The Terror of the Spirit Ring Spirit

"Teacher, I sense danger!" Tang San had an exceptionally keen instinct for poison and danger. He could tell this snake would not be easy to deal with.

Master said calmly, "A Mandala Snake's age is judged by its body length. It grows one meter every hundred years. This Mandala Snake is four meters long, so it is already four hundred years old!"

"A 400-year Spirit Beast—can you handle it, Teacher?" Tang San asked.

"Of course I can't! Normally, if I encountered one, I'd run as far as I could. But with Little Jiu here, things are different! This Mandala Snake happens to be the limit of what you can absorb, and it will greatly enhance your Blue Silver Grass. This is the one!"

Master looked quite relaxed. Pointing at Three Pao the Turtle, he said, "Three Pao, go lure it over!"

"Luo luo!"

Three Pao the Turtle seemed to be throwing his weight around with someone backing him up. He walked up to the Mandala Snake, let out two provocative cries, and even swayed his little backside in a humanlike manner.

The Mandala Snake was enraged. This tiny thing dared to provoke it?

Its triangular head rose, its tongue flickering as it made an unsettling "hiss, hiss, hiss" at Three Pao the Turtle.

Swoosh!

The Mandala Snake suddenly moved with incredible speed, lowering its head and opening its jaws to bite Three Pao the Turtle.

"Little Jiu! Put the Spirit Ring on it!" Master calmly commanded.

"Okay, Teacher!" Tang Jiu did not hesitate. He flung out the Spirit Ring Spirit in his hand and looped it around the Mandala Snake. In the next instant, the Mandala Snake's body seemed to have been hollowed out. It could not react to the sudden change at all and fell to the ground with a smack.

"Three Pao, attack! A fart like thunder, Three Pao the Turtle shatters heaven and earth!" Master immediately launched the attack.

With a thunderous pfft, a powerful wave of air swept outward over a wide area. The timing was perfect. That one fart blasted the Mandala Snake hard into a large tree, leaving it dazed and disoriented.

"Little Jiu, smash its abdomen with the hammer! Don't get close—be careful of its venom. Throw the hammer!" Master commanded.

Tang Jiu nodded, hefted the War Hammer, and hurled it with all his strength. It directly shattered the Mandala Snake's bones, flattening it in the middle and paralyzing the rear half of its body.

Master was very satisfied. The Mandala Snake had already been severely injured and had essentially lost its ability to resist. Only then did he take out a short sword and hand it to Tang San. "Kill it. Absorb its Spirit Ring."

"Luo luo..." Three Pao the Turtle waddled over to the Mandala Snake on his short little legs, smug beyond measure. Yet the Mandala Snake could only glare at him furiously, utterly helpless. It barely even had the strength to open its mouth before Tang San finally killed it with a single thrust.

"Teacher, that was way too easy!" Tang San could not help shaking his head. The entire time, there had been nothing for him to do.

Master nodded. "A Spirit Master's battle can sometimes be this simple. Use your strengths to strike at the enemy's weaknesses, and life and death can be decided in an instant!

"But this requires exceptionally strong judgment. It looked easy because we worked well together. Little Jiu controlled it first, allowing Three Pao's attack to deal the greatest possible damage. Then Little Jiu followed up with full force, pushing every skill to its limit. That is the essence of a Control Type Spirit Master, and it is the path you will take in the future!"

Tang San nodded thoughtfully, then began absorbing the Spirit Ring as Master had taught him. As soon as he drew it in with his Soul Power, the Yellow Soul Ring that had appeared from the Mandala Snake's body after its death immediately flew into him.

While Tang San was absorbing the Spirit Ring, Master asked, "Little Jiu, how long can you suppress a Spirit Beast?"

"Teacher, I can control it for at least three minutes!" Tang Jiu was extremely excited. Three minutes might not sound long, but every second in battle was incomparably precious.

"Not bad! From what I observed just now, you completely suppressed it, which was equivalent to stripping away its abilities. That includes not only speed and defense, but perhaps even special skills as well! Your Spirit Ring Spirit is practically the nemesis of Spirit Beasts!" Master praised.

Tang Jiu was equally excited. Then he swiftly took out a large pot and began boiling water.

"What are you doing, Little Jiu? Although most Spirit Beasts fear fire, some powerful Spirit Beasts actually like flames!" Master frowned.

"Cooking snake meat, of course! Besides, this is the Hundred-Year Spirit Beast area. It won't draw any overly powerful Spirit Beasts." As Tang Jiu spoke, he pulled the short sword from the Mandala Snake's mouth and began cutting up its meat, tossing piece after piece into the large pot.

He added spices and salt, then stewed it fiercely over high heat.

Before long, the fragrance of meat spread through the air. Master immediately found the dry rations in his mouth hard to swallow.

"Here, Teacher, try my cooking!" Tang Jiu took out a bowl, placed a piece of snake meat inside, sprinkled in a handful of cilantro and chopped scallions, then poured steaming snake broth over it before handing it to Master.

Master's appetite was instantly stirred. At this point, he said nothing about not lighting fires in the wilderness. In a Hundred-Year Spirit Beast area, with Tang Jiu's Spirit Ring Spirit, what did he have to fear?

Besides, the dead Mandala Snake itself was a deterrent. Many Spirit Beasts would take one look at it and leave by another route.

For the first time, he realized that life in the wilderness could be so pleasant. A sip of hot soup warmed his heart, while a bite of snake meat left a lingering fragrance in his mouth.

"Little Gang! This is what you called danger while hunting Spirit Beasts, the danger you needed my help with? I really can't see any danger here. You're even stewing meat and eating it. You're really something!"

Suddenly, a dissatisfied voice rang out from the forest, and a figure appeared on the branch of a large tree.

He wore tea-colored glasses and a tailcoat. Standing atop the tree, he looked like a hunting hawk. He was Flender, the Flying Horn of the Golden Iron Triangle.

"Isn't it because I have a good student?" Master continued eating without even raising his eyes.

"Little Gang, couldn't you have gone easy on me? I flew all the way here from Shrek Academy with my spirit skill activated!"

Flender was very unhappy. He floated down from the tree as lightly as a feather, pushed up his glasses, then directly snatched the bowl and chopsticks from Master's hands. He served himself a piece of snake meat, took a slow bite, then narrowed his eyes. "Not bad. This tastes great. If we sold it in Suotuo City, we could definitely make quite a bit of money!"

"Kid, is this your secret recipe? How about we work together and make some money? We split it ninety-ten!" Flender said, patting Tang Jiu on the shoulder.

"I get ninety and you get ten?" Tang Jiu asked.

"How could that be? I'm a dignified Spirit Saint! Plenty of people are begging to work with me! Why don't you brat know how to appreciate an opportunity?" Flender said unhappily.

Master truly could not stand listening any longer. Pointing at Flander, he said, "This is the helper I found—Flander, a Level 76 Agility Attack Spirit Saint. His spirit is the Cat Owl."

Master then pointed at Tang Jiu. "Tang Jiu, six years old. Spirit: Bullet Ant. Level 19 Assault Type Spirit Master!"

Pfft!

Flander directly sprayed out his snake soup!

"Level 19 at six years old! Is he a monster?"

A smile curled at the corner of Master's mouth. "That already startled you? Then you'll see something even more unbelievable!"

"What could possibly surprise me more than that?" Flander did not believe it.

"For example, I'm not even Level 30, yet I can directly absorb a third Spirit Ring and become a Soul Elder. In fact, the main reason I asked you to come this time was to hunt a Thousand-Year Soul Ring for me!"

"Little Gang, have you gone mad?"

"What do you think?" Master's gaze was profound, carrying a seriousness he had never shown before.

"Then I'm the one who's gone mad! Am I dreaming...?" Flander felt that his brain had completely stopped working.