Ning Yuan vs. the Ten-Thousand-Year Abyss Demon Spider

The middle region of Star Dou Forest.

Yue Guan led Ning Yuan through the dense woods, his senses spread wide as he scanned the surrounding Soul Beast auras.

"What kind are you looking for this time?" Yue Guan asked.

"Ten thousand years, dark attribute, preferably venomous." Ning Yuan answered decisively. "Both my External Soul Bone and martial soul are dark attribute. If my third soul ring can complement them, my combat strength will take a qualitative leap."

Yue Guan nodded without objection.

He had already grown accustomed to this kid constantly defying common sense.

A moment later, Yue Guan halted.

"Near the abyssal fissure ahead, there's an Abyss Demon Spider."

"Just over ten thousand years old, dark attribute, venom type. It's an evolved bloodline of the Man Faced Demon Spider and shares the same lineage as your martial soul."

Ning Yuan's eyes lit up. The Abyss Demon Spider had indeed been part of his plan.

"That one, then."

The two of them quietly approached the Abyss Demon Spider's nest.

It was a massive spider entirely black in color. Its eight spear-like legs gleamed coldly, dark purple patterns covered its carapace, and corrosive venom dripped from its mandibles as they opened and closed.

"Around twenty thousand years old. Are you sure you want to handle it yourself?"

Yue Guan was somewhat concerned. A twenty-thousand-year Soul Beast was equivalent to a Soul King.

Not to mention a Soul Beast like the Abyss Demon Spider, whose bloodline quality was exceptionally high. Even a Soul Master at the Soul Emperor level might not necessarily be able to deal with it.

No matter how talented Ning Yuan was, he had only just reached level thirty and had yet to obtain his third soul ring.

"I'm sure."

Ning Yuan's reply was utterly firm.

Seeing Ning Yuan insist, Yue Guan said nothing further. With him here, nothing unexpected would happen anyway.

As he drew closer, Ning Yuan felt the terrifying aura emanating from the Abyss Demon Spider.

That giant spider was more dangerous than any Soul Beast he had encountered before in Star Dou Forest.

Its eight black, spear-like legs glinted with cold light, each movement leaving deep puncture marks in the ground.

The dark green venom dripping from its mandibles corroded the rocks beneath it with a sizzling sound.

As expected of a Soul Beast with such high bloodline quality.

Ning Yuan made a mental assessment.

Relying solely on the symbiote's possessed combat form, he would gain no advantage in a head-on clash with this ten-thousand-year Soul Beast.

But now...

"Then I'll try out the new guy first."

Dark purple bat wings suddenly spread from his back, spanning nearly four meters. A cold, ghostly gleam flowed along their edges, while a faint black symbiote membrane appeared over the wing membranes.

With a tap of his toes, Ning Yuan shot into the sky like an arrow released from a bow.

[Waaaah! We're flying! Little Ning Yuan, you're really flying! Venom loves this feeling!]

Venom tumbled about excitedly in his mind.

Ning Yuan ignored it, focusing fully on the flying experience brought by Blackwing Demon.

Every flap of the bat wings precisely conveyed his intent, making them surprisingly agile.

The Abyss Demon Spider clearly had not expected the human before it to be able to fly.

It spun anxiously in place, its eight legs constantly scraping at the ground as it let out a low hiss at Ning Yuan in the air.

Ning Yuan circled once overhead, then folded his bat wings and dove down like a meteor.

At the same time, the symbiote covered his right fist, condensing into a massive black spike that stabbed straight at the Abyss Demon Spider's carapace!

Clang!!!

Blade met shell, scattering a shower of sparks.

The Abyss Demon Spider was forced back several steps by the tremendous force, plowing two deep furrows into the ground beneath its feet.

But when Ning Yuan looked closely, only a faint white mark had been left on its carapace—not even a crack.

[Hard! This damn shell is so hard!]

Venom bared its teeth.

"Mm..." Ning Yuan gave his bat wings a slight flutter, nimbly flipping through the air before landing several yards away.

He lowered his head and looked at the symbiote surface on his right fist, which had been left slightly numb by the recoil. A judgment formed in his mind.

In terms of raw power alone, the impact of that strike rivaled his full-force punch and would have been enough to pierce the armor of an ordinary ten-thousand-year Soul Beast.

But the Abyss Demon Spider's defense far exceeded his expectations. He needed a stronger armor-piercing method.

Enraged completely by that strike, the Abyss Demon Spider opened its mouth and spat out a mass of dark green venom.

That mass of venom shot forward at incredible speed, carrying a pungent, corrosive stench straight at Ning Yuan's face.

Ning Yuan gave his bat wings a slight flutter, shifting sideways two feet in the nick of time. The venom grazed his wingtip and flew past, landing on the ground behind him with a sizzling hiss. In the blink of an eye, it melted a hole through a millstone-sized rock.

[Good grief! It wouldn't be fun if that stuff splashed onto Venom! Hey, Little Ning Yuan, can't we think of another way? We can't just keep dodging forever!]

"What are you panicking for?"

Ning Yuan landed and folded his bat wings.

He already had a rough conclusion from the test: Blackwing Demon possessed excellent aerial maneuverability, rapid midair turning, and clear affinity for wind and darkness attributes.

First, its raw physical strikes alone were insufficient to break through the Abyss Demon Spider's defenses.

Second, its ordinary speed advantage could only barely evade attacks. Once the enemy's firepower formed a dense barrage, avoiding everything would become difficult.

[So?]

"So..." Ning Yuan's lips curled slightly. "We need to test the synergy between Blackwing Demon and my soul skill."

"First Soul Skill, Symbiosis: Poison Blade!"

The first purple soul ring beneath his feet lit up.

At the same time, an even denser layer of black suddenly surfaced over Blackwing Demon's wing membranes.

Venom actively climbed along his veins and attached itself to the wing bones, completing a second fusion with the bat wings.

A ring of pitch-black radiance emerged around the edges of the dark-purple bat wings.

Ning Yuan beat his wings, leaving an afterimage where he stood.

This time, he was nearly thirty percent faster than before. The Abyss Demon Spider had not even managed to lock onto his position before he closed in from its flank.

Several black tentacles shot out from the edges of the bat wings, each tipped with a pitch-black bone spike.

It was a killing move driven by his first soul skill. Combined with Blackwing Demon's aerial mobility, its attack trajectory became exceptionally tricky, striking from the Abyss Demon Spider's blind spot.

Pfft!

One bone spike successfully pierced the gap in the shell around the Abyss Demon Spider's left foreleg joint.

Black blood seeped from the wound. The Abyss Demon Spider let out a piercing shriek, and its left foreleg clearly slipped out of control for a moment.

"Effective."

Ning Yuan beat his wings again and swiftly pulled away.

[But you only pierced one of its legs. You're still far from killing it!]

Venom said anxiously.

[I know.]

His gaze rapidly swept across the Abyss Demon Spider.

That strike had confirmed three things.

First, after Blackwing Demon coordinated with the symbiote, its attack power had indeed risen considerably.

Second, with the aid of flight, he could attack a Soul Beast's weak points from within three-dimensional space.

Third, and most crucially, continuously using high-intensity flight and soul skills consumed far more Soul Power than he had anticipated.

This was not a battle that could be ended quickly.

Yet at this point, a flicker of battle intent ignited in Ning Yuan's eyes instead.

He flapped his wings and rose into the air again.

The Abyss Demon Spider threw back its head and roared furiously. It could tell that Ning Yuan was using it to test his skills.

A mere human—how outrageous!

Its eight spider legs slammed into the ground.

The next moment, a ring of dark-green poisonous mist erupted from beneath the earth, centered on it. It rapidly spread, blanketing an area dozens of meters wide.

[Not good! That thing just unleashed an area-wide poison mist! Little Ning Yuan, Venom can't withstand this kind of ground-clearing poison attack!]

Ning Yuan sharply pulled his bat wings upward, his body shooting higher as he flew out almost along the edge of the spreading poisonous mist.

Even so, the edge of his wingtip brushed against a wisp of the mist.

A faint sizzling sound rose from the surface of Blackwing Demon's wing membranes. Several small holes appeared in the black symbiote film, but Venom's regenerative ability quickly repaired them.

Ning Yuan frowned slightly. Blackwing Demon's wing membranes themselves had limited resistance to toxin attacks and required Venom's active protection to endure the corrosion.

He had now basically grasped all the combat parameters of this External Soul Bone.

"More or less." He spoke softly. "Next, I'll use this final move to test Blackwing Demon's true limit."

He did not attack immediately. Instead, he hovered high in the air for the span of a breath, allowing the poisonous mist below to disperse slightly.

When the Abyss Demon Spider's figure emerged from the mist once more, Ning Yuan's gaze suddenly sharpened.

Blackwing Demon abruptly folded inward. His body became a dark-purple streak of light as he dove from the sky at an almost vertical angle.

At the same time, the symbiote spread across the entire pair of bat wings, and a layer of ghostly black cold light appeared along the wing blades' edges.

"Here it comes!"

Ning Yuan's figure rapidly enlarged in the Abyss Demon Spider's vision.

He precisely slipped through the only gap not yet fully covered by the toxic mist, his bat wings making an extreme midair turn.

He nearly skimmed the ground as he carved out an arc, circling around to the Abyss Demon Spider's side and rear.

The moment they crossed paths, he activated his first soul skill. Black tendrils wrapped around the edge of the wing blade and viciously slashed at the vulnerable joint connecting the Abyss Demon Spider's left rear leg to its abdominal armor.

Crack!!!

A crisp snap rang out.

The Abyss Demon Spider's left rear leg was severed at the root!

The spider leg fell to the ground, black blood gushing from the stump.

The Abyss Demon Spider let out a shrill scream. Its enormous body lost balance and tilted to the left. With one of its eight legs gone, its mobility was greatly diminished.

Ning Yuan landed several yards away, his bat wings slightly spread as he slowly steadied his somewhat ragged breathing.

The Soul Power expenditure had been considerable, but the gains far exceeded his expectations.

Ning Yuan merely looked at the black blood continuously flowing from the severed leg, then at the bloodstains lingering on Blackwing Demon's wing blade. The corner of his mouth curled slightly.

"The Shadow Bat Dragon's wing bone, combined with the poison blade enhancement of the soul skill... its ultimate piercing power can penetrate the weak points in a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast's armor."

With a flick of his bat wings, he shook off the blood.

"I've gathered enough information." He raised his eyes toward the Abyss Demon Spider, which had flown into a rage over its severed leg. "It's time to end this battle."

Soul Power began to surge beneath Ning Yuan's feet.

[That's more like it! Venom can't wait any longer! You give the orders, Venom does the work—we're the perfect team!]

"Then let's go another round."

Ning Yuan spread his bat wings and rose into the air once more.

This time, fear appeared in the Abyss Demon Spider's eyes as it looked at the dark-purple figure in the sky.

It could not understand why this human, whose level was clearly lower than its own, possessed strength greater than its own.

The Abyss Demon Spider lunged again with astonishing speed. Its seven spider legs were like seven spears, thrusting toward Ning Yuan from different angles.

Ning Yuan raised a hand to block, and the symbiote condensed into a shield before him.

Boom—!

The immense force sent him back several meters, his feet plowing two deep furrows through the ground.

Not enough.

He looked up at the giant beast gathering itself for another pounce, his expression darkening.

He could not drag this out any longer.

"Looks like I can only use that move..."

Ning Yuan let out a long breath, then actually closed his eyes at this critical moment.

The sight gave Yue Guan quite a fright.

What was wrong with this kid Ning Yuan? They were in the middle of a fight, and he closed his eyes?

Just as Yue Guan was about to intervene, what happened next left him utterly stunned.

Ning Yuan's martial soul spread out from beneath his feet.

Black fluid crept across the ground, covering an area ten meters in radius.

The instant the Abyss Demon Spider charged into that area, its movements visibly stalled for a beat.

The symbiote beneath its feet coiled around its spider legs like a living thing, weakening its strength while continuously feeding its location and predicted movements back into Ning Yuan's mind.

Ning Yuan opened his eyes.

Blackwing Demon suddenly beat its wings, and his body turned into an afterimage...

One slash pierced through the Abyss Demon Spider's vital point.

A soul ring rose.