A Risk Worth Taking

The Mandala Snake lunged without warning.

Tang San shifted his footing, narrowly dodging its venomous fangs.

A rank gust brushed his cheek as its thick, long body swept across.

Tang San ducked and rolled, sending three cold flashes toward the Mandala Snake's eyes and the wound on its belly.

The snake whipped its head aside. Two iron nails struck its scales and bounced away.

The third pierced a broken scale dead-on.

The Mandala Snake hissed in pain and recoiled sharply, slowing for an instant.

So it was injured on the left.

"Don't get tangled up with it!"

Yu Xiaogang recalled the wounded Luo Sanpao, fighting through the dizziness brought on by the backlash from his Martial Soul.

"The Mandala Snake's scales are extremely hard. Only its eyes and mouth are relatively vulnerable."

"It's also adept at tracking through vegetation. We have to get out of the dense forest!"

At his words, Tang San turned and sprinted out of the camp.

He had not stayed behind to show off.

The Mandala Snake had already locked onto him. Given the speed it had shown, the two of them could not escape easily.

Rather than turn his back on it, he had chosen to assess its condition first.

And it was indeed injured.

The Mandala Snake crashed through the bushes in pursuit, snapping branches and leaves along the way.

Tang San used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to change direction again and again, never giving it a chance to bite.

But the difference in their speed remained obvious. The snake's head drew closer and closer.

"Get down!"

Yu Xiaogang's voice came from the side.

Tang San dropped low at once.

"Fart like smoke—put them to sleep, Luo Sanpao!"

A Yellow Soul Ring lit up, and a thick cloud of smoke engulfed the Mandala Snake head-on.

It faltered, a momentary haze clouding its slit pupils.

Yu Xiaogang had never expected the Soul Skill to put a Soul Beast over four hundred years old to sleep. Buying a moment was enough.

"To the right!"

Tang San changed direction and swept past a large tree.

The Mandala Snake burst from the smoke and slammed its long, thick body into the trunk.

It shook its head and resumed chasing Tang San, but the impact tore the wound on its belly wider.

Dark red blood dripped slowly down its scales.

Tang San took it all in.

Luo Sanpao had not caused that wound just now.

Its edges had blackened, and some scales showed signs of regrowth. The snake must have sustained it years ago.

Luo Sanpao's attack had merely torn it open again.

The stiffness along the left half of its body came from that old injury too.

If they kept attacking it, they could slow the snake further.

Tang San reached for his waist.

He had few iron nails left, and they lacked the force to pierce its scales.

His only real chance of killing the Mandala Snake lay in the Sleeve Arrow hidden in his sleeve and the short blade at his back.

The Mandala Snake closed in again. Its tail suddenly lashed at him from the side.

Tang San pushed off the ground with both feet and used a tree trunk to change direction.

The tail grazed his waist, ripping a gash in his outer robe.

Even the force left in that glancing blow made his blood churn.

I can't drag this out.

If this went on, he and Yu Xiaogang would be the first to give out.

Tang San stopped in a clearing and turned to face the Mandala Snake.

"Why did you stop running?" Yu Xiaogang braced himself against a tree, his face pale.

"Its wound is on the left. Every time it turns left, it slows down."

"Even injured, it isn't a Soul Beast you can fight head-on."

"That's why I need your help."

Tang San quickly explained his plan.

When Yu Xiaogang had heard it, his gaze fell to where Tang San's right hand hung.

A metal mechanism was faintly visible beneath his cuff.

He did not ask what it was.

"We'll only get one chance."

"That's enough."

The Mandala Snake had already emerged from the trees.

Yu Xiaogang stepped in front of Tang San, and both his Yellow Soul Rings flashed.

Luo Sanpao appeared again, his body far more translucent than before.

"Attack its left side!"

Luo Sanpao charged the Mandala Snake and spat out a blast of air.

The Mandala Snake instinctively dodged right, only to find a stone Tang San had thrown in advance flying toward it from that direction.

It reflexively turned left. Its old wound pulled tight, and its body stalled for an instant.

Luo Sanpao's attack struck the wound on its belly.

Flesh tore open again, and the Mandala Snake threw back its head with a hiss.

Enraged, it abandoned Luo Sanpao, who was closer, and lunged at Tang San with its fangs bared.

Now.

Tang San raised his left arm.

The Sleeve Arrow mechanism fired instantly.

With a sharp whistle, the short arrow shot toward the Mandala Snake's right eye.

At the last moment, it turned its head. The Sleeve Arrow grazed its eye socket, leaving only a bloody line between its scales.

It had missed.

Yu Xiaogang's heart sank.

Tang San's expression did not change.

The Sleeve Arrow had never been the final killing blow.

To avoid the short arrow, the Mandala Snake had turned its head left, shifting the direction of its open jaws with it.

Tang San stepped forward, entering its attack range of his own accord.

"Little San!"

Yu Xiaogang shouted sharply.

Tang San could already see the venom inside its mouth.

He stepped through Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, slipped sideways between the fangs, and drove the short blade in his right hand into the roof of the Mandala Snake's mouth.

Its hard scales could stop iron nails, but the inside of its mouth had no protection.

The short blade pierced through flesh and drove straight into its skull.

The Mandala Snake's body went taut.

Its head kept hurtling forward on momentum. Tang San could not dodge completely and was sent flying by the impact.

He rolled across the ground several times before his back struck a tree root and brought him to a stop.

Pain lanced through his chest, and he tasted blood in his throat.

The Mandala Snake did not die immediately.

It writhed wildly, its tail shredding all the grass and brush around it.

Luo Sanpao charged in again and clamped his teeth onto its old wound, buying Tang San time to retreat.

Yu Xiaogang hurried to Tang San's side.

"Were you poisoned?"

"No."

Tang San quickly checked himself.

His outer robe had been torn, but the fangs had not touched his skin.

The impact had caused some internal injury, though nothing serious.

"It's almost dead."

The two retreated to a safe distance.

Its struggle lasted a quarter of an hour. The Mandala Snake's movements gradually weakened until it collapsed among the broken bushes.

Countless pale yellow points of light rose above the corpse and slowly gathered into a Yellow Soul Ring.

Yu Xiaogang looked at the Soul Ring, then at Tang San.

"Judging by its length and crest, its cultivation is roughly four hundred and twenty to four hundred and forty years."

"You can't absorb this Soul Ring."

Yu Xiaogang said gravely, "We can't be certain of its age. We can look for a safer target."

Tang San sat cross-legged and circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill to check his condition.

The battle had taken a toll, but his Soul Power was not exhausted.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill flowed steadily through his meridians. Aside from the minor injury caused by the impact, nothing was wrong.

"What if it's exactly four hundred and twenty-three years old?"

"The risk is too great."

"The limit was only calculated from existing cases. Exceeding it doesn't necessarily mean failure."

Yu Xiaogang did not try to force Tang San's decision. "We can find another Soul Ring. You only have one life."

Tang San looked at the Yellow Soul Ring floating above the corpse.

The Mandala Snake's resilience, venom, and ability to bind its prey matched everything they had concluded earlier.

It had also been carrying an old injury, leaving it short of its full strength, yet it had still displayed astonishing vitality.

Judging by its attributes alone, they would be hard-pressed to find a more suitable First Soul Ring for Blue Silver Grass anytime soon.

The only question was its age.

Tang San closed his eyes and recalled what Tang Hao had said before leaving Holy Soul Village.

Caution did not mean always choosing the safest path.

True caution meant understanding the risk you were taking, then deciding whether moving forward was worth it.

After a long while, Tang San opened his eyes again.

"I want to try."

Yu Xiaogang frowned. "Why?"

Tang San answered calmly, "The reward outweighs the risk. It's worth a try."

Yu Xiaogang fell silent for a moment, then chose not to stop him.

"All right."

He sat down opposite Tang San and recalled the wounded Luo Sanpao.

"If you feel you can't bear it while absorbing the ring, try to reject it immediately. Damage to your Martial Soul is better than losing your life."

Tang San nodded and raised his right hand.

Blue Silver Grass grew from his palm.

Drawn toward it, the Yellow Soul Ring slowly drifted to the seemingly ordinary Martial Soul.

This time, no one made the choice for him.