until they exceeded three meters in length. They gleamed purple all over, their surfaces looking extremely smooth. They were thickest near Tang San's back and gradually became thinner as they extended outward, ending in sharp, cone-like points.

"Aren't those the spider legs of the Man Faced Demon Spider?" Ma Hongjun said.

"It's fine." Gu Chen stared intently at the Man Faced Demon Spider's spider legs on Tang San's back. "He's really lucky. He actually obtained an External Soul Bone!"

"An External Soul Bone?"

The Shrek Academy group looked confused.

"External Soul Bones are a miraculous kind of existence, special existences apart from the six great Soul Bones. If ordinary Soul Bones have a one-in-a-thousand chance of appearing on a Soul Beast, then the chance of an External Soul Bone appearing is not even one in ten thousand. To absorb an External Soul Bone, you must first absorb that Soul Beast's Spirit Ring. I can say with certainty that this is an External Soul Bone," Gu Chen explained.

"What?!" Everyone cried out in shock, their gazes toward Tang San filled with envy.

At that moment, the Blue Silver Grass curled inward, wrapping Tang San inside like a giant cocoon.

And so, twelve double-hours—twenty-four hours—passed just like that. Gu Chen nearly wanted to tear open the Blue Silver Grass and drag Tang San out. It's just an External Soul Bone. Why is it so troublesome?!

Tang San finally emerged. His naked body appeared before everyone, and the girls hurriedly turned their heads away.

"Brother Chen, Sister Na'er, Xiao Wu!" Tang San exclaimed happily when he saw that Gu Chen and the others had returned safely.

Tang San had just wanted to walk over to them when the spider legs pulled free. Since Tang San himself had no idea about the changes in his body, he immediately lost his balance and fell from the air.

"Careful!" Xiao Wu cried out, spreading her arms to catch Tang San. Fortunately, she was quite strong, and the force of Tang San falling from a height of a little over two meters was not too great, allowing Xiao Wu to catch him perfectly.

The eight spider legs on his back rose behind him at the same time. Though they looked strange, they did not affect Tang San's movements.

A familiar scent entered his nose, and Tang San almost immediately wrapped an arm around Xiao Wu's body.

"Hey, hey, hey, Little San, have you no shame? Why are you standing naked in front of a girl? Put some clothes on!" Gu Chen said irritably as he pulled out a formal outfit from the System Backpack and tossed it to Tang San. Damn it, showing off your affection right in front of me.

Tang San froze for a moment and instinctively looked down at himself. Only then did he realize that he did not have a single scrap of cloth on him.

Xiao Wu came to her senses as well. Her pretty face instantly flushed red, and she hurriedly closed her eyes. Yet she was still reluctant to leave Tang San's embrace, merely burying her head against his chest and refusing to lift it.

Burying her head to look at that?! What kind of move was this?!

Gu Chen was utterly dumbfounded.

The contract has already been sent out, and the status should be changed in the next couple of days. A group will be created then, and events will begin. Everyone is welcome to participate enthusiastically.