Immortal Spirit Qi, the Mantis Stalks the Cicada

The spiritual energy sucked into the Demon-Sealing Pot was immediately refined and purified. From the energy containing one-tenth of those Soul Beasts' cultivation, it extracted a faint white mist as thin as a strand of hair.

The remaining dregs were disgustedly spat back out by the Demon-Sealing Pot. Beside it, Evil Eye pounced on them like a dog that had caught the scent of crap, greedily devouring them.

"Boss, you're too good to me. Following you is definitely the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me!"

As it ate, Big Eyed continued praising Tang Li for treating it so well. How could it have known that these were merely the Demon-Sealing Pot's vomit?

"Is this... Immortal Spirit Power?"

Tang Li was not entirely sure what the white mist refined within the Demon-Sealing Pot was, but he remembered that the Spirit Ascension Platform seemed to have been created using fragments of the Divine Realm.

Only something like this could help humans increase their Soul Ring age without side effects.

But he remembered that only the Immortal Spirit Qi within the Ultimate Spirit Ascension Platform was of any real quality. The stuff elsewhere was merely Immortal Spirit Qi diluted who knew how many times over.

And these Wind Baboons only added up to around five hundred years of spiritual energy. Could Immortal Spirit Qi really be refined from their bodies?

Or was the Demon-Sealing Pot's refining efficiency as absurd as those chemistry problems he used to calculate? A two-thousand-percent purification rate?!

It could still leave behind Immortal Spirit Qi after increasing Evil Eye's age. That was simply outrageous!

After learning this, Tang Li began looking forward somewhat to Class Zero at East Sea Soul Master Academy. After all, they got to enter the Junior Spirit Ascension Platform once a week.

Wouldn't that make it an all-you-can-eat buffet for him?

After the Demon-Sealing Pot absorbed that tiny wisp of Immortal Spirit Qi, Tang Li clearly felt its self-seal loosen a little more. Along with it, the quality of the soul power within his body also improved somewhat.

This is amazing! Hehehehe!

Seeing Tang Li hugging the Demon-Sealing Pot and grinning foolishly, Lin Ye assumed he was happy about his Soul Spirit's increased age. He walked over, patted Tang Li on the head, and said:

"Stop grinning like an idiot. There's more ahead. Let's try to raise your Soul Spirit to four thousand years this time. Put away your Martial Soul and let's head to the next place."

"Got it." Tang Li put away the Demon-Sealing Pot and followed Lin Ye deeper into the forest.

As the two ventured farther inward, the Soul Beasts they encountered grew older and stronger. Several five-hundred-year Forest Wolves without territories were bludgeoned to death by Lin Ye swinging the Heavenly Star Stove, while a two-thousand-year Armored Crocodile hiding beside a stream was knocked unconscious with a single slap.

In the end, all that energy entered Tang Li's body. The Demon-Sealing Pot's absorption efficiency was extremely high.

After witnessing how Lin Ye, a Tool Soul Master specializing in control and defense, fought, Tang Li also developed some unique ideas regarding his Demon-Sealing Pot Martial Soul...

After using the starfire within the Heavenly Star Stove to burn through bushes and weeds, clearing a path, Lin Ye asked, "Little Tang Li, that Evil Eye of yours should be close to breaking through one thousand years by now, right?"

"Mm, it's already one thousand years old."

Hearing Tang Li's affirmative response, Lin Ye nodded. Since it had already reached one thousand years, they only needed to kill roughly another thirty thousand years' worth of Soul Beasts.

"Keep moving. We need to be careful from here on out. Ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts undergo a qualitative transformation compared to thousand-year ones. Like the Dark Star Demonic Insect your Uncle Lin fused with last night, aside from their formidable strength, they possess intelligence comparable to humans. You'll still coordinate with me when we strike. We'll aim to kill it in one blow."

The deeper they went, the denser the trees became. Towering trees blocked out the sunlight, leaving only shifting patches of light and shadow. That was also why Lin Ye had no choice but to use the Heavenly Star Stove to clear a path.

There were quite a few ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts in the mixed zone, but each had its own territory. Other than leaving to hunt, they generally did not relocate, so the environment here had been preserved rather well.

The deeper they went, the more apparent this became. When the pair reached a small slope, Lin Ye suddenly stopped. He wrapped an arm around Tang Li, concealed the Heavenly Star Stove's glow, and swiftly leaped into the bushes atop the slope.

"Shh! Something's coming," Lin Ye warned in a low voice.

Seeing Lin Ye so tense, Tang Li focused his spiritual power into his eyes and carefully observed their surroundings. He had learned this from Big Eyed. It could not only be used for detection, but also to attack others by concentrating spiritual power.

As his spiritual power swept through the surroundings, he soon noticed something strange—

The temperature around them was too high. Both he and Lin Ye had soul power protecting their bodies, so they noticed it rather late. Thinking back on it, this change had probably appeared several minutes ago.

A rise in temperature meant a fire-attribute Soul Beast was nearby, but the change was rather subtle. Since they were already deep inside the forest, the possibility of their opponent being too weak could be ruled out first.

Moreover, there were no obvious reactions from other elements nearby, so it was naturally not a fire Soul Beast with mixed attributes.

At the same time, Tang Li noticed that the soil around the tree roots had cracked, while the leaves overhead remained lush.

That meant the Soul Beast was underground, and it had only recently burrowed into the vicinity. Otherwise, these trees would have withered long ago.

With that thought, Tang Li pressed his ear to the ground and concentrated his spiritual power, beginning to sense the situation underground.

Seeing Tang Li do this, Lin Ye sucked in a breath. He had only discovered the underground Soul Beast because of his Spirit Sea Realm spiritual power. There was no way this kid's Spirit Connection Realm spiritual power could accomplish that. So, had the kid deduced it through observation?

At that thought, Lin Ye could not help sucking in another breath, secretly marveling, This child's talent is truly terrifying!

Lying on the ground, Tang Li finally heard some movement. It was a series of dense, chaotic knocking sounds. At such a frequency, it should be a multi-legged insect.

The uneven sounds of its movement indicated that there were different numbers of legs on either side. It was most likely injured.

As the sounds drew closer, Tang Li looked at Lin Ye, intending to tell him to move elsewhere, only to discover that Lin Ye had been staring at him all along, his gaze filled with astonishment.

"Uncle Lin, we should go. That thing is crawling over."

"Amazing. You really figured it out, kid. I only discovered this Earth Lord through my spiritual power and my Soul Spirit's special senses."

Hearing Lin Ye's words, Tang Li revealed a somewhat bashful smile and said, "It was just luck. I only guessed that it was an injured fire-attribute insect. I didn't know it was an Earth Lord."

"That's already excellent. If I'd been half as clever as you at your age, I wouldn't have spent half my life amounting to nothing more than a Spirit Pagoda Branch Director."

At this point, Lin Ye's tone turned somewhat wistful, but he quickly suppressed his emotions. Pulling Tang Li along, he swiftly wriggled behind a tree at the foot of the slope.

That smooth, fluid wriggling left Tang Li utterly dumbfounded.

"This is a movement method powered by the abdomen. I invented it myself. I'll teach it to you when we get back. It'll be incredibly useful when you need to play dead or flee for your life," Lin Ye explained, his old face flushing as he forced himself to remain composed.

"Sure..."

"Look over there. Yes, that tree. Do you see that patch of green with a different leaf color?"

Following the direction of Lin Ye's finger, Tang Li indeed spotted a patch of green that looked different. It was clearly much darker than the surrounding leaves and seemed to carry a deep, secluded air.

Only upon closer inspection did he realize it was actually a bird's wing. "That's... a Soul Beast's camouflage!"

"Smart. That's an Azure Shadow Hawk, with dual dark and wind attributes. It's extremely skilled at hiding. See the four markings on that wing? It has already cultivated for eight thousand years. That Earth Lord below is its target. As long as the Earth Lord digs up just a little farther, it'll definitely come down."

What a brilliant case of the mantis stalking the cicada!