As they continued deeper into the dim, primeval Star Dou Forest, the faint scent of sweetness mingled with rot hung in the air.
With Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong, Tang Yin followed Snake Matriarch Chao Tianxiang from a distance. Concealed by the Blue Silver Domain, the three of them were like silent ghosts.
His mind was intensely focused.
He had been following Chao Tianxiang for a long time, ever since the group from Shrek Academy had encountered her and Meng Yiran, through to Chao Tianxiang's furious departure to search for Dragon Duke Meng Shu alone.
Tang Yin's goal had never wavered.
He needed to find a Man Faced Demon Spider of a specific age and in a particular condition—the one most likely to yield an External Soul Bone.
"Old man, have you had any luck?"
Chao Tianxiang asked in a low voice after reuniting with Dragon Duke Meng Shu.
At her side, Meng Yiran gazed at Meng Shu with hopeful eyes.
"Not yet."
"Have you two found anything?"
Meng Shu shook his head, then asked in turn.
"Hmph!"
Chao Tianxiang slammed the Snake-headed Cane against the ground and said furiously, "We found a thousand-year Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent and were just about to catch it, but Flender and Zhao Wuji showed up and snatched it right out from under us!"
"Flender? Zhao Wuji?" Meng Shu narrowed his eyes, a fierce look emerging. "How dare they!"
"They founded some academy called Shrek. After taking the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, they gave it to a young boy to absorb," Chao Tianxiang said gravely.
"We can't let this go. Otherwise, people will think the Exotic Beast Family is easy to bully!" Meng Shu slammed the Dragon-headed Cane against the ground. Eight Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, and black—appeared around him.
"Those students around Flender all looked very young. The boy who absorbed the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent's Soul Ring was a food-type Soul Master, and he looked only fourteen or fifteen. Yet he already had thirty levels of Soul Power," Chao Tianxiang said gravely.
"Old woman, are you thinking of recruiting him into our Exotic Beast Family?" Meng Shu asked in surprise.
Chao Tianxiang nodded. "It crossed my mind."
Meng Yiran asked anxiously, "Grandma, you're not thinking of making me marry him, are you?"
Chao Tianxiang smiled faintly. "If you don't want to, we can arrange for him to marry someone else in the family. Grandma won't force you."
Meng Yiran breathed a sigh of relief.
Hidden nearby, Tang Yin saw and heard everything, sharing it with Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong as well.
"Are the Dragon Duke and Snake Matriarch going to settle the score with Shrek Academy over this?" Tang Yin mused.
"I've heard those two have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill that can rival a Titled Douluo. If they really go after Flender and the others, they're done for." Ning Rongrong arched a brow, a hint of schadenfreude in her eyes.
"Are they really that powerful?" Xiao Wu asked in surprise.
Ning Rongrong nodded slightly. "The Dragon Duke is a Soul Douluo, after all. He's no pushover on his own."
Xiao Wu pressed her lips together, her heart tightening. "Tang Yin, how much longer do we have to follow them?"
"Probably another two or three days," Tang Yin said, estimating the time.
Two days passed in a flash.
Within the range of the Blue Silver Domain, the Dragon Duke, the Snake Matriarch, and Meng Yiran stood in a wrecked clearing, scanning their surroundings.
"Rustle, rustle—!"
A thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider suddenly darted out of the woods, and Meng Shu immediately attacked.
The Snake Matriarch stayed by Meng Yiran's side to protect her.
In an instant,
violent Soul Power ripples spread like waves, accompanied by the thunderous crash of giant trees breaking and the Man Faced Demon Spider's piercing, shrill cries.
Tang Yin's eyes flashed. He raised a hand to signal the two girls behind him to stop, and the three crouched low, observing through the Blue Silver Domain.
They saw Dragon Duke Meng Shu's towering figure swinging the Dragon-headed Cane. The wind howled around it, carrying the oppressive force of a dragon's roar as it struck at the fleeing Man Faced Demon Spider. Afraid of killing it, he had to hold back.
The Snake Matriarch helped him from the side.
The two pursued the Man Faced Demon Spider with Meng Yiran in tow.
"The moment has finally come..." Tang Yin thought, forcing down his surging excitement.
The Man Faced Demon Spider was being worn down. Desperate to survive, it was being driven into a corner by the Peerless Dragon and Snake.
Tang Yin held Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong back, like the most patient of hunters, waiting for the snipe and the clam to fight—and for the perfect moment to reap the rewards.
"Tang Yin, are we here to catch this Man Faced Demon Spider?" Xiao Wu asked.
"Guess," Tang Yin said with a mysterious smile.
"I'm not guessing," Xiao Wu said haughtily.
Meanwhile,
after taking a heavy blow from Meng Shu, the Man Faced Demon Spider used the impact to spit out a vast purple-black web, temporarily blocking Meng Shu and Chao Tianxiang's view and pursuit.
Its eight legs thrashed frantically as it became a streak of black.
At astonishing speed, it fled for its life deeper into the forest.
"After it!" Meng Shu roared, and he and Chao Tianxiang immediately set off in pursuit.
But with Meng Yiran along, they couldn't move very fast.
"Let's go!"
"Our turn!"
Without another word, Tang Yin scooped Ning Rongrong onto his back, took Xiao Wu by the hand, and raced after the Man Faced Demon Spider.
They were even faster than Meng Shu, Chao Tianxiang, and Meng Yiran.
After all, with the Blue Silver Domain, Tang Yin had a clear grasp of everything within five hundred meters.
He pinpointed the Man Faced Demon Spider's location.
Meng Shu and the others lacked that ability, and their pursuit veered slightly off the direction the spider had fled.
Perched on Tang Yin's back, Ning Rongrong let her thoughts wander, barely paying attention to what was happening.
She hadn't expected Tang Yin to carry her like this.
It... wasn't bad.
Tang Yin and Xiao Wu, meanwhile, were completely absorbed in chasing the Man Faced Demon Spider.
Neither of them paid it any mind.
Tang Yin had only done it because Ning Rongrong was too slow.
"That should do it!"
A chill flashed in Tang Yin's eyes.
Just as the Man Faced Demon Spider thought it had escaped and hid in the dark forest,
the surrounding Blue Silver Grass seemed to come alive, surging forward and wrapping around its entire body.
"Swish, swish, swish—!"
"Shriek!!!"
The Man Faced Demon Spider let out a piercing cry of pain.
But Meng Shu and Chao Tianxiang had already worn it down, and it had fled a long way.
Now it had no strength left.
This wasn't a fair fight. It was a carefully planned ambush.
"Zzzzt!!!"
Countless streaks of purple lightning burst across the Man Faced Demon Spider's body.
The source was the Blue Silver Grass.
Tang Yin controlled the grass in secret, unleashing his third Soul Skill, Forest Purgatory Thunder Prison.
But concealed by the Blue Silver Domain, his Soul Ring never appeared.
The Man Faced Demon Spider's struggles grew weaker, and its cries became feeble.
Gradually, the cries cut off.
Its massive body convulsed violently a few times before finally going rigid and still.
Tang Yin had electrocuted it to death.
"Swish, swish, swish—!"
Tang Yin quickly recalled the Blue Silver Grass and fixed his eyes on the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse, especially its back.
"Xiao Wu, the Soul Tool."
At that,
Xiao Wu immediately took the Storage Soul Tool from her left wrist and handed it to Tang Yin.
Tang Yin had given it to her earlier.
Xiao Wu had worn it ever since.
"Wait here!"
Holding the Storage Soul Tool, Tang Yin quickly went over to the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse.
Ignoring the purple Soul Ring that had just appeared, he placed his palm on the spider's back. Soul Power slowly seeped into it as he sensed carefully.
A moment later, an uncontrollable hint of delight finally appeared on his face.
He drew in with a sharp pull of his hand. With a faint tearing sound and the soft scrape of bone against bone,
the armor on the Man Faced Demon Spider's back split open. A purple-black object, shimmering with an eerie light, slowly emerged under his pull.
It wasn't shaped like a set of intact spider legs.
Instead, eight fist-sized, bone-like protrusions were tightly connected to a section of deep-purple spinal column, as if it were a miniature version of a backbone.
The eight protrusions twitched faintly, as if they still held some vitality, and gave off subtle ripples of Soul Power.
Tang Yin drew a deep breath, suppressing the urge to absorb it at once, and quickly put it into the Storage Soul Tool.
This wasn't the place to linger.
"Xiao Wu, Rongrong!"
"Let's go!"
At Tang Yin's call, Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong immediately gathered around him.
The three didn't stop for a moment.
They headed in a direction completely different from the one they'd come from, quickly vanishing into the endless sea of trees.
About three hours after they left,
Dragon Duke Meng Shu and Snake Matriarch Chao Tianxiang finally followed the trail to the spot.
Seeing the Man Faced Demon Spider's pitiful corpse on the ground and the gaping hole in its back where something had clearly been taken, Meng Shu's face turned livid. He struck the ground hard with his Dragon-headed Cane.
"Who was it? Who dared steal the food right out of our mouths!"
Chao Tianxiang's expression was ugly as well.
The prey they had hunted for most of the day had been conveniently stolen by someone else.
Meng Yiran was so furious she had to take several deep breaths.
Two Soul Beasts in a row had been snatched from them. Anyone would have been driven to despair.