Mutation

Jia Youcai hurriedly stopped in his tracks, turned to Huo Wu beside him, and shouted, "I found something!"

Huo Wu swiftly turned her head at his words and looked at Jia Youcai. "What did you find?"

Jia Youcai raised a hand and pointed toward the faint glow that only he could see, putting on a mysterious air as he said, "I just sensed something strange over there. I feel like there might be clues hidden there. But I need to go back and bring more people to help. You all wait here for me."

With that, he turned and prepared to head back.

Seeing that Jia Youcai was about to leave, Huo Wu's brows instantly knotted together. She grew suspicious, thinking he was trying to flee before the battle, and hurriedly stepped forward to demand, "Where are you going?"

"Back to get reinforcements!" Jia Youcai quickly explained.

Huo Wu frowned and pressed, "Do you have any solid proof?"

Seeing Huo Wu doubt him, Jia Youcai hastily said, "I may not have ironclad proof, but please believe me. I'm certain there's a secret hidden here."

Huo Wu did not refute him. After thinking for a moment, she said, "How about this? I'll go take a look first. If it's really as you say, we'll go back and ask the Academy's teachers for help. They have important matters to deal with right now. We can't trouble them based on mere speculation."

Hearing that, Jia Youcai instantly fell into deep thought. With the system's route guidance, he was one hundred percent sure there was a problem there. But if they recklessly went over, how could people like them possibly be a match for the enemy? Wouldn't they just be walking into their deaths?

Jia Youcai gritted his teeth and made up an excuse. "Senior Sister, I actually have a special ability. I can sense danger coming from that direction, and it's far more dangerous than we can imagine. If we go over rashly now, we definitely won't be a match for it."

A flicker of surprise crossed Huo Wu's eyes, but she quickly regained her composure. She looked Jia Youcai up and down, seemingly judging whether his words were credible. "A special ability? This isn't a trivial matter. Do you have anything to prove it?"

Jia Youcai sighed helplessly. "I have no way to prove it for now, but please believe me."

Huo Wu nodded slightly and said firmly, "I know what I'm doing. Wait here. I'll be back soon."

With that, without giving Jia Youcai a chance to speak again, she flashed away like a bolt of lightning, racing toward the faint glow.

Seeing this, Jia Youcai immediately regretted telling her.

He began to worry. What was he supposed to do now? If he left at a time like this and something happened to her later, that would be a real problem.

After much deliberation, Jia Youcai had the remaining people return first to seek help from the Academy's teachers, while he stayed behind to wait.

Second by second, time passed, but Huo Wu did not return. Jia Youcai grew increasingly restless, pacing back and forth as all sorts of terrifying scenes kept surfacing in his mind.

Another five minutes passed, and Jia Youcai finally could not hold back any longer. He broke into a run toward the direction Huo Wu had gone.

Before long, he heard fierce sounds of battle coming from nearby. His heart tightened. He knew Huo Wu must have run into trouble. Without further hesitation, he sprinted toward the source of the sounds.

When he arrived, he saw Huo Wu being attacked by a huge, ferocious monster.

Jia Youcai had seen this kind of black snake in an illustrated guide before. It was called an Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake.

From up close, the snake was thick enough for two people to wrap their arms around it. Coiled on the ground, it resembled a small mountain, its entire body covered in blackish-purple scales. Its head was huge and vicious, with two blood-red eyes embedded in its triangular skull.

Its mouth gaped wide, revealing two sharp fangs each nearly half a meter long. Dark-green venom dripped from them, instantly corroding small smoking pits into the ground with sizzling sounds. Its body writhed and twisted, while its thick tail lashed the ground from time to time, kicking up clouds of dust.

Facing a ten-thousand-year soul beast, Huo Wu was no match for it at all. Whether in speed or strength, she was far inferior. She could only barely maintain Resisting Fire Ring as a temporary defense. Yet as her Soul Power steadily drained away, the fire ring's glow gradually dimmed.

The black Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake suddenly swung its massive body, its tail whipping toward the fire ring like a thick steel lash. Yet it could never break through that irritating layer of defense.

Then, the Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake raised its triangular head high. Two enormous venom sacs swelled in its throat, dark-green venom churning within them and releasing a nauseating stench.

"Not good, it's going to spray venom!" Jia Youcai shouted at the top of his lungs. But Huo Wu was fully focused on maintaining Resisting Fire Ring and had no time to respond.

Huo Wu's defensive spirit skill simply could not block poisonous mist that dissolved into the air.

The Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake abruptly opened its bloody maw, shooting two streams of dark-green venom at Huo Wu like high-pressure water cannons. Wherever the venom passed, even the air sizzled as it corroded, leaving trails of pungent black smoke behind.

Seeing this, Jia Youcai had no choice but to summon his first martial soul, Evil Fire Phoenix. His first martial soul had originally been slotted with a great saber, while this Evil Fire Phoenix was the result of a failed pull when he had drawn the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul. Since an SSR was certainly stronger than an SR, he had replaced the great saber in his first martial soul slot with Evil Fire Phoenix.

After replacing his martial soul, the three spirit rings equipped on his body changed along with it.

His First, Second, and Third Spirit Skills lit up in succession. The Third Spirit Skill, Phoenix Wing Soaring, temporarily granted Jia Youcai the ability to fly. At the same time, he activated his Second Spirit Skill, increasing Phoenix Flame by 100% and expanding its attack range by 50%. He then unleashed the Second Spirit Skill, Phoenix Rebirth, strengthening Phoenix Flame by another 30%. Finally, the First Spirit Skill, Phoenix Fire Line, was no longer a single stream of fire, but a surging pillar of flame.

Jia Youcai also made a simple adjustment to his spirit ring configuration. Since this Evil Fire Phoenix currently had only one offensive spirit skill, while the other two were buffs, he changed the spirit ring configuration from first to third to five thousand years, one thousand years, and two thousand years respectively.

Jia Youcai flew into the air and spewed Phoenix Fire Line from his mouth. The blazing flames collided fiercely with the dark-green venom, producing piercing sizzling sounds and sending up waves of green smoke.

Phoenix Flame was clearly more powerful. The venom rapidly evaporated beneath its scorching heat, while much of the Phoenix Flame fell directly onto the Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake. The searing pain made it roll incessantly across the ground.

Enraged by this sudden attack, the Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake fixed its blood-red eyes on Jia Youcai in the air and let out a deafening roar.

Its enormous body began to twist violently, its thick tail lashing toward Jia Youcai like a giant whip in a storm, accompanied by a howling gust of wind.

Jia Youcai flashed aside, using the flight ability granted by Phoenix Wing Soaring to nimbly evade the blow. The tail struck a nearby boulder, instantly smashing the massive rock to pieces and scattering fragments everywhere.

When its attack missed, the Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake attacked again. It opened its bloody maw and spewed a cloud of dark-green poisonous mist, which rapidly spread and enveloped Jia Youcai.

Jia Youcai hurriedly unleashed Phoenix Rebirth again. Phoenix Flame blazed around his body, forming a fiery shield that blocked the poisonous mist outside. But the mist was too dense, and the fiery shield's radiance gradually dimmed under its corrosion.

Jia Youcai pushed his Soul Power to its limit and spewed another blast of flame from his mouth, sending it directly beside the Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake and instantly setting a large patch of shrubs ablaze.

Taking advantage of this opening, Huo Wu below finally caught her breath. As she watched Jia Youcai battle the Evil Scaled Poisonous Snake in the air, she felt both grateful and worried. Grateful that he had stepped in to help at the critical moment, and worried that he was no match for this ten-thousand-year soul beast.