Second Thousand-Year Ring

"Where are we heading next?"

Dong'er's tone carried a hint of curiosity.

Fang Mo answered in his mind:

"Deep in the northern part of Sunset Forest, near the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, there is a Soul Beast called the Shadow-Devouring Python."

"The Shadow-Devouring Python?"

Fang Mo explained, "Dark attribute, lives in groups, skilled at hiding and devouring. They are usually around eighteen hundred years old."

Dong'er fell silent for a moment.

"You want its devouring attribute?"

"Not entirely."

Fang Mo thought it over seriously.

"The Shadow-Devouring Python's soul skills lean toward erosion and devouring. If you can resonate with the Rakshasa Scythe through devouring, you might gain devouring abilities as well. If it works, you can use devouring to recover quickly."

Spirit Dong'er could not help but freeze.

"And..." Fang Mo lowered his voice. "With my current physique, absorbing a Thousand-Year Soul Ring won't be a problem."

Dong'er did not argue, because she knew perfectly well that every word Fang Mo said made sense.

With the Twin Martial Souls and Rakshasa God Position shattered together, perhaps this method really could work.

Fang Mo said nothing more and continued deeper into the forest.

About half an hour later, he arrived at an area covered in black vines.

The air here was colder and gloomier than before, while large patches of snake scales and shed skins lay scattered across the ground.

"We're here."

Dong'er's voice suddenly became alert.

"A hundred meters ahead are two Shadow-Devouring Pythons. One is eight hundred years old, and the other is eighteen hundred."

Fang Mo stopped behind a large tree. He closed his eyes and extended his spiritual power outward.

Deep within the dark forest, two enormous dark-purple pythons were coiled beneath a dead tree.

Their scales blended into the shadows. Without Dong'er's sensory assistance, they would have been impossible to spot with the naked eye.

"The eight-hundred-year one is too weak." Fang Mo said inwardly. "I want the eighteen-hundred-year one."

Dong'er's tone was unusually serious.

"Do you know what a Thousand-Year second soul ring means?"

"I do."

"My meridians have been strengthened by Whale Rubber, my muscles and bones nurtured by Immortal Herbs, and my spiritual power enhanced by the Azure Soul-Condensing Orchid."

"My body's limit of endurance has already surpassed Soul Masters of the same level by far. I have at least a seventy percent chance of absorbing an eighteen-hundred-year soul ring."

"That is only seventy percent. What about the remaining thirty?"

Fang Mo smiled faintly.

"You'll cover for me on the remaining thirty percent."

Spirit Dong'er narrowed her eyes slightly. "Are you plotting against me?"

"This isn't plotting." Fang Mo's voice was calm. "It's trust in you."

Dong'er stared at him for a long time. Then she gave an extremely soft cold snort.

"Don't try that on me."

Still, Fang Mo could feel that the rejection they had felt when they first met had now become so faint it was nearly gone.

In its place was an unspoken understanding.

Fang Mo bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and casually tossed it in his hand to gauge its weight.

Then he took a deep breath and concentrated his Soul Power in his legs.

"Begin."

Fang Mo suddenly hurled the stone.

The stone tore through the air and flew straight toward the two Shadow-Devouring Pythons.

"Bang—!"

The moment the stone hit the ground, both Shadow-Devouring Pythons exploded into action.

The eight-hundred-year one reacted first. Its body became a streak of dark-purple lightning as it instantly slipped into the shadows on the ground and vanished without a trace.

The eighteen-hundred-year one was just as quick.

Its body contracted sharply in place, and its scales glimmered with a layer of purple light—the precursor to Shadow Stealth.

At the very instant it was about to melt into the shadows.

Dong'er's phantom in the Sea of Consciousness suddenly erupted.

A frigid strand of Rakshasa Divinity surged from Fang Mo's body, passed through his meridians, and transformed into an invisible chain that wrapped precisely around the python.

"Hiss—!"

The Shadow-Devouring Python let out a piercing hiss as its Shadow Stealth was forcibly interrupted.

Its body stiffened for an instant, and fear flashed through its vertical pupils.

It had sensed it.

That divinity was not ordinary Soul Power suppression, but a force from a higher plane—a force that made Dark-type Soul Beasts instinctively submit.

One breath.

The Shadow-Devouring Python had stiffened for only one breath.

But that one breath was enough.

Fang Mo shot out from the trees.

His right hand clenched at empty air, and a black scythe materialized in his grip.

The Rakshasa Scythe.

Mysterious purple patterns coiled around its blade, while the skull at the end of its handle glinted with purple light.

In less than three breaths.

Fang Mo had rushed before the Shadow-Devouring Python.

Fang Mo raised the Rakshasa Scythe.

He did not hesitate in the slightest, not even pausing to adjust his breathing.

The scythe carved an arc through the air, wrapped in dense dark-purple Soul Power, and cleaved precisely at the Shadow-Devouring Python's vital point.

"Hiss—!"

The Shadow-Devouring Python gave a miserable shriek as its massive body rolled wildly across the ground.

The Rakshasa Scythe carved a bone-deep gash through its scales, and foul-smelling snake blood sprayed forth.

Fang Mo did not stop.

The Rakshasa Scythe struck three more times in rapid succession, every blow landing precisely on a vital point.

The power of devouring surged madly. The Shadow-Devouring Python's struggles gradually weakened, its body went completely limp, and the light in its vertical pupils slowly faded.

In the blink of an eye.

A bright purple ring rose from the Shadow-Devouring Python's body and slowly floated into the air.

A Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

An eighteen-hundred-year Shadow-Devouring Python Soul Ring.

Fang Mo's breathing was hurried, and sweat covered his forehead.

His right hand trembled slightly. The four consecutive strikes had taken a far greater toll on his six-year-old body than he had anticipated.

"Good thing I had you." Fang Mo said in his mind.

Dong'er's voice came from the Spirit Sea, carrying a trace of barely perceptible pride.

"I told you I could cover for you."

The corner of Fang Mo's lips curved slightly.

He immediately sat down cross-legged and adjusted his Soul Power to its optimal state.

Then Fang Mo closed his eyes and guided the purple soul ring floating in the air to slowly descend.

The soul ring fell from above his head, and purple light enveloped Fang Mo's entire body.

Eighteen hundred years of Soul Power rushed into Fang Mo's meridians like scalding water.

Pain.

More pain than when he attached his first soul ring.

Fang Mo gritted his teeth.

His body trembled faintly, while a glow surfaced over his skin—the sign that he was reaching his limit.

Just as the burden was about to reach its critical point.

The figure secretly observing in the darkness nearly rushed out at once.

However, Spirit Dong'er acted again within the Sea of Consciousness.

She poured her power into Fang Mo's meridians like an icy stream, colliding against the scorching heat from before.

One cold, one hot. The two powers met, clashed, and merged within his meridians.

Fang Mo's breathing gradually steadied.

The purple soul ring condensed around him, finally becoming his soul ring completely.

Fang Mo slowly opened his eyes.

His face was pale, his lips slightly purple, but his eyes shone brightly.

"It worked."

Seeing this, Pope Bibi Dong finally let out the breath she had been holding.

She could not help thinking to herself.

Sure enough, I really can't let Fang Mo act recklessly. That nearly turned into another accident.

And what is that future me doing? Fang Mo is doing something this dangerous, yet she doesn't even know to stop him.