A Thousand-Year Second Ring! | Uninvited Guests

The leader crawled forward, then suddenly stopped.

He pressed his nose to the ground and remained motionless.

"Big Brother? Why did you stop?"

The fat second brother, trailing behind, was confused and leaned forward to ask.

"We've reached the territory of the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede."

The third brother scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes and explained in a low voice.

"The Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede?!"

The second brother's expression stiffened, and he instinctively looked around with vigilance.

"How did we reach the depths of the Soul Hunting Forest so quickly?!"

Clearly, this was not their first encounter with the creature.

The leader, still prone on the ground, sniffed hard, his brow furrowing deeply.

"The scent of the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede... it's very faint."

His voice carried a hint of gravity.

"Very faint?"

The second brother blinked, the terror on his face quickly fading, replaced by an irrepressible surge of wild joy.

"Does that... does that mean we can finally avenge our little sister?!"

His voice trembled with excitement.

There had originally been four of them, not three.

They had a fourth sibling, a girl named Zhang Weier.

She was the youngest, and her innate Spirit Power had been an impressive level four!

However, a year ago...

Back then, she had just broken through to level ten Spirit Power. She had followed her three older brothers into the Soul Hunting Forest, excited to obtain her first Spirit Ring.

But no one expected that while they were searching for a spirit beast, a Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede would suddenly burst from the ground and launch a sneak attack.

By the time they reacted, their sister's chest had already been pierced by the creature's mouthparts.

Although they fought desperately to retrieve her, it was too late.

She had lost too much blood.

She had passed away right there in their arms, her breath fading away bit by bit.

Ever since then, the three brothers had felt both fear and hatred toward the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede.

They feared its powerful, bizarre abilities and its impossible-to-guard sneak attacks.

They hated it for killing the little sister they cherished most.

A sharp glint flashed in the third brother's eyes.

Clearly, he and the second brother were thinking the same thing.

In its prime, the three of them together were no match for the creature.

But a Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede with a faint scent, one that was severely injured...

Could they not take it down?

"No, it's not the kind of faint you're thinking of."

The leader shook his head, his voice growing even heavier.

"It's so faint that... it's almost entirely dissipated."

"Almost entirely dissipated?!"

The second and third brothers exclaimed in unison.

The leader sniffed the ground carefully once more, and after confirming he hadn't misjudged, he stood up.

He nodded at his two younger brothers.

"That's right, it's almost gone."

"There are two possibilities."

He held up two fingers.

"First, the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede has migrated; this is no longer its territory."

"Second..."

The leader paused, his gaze darkening.

"The Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede has been hunted."

He turned to look at the second brother, his eyes sharp as blades.

"Are you sure the kid who bought the Beast Repellent Powder was alone?"

Under his big brother's stare, the second brother felt inexplicably nervous.

"I... I'm sure."

He swallowed hard, his voice losing its confidence.

"He entered by himself."

"That's right, Big Brother."

The third brother took over, his tone very certain.

"The second brother and I were watching the entrance the whole time, we saw it clearly."

"He was the only one who entered the Soul Hunting Forest; there was no one with him."

The leader stared into the third brother's eyes for a long time. Seeing that his gaze was firm and he didn't seem to be lying, he spoke slowly.

"I feel the second possibility is more likely. Generally, spirit beasts don't change their territory so easily."

"The Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede was hunted."

"Since you both are sure that kid was alone..."

"Then he must have had a stroke of luck, stumbling upon a severely injured Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede and taking advantage of the situation."

"However..."

A cold sneer curled the corner of the leader's mouth.

"That Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede was already nine hundred years old a year ago."

"If that kid tried to absorb a Spirit Ring of such high age, he's likely already exploded from the sheer energy contained within it."

"I just wonder if there will be anything valuable left behind after he dies."

The second brother's eyes lit up, and he hurried forward.

"Big Brother, do you mean... that kid is still in the creature's territory?"

"Yes."

The leader replied.

"The scent of the Beast Repellent Powder is coming from inside, not far from here."

"The kid is most likely in there, absorbing the Spirit Ring."

Meanwhile, at the center of the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede's territory.

Lin Jing's absorption of the Spirit Ring had reached its final stage.

With the dual amplification of the Whale Glue and his Vast Sea Glazed True Dragon martial soul, he was absorbing this thousand-year-old ring quite smoothly.

It was even easier than when he had absorbed his first Spirit Ring.

The yellow and purple rings around Lin Jing began to shrink inward simultaneously.

The light grew dimmer, and their size diminished.

Finally, both rings merged completely into his body and vanished.

Lin Jing slowly opened his eyes.

Two sharp rays of light flashed through them.

He clenched his fists, feeling the Spirit Power within him, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

He wasn't just at the start of level twenty, he estimated.

He was likely around level twenty-three or twenty-four.

The biggest drawback of the Douluo Continent was that low-level Soul Masters, without external aids, couldn't even clearly perceive their own Spirit Power cultivation.

As soon as he opened his eyes, Lin Jing instinctively expanded his Blue Silver Devouring Domain.

His invisible perception spread out, covering a radius of one hundred meters.

"Hmm... no spirit beasts."

Lin Jing wasn't surprised.

"The territorial instinct of this Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede really is unusually strong."

"It's been dead for so long, and its scent has almost completely faded, yet no spirit beast dares to intrude."

He shook his head, sighing.

He looked up at the sky.

The moon hung high, and the stars filled the heavens.

It was already late at night.

"It's not safe to go out at this hour."

Lin Jing muttered to himself.

"Since it's safe here for now, I might as well use the Special Roulette."

"It won't be too late to leave the Soul Hunting Forest tomorrow morning."

He was just about to call out to the system in his mind.

The next moment!

His body stiffened abruptly.

The relaxed look on his face vanished without a trace.

Because, within the perception of his Blue Silver Devouring Domain...

Three figures had suddenly intruded, and they were moving fast.

As if they had a clear target, they were rushing straight toward his position!

"Three people, and two of the figures look somewhat familiar..."

Lin Jing murmured, though he couldn't quite place them for a moment.