System, I Was Wrong, You're So Good

Snake Undying opened his mouth, but only managed to cough up large mouthfuls of blood.

The life force of the Lone Bamboo within him, which he hadn't yet managed to refine, rampaged like a wild horse, backlashing violently.

"You... you will regret this..." A crazed, vicious look flashed in Snake Undying's eyes. "The Holy Temple will not let you go... Lord Blood Shadow will avenge me..."

Zhu Shen crouched down to meet his gaze.

"Blood Shadow?" A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Let him come."

With that, he raised his hand and flicked Snake Undying lightly on the head.

"Bang!"

Snake Undying's eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.

The battle ended. From start to finish, it hadn't taken more than twenty breaths.

The system notification chimed. At the same time, a black shadow swept silently across a tree in the Soul Hunting Forest.

[Congratulations to the host for successfully eliminating three Evil Soul Masters and completing the side quest. Reward obtained: 10-year Lone Bamboo Left Arm Bone.]

[Congratulations to the host for scamming Tang San once. Reward obtained: 10,000-year Dragon God External Spirit Bone.]

Damn, Little San, you really are my personal ATM, and the kind that doesn't even need a PIN.

Zhu Shen finished clearing the battlefield with excitement and looked toward Tang San.

Tang San was still lying unconscious on the ground; it seemed the blow from earlier had been quite heavy.

Zhu Shen grew a bit anxious, fearing Tang San might actually be hurt, so he hurried to his side to check his condition.

Fortunately, this old schemer Tang San was fine; he looked more like he was faking a faint.

Zhu Shen was speechless. You've lived two lives, yet you're still this cautious? You see things going south and immediately play dead—and this is the second time.

However, Zhu Shen didn't call him out. Let him pretend; he would have plenty of opportunities to scam him in the future.

Zhu Shen shook Tang San. "Little San, Little San, are you alright?"

Tang San opened his eyes a crack, saw that Zhu Shen was unscathed, and seemed a bit dazed.

Did my teacher actually pull off a counter-attack?

Zhu Shen couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Tang San sizing him up. He reached out with his right hand, grabbed Tang San's shoulder, and pinched him hard.

"Ah!" Tang San cried out in pain. "Teacher, I'm fine."

[Congratulations to the host for completing the opportunity quest: Shatter Tang San's self-righteousness as a schemer.]

[Reward obtained: 10,000-year Dragon God Left Arm Bone.]

Looking at the line of text, Zhu Shen laughed inwardly. Little San, oh Little San, I'm starting to like you more and more.

Composing himself, Zhu Shen looked at Tang San. "Little San, with my help, you can absorb the spirit ring of this 900-year Lone Bamboo."

Zhu Shen then changed his tone. "However, its age far exceeds the limit a normal spirit master can withstand. The process might be very painful. Are you willing to trust your teacher and give it a try?"

Zhu Shen had always despised how Gangzi used his own disciples as experiments to test the upper limits of absorption.

But he wasn't worried at all; with his suppression as the Lord of the Dragon God Spirit Beasts, Tang San would only benefit from absorbing a spirit ring beyond his limit, with no downsides.

Thinking this, Zhu Shen looked at Tang San.

Tang San pondered for a moment and nodded firmly. "I trust you, Teacher."

Tang San's tone was resolute, and Zhu Shen felt a touch of emotion. It had to be said that Tang San, a shrewd person who had lived two lives, was still quite respectful toward his teacher.

After speaking, Tang San walked over to the dying Lone Bamboo and killed it.

A yellow, hundred-year spirit ring emerged, and Tang San sat down to begin absorption.

Zhu Shen walked to Tang San's side and released his Dragon God spirit.

A domineering force erupted, pressing down toward Tang San to help him suppress the power of the Lone Bamboo.

With Zhu Shen's help, Tang San finished absorbing the spirit ring in an hour, drenched in sweat.

[Congratulations to the host for completing the opportunity quest. Reward obtained: 10-year Lone Bamboo Right Arm Bone.]

Zhu Shen let out a sigh of relief; the quest was finally complete.

The deadline was about to expire, and he would have been heartbroken to lose such a good reward for nothing.

He packed up his things, and Tang San stood up as well.

"Little San, what is your newly acquired spirit skill?"

Tang San replied, "I can summon a Lone Bamboo, strike it with my Clear Sky Hammer, and launch it."

Zhu Shen couldn't hide his smile; it reminded him of a very modern weapon from his original world—a gun.

Zhu Shen thought about Tang San's temperament and said, "Little San, let's call this spirit skill the Clear Sky Barrett."

Tang San was confused again. Why were all the words coming out of his teacher's mouth things he had never heard of? Could such strange and bizarre things exist in this continent?

However, he didn't care as long as the spirit skill was strong. Only he knew that the power launched by striking the Lone Bamboo with his hammer was no less potent than his hidden weapons.

Moreover, he could control the size of the summoned Lone Bamboo. Small ones could be used as needle-like hidden weapons, while large ones could even serve as crowd-control skills.

Tang San looked at Zhu Shen, feeling as though Zhu Shen still had more to say.

Zhu Shen looked at Tang San's unsatisfied gaze and felt a bit helpless; this little genius was just too sharp.

"Little San, I have two more spirit bones here, a left arm bone and a right arm bone. Go ahead and absorb them in a moment."

Tang San had rarely heard Grandmaster talk about knowledge regarding spirit bones before, but he knew these things were extremely rare. He was somewhat curious about how Zhu Shen had obtained them.

Seeing the curious look on Tang San's face, Zhu Shen made up a story: "I obtained these by chance; don't worry about their origin. Just absorb them; as your master, I wouldn't harm you."

Zhu Shen handed the two spirit bones to Tang San. Tang San sat cross-legged on the ground without saying much and began to absorb them.

This time, Tang San absorbed them very quickly, finishing in just a quarter of an hour.

Zhu Shen figured it was likely because these were provided by the system, making them highly compatible with Tang San, and their age was quite low, which allowed for such a smooth process.

Seeing that Tang San had finished absorbing them, Zhu Shen asked him, "What effects do these spirit bones have?"

Zhu Shen currently felt more like a child who knew nothing; although the items the system provided looked weak, their actual effects were heaven-defying.

Zhu Shen finally understood now: the system was using the pretext of "scamming Tang San" to help him gain experience.

This was a hardship for Zhu Shen, but considering the system was also giving him cheats, he forgave the system without much internal struggle.

Tang San looked at Zhu Shen and smiled slightly; he, too, had been shocked by the effects of these spirit bones just now.

"The effect of both of them is to increase the effect and range of all my spirit skills by 10%, and to grant 10% immunity to damage received."

"If the two are stacked, it can reach 20%."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Shen exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

He was a bit envious now. This kind of percentage-based buff would surely increase as the age of the spirit bones rose. If this buff effect reached 90% or more in the future, the results would be terrifying.

Zhu Shen didn't even dare to imagine what kind of terrifying existence that would be.

He wasn't panicked anymore; he could report back to Tang Hao with this. Such powerful equipment couldn't be compared to mere surface-level spirit ring age.

This way, he could also rightfully and completely make Tang San the Pure Bamboo Douluo.

However, Zhu Shen also had two spirit bones now, and he was contemplating whether he should absorb them. He hadn't hunted his third spirit ring yet, and the 10,000-year age of the spirit bones was quite high for him; he didn't know if his body could handle it.

Furthermore, there might be Evil Soul Masters preparing to kill him right now.

He glanced at Tang San and felt uneasy; if they were targeted by those Evil Soul Masters at this moment, he would be in big trouble.

Forget it, it was better to return to Nuoding City first. He would plan for the future later.

The two returned to their camp, packed their things, and prepared to head back to Nuoding City.

Just as the two were preparing to depart, a black shadow rapidly approached from the distance.