Death Spider Emperor, First Glimpse of Sharpness

Two yellow century soul rings rose from beneath Xiao Hongchen's feet. With a flash of gold, an extra leg inexplicably sprouted from his rear, golden patterns rippling across his skin as golden bulges pushed against his clothes from within.

"A martial soul with divine beast bloodline—the Three-legged Golden Toad." Qian Renxue's eyes widened. The ancient texts of the Martial Soul Hall had records of a divine beast called the Three-eyed Golden Toad.

"What is a Three-legged Golden Toad?" Ye Guyi asked curiously.

"The Three-legged Golden Toad is innately extremely close to the metal element, manipulating metal as naturally as a fish in water. Now I understand why Xiao Hongchen is called a once-in-a-century genius of the Sun Moon Empire. His martial soul, the Three-legged Golden Toad, is perfectly suited for cultivating soul tools."

On the field, Xiao Hongchen's martial soul, the Three-legged Golden Toad, had fully manifested. Everyone's attention shifted to Qin Chuan.

Two soul rings lit up beneath Qin Chuan's feet.

The appearance of a yellow and a purple soul ring seized countless hearts.

Qin Chuan's chest was covered in black armor, his face similarly encased in black armor. A pair of scarlet eyes locked onto Xiao Hongchen, and beneath those eyes, four smaller eyes had grown.

Qin Chuan's legs vanished. From below his abdomen, a massive round sphere formed, and from this sphere grew eight thick, long legs covered in tufts of green fur and nauseating slime. As the slime dripped to the ground, it emitted a continuous pfft pfft sound, highly corrosive.

Death Spider Emperor, Possess!

In an instant, Qin Chuan transformed into a humanoid demon spider. This sight sent chills down the spines of many students present, their hair standing on end.

"Is this... a demon spider-type martial soul?"

Jing Hongchen frowned slightly. He dashed to his office with the speed of the wind and returned just as fast.

When he came back, a thick book was tucked under his arm. Without a word, Jing Hongchen flipped directly to the section on demon spider-type martial souls in the Complete Compendium of Douluo Continent Martial Souls.

After repeated cross-referencing, Jing Hongchen's expression turned grim.

"Hall Master, what's wrong? Your face doesn't look right! Is there a big problem with Qin Chuan's martial soul?" Lin Jiayi asked anxiously.

Jing Hongchen closed the book and slowly shook his head. "There's no problem with Qin Chuan's martial soul, but his martial soul has a significant origin."

"Do you know of the powerful organization that once dominated the Douluo Continent ten thousand years ago—the Martial Soul Hall?"

"Of course I do. Wasn't it dismantled by Tang San, the first sect master of the Tang Sect?"

"Ten thousand years ago, the Pope of the Martial Soul Hall was named Bibi Dong. She possessed a once-in-a-century Twin Martial Souls, and her first martial soul was exactly Qin Chuan's Death Spider Emperor."

"What?!" Lin Jiayi was greatly shocked, never imagining that Qin Chuan's martial soul had such a grand origin.

"Hall Master, are you suggesting that Qin Chuan is a descendant of the Martial Soul Hall from ten thousand years ago?"

"It's possible, but there's no evidence. The Martial Soul Hall has been destroyed for ten thousand years. Time changes everything. That battle was a clash between gods. I thought it was just a legend, but now that the Death Spider Emperor martial soul has reappeared in the world, perhaps that legend is true."

"Gods—supreme, omnipotent gods."

A smile returned to Jing Hongchen's face. "Fortunately, this kid chose our Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. If his Death Spider Emperor martial soul had appeared on the Douluo Continent, the three empires and Shrek Academy might have slapped him with the baseless label of a Martial Soul Hall remnant. After all, back then, the Martial Soul Hall established an empire and nearly unified the entire Douluo Continent."

Witnessing Qin Chuan complete his Martial Soul Possession in an instant, Xiao Hongchen's heart was also thrown into chaos.

"Death Spider Emperor, huh? That's somewhat interesting."

After receiving a soul power transmission from his grandfather, Xiao Hongchen's first and second soul rings lit up in succession.

"First Soul Skill, Metal Control."

"Second Soul Skill, Gold Boil."

Xiao Hongchen suddenly tossed the Soul Tool Condensing Cannon in his hand into the air. Something unexpected happened.

The Soul Tool Condensing Cannon actually hovered in midair, its pitch-black muzzle aimed squarely at Qin Chuan.

This was Xiao Hongchen's Metal Control—the absolute dominion of the Three-legged Golden Toad over metal.

The cannon muzzle didn't gather energy but instead instantly fired a straight, pale white ray.

Gold Boil absorbed the metallic elements in the air, rapidly completing the Condensing Cannon's charge.

The principle of the Condensing Cannon lay in compressing soul power before releasing it. The power of this strike was enough to rival a Soul Elder.

Qin Chuan remained silent. After putting on a wide right claw gauntlet, his right arm, covered in barbs, was replaced by golden dragon scales. The gauntlet perfectly matched the Golden Dragon King's dragon claw.

Whoosh!

A sound of breaking wind came.

Qin Chuan raised his right fist, pouring endless soul power into the gauntlet. Combined with the terrifying strength of the Golden Dragon King, he directly punched the incoming pale white ray into oblivion.

A condensed soul tool ray was actually shattered by a single punch. Such a horrifying sight stunned everyone present, including Xiao Hongchen.

"I don't believe it."

Xiao Hongchen manipulated the Condensing Cannon, firing pale white rays one after another.

Three rays struck simultaneously, one after the other.

Qin Chuan crouched down. His eight barbed spider legs served as springs for propulsion. As he leaped high into the air, the first soul ring beneath his feet flickered.

"First Soul Skill, Demon Spider Surge."

A wisp of eerie purple-black mist drifted across the ground. When the mist dissipated, hundreds of small Death Demon Spiders appeared. Anyone with trypophobia would have their scalp crawl.

Hundreds of Death Demon Spiders surrounded Xiao Hongchen, spreading toward him like a tide.

Xiao Hongchen felt his scalp tingle. The Soul Tool Condensing Cannon fired at full power, a straight pale white ray sweeping across. The front row of over a dozen Death Spider Emperors instantly dissipated into smoke.

At the same time, Qin Chuan, leveraging his leaping advantage, had already arrived before Xiao Hongchen. With a fist the size of a sandbag, clad in scale-covered, ferocious claws, he punched the second-level soul tool Condensing Cannon that Xiao Hongchen had crafted flying away.

The Energy Cannon exploded in midair, crashing down as a pile of scrap metal.

The wind from his fist left Xiao Hongchen's hair disheveled—the outcome of this duel was already decided.

"Winner of this round of the Soul Engineer competition: Qin Chuan."

After Xuan Ziwen announced the result, Xiao Hongchen, tasting defeat for the first time, was silent for a moment before letting out a long sigh. "I lost. But don't get too cocky—sooner or later, I'll beat you."

"I'll be waiting." Qin Chuan deactivated his Death Spider Emperor possession and landed on both feet.

With the match over, the lunch break was nearly half gone.

Only the Xiao Hongchen siblings and Qin Chuan's trio remained on the training ground.

"Oh, right—I haven't asked what you said to my sister earlier."

"I haven't asked for my prize yet. Hand it over."

"A bet's a bet."

Xiao Hongchen was magnanimous in defeat. He reached out and placed the Red Dust Kinship in Qin Chuan's hand.

A fifth-tier Soul Tool, the Red Dust Kinship was a metal badge the size of a single Gold Soul Coin, thin as a cicada's wing. It could block a Soul Emperor-level attack once per day, requiring a full day to recharge.

Qin Chuan nodded in satisfaction. "Let's go. See you this afternoon."

Qin Chuan, Qian Renxue, and Ye Guyi walked away.

Only after the three had disappeared into the distance did Xiao Hongchen slap his forehead. "Almost forgot—I still haven't asked what he said to Meng."

He turned to ask his sister, Meng Hongchen, but she only replied with one sentence: "He said I'm pretty."

Xiao Hongchen's face went pale, as if facing a great enemy.