The Man Faced Demon Spider was hiding not far away, completely unaware that Ning Rongrong had already discovered it.
Ning Rongrong hesitated where she stood.
After learning that the chance of suppressing a Soul Beast over 2,800 years old wasn't zero, Lu Ma had considered looking for a higher-level Soul Beast. Since he could save his progress, he could turn a chance greater than zero into 100%.
But... it just had to be the Man Faced Demon Spider, the one Soul Beast that could grant an External Soul Bone after its Soul Ring was absorbed. In the first Douluo novel, it should have been the only source of External Soul Bones.
After hesitating for a moment, Ning Rongrong made her move. The Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda appeared in her hands, and its first level suddenly lit up, releasing a purple glow.
In an instant, the purple light flared, illuminating the Man Faced Demon Spider.
The Man Faced Demon Spider was just about to move when it sensed an invisible pressure bearing down on it.
Ning Rongrong, who was accustomed to being controlled, suddenly focused as well.
It hurt, and she was exhausted!
She didn't know what the person controlling her was thinking, and she didn't want to know, because she believed he had a plan.
But now that she had come to her senses, she realized the Man Faced Demon Spider before her was over three thousand years old. Setting aside the fact that this Soul Beast had little compatibility with the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, the age alone made it unheard of as a third Soul Ring.
She could already feel her Soul Power running dry, and blood seeping from her body.
All she could do was watch as she kept taking out Red Potions and Blue Potions to drink.
Her body was growing weaker and recovering at the same time, until it could no longer hold out. At last, she heard an enraged bang as someone slammed a table, and her consciousness began to blur.
[Suppression failed, health depleted--] [You have died] [Load save]
"You've got to be kidding me. I can hit a 0.6% gacha chance, but you fail to suppress it with an 80% chance?"
Lu Ma slammed the table hard. After taking a few breaths to calm down, he returned to the save point.
"Let's try again."
Am I going to die?
Feeling her body slowly fall as a voice echoed in her mind, Ning Rongrong gradually regained control of herself and wondered.
So he could release his control when she was dying, letting her experience every moment before death in full.
What a vicious person.
Though she was cursing him, Ning Rongrong's tone wasn't vicious at all. She was simply stating a fact.
Then she felt the scene around her rewind...
Had she returned to the moment when she used the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda?
Fighting through the pain, she stared at the scene before her in disbelief.
She was standing there, perfectly unharmed, while the Man Faced Demon Spider remained motionless in the distance.
This was the second time she had experienced a save being loaded, and her mind was still a little muddled.
Was that just a dream? Or had he turned back time?
Feeling her body, she realized that she had indeed lost control of it again.
Then she helplessly watched as the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda appeared in her hands once more.
What are you trying to do? Didn't we already try this and find out it wouldn't work?
But Ning Rongrong's words didn't reach Lu Ma.
The first level of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda kept glowing purple, and the purple light landed on the Man Faced Demon Spider.
One bottle, two bottles, three bottles...
After drinking a full seven Life Potions and Energy Potions, Lu Ma looked at the words on the screen and finally let out a long breath.
[Suppression successful!]
Ning Rongrong stared blankly at everything.
Wait, it actually worked?
She was at a loss for words.
She watched as her own body stepped forward and began absorbing the Soul Ring.
Then Ning Rongrong suddenly remembered: this Soul Beast wasn't compatible with her Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda!
Pain once again spread through her entire body. Ning Rongrong nearly passed out several times, but she gritted her teeth and held on.
Though she was the one supposedly holding on, Ning Rongrong couldn't shake the feeling that the person controlling her was the one keeping her from blacking out.
Through all the agony, she finally succeeded in absorbing the Soul Ring!
The third level of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda lit up, shining with a green light.
Finally!
Ning Rongrong breathed a sigh of relief, no longer thinking about the mismatch between the Soul Beast and her Martial Soul.
But the good times didn't last. Just as she had breathed that sigh of relief, she heard—
"What do you mean, Soul Ring absorption successful, but no External Soul Bone obtained? Where's my External Soul Bone?"
She found herself back in the state she'd been in before releasing her Martial Soul.
Ah—this young lady is really going to fight you! You already succeeded in absorbing it. You just refuse to give up on that damn External Soul Bone, don't you?
Unfortunately, Lu Ma couldn't hear her. He just kept loading his save.
[Suppression successful! Soul Ring absorption failed!] [Stop already!] [Suppression failed!] [You bastard, when I find you, you'll be sorry!] [Suppression successful! Soul Ring absorption successful! External Soul Bone not obtained!] [Please, stop.] [Suppression successful! Soul Ring absorption successful! External Soul Bone not obtained!] [Please, I'm begging you, isn't that enough?] [Suppression successful! Soul Ring absorption failed!] [What a strange feeling... It's like... I'm dying.] [Suppression successful! Soul Ring absorption successful! External Soul Bone obtained!]
...Ning Rongrong had no thoughts left. In other words—she was numb.
"Phew—"
Lu Ma looked at the result on the screen and nodded with satisfaction.
"That's more like it."
Then he opened the character panel.
[Ning Rongrong, 12 years old, level 32, Tool Soul Elder] [Martial Soul: Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda (+2)] [Physical fitness: level 13, mental strength: level 32] [Soul Rings: Purple, Yellow, Purple] [External Soul Bone: Eight Spider Lances]
Then he opened his inventory and drank all the Experience Potions. Her Soul Power Level rose to level 33.
He opened the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda and checked its third Soul Skill, which surprised him a little.
[Third Soul Skill: Poison Attribute Amplification] [Can remove the poisoned state from a designated target and add 60% poison-element damage to their attacks]
It wasn't Soul Power amplification.
But it didn't matter. He had Blue Potions, so Soul Power wasn't very important to him.
He checked the first two Soul Skills as well. Their amplification had also reached 60%, and Trapped Beast was the same. Its maximum number of uses had increased to three, and the Soul Ring's age had reached 3,000 years.
After closing all the menus, Lu Ma saved his progress and looked around.
"What if there are treasure chests in this forest?"
Putting treasure chests in a dungeon seemed like a perfectly normal thing to do.
He psyched himself up and began searching the forest.
Flender watched as the surrounding Soul Beasts gradually reached the thousand-year level, and even seemed to exceed five thousand years, yet he still couldn't find any sign that Ning Rongrong had been here. At last, he realized he had gone the wrong way.
His original goal had been to train the two Auxiliary Soul Masters' combat skills by having them face attacks from Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. As for absorbing Soul Rings, he would find suitable thousand-year ones for them; there was no need for them to absorb them on the spot. Of course, he wasn't worried. No Auxiliary Soul Master could defeat a Soul Beast of the same level alone—at least, he'd never heard of one who could.
"Going the wrong way means I've wasted a whole lot of time. What a headache."
Flender adjusted his glasses, feeling a chill creep up his back.
He seemed destined to become the next Zhao Wuji.
He shook his head hard, planning to cross this patch of wilderness in the middle and reach the other side. Just then, he spotted fresh bloodstains on the grass.
Before you continue