On the Hunt!

The entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest remained unchanged, just as it had been last time.

It was the same trodden dirt path, the same two crooked stone tablets, and the same damp air heavy with the scent of rotting leaves and soil.

Yu Xiaogang walked in the lead, using a wooden stick to push aside the bushes and vines.

His movements were more cautious than before, as the activity zone for eight-hundred-year soul beasts was much deeper and far more dangerous than that of the four-hundred-year variety.

Although plant-type soul beasts were generally not aggressive, an eight-hundred-year-old specimen was no longer something one could "deal with casually."

Tang San walked in the middle, his Purple Demon Eye active the entire time.

His Purple Demon Eye had completely stabilized at the Micro Realm, granting him vision far superior to an ordinary person's, allowing him to see the veins on leaves dozens of steps away.

Huang Fei walked at the very back.

His Purple Demon Eye was already quietly active, but unlike Tang San, his realm was the Mustard Seed Realm—he wasn't pushing it to full power, merely maintaining it at a basic level, yet that was enough for him to see everything within three hundred paces.

He did not need to search as laboriously as Tang San.

With the Purple Demon Eye at the Mustard Seed Realm, his sensory capabilities far exceeded the Micro Realm; the life aura of any soul beast within three hundred paces could not escape his eyes.

After walking for about half an hour, Yu Xiaogang stopped.

He raised his left hand to signal those behind him to be silent, then crouched down and used his fingers to brush away the fallen leaves on the ground.

Beneath the leaves lay a patch of pale green slime, emitting a faint, fresh scent of vegetation.

"Traces of a Life Ancient Vine."

Yu Xiaogang lowered his voice, dipped a finger into the slime, and brought it to his nose to sniff.

"Fresh, no more than two hours old. It is nearby."

Tang San's Purple Demon Eye immediately intensified, his gaze sweeping over every tree and every bush in the vicinity.

The vision of the Micro Realm allowed him to see every texture on the tree trunks, yet he found nothing unusual.

Those vines all looked like ordinary plants, devoid of any soul beast characteristics.

Huang Fei stood behind him, his gaze fixed on an old tree about two hundred paces to the front left.

Several vines as thick as an arm were coiled around the tree's trunk, their color nearly identical to the bark, making them impossible to distinguish without careful observation.

But through the Purple Demon Eye at the Mustard Seed Realm, every leaf, every thorn, and every vein of those vines was revealed in sharp detail—and he could see the life energy flowing slowly within the vines, pale green, circulating through their bodies like blood.

An eight-hundred-year-old Life Ancient Vine.

The age was likely between eight hundred and twenty and eight hundred and fifty years.

Huang Fei did not speak.

This was not his battle; it was Tang San's.

He only needed to watch, and if the need arose, he would naturally intervene, but until then, remaining silent was the correct choice.

Tang San took two steps forward, the glow of his Blue Silver Grass already lighting up in his hand.

He did not rush to attack, waiting instead for the perfect moment.

The Life Ancient Vine was a plant-type soul beast; its way of sensing was not through sight or sound, but through vibration and scent.

Tang San had learned how to conceal his aura while in the Tang Sect, and although those concealment techniques were intended for humans, they were equally effective against soul beasts.

He slowed his breathing, lightened his footsteps, and suppressed his soul power fluctuations to the absolute minimum.

His body moved slowly, like a shadow cast by the wind, approaching the old tree silently.

Huang Fei watched from behind, mentally grading Tang San's concealment technique—it wasn't perfect, but for a seven-year-old child, it was already remarkable.

When Tang San was about fifty paces from the old tree, the vines moved.

It was not an attack, but a probe.

A vine slowly lowered from the trunk, its tip pointing toward Tang San as if sniffing the air.

The surface of the vine secreted a layer of transparent slime, reflecting a faint glint under the sunlight.

Tang San did not move.

He crouched where he was, his breathing nearly stopped, his entire being like a stone.

His Purple Demon Eye was at full power, locked onto every minute change in the vine.

The vine hovered in the air for about three seconds before slowly retracting.

Huang Fei let out a breath of relief from behind.

Had his Purple Demon Eye not seen the vine retract, he would never have known what Tang San had done—because Tang San hadn't even been breathing.

Breath Concealment.

One of the ultimate techniques of the Tang Sect.

It did not merely weaken one's aura; it made it vanish.

For a short time, one could turn oneself into a stone devoid of any life aura.

This was the first time Tang San had used this technique in front of Huang Fei.

Huang Fei noted this matter in his heart.

Tang San continued to move forward.

Forty steps.

Thirty steps.

Twenty steps.

Upon entering the twenty-step mark, the Life Ancient Vine finally sensed that something was wrong.

It did not perceive Tang San's presence, but rather the traces left behind by his aura as he stepped across the ground.

Plant-type spirit beasts possess an extremely keen perception of earth, water, and scent. Although Tang San's aura had dropped to an incredibly low level while in his hidden state, the subtle vibrations left on the ground as he stepped were still detected by the ancient vine.

Three vines shot out from the tree trunk simultaneously, moving at an astonishing speed and emitting a "whoosh" sound as they tore through the air.

Tang San immediately unleashed his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

His body drifted and turned between the pincer attacks of the vines like a fallen leaf caught in the wind.

The first vine swept past above his left shoulder, the force of the wind grazing his ear.

The second vine swept across the soles of his feet, missing his ankle by a mere inch.

The third vine struck from the front, but he dodged it with a sideways shift; the vine grazed his chest, tearing a hole in his clothes.

Tang San had not been hit, but his rhythm had been disrupted.

The attack range of the Life Ancient Vine's vines was extremely vast; those few vines were only a fraction, and more were currently awakening from the tree trunk.

Tang San made a prompt decision, flicking his right hand as Blue Silver Grass vines shot out from his palm.

His Blue Silver Grass vines entangled with those of the Life Ancient Vine.

Two shades of green, one light and one dark, twisted together in the air.

Tang San's vines were thinner than those of the ancient vine, but their toughness was immense, and the ancient vine could not break free for the moment.

Tang San took this opportunity to retreat a few steps and readjust his breathing.

His Blue Silver Grass vines began to show cracks under the crushing force of the ancient vine, but their regeneration speed was also rapid, with new fibers growing almost immediately at the tears.

Yu Xiaogang watched from behind, his brows tightly locked.

Tang San's response was strategically sound—avoiding the first wave of the ancient vine's attacks and using Blue Silver Grass to restrain it, buying himself time to adjust.

However, the problem lay in the fact that Tang San's spirit power was being consumed too quickly.

The regenerative ability of the Blue Silver Grass was indeed strong, but every instance of regeneration consumed spirit power; if he could not resolve the battle before his spirit power was exhausted, Tang San would fall into a passive position.