Sanzi, You Still Need Practice

"Let it see whose poison is stronger." Tang San's voice was calm—so calm that even Yu Xiaogang felt the boy in front of him didn't seem like a Soul Master with only one ring.

"I'll have Luo Sanpao distract it first. You use Hidden Weapons to block the paths of its vines from the side, then use Blue Silver Grass to lay an Entanglement net around its roots. Finally, wait for an opening and launch a frontal assault with your powerful Sleeve Arrows. We've rehearsed this beforehand. It'll work." Yu Xiaogang spoke with some nerves.

Tang San took a deep breath and sent a throwing knife flying first. He had coated it with something beforehand; when it struck the Ghost Vine, it would instantly reach its ignition point and set fire to the poison on its surface.

The Ghost Vine's tendrils were not only thick but incredibly quick to react. Tang San's first throwing knife had barely flown ten meters when one of the Ghost Vine's side branches whipped over like a lash. With a sharp crack, it knocked the knife away. The blade grazed Tang San's hair and flew into a tree behind him.

"Hmph, I'll show you whose control is stronger. First Soul Skill: Entanglement!"

Fifty meters away, behind a large tree, Luo Chen stood with his eyes closed, sensing Tang San's every move. Tang San's mental strength far surpassed that of others his age. It even approached the level of a Soul Elder. That was partly because he had lived two lives and could cultivate inner energy, but it still wasn't enough.

The Ghost Vine's attacks grew fiercer by the moment. Its main vine lashed the ground, sending wood chips and broken stones flying. Tang San dodged left and right, firing several short arrows from his Zhuge Crossbow. They left a number of tiny wounds on the vines but failed to hit anything vital.

"Fart like thunder, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!" At Gangzi's call, a thunderous fart rang across the clearing. Luo Sanpao leaped into the air, aimed his rear at the Ghost Vine, and fired a tremendous blast straight at it.

The yellow fart transformed into a shock wave, dealing a sliver of damage to the Ghost Vine. When its tendrils touched the yellow cloud, they thrashed violently, as if deeply disgusted.

The Ghost Vine's roots suddenly sprang from underground and wrapped around Yu Xiaogang's ankle.

Poison flowed along the roots into Gangzi's body. His movements slowed for a beat, his face turned bluish, and his lips began to tremble. Tang San's face paled. Knowing they couldn't delay any longer, he reached for the deadly weapon at his waist—a Hidden Weapon with an unremarkable appearance but an ingenious trigger mechanism. It fired silently.

Those mechanical Hidden Weapons were fitted with poisoned needles as fine as strands of hair. Once coated in poison, a touch meant death. Tang Sect Hidden Weapon techniques: strike to sever the soul, leave no survivors.

Tang San's finger pressed against the trigger...

"Stop." A nonchalant voice came from behind him.

Tang San's finger froze.

He slowly turned around. A silver-haired young man was strolling out from behind a tree, hands in his pockets, his steps as leisurely as if he were taking a walk in his own backyard.

His silvery-white hair gleamed coldly in the shadows. His left eye was a purple slit pupil, while his right was a silver-white round pupil. Their utterly different lights intertwined, like an ancient god awakening.

Tang San's pupils contracted sharply. He couldn't sense the man's Soul Power, but the man clearly wasn't ordinary. Was this the legendary return to simplicity?

Yu Xiaogang's expression changed too. He instinctively tried to shield Tang San, but the Ghost Vine had him trapped. Luo Sanpao rose from the ground, a low whimper rumbling in his throat, as if it had seen something that filled it with dread.

"Who are you?" Tang San's voice was low, wary and hostile.

Luo Chen didn't look at him. His gaze remained fixed on the silver-haired young man.

"Are you Tang San?"

Every muscle in Tang San's body tensed. He had grown up in the Tang Sect and weathered countless brushes with death. His instincts told him this man was dangerous. Extremely dangerous.

"Who might you be?" Tang San's tone was calm, but Luo Chen could hear the faintest tremor in his voice. It wasn't fear, but reverence for an unknown power.

"Just passing through. I happened to take a liking to the same Soul Beast."

Luo Chen lifted his chin toward the Ghost Vine, his face utterly expressionless. "This Ghost Vine is mine."

Yu Xiaogang froze, his forehead slick with sweat. "We found this Ghost Vine first, and we've been waiting here for days. This Soul Beast should belong to us!"

"You found it first? With your Soul Power barely over level twenty?"

Luo Chen's gaze swept over Tang San. His tone was as casual as if he were commenting on the fine weather. "You still have a chance to leave with him now, without getting hurt."

At that critical moment, Tang San actually attacked. He decided the man before him had to be killed with a single strike. His Hidden Weapon ought to be enough to kill a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor!

Tang San released the trigger of his Zhuge Crossbow. Tiny, poison-coated needles shot toward Luo Chen's face and throat, gleaming with a ghostly blue light.

The Hidden Weapon moved at tremendous speed. As it left the mouth of the Zhuge Crossbow, it trailed a whistle like a shrill arrow, hissing like a venomous snake in the dark.

"Clang—!" Luo Chen didn't even turn his head.

He reached out and caught the poisoned needle between two fingers. Silver-white temporal power flowed at his fingertips, layering around the poison until it dissolved into the air.

"An ambush?" Luo Chen looked at the needle in his hand. He gently crushed it between two fingers, and the Hidden Weapon crumbled into fine metal powder that sifted through his fingers. "You're playing with something like this in front of me?"

Tang San's face went completely white. How could anyone catch his Hidden Weapon, so fast and so deadly?

Seeing the humans fighting among themselves, the Ghost Vine tried to flee. It had realized that the newcomer seemed like someone it couldn't afford to provoke. Its vines suddenly tore free from the dead tree, and the entire plant darted toward the woods on the left.

Luo Chen flicked his left hand, sending an Ordinary Ball flying. It struck the center of the Ghost Vine's main stem, and a burst of white light erupted, engulfing the entire Ghost Vine.

The whole process took less than two seconds. The Ghost Vine struggled violently, twisting and curling as dark green sap seeped through cracks in its vines.

Before that, Luo Chen had used Evil Eye Gaze at lightning speed to immobilize the Ghost Vine. And after reaching level forty, his chances of capturing a Hundred-Year Soul Beast with an ordinary Gulu Ball had increased considerably. It was a clear case of level suppression.

Capture successful.

"You! You... what kind of Soul Tool is that?" Yu Xiaogang's eyes bulged.

Tang San stared wide-eyed at the pitch-black ball in Luo Chen's hand. His lips parted, but he couldn't get a word out. He and his teacher had studied the Ghost Vine for days and prepared several different strategies for it. They had even risked exposing some of the Tang Sect Hidden Weapons. Yet this Soul Beast had been snatched away by the man before them in less than a breath, as easily as catching a bug.

Seeing the complicated expressions in their eyes, Luo Chen smiled faintly. "Sanzi, you still need practice. Your Hidden Weapons are as limp as a wilted thing—no punch at all."