As they crawled along, the leader suddenly stopped.
He pressed his nose to the ground and went perfectly still.
"Big brother? Why'd you stop?"
The chubby second brother, following behind him, was baffled. He came closer and asked in confusion.
"This is Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede territory."
The third brother's sharp eyes swept over their surroundings. He explained in a low voice.
"Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede?!"
The second brother's face stiffened, and he instinctively looked around warily.
"How did we reach the depths of the Soul Hunting Forest so quickly?!"
Clearly, this wasn't their first encounter with the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede.
The leader, crouched on the ground, sniffed several times, his brow furrowing tightly.
"The Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede's scent... it's very faint."
His voice carried a hint of gravity.
"Very faint?"
The second brother froze. Then the fear on his face quickly faded, replaced by a barely contained look of delight.
"Then... doesn't that mean we can avenge little sister?!"
His voice trembled with excitement.
There hadn't always been only three brothers.
There had been four of them.
They'd had a fourth sibling, a younger sister named Zhang Weier.
She was the youngest of them all, and her Innate Soul Power had reached level four!
But a year ago...
Back then, their little sister had just broken through to level ten Soul Power. She'd eagerly followed her three older brothers into the Soul Hunting Forest to obtain her First Soul Ring.
But none of them had expected that, while they were searching for Soul Beasts, a Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede would suddenly burst out of the ground and ambush them.
By the time they could react, the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede's mouthparts had already pierced their little sister's chest.
In the end, they'd fought desperately to pull her back, but they were too late.
She'd lost too much blood.
She lay in their arms, her life slowly ebbing away.
Ever since then, the three brothers had both feared and hated the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede.
They feared its powerful, uncanny abilities and its sneak attacks, which were impossible to guard against.
They hated it for killing the little sister they'd cherished most.
A sharp glint flashed in the third brother's eyes as well.
Clearly, he'd reached the same conclusion as the second brother.
At its peak, the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede would have been more than a match for all three brothers combined.
But a severely wounded Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede, with its scent so faint...
Couldn't they take it down?
"No. That's not what I mean by faint."
The eldest brother shook his head, his voice growing even more solemn.
"I mean its scent is so faint... it's almost completely dissipated."
"Almost completely dissipated?!"
The second and third brothers cried out in unison.
The eldest brother sniffed the ground carefully again. Only after confirming he hadn't been mistaken did he stand up.
He nodded to his two younger brothers.
"That's right. It's almost completely dissipated."
"There are two possibilities."
He held up two fingers.
"First, the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede has moved its territory. This is no longer its domain."
"Second..."
The eldest brother paused, his expression darkening.
"The Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede was hunted."
As he spoke, he turned to the second brother, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
"Are you sure that kid who bought the Beast Repellent Powder came in alone?"
Under his eldest brother's stare, the second brother felt inexplicably uneasy.
"I-I'm sure."
He swallowed, his voice no longer quite so confident.
"He came in alone."
"That's right, big brother."
The third brother chimed in, sounding absolutely certain.
"Second brother and I kept watch at the entrance. We saw clearly."
"He entered the Soul Hunting Forest by himself. He had no one with him."
The eldest brother studied the third brother's eyes for a long while. Seeing his unwavering gaze, and that he didn't seem to be lying, he finally spoke.
"I think the second possibility is more likely. Soul Beasts generally don't change their territories without reason."
"The Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede was hunted."
"Since both of you are sure that kid was alone..."
"Then he probably just got lucky and ran into the wounded Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede, taking advantage of the situation to get himself a bargain."
"But..."
The eldest brother's lips curled into a cold smile.
"That Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede was already nine hundred years old a year ago."
"That kid tried to absorb a Spirit Ring with such a high age limit. By now, the massive energy inside it has probably made him explode, hasn't it?"
"I just wonder if he'll leave anything valuable behind for us after he dies."
The second brother's eyes lit up. He hurried over.
"Big brother, you mean... that kid is in the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede's territory right now?"
"Mm."
The eldest brother answered with a nod.
"The Beast Repellent Powder's scent is coming from inside. It's not far from here."
"That kid is almost certainly in there absorbing the Spirit Ring."
Meanwhile, at the heart of the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede's territory...
Lin Jing's Spirit Ring absorption had entered its final stage.
With the combined amplification of the Whale Rubber and the Vast Sea Glazed True Dragon Martial Soul, absorbing this Spirit Ring that had just passed a thousand years had gone very smoothly.
It had even been easier than absorbing his First Soul Ring.
The yellow and purple Spirit Rings around Lin Jing both began to contract inward.
Their light dimmed, and their size shrank.
In the end, both Spirit Rings completely merged into his body and disappeared.
Lin Jing slowly opened his eyes.
Two sharp glints flashed through them and vanished.
He clenched his fist, felt the Soul Power within him, and let the corners of his mouth lift slightly.
He didn't feel like someone who'd only just reached level twenty. He estimated his cultivation in his mind.
Around level twenty-three or twenty-four.
The biggest flaw in Douluo Continent was that low-level Soul Masters couldn't even clearly sense their own Soul Power cultivation without relying on external aids.
As soon as he opened his eyes, Lin Jing instinctively activated his Blue Silver Devouring Domain.
An invisible sense spread out, covering a radius of one hundred meters.
"Mm... no Soul Beasts."
Lin Jing wasn't surprised.
"This Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede's territorial instincts are really something."
"It's been dead for so long, and its scent has almost completely dissipated, yet no Soul Beast dares trespass."
He shook his head, sighing.
He looked up at the sky.
The moon hung high, and the stars filled the heavens.
It was already the dead of night.
"It wouldn't be too safe to head out at this hour."
Lin Jing muttered to himself.
"This place should be safe enough for now. I might as well use the Special Roulette first."
"I can leave the Soul Hunting Forest tomorrow morning."
He was just about to summon the system in his mind.
The next moment!
His body suddenly stiffened.
The relaxed look vanished from his face.
Because within the range of his Blue Silver Devouring Domain...
Three figures had suddenly entered its reach, moving at a decent speed.
As if they knew exactly where they were going, they were heading straight toward him!
"Three people. Two of those figures seem familiar..."
Lin Jing murmured, but for a moment, he couldn't remember who they were.
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