Zhu Zhuqing panted heavily.
She wiped the blood spattered across her face with her sleeve, her cool expression revealing little emotion.
Only the slight trembling of her fingertips betrayed how exhausted she was.
Without that week of grueling training with weighted gear, she could never have reacted so quickly just now. She would probably have died beneath the serpent's jaws.
Just as the three of them breathed a sigh of relief,
A bone-chilling cold suddenly swept up from behind them, its killing intent a hundred times stronger than that of the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent they had just faced.
The grass beneath their feet blackened and withered at a visible pace. Even the air seemed to congeal into glue,
and the air they drew into their lungs reeked so sharply that their chests tightened and even breathing became difficult.
A serpentine shadow slid out from deep within the flower patch.
It was nearly twice the size of the serpent they had just fought. Its scales were a deep crimson, gleaming with a cold, metallic sheen.
The crest atop its head was no longer bright red, but an almost purplish black, so swollen it looked ready to burst at any moment.
Its fluttering wings were edged with dark patterns, and even the gusts they stirred carried a nauseatingly strong stench.
It flicked its forked black tongue, its icy, slit-pupiled eyes fixed on the three of them.
Terrifying Soul Power pressed down on them like a tangible force, making the loose stones beneath their feet tremble.
It was a Soul Beast with a cultivation base of 1,900 years, only one step away from the so-called Soul Ancestor realm!
"H-How can there be two?"
Li Moyue clapped a hand over her mouth in fright. Her legs gave way, and she nearly collapsed to the ground, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
"The intelligence clearly said there was only one, and that it was 1,100 years old..."
Zhu Zhuqing furrowed her delicate brows, instantly piecing together what had happened.
The dying shriek of the serpent they had just killed must have drawn this one over.
In this situation, they would have no chance of winning against this Soul Beast on the verge of becoming a Soul Ancestor. Even if another 1,400-year-old serpent showed up, they still wouldn't stand a chance.
Lei Xiang's face turned as white as paper.
The fight just now had drained most of his Soul Power. At this point, he could barely stay on his feet.
He whipped around and shouted toward the depths of the woods, his voice hoarse with desperation,
"Teacher! Teacher! Hurry and save us!"
The woods fell silent.
Zhu Zhuqing's heart sank.
They had already completed their mission of hunting a thousand-year Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent. This stronger one had never been part of the plan.
If Lang Taihui took action, he could deal with it in an instant.
But why hadn't he shown himself?
Of course, she had no idea that the Red Cardinal was hiding in the shadows of a tree a hundred meters away, coldly watching this deadly predicament unfold.
In the crisis, she instinctively called out softly in her heart:
"Teacher... are you there?"
There was no answer.
"Teacher, are you still asleep? I... need you."
Still nothing but deathly silence.
It was as if she had returned to those days she never wanted to remember.
Once again, she seemed to be all alone.
Zhu Zhuqing clenched her teeth.
This wasn't the time to dwell on that. There was no time left to hesitate.
If they stayed here like fools, waiting to be rescued, they would only die.
She shouted at once:
"Split up and run! Head for the forest's edge!"
Before the words had even left her mouth, her First Soul Ring lit up.
She darted away, vanishing into the dense woods to the left.
Lei Xiang's eyes widened, but he remained rooted to the spot, frozen.
"Senior Brother Lei, run!"
Li Moyue grabbed his wrist and dragged him off in the opposite direction.
Lang Taihui, hidden in the shadows of a tree a hundred meters away, saw every bit of it.
He hunched over, a sinister smile spreading across his withered face as he silently licked his cracked lips.
"Go on, show me your trump card, little girl."
"If you don't, you really will die here."
His gaze swept over the panicked Li Moyue, and a twisted excitement flashed in his eyes.
"My precious Yue'er will be fine, of course. There's a mark I planted inside her."
"Forget a little snake less than two thousand years old—even a true Soul Ancestor-level Soul Beast couldn't hurt her."
Seeing Li Moyue instinctively grab the dazed Lei Xiang and flee, a cold cruelty flashed through Lang Taihui's eyes.
"As for that brat Lei Xiang... Hmph. A useless failure."
"If Yue'er didn't care about you, and I weren't always fond of helping lovers find happiness, how could I have let you live until now?"
"When you lost to that Zhu Family girl last time, I should have thrown you to the Soul Beasts."
Meanwhile, Zhu Zhuqing was racing through the woods.
She had guessed right: she was soaked in more serpent blood than anyone else, and the huge serpent had indeed fixed all its hatred on her, pursuing her relentlessly.
But she had no intention of fighting back—not in the slightest. She could only keep dodging through gaps between rocks and around massive trees.
The giant serpent was more than twice as fast as the one before. Its foul breath clung to the back of her head, and its icy tongue nearly licked the nape of her neck.
The wound on her left arm had long since split open. Blood soaked through her sleeve and dripped from her fingertips, while every burst of effort sent a stabbing pain through her.
Her strength was rapidly fading. Her vision began to darken, and her evasive movements grew slower and slower.
In the shadows of the trees, Lang Taihui narrowed his eyes slightly.
The girl's endurance far exceeded his expectations, but she wouldn't last much longer.
"Could she really have no trump card?"
Before leaving, Hu Liena had specifically warned him that Zhu Zhuqing absolutely must not come to harm.
If he really killed her, even as a Red Cardinal, he would have a hard time explaining himself.
After all, the matter was of great importance. It wasn't just Hu Liena standing behind it, but the entire Papal Palace—the Pope and those Titled Douluo elders.
Lang Taihui hesitated for a moment, then vanished from where he stood and shot toward Zhu Zhuqing.
But just then,
A deafening tiger's roar suddenly rang out from the nearby mountains.
Its domineering pressure resounded through the entire valley.
The Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent that had driven Zhu Zhuqing to the brink of death went rigid. Its purplish-black crest drooped, and its scales shuddered.
It glanced in terror toward the source of the roar, casting revenge and hatred to the winds.
It only flapped its wings with all its might and fled toward the depths of the flower patch. Within a few breaths, it had disappeared without a trace.
That was the difference between Soul Beasts and Soul Masters.
To a Soul Beast, that tiger's roar was absolute suppression from deep within its bloodline, a fear carved into its very genes.
They instantly lost all thought of resisting, leaving only the instinct to flee.
Even the faintest trace of that presence could scare them out of their wits.
But Soul Masters were different.
They would feel a tremor rising from their souls, but they wouldn't lose the ability to act.
Their first reaction was to judge the other party's cultivation, their second to assess the threat, and only their third to decide whether to fight or flee.
Lang Taihui's first reaction was suspicion. "What is that?"
Then his face lit up with delight.
"A tiger-type Soul Beast whose roar can scare off this Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent must have a cultivation base of at least ten thousand years!"
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