A Test Too Horrible to Witness

Over the next few days, Flender nearly began to doubt his own life.

Whenever an uninvited guest in the form of a thousand-year soul beast appeared, Gangzi and Tang San, that master-disciple duo, would have eyes gleaming as if they were flies spotting a cracked, rotten egg.

Afterward, they would have him restrain the thousand-year soul beast, followed by a full course of treatment involving enemas and a face-full of toxic gas.

This made Flender wonder if he were to simply slap those wretched, fleeing thousand-year soul beasts to death on the spot, he might just be able to harvest a few soul bones.

One had to know that the deeper the resentment of a soul beast before death, the higher the probability of it producing a soul bone.

This had led many groups of soul masters to profit from such practices.

Even so, the rate at which soul beasts produced soul bones remained pitifully low, yet they still pursued it with tireless enthusiasm.

If it weren't for the fact that Gangzi and Tang San had no intention of taking the lives of these soul beasts, Flender would have assumed they were here specifically for soul bones.

It was completely unlike anything a human would do.

A week later, the trio discovered their true target for this trip in a mountain hollow.

A Ghost Vine with an age approaching 650 years.

According to Gangzi's theory, the limit for a second soul ring was roughly 760 years.

But with divine trials backing them, the two didn't care at all about such a small gap in age; in any case, the age would be topped up once the trials were completed.

This also helped them avoid certain risks.

Flender watched as Tang San cut through the roots of the Ghost Vine with a single blade, feeling a sense of relief.

The kid was finally starting to do some real work.

He would have to be careful in the future to keep Tang San from getting behind him; the kid seemed to have a penchant for that sort of thing.

The absorption of the soul ring went very smoothly, and within a few hours, Tang San opened his eyes.

Having gone through nearly twenty trials, Tang San's first soul ring was now even higher in age than his second.

He didn't care about this in the slightest; instead, he was filled with anticipation for the soon-to-be-completed twentieth trial.

At the same time, he felt fortunate to have a soul saint like Flender traveling with them.

If it were just him and Gangzi hunting for souls, how would they ever dare to perform such sordid acts on thousand-year soul beasts?

They would be lucky not to be chased all over the forest.

"San, how is the soul skill?"

Gangzi was still very concerned about his prize pupil's soul skill. Although Blue Silver Grass was mediocre, Tang San's talent and the high-age soul ring could still guarantee a baseline for the skill.

The self-righteous Gangzi had no idea that Tang San's martial soul was not Blue Silver Grass at all, but the king of that lineage, the Blue Silver Emperor.

"Teacher, my second soul skill is Parasite."

"After using it, I can scatter a large number of Blue Silver Grass seeds on the ground and accelerate their growth."

"Hmm, a decent control-type soul skill. Let's continue moving forward!"

Hearing Gangzi's assessment, Flender nodded repeatedly from the side.

He was still quite surprised that Tang San's martial soul was Blue Silver Grass.

His old brother had a profound understanding of martial souls, and he still trusted his judgment.

Later, in the process of searching for a soul beast for Yu Xiaogang, several more thousand-year soul beasts without eyes for the world mistook the trio for prey.

The result, naturally, was that they were subjected to a course of therapy by the master and disciple without exception.

Counting the previous ones, the master and disciple had each completed the persecution of nine thousand-year soul beasts.

Only one more was needed for the trial to be considered complete.

"Gangzi, what kind of soul beast do you actually want?"

"I think that Steel Armor Rhino from just a moment ago was quite good."

"It might even have given Sanpao a soul skill like Charge or something similar."

Yu Xiaogang shook his head. If he hadn't received the inheritance of the Plague God and had to rely on his own strength to break through to level 30, he might have truly chosen a defensive soul ring as Flender suggested.

But now, he chose to develop in the direction of strengthening his toxic gas.

Adding various attributes to Sanpao was the true path to power.

This was consistent with the nature of the Plague God, wasn't it?

He had taken the saying that the gods didn't just choose those with innate talent, but also those with the best compatibility with the successor, as an absolute truth.

"Wind attribute or fire attribute; nothing else is being considered!"

"Fine, I understand."

Flender didn't try to persuade him further; he didn't believe his knowledge of soul beasts surpassed that of the studious Gangzi.

Just as the group intended to continue forward, a rustling sound suddenly erupted from the forest not far away.

Following it was a massive, snorting sound.

"Snort..." "Snort..."

A few seconds later, a boar-type spirit beast with massive tusks and flames burning along its back appeared in the trio's field of vision.

The boar clearly viewed the three as prey as well; the moment it appeared, it began pawing at the ground with its front limbs, assuming a charging stance.

Tang San, standing between the two, perked up the moment he saw the target.

"Teacher, it's an Explosive Flame Boar, a fire-attribute spirit beast. Judging by the color of the flames on its body, it should be just over a thousand years old."

Following Tang San's introduction, Flender's eyes lit up.

"Gangzi, fire-attribute, and it's a pig—it's perfect for Luo Sanpao!"

Gangzi, who had been feeling spirited, saw his expression darken instantly at Flender's words.

He couldn't help but feel that this little brat was implying something about him.

What direct connection is there between a pig and my Sanpao?

This is a dragon, a dragon that hasn't fully evolved yet!

Though he thought this, he knew he had to seize the opportunity when a suitable spirit ring appeared.

"Flender, that's the one!"

"Alright, watch me."

Flender was overjoyed; he could finally end this bizarre soul-hunting journey.

From the moment they entered the forest until now, a full fourteen days had passed.

During these days, not only did he have to remain constantly vigilant against surrounding dangers, but he also had to endure having his eyes and nose polluted by this master-disciple pair—it was nothing short of double torture.

Spreading his wings, Flender arrived above the Explosive Flame Boar at a terrifying speed, knocked it unconscious before its panicked eyes, and carried it back to Gangzi's side.

"Done, it's your turn, Gangzi."

"No rush, no rush."

Under Flender's bewildered expression, Gangzi pursed his lips toward Tang San, signaling for him to go first.

Tang San rubbed his hands together and walked behind the Explosive Flame Boar with great excitement.

He began his "physiotherapy" work.

Flender covered his face with his hand; he never imagined that this master and disciple would be so devoid of a bottom line.

They wouldn't even spare their own spirit rings.

He didn't doubt for a second that if that Ghost Vine hadn't lacked the necessary anatomy, Tang San would have insisted on digging into that as well.

Tang San's cleaning work caused the Explosive Flame Boar to slowly wake up, after which it began to struggle violently.

In the end, it was Flender who released his pressure to restrain it.

A few minutes later, Tang San stood up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and nodded toward Gangzi.

"It's ready, Teacher. It is now a clean wild boar."

"Mm, watch me."

Turning around to face the boar's head, Flender and Tang San subconsciously took a step back.

Accompanied by a spread of purple-green gas, the Explosive Flame Boar began to convulse all over.

Its sunken whites seemed to ask how any human could have farts that smelled worse than its own.

Because this was the final target and would serve as his spirit ring, Gangzi had no intention of holding back, swearing to release every bit of the reserves he had prepared on the way here.

This caused the Explosive Flame Boar to start foaming at the mouth.

Perhaps the threat of death made it forget the fear brought by Flender standing nearby.

The Explosive Flame Boar launched its final death struggle, thrusting its dozens-of-centimeters-long tusks fiercely toward the Source of Plague.

"Ah-ao-ao-roar-roar-roar-roar..."

Gangzi's expression was a mix of agony and ecstasy, causing a flicker of unbearable pity to flash in the eyes of both Flender and Tang San.

A few seconds later, the Explosive Flame Boar struggled to its feet and fled into the distance.