Unlocking New Symbiote Template, Agony!

The sudden turn of events left the other three completely at a loss.

Hu Liena was the first to react.

"You succeeded?"

She asked in confusion, but with her voice wrapped in Venom's Transformer-like throat, it sounded downright creepy.

Ning Yuan, possessed by Venom, nodded.

Time rewound to a few seconds earlier, when the progress bar that had been stuck at 99% finally loaded to 100%.

The next second, in the upper-right corner of the progress bar, the gray avatar began flickering nonstop.

It felt just like the character-randomizing screen from some arcade game in his previous life, before finally stopping on the image of an exaggerated-looking symbiote.

"Congratulations, Symbiote Template unlocked: Agony!"

Ning Yuan was especially happy, but he had no time to inspect Agony's abilities in detail. For now, he had to get through the crisis in front of him first.

He chose to load the brand-new Agony Template into Venom's body.

[Venom, get up and get to work!]

[Aren't I already working? Wait, no, what's drilling into my body? What did you do to me?]

[Ah, no, no, don't go in from there! Hey!]

Venom kept saying things in his mind that were far too easy to misunderstand.

[Woohoo! Venom feels super strong now, way stronger than that spider freak next door who can fly through the sky and burrow through the ground.]

Feeling the newly strengthened power, Venom threw his head back and roared.

Just in time to see a Soul Beast attacking Luo Lie.

And so, the opening scene happened.

[Venom is happy. Venom hasn't felt this good in ages!]

[By the way, after this fight, Venom wants chocolate!]

[Where am I supposed to get you chocolate in this world?]

[No chocolate, Venom gets mad. Venom goes on strike!]

Venom's mouth continued its steady output as usual.

[Enough. Stop yapping and get to work.]

The next second, three tentacles stretched out from Venom's back, wrapped around the other three people's waists, and dragged them behind him.

[Stay put. Next, enjoy Venom's performance!]

The three of them had yet to understand what was happening when their bodies suddenly appeared behind Ning Yuan.

In the next moment, they saw something writhing on Ning Yuan's back.

Immediately after, more than a dozen tentacles shot out from his back at lightning speed, binding all dozen-plus Soul Beasts in front of him.

The Soul Beasts tried to struggle, only to discover they could not break free at all.

The next second, Venom took a deep breath, his entire chest swelling to an exaggerated degree, before his mouth opened to an abnormally huge angle.

A piercing shriek came from his mouth.

"Roar..."

Visible sound waves lunged forward.

The Soul Beasts, which had still been struggling and roaring nonstop, strangely froze in place the instant they were hit by Venom's sonic attack.

Venom's sonic attack continued.

The bound Soul Beasts' bodies slowly began trembling violently at an extremely high frequency.

The next second, all of the Soul Beasts' seven orifices began to burst open, spraying black blood outward.

Immediately after, their entire bodies seemed to explode from within, and a series of explosions rang out one after another.

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

The entire scene was splattered everywhere like a fireworks show.

Ning Yuan withdrew his tentacles and swiftly formed a huge shield in front of him, blocking the filth that came splashing toward him.

[Thrill~ing~]

Ning Yuan exited the symbiotic state and turned his head.

"Done!"

He said it so lightly, as if none of what had just happened had anything to do with him.

But the bizarre scene completely shattered the worldview of the three people behind him.

They had never seen such a strange way of fighting. What trump card had Ning Yuan just used?

One minute ago, he had looked flustered even fighting a single Soul Beast. One minute later, he had wiped out over a dozen Soul Beasts in one move.

"Is Ning Yuan even human?"

"Isn't he basically a humanoid Soul Beast? No, wait, even a humanoid Soul Beast couldn't be this powerful."

Luo Lie's limited experience was completely insufficient to describe Ning Yuan just now.

He felt his head heating up. Oh no—was he about to grow a brain?

Lin Xiao was the same. Ever since they had been sorted into classes, he had always believed that he had innate full soul power, and on top of that, a top-tier Tool Martial Soul.

In terms of talent, he had never thought himself inferior to anyone, not even Ning Yuan.

But looking at it today, he was like a frog at the bottom of a well, seeing only the sky above.

He had never realized that the gap between him and Ning Yuan had unknowingly grown so vast.

That attack just now—forget a Soul Venerable.

Even a five-ring Soul King might be no more than that.

But what realm was Ning Yuan in now?

Soul Master?

Or Great Soul Master?

Ning Yuan really was a monster. Comparing yourself to others could make you die of anger.

In an instant, he felt that his own Martial Soul wasn't so impressive anymore.

Other people's Martial Souls could attack and defend, and even strengthen those around them.

His heavy halberd, aside from being heavy, was good for nothing.

"Since the Soul Beasts have been eliminated, should we go in and take a look?"

Hu Liena forcefully steered the topic back to the mission.

She was only worried that if they wasted too much time here, something else might happen. It definitely was not because she was afraid Ning Yuan would keep shocking her with his strength until her conviction shattered.

Mm, that was right. It was because of the mission.

The separated Venom's symbiosis time ran out, and the three immediately exited the symbiotic state. Then three clumps of black slime jumped out of their bodies, wriggled across the ground, and entered Ning Yuan's body.

Seeing that scene truly made goosebumps scatter all over the floor.

Ning Yuan was genuinely strong, but his Martial Soul was genuinely bizarre too.

Seeing this, Ning Yuan took the lead into the hidden passage.

Just in case, he had Venom attach itself to him.

The secret passage was very long, and it was pitch-dark inside, without a single bit of visible light.

The other three followed behind Ning Yuan like this, cautiously observing their surroundings.

At that moment, Ning Yuan turned back and said to Luo Lie, "Release your Martial Soul."

Luo Lie still did not react.

Ning Yuan knocked on Luo Lie's skull.

"Release your Martial Soul. Light the way!"

Luo Lie obediently summoned his Crimson Flame Lion.

The flames of the Martial Soul came with their own light, instantly dispelling the surrounding darkness and allowing them to see underfoot clearly.

"I'm still a Soul Master with a genius Martial Soul, okay? How did I end up using my Martial Soul as a lamp?"

Luo Lie grumbled inwardly.

Seeing Luo Lie looking so deflated, Hu Liena and Lin Xiao covered their mouths and snickered.

They encountered no more danger along the way.

The group descended to the bottom of the passage, where an iron door blocked their path.

"What do we do?"

For a moment, Hu Liena and the others felt troubled.

The door looked extremely sturdy at a glance. With their abilities, there was no way they could open it.

Could they really fall just short of the finish line?

While they were trying to figure out how to open the door...

Ning Yuan stretched out his arm, and the black fluid seeped through the crack in the door, tightly wrapping around the iron door.

Then Ning Yuan lowered his voice and exerted his strength.

"Hah!"

"Creeeak!"

The iron door actually let out a series of tooth-aching sounds.

On the other side of the crack, the metal plating had even been crushed out of shape by the tremendous force.

The gap in the door widened bit by bit.

The three people behind him stared with their eyes wide.

The iron door had actually been forcibly pulled open by Ning Yuan through sheer brute strength.

What kind of freakish strength was that?

Was Ning Yuan actually a Titan Giant Ape wearing human skin?

"Please, go in!"

After pulling the door open, Ning Yuan calmly patted his hands.

Then he gestured for them to enter.

The three of them secretly let out a breath.

Stay calm, stay calm. No matter how exaggerated his performance was, it was still normal.

Beyond that door was a spacious underground hall.

The ground, however, was covered in a layer of black-red substance. On closer inspection, it was actually dried blood, already congealed to a full inch thick.

The air was filled with a pungent stench of blood, along with a nauseating smell of decay.

The three people behind him were immediately overwhelmed by the stench and began retching.

Ning Yuan looked puzzled.

"What's wrong with you guys?"

Luo Lie retched for a long while before he finally recovered.

"Do you not have a nose? Can't you smell what this place reeks of?"

But then his gaze landed on Venom's hideous face.

All right, no nose. You win.

Looking inside, there were iron cages one after another, holding a pile of half-dead Soul Beasts, as well as a group of trembling humans with ashen faces and lifeless eyes.

At the sight, anger surged through everyone.

Who on earth had done something so utterly inhumane, locking people up here and torturing them into this state?

But no matter what, since they were already here, they had to rescue the people first.

Ning Yuan directly tore off the cage locks.

"You're safe now. I'll take you out."

The people in the cages were like walking corpses, giving Ning Yuan no response at all.

Ning Yuan frowned. How much trauma had they suffered to become like this?

Fortunately, with his Martial Soul possessing him, Ning Yuan extended his tentacles and directly wrapped up the people in the cages, pulling them out.

The remaining three also cooperated, sending these people out one by one.

After rescuing the imprisoned survivors beneath the ancestral hall, Ning Yuan made a circuit around the underground hall and found a table.

On that table, he saw a worn-out notebook. Opening it, he found that it seemed to be something like an experiment log.

But the instant Ning Yuan saw the line written on it, his scalp went numb.

"Soul Beast power transplant experiment, attempt no. 10189: failed..."

"Soul Beast power transplant experiment, attempt no. 10250: We finally found a stable method."