Death Spider Emperor

Hearing this, Bibi Dong couldn't help but chuckle softly. She waved a hand at Naruto, "Go on. Do you really think your dear sister wouldn't help you?"

As she spoke, purple-black spirit power emerged quietly from her meridians, filling every gap in an instant. Naruto's consciousness returned, and his aura climbed steadily, stopping only when he touched the threshold of a Spirit Ancestor.

This was the limit of spirit power Naruto could withstand without damaging his body.

Naruto lowered his eyes, his palm clenching and unclenching in the air.

How did that saying go again?

The flower language of a steel wool ball is wealth and forbearance; I don't want to work hard anymore!

Of course, that was just a joke. Pushing aside the various distractions in his mind, Naruto looked up at the struggling Pure Water Turtle and gave a casual wave of his hand.

Whoosh!

An invisible ripple swept across the forest. Even though nothing seemed to happen to the naked eye or within his spiritual perception, every spirit hunting squad still remaining in the Soul Hunting Forest sensed something.

Birds shrieked as they fled overhead, spirit beasts scurried through the woods, and Spirit Masters with beast spirits froze in place, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

This was spirit suppression!

The mere leaked aura of a spirit was suppressing the entire Soul Hunting Forest. What kind of monster was this?

Beside Naruto, the pitch-black void tore open.

Two massive forelimbs, gleaming with a cold light and no different from scythes, reached out from the void first. With a crack, they gripped the edges of the rift, sparks flying in a brief, brilliant display.

The next second, a hideous spider, wreathed in golden runic chains and looking like a ghostly Rakshasa, poked its head out from the void!

As the Death Spider Emperor manifested, four spirit rings—yellow, purple, purple, purple—emerged from beneath Naruto's feet in sequence!

The Death Spider Emperor slowly opened its chelicerae.

Boom!

A purple streak of light cut across the sky, accompanied by a thunderous roar. A spear of spirit power whistled through the air, piercing the Pure Water Turtle. The gravity field that had been rampaging moments ago vanished instantly, leaving not a ripple behind.

Naruto looked down at the Death Spider Emperor beside him, then at the now-motionless Pure Water Turtle in the distance.

How did it one-shot it?

Wasn't it supposed to be heavily injured so he could land the finishing blow? Was the power really that high?

Naruto twitched the corner of his mouth.

"I don't want to work hard anymore!"

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting again?"

Bibi Dong's forehead was covered in black lines. She held her head and shook it in reprimand, "Hurry up and check your spirit ring. If you must know, this spirit beast was hunted by my spirit. If something goes wrong, you'll be the one crying."

Naruto finally snapped back to reality. He raised his hand, and the runic chains extending from the void rattled as they dragged the terrifying Death Spider Emperor back into the void. Naruto's own spirit power level dropped back to that of a level ten Spirit Master.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in his meridians, Naruto hurried forward.

The surrounding Shadow Clones cleared a path, and above the massive body of the Pure Water Turtle, a thick, dense spirit ring floated in mid-air, waiting to be absorbed by a Spirit Master.

Naruto reached out to touch the spirit ring, and upon confirming there were no signs of resistance, he breathed a secret sigh of relief.

Good.

It seems that in the eyes of this world's rules, a Jinchuriki and a Tailed Beast count as one person.

After a brief rest, the dense cluster of Shadow Clones hid within the silent forest, on high alert.

Naruto's original body sat cross-legged beside the Pure Water Turtle's carcass, taking a few deep breaths as he prepared himself.

"Are you ready?"

Bibi Dong suppressed her inner anxiety and asked.

When it came to absorbing spirit rings, every Spirit Master on the continent had to rely on themselves. If Bibi Dong still had a physical body, she could have forcefully intervened to save his life if the absorption failed, but now, she didn't even have that fallback.

Naruto nodded heavily.

Without any grand declarations, Naruto let out a long breath and looked up at the dense spirit ring in the air. Guided by his mind, it drifted quietly toward his head.

The spirit ring absorption began.

Perhaps it was due to her unique perspective from within the Sealing Space, but Bibi Dong, who kept checking in with a nervous heart, felt that this absorption was exceptionally long.

Since a few months ago, Naruto had stopped caring about Bibi Dong's attempts to permeate the seal with her spiritual power to observe the outside world.

Through her spiritual perception, Bibi Dong could clearly sense Naruto's current state.

Two distinct types of spirit power were colliding and merging within his meridians, tearing his body apart without a clear victor in sight.

This was already the prelude to a failed spirit ring absorption.

The spirit power of a spirit beast differs vastly from that of a human, and since a spirit ring serves as the vessel for a spirit beast's power and consciousness, the process of absorbing one is essentially a secondary confrontation with that beast.

Naturally, this confrontation takes place within the human body, giving the human the home-field advantage with a constant supply of replenishing spirit power.

However, this inherent advantage is not absolute...

Crack.

A faint sound rang out. Bibi Dong, who had been waiting anxiously, suddenly snapped her head up, her pupils constricting!

Has he failed?

Deep within a corner of Naruto's body, the meridians struggling to contain the violent clash of two spirit powers could hold on no longer, and a tiny fissure tore open.

It was as if a switch had been flipped.

Dense, spiderweb-like cracks began to sprout across the meridians like bamboo shoots after a spring rain!

This is bad!

Did this damn brat really fail!?

Bibi Dong stood up in a flash, but she could only grit her teeth, feeling powerless as she looked around.

The absorption of a spirit ring must be handled by the Spirit Master alone. If Bibi Dong still possessed her physical body, she might have been able to forcibly interrupt the process to save the boy's life.

But she did not. Now trapped within the Eight Trigrams Seal, Bibi Dong had no options; she could only watch silently as Naruto's body collapsed...

Outside, The murky yellow spirit ring hovering above Naruto's head had become illusory, teetering on the brink of vanishing.

Yet, Naruto's body had reached its limit first. Fine, cold sweat had already soaked his clothes through. The clash of the two spirit powers within him had not ceased, but his body had been battered into a ceramic jar covered in cracks!

And how long could this nearly shattered jar... hold out?

Clatter!

Bibi Dong fell into a brief stupor before slumping back onto the spirit power sofa. She held her forehead and sighed faintly; the heavens, it seemed, would not grant her a second chance.

Unable to bear the sight, Bibi Dong waved her hand to retract her spiritual energy.

It was all over.

The annoying brat was dead, so what would become of her now?

Would she be trapped in this sunless "sewer" for all eternity? Would she follow the boy and die in silence? Or would she descend into hell, or something else entirely...

Various strange thoughts flashed through her mind, but Bibi Dong ultimately concluded that the most likely outcome was her own death.

She waited quietly for the end.

Several minutes passed.

Nothing happened.

Bibi Dong, who had been gloomily awaiting death, frowned and slowly sat upright, scanning the unchanging Sealing Space from side to side.

"What... is going on?"

Outside, The clash between the spirit powers continued!

The look of agony on Naruto's face had lessened slightly. He remained sitting cross-legged beside the carcass of the spirit beast, and several pitch-black Chains of Heaven shot from his palms, wrapping tightly around his body like a suit of dark armor.

Under the suppression of his martial soul, the spirit ring's power, which had been rampaging through his meridians, was forced to move forward with great difficulty!

Crack.

The illusory spirit ring above Naruto's head shattered completely. Yet, the moment it broke, a clear, bright, murky yellow spirit ring—Naruto's own—quietly manifested beneath his feet.

"Hoo..."

Naruto snapped his eyes open.

The Chains of Heaven wrapped around his body instantly dissolved into specks of azure spirit power.

His body, now completely limp, tipped forward and collapsed onto the ground. Lacking even the strength to roll over, Naruto lay there in a wretched heap, gasping for air.

"You... succeeded?"

Hearing a voice that sounded suspiciously like it was choking back tears, Naruto turned his head to the side, forced a smile, and gave a thumbs-up.

"I... feel like at a time like this... I should rub my nose... and say it was just luck..."

Notting Academy, On this rare holiday, the students—still just children—bustled out of the school gates. Tang San and Xiao Wu, who had already confirmed their relationship (specifically, as siblings), stood at the entrance.

"Third Brother? What are you going to do?"

Seeing that Tang San had stuffed quite a few things into his spirit tool last night, Xiao Wu tilted her head and asked curiously.

"I feel like what they teach at school isn't very useful, so I plan to find a blacksmith shop in the city and learn how to forge." Tang San naturally told Xiao Wu everything, not hiding his plan to learn blacksmithing.

"Huh? Blacksmithing?"

Xiao Wu's face was full of disdain.

"Isn't that even more useless?"

"But it pays. If things go on like this, I'll have to borrow money from the teacher." Tang San stopped in his tracks, gesturing to his empty pockets.

"Sorry."

Xiao Wu pressed her palms together, apologizing repeatedly.

There was no helping it; human society had too many delicious foods and fun things, and Spirit Coins were being spent like water.

Seeing this, Tang San shook his head and said no more, turning to ask seriously, "Xiao Wu, did that person really not bully you?"

The person referred to here was naturally Naruto.

The fear Xiao Wu subconsciously displayed when facing Naruto might have fooled Tang San at first, but how could it stay hidden for over half a year?

"No, really, he didn't!" Xiao Wu waved her hands repeatedly. "I just feel like he's a bit scary. You should be more careful later, Brother San."

Since Xiao Wu was unwilling to talk about it, Tang San stopped asking.

As for Xiao Wu's final concern, Tang San didn't care at all, even shaking his head with a hint of regret. "It's fine. By the time he becomes a level 10 Spirit Master, I might already be a level 20 Great Spirit Master. By then, the spirit duel might just be a formality."

He was already a level 14 Spirit Master.

The gap between innate full spirit power and innate level 6 spirit power was not so easily bridged.

Moreover, he had his teacher's meticulous guidance; the gap between him and that person would only grow wider, eventually making him nothing more than an insignificant passerby in his life.

Just as he was reflecting on this, Xiao Wu's expression suddenly stiffened, and she began to shrink into his arms.

Seeing this familiar behavior from Xiao Wu, Tang San immediately understood what had happened. Turning his head to follow Xiao Wu's gaze, he spotted the person instantly through the dense crowd.

Carrying a massive backpack on his back, his clothes were still stained with dirt and grass clippings...

Tang San narrowed his eyes. He had seen many Spirit Masters dressed like this—those who had just returned from hunting spirits and hadn't had time to rest.

Is the other party now...

A Spirit Master?