Quasi-Soul King

Three hundred li outside Soto City, Tang San sat cross-legged in a carriage, quietly cultivating.

By all rights, he could have graduated six years ago, but Yu Xiaogang had insisted on keeping him at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy for six years.

Tang San let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes. A faint violet glimmer flashed through them before vanishing, revealing a calm and composed bearing.

He glanced at the map. Soto City was still several hours away.

He did not quite understand it. Clearly, he could have attended a better academy.

Yet Yu Xiaogang insisted on sending him to a place called Shrek Academy, saying that all its students were geniuses—monsters.

Tang San did not refuse. Yu Xiaogang was his teacher, after all, and he would obey whatever his teacher said.

Besides, he was indeed interested in Shrek Academy. An academy filled entirely with monsters truly fascinated him.

Far behind the carriage, Tang Hao had been following it the whole way.

Ever since Xiao Wu disappeared, he had become somewhat irritable.

It was like winning a hundred-million lottery, only for the ticket to vanish afterward.

Anyone would be anxious.

He raised his head to look at the blazing sun hanging high above. A trace of scarlet flashed in his eyes before he quickly suppressed it.

Star Dou Great Forest.

Shi An appeared here.

Six years had passed. Though he had spent all that time traveling outside, he had never neglected his cultivation.

Now twelve years old, he was already a level-fifty Quasi-Soul King.

He had come to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for his fifth soul ring.

Before coming, he had already set his sights on a target.

It was an earth-element soul beast that lived in the mixed region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The Earth Wyvern.

Most dragon-type soul beasts lived alone and were extremely powerful. Unless one possessed a dragon-type martial soul, hardly anyone would provoke these overpowered creatures among those of the same rank.

Shi An stood atop the head of the fifty-meter-long Rock Snake, his gaze blazing as the surrounding soul beasts retreated one after another.

He did not linger in the outer region and headed straight for the mixed region.

Half an hour later, the surroundings grew darker and deeper. The dense canopy overhead completely blocked out the sky, leaving only thin strands of sunlight to spill through the gaps like ribbons of gold.

The number of soul beasts around them had also dropped significantly, but their strength was far beyond anything found in the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Most of the creatures living here were ten-thousand-year and thousand-year soul beasts. Their strength was incomparable to the hundred-year soul beasts he had encountered in the outer region.

Boom—

The Puppet Snake coiled around a Savage Demon Wolf, its body gradually writhing and tightening as it began to constrict.

Shi An hovered not far away, supported in midair by a pair of brown wings on his back.

He lightly clenched his hand. The soil below churned, and earth and stone seemed to transform into countless brown venomous snakes and giant pythons, wrapping around the Savage Demon Wolf from every direction.

"Awoo—"

The Savage Demon Wolf let out a howl that echoed through the silent Star Dou Great Forest, long and mournful.

Its body thrashed violently as its claws and teeth tore at the Puppet Snake and earthen vines binding it.

Its teeth, capable of grinding rocks into powder, left only pale marks when they bit down on the Puppet Snake.

One of its own teeth even shattered, making it howl miserably again in pain.

The earthen vines surrounded the Savage Demon Wolf, pinning it to the ground like an overturned turtle and leaving it unable to move.

It struggled and twisted furiously, letting out whimpers, yet it could not break free from the prison that bound it.

The Puppet Snake burrowed underground. When it surfaced again, it was already beneath Shi An's feet.

Shi An folded his wings and landed atop the Puppet Snake's head. The two figures slowly disappeared into the dark forest.

Shi An did not kill it, not because he was softhearted, but because there was no need.

Even if he killed it, he could not take it away, nor did he intend to absorb its soul ring.

Killing it would bring no benefit beyond wasting time.

Earth Wyverns had no nests, so Shi An could only wander aimlessly through areas suitable for them, searching.

In any case, he was in no hurry. Staying longer and honing his combat skills by fighting soul beasts was not a bad thing.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A Blazing Savage Bear was pursuing Shi An. Every step it took was like an earthquake.

This Blazing Savage Bear was just over ten thousand years old, but bear-type soul beasts were exceptionally powerful by nature. Even some Soul Masters with soul rings of twenty or thirty thousand years might not be its match.

Boom—

A fireball grazed past Shi An and struck a nearby tree, instantly blasting apart the massive trunk that took two or three people to encircle and setting it ablaze.

Shi An controlled the earth, instantly forming a depression that began rotating counterclockwise. At a glance, it resembled the eye of quicksand.

The Blazing Savage Bear's huge body immediately sank into it, roaring and struggling to climb out.

Its millstone-sized paws struck the ground around it, cracking the earth open, only for Shi An to rapidly control it and seal the cracks again.

As he watched the Blazing Savage Bear sink deeper and deeper, a ball of brown light appeared in his hand.

The light twisted and spun. As it was continuously compressed, it began to emit a sharp hiss.

He had created this move based on the Rasengan from the Naruto World.

As long as energy was continuously compressed and rotated, the power unleashed would multiply.

Watching the Blazing Savage Bear roar without end, Shi An summoned his external soul bone—Stone Wings—behind his back and shot toward the bear at the center of the depression.

When the Blazing Savage Bear saw this little bug daring to approach, it raised its heavy paw and slapped forward.

Shi An judged the distance precisely and abruptly halted in midair. The Blazing Savage Bear's giant paw barely swept past his face, stirring a violent gust that sent his hair flying.

"Go." Shi An threw out the Rasengan in his hand. Without his control, it instantly became violent. Terrifying energy scattered outward, setting off rings of tangible ripples.

The Blazing Savage Bear remained trapped in place, helplessly watching as the Rasengan grew larger and larger in its vision.

Boom—

A blinding white light erupted like an artillery bombardment, flashing like a camera bulb.

Then the shockwave spread out. The terrifying kinetic force sent even Shi An flying through the air. He tumbled several times before steadying himself.

Below, everything within dozens of meters was in ruins. The ground looked as though it had been overturned, while trees fell one after another, exposing their stark white branches.

At the center of the explosion, the Blazing Savage Bear was now drenched in blood. Gruesome wounds covered its body, and a massive hole had been blasted through its chest, faintly revealing white bones and its beating heart.

With injuries this severe, the Blazing Savage Bear was certain to die. Shi An looked at it, and it looked back at Shi An.

He saw despair, resentment, and utter ferocity in its eyes.

Shi An did not soften. With a light wave of his right hand, an earthen spear burst from the ground, piercing straight through the Blazing Savage Bear's eye socket and shattering its brain.