The Great Battle Against the Fish-head Man, the First Soul Ring of a Thousand Years

The villagers were shocked when they heard it.

The Sea Soul Beast had come out to hurt people again?

The village chief hurriedly had someone help the man up and take him away.

Then his face darkened.

"The Sea Soul Beast has come ashore again. What are we supposed to do?"

"Right now, the village doesn't even have a single proper soul master. Who can face it head-on?"

At that thought, he immediately announced that, for safety, all villagers were forbidden from going out to sea for the next day.

All he could do now was pray that the Sea Soul Beast would return to the sea once it had eaten its fill.

After he said this, everyone immediately went back to their own homes and locked their doors and windows.

The village chief looked at Ning Yuan. He was the village's only current soul master seedling, and nothing could be allowed to happen to him.

"Ning Yuan, today, you'll come home with me, the village chief. Remember, don't run around tonight."

Ning Yuan, however, was looking toward the seaside, as if lost in thought.

The village chief waved a hand in front of his eyes, and only then did he come back to himself.

"Come on, come home with me."

Ning Yuan followed the village chief away, but before he left, he glanced back toward the seaside.

Night fell on the eastern beach of Sea Soul Village.

A small figure slipped out of the village under cover of darkness and crept toward the reef beach.

[Haah—so sleepy. No, seriously, what decent person doesn't sleep in the middle of the night and runs to the seaside to get blasted by the sea breeze?]

[Pipe down. Help me check whether there's any trace of a Sea Soul Beast nearby.]

[I protest. I'm not a dog. Why do I have to do this kind of thing?]

[I'll give you extra food and let you eat brains!]

[I'll do it! A dog wouldn't! I'll do it! I love being a dog the most... no, I love cooperating with you the most!]

The next second, black fluid surged upward from Ning Yuan's shoulder, gathered together, and condensed into a ferocious black head.

It had no neck, as if it had grown straight out of his shoulder. A mouthful of ghastly white teeth first showed at the corners of its mouth, then the whole head fully took shape. Its eyeballs rolled white, then turned black, staring straight ahead.

Venom sniffed at the air.

[That direction by the sea. There's a fishy stench. It should be the Sea Soul Beast you're looking for, but its aura is a little... strong. Are you sure it's your target?]

Ning Yuan ignored him.

After awakening, he had sensed the change in himself.

His martial soul's grade was too powerful, its energy transforming his body at every moment.

But without a soul ring, he had no soul skills. If he ran into a fight, he would be useless.

He had to obtain his first soul ring as soon as possible, and it had to be as old as possible.

Besides, the people in the village had all treated him very well. With a Sea Soul Beast attacking the village, and with the only one who could barely count as a soul master being himself, he couldn't repay kindness with indifference.

When he learned during the day that the Sea Soul Beast had come ashore, he had set his sights on it.

That was why, at night, once the village chief's family had fallen asleep, he had run out to search for the Sea Soul Beast.

Beside a reef pool, moonlight washed the tidal flats pale.

Ning Yuan quietly crept over, lay down behind a reef, and stuck out half his head.

This side was downwind, so the soul beast couldn't smell him.

By the shallow pool ahead, a monster with a fish head and a human body had its back to him as it gnawed on something.

Its whole body was blue-gray, fin spines grew from its back, and its dead-fish eyes reflected the moonlight.

It held half a human leg in its hands, blood dripping from the corners of its mouth.

Ning Yuan didn't make a rash move.

He could sense that the fish-man soul beast before him was roughly eight or nine hundred years old, only one step away from a thousand.

A head-on fight wouldn't work. He only had one chance.

[How about it? Can we deal with that thing up ahead?]

[...It'll be hard, but... yes!]

[Can you possess it?]

[Of course I can possess something like that. I'm the most handsome badass among all symbiotes!]

The next moment, black fluid surged out in an instant and covered his entire body.

Ning Yuan's entire body stretched past two meters, transforming into a black monster with broad shoulders and a thick back. Its claws were stark white, a long, thin tongue extended far out, and only a pair of white eyes glowed in the darkness.

[How's this? Handsome or not? I'm a total heartthrob among symbiotes. You wouldn't believe how many female symbiotes threw themselves at me!]

Ning Yuan was speechless.

[Enough. Stop messing around. Are you confident?]

[You looking down on me?]

Venom controlled the body and crouched slightly. The sand beneath its feet sank half a meter, and then it shot out like a cannonball.

[Wait! I haven't said start yet...]

[You should've said so earlier! Why didn't you say it earlier? Why didn't you say it earlier? Whatever. Since we've started, get ready to fight! Yahoo!]

"Boom...!"

Venom slammed down heavily in front of the fishman.

The fishman was completely thrown by the commotion. Holding something in its hands, it stared blankly in place with its dead-fish eyes.

When Ning Yuan saw what it was, his pupils suddenly shrank.

It was half a human leg.

[Ugh... that thing is eating people.]

[Hey, hey, hey, don't puke inside me. That's disgusting, okay?]

[Ugh... I'm just dry-heaving...]

The fishman reacted, then let out an ear-piercing screech and pounced.

It opened its mouth full of sharp teeth, and a mass of dark green venom shot out.

Venom reached to the side, and a black tentacle-arm abruptly lengthened, grabbing a nearby reef. Then it contracted, yanking itself over directly.

The venom the fishman spat brushed past its shoulder and landed on the reef, corroding a pit into it with a sizzling hiss.

[Well, well. No sense of hygiene, huh?]

Venom kept up the trash talk.

The fishman's arms swelled, its palms split open, and several long, thin tentacles extended out. Black bone spurs condensed at their tips as they wrapped toward Venom.

[Oh, you can stretch tentacles too? Aren't you copying my ability?]

Venom let two tentacles wrap around its arms. The instant the fishman pulled back, it abruptly pushed forward.

At the same time, it used the force to launch into the air, its black claws going straight for the throat.

The fishman released the tentacles and retreated, opening its mouth to spit another glob of venom.

Venom twisted in midair and landed on a reef, then kicked hard.

As the reef exploded, its entire body had already closed in right before the fishman.

[Heh heh. Got you.]

Then its black claws sliced precisely across the side of the fishman's neck.

"Pfft!"

Blue-gray blood gushed out.

Venom nimbly jumped away, avoiding the splatter of filthy blood.

The fishman staggered back a few steps, then collapsed into a puddle with a splash.

Its dead-fish eyes were filled with disbelief.

The whole process had been extremely fast. From the first move to the kill, it had taken less than fifteen seconds.

[Clean and efficient, right? Learn from it.]

[I told you to wait for my command...]

[Whether you agreed or not, the result would've been the same. It's dead and we're alive. Isn't that enough? Can you fix that habit of obsessing over every little detail?]

[Wait for my command next time, or you don't get any brains.]

[Fine, fine, I'll wait for your command, you evil capitalist...]

Ning Yuan couldn't be bothered to argue. He walked forward and examined the corpse.

A spirit ring slowly appeared over the fishman's corpse...

Purple. A thousand-year spirit ring?

Ning Yuan froze for a moment.

He hadn't expected this unremarkable fishman spirit beast to actually be at the thousand-year level.

A thousand-year first spirit ring... could he absorb it?

Just as Ning Yuan was wavering, Venom made a move.

[Whoa... brains! I've never eaten the brains of this world's soul beasts before!]

[Wait! Don't eat—]

Ning Yuan realized what was happening and hurriedly tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Venom controlled the body, tore off the fishman's head with a crack, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed with a crunching sound, then swallowed it down with a gulp.

One had to understand that right now, he and Venom were merged, sharing the same set of senses. That slick, bloody texture, that metallic reek—Ning Yuan felt it all with perfect clarity.

Ning Yuan immediately forced the possession to end, dropped to his knees on the beach, and retched.

[Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! It reeks of fish... I'm never eating that again!]

[You're the one who's disgusted now? Did I tell you to eat it?]

[What's wrong with finding myself a snack outside? Besides, eating that thing benefits you too!]

The moment the words fell, a surge of pure energy erupted from within Ning Yuan's body.

He felt his meridians being widened by that force, his bones reinforced, and newborn strength surging through his muscles.

At the same time, a virtual panel popped up before his eyes.

There was only one progress bar on it: Symbiote Template Energy 9%.

Puzzled, Ning Yuan reached out and waved his hand. It passed right through.

[Venom, come out and work. Can you see anything floating in front of me?]

[You capitalist, making me work again?]

[...There's nothing there. What's wrong with you? Don't tell me you got so grossed out you're hallucinating. I don't want to be symbiotic with a lunatic. I'm so normal.]

Ning Yuan ignored him.

It seemed this panel was visible only to him.

But what did this progress bar mean?

What would appear after it loaded to maximum?

Did the symbiote template refer to those other symbiotes from a certain comic?

One thousand-year soul beast could raise it by 9%. Would hundred-year or ten-year soul beasts work too?

Or did it have to be thousand-year level and above?

Or could the brain of any living creature do?

One had to know that Venom from a certain comic ate human brains.

No. Absolutely not. At the very least, he could not let it casually eat good people.

Forget it. He would stop thinking about it.

First, he had to absorb the soul ring.

He took a deep breath and sat down cross-legged.

Facing the purple thousand-year soul ring, he actually had no confidence either.

But since he had already come this far...

"Damn it. Let's do it!"

Ning Yuan steeled his heart, activated the soul ring, and began absorbing it.

The thousand-year soul ring entered his body, and violent energy madly washed through his meridians, as if someone were taking a small knife and carving him up from the inside, cut by cut.

Blue veins bulged on Ning Yuan's forehead, beads of sweat the size of beans dripped onto the beach, and he clenched his teeth tight, his whole body letting out beastlike growls.

Venom stretched another head out from his shoulder and stared at him face-to-face.

[What are you doing? That expression... I get it. You came here to take a dump, didn't you?]

Ning Yuan gritted his teeth, putting all his strength into resisting the rampaging energy inside him, and squeezed one word out through the gaps between his teeth. "Scram."

Time flowed by amid the agony.

After who knew how long, the berserk energy in his body gradually settled.

If Venom had not eaten the fishman's brain earlier and strengthened his physical constitution, he really would have had a hard time holding on.

Ning Yuan opened his eyes.

It had worked.

"Hahahahaha!"

Ning Yuan laughed freely and wildly.

Although the process had been extremely dangerous, the result was good.

A purple soul ring rose beneath his feet, its color magnificent as it slowly floated up and down around his body.

[What is this?]

Venom stretched out a tentacle and touched the soul ring. The soul ring appeared directly above Venom's head, hovering there like a halo.

[Hey! I've got a crown!]

Venom's head bobbed up and down, and the soul ring followed along as if it had tracking locked on, moving with him.

He was having the time of his life.

Ning Yuan couldn't bear to watch.

[Enough. Stop playing and test the soul skill.]

Ning Yuan activated the thousand-year soul ring, and it lit up.

"First soul skill! Symbiosis: Poison Blade!"

Several black tentacles extended from his arm, their tips condensing into pitch-black bone spikes that gleamed coldly under the moonlight.

Ning Yuan lashed out with one tentacle, and the bone spike at its tip stabbed into a reef not far away.

Like hot oil poured over soft tofu, the black bone spike sank into the stone surface without the slightest resistance. Fine bubbles rose around the edges, making a sizzling sound.

Looking at the effect of this soul skill, Ning Yuan was very satisfied.

At the same time, thanks to the soul ring's energy feeding back into him, he could feel that his physical strength had increased by at least another ten percent compared to just now.

[Wow, this is awesome! From now on, if anyone doesn't behave, I'll poke their butt with this little needle!]

Venom was still steadily running his mouth from the side.

Ning Yuan withdrew the tentacle, a satisfied look appearing on his face.

With a thousand-year-level first soul ring, plus a soul skill with such impressive power, he finally had a way to protect himself.

[Got a wife and forgot your mother, huh? So what if you have a soul ring? Even without it, I'm still super strong, okay?]

[Yes, yes, yes, you're strong. You're the strongest in the whole world...]

[That's right!!]

By then, a pale line of dawn had appeared on the horizon.

"It's time to go back."

The sky gradually brightened in Sea Soul Village.

When the village chief discovered Ning Yuan was missing, he beat gongs and drums to notify the villagers to search for him.

Just then, Ning Yuan slowly walked back from the seaside.

He was covered in blood, and his clothes had several tears in them, but his eyes were exceptionally bright.

The old village chief rushed up and hugged him. "Child! Where did you run off to?! In the middle of the night—do you know how worried we were about you?!"

"I'm fine. I just went to the beach and slaughtered a soul beast."

"What?! You slaughtered a Sea Soul Beast?"