Blood-Exploding Snake

After leaving the room where his spiritual power was tested, the Spirit Master did not lead Tang Wulin back the way they came. Instead, he turned and walked through a side door into an adjacent room.

Inside the room stood a massive machine resembling a petri dish, over five meters tall and filled with an unknown liquid. Dozens of glowing orbs of various colors floated and sank within it, as if they possessed a life of their own.

"Our Spirit Pagoda offers seventy-three choices for ten-year white-tier spirit souls, covering the vast majority of martial souls. This is the introductory manual; you can take a look to decide which one to absorb."

As the Spirit Master spoke, he picked up a thick booklet from the side and handed it to Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin flipped it open to find introductions to various spirit beasts, including their habits, potential spirit skills, and a list of pros and cons, along with the Spirit Pagoda's recommendation rating.

One had to admit, the Spirit Pagoda treated its customers quite well.

With this booklet in hand, anyone who wasn't completely illiterate could basically find a decent choice.

However, after looking back and forth, Tang Wulin found himself in a bind, realizing he had developed a bit of decision paralysis.

He felt that every description written here sounded incredibly powerful; he wanted all of them.

"Teacher, could you help me make a recommendation? I feel like all these spirit skills are so amazing."

Long Yuan had been waiting for exactly these words.

[No problem. Let me introduce them to you, and you can flip through it again.]

Tang Wulin flipped through the pages quickly, while Long Yuan's divine sense whirred, rapidly locking onto a few good options.

[The first is No. 3, the Ghost Vine. It is a classic plant-type spirit beast, possessing a certain amount of paralytic toxin and decent parasitic capabilities. If you choose it, your control abilities will receive a significant boost.]

[The second is No. 16, the Azure Vine. Although it lacks the poison and parasitic abilities of the Ghost Vine, it is very resilient and possesses great vitality. Absorbing this spirit soul will likely increase the vitality of both your body and your martial soul. Most plant-type martial souls grow stronger as vitality increases, making it a fairly versatile and comprehensive choice.]

[The third is No. 49, the Blood-Exploding Snake. Its gallbladder can cause the user's blood to boil, granting a massive surge in strength for a short time. It also possesses a spirit skill that enhances physical fitness. If you absorb it, you could obtain an augmentation-type spirit skill.]

[The fourth is No. 70, the Earth Scale Beast. I didn't expect to find an earth-dragon type spirit soul here. It excels in defense. Although it isn't perfectly suited to you, it is, after all, of the dragon race, so its growth potential will be higher. It's a passable choice.]

[Those are the four. You can consider them yourself.]

Long Yuan introduced all four spirit souls to Tang Wulin in one breath. In truth, among the available spirit souls, plant-types were relatively rare; what surprised him most was the presence of an Earth Scale Beast.

"Let me think, the Earth Scale Beast seems to be of the Golden Holy Dragon lineage. Although it has evolved quite far from the original, its strength is still among the best of the filler earth-dragons."

The Dragon God originally created the Nine Great Dragon Kings and used their bloodlines as the foundation to evolve the first dragon race.

They were the Golden Holy Dragon King, Mountain Dragon King, Water Dragon King, Fire Dragon King, Earth Dragon King, Wind Dragon King, Light Dragon King, Dark Dragon King, and Emerald Dragon King.

The Golden Holy Dragon King represented ultimate power and was the most noble bloodline; one could see this from those so-called golden-blooded spirit beasts, which often possessed extremely strong innate talents.

The Mountain Dragon King lineage governed the attribute of stability; its body was as heavy as a mountain, its defense was the greatest among all dragons, and its strength was second only to the Golden Holy Dragon.

It could be said that the Golden Dragon King, aside from possessing the Dragon God's authority of destruction, was essentially a combination of the Golden Holy Dragon King and the Mountain Dragon King, characterized by extreme stats.

The remaining seven Dragon Kings represented the seven elements controlled by the Dragon God: water, fire, earth, wind, light, darkness, and space, with the Light Dragon King at their head.

The Light Dragon King, also known as the Sacred Dragon King, wielded the Dragon Slaying Blade and was specifically in charge of the dragon race's reproduction and punishment.

The most unique of the nine dragon bloodlines was the Mountain Dragon. According to the Dragon God's decree, every adult pure-blooded Mountain Dragon could hold the title of King, while the other eight titles referred specifically to the patriarchs of their respective lineages.

While Long Yuan was lost in his own thoughts, Tang Wulin was also pondering, though he felt even more confused after the introduction.

"Teacher, which one do you recommend most? They all feel so good."

[Which one do I recommend?]

Long Yuan didn't know either; after all, in his eyes, these were all trash. But would saying that be too hurtful?

[Choose the Blood-Exploding Snake. It just so happens that I am quite skilled in that area, so it will be easier for me to teach you later.]

"I understand."

Tang Wulin closed the booklet and said to the Spirit Master, "Sir Spirit Master, I have decided. I want this Blood-Exploding Snake."

"The Blood-Exploding Snake, is it? Alright, wait a moment." Although he wasn't sure why the boy chose this one, the Spirit Master operated the soul guidance screen in front of him.

As the final green button was pressed, a series of lights illuminated inside the instrument, and finally, a pure white spirit soul orb rolled out along a track.

The Spirit Master walked over, retrieved the spirit soul orb, and handed it to him.

"Let's go outside to take a look."

Tang Wulin clutched the spirit soul he had dreamed of tightly; this was the first step on his path as a Spirit Master.

Back in the lobby, the Spirit Master gave them an oval-shaped instrument.

One only needed to press the button and shine the light it emitted onto the spirit soul orb to make the spirit soul break out of its shell.

Following the instructions, Tang Wulin activated the instrument. A soft white light shone onto the spirit soul orb, and the originally translucent shell gradually dissipated under the light until it vanished completely.

Tang Ziran and Tang Wulin both watched with expectant eyes until the white light faded entirely, allowing them to see the little creature lying in Tang Wulin's palm.

It was a small snake, about 30cm long, curled up and watching Tang Wulin warily, its tongue flicking out repeatedly.

Its scales were crimson and diamond-shaped, and its tail tapered sharply. The entire snake looked short, thick, and powerful. Its constantly heaving body caused its scales to rub against each other, emitting a "hissing" sound.

Tang Wulin tentatively reached out a finger to touch it, but unexpectedly, the creature suddenly lunged and bit his finger.

[Naughty.]

Watching the little snake, which couldn't even break his defense but was still twisting frantically, Long Yuan released a tiny sliver of dragon might.

"Hiss—"

The Blood-Exploding Snake stopped immediately, its entire body stiffening before it recoiled and began to tremble on its own.

"Haha, the little guy is quite energetic. You two should just fuse with the spirit soul here in the Spirit Pagoda before you leave."