Filthy Detoxification, Discounted Opportunity

"Little San! Run! That's a four-hundred-year Datura Snake! Its scales are as hard as iron—even a level-thirty Soul Elder would struggle to break its defenses! We can't beat it!"

Yu Xiaogang roared as he scrambled backward.

Tang San stood to one side, watching coldly.

Firelight illuminated his young face. His body did not move, but his gaze was terrifyingly cold.

Run?

Turning your back on a beast was asking to die.

Tang San looked at the venomous snake showing off before Yu Xiaogang. His Purple Demon Eye operated at full force, instantly seeing through its weaknesses.

Its mouth and eyes.

As long as he targeted its weak points, killing it would not be difficult.

Tang San stepped forward and stood in front of Yu Xiaogang.

Though his figure was small, at that moment, he seemed far taller and far colder than Yu Xiaogang, who lay collapsed on the ground.

"Little San! What are you doing?! Run! Are you insane?!"

Yu Xiaogang shouted in terror, afraid that if Tang San died, no one would be left to realize his theories.

Then he reconsidered. That was not entirely true—there was still Ye Liuyun.

Tang San ignored him.

With a flick of his wrist, the Silent Hidden Arrow within his left sleeve was already loaded.

At the same time, his right hand picked up a sharp stone from the ground. The Mysterious Jade Hand activated, turning his entire palm as crystalline and hard as white jade.

"Hiss—!"

The Datura Snake was enraged by this little brat who refused to run. It abandoned Yu Xiaogang, opened its jaws, and viciously lunged at Tang San.

Closer.

Even closer.

Just as its fangs were about to touch Tang San.

Tang San moved.

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track activated. His body slid half a meter sideways at an angle that defied common sense, narrowly avoiding the snake's head.

Then.

Whoosh!

A streak of cold light shot from his sleeve.

Precise, vicious, without a single unnecessary movement.

Like an invitation from the Grim Reaper, the Sleeve Arrow shot directly into the Datura Snake's open mouth, piercing its upper jaw and plunging straight into its brain!

"Hisskraa—!!"

The Datura Snake writhed madly, its massive tail sweeping through the surroundings and snapping nearby trees in half.

Tang San calmly retreated, avoiding the range of its dying struggles, his eyes fixed on it as though it were already a corpse.

Ten breaths later.

The Datura Snake stopped moving, and a dark yellow Spirit Ring slowly emerged.

The forest returned to deathly silence.

Tang San straightened his slightly disheveled clothes, turned around, and looked down at the dazed Yu Xiaogang still sitting on the ground. His tone was respectful.

"Teacher."

Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth. Looking at the huge snake corpse, then at his calm-faced disciple, his face burned with humiliation.

But he quickly forgot about it, his attention entirely fixed ahead.

The Datura Snake's massive corpse lay across the grass. The dark yellow Spirit Ring pulsed slowly above its head, radiating an alluring glow.

Yu Xiaogang stared blankly at it all. Then a surge of wild delight rose in his heart.

Four hundred years! A Datura Snake!

This was one of the most perfect matches for a plant-type Martial Spirit in his theory!

He abruptly turned toward Tang San. His gaze no longer treated him as a disciple, but as an incomparably rare lab rat, a treasure that could prove his theories.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Yu Xiaogang said "good" three times in succession, his face flushed with excitement.

"Little San, you have given your teacher an enormous surprise!"

"Hurry and absorb this Spirit Ring. It suits you perfectly."

"It is not only tough, but also venomous. It is simply perfect."

Tang San stood expressionlessly to one side, his lowered eyelids concealing the cold glint that flashed through his eyes.

At that instant, murderous intent had arisen within him.

Silent Hidden Arrow, Mysterious Jade Hand, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

These were all Tang Sect supreme arts, as well as secrets I was forbidden to pass on.

Yet they had now been exposed before this outsider.

Only the dead could truly keep secrets.

Tang San's fingers curled slightly. If he wished, the poisoned needles hidden between his fingers could pierce Yu Xiaogang's fatal points in an instant.

Killing a Soul Grandmaster whose Soul Power was exhausted and who had no defenses was even easier than killing the Datura Snake.

Yet when he thought of it.

"Once a teacher, always a father."

This was the teaching of the Tang Sect's rules, as well as the bottom line he upheld through two lives.

No matter how useless this teacher was, their relationship had been established. Killing one's teacher was a grave betrayal that would damage his heart's resolve.

Forget it.

This man may be useless, but the knowledge of Spirit Beasts in his head is still useful to me.

Tang San weighed the pros and cons in his heart. In the end, he relaxed his clenched fingers and said indifferently.

"Teacher, you flatter me. It was only luck."

"Then I shall begin absorb—"

Tang San was about to walk toward the Spirit Ring when he suddenly heard a muffled groan from behind him.

"Mm..."

Yu Xiaogang's face had turned blue-purple. His entire body swayed unsteadily, both hands clutching his buttocks tightly, his face twisted in pain.

"Teacher, what's wrong?" Tang San asked with a frown.

Yu Xiaogang weakly collapsed to the ground, his face tinged blue.

By the firelight, Tang San saw the wound clearly.

There were two deep bloody marks on Yu Xiaogang's buttocks. The area around them had already blackened and swollen, while the blood seeping out gave off a foul stench.

Clearly, while fleeing earlier, he had been grazed by the Datura Snake's tail hook or venomous fangs.

That location... was extremely awkward.

Yu Xiaogang felt half his body going numb. His eyes were filled with a desire to survive, yet he said.

"Don't help me suck out the snake venom. My life or death does not matter. Hurry and absorb the Spirit Ring."

"As long as you can grow stronger, your teacher would gladly die."

Tang San's expression instantly darkened.

How could he watch his teacher die right before his eyes?

After all, once a teacher, always a father.

This was practically the same as losing a father.

If he did not save him and his teacher died here, it would be one thing that Tang San would struggle to leave the forest alone. But if word got out that he had stood by and watched him die, his reputation would be ruined.

Endure!

He who cannot endure small things will ruin great plans!

Tang San took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his stomach as he stepped forward.

"Teacher, bear with it."

He crouched down, looked at the ugly blackened wound, closed his eyes, hardened his heart, and leaned in.

"Urgh..."

Tang San forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit, sucking out the poisoned blood mouthful by mouthful before spitting it onto the ground.

Foul, disgusting, humiliating.

Every mouthful felt like trading his dignity for some supposed moral high ground.

Time passed second by second.

Only when the blood he spat out turned bright red did Yu Xiaogang's complexion improve slightly.

Tang San stood up and rinsed his mouth frantically with water. He rinsed more than a dozen times, yet that nauseating taste still lingered.

However, something even more unbearable happened.

When he turned to look at the Datura Snake's Spirit Ring, his expression instantly became incomparably ugly.

The Spirit Ring, which had originally been dark yellow, had dimmed somewhat. Its color had also shifted from deep yellow to something noticeably faded.

After a Spirit Beast died, its Spirit Ring would only exist for one shichen.

And as time passed, the energy and spiritual essence contained within the Spirit Ring would gradually dissipate.

In order to suck the poison from Yu Xiaogang, he had wasted a full half-shichen! He had missed the best time to absorb it!

What a waste!

It was simply a monstrous waste of a precious gift!

Tang San stared fixedly at the Spirit Ring, his heart bleeding.

This was a four-hundred-year Datura Snake! If he had absorbed it while it was fresh, he might have gained a stronger Soul Skill effect, perhaps even had a chance to push for a higher age limit.

But now... the quality of this Spirit Ring had been cut in half at the very least!

Damn it... Tang San roared inwardly.