Can You Give Me a Minute?

Luo Lie hadn't expected the Soul Beasts before him to be this hard to deal with.

They clearly looked only at the thousand-year level, didn't they?

Ning Yuan immediately realized something was wrong with this mission!

Soul Beasts this bizarre, capable of seriously injuring Soul Masters with ease—this was a low-risk mission?

Even a high-risk mission shouldn't have been this dangerous, right?

But these Soul Beasts that had suddenly appeared gave Ning Yuan and the others no chance to catch their breath.

They rushed up all at once. Seeing this, the group realized they had to go all out.

Otherwise, they would have to leave their lives here this time.

Lin Xiao released his martial soul, the Black Gold Heavy Halberd.

"First soul ring! Peerless Slash!"

The massive halberd swung forward violently.

It certainly looked impressive, but when it struck the Soul Beast, it only left a shallow mark.

That Soul Beast merely raised a claw casually and sent Lin Xiao flying.

Hu Liena fared slightly better. After all, she was Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden, and a three-ring Soul Venerable at that.

Three soul rings rose beneath her feet: two yellow and one purple.

The illusory figure of a fiery-red fox emerged.

"Second soul skill! Heavenly Fox Transformation!"

"Second soul skill! Demon Fox Strange Fire!"

The demon fox martial soul behind Hu Liena flicked its long tail, and five balls of foxfire exuding an eerie aura attacked the Soul Beasts.

When they struck the Soul Beasts, they did cause considerable damage.

The problem was that this combo consumed too much soul power. She couldn't use it many times in a short period, and there were still more than a dozen Soul Beasts like this on the field.

"What is wrong with those people in the Mission Hall? This mission is this dangerous, and they actually classified it as low-risk?"

"Even if Soul Venerables took this mission, it would still be hard to complete!"

Hu Liena couldn't help complaining.

Ning Yuan wasn't idle either. Venom possessed him.

In an instant, he transformed into the image of a hideous monster.

Ignoring Luo Lie and Lin Xiao's shock, Ning Yuan charged forward.

"First soul skill! Symbiosis: Poison Blade!"

"Second soul skill! Killing Demon Pattern!"

He used two soul skills in succession.

The second soul skill enveloped one of the Soul Beasts, and at the same time, several tentacles extended from Ning Yuan's back, their tips forming spikes.

They stabbed viciously into its body.

Lin Xiao and Hu Liena, off to the side, were genuinely somewhat shocked. The one present who could seriously injure the Soul Beast before them was actually Ning Yuan, a Soul Master.

One had to know that even Hu Liena, who was openly the strongest present, could not do that.

Hu Liena in particular felt a little shattered inside. She was clearly the Holy Maiden, the one who enjoyed the most resources, and on top of that she cultivated diligently, yet in the end she couldn't compare to a junior disciple. It dealt her quite a blow.

But she quickly adjusted her mindset. Right now, the priority was to think of a way to deal with the crisis before them.

Ning Yuan had originally thought that this combo should have been enough to instantly kill the Soul Beast no matter what.

But the Soul Beast that had been hit seemed to have no sense of pain at all. It endured Ning Yuan's attack and counterattacked him.

Fortunately, Ning Yuan's reactions were fast enough after being possessed by Venom, and he flipped aside to dodge the strike.

Even so, it still startled Ning Yuan.

"These Soul Beasts... have no sense of pain. They're completely unafraid of death!"

[I... smelled... the scent of death... on them... They... no longer have brains...]

Venom became serious for once.

Ning Yuan focused and looked closely. The eyes of these Soul Beasts were all the color of dead ash.

This was very abnormal. Judging from their appearance, there should be someone behind the scenes controlling them.

Now this was troublesome. Although Ning Yuan could guarantee he wouldn't be hurt under their attacks, they were surrounded here, and the longer this dragged on, the worse it would be for them.

If only the progress of the Symbiote Template could reach 100%.

At that moment, Venom spoke.

[Did you forget? I'm a symbiote, Venom.]

[I can split off part of my body and symbiotically attach it to someone else.]

Right! Ning Yuan slapped his forehead. How had he forgotten that?

This was Venom's signature ability. A host that was symbiotically bonded would have their overall strength greatly increased, and would also gain super-speed regeneration.

Now Ning Yuan understood how to break the deadlock.

Because most of the frontal firepower had been drawn by Ning Yuan, the three behind him finally got a brief chance to catch their breath.

So while Ning Yuan fought, he found an opening and said to them, "Next, I'll strengthen your abilities, but the process might feel a little uncomfortable."

"What abilities?"

The others were a little confused.

"Don't worry about what abilities. No matter what happens next, don't panic. It'll only benefit you, not harm you."

Ning Yuan flicked his finger, and three globs of pitch-black, mucus-like substance shot onto the three of them. They had no time to dodge at all.

Hu Liena in particular, as a girl, hated seeing dirty things like that the most. She instinctively wanted to swat it away, but the moment the black substance touched her skin, it sank into her body.

Immediately after, the others felt as if something had taken root inside them.

Then a mass of black mucus quickly wrapped around their entire bodies, even covering their faces.

After that, they felt a wave of discomfort.

First was their perspective. Each of them had become much taller.

But they quickly adjusted, because after the black substance attached to them, they felt their all-around attributes, from strength to soul power, had been greatly enhanced.

Especially Luo Lie, who had originally been lying on the ground. After Venom attached to him, he immediately stood up.

Because he could clearly feel the areas where he had just been injured growing warm, obviously healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"This is one of my martial soul's abilities. It can enhance your strength by an amount equivalent to thirty percent of my own strength."

After blocking another Soul Beast's attack and forcing it back, Ning Yuan found the time to add, "It's just that this enhancement has a time limit. It lasts less than two minutes, and after the effect ends, you'll be weak for two days."

What Ning Yuan did not say was that after splitting off Venom's bodies, he would also have a brief period of weakness.

After hearing Ning Yuan's explanation, the three immediately understood. Right now, time was life.

As for the side effects, they could worry about those after they made it out alive.

Without another word, they immediately went all out and charged at the Soul Beasts.

"Help me hold them off for one minute. After one minute, I'll definitely turn this around!"

Hearing this, even Luo Lie, who had been at odds with Ning Yuan before, did not argue.

"Don't worry, one minute!"

"Just one minute!"

"We'll hold for one minute even if it kills us!"

The enhancement brought by Venom, equivalent to thirty percent of Ning Yuan's strength, only truly shocked them once they used it.

Luo Lie and Lin Xiao felt it most deeply.

The two of them, who had originally found it difficult even to break through their defenses, could now easily wound Soul Beasts.

And after Venom attached to them, it did not affect their use of their own martial souls. Even their martial soul skills were strengthened by Venom, becoming even more powerful.

"Hahaha, this feels great! You Soul Beast bastards, hand over your lives!"

Luo Lie got completely carried away and charged straight into the pack of Soul Beasts.

But in the end, one tiger-shaped Soul Beast slapped him in the chest. Though he bent his arm in time to block, he clearly heard a crisp crack from his arm.

The tremendous impact sent him flying straight back.

"That hurts!"

But the next second, to his surprise, his arm, which had clearly fractured and bent at an inhuman angle, was forcibly straightened back into place by the layer of Venom on the outside.

Then he could clearly feel a massive surge of energy rapidly repairing the broken bone.

In the span of one or two breaths, the fracture recovered completely.

Luo Lie stared at his own arm in disbelief, then clenched his fist.

"Hahaha, super-speed regeneration. With this kind of power, what's there to fear? Damn it, let's go!"

After Hu Liena obtained the Venom battle suit, her strength also clearly increased.

She could feel that the enhanced portion amounted to thirty percent of Ning Yuan's abilities.

It was more than twice as much as she had possessed at her previous peak.

Even in the midst of battle, she could not help feeling secretly shocked.

Just how absurdly powerful was Ning Yuan when he unleashed his full strength?

But she knew she could not afford to lose focus right now. She believed in Ning Yuan. Since he said they had to buy him one minute, then no matter what, she would buy him that time.

Faced with the opportunity the other three had gone to such lengths to create for him, Ning Yuan seized it.

He grabbed one of the weaker Soul Beasts.

Then he used his second soul skill to wrap it up tightly.

After that, Venom took control and opened a mouth with grotesquely exaggerated proportions, biting its head off in one chomp before chewing in great mouthfuls.

At this point, Ning Yuan no longer had the leisure to think about how disgusting it was that Venom ate brains.

Right now, all his attention was fixed on the panel in front of him. As the Soul Beast's brain went down, the progress bar for the Symbiote Template began to move slowly.

"Symbiote Template: 90%... 93%... 97%..."

[Hurry up! Hurry up!]

[Stop rushing me. Venom is already digesting at full power. Venom doesn't have a straight intestine. How could it possibly eat and immediately crap it out?]

Ning Yuan said nothing. Even at a time like this, Venom was still running its mouth.

But he could feel that Venom was also giving it everything it had.

"Ning Yuan, hasn't it been one minute yet?"

At that moment, they had never felt that a single minute could be so long.

Although they had Venom's enhancement, the three of them were not especially strong at their foundation, after all.

Gradually, they began to run out of strength.

And the split-off Venom contained only a limited amount of energy, so it could not keep healing their injuries forever.

Little by little, wounds began to appear on their bodies.

Luo Lie in particular had charged the hardest. With his martial soul directly possessing him, he clashed head-on with the Soul Beasts, and his face and body were covered in scratches and bite marks.

"Ning Yuan, hurry up! As long as you can get us out this time, I'll acknowledge you as my big brother from now on."

Luo Lie gritted his teeth and shouted, nearly roaring.

"Me too!"

Beside him, after blocking a Soul Beast's strike with his heavy halberd, Lin Xiao added.

Hu Liena said nothing, but the force in her attacks grew heavier by several degrees.

At this moment, his gaze was filled with gravity. It was just that his face was now completely covered by Venom, so from the outside, only Venom's evil dead-fish eyes could be seen.

Boom!

Luo Lie was caught off guard and struck by a Soul Beast's tail. His body flew backward like a cannonball, smashing into the ancestral hall wall and kicking up a great cloud of dust.

"Wah..."

Luo Lie spat out a large mouthful of blood.

His aura wilted. Lin Xiao wanted to turn back and rescue him, but the Soul Beasts had surrounded him, leaving him hard-pressed to protect even himself.

That Soul Beast pressed its advantage, its huge body charging rapidly toward Luo Lie. By then, Luo Lie had no strength left to resist. He glared furiously at the Soul Beast, as if trying to kill it with willpower alone.

Just as the Soul Beast was about to deliver the final blow and finish Luo Lie off—

That enormous body suddenly stopped eerily in midair. Before Luo Lie could react, the next instant, its body abruptly flew backward and was smashed hard into the ground, unable to move for a long while.

"It's all over!"