Why Is the Drop Rate So High?

Realizing the danger posed by the enemy before him, and with no way to evade, the Human-Faced Demon Spider threw back its head and let out a mournful howl before spitting several webs laced with deadly poison at Xu Tianming, then continued charging forward.

This was the Human-Faced Demon Spider's hunting instinct: first bind its enemy with webs from afar, then close in and pierce the prey's body with its sharp spider spears.

This combo might have worked well against enemies weaker than itself, but unfortunately, it was facing Xu Tianming—a foe several times stronger than it was!

Those venomous webs did not even come within twenty meters of Xu Tianming before he burned them to ashes from afar with soul power.

Though this Human-Faced Demon Spider had yet to develop intelligence, its instinct for survival still allowed it to feel fear.

It immediately tried to halt its charge and turn to flee.

But it was already too late.

Thirty meters was precisely the maximum range of Sinking Sun Slash!

Xu Tianming, with the Burning Radiance Ring manifested behind him, sprang from the ground. Raising the heavy Judgment Sword in his hand, he swiftly poured the soul power he had accumulated earlier into its blade, then swung the greatsword at the Human-Faced Demon Spider, whose face was now filled with terror.

"Hear the Sun's Roar!"

The moment his words fell, a terrifying wave of flame swept forth from the Judgment Sword. Wherever it passed, trees were burned clean through at their middles. Unable to dodge in time, the Human-Faced Demon Spider was cleaved in two by the fiery wave and died on the spot.

Against a heavily injured Human-Faced Demon Spider like this, Xu Tianming could not even be bothered to use his first soul skill for enhancement.

After all, it took him some time to build up fighting spirit. If he could settle a battle without wasting it, naturally, he would conserve his strength.

The lingering flames carried by the fiery wave slowly burned the Human-Faced Demon Spider's corpse, and a purple soul ring emerged from its body.

Meng Hongchen, who had witnessed the entire battle, looked at Xu Tianming as though stars were continuously sparkling in her eyes.

"Brother Tianming! You killed a two-thousand-year soul beast in one hit! You're incredible!"

Meng Hongchen's praise came from the bottom of her heart.

After all, when an ordinary four-ring soul master faced a two-thousand-year soul beast alone, let alone defeating it, simply avoiding serious injury would already have been impressive.

"Alright, Meng'er. Absorb this soul ring here. I'll stand guard for you."

At his words, Meng Hongchen nodded excitedly.

"Okay! Thank you, Brother Tianming~"

After thanking him in a sweet voice, Meng Hongchen sat down cross-legged on the spot and quickly steadied her mind.

Having already absorbed a soul ring once before, and with Xu Tianming standing guard beside her to put her at ease, Meng Hongchen was not the least bit afraid even as she absorbed a two-thousand-year soul ring that would have burst the body of an ordinary two-ring soul master.

After taking a deep breath, Meng Hongchen's Vermilion-Clear Ice Toad Martial Soul appeared. She used her soul power to draw the two-thousand-year soul ring into her Martial Soul.

Thanks to her body having been tempered by Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue, the limit of what Meng Hongchen could absorb as her second soul ring had already increased significantly. Moreover, Xu Tianming could use his Radiant Sun Martial Soul to help her bear some of the pressure at the proper moments, allowing her to absorb it with even greater ease.

In the end, Meng Hongchen encountered no accidents during the absorption of her second soul ring. After just one hour, she successfully refined it, and her soul power surged straight to level 22.

Feeling that her soul power had more than doubled, Meng Hongchen was so happy that she could not stop smiling.

"Alright, stop grinning foolishly. Try out the effects of your newly acquired second soul skill."

Hearing Xu Tianming's words, Meng Hongchen adorably stuck out her tongue. Then, obediently summoning her Martial Soul, she grew somewhat serious as the purple soul ring lit up.

"Second soul skill, Ice Poison Net!"

The instant her words fell, Meng Hongchen's Vermilion-Clear Ice Toad Martial Soul opened its mouth and spat out wave after wave of icy blue spiderwebs filled with deadly poison.

These webs flew extremely fast. Unless a soul master of the same rank specialized in speed, it would be very difficult to dodge Meng Hongchen's attack. Once struck, they first had to deal with the webs' binding effect and unbearable cold. While trying to break free, the deadly poison attached to the icy webs would silently infiltrate their body. Given enough time, they would collapse from the poison on the spot.

"Not bad. It's a highly practical soul skill. It seems you have the aptitude to become a control-type soul master, Meng'er!"

"Really? Then in the future, how about I hold the enemies down while Brother Tianming takes the chance to finish them off?"

"Not a bad idea, but we'll talk about the future later. The sun is about to set. We should head back."

"Okay, I'll listen to Brother Tianming~"

As she spoke, Meng Hongchen directly sat down in the back seat of the motorcycle. Just as Xu Tianming was about to get on as well, he suddenly saw something flash among the ashes left behind by the Human-Faced Demon Spider in the distance.

With a trace of curiosity, Xu Tianming slowly approached and used soul power to disperse the large patch of ashes. Then, the object that had just flashed appeared before his eyes.

"This is... a soul bone? No, these eight claws... They seem to be the external soul bone Tang San once absorbed—the Eight Spider Spears!"

After recognizing its origin, ripples finally stirred within Xu Tianming's calm heart.

After all, the chance of an external soul bone dropping was extremely low. For one to drop from a thousand-year Human-Faced Demon Spider was one in ten thousand. Tang San's teacher, Yu Xiaogang, had even said that the value of an external soul bone far exceeded that of an ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul bone!

More importantly, this external soul bone could continuously evolve through devouring.

Xu Tianming had not expected that helping Meng Hongchen hunt for a soul ring would bring such an unexpected reward!

However, he was in no hurry to absorb the external soul bone. Instead, he temporarily stored it away, intending to find a safe place after returning to Mingdu.

After all, when Meng Hongchen absorbed a soul ring, he could stand guard and ensure her safety.

But if he absorbed a soul bone here...

Then he could only trouble the chief worshipper of the Sun Moon Empire's Worship Hall, Starry Sky Douluo Ye Yulin, who was following a thousand meters behind him, to step in.

As a twin Martial Soul genius rarely seen in the Sun Moon imperial family in a thousand years, the imperial family naturally had to guarantee his safety. Whenever he went out, they dispatched at least one ninth-level soul engineer to protect him. This time, it happened to be Starry Sky Douluo Ye Yulin's turn.

However, to ensure that he would not be disturbed, Xu Tianming had once made an agreement with the worshippers responsible for protecting him.

When nothing unusual was happening, they had to remain at least a thousand meters away and could not use spiritual power to sense exactly what he was doing.

If he truly encountered some trouble he could not handle, he would promptly fire a specially made signal flare. At the speed of these ninth-level soul engineers, crossing a thousand meters would take no more than the blink of an eye.