"Why haven't Wang Hong and Huo Yuhao arrived yet...?" Tang Shan led the team, keeping a close eye on the century-old Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine's movements.
This was the fifth time their team had caught up with it today. If they lost track of it again, with the intelligence of this Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine, it would surely realize something was wrong and flee far away. It wouldn't give them another chance to approach so easily.
Finding the creature again would be much harder then.
"What on earth is Wang Hong doing...?" Tang Shan was growing impatient. Their agreed-upon meeting time had been an hour ago, and they should have already cleared the road ahead. They shouldn't have run into any insurmountable obstacles along the way, either.
"Don't worry. Huo Yuhao and the others probably ran into something, and Uncle Wang Hong is very close with Brother Bei Bei. He wouldn't deliberately waste time."
Tang Ya was remarkably patient at a time like this. Although she was eager to obtain a new Soul Ring, it wasn't as if she couldn't wait any longer. All she needed was a little patience.
"Miss, you sure are at ease..." Tang Shan said helplessly. Since Tang Ya had said that, he didn't press the matter. He simply continued to wait patiently.
Just then, a wave of spiritual power suddenly swept toward them from behind. Because of her Martial Soul's unique nature, Tang Ya was especially sensitive to this surge of spiritual power.
She immediately grabbed Tang Shan by the wrist and squeezed hard. In her mind, a sudden, unexplained wave of spiritual power could only be an attack from an unfamiliar spiritual-type Soul Master or Soul Beast. If they didn't react at once, they would be in danger.
"Ah... Miss, what..." But instead of a confused question, what reached Tang Ya's ears was Tang Shan's grimace-filled protest.
Tang Ya herself froze for a moment. Then she felt a hand suddenly come to rest on her shoulder.
The person standing beside her was Wang Hong, who spent nearly every day with her Brother Bei Bei.
A spiritual attack that creates illusions... That was Tang Ya's first thought. They had just been talking about how the two of them were nowhere to be found, and now Wang Hong had appeared alongside a strange wave of spiritual power. This had to be a Spirit Skill that created illusions.
Instinctively, Tang Ya took up a defensive stance. But in the next instant, Wang Hong, as if he had expected this, pinched her cheek with an expression that said, "Just as I thought." A sharp, though not intense, pain shot through her face.
Tang Ya froze. Pain was the most effective way to tell whether one was facing an illusion-type Spirit Skill. Generally speaking, to ensure that the target remained as immersed as possible, illusion-type Spirit Skills didn't cause emotions such as pain or sorrow—unless the illusion specifically required them as seasoning.
"Sorry, Sister Tang Ya. I seem to have startled you." Huo Yuhao smiled sheepishly. Then a Thousand-Year Soul Ring with four distinct corners appeared behind his head, and the surrounding waves of spiritual power vanished completely. Tang Ya naturally sensed the change as well.
Only then did Tang Ya finally realize that the source of that spiritual power was the little boy standing in front of her.
"Good grief... It really is a Thousand-Year Soul Ring..." Tang Shan had also noticed that Huo Yuhao and Wang Hong had arrived. At the sight of the Thousand-Year Soul Ring behind Huo Yuhao's head, he immediately forgot that he'd wanted to give the two of them an earful.
After all, waiting was nothing compared to seeing a super-genius with his own eyes.
"It's been a while, Brother Tang Shan. Sorry to have kept you waiting so long," Huo Yuhao said with a smile. Then he pointed to the Soul Ring behind his head.
"Something unexpected happened, but... you could say it was an opportunity, too. My First Soul Ring underwent a bit of a mutation, allowing me to use spiritual power to do things I couldn't before."
Huo Yuhao blinked. In the next instant, Tang Ya suddenly found herself inside the Crafting Bureau. A few seconds later, she was back in the Star Dou Forest.
Though it had lasted only an instant, Tang Ya had already realized that Huo Yuhao had just created a simple illusion.
Though it had lasted only an instant, the illusion had been utterly flawless. Even she, whose Martial Soul made her especially sensitive to spiritual power, couldn't find the slightest flaw.
"This Spirit Skill... is truly ingenious!" Tang Ya couldn't help exclaiming. But just then, she realized that something didn't add up.
She remembered that her father had indeed told her Huo Yuhao possessed a First Soul Ring of the Thousand-Year level, along with an exceptionally powerful First Soul Skill. But that skill had nothing to do with illusions!
What was going on with Huo Yuhao's illusion-creating Spirit Skill?
"Ahem. I'll explain the details to you later, Sister Tang Ya. But for now, you should get ready to claim your Second Soul Ring."
Then Huo Yuhao did something that no one except Wang Hong had expected: he walked straight out from behind cover and headed directly toward the century-old Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine.
Tang Ya, Tang Shan, and the rest of the team all stared wide-eyed. None of them understood why Huo Yuhao would do such a thing. It was simply too baffling.
But Wang Hong showed no sign of stopping him. On the contrary, he looked expectant.
So the others could only stay where they were and see what Huo Yuhao was up to.
By then, Huo Yuhao had reached the Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine. It noticed him and reacted almost instantly. One of its branches suddenly spread open at the tip, shining a dazzling light straight into Huo Yuhao's eyes.
Given the Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine's mastery of spiritual power, Huo Yuhao, with only one Soul Ring, should have fallen straight into a powerful illusion. But he didn't. He simply watched the silvery-gray branch calmly, the Soul Ring behind his head already visible.
Just then, a burst of gray-white light flared from Huo Yuhao's eyes and shot straight toward the Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine's main body.
The light had no offensive power at all. What it contained was the Soul Power that had once belonged to that Thousand-Year Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine, along with the illusions it had been able to create.
Like a drowsy traveler, the Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine lowered every "eyelid" on its branches and quietly fell asleep.
Huo Yuhao turned around and smiled faintly in Tang Ya's direction.
"The target's taken care of. Come claim your Soul Ring, Sister Tang Ya."
Tang Ya's gaze shifted back and forth between Huo Yuhao's smiling face and the Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine, which seemed to have fallen unconscious. She couldn't make sense of what had just happened.
Huo Yuhao had made a Soul Beast that specialized in spiritual power and illusions fall into an illusion?
Before you continue