Su Yu stopped, his gaze calm as he looked into the gloom ahead.
A strong, foul wind swept toward them.
It carried the nauseating stench of rotting flesh and a sharp, sickly-sweet odor. Blowing against their faces, it made their stomachs churn.
The emerald-green weeds around them had been thriving just moments ago, but under the foul wind, their leaf edges quickly yellowed and withered.
A savage force shoved aside the bushes ahead.
Amid the crack of breaking branches, a dark-green venomous snake nearly four meters long shot out like lightning and slammed onto the open ground in front of them.
It was enormous, its thick body as broad as an adult's thigh.
Dark-green scales covered its entire body. In the forest's dim light, they glinted with a hard, metallic sheen, like a suit of finely crafted armor.
Its head was the most striking feature.
A fist-sized, revolting dark-red growth protruded from its triangular head.
The surface of the growth was covered in uneven ridges. It twitched faintly with every breath, making for a horrifying sight.
"It's a Mandala Snake." Xiao Wu watched the giant snake, her voice grave. Turning to Su Yu, she said, "Judging by the size of the growth on its head and its length, this Mandala Snake is close to four hundred years old. Its scales are incredibly hard; ordinary blades can't cut through them. Its venom is vicious, too. One bite is enough to leave even a Soul Elder completely paralyzed in a matter of moments."
The Mandala Snake coiled its thick body and raised its head high.
It opened its cavernous jaws, revealing two rows of sharp fangs. Its scarlet forked tongue flicked rapidly through the air as it hissed, sending chills down their spines.
Its cold, yellow, vertical pupils fixed on the three humans before it, brimming with cruelty and greed.
To the snake, these three tender-skinned children would make the perfect lunch.
Without giving them time to catch their breath, the Mandala Snake lashed its tail against the ground.
Its tail carved a deep trench through the hard-packed earth, sending dirt and stones flying in all directions.
Using the tremendous recoil, the massive snake launched itself into the air. It became a dark-green blur, its venomous jaws wide as it lunged at the three of them.
The strike was blindingly fast. A gust of foul wind rushed ahead of it as it closed in on their faces.
Tang Wu was only six years old, after all. Though she had just awakened her Mutated Blue Silver Grass, she had never faced a battle to the death.
Faced with the enormous, hideous venomous snake, her face went pale. The color drained from her rosy lips in an instant.
Fear filled her wide eyes. Her body instinctively retreated half a step, and she clutched Su Yu's clothes with both hands, her knuckles whitening from the force of her grip.
When Xiao Wu, standing on Su Yu's other side, saw the Mandala Snake charging, she didn't show the slightest fear. Instead, she gave a cold snort.
"A mere four-hundred-year-old snake dares to swagger in front of me!" A fierce glint flashed in Xiao Wu's eyes, one worthy of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
She didn't take the Mandala Snake seriously at all.
The muscles in her right leg tensed at once. Her Soul Power, nearly at level ten, surged through her meridians and gathered in her right foot.
Xiao Wu stamped her right foot down and took up a textbook attack stance.
She was ready to charge straight at the snake and smash the reptile's head with a single kick, using her formidable physical strength to show it the gap between their power.
Just as Xiao Wu was about to unleash her strength and deliver that fatal kick, Su Yu moved.
He didn't summon his Martial Soul or retreat to dodge.
He simply extended his right hand and firmly pressed it against Xiao Wu's shoulder.
His movement seemed casual, but his palm held an unyielding steadiness that stopped Xiao Wu's impending charge in its tracks.
With Su Yu's hand on her shoulder, the flow of Soul Power within Xiao Wu faltered.
She turned to him, confusion written all over her face. "Why are you stopping me? Let me take care of this disgusting thing with one kick."
Su Yu calmly watched the Mandala Snake, now hurtling through the air, and said, "It's nearly four hundred years old, right at the limit for absorbing a First Soul Ring. Its poison attribute and resilience also make it a very suitable First Soul Ring for Tang Wu."
Xiao Wu froze for a moment at Su Yu's words, then understood what he had in mind.
She drew the Soul Power back from her right leg and reluctantly stepped aside, folding her arms across her chest as if settling in to watch the show.
Su Yu turned to Tang Wu, who was still clutching his clothes. His tone was gentle, but his words held an unshakable firmness. "Xiao San, you swore you'd grow stronger and protect me. Now's your chance to prove how determined you are. I'm going to test how well we fight together."
Tang Wu shuddered at Su Yu's words.
She looked into his deep eyes, full of trust, and the fear in her heart miraculously began to fade.
"Brother Yu, I... can I do it?" Tang Wu's voice still trembled.
"I'm here. You'll be fine." Su Yu gave her a simple, firm promise.
His words were like a calming pill, and Tang Wu steadied herself completely.
She released Su Yu's clothes and took a deep breath. A faint golden glow appeared on her fair, delicate hands.
As her Soul Power surged, a crystal-clear stalk of Mutated Blue Silver Grass sprouted from her palm, its leaves traced with golden veins.
The Blue Silver Grass vines swayed in the air, brimming with life.
By then, the Mandala Snake had already lunged close.
Su Yu stood where he was. A brilliant golden light suddenly burst from deep within his eyes.
It shone in his pupils like two miniature suns, carrying an aura of laws that stood above all things.
The Eye of Truth—fully activated.
In Su Yu's vision, the flow of time around him seemed to slow.
The fierce Mandala Snake's movements in midair broke down into a series of slow-motion frames.
Su Yu's gaze pierced straight through the hard scales that gleamed like metal.
Beneath them, the tightly packed muscle fibers, the sturdy bone structure, and even the dark-green venom slowly flowing through its venom glands all appeared before him with perfect clarity.
A flood of data flashed through Su Yu's mind.
He clearly saw the weak points in the Mandala Snake's muscles as they tensed, as well as the gaps between its bones.
Out of the corner of her eye, Xiao Wu caught the golden light swirling in Su Yu's eyes.
For an instant, she felt her very soul tremble.
The pressure contained in that light was more terrifying than that of any Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast she had ever seen. It was as if it could pierce through every illusion in the world and reach the source of all things.
Xiao Wu swallowed, her awe of Su Yu deepening once more.
Su Yu's gaze swept rapidly over the Mandala Snake's body before fixing on a spot three inches below its belly.
There, one scale was slightly duller in color, and the muscles beneath it were much looser than elsewhere.
The Eye of Truth immediately delivered its precise judgment.
Golden light swirled deep in Su Yu's eyes. The Eye of Truth saw through the muscles beneath the Mandala Snake's hard scales and precisely pinpointed its vital seven-inch point and the weaknesses in the gaps between its scales.
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