Just as Feng Piaoling thought he could persuade the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to sacrifice itself to him, the other party's sudden voice made his expression turn ugly.
"What incredible spiritual power, and you even have Twin Martial Souls. What a pity neither has a Mental Attribute. What a shame, what a terrible shame. If your big brother could cry, I'd be weeping buckets."
Feng Piaoling's face instantly darkened like still water. He wasn't putting on an act.
He knew his Martial Souls weren't of the Mental Attribute, so the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm might not choose him.
He had made all kinds of preparations for this.
As he improved himself, he had also deliberately let Huo Yuhao absorb a Ten-Year Spirit Ring from a non-Mental Attribute Wind Baboon, weakening him.
But when the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said it wouldn't choose him, he still nearly lost it.
No. Stay calm, stay calm. If this bug won't choose me, then I absolutely can't let its remains and Electrolux slip through my fingers.
These thoughts flashed through Feng Piaoling's mind in an instant. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had already emerged from the ground ahead, revealing its fat body: over a meter in diameter, seven meters long, and marked with ten golden rings.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Big brother won't hurt you..."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was just about to say something when Feng Piaoling had already brought out the dozen or so Fire Bomb Talismans he'd been holding.
A flash of red light, and a dozen basketball-sized fireballs shot from his hand in a swarm, hurtling straight toward the densely packed target.
Meanwhile, he had already put away his Green Lotus Sword Martial Soul. His left hand gripped the scabbard of the Thunder Tribulation Sword at his waist. A flash of blue light passed over the black scabbard, releasing a blue-violet lightning barrier that shielded him and Huo Yuhao, who was absorbing a Spirit Ring.
"Holy crap..."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm hadn't expected its opponent to fight so dirty—to take advantage of it while it was talking, to trick it, to launch a sneak attack on a million-year-old silkworm baby like him.
Caught off guard, it took a dozen fireballs right in the face.
A series of thunderous explosions erupted. Blinding red light flashed before its eyes, leaving the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm unable to see.
A large swath of grass and trees was blown to pieces, then reduced to ash. The white skin marked with ten golden rings endured for only a few seconds before splitting apart in agony, exposing a chilling, milky-white liquid.
Its entire fat body was blasted away. Where it had been, a series of uneven craters appeared, each half a meter deep and over a meter across. In the blink of an eye, the area became a sea of fire.
Fortunately, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had an Ice Attribute and could resist the flames of the Fire Bomb Talismans. It had only suffered the force of the explosions. Otherwise, that one attack would have made it the first Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in history to be killed single-handedly by a Quasi-Soul Elder.
Why call it a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? Because, up until now, no Quasi-Soul Elder had ever managed to kill a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast single-handedly, let alone a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast or a million-year Soul Beast.
So this bug really does have a million years of cultivation for nothing. Aside from its spiritual power, it's useless.
Feng Piaoling muttered to himself, but his movements were crisp and decisive. He casually placed the scabbard of the Thunder Tribulation Sword, which was sustaining the barrier, beside Huo Yuhao, "protecting" him as he stepped into Clone Shadow. The Thunder Tribulation Sword at his waist instantly left its scabbard.
Whoosh!
Feng Piaoling darted forward and actually rose into the air, gliding over twenty meters like a ghost as he pounced ferociously on the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
"Damn it, again?" The battered Sky Dream Ice Silkworm used its powerful spiritual power to narrowly dodge Feng Piaoling's killing blow.
But the large tree behind it was sliced in two with a soft pfft.
Feng Piaoling flicked his wrist. A streak of azure sword light wrapped in arcs of lightning danced like Wind Flower Snow Moon, dazzling and impossible to keep up with. It was the strongest strike of the Nine Gale Swords: Wind Flower Snow Moon.
"Damn it, big brother's angry now!"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm hadn't expected Feng Piaoling to strike so quickly and viciously, every move aimed at taking its life.
It stopped holding back and unleashed a Soul Shock, intending to kill the human trying to murder it right there.
As for running away, that hadn't crossed its mind. It had finally come across a human with a Mental Attribute Martial Soul. Its time was nearly up, and it didn't want to miss this chance.
Feng Piaoling had been on guard against the bug's attack from the start. His mind was taut with tension, and his Heaven-Reaching Demon Eye was constantly in operation.
The moment he saw signs of the other party gathering Soul Power, he slapped his chest. An earthen-yellow light immediately flared beneath it.
Hidden there was an Earth Escape Talisman—his second Soul Skill, obtained from hunting an exceedingly rare two-thousand-five-hundred-year-old Earth Armored Dragon.
It allowed him to travel freely through the earth and could also be stored for twenty-four hours.
Every day, he made an Earth Escape Talisman and stuck it to his chest, ready to save his life at any moment.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's soul attack was not only a spiritual attack; it also contained the Ice Attribute.
In the original story, it had easily subdued Ma Xiaotao, who was over level sixty and in a berserk state.
The azure sword light wrapped in lightning from Wind Flower Snow Moon was powerful enough to rival a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill. But as soon as it was unleashed, it was frozen by the chill of the Soul Shock, then shattered with a crash.
Taking advantage of the moment, Feng Piaoling had already burrowed into the ground. The beam of icy light formed by the Soul Shock passed through the spot where he had been, freezing a large area.
"He actually escaped underground! Damn it, I'm furious!"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, having just suffered a major loss, was so frustrated it could have spat blood.
There was no way it could catch up. Its opponent seemed absurdly fast, already beyond the range of its spiritual detection.
Then it looked at Huo Yuhao. "You had that crafty brat helping you, and you still chose to absorb a Ten-Year Wind Baboon Spirit Ring. I really don't know what you were thinking. But it's fine. With big brother here, even a Ten-Year Spirit Ring can be raised to a Hundred-Thousand-Year one someday."
After saying this, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm began its sacrifice.
As the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm sacrificed itself to Huo Yuhao, an invisible wave of spiritual energy spread outward from its body. Its terrifying spiritual power covered every corner within a hundred-mile radius almost instantly.
Bei Bei and Tang Ya, who had encountered them earlier and wanted to catch up with Huo Yuhao and Feng Piaoling to invite them to join the Tang Sect, were caught in the wave of spiritual energy and fell briefly into a daze. Soul Shock did not have much destructive power, but it could rob all living things of the ability to think for a short time.
Feng Piaoling, who had burrowed underground, naturally wasn't spared.
Fortunately, he had prepared in advance. Before leaving the Sun Moon Empire, he had swallowed his pride and, in his capacity as Xu Tianran's trusted aide, asked the Holy Spirit Cult for a Level 9 Soul Tool—the Mental Barrier.
That was also why the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm thought he had left and hadn't detected him.
(ps: Some people may not understand this part. Consider it a small bit of foreshadowing; I'll explain later.)
Of course, there was a price.
And to Feng Piaoling, that price was practically worthless. All he had to do was find the Holy Spirit Cult a Holy Maiden within a year.
With the Level 9 Soul Tool, the Mental Barrier, and Feng Piaoling's own powerful spiritual strength, the spiritual shock produced by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's sacrifice had little effect on him.
Feng Piaoling kept his spiritual power trained on his surroundings and activated his Heaven-Reaching Demon Eye.
Before you continue