Absorbing a Soul Ring

Bzzzt—!

The paralyzing effect of lightning was fatal to arthropods.

The Man Faced Demon Spider convulsed wildly, its eight long legs stiffly curling together as it completely lost the ability to move.

It crashed heavily to the ground.

The ferocious human face on its abdomen stared desperately at the sky.

At that very instant.

A black shadow swooped down from the cliff wall like Gui Mei.

Bai Tang San.

He used neither a hammer nor Blue Silver Grass.

In his hand, he held a dagger polished from the Wolf King's poisonous fang and reinforced with "Acid Etching Solution."

The blade was coated in a layer of dark blue liquid.

It was a nerve-targeting—mixed neurotoxin.

"It's over."

Bai Tang San cut a graceful arc through the air.

There were no flashy movements.

He used the force of gravity from his fall.

Pshk!

The dagger plunged with perfect accuracy into the center of the white pattern on the Man Faced Demon Spider's abdomen—that was its neural center!

The poison was injected.

It erupted instantly.

The Man Faced Demon Spider did not even manage one final struggle.

Its eight legs, which had still been trying to twitch, went limp as though their souls had been ripped away.

Its life force was extinguished.

Only three seconds had passed.

From the explosion, to the lightning paralysis, to the poisoned blade ending it.

Everything flowed in one seamless sequence.

There had been no bloody battle.

No embarrassment.

Not even a speck of dust had touched Bai Tang San's clothes.

That "small nightmare" that made countless Soul Masters tremble in fear.

Had died like a crushed bug.

Without a shred of dignity.

The canyon was deathly silent.

The mercenary captain's mouth hung open, and the heavy sword in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.

He stared at the youth standing atop the demon spider's corpse, leisurely wiping his dagger clean.

A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

Th... that was it?

That was a two-thousand-year-old demon spider!

Even a Soul Ancestor team sent to surround it would have lost or injured several brothers, right?

And yet now...

Their group had done little more than release a few skills; they had not even seen blood?

"Wrap it up."

Bai Tang San sheathed his dagger and jumped down from the corpse.

His expression was as calm as if he had merely returned from buying groceries at the market.

"Th... this..."

The captain stammered, "Young master, is... is this also a Tang Sect secret art?"

Bai Tang San glanced at him.

"No."

"This is called biology."

"And..."

"Tactics."

[Real World]

Inside Shrek Academy's office.

Zhao Wuji suddenly slapped his thigh so hard that he shattered the chair's armrest.

"Awesome!"

"Fucking awesome!"

The Immovable Ming King's eyes were now filled with fanatical light.

"This is what leading a team is supposed to be! This is what hunting soul beasts is supposed to be!"

"Our old way of having students charge head-on and beat each other bloody..."

"Compared to him, we were practically uncivilized savages!"

Zhao Wuji pointed at Bai Tang San on the Sky Curtain and shouted at Flender:

"Boss, look at him!"

"He used its habits to lure it in, the terrain to set an ambush, and attribute restraint to control the battlefield."

"That final strike was precise, deadly, elegant!"

"This is the kind of brain a Control System Soul Master should have!"

Flender was equally dumbfounded. Even the hand he used to push up his glasses was trembling.

"More than that..."

"His entire setup may have cost quite a bit—mercenaries and gunpowder."

"But the risk was practically zero."

"For Soul Masters, life is the most valuable thing."

"This child... he's simply a natural battlefield commander."

Meanwhile, Tang San of the Black World.

Looked at Bai Tang San on the Sky Curtain, whose hairstyle had not even been disturbed.

Then looked at himself in the image on the left, covered in blood and utterly bedraggled.

The intense shame made him want to crawl into a crack in the ground.

"I..."

"Why did I insist on fighting head-on back then?"

"Why didn't I think of using traps?"

"Could it be..."

"Was this something Teacher never taught either?"

Hei Tang San instinctively looked at Yu Xiaogang.

Yu Xiaogang's face was livid, his lips trembling as he wanted to refute it but could not find a single excuse.

"This is taking shortcuts..."

"This is relying on external forces..."

Yu Xiaogang's voice was so quiet that even he could barely hear it.

Because he knew.

In the Soul Master World.

Results would always matter more than the process.

Only those who survived had the right to write history.

[White World]

Bai Tang San paid no attention to the frightened gazes of the surrounding mercenaries.

He adjusted his breathing. The Mysterious Heaven Skill circulated within him, bringing him to peak condition.

"Come."

He gave a low shout, raising both hands into a summoning gesture.

Buzz—!

The purple Soul Ring, filled with violent aura, seemed to have found an outlet. It turned into a purple-black torrent and instantly rushed into his body.

Boom!

The instant the Soul Ring entered his body.

Bai Tang San's body jolted violently, and the terrifying impact of that energy lifted him three inches off the ground!

It was a true raging storm.

Before its death, the Man Faced Demon Spider had suffered traps, lightning strikes, and poison. Its resentment had reached the extreme.

Mixed with two thousand years of immense Soul Power, that resentment was no longer gentle nourishment.

It was blade after blade of sharp steel!

They crazily sliced through Bai Tang San's Meridians, trying to break through his dantian and burst apart this human who dared attempt Overlevel Absorption.

"Urgh..."

Bai Tang San gritted his teeth and let out a muffled groan.

His brows instantly knitted tight, and the muscles in his face spasmed violently from the extreme pain.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Following several soft sounds.

Drops of black blood began seeping from the surface of his skin!

It was a sign that his capillaries had burst under unbearable pressure.

In only ten breaths.

His entire body had become a bloody mess!

His body shook violently, while his bones let out teeth-grinding creaks, as if he would fall apart the next second.

[Black World]

Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang, who had been lifeless and so suppressed that he could barely breathe.

Leapt up from his chair the instant he saw this scene.

His eyes bulged wide, gleaming with an almost pathological ecstasy.

"Look! Look!"

Yu Xiaogang pointed at the Sky Curtain, his voice turning sharp and shrill with excitement.

"I said it wouldn't work! I said this was suicide!"

"That's two thousand years!"

"That's a Man Faced Demon Spider!"

"His body simply can't withstand it!"

He turned around, grabbed Flender by the shoulders, and shook him wildly.

"Flender, did you see that?"

"This is what happens when you refuse to listen to your elders!"

"This is the price of violating the 'Ten Core Competencies'!"

"He's going to explode!"

"He's definitely going to die!"

Yu Xiaogang laughed loudly, laughing until tears streamed down his face.

As if Bai Tang San's death would be the greatest salvation for his theories.

Only if Bai Tang San died.

Could his "Iron Law" be preserved.

Could his dignity be preserved.

Hei Tang San stood to the side, looking at himself on the Sky Curtain, bleeding from all seven orifices.

His heart turned ice-cold as well.

"Is it really... impossible?"

"Even such a powerful body can't endure it?"

"Could what Teacher said truly be an unbreakable truth?"

A deep despair enveloped everyone at Shrek Academy.