Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast Blocks the Path

Qin Chuan savored that bitter, astringent feeling in his heart over and over again.

As a spirit-control type Spirit Master, he needed to understand the specific mechanisms and boundaries of every mental attack. This wasn't being overly sensitive; it was basic training.

Flowers Falling in a Dream struck at "parting." Memory Kill struck at the "past."

The two spirit skills functioned in completely different ways, but their goal was the same—to tear open the mental defenses.

Flowers Falling in a Dream attacked from the outside in, creating a false, sorrowful scene to make one's emotions fluctuate, thereby exposing the weak points in their mental defenses.

Memory Kill exploded from the inside out. It didn't need to create any false scenes; it went straight for your deepest secrets. Your own memories were the best weapon.

If the two moves were used in combination.

Qin Chuan ran through it in his mind.

First, use Flowers Falling in a Dream to disrupt the opponent's emotions, causing the first crack to appear in their mental defenses. Then, immediately follow up with Memory Kill, drilling into that crack to drag out the memories the opponent was least willing to face.

A double strike, and the mental defenses would collapse instantly.

The corners of Qin Chuan's mouth twitched as he looked down at the Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly in his hand.

The butterfly had stopped struggling. Its wings hung half-open from Qin Chuan's fingers, like a petal blown off by the wind. Its small, black, beady eyes stared at Qin Chuan, sparkling.

"Your Memory Kill is even more formidable than the Sorrow Bird's Flowers Falling in a Dream." Qin Chuan's voice was very soft.

The Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly's wings fluttered once, the panic from just moments ago fading away.

Qin Chuan was silent for two seconds.

The last time he crushed a Sorrow Bird, he had said, "I'm sorry."

He wanted to say it this time, too. But the words died on his lips, and he swallowed them back.

Saying "I'm sorry" too many times just became a form of self-consolation. A kill was a kill; no amount of pleasant words could change that fact.

Qin Chuan's fingers tightened.

"Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly," his voice was flat, "you are a spirit beast with a story. Your spirit skill can make people recall the past they are least willing to face."

The butterfly's wings trembled slightly.

"I am sorry. I need your power."

As the words fell, his fingers suddenly exerted force.

A faint, crisp sound echoed, even quieter than when he had crushed the Sorrow Bird.

The Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly's body went limp, and the "beauty eye" patterns on its wings slowly dimmed. Colorful scales drifted down from between his fingers, landing on the purple flowers of the shrubbery like a dusting of crushed gold.

A white spirit ring rose slowly from the butterfly's corpse.

The spirit ring was small and thin, its white light so soft that its boundaries were almost invisible. In the afterglow of the setting sun, it looked like a circle of transparent ripples.

Qin Chuan gently placed the butterfly's body on the flowering branches of the shrub.

He then closed his eyes, his mental power reaching out to envelop the white spirit ring; the absorption process was shockingly fast.

Less than ten seconds.

The energy within the spirit ring flowed gently into his mental world, merging into his Illusion Bell martial spirit. There was no rejection, no pain, and no discomfort whatsoever.

Qin Chuan opened his eyes.

With a thought, the Illusion Bell appeared in his palm.

Four spirit rings lit up in sequence.

White, white, white, white.

Four white rings of light rotated slowly from bottom to top, their glow soft and quiet.

Shadow Hypnosis, Sinful Haze, Flowers Falling in a Dream, Memory Kill.

Four white spirit rings, four mental control spirit skills.

If this combination were presented to any other Spirit Master, no one would think twice of it.

But Qin Chuan knew that the lethality of these four moves combined was even greater than a fifty-thousand-year spirit skill.

Qin Chuan put away the Illusion Bell and stepped out from the shrubbery.

Only one last spirit ring remained.

Qin Chuan loosened his shoulders and turned to head toward the center of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The sun leaned west, leaving only a streak of orange-red afterglow at the edge of the sky, seeping in through the gaps in the canopy. The temperature in the forest had dropped significantly, and the wind blowing through the gaps carried a damp chill.

Qin Chuan traveled at high speed for quite a while, arriving deep within the forest.

The layer of decaying leaves here had thickened, and the scent in the air had changed; the fresh fragrance of pine resin and vegetation from the outer perimeter was gone, replaced by a heavy, fermented, fishy sweetness.

The middle of the forest.

The level of the spirit beasts here had clearly stepped up a notch. Relying on his ears and his skin's perception of spirit power fluctuations, he could judge that there were at least six or seven thousand-year-level spirit beasts lurking nearby, and one aura was significantly heavier—it should be around ten thousand years.

Qin Chuan ignored them, nor did he feel the need to worry.

After weaving through the woods for several more minutes, a rustling sound came from the bushes to his front right. The sound was heavy, accompanied by the crisp snapping of branches being forcibly broken.

A black shadow emerged from behind the bushes.

It was a Dark Iron Centipede about the size of a water buffalo. Its entire body was pitch black, its carapace shimmering with a metallic luster. Its hundred-odd legs, resembling rows of curved blades, scraped against the ground in unison, creating a rustling friction.

Its two antennae were held high, swaying incessantly toward Qin Chuan, while the massive pincers on either side of its mouth opened and closed, dripping pale green venom from the gaps.

Qin Chuan glanced at it, not slowing his pace.

The Dark Iron Centipede let out a sharp hiss, and all one hundred legs pushed off the ground simultaneously. Its body surged toward Qin Chuan like a black train.

It was fast, carving a shallow trench into the earth as it charged.

Qin Chuan did not even turn his head.

He raised his left hand slightly, palm facing backward.

"Shinra Tensei."

Hum! An invisible repulsive force exploded outward.

The Dark Iron Centipede's body came to an abrupt halt three meters away from Qin Chuan, then, as if struck by a spring, it was sent flying backward.

"Boom!"

Its body slammed into the trunk of a large tree, cracking its carapace and causing pale green fluid to seep from the fissures.

The tree fared no better; a crater the size of a human head was gouged into its trunk, sending wood chips flying in every direction.

The Dark Iron Centipede rolled on the ground twice, legs flailing wildly, before it finally managed to right itself after a long struggle.

It raised its head, flicked its antennae toward Qin Chuan twice, then turned around and, dragging its cracked carapace, scurried into the nearby bushes and vanished.

Qin Chuan continued forward. A Steel Demon Eagle with a wingspan exceeding three meters crouched on a thick branch, its golden eyes locked onto him. Its talons gripped the branch, the curved hooks digging deep into the bark.

Qin Chuan met its gaze for two seconds.

The Steel Demon Eagle let out a piercing screech, snapped its wings open, and dove downward.

Qin Chuan still did not stop, though his brow furrowed.

"Bansho Ten'in!"

The Steel Demon Eagle's body stiffened in mid-air, then it was pulled toward Qin Chuan, unable to resist. It flapped its wings desperately in an attempt to break free, but the gravitational force locked onto it firmly, leaving no room for resistance.

The moment it was pulled before him, Qin Chuan released the gravity and swung his right hand.

The Zhu Xian Sword appeared out of thin air, its blade slicing horizontally across the Steel Demon Eagle's chest.

Clean and decisive.

The Steel Demon Eagle's body split in two, blood splattering the ground. Its two gray wings fluttered in the air before falling into the bushes below.

A black soul ring emerged.

Qin Chuan put away the Zhu Xian Sword and checked its age: approximately eleven thousand years.

An ordinary soul master would treat this black soul ring as a treasure.

But Qin Chuan discarded it without a second thought and continued his exploration.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a Jade Horned Python just over twenty thousand years old blocked the path ahead. The python was as thick as a water vat, coiled between two large trees with its head held high, its tongue flicking in the air.

A single jade-green horn grew from its forehead, with a dense cloud of green toxic mist gathering at its tip.

"There are quite a few high-age soul beasts in the depths of this great forest," Qin Chuan remarked, his Samsara Eye rotating silently within his pupils.

The Jade Horned Python's vertical pupils constricted sharply.

Then, it did something unexpected—it retracted the toxic mist from its forehead, slowly moved its body away from the middle of the path, and coiled itself on the other side of a large tree, yielding the way.

A twenty-thousand-year-old Jade Horned Python had voluntarily given way.

"You're sensible enough!"

Qin Chuan continued his search for a target.