Tang San Gains Confidence

"Let's get some good rest tonight to build up our energy. We'll head out early tomorrow morning, and I believe we can reach the dead volcano area in the Core Zone within a day."

"Ye Chen, you must stay close to me when we get there. If you get lost in the Core Zone, you'll become food for those Soul Beasts. During a soul-hunting mission, while Soul Beasts are our prey, we are also prey to them."

"If one side develops pity for their prey, they become the true prey themselves. So, when killing a Soul Beast, you must never be soft-hearted, understand?"

After listening to Dean Ding's lecture, Ye Chen took a bite of his dry rations and nodded. "Dean, I understand. When it comes time to kill a Soul Beast, I will not be soft-hearted. Once we enter the Core Zone, I will remain on high alert, stay close to you at all times, and try my best not to hold you back."

Dean Ding patted Ye Chen on the shoulder and laughed heartily. "It's not actually as dangerous as I make it sound. After all, this is just a man-made Soul Beast forest, and patrols from the Martial Soul Hall appear from time to time. If you get lost, remember to fire the signal flare I gave you. Even if I can't reach you in time to rescue you, you can at least rely on the Martial Soul Hall patrols for help."

"Understood." With that response, Ye Chen fell into deep thought.

Although he had only stayed in the Soul Hunting Forest for less than a day, everything he had seen, heard, felt, and realized could never be described by the simple text of the original work.

After experiencing today's soul-hunting operation, he had not only learned how to judge a Soul Beast's cultivation but had also personally experienced combat with one. He had gained a deeper understanding of Soul Beast habits and the necessary precautions for a hunt, which could be considered a significant harvest.

Just as Ye Chen was reviewing his thoughts and realizations from the day, a foul odor swept in from ahead.

Because of the distance, the smell wasn't very strong, but it permeated the air, making one feel drowsy just by smelling it.

"Hypnotic Sleep Luo Sanpao? That's Xiaogang's second soul skill." Dean Ding sniffed the air and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh no! Xiaogang is in trouble!"

Hearing this, Ye Chen remembered that Tang San had not attended the opening ceremony yesterday morning; he had gone out early with Yu Xiaogang to hunt a Soul Beast.

According to the original description, Yu Xiaogang would bring Tang San to the Soul Hunting Forest to hunt a Soul Beast, during which they would encounter a 400-year-old Datura Snake in the outer zone.

Since Yu Xiaogang was using his second soul skill to fight, he must have truly run into the Datura Snake.

"Let's go, we need to get over there quickly before someone loses their life!" Saying this, Dean Ding didn't even bother to extinguish the campfire and rushed anxiously toward the woods ahead.

Ye Chen followed closely behind, with his Torchic appearing by his side to guard against any sneak attacks from Soul Beasts.

In the woods ahead, Yu Xiaogang was fleeing in a panic with Tang San, while a nearly four-meter-long, emerald-green giant snake pursued them relentlessly, emitting a low, hissing sound.

It was exactly as Ye Chen had expected: this emerald-green giant snake was a Datura Snake with nearly 400 years of cultivation, possessing terrifying paralytic venom and a fierce, highly aggressive nature.

Seeing that his second soul skill, Hypnotic Sleep Luo Sanpao, could not stun the Datura Snake, Yu Xiaogang was at his wit's end and could only drag Tang San by the hand as they fled forward.

What made him feel helpless was that Luo Sanpao's fart attack had not only failed to work but had also resulted in its right forelimb being bitten by the Datura Snake's fangs.

Because of the backlash from his External Martial Soul being injured, his own right arm was already poisoned.

Yet even so, Yu Xiaogang did not stop to treat the wound or the poison; he had no chance to stop. After all, this Datura Snake was too fierce and moved too quickly. If they stopped, both he and Tang San would be dead.

Just as Yu Xiaogang was nearing despair, he felt Tang San, whom he was holding, move. When he turned his head, he saw Tang San reach into his waist with his left hand and flick a black light behind them.

Accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, the black light transformed into a needle-like hidden weapon, shooting straight toward the Datura Snake's eye.

At this critical moment of life and death, Tang San knew clearly what the consequences would be if they were entangled by the Datura Snake, so he had no choice but to use Tang Sect hidden weapons to fight.

He suddenly let go of Yu Xiaogang's hand, spun his body in the air, and raised his left hand. The Sleeve Arrow hidden weapon on his wrist was quietly loaded, and a silver light shot out from his sleeve like lightning.

The Datura Snake clearly hadn't expected to be ambushed. Although it managed to dodge the needle-like weapon in time, it was struck in the left eye by the silver light from the Sleeve Arrow, and blood splattered everywhere.

Screech—

After its left eye was blinded, the Datura Snake raised its head and let out a strange, painful cry.

Seeing that the sneak attack with the Sleeve Arrow had succeeded, Tang San stepped into his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, his Mysterious Jade Hand gripping a sharp short sword tightly. The moment the Datura Snake raised its head to cry out, he thrust the sharp short sword fiercely into its throat.

Under the full operation of his Mysterious Heaven Skill, the sharp short sword not only pierced the Datura Snake's throat but drove completely into its body.

The next moment, the Datura Snake's body began to thrash violently. For a time, sand and stones flew across the ground. Wherever its sturdy body swept, whether it was bushes or small trees, it was as if they had been baptized by a tornado, leaving branches and leaves broken and scattered in the air.

After thrusting the short sword with all his might, Tang San used his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to retreat rapidly, dodging the sweep of the Datura Snake's tail by a hair's breadth.

As the saying goes, a centipede dies but never stiffens; Tang San, who understood the nature of snakes extremely well, would never assume the Datura Snake would die immediately.

However, the outcome was decided; this Datura Snake was at the end of its rope.

Looking at the Datura Snake that had suddenly collapsed to the ground, a faint smile appeared on the corner of Tang San's mouth.

Before entering the Soul Hunting Forest to hunt, he had fought Xiao Wu once. In the end, he had used Tang Sect hidden weapon techniques to throw stones, combined with Blue Silver Vine Bind, to easily subdue her.

It was clear that in Dorm Seven, Ye Chen's strength ranked first, his own ranked second, Xiao Wu's third, and Wang Sheng and the others were at the bottom.

This showed that compared to his peers, his strength was not weak, his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was not as useless as imagined, and the Tang Sect techniques were certainly not inferior.

It was just that Ye Chen possessed the overly special Torchic Martial Soul, which made it difficult for him to win.

If he fought any peer other than Ye Chen, he would undoubtedly be the winner.

Now, by applying Tang Sect hidden weapons in combat, he had actually managed to kill a fierce Soul Beast—something even Ye Chen and his Torchic might not be able to do, right?

Thinking of this, Tang San's confidence surged, and his entire outlook became bright and clear.

He could now be absolutely certain that if he used a Tang Sect hidden weapon to ambush Ye Chen, Ye Chen would undoubtedly die.

It was just that because they had a healthy competitive relationship and were not enemies, he didn't want to go for the kill.

Confirming this, the unwillingness Tang San had suppressed for so long vanished in this moment. Having regained his confidence, even the smile on his lips became a bit more confident and cheerful.

It was also at this moment that Dean Ding arrived with Ye Chen, only to be surprised to see that Tang San had already subdued the Datura Snake.

Equally surprised was Yu Xiaogang; he could never have imagined that his disciple, Tang San, had actually defeated the Datura Snake.

This Datura Snake was incredibly fierce and not something an ordinary Soul Scholar could defeat.

Yet his disciple, Tang San, a Soul Scholar without a single Soul Ring, had just defeated it like this?

"Little San, you!" Yu Xiaogang exclaimed instinctively.

Tang San only then snapped out of the joy of defeating the Datura Snake, realizing that his use of Tang Sect hidden weapons had inevitably been witnessed by his teacher.

His soul did not belong to this world, and this fact was something that clearly could not be known by anyone. What should he do?

Should he kill his teacher to silence him?

Tang San believed that with the attack power and stealth of the Silent Sleeve Arrow, he had at least a seventy percent chance of killing his teacher.

Turning to look at Yu Xiaogang, Tang San's murderous intent vanished instantly, for he did not want to do such a thing.

Furthermore, the people appearing before his eyes were not just his teacher Yu Xiaogang, but also Dean Ding and Ye Chen.

If he were to kill, he would have to kill all three of them at once. Relying solely on the Silent Sleeve Arrow, he certainly could not accomplish that, so he had no choice but to lie and conceal the matter of the Tang Sect hidden weapons.