A Curious Twist of Fate: The Tang Bei Huo Trio

While Jiang Yu and his two companions battled the Demon Lizard Dragon, another three-person team was fighting a thousand-year soul beast in a forest a dozen or so miles away.

By a curious coincidence, that team also had two boys and one girl.

The only girl wore a pale-blue fitted outfit. She had a delicate face, almond-shaped eyes, lovely features, and a high ponytail. She looked no older than fourteen or fifteen.

Beside her stood a slightly younger, thin boy in plain clothes.

Strangely, only one faintly glowing white Spirit Ring hovered beneath him. As it flickered, nothing about his body changed, but a trace of pale gold filled his deep-blue eyes, which radiated gentle Soul Power fluctuations.

A dozen or so meters ahead of them, lightning and pink mist had erupted into a vast ring. A boy who looked about the same age as the girl had three Spirit Rings in the optimal configuration glowing beneath him. Deep-blue dragon scales covered his right arm and the right side of his chest, making them look like a true dragon's. Lightning crackled around him as terrifying waves of Soul Power rolled outward.

His opponent was a three-meter-long, peach-pink snake with a flower-shaped protrusion on its forehead.

A Mandala Snake with a thousand years of cultivation.

With the girl cheering him on and the boy in plain clothes aiding him through an invisible soul skill, the fighter soon gained the upper hand and drove the Mandala Snake back again and again.

A great expert had once said that any creature would feel pain and fear when attacked, and eventually expose an opening.

The Mandala Snake had undoubtedly fallen into that very predicament.

The moment the fighter spotted its opening, his third Spirit Ring—the purple one—blazed with dazzling light. His aura surged, and a huge blue-violet dragon claw formed around his transformed right hand. Lightning flashed. By the time the boy and girl on the sidelines reacted, he had the Mandala Snake's head locked firmly in his grasp.

"Xiao Ya, now," Bei Bei called in a low voice.

The stunning girl's eyes lit up. She darted forward and drove a throwing knife about half a foot long into the Mandala Snake's mouth, ending its life.

With no time to thank Bei Bei, Tang Ya gave a delighted laugh, then hurriedly sat down to absorb the Spirit Ring. Bei Bei released his Martial Soul Possession and let out a small breath of relief.

Once Tang Ya's condition had stabilized, Bei Bei turned to the gray-clad boy watching with curiosity and envy, then smiled.

"How does it feel, Yuhao?"

Huo Yuhao scratched his head and said, still shaken, "Eldest Senior Brother, that snake was really powerful. What kind of soul beast was it?"

Bei Bei smiled gently and patiently explained everything he knew about the Mandala Snake. Then he told the endlessly curious Huo Yuhao about Tang Ya's martial soul and background.

Huo Yuhao listened with shining eyes, but just as Bei Bei moved on to his own soul skills, Huo Yuhao's slightly embarrassed expression abruptly changed.

Before he could speak, Bei Bei grabbed him and leaped backward.

The next instant, a violet-black figure shot over the spot where they had just stood.

Thanks to his exceptional eyesight, Huo Yuhao barely made out the figure's appearance in that fleeting instant.

Before either of them could fully recover, a streak of golden light appeared from the direction the violet-black figure had come.

It bounded between the ancient trees, using each one to propel itself onward. It was slightly slower than the violet-black figure, but only by a hair.

When it drew close, both Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao saw that the golden streak was a person: a handsome boy who looked about their age.

Jiang Yu, meanwhile, caught sight of Bei Bei and his companions from the corner of his eye and was just as surprised.

The Demon Lizard Dragon loved a fight, but it was no fool. Once the group had surrounded it and the Light Purification Power carried by Jiang Yu's Light Dragon Dagger had put it at a disadvantage, it had spread the six gill-like wings on its back and fled through the air.

He had pursued it all the way here, never expecting to see three figures he had never met yet found strangely familiar.

What a curious twist of fate.

Jiang Yu put the thought aside. Golden light burst from his Light Dragon Dagger, and a blade of light nearly a meter long shot out, slicing away half the wings on the Demon Lizard Dragon's back.

The Demon Lizard Dragon lost its balance and plummeted. A ruthless glint flashed in Jiang Yu's eyes as his first, hundred-year Spirit Ring and third, thousand-year Spirit Ring lit up.

Golden light flashed, and Jiang Yu landed smoothly. Behind him, the Demon Lizard Dragon's gaze froze for an instant. A thin line of blood appeared down the center of its body, then split open into a massive wound that nearly severed it in two.

Between that grievous wound and the Light Purification Power steadily eating away at its body, even the formidable Demon Lizard Dragon lay dying, barely able to draw breath.

With his first soul skill, Light Dragon Blade, combined with his third, Light Dragon Thrust, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's support, Jiang Yu's attack had reached a level almost inconceivable in the Soul Elder Realm.

Not long after he dealt the Demon Lizard Dragon that devastating blow, Ning Tian and Wu Feng finally caught up.

Ning Tian exchanged a few quiet words with Jiang Yu, her gaze drifting almost imperceptibly behind them. Only after he answered did she relax a little. Then she finished off the Demon Lizard Dragon and began absorbing its Spirit Ring.

Wu Feng edged closer to Jiang Yu. She glanced at Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao nearby, then lowered her voice.

"Jiang Yu, those three are here for a Spirit Ring too. Do you think they'll cause trouble for us?"

The Star Dou Great Forest was a lawless place. Besides the soul beasts lurking everywhere, the human soul masters who came to hunt them were a threat too.

After all, human hearts could sometimes be far more frightening than soul beasts.

"We'll be lucky if you don't cause trouble for them, never mind the other way around."

Jiang Yu rolled his eyes and sat down where he stood.

"Keep watch. I need to recover my Soul Power. Oh, and if they come over to talk, try not to be so aggressive. Those three definitely have powerful backgrounds."

Wu Feng gave a soft snort, but nodded without hesitation.

Of the three of them, Jiang Yu was the main fighter, so he had expended the most Soul Power. Wu Feng had mostly served as Ning Tian's bodyguard while providing support, and she had more Soul Power left than even Ning Tian.

Meanwhile, after witnessing Jiang Yu's stunning slash, Huo Yuhao asked softly, "Eldest Senior Brother, what was that person's martial soul? He moved too fast for me to see clearly. And his second Spirit Ring looked purple."

Bei Bei glanced at Jiang Yu, who was already sitting on the ground, and Wu Feng, who rested against a tree nearby. Then he said slowly, "I'm not sure what his martial soul is either. But he's certainly powerful, and he's so young. He must be a top genius raised by some major power."

As he spoke, wariness and astonishment flickered in Bei Bei's eyes.

There were three things about Jiang Yu that inspired those feelings.

The first was his thousand-year second Spirit Ring.

A thousand-year second Spirit Ring was not unheard of in this era, but it still required an outstanding soul master backed by a powerful faction.

Bei Bei himself, for example, had been capable of absorbing a thousand-year second Spirit Ring. But he had encountered a nine-hundred-year Thunder-Attributed Sub-Dragon Soul Beast that suited him exceptionally well, so he had passed up another beast with a higher cultivation age.

The second was Jiang Yu's age. He looked even younger than Bei Bei.

The third was that, despite being only a Soul Elder, Jiang Yu had chased down a thousand-year Demon Lizard Dragon and defeated it with ease.

Jiang Yu's strength was obvious from the way he had pursued and killed the Demon Lizard Dragon without hesitation. But on deeper thought, he could only have acted so boldly because he had good reason to feel secure.

What truly worried Bei Bei was that Jiang Yu's group—or the powerful people who might be accompanying them—could turn on him and his companions. He knew better than to let his guard down around strangers. Bei Bei had long since grown used to considering the worst that could happen...