Ice Staff Siblings

After leaving the spiderweb space and returning to the forest, Su Hao and the others formed up again. Tang Wulin held the Thousand Refined Silver Hammer in his hands once more, while Xie Xie gripped the Twin Dragon Dagger.

No sooner had they left than they heard all sorts of strange sounds around them—collisions, the roars of Soul Beasts, and, occasionally, the screams of human Soul Masters.

Yet Tang Wulin seemed not to hear any of it, having fallen into deep thought.

At that moment, Su Hao noticed some movement behind Tang Wulin and immediately called out to warn him.

Tang Wulin snapped awake from his fervent thoughts. Almost instinctively, he unleashed the Entanglement Soul Skill. Blue Silver Grass surged out in waves, wrapping around a small leopard that lunged straight at him.

Xie Xie darted out from the side, and the Light Dragon Blade flashed through the air, dispatching the Soul Beast, which had only ten years of cultivation.

Tang Wulin then apologized to the others.

"Sorry, everyone. I got distracted for a moment."

Walking at the front, Su Hao could tell that Tang Wulin still had distracting thoughts on his mind. If he did not clear them away, Tang Wulin might lose focus again later, so he suggested,

"How about we each tell a joke to pass the time?"

Hearing Su Hao's suggestion, Tang Wulin and the others thought it was a good idea. Each of them told a joke, easing the boredom of their trip through the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Just after everyone had finished telling a joke and walked forward for a short while, they suddenly heard a roar.

"Roar!"

Immediately afterward, a strange python covered in flames and seemingly possessing six arms appeared not far ahead.

The instant Su Hao saw the Soul Beast, he quietly warned everyone,

"Six-armed Fire Snake. A hundred-year one. Be careful, everyone."

Just as Su Hao was about to kill the Six-armed Fire Snake, a sheet of White Light flashed ahead. The Six-armed Fire Snake was instantly riddled with holes. Strange Ice Wheels whirled through the air, their sharp outer edges slicing through its body. Although the Six-armed Fire Snake was not an especially powerful Soul Beast and had particularly weak defenses, seeing it instantly cut apart amid the Ice Wheels still startled Tang Wulin and the others.

Then, a figure with three Soul Rings rising beneath his feet appeared in their sight. The Spirit Power emitted by the Six-armed Fire Snake was already being drawn into his body.

Su Hao and the others then saw that he was a youth of seventeen or eighteen. Two yellow and one purple Soul Rings circled his body, revealing cultivation at the Soul Elder level. In his right hand, he held a long staff that was entirely snow-white except for a blue crystal at its tip. His expression was Ice Cold and arrogant. A dense yellow halo also flickered around him, no weaker than the Spirit Power halos around Su Hao's group of six.

Then Su Hao and the others saw that the young man was not alone. Behind him stood a little girl about their age, also holding an ice staff. A yellow Soul Ring glimmered beneath her feet, but her expression was somewhat frightened, as though she was unused to killing.

The young man's gaze immediately fell upon Su Hao's group of six. Seeing the dense Spirit Power halos around all Five People, his eyes flickered slightly before he strode toward them.

Seeing this, Su Hao made several gestures behind his back with his right hand, signaling Tang Wulin and the others to strike first.

The ice-staff youth then said as though it were only natural,

"Leave the Spirit Ascension Platform yourselves and leave behind your Spirit Power halos. Then I won't make you suffer."

The moment the ice-staff youth finished speaking, Tang Wulin and Su Hao attacked at the same time. They controlled the surrounding trees and Blue Silver Grass, sending them coiling toward him, while Su Hao also imposed gravity upon him.

Zhang Yangzi immediately unleashed his Second Soul Skill, obscuring the ice-staff youth's vision.

Gu Yue also launched a Fireball at the ice-staff youth.

Xie Xie and Wang Jinxi likewise immediately unleashed the Soul Skills Light Dragon Dagger and Bone Dragon Claw, charging at him.

The ice-staff youth never expected that the moment he finished speaking, Su Hao's group would attack without any warning. Before he even had time to react, he had already been eliminated from the Spirit Ascension Platform.

After eliminating the ice-staff youth, Su Hao and the others had intended to stay in the Spirit Ascension Platform with the little girl for a while. However, unwilling to trouble them, she voluntarily pressed the Survival Button and left the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Watching the ice-staff siblings leave, Xie Xie's lips curled with disdain.

"Looks like they weren't much after all. And they dared to talk so big?"

Su Hao beside him sneered as well.

"If they wanted the Spirit Power on us, they should have fought us. Why waste their breath?

They deserved to be eliminated."

The display screen outside the Spirit Pagoda still showed the moment the ice-staff siblings had been eliminated. Hearing Xie Xie and Su Hao's words outside, the ice-staff youth was so angry his face twisted.

He left behind a harsh threat at the Spirit Ascension Platform, saying that if he encountered Su Hao and the others again, he would definitely strike first. Then he left the Spirit Pagoda with the little girl.

While Su Hao's group was talking, Zhang Yangzi, who was responsible for scouting, suddenly said urgently,

"A Soul Beast is coming.

A whole pack. They're herd-type Soul Beasts—at least thirty of them. They seem to be Flame Magic Lions."

Hearing Zhang Yangzi's words, everyone's expressions changed drastically.

Lions were undoubtedly among the strongest herd-type Soul Beasts on land. Generally speaking, the stronger an individual Soul Beast was, the more it preferred to live alone, as that allowed it to obtain more resources. Only lion-type Soul Beasts were an exception.

A pride centered around a Male Lion and joined by a group of Female Lions was absolutely the ruler of places like forests and grasslands. Even Soul Beasts individually much stronger than a Male Lion were unwilling to provoke them casually, because their combined combat strength was simply too great.

Su Hao and Tang Wulin almost spoke at the same time: "Run!" Then they turned and fled in the opposite direction.

Gu Yue waved both hands, and a wash of green light enveloped them. Unlike before, when it had only affected beneath their feet, this time the Wind Element's support made their entire bodies feel light, considerably increasing their speed.

Not far behind Su Hao's group, a roar rang out. Clusters of red light raced toward them at high speed—it was the pursuing Flame Magic Lions.

Spirit Power could not only be absorbed by human Soul Spirits; these Soul Beasts could absorb it as well. What attracted the Soul Beasts to Su Hao's group was the dense Spirit Power fluctuations around them.

As one of the strongest herd-type Soul Beasts, the Flame Magic Lions could not have found it easier to sense the Spirit Power fluctuations on them.

Therefore, when facing the Flame Magic Lions, Su Hao's group could only run for as long as they could. With every passing second, the Spirit Power on them would be absorbed a little more.