Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent

"Wake up, you little brats!"

Early in the morning, before the sky had fully brightened, Zhao Wuji's booming voice rang out from outside the door.

After washing up, everyone gathered in the dining hall for breakfast. Most of them were still groggy, especially Oscar, who nodded off while chewing on a steamed bun.

The sun rose, its golden rays piercing through the thin mist.

The vaguely familiar scene outside the window reminded An Chen of a moment from his previous life.

He had been in this world for six years already, yet he still wanted to know why he had transmigrated here and whether he could ever return.

After breakfast, the group left the town and sped toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

Oscar was the most excited, as he was about to obtain his Third Soul Ring.

An Chen secretly thought that if they encountered a suitable Shadow Attribute Soul Beast along the way, he had to seize the opportunity.

The Star Dou Great Forest stretched across the Two Great Empires and was one of the three major habitats of wild Soul Beasts.

After several hours of travel, towering trees appeared before them.

Ancient trees over twenty meters tall blotted out the sky. Their dense branches and leaves completely blocked the sunlight, leaving the depths of the forest shadowy and obscured, impossible to see clearly.

An Chen took a deep breath of the air scented with vegetation and felt every pore in his body relax.

"Stop." Zhao Wuji raised a hand, signaling everyone to halt.

Several hours of travel had left some of them slightly out of breath. Oscar immediately chanted his peculiar Soul Spell and handed everyone a sausage.

After spending the past few days together, everyone had long since grown accustomed to his sausages.

Zhao Wuji swept his gaze over them, his expression stern. "Listen carefully. The Star Dou Great Forest isn't like the Soul Hunting Forest, where Soul Beasts are kept in captivity. Once we enter the forest, none of you are allowed to move more than twenty meters away from me. Oscar, Ning Rongrong, you two must stay right beside me. Without my order, no one is to attack a Soul Beast without permission. Understood?"

"Understood," everyone answered in unison.

Zhao Wuji waved his hand. "Move out."

After entering the forest, Xiao Wu was the most energetic. She skipped about, curious about everything.

Zhao Wuji frowned, but seeing that she had not gone beyond the permitted range, he did not say anything more.

She's home. How could she not be happy? An Chen thought to himself.

The task of clearing the path fell to Dai Mubai. After activating White Tiger Possession, blades extended from his tiger claws, slicing through the thorns ahead.

Tang San followed close behind, warily watching their surroundings.

An Chen stayed in the middle of the group, quietly activating Spirit Vision and taking in every change in the surrounding auras.

Elder Chen had previously told An Chen that wild Soul Beasts were extremely aggressive and deeply hostile toward humans. Some Soul Beasts also lived in groups. Once encountered, unless one possessed astonishing strength, the chances of survival were slim.

Therefore, they had to be exceedingly careful when moving through territory inhabited by wild Soul Beasts.

About an hour later, the group encountered their first pack of Soul Beasts.

They were Rodent Weasels, around twenty or thirty of them.

Tang San grabbed Dai Mubai in front of him and signaled that there was no danger. These were merely Ten-Year Soul Beasts. They were not very aggressive and had no interest in humans.

Dai Mubai understood and led them around the pack.

"Why go around them?" Dai Mubai asked in a low voice. "Wouldn't it be easier to just kill them?"

Tang San explained, "They aren't a threat, so why kill them? If every Soul Master slaughtered Soul Beasts like that, would there still be any left in the forest? My teacher taught me this."

Dai Mubai nodded. "Your teacher must be incredible, right? This is all experience."

A hint of bitterness flashed across Tang San's face.

How could he not be incredible? At level thirty, he had broken through the age of fifty.

An Chen saw it all.

The group continued onward and encountered quite a few more Soul Beasts, most of them Ten-Year or Hundred-Year Soul Beasts.

Whenever they encountered them, they tried their best to avoid them. Occasionally, one would recklessly charge at them, and Dai Mubai would directly deal with it.

"Rest for a while," Zhao Wuji ordered.

Dai Mubai cleared out an open area, and everyone sat down against the trees.

As usual, Oscar provided sausages, and everyone ate while resting.

Xiao Wu leaned against Tang San, looking troubled. She had been delighted when they first entered the forest, but after encountering the first group of Soul Beasts, she had become listless.

Tang San asked her about it, but she only said she was fine.

Watching this, An Chen understood.

Xiao Wu was a hundred-thousand-year Rabbit Spirit. She naturally resisted the idea of hunting Soul Beasts.

After resting for about half an hour, An Chen suddenly sensed something.

His ears twitched as he heard a faint rustling sound in the air. It grew louder and louder, as though something was rapidly approaching.

An Chen looked up. At the same time, Tang San and Zhao Wuji also turned their gazes in one direction.

"Something is approaching," Zhao Wuji said gravely.

Everyone immediately stood and swiftly formed up. An Chen and Tang San stood at the front, Xiao Wu and Fatty took the two flanks, while Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing stood at the rear.

Naturally, Oscar and Ning Rongrong were positioned in the very center of the group.

Everyone immediately released their Wuhuns, Zhao Wuji included.

An Chen summoned the Big Iron Pot. Two yellow Soul Rings slowly rose around him as he kept Spirit Vision active, locking onto the rapidly approaching aura.

The rustling drew closer and closer, incredibly fast.

An Chen knew this was the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent from the original story.

"Zhu Zhuqing, go see what it is," Zhao Wuji ordered.

Zhu Zhuqing flashed forward, her sharp claws extending as she climbed a nearby tree as though walking on level ground.

A moment later, her voice came from above. "It's a flying snake, moving about three meters above the ground. It has a fleshy crest larger than its head, bright red in color, and its tail is fan-shaped."

"It's a Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent." Zhao Wuji's eyes lit up. "Oscar, you're in luck. But we need to see how old it is first."

Zhu Zhuqing continued observing. "It's heading our way very quickly, but it seems to be having trouble maintaining its balance."

Tang San suddenly asked, "How long is it? What color are its wings?"

"Pale red wings. Its body is roughly six to eight meters long."

Tang San calculated roughly. "A thousand-year Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent. Judging by its length, it should be between thirteen hundred and eighteen hundred years old. It should suit Oscar."

Zhao Wuji turned to An Chen again. "Didn't you need a Shadow Attribute Soul Beast? This one goes to Oscar first."

An Chen nodded in agreement.

Before setting out, he had already told Zhao Wuji that he had reached level thirty and needed a Shadow Attribute Soul Beast.

Then An Chen fixed his eyes on the rapidly approaching figure.

The Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent's aura was somewhat weak, and the source was its abdomen. The aura there was the most chaotic, so it should have been wounded there.

It seemed to be the one Snake Granny and the others had been pursuing in the original story.

Oscar's peach-blossom eyes immediately lit up. "Third Brother, you're an encyclopedia of the Wuhun world."

Tang San smiled. "The Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent is nonvenomous and is famous among Soul Beasts for its speed. If you obtain this Soul Ring, your next Soul Skill should be related to speed."

"How do we catch it?" Zhao Wuji asked.

Tang San replied, "Snakes fear flying creatures. Although Fatty's Phoenix Wuhun is supposedly mutated from a Grass Chicken, its aura should still be able to suppress it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Zhuqing's voice rang out. "It's here!"

She leaped directly down from the tree. Her sharp claws and First Soul Ring lit up at the same time as Hell Stab activated, striking toward the fleshy crest atop the giant snake's head.

This was a giant snake six or seven meters long, with a bright red fleshy crest atop its head. It looked utterly ferocious.

Zhu Zhuqing, charging at high speed, collided with it head-on.

Startled, the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent tilted its head and avoided the vital point. At the same time, it opened its mouth and spewed out a cloud of seven-colored mist. Its fleshy crest lit up, and its speed suddenly surged.

An Chen's gaze sharpened as his First Soul Ring lit up.

"Black Fog!"

Dense Black Fog surged from the Iron Pot in his hand, instantly enveloping the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent's head.

It also shrouded the colorful mist it had just spewed out.

The giant snake let out a hiss from within the Black Fog, its vision completely obscured. It instinctively tried to shake off the fog, but it clung to its body as though alive, impossible to shake free.

"You can attack now!"

An Chen shouted.

Dai Mubai's First Soul Ring lit up as he directly unleashed White Tiger Fierce Light Wave toward the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.

"Seven Treasures are famed, first: strength."

Ning Rongrong's clear voice rang out, and Dai Mubai's White Tiger Fierce Light Wave suddenly swelled in size.

The Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent's forward charge was brought to a halt. Its massive body twisted in midair before crashing to the ground.

Tang San said to An Chen, "Actually, you didn't need to deal with that colorful mist. It was only meant to scare people. It isn't poisonous."

An Chen nodded, and then his Second Soul Ring lit up.

"Detonate!"

An Chen shouted.

The Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, which had just shaken its head and was about to rise, suddenly exploded somewhere on its body and collapsed unconscious onto the ground again.

Blue Silver Grass rose from the ground and tightly bound the unconscious Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, especially its wings, preventing it from taking flight.