The Bait

Soul Power surged, and the Dark Iron Blade appeared in his palm.

Then he stomped heavily, shooting forward in an instant. Without dodging or evading, he charged straight at it.

Just as the two were about to collide, the Mandala Snake opened its jaws, its venomous fangs about to pierce Ye Luochen's arm.

Only then did Ye Luochen make another move.

In a manner the Hongchen siblings could not understand, he forcibly halted himself in midair.

Then, with a slight turn, he evaded the Mandala Snake's attack.

Afterward, his soul ring lit up, the Dark Iron Blade gleamed, and he swung it down.

As for the Mandala Snake, the momentum from its explosive charge, coupled with the lack of any foothold in midair, made it unable to shift its posture in time.

It could only allow Ye Luochen's blade to strike its body.

Crack!

The sound of something breaking followed.

The next moment, the Mandala Snake crashed heavily to the ground.

On its body, the hard scales famed for their powerful defense now bore a large shattered patch.

Scales scattered across the ground, exposing the soft, bloodied flesh beneath.

Hiss!

Feeling the agonizing pain coursing through its body, the Mandala Snake's eyes blazed with vicious light.

A faint yellowish-green gas began rising from its body. Then it slammed its tail down again, intending to launch a second attack at the human before it.

Yet a strange scene unfolded.

Its tail struck down heavily, but the force it had expected to propel it into another charge never came.

Not only that, its body, which had tightened from exertion, went limp and powerless in an instant.

Without strength to support it, its raised snake head soon drooped to the ground as well.

It could not even retract its forked tongue.

If not for the venomous gleam in its eyes, and the fact that no soul ring had formed, it would have looked almost no different from a corpse.

"What is this?"

Seeing the Mandala Snake, still fierce and imposing a moment ago, suddenly reduced to such a state, Xiao Hongchen froze.

"When striking a snake, strike seven inches from the head. Ye Luochen's last slash not only struck precisely at its vital point, but also severed the main nerve it used to control its body.

"This Mandala Snake has now lost its ability to move. It is completely at our mercy."

Meng Hongchen's voice followed immediately after.

Hearing that, Ye Luochen put away the Dark Iron Blade and could not help turning back for a look.

At that moment, Meng Hongchen had shed her usual quirky demeanor, her expression becoming exceptionally serious.

Although she made no move, she gave Ye Luochen an intensely dangerous feeling.

Seeing this, Ye Luochen narrowed his eyes slightly.

At the academy, he had usually heard more about Xiao Hongchen, how powerful his cultivation was and how outstanding his soul tool techniques were.

As for Meng Hongchen, apart from being known as "Xiao Hongchen's younger sister," there seemed to be little else said about her.

She gave people the impression of being merely a younger sister standing beneath her brother's radiance.

Yet the difference in the Hongchen siblings' performances made Ye Luochen feel that—

Meng Hongchen, who usually seemed so unreliable, might well be more unfathomable than Xiao Hongchen.

However, Meng Hongchen maintained that posture for only a moment before returning to her usual smiling appearance.

"Not bad, not bad! You won in one move. You're very strong!"

Beside her, hearing his sister's words, Xiao Hongchen returned to his usual state. As he fiddled with his hands, he said coolly,

"It was merely three thousand years old. What was so difficult about defeating it in one move?"

"Killing it with one slash naturally isn't difficult, but Ye Luochen crippled it instead. The difference in difficulty isn't small.

"Besides, don't forget that Ye Luochen isn't over level fifty like you. He's only just reached level forty. Could you have done this at level forty?"

"Meng! Whose side are you on?!"

"Hehe, is it really that hard to admit that someone else is better than you, my dear brother?"

Seeing the siblings begin their usual bickering again, Ye Luochen shook his head helplessly.

Then he stepped forward and hoisted up the Mandala Snake, which had already lost its ability to move.

"Why not just kill it?"

Seeing Ye Luochen's actions, the gray-robed elder, who had silently watched all this time, finally spoke.

Ye Luochen explained,

"It is only three thousand years old, and its attributes do not suit mine. Killing it would do me no good.

"It would be better to use it as live bait to lure other soul beasts over and save us the time of searching."

The Evil Demon Forest was vast. If they wandered around aimlessly and relied on luck, they might not find a suitable soul beast even after a month.

This Mandala Snake had arrived at precisely the right time.

Its three-thousand-year cultivation, along with the heavily injured state Ye Luochen had deliberately left it in.

Weaker soul beasts would likely fear a counterattack from the Mandala Snake and would not dare approach rashly;

Powerful soul beasts, meanwhile, would not think much of such a morsel.

But for soul beasts caught between those two levels, it was the perfect supplement.

And that was exactly the level Ye Luochen needed.

After hoisting up the Mandala Snake, Ye Luochen looked around. Then, with a tap of his foot, he leaped up and placed the Mandala Snake on a tree branch, carefully arranging its posture.

"This should make it more conspicuous."

"It is conspicuous, but isn't this just making the trap painfully obvious?"

Xiao Hongchen ended his argument with his sister and turned his attention back to Ye Luochen.

Ye Luochen did not mind.

After spending this time together, he had already grown used to it.

For some reason, Meng Hongchen loved provoking Xiao Hongchen with him.

And every time, she could precisely shatter Xiao Hongchen's composure with just a few words.

Whenever Xiao Hongchen could not outargue his sister, he would turn his attention toward Ye Luochen and vent the frustration in his heart.

It was not that Xiao Hongchen was truly targeting him or anything.

Let him say a few words. He looked rather pitiful anyway.

"It doesn't matter. Soul beasts intelligent enough to recognize that something is wrong are probably not within my consideration to begin with.

"For those less powerful soul beasts, this temptation will not be easy to resist. Their appetite will overcome their reason."

"Enough. Conceal yourselves a little and wait patiently."

Seeing that Ye Luochen had made his arrangements, the elder leading the group waved his hand.

Two film-like spaces appeared once more. One enclosed the Hongchen siblings, while the other enveloped the elder and Ye Luochen.

Then faint light flowed, and the two spaces silently blended into the surrounding environment.

They waited until the sun sank and night fell.

Yet not a single soul beast came.

"Something is wrong. Even if the bait had been seen through, there shouldn't be no soul beasts at all."

Inside the film-like space, Ye Luochen frowned.

"Forget it. We won't wait any longer. Let's change locations and continue searching."

Just as those words fell and they were preparing to remove the concealment,

A figure appeared not far away.