Before the three of them arrived, Lin Jing had already made his move.
Soul Power stirred faintly in his right leg, and his body slowly floated upward.
He landed silently on the thick branch from earlier.
It was high up, offered a good view, and was well concealed.
The leaves on the branch were dense. Looking up from below, no one could possibly spot someone hidden among them.
Lin Jing crouched on the branch and watched the scene below through a gap in the leaves.
He carefully sensed the area through the Blue Silver Devouring Domain and assessed the situation.
"One Soul Grandmaster, two Soul Masters."
"With a lineup like that, they actually dare to venture into the depths of Soul Hunting Forest?"
Lin Jing was speechless.
He had thought they might be some formidable opponents. Perhaps one of them would even be a Soul Elder.
If so, he could have used this opportunity to raise his Soul Power Level a little more.
But this was all they had?
Three weaklings.
Lin Jing was a little disappointed.
Still, something was better than nothing. He might as well take the experience they'd delivered right to his door.
Below.
The three Zhang brothers—Zhang San, Zhang Chang, and Zhang Gong—had followed the scent of the Beast Repellent Powder all the way here.
Their eldest brother was at the front, still moving on all fours with his nose pressed to the ground as he crawled along, sniffing.
"This Martial Soul..."
Up in the tree, Lin Jing looked astonished.
"Is it a Husky?"
It was the first time he'd seen such an unusual Martial Soul.
Were there even Soul Beasts like Huskies on Douluo Continent?
If he ever encountered one, he'd have to catch it and keep it as a pet.
"Big Brother..."
The third brother stopped, feeling a chill creep up his back.
He looked toward the area where they'd spread the Beast Repellent Powder.
"Why... why isn't anyone here?"
The area ahead was empty, with nothing but the corpse of a Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede and a wolf's skeleton.
"There aren't any other scents here..."
The eldest brother stood up, his brows drawn tightly together.
"D-Did the Thousand-Legged Withered Centipede's Spirit Ring burst him apart?"
The second brother patted his round belly and voiced his suspicious guess.
He looked around, and the more he thought about it, the more convincing his theory seemed.
"That's definitely it! That kid overestimated himself and tried to absorb a nine-hundred-year Spirit Ring. It burst him apart, and there wasn't even a scrap left!"
"Smack!"
Before he could finish, the sharp crack of a slap rang through the woods.
"Ow! What'd you do that for~"
The second brother clutched the back of his head where he'd been slapped and gazed at the eldest with a wounded expression.
"How many times have I told you!"
The eldest brother angrily pointed at his nose and scolded him.
"Don't use that pig brain of yours to make deductions that require actual thinking!"
"Burst apart? If he burst apart, wouldn't there be at least a little blood?"
"Look for yourself! Is there any damn blood on the ground? Huh?"
The second brother lowered his head under the scolding, looking utterly aggrieved.
He'd only been trying to help the team...
Up in the tree, Lin Jing watched the farce below, barely holding back a laugh.
At the same time, he recognized two of them as the stall owners who'd sold him the Beast Repellent Powder at the entrance to Soul Hunting Forest.
Lin Jing's gaze instantly turned cold.
They'd actually planned to kill him and take his belongings.
Lin Jing's thoughts stirred.
The Dark Blue Silver Grass on the ground beneath the three, which had seemed utterly unremarkable until now, suddenly grew wild.
Black vines cut through the air with a sharp whistle, hurtling straight toward the three men's chests!
"Pfft—!"
The third brother was completely unprepared.
He'd still been mulling over what his eldest brother had said, and was about to explain it to the second.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, a black Blue Silver Grass vine pierced through his back and burst out through his chest.
Blood gushed out.
The third brother's mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't manage to utter a single word.
The eldest brother was a Soul Grandmaster, after all, and his Martial Soul was already in an attached state.
The instant the Dark Blue Silver Grass moved, he sensed something was wrong.
He pushed off with one foot and lunged sideways, dodging by the skin of his teeth.
As for the second brother...
He was the slowest to react and didn't have time to dodge.
But his Martial Soul was a pig, and he had thick skin and a sturdy build.
The Dark Blue Silver Grass struck his belly, only to bounce off the layer of fat!
"Who's there!"
The eldest brother rolled to his feet, quickly stood up, and swept his sharp gaze around.
"What kind of coward hides in the shadows? Get your ass out here!"
His voice echoed through the woods, but no one answered.
The second brother had no time to worry about anything else.
He stared up at the third brother, whose chest had been pierced by the Dark Blue Silver Grass and who now hung suspended in midair, his eyes bloodshot.
"Third Brother!"
"Third Brother!"
He shouted and stretched out a hand, rising onto his toes as he tried to reach him.
He jumped twice.
Unfortunately, he wasn't tall enough, and he was far too overweight. After all that jumping, he still couldn't reach.
Instead, he wore himself out and was soon panting heavily.
As he watched in panic, the third brother's body visibly... shriveled up.
In just a few seconds,
the third brother had turned into a dried corpse.
Every drop of blood had been drained from him.
The second brother stared blankly at the sight, his face going pale with terror.
Up in the tree, Lin Jing remained expressionless.
He hadn't shown the slightest mercy.
He would never actively drain human blood to cultivate. That was his line, and he wouldn't try to cross it.
Enemies, of course, were an exception.
These three had tried to kill him and steal his treasure. That made them his enemies, and they should have been prepared to die by his hand instead.
Feeling his Soul Power increase, Lin Jing's brows twitched almost imperceptibly.
The blood of an entire Soul Master had barely increased his Soul Power at all!
It wasn't even worth draining.
He almost missed Tang San.
If he'd drained Tang San until he was a dried corpse back then...
He could've raised his Soul Power by at least five levels.
Now that would've been a real feast.
Lin Jing shook his head, banishing the thought.
Never mind. He'd deal with the other two first.
He didn't reveal himself just because the Soul Grandmaster with the Husky Martial Soul had shouted at him.
As if! What if they still had some hidden trick and were only trying to lure him out so they could kill him?
Lin Jing wasn't about to fall for that.
It was much more comfortable to stay hidden and take potshots.
He stirred his thoughts again.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Countless Dark Blue Silver Grass vines burst wildly out of the ground, surging toward the eldest and second brothers in a vast swarm.
Faced with so many Dark Blue Silver Grass vines, the eldest and second brothers couldn't hold out for even two breaths.
"Pfft! Pfft!"
Two muffled impacts rang out almost at the same time.
The Dark Blue Silver Grass pierced their hearts without mercy.
Zhang San, the eldest brother, stared wide-eyed, his face filled with disbelief and resentment.
He died without ever knowing who had killed him.
Then the two men's bodies were hoisted high into the air by the Dark Blue Silver Grass.
Their blood streamed along the vines and poured into Lin Jing, becoming nourishment for him.
The second and third brothers together hadn't even raised his Soul Power by a single level.
As for the eldest brother, a Soul Grandmaster...
He'd only gained him 0.9 of a level.
It was probably because of his two white Spirit Rings.
Even so, Lin Jing's Soul Power hit the bottleneck twice in a row, and he rose by two levels.
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