Assassin

Not daring to delay, Feng Xinglie hurriedly sped toward the direction the sound had come from. Before long, he spotted a man and a spider locked in battle. Tang San had already summoned his Second Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, and launched the Man Faced Demon Spider into the air with an upward swing.

"Tang San, I'm here to help!"

With a loud shout, Feng Xinglie descended from above, both palms like blades as he thrust them straight toward the Man Faced Demon Spider's eyes. Amid a shrill screech, Feng Xinglie drove his palms through its eye sockets and into its brain, then clenched his hands into fists and yanked them back. Already gravely wounded and battered by Tang San's Zhuge Crossbow and Clear Sky Hammer, the Man Faced Demon Spider went still as soon as Feng Xinglie—playing the hero at the last moment—delivered the finishing blow.

"Tang San, what are you doing!?"

Flicking the blood from his hands, Feng Xinglie grabbed Tang San by the collar, pinned him against a tree, and shouted furiously:

"I know you're heartbroken that Xiao Wu was taken, but do you have a death wish? Do you know how worried everyone at Shrek is about you? Are you just going to abandon Teacher Zhao, who was gravely wounded for our sake?"

"I'm sorry..."

Faced with Feng Xinglie's barrage of moral reproaches, Tang San knew he was in the wrong and lowered his head. But he quickly raised it again, his gaze resolute.

"But I promised Xiao Wu I'd protect her."

"What can you do if you chase after them now? Forget the Titan Giant Ape, which could kill Teacher Zhao in a single blow. Could you even beat this Man Faced Demon Spider by yourself?"

"I..."

Faced with the perfectly reasonable question, Tang San had no idea how to answer. Even so, he stubbornly said, "No, I have to try. As long as I absorb this Man Faced Demon Spider's Soul Ring, I'll become stronger. I'm sure I can..."

"Wait, aren't you only level twenty-nine? How are you going to absorb it?"

This time it was Feng Xinglie's turn to be dumbfounded. He stared at Tang San, wide-eyed. Could it be...

"During the battle just now, my Soul Power broke through the bottleneck. I'm already level thirty."

Fuck me... Feng Xinglie nearly cursed aloud. He had racked his brains, calculating everything, buying time and building ties with all the different factions, only to look like a clown in the face of Tang San's heaven-defying luck.

"Tang San, I'm glad you broke through, but you really can't let your emotions cloud your judgment right now. Look, this Man Faced Demon Spider is already two thousand years old, exceeding the third Soul Ring's upper limit of seventeen hundred years..."

Before Feng Xinglie could finish, Tang San cut him off.

"I know, but I have to try. And your third Soul Ring is even a ten-thousand-year black Soul Ring. If you can do it, then I, Tang San, can definitely do it too."

Feng Xinglie was speechless. He had forgotten that he himself was a living example of someone who had absorbed a Soul Ring beyond the usual limit. He sighed, then softened his tone.

"Xiao San, I'm not stopping you just to be difficult. My Martial Soul is special, and my situation is different from yours. Besides, I already killed this Man Faced Demon Spider. How are you going to absorb it?"

"No, you didn't. Look, isn't the Man Faced Demon Spider still alive?"

Feng Xinglie started in alarm and quickly turned around. The enormous Soul Beast lay on the ground, and indeed, no Soul Ring had appeared above its body. He was baffled.

"That's not right. I completely destroyed its brain, and even laced it with the poison from Poison Hand. How is it not dead?"

He approached in confusion and placed his hand on the Man Faced Demon Spider's head. In an instant, an extremely faint yet irresistible force exploded in Feng Xinglie's mind. For a fleeting moment, he seemed to see ten thousand steel blades slicing through his body, hear roars and snarls shattering his eardrums, and feel scarlet gore flooding his nose. It wasn't Soul Power. It was something higher—a force like... a rule.

Smack.

Feng Xinglie stumbled backward against his will, tripped over a branch, and fell onto the ground, gasping for breath.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Tang San looked at Feng Xinglie in alarm, but by then, Feng Xinglie had lost all desire to stop him from absorbing the Soul Ring.

"No, it's nothing. If you've made up your mind, then go ahead and absorb it. I'll catch up with Xiao Wu."

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Feng Xinglie forced down his unease. He no longer dared stop Tang San from absorbing the Soul Ring, and stood up to tell him.

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you. I'll go after them as soon as I finish absorbing the Soul Ring. We have to bring Xiao Wu back!"

With that, he paid no mind to Feng Xinglie running off into the distance. Tang San drew his dagger and ended the Man Faced Demon Spider's life with a single strike.

"I miscalculated. I thought it was the protagonist's halo as the Child of Destiny, but I didn't expect it to be something even more terrifying..."

Feng Xinglie made his way alone through the Star Dou Forest. Since the surrounding Soul Beasts had all been stunned by the Titan Giant Ape's roar, tracking it was surprisingly easy and safe. But his expression had already turned grim. He'd gone after Oscar's Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, and although there had been a few twists and turns, he'd succeeded in the end. But Tang San's Man Faced Demon Spider had clearly been protected by some kind of force. Feng Xinglie had some idea where that force came from, but he didn't dare think too deeply about it. After all, if it was true that this being had personally stepped in to take Tang San's side, then even the entire Spirit Hall combined wouldn't be enough to withstand a single poke from its finger.

"This is a real mess. I'll have to scrap almost the entire original plan and start over."

Feng Xinglie scratched his head in frustration and fell into thought, unaware that danger was creeping closer.

Roar!

A roar broke his train of thought. Feng Xinglie looked up to see a giant claw swinging down at him. Though his reflexes were lightning-fast and he instantly braced himself, the blow still sent him flying. He crashed into a tree that would have taken three people to wrap their arms around before finally coming to a stop.

"Cough, cough. What the hell?"

Feng Xinglie forced back the metallic sweetness rising in his throat, then stood and looked at his attacker. The moment he saw it, he froze.

"The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger? How did this thing end up here?"

It was an incredibly rare, nearly extinct top-tier Soul Beast, a monster with six attributes: evil, time, space, lightning, strength, and wind. According to the story, it wouldn't appear until much later, when it would become a stepping stone for Tang San. There was no way it should be here now.

Silencing me.

The thought flashed through Feng Xinglie's mind. It seemed the person behind Tang San was very unhappy with his interference. His only advantage now was knowing all of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's skills and moves. But in his current state, he had precious few ways to threaten it.

However... this monster, which could only contend with Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, was in a strange state. Its aura surged and faltered, as if its foundation were unstable. Its eyes glowed with a blood-red light, and it seemed to be suppressed by something, robbed of its sanity.

As Feng Xinglie pondered this, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger suddenly charged at him, surrounded by a cluster of gray, spherical energies.