Pfft!
Tang San suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. In an instant, his face turned deathly pale.
After vomiting blood, his whole body went limp and he collapsed, unconscious.
As a result, the Hundred-Year Soul Ring surrounding him also burst apart and vanished without a trace.
Thud!
The Ten-Year Mandala Snake fell in front of Tang San. Though it had escaped the Evil Claw, it no longer had the strength to flee.
A black silhouette quietly appeared behind Lin Ye. It had a humanoid outline, but its face was blurred; the only discernible features were a pair of slightly eerie red eyes. Wisps of Black Qi drifted across its body, making it look extremely strange.
At the same time, a purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring revolved gently around Lin Ye.
The next moment, Lin Ye activated his First Soul Skill, Void!
As purple light shone from the Soul Ring, Ghost Spirit moved.
It lunged forward, its phantom form enveloping Lin Ye, and the two figures merged.
Lin Ye's appearance remained unchanged, but his body, like Ghost Spirit's, became hazy and indistinct, turning semi-transparent as wisps of black mist drifted from his skin.
Ice Empress, Xiao Wu, and Lin Qiu'er watched in silence. They didn't know what Lin Ye's First Soul Skill was or what it did. He had never told them about it.
As a result, they were completely at a loss, unable to figure out what Lin Ye was trying to do.
Under the three girls' curious gazes, Lin Ye turned into a cloud of Black Qi and plunged straight into Tang San's body.
The next moment, Tang San, who had been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes, sat straight up, and held himself upright.
The three girls stared in surprise. Xiao Wu was especially astonished. "Y-you..."
Just as Lin Ye thought Xiao Wu was amazed by his Soul Skill, she spoke up. "You're Lin Ye, not that Little Scumbag, right?"
Lin Ye: "..."
Pfft, hahaha! I can't hold it in!
Xiao Wu really had it in for Little Scumbag!
This was hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.
"Of course I'm not Little Scumbag. But now I'm going to give Little Scumbag a little welcome gift," Lin Ye said with a smile.
As he spoke, he raised his hand, clenched it into a fist, and punched the Ten-Year Mandala Snake in front of him.
Hiss!
The Mandala Snake's body jerked from the heavy blow. After letting out a weak hiss, it finally breathed its last.
A short while later, white motes of light rose from the Mandala Snake's body and gathered in midair, forming a white Soul Ring.
Tang San—or rather, Lin Ye—opened his right hand. A pale blue glow shimmered in his palm, and in an instant, a small, vivid-blue plant appeared.
This was Blue Silver Grass. It looked utterly ordinary, but who could have guessed that this seemingly common plant carried the bloodline of the emperor among Blue Silver Grass?
"Hm?" Ice Empress let out a soft sound when she saw the Blue Silver Grass.
Lin Ye then opened his left hand. As black light flickered, a hammer appeared in his palm.
It was a pitch-black hammer with a handle about half a foot long and a cylindrical head. It looked much like a scaled-down smithing hammer, but its dark surface shimmered with a peculiar light, and a faint pattern wound around its cylindrical head.
The Clear Sky Hammer and the Blue Silver Emperor—two top-tier Martial Souls. An ordinary person would be set for life with either one, yet both had appeared in the same person.
Looking at the two top-tier Martial Souls, Lin Ye couldn't help sighing to himself. Tang San, who possessed two of them, was like a pig caught in a tailwind; there was no way he wouldn't soar.
Tang San might have seemed like an inspiring success story, but he had won from the very start, leaving most people far behind right out of the gate.
But with Lin Ye's arrival, everything had already become uncertain.
Today, he was going to make Little Scumbag stumble right at the starting line.
With that thought, Lin Ye withdrew the Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul and looked at the Ten-Year Soul Ring before him.
With a casual beckoning gesture, the white Ten-Year Soul Ring floated over his head and slowly descended.
Lin Ye closed his eyes and calmed his mind, beginning in earnest to help Tang San absorb this precious, deeply memorable Ten-Year Soul Ring.
For Lin Ye, who had already absorbed a Thousand-Year Soul Ring, the pressure from a mere 10-Year Soul Ring was lighter than a feather. It posed no challenge at all.
The whole process took less than the time it took an incense stick to burn.
A cloud of Black Qi flew out of Tang San's body and took Lin Ye's shape. The light from his First Soul Ring quickly faded.
With Lin Ye no longer in control, the unconscious Tang San fell to the ground with a thump.
The good news was that his Blue Silver Grass now had its first Soul Ring.
"Heh heh, so the protagonist's nothing special after all. Don't worry, Little Scumbag. This is only the beginning—you'll get used to it."
Looking at Tang San and Yu Xiaogang sprawled on the ground like dead dogs, Lin Ye was in high spirits.
But when he looked up, he found the three girls staring at him as if they'd seen a ghost.
"What is it? Do I have a flower on my face? Why are you all staring at me?"
Xiao Wu pointed at Tang San, sprawled on the ground like a dead dog. "You can control other people's bodies? How do you do that?"
Lin Ye smiled and spread his hands. "Isn't it obvious? It's a Soul Skill. My First Soul Skill lets me control other people's bodies."
Control other people's bodies?
Gulp. Xiao Wu swallowed and glanced at Tang San. Her small frame shivered instinctively. That was way too vicious.
As the saying went, blocking someone's path was like killing their parents. Lin Ye had stuck Tang San with a Ten-Year trash Soul Ring. That was even worse than killing him!
He was going to ruin Tang San!
How ruthless!
Seeing her reaction, Lin Ye knew she'd gotten scared. Wanting to tease her, he threatened, "Scared now? Behave yourself from now on, or I'll use your body to eat roasted rabbit."
At that, Xiao Wu was horrified. She hunched her shoulders and didn't dare talk back.
Lin Ye's thoughts stirred. It seemed he'd found a way to keep Xiao Wu in line.
And having just pranked Tang San, he was in such a good mood that he grabbed Lin Qiu'er's big head and ruffled it vigorously.
At that moment, he really felt Lin Qiu'er was his lucky star. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't have gotten this Deceptive Soul Skill.
Without this Soul Skill, how could he have pranked Tang San?
"Hey, will you stop? You've messed up all my fur." Lin Qiu'er backed away, rump wiggling, and pulled her big head out of the shameless two-legged beast's arms.
Why did human children always like rubbing this auspicious beast's head? It was only because this auspicious beast was pretty and cute, but even so, she couldn't take being tousled like this! What if he rubbed her bald?
Meanwhile, in the Core Area of the Soul Hunting Forest, Snow Empress approached Tang San's location at an unhurried pace, deliberately releasing a small amount of Soul Beast aura.
This aura was equivalent to that of a 70,000- to 80,000-year-old Soul Beast.
Tang Hao had sensed this aura and figured he could handle it. That was why he'd decided to intercept the Soul Beast early, so it wouldn't interfere with Tang San.
Before you continue