The Tragic Mandala Snake, Three Years Forging a Sword

Soul Hunting Forest.

A small black figure sped through the forest.

Feng Yun's long black hair was pulled straight by the fierce wind.

Pale cyan wind-attribute soul power surged from his feet.

With Wind Soaring Step running at full force, his speed was so fast that he dragged out an afterimage through the dense forest.

But the thing behind him was not slow either.

It was a giant snake, green from head to tail.

At its thickest point, its body was as wide as a child's waist.

Set into its head were two blood-red vertical pupils.

It slithered close to the ground at high speed, moving so fast that friction with the air produced a sharp hissing sound.

This was a four-thousand-year Mandala Snake.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—!"

The Mandala Snake suddenly opened its huge mouth, and a cloud of dark-green poisonous mist sprayed toward the front.

Wherever the poisonous mist passed, the grass on the ground instantly withered yellow and curled up.

Feng Yun did not even look back.

A purple soul ring flashed over his body.

First soul skill, Flowing Wind Empowerment!

He tapped the tip of his foot against a tree trunk.

At the same time, the friction and air resistance enveloping his body were instantly weakened.

Whoosh!

His entire body shot out like an arrow loosed from the string.

The poisonous mist was thrown far behind him, failing to touch even the corner of his clothes.

"As expected, a four-thousand-year Mandala Snake is much stronger than that one-thousand-year one from a few days ago."

Feng Yun ran while making an assessment in his heart.

As he swept past an ancient tree thick enough for a man to wrap his arms around, he casually waved his left hand backward.

Three pale-cyan wind blades tore through the air in a triangular formation, precisely sealing off the Mandala Snake's left, right, and upper directions.

He had already cultivated Wind Blade Art to major accomplishment.

With a casual move, he could release three or even more in succession.

Whether in speed or angle, they were terrifyingly precise.

The Mandala Snake was not stupid either; it would not slam itself into the wind blades.

Smack!

Its snake tail struck the ground hard, and its massive body forcibly shifted sideways, dodging two of the wind blades.

But with the speed of the wind blades, it could not avoid them all, and it was still hit in the back by the third.

Hiss!

The wind blade cut through, and the green snake scales instantly burst open, leaving a bloody line of torn flesh.

The power of the wind blade was quite good, at least comparable to a thousand-year soul skill.

"Hiss!"

The wounded Mandala Snake grew both anxious and furious, and it sped up again!

Feng Yun, however, was not anxious at all.

All along the way, fighting while retreating, he had already left more than a dozen wounds on the Mandala Snake's body.

None of them were deep, but added together, the snake had already lost quite a bit of blood.

"We're here."

Feng Yun suddenly stopped.

This was the battlefield he had chosen in advance.

A clearing in the forest.

Dense woods surrounded it on all sides.

The Mandala Snake's huge body could be perfectly revealed here.

And its speed advantage could also be fully brought into play.

Feng Yun summoned his second martial soul, the Green Phoenix Sword.

With a casual flick, the cyan edge of the sword tip pointed diagonally toward the ground.

The Mandala Snake stopped too.

Its blood-red vertical pupils locked firmly onto the child before it.

Its body slowly coiled, taking on an attacking posture.

It had already realized that this little thing was dangerous.

"Come on."

Feng Yun grinned.

The Mandala Snake moved.

Its four thousand years of cultivation made its burst of speed so fast it was almost impossible to see clearly.

The snake's head stabbed toward Feng Yun's chest like a bolt of green lightning, four venomous fangs flashing with a ghastly green glow inside its gaping maw.

Feng Yun lunged sideways.

The active effect of his first soul skill was pushed to its limit in that instant.

The friction around him was precisely weakened to almost zero.

After lunging sideways, there was no loss from resistance at all.

His body seemed to be released from the shackles of the air, and he slid out along the ground at an unbelievable angle and speed.

The Mandala Snake's fangs swept past his shoulder, not even touching the hem of his clothes.

Feng Yun precisely canceled the soul skill's effect, friction returned, and he kicked back in a sudden stop.

At the same time, he removed the restriction of friction again.

In only an instant, he completed a lightning-fast counterattack!

He raised the sword in his hand.

"Ding!"

Green light spread from the hilt all the way to the tip of the sword.

Wind-attribute soul power trembled at high speed along the blade, giving off a faint hum.

At the same time, his second purple thousand-year soul ring bloomed with light.

This was his second soul ring skill from the four-thousand-year Thorn Wind Falcon—Sharp Wind Condensation!

Like his first soul skill, it had both a passive and an active effect.

Passive effect: Permanently increased his control over the wind element, as well as the power of wind-element attacks by fifty percent.

Stacked with the passive of his first soul skill, it meant the power of all wind-element attacks was directly doubled.

Active effect: Made formless wind condense into sharp blades.

For half an hour, it greatly increased the penetration and cutting properties of the wind element.

The corrosive effect of all wind elements against soul power barriers and physical defenses was greatly strengthened.

A flash of green sword light.

The Green Phoenix Sword swept past the Mandala Snake's side.

"Clang!"

The sword tip cut a long gash across the snake's belly.

Before the penetrating power of the Gale Stab sword technique, the snake scales were as brittle as a layer of paper, and dark-red snake blood gushed out.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—"

The Mandala Snake let out a pained hiss, its massive tail sweeping across.

But Feng Yun neither dodged nor avoided it.

"Boom!!!"

The snake tail smashed into him, and the snake scales and his body rang out with a metallic collision.

Feng Yun did not retreat in the slightest.

The defensive power raised by the Steel Essence Armor defensive soul skill was comparable to that of a thousand-year defensive soul skill.

"So that's it."

Feng Yun lowered his head to look at his Green Phoenix Sword, then at the still-bleeding wound on the snake's belly, a hint of understanding flashing through his eyes.

The active effect of Sharp Wind Condensation made the wind element condense into blades.

When a pure penetration-type sword technique like Gale Stab was used in this state, the scales of a four-thousand-year soul beast were like fragile paper, shattering at a touch.

"Good."

Feng Yun looked completely serious. "Next, I'll test the results of all my cultivation during this period."

The Mandala Snake probably did not know what "test" meant.

But it did know that the way Feng Yun, that little thing before it, looked at it was like he was looking at a moving piece of prey.

The four-thousand-year-old savage beast's instincts told it one thing: run!

The Mandala Snake whipped around and fled madly into the depths of the dense forest.

"Don't run."

Feng Yun's voice drifted over from behind it.

The next second, A black figure flew over its head.

After using Wind Soaring Step and activating his first soul skill to eliminate air resistance, his straight-line sprinting speed instantly erupted to the limit.

Feng Yun overtook it directly and landed right in front of the Mandala Snake.

He turned in midair and swung his left hand!

With the reinforcement of Sharp Wind Condensation, three wind blades turned into three sharp azure streaks that sliced precisely into the Mandala Snake's neck.

This time, three gashes so deep the bone could be seen were torn open in the snake's body.

Snake blood sprayed all over the ground.

"Hiss!!!"

The Mandala Snake let out a shrill hiss, its massive body rolling wildly across the ground.

It wanted to use its tail for one final counterattack, but Feng Yun was already descending from the sky.

Feng Yun gripped his sword with both hands.

Azure light flared brilliantly along the blade.

With the reinforcement of Sharp Wind Condensation, the wind-attribute soul power condensed until it was almost tangible, and a translucent azure edge shrouded the sword's point.

Gale Stab, maximum power!

"Clang!"

One sword pierced its head.

The Mandala Snake's struggles came to an abrupt end.

Its enormous body twitched twice, then went completely still.

A deep purple soul ring slowly rose from the snake's corpse, giving off an enticing glow beneath the sunlight.

Feng Yun pulled out the Green Phoenix Sword and shook the snake blood from the blade.

"Done and dusted."