The Soul Ring Shattered? The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear... It Was Disdaining This Soul Ring?!

Yang Wudi looked at Yang Jian, his deep voice sounding.

"Good."

Yang Jian nodded lightly.

As soon as he spoke, Yang Wudi moved.

Without concealing himself at all, he strode out from the bushes and headed straight for the Green Blade Mantis.

The Green Blade Mantis instantly became alert. It abandoned its meal, raised its twin scythes, and vibrated the wings on its back as it let out a warning hiss.

It had just slain a Man Faced Demon Spider of the same age, and it was currently at the height of its confidence. Even when facing a human whose strength it could not gauge, it showed no fear.

With a flap of its wings, the Green Blade Mantis became a green blur. Its twin scythes crossed as they slashed down, and it actually chose to attack first.

It was even three parts faster than when it had dealt with the Man Faced Demon Spider earlier!

So fast that Yang Jian could not even catch sight of it.

With a slight stir of his mind, the pale golden "§" on his brow appeared, and a vertical eye slowly opened.

The Heavenly Eye opened, and the Green Blade Mantis reappeared within Yang Jian's sight, its trajectory clearly visible.

At the same time, Yang Wudi moved as well.

He neither dodged nor retreated. He merely shifted slightly to the side, evading the first blade.

The second blade followed immediately. He shifted aside again and dodged it as well.

With both strikes missing, the Green Blade Mantis did not let up. Its wings beat again, and the third blade swept toward him!

This time, Yang Wudi did not evade.

His right hand shot out, his five fingers curled into a claw, grabbing directly at the sweeping scythe!

"Clang!"

The sound of metal crashing exploded!

The scythe that had so easily torn through the Man Faced Demon Spider's web was seized in Yang Wudi's hand, unable to move an inch!

The Green Blade Mantis struggled wildly, while its other scythe desperately hacked toward Yang Wudi's arm.

Yang Wudi raised his left hand and grabbed it as well, clamping both scythes firmly in his grip.

The Green Blade Mantis beat its wings frantically, trying to break free, but those iron-pincer-like hands were as steady as boulders. No matter how it struggled, they did not move in the slightest.

"For a hundred-year soul beast to possess such attack power, it is indeed not bad."

Yang Wudi spoke calmly.

"Unfortunately, you met me."

Soul Power erupted from his body, and deep black light instantly enveloped Yang Wudi.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black!

Eight Soul Rings appeared beneath Yang Wudi's feet, circling one after another as they slowly rotated with an indescribable rhythm.

As the power of a Soul Douluo erupted, Yang Wudi looked like a god or demon. His hands suddenly exerted force.

"Crack!"

The two scythes that had just shredded the Man Faced Demon Spider snapped in unison!

The Green Blade Mantis let out a shrill hiss. Having lost its weapons, it retreated frantically and tried to flee, but Yang Wudi would not give it another chance.

With a wave of his right hand, the Soul-Breaker Spear flew from his palm like a black dragon.

One thrust of the spear, a dragon emerging from the spear.

The spearhead pierced straight through the Green Blade Mantis's head, pinning it firmly to the ground.

Insect-type soul beasts truly possessed formidable vitality. Even with its head pierced through by Yang Wudi, the Green Blade Mantis continued to struggle without pause.

"Jian'er, come deliver the final blow."

Yang Wudi looked at Yang Jian and beckoned to him lightly.

Yang Jian came at once. The Heavenly Eye on his brow closed, golden light filled his hand, and he summoned the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear.

His hand rose and the spear fell. The Green Blade Mantis's hard green shell was as fragile as paper, and Yang Jian easily severed its head.

The headless insect body twitched for a while before ultimately following the Man Faced Demon Spider into death.

Fine yellow motes of light rose from the corpse, gathering in midair before finally condensing into a pale yellow Soul Ring.

The halo slowly rotated above the Green Blade Mantis's corpse, giving off a gentle glow.

"Use your martial soul to draw in the Soul Ring. I will stand guard for you."

Yang Jian nodded. With a turn of his wrist, he thrust the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear into the center of the Soul Ring.

However, at the instant the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear touched the Soul Ring, Yang Jian suddenly felt the spear in his hand tremble.

That tremor had not come from the spear itself, but from deep within the connection between the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear and his soul.

It was the spirit of the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear.

Immediately afterward, the pale yellow Soul Ring that had just slipped over the spearhead suddenly stopped!

"This is..."

Yang Wudi's pupils constricted.

"Crack..."

A faint sound of breaking rang out.

Yang Wudi witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

A tiny crack had actually appeared on that pale yellow Soul Ring!

The crack spread from the inside of the Soul Ring, rapidly extending in all directions like a spiderweb.

Crack! Crack!

The sounds of shattering became denser and louder!

Three breaths!

Only three breaths of time!

That newly formed four-hundred-year Soul Ring became completely covered in cracks!

"Not good!"

Yang Wudi's expression changed drastically as he prepared to rush forward.

"Boom!"

The pale yellow hundred-year Soul Ring exploded!

Countless motes of light shot in every direction and vanished into nothingness in midair.

A four-hundred-year Green Blade Mantis Soul Ring had shattered just like that.

Yang Jian's eyes were vacant, as though he had been stunned by everything that had just happened.

Yang Wudi was frozen in place. He had lived for most of his life and seen quite a few things.

Martial soul mutations, Soul Ring backlash, fusion failures... Even if he had not witnessed them himself, he had heard of them. But this was his first time seeing a Soul Ring explode the moment it was placed on a martial soul!

What the hell was this?!

At the same time, Yang Jian, who had been stunned, came back to his senses. Yet there was not much shock or confusion on his face—only an odd hesitation, as if he wanted to say something but could not.

He looked again at the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear in his hand. Its cold gleam was as sharp as ever, its aura still extraordinary and domineering.

But Yang Jian knew clearly that what he had just experienced was not an illusion.

The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear had truly conveyed a feeling of disdain to him. It... looked down on that Soul Ring.

"Grandfather..."

Yang Jian let out a long breath and gathered his thoughts.

"The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear... looks down on that Soul Ring."

"It is good that it looks down on it, as long as it is not..."

Yang Wudi's body stiffened. He suddenly lowered his head and looked at Yang Jian.

"Jian'er, what did you just say?!"

"I said that the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear looks down on that Soul Ring."

Helplessly, Yang Jian could only repeat himself.

"Looks down on it?! A martial soul looks down on a Soul Ring?!"

Yang Wudi could no longer maintain his usual imposing image. The words were simply too shocking.

A martial soul disdaining a Soul Ring...

He had lived for most of his life, yet he had never heard of anything so absurd.

After all, everyone knew how important Soul Rings were to soul masters.

They were the essence left behind after a soul beast's death, as well as the only means for soul masters to increase their strength.

Yet his grandson's martial soul not only disdained a Soul Ring, but had even directly shattered a compatible Soul Ring that was infinitely close to the limit of its age.

Studying the martial soul in Yang Jian's hand—the one that had caused all spears to submit the instant it awakened—Yang Wudi did not know what to say for a moment.

"Jian'er, this martial soul of yours..."

Yang Wudi suddenly stopped. The thought that surfaced in his mind made his face turn visibly pale.

"What if it cannot absorb Soul Rings because of this?"

Soul Rings were the only path for a soul master's growth. If Yang Jian's martial soul could not absorb Soul Rings because of this, then the advantage of his Twin Martial Souls would vanish entirely.

Even worse, if his second martial soul, the Heavenly Eye, developed the same problem as the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear, then he might very well be unable to advance any further!

This was a possibility Yang Wudi did not dare face, or even dare think about.

"Grandfather, do not panic."

Yang Jian first reassured Yang Wudi, then communicated with the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear in his hand once more.

A moment later, Yang Wudi, whose clenched knuckles had turned white from tension, finally heard Yang Jian speak again.

"The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear only disdains this particular Soul Ring. It does not disdain all Soul Rings. I have already communicated with it, and it will help us find my first Soul Ring as well. So... we may need to spend a few more days in the Star Dou Great Forest."