Tang San's Third Spirit Ring

Meanwhile.

On the other side of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Tang San stopped, panting heavily.

"I can't catch up."

The Titan Giant Ape was too fast, and it moved through the forest as if on level ground. Even giving it everything he had, Tang San had failed to keep up.

"Xiao Wu..."

Tang San clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms.

Reason told him that he was like a headless fly right now.

If he continued deeper, he would only get himself killed as well.

"I should go back first."

Tang San gritted his teeth and made the most rational decision.

"I'll meet up with Teacher Zhao and the others, then figure something out."

He turned around and headed back the way he had come.

When he returned to the place where everyone had previously been attacked by the Titan Giant Ape—

Tang San suddenly stopped.

He stood frozen on the spot as if struck by lightning.

"This... this is..."

He saw a scene straight out of hell.

The forest for several hundred meters around had been flattened. Countless thick trees had been snapped and shattered.

The ground was covered in densely packed spider corpses.

Green blood had pooled into puddles, and the air was filled with a nauseating stench.

Countless purple thousand-year Spirit Rings and yellow hundred-year Spirit Rings floated through the air like ghostly flames, densely packed and spectacular.

At the center of the corpse pile, the enormous Earth Cave Demon Spider King had been torn in half, its death utterly miserable.

Tang San's pupils constricted as monstrous waves surged through his heart.

"Who on earth did this...?"

Tang San stared at the battlefield-like scene before him, his throat dry.

Even in his previous life at the Tang Sect, he had never seen such a pure scene of slaughter.

The residual aura emanating from the Earth Cave Demon Spider King's bisected corpse alone made his heart palpitate.

Had a Title Douluo passed by?

Or had two ten-thousand-year Spirit Beasts fought each other?

"Hm?"

At that moment, Tang San suddenly felt the Mysterious Heaven Skill within him stir. The Soul Power in his dantian churned like boiling water.

The desperate sprinting all the way here, the Soul Power exhaustion from competing with Meng Yiran earlier, and the immense emotional upheaval now had actually loosened the bottleneck that had held him at the peak of level twenty-nine for so long.

"Level thirty..."

A flicker of joy flashed through Tang San's eyes.

Although failing to retrieve Xiao Wu had left him frantic with worry, an increase in strength was undoubtedly the greatest safeguard for saving someone in this perilous forest.

"Heaven never seals off every path."

Tang San quickly calmed down. His Purple Demon Eye swept across the corpses littering the ground.

This place was practically a ready-made "Spirit Ring buffet."

Most of the spiders were already thoroughly dead, their Spirit Rings gradually dissipating.

But a very small number of tenacious creatures were still twitching in pools of blood, barely clinging to life.

Very quickly, his gaze locked onto a Crypt Demon Spider curled up in a corner.

One of its legs had been blown off, and its carapace was covered in cracks. It had clearly been severely injured by the aftermath of the battle and was now hanging on by its last breath.

Judging by its size and the color of its patterns, its cultivation was probably around sixteen hundred years.

It was perfect for a third Spirit Ring, and it was also the most suitable type of Spirit Beast for a Blue Silver Grass Control System!

"What comes without effort."

A confident smile curled Tang San's lips.

If the Crypt Demon Spider had been at full strength, he would probably have had to put in considerable effort and might even have faced mortal danger.

But now?

It was just beating a drowning dog.

He raised his wrist. The Godly Zhuge Crossbow had long since been loaded.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Several muffled sounds rang out.

The already dying Crypt Demon Spider did not even have time to scream before Bone-Piercing Nails precisely pierced its vital points, completely ending its miserable life.

A purple Spirit Ring slowly rose, radiating an enticing glow.

Without any hesitation, Tang San immediately sat cross-legged. He released his Blue Silver Grass Martial Spirit and drew the Spirit Ring into his body.

This absorption went exceptionally smoothly.

For one thing, the Spirit Ring's absorption age was already within the range Tang San could endure for his third Spirit Ring.

And after experiencing that hellish massacre, the Crypt Demon Spider had little will to resist left.

Dying at Tang San's hands now, it instead seemed to submit with a sense of finally being freed.

There was no assault of resentment, no painful struggle. Even the violent energy baptism Tang San had anticipated was far gentler than expected.

Half an hour later.

Tang San slowly opened his eyes, which shone brilliantly.

Yellow, yellow, purple.

Three Spirit Rings in the standard optimal configuration pulsed beneath his feet.

"Phew..."

Tang San exhaled a breath of turbid air and rose to his feet, feeling the abundant power within him.

"Third Spirit Skill."

He raised his right hand. A mass of blue-black light condensed in his palm before he suddenly flung it outward.

Whoosh!

A massive Blue Silver spiderweb instantly spread open. With tremendous stickiness and resilience, it tightly enveloped a huge boulder ahead before abruptly constricting!

Blue Silver Prison: Spider Web Restraint!

It possessed a powerful single-target restraining ability, as well as toxicity.

This perfectly matched the Control System development path Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang had envisioned.

"Not bad."

Tang San nodded in satisfaction.

"With this Spirit Skill and my Hidden Weapons, even against a Soul Elder above level thirty-five, I have the strength to fight."

He subconsciously touched his back.

It was empty.

He could not shake the feeling that something was missing.

"Probably just an illusion."

Tang San shook his head, attributing the strange emptiness in his back to aftereffects from being struck by Meng Yiran's Serpent Cane earlier. He did not take it too seriously.

He took a deep breath, purple light filling his eyes.

With his extreme vision, the disorderly footprints on the ground and broken branches became distinctly visible.

They were the traces everyone had left while fleeing.

"This way."

Tang San's figure flashed. Using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, he raced toward the rocky area where Zhao Wuji and the others were resting.

"Everyone!"

When Tang San pushed aside the bushes and saw his familiar companions, the worry hanging over his heart finally eased by half.

However, when his gaze fell upon Ye Liuyun, who was leaning against a tree, his pupils abruptly shrank, and his footsteps involuntarily halted.

Ye Liuyun's face was deathly pale. The bloodstains on him had yet to fully dry, and the weakness radiating from his bones all showed what he had just gone through.

"Ye Liuyun... what happened to you...?"

Tang San could not help asking, a trace of shock in his voice.

Hearing Tang San's voice, everyone raised their heads.

Yet in response to Tang San's question, whether it was Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, or Oscar, they all tacitly fell silent.

How were they supposed to explain it?

Were they supposed to say, "Oh, Little San, you don't know this, but we were surrounded by several thousand Demon Spiders. We were so scared we ran off in a panic and left the person we hated most, Ye Liuyun, behind alone to hold them off."

If they said that, would they have any dignity left?

How would they ever be able to hold their heads up before Ye Liuyun again?

Admitting that they were cowards and that their opponent was a hero would feel worse than killing them.