The Emperor Heart Pill That Drives Soul Beasts Mad

Tang San, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong had not yet absorbed their soul rings, so they selected the ones they wanted from within the barrier released by Flender and Liu Erlong.

Jiang Huai had already put away his Emperor Heart Pill, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Gu Yue as they remained vigilant against the soul beasts outside.

Tang San pointed at the 8,000-year-old Earth Cave Demon Spider beside the Earth Cave Demon Spider Emperor and shouted, "Dean Flender, I want that 8,000-year-old Earth Cave Demon Spider."

Upon hearing this, Flender cursed Tang San's ancestors for eighteen generations in his heart; Tang San was asking him to pull teeth from a tiger's mouth.

Liu Erlong and Qin Ming's mouths twitched, and Yu Xiaogang nearly tripped over his own feet.

What kind of decent person asks a Soul Douluo to kill a junior right in front of its ancestor? Jiang Huai, Gu Yue, and the others all rubbed their foreheads in silence, truly wondering how a piece of trash like Yu Xiaogang managed to teach Tang San.

Suddenly, a massive, emerald-green python flew across the sky. Jiang Huai looked up and knew he had arrived.

Dugu Bo unleashed his Martial Soul Avatar immediately, followed by the Jade Scale Soul-Bewildering Array and Time Stasis. Flender watched with wide eyes, wishing he could also release soul skills in such rapid succession.

Dugu Bo grabbed the soul beast Tang San wanted and pulled it into the barrier. Jiang Huai looked at Dugu Bo's rejuvenated face and said speechlessly, "Do you have any idea that doing this will enrage that Earth Cave Demon Spider Emperor?"

Dugu Bo replied nonchalantly, "So what? My poison is something no soul beast can compare to."

"Go to hell. You take Tang San to absorb his soul ring; we'll handle things here."

Jiang Huai spoke to Dugu Bo with annoyance. Dugu Bo didn't take offense and took Tang San to the back to absorb the soul ring.

Soon, Zhu Zhuqing pointed at the thousand-year-old Ghost Tiger and said, "I want that one."

Ning Rongrong pointed at the Four-Eyed Scaled Beast and said, "Brother Huai, I want that one!"

Jiang Huai nodded upon hearing this and exchanged a glance with Liu Erlong. Jiang Huai moved against the Ghost Tiger, while Liu Erlong attacked the Four-Eyed Scaled Beast, which possessed incredibly tough scales.

Before long, both soul beasts were dragged into the barrier. Jiang Huai had Gu Yue and Xiao Wu accompany Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing to absorb their soul rings, as he now needed to drive these soul beasts away.

Jiang Huai took out another type of highly toxic pill—a top-tier poison gall he had refined using the Crimson Swan Kiss. When the pill was formed, it had even melted the alchemy furnace, and only five pills had been successfully produced.

Jiang Huai ordered everyone to cover their mouths and noses with airtight materials, and everyone scrambled to find something to cover their faces.

Jiang Huai covered his own nose and mouth with his mask, and not feeling safe enough, he took out four more masks and wrapped them in five layers.

Soon, Jiang Huai loaded the toxic pill into the Deadly Void hand cannon on his wrist. As he inserted it into the magazine, his wrist began to accumulate power, and everyone held their breath.

Immediately following a "boom," the Earth Cave Demon Spider Emperor was struck, and the terrifying poisonous gas began to invade its body.

In no time, the Earth Cave Demon Spider Emperor dissolved into pus, leaving behind only a 100,000-year Earth Cave Demon Spider Emperor Right Arm Bone.

The soul rings were contaminated by the potent poison and lost all their soul power. Seeing this, the Human-Faced Demon Spider Emperor fled the area immediately. Other ten-thousand-year soul beasts followed suit, though some failed to escape and were eroded by the poisonous mist.

Flender was alarmed and immediately ordered Liu Erlong and Qin Ming to increase their soul power output, and they began to resist the terrifying poisonous mist with all their might.

In the shadows, Jiang Yi immediately moved far away; she had almost been disfigured because of this stinky younger brother's pills.

A Title Douluo from Spirit Hall, who was searching for Dugu Bo nearby while holding a chrysanthemum, suddenly entered the area where the poison was drifting without paying attention. The Title Douluo was startled and fled immediately, but his momentary lapse caused one of his fingers to be corroded.

This Title Douluo left the Sunset Forest immediately to return to Spirit Hall and report; he vowed never to enter this place again.

Soon, Tang San, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong finished absorbing their soul rings. Tang San's fourth soul skill was the single-target control skill Blue Silver Cage, Zhu Zhuqing's fourth soul skill was Nether Shadow Clone, and Ning Rongrong's fourth soul skill was defense amplification.

After absorbing the soul rings, Tang San's soul power reached level 42, Ning Rongrong's reached level 43, and Zhu Zhuqing's reached level 43.

Dugu Bo used his own martial soul to clear away the remaining poisonous mist. Jiang Huai walked over to the puddle of the 100,000-year Earth Cave Demon Spider Emperor and picked up the 100,000-year soul bone, the Earth Cave Demon Spider Emperor Right Arm Bone.

At the same time, Qin Ming and the others entered the poisonous mist to search for treasures. They found another ten-thousand-year soul bone, a Gale Demon Wolf Left Arm Bone with an age of about 40,000 years; there was nothing else left in the puddle.

Looking at it this way, soul bones were still quite rare. The poisonous mist had killed at least a hundred soul beasts; while the 100,000-year beast was guaranteed to drop a bone, the others only had a chance, and in the end, only one ten-thousand-year soul bone was found.

A few days later...

Everyone arrived at the back mountain of Shrek Academy. Yu Xiaogang was explaining the rules of the competition. The preliminary rounds were meant to select the academies that would go to Spirit City to compete. Among them, the two great empires and Spirit Hall each had a guaranteed spot, meaning their Royal Academies and the Spirit Hall Academy were already qualified.

The Spirit Hall Academy was the top academy on the entire continent. Dugu Bo had previously told Yu Xiaogang that Spirit Hall had three Soul Kings participating in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Competition this time.

It could not be ruled out that there might be others who would break through to become Soul Kings later, as the Spirit Hall Academy team had a student at level 49.

Soon, Yu Xiaogang introduced the team title, "Shrek Nine Devils," but only seven of the nine could take the field, so they had to allocate the spots well.

Jiang Huai and Gu Yue were the trump cards among the nine because they possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Next were Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, who also possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

The Shrek competition roster included main team members Jiang Huai, Gu Yue, Dai Mubai, and Xiao Wu; reserve members Tang San, Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar; and substitute members Tai Long, Huang Yuan, Jing Ling, and Jiang Zhu.

During this time, the thirteen of them had to focus on team coordination. The captain of the Shrek team was Jiang Huai, and the vice-captains were Dai Mubai and Gu Yue.

Two weeks passed quickly. Liu Erlong and Zhao Wuji returned to the academy after hunting for their eighth soul rings, and both of their strengths had undergone a qualitative leap.

Then, for the final month, the thirteen of them began training as if their lives depended on it. They needed to hone their combat experience and tacit cooperation.

They practiced until late at night every day before returning to the dorms to rest. Most were able to stay up late and wake up early, though Oscar remained lazy and disliked early mornings. After the boost from his fourth soul ring, Ma Hongjun also began to cultivate rapidly.

Oscar was often dragged out of the dormitory building by Dai Mubai for training, and while everyone was honing their chemistry, bickering occurred frequently.

However, the next day they would always forget the previous day's unpleasantness, and just like that, their coordination became increasingly seamless.

Everyone's soul power also increased by one level. Among them, Jiang Huai's improvement was the biggest surprise for the whole team, because his growth proved that the entire team's combat power would rise accordingly.