Waiting by the Web for a Soul Ring

Burp—!

A huge reek of alcohol rolled from the Octagonal Shield Turtle's mouth. His bleary eyes hung half-open, and drunken languor weighed down his entire body. He spoke at his leisure:

"I'm telling you, that great hand that reached out of the void just now belonged to something far beyond anything you know. An eight-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast. On the Douluo Continent today, it's already touched the Divine Domain..."

Everyone present focused at once, their eyes full of anticipation as they waited for the Octagonal Shield Turtle to continue.

The Octagonal Shield Turtle seemed to notice their impatient gazes. He deliberately paused, gave his head a slow shake, then drew out his next words:

"You're all extremely lucky that big fellow is asleep. If it fully wakes up, not a single person here will escape. Every last one of you will die..."

His words fell before anyone could ask a single question.

Whoosh!

The Octagonal Shield Turtle yanked his head, limbs, and tail into his heavy shell all at once, shutting the door. A faint snore soon sounded from inside. He had fallen fast asleep right where he stood.

"What the hell! You big turtle! Finish what you were saying! Who tells half a story and goes straight to sleep?" Angry and helpless, Lei Zhenyun strode forward and hammered the hard shell with his hand. Thud, thud, thud! The knocks echoed, but nothing answered from within.

Unwilling to let it go, he muttered, "Damned old turtle! An eight-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast... Does that mean there are others of the same level on the continent?"

Huang Tieyi looked at the motionless Octagonal Shield Turtle, who had given up on everything and was pretending to sleep. The corners of his mouth twitched despite himself. "Grandpa Yun, don't waste your strength. That old thing is obviously leaving us hanging on purpose. He stopped right at the crucial part just to hook our curiosity."

He marveled inwardly. In his sixth life, how had he failed to notice that this seemingly honest, lumbering fellow had such a nasty streak?

After a short rest, Sword Douluo Chen Xin took Ning Fengzhi and parted ways with them.

Huang Tieyi and the other four continued deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest. Their target for Bibi Dong's fifth Soul Ring was clear: a Crab-Claw Demon Spider. It was one of the rare spider-type Soul Beasts without poison attributes. Bibi Dong currently cultivated the Death Spider Emperor, and every Soul Ring she had equipped came from a spider-type Soul Beast. Whenever she absorbed one, some of the Soul Beast's toxins inevitably seeped into her hair.

Bibi Dong's hair had originally been Barbie pink, but now it was faintly darkening toward purple. Huang Tieyi had been the one to notice. Before this trip into the wild, he had reported it to Pope Qian Xunji and offered a suggestion.

They had not taken Bibi Dong to the Death Forest for her Soul Ring this time. Clearly, Qian Xunji had accepted his suggestion, which was why they had come to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt a Crab-Claw Demon Spider for her fifth Soul Ring.

The five soon reached the general territory of a Thirty-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Crab-Claw Demon Spider. A world of webs spread before them. Webs stretched between the trees, each one stuck with leaves or flying insects. Other Soul Beasts had also been caught there and reduced to corpses.

"So many webs. Just how much spare time does the Crab-Claw Demon Spider have? Does it do nothing but spin silk and string up webs? There's no way we can sneak through this. Why don't we just fight our way in?" Lei Zhenyun said impatiently, looking at the crisscrossing layers of webs.

"Grandpa Yun..." Huang Tieyi had barely opened his mouth when numerous Crab-Claw Demon Spiders appeared on the webs. They brandished their distinctive pair of crab claws, cold killing intent gleaming in their eight eyes. Clearly, they had sensed Lei Zhenyun's murderous aura and emerged from hiding.

"Why did so many spiders pop out at once? Which of you did something?" Lei Zhenyun asked with a frown.

"Grandpa Yun, this has nothing to do with us. Your irritation made you release murderous aura without realizing it, and that put them on guard," Huang Tieyi explained. "Crab-Claw Demon Spiders aren't social Soul Beasts, but when one of them is about to give birth, she sends word to her companions and calls them over to protect her during the birth.

"From the looks of it, a female Crab-Claw Demon Spider is about to give birth. We couldn't have come at a worse time."

"A Yi, now's not the time to show off what you know. What do we do next?" Electricity flickered in Lei Zhenyun's hand. "If you don't have a plan, I'll kill them all and let the Holy Maiden pick her own Soul Ring."

"Grandpa Yun, don't do anything rash. Killing too many will upset the ecological balance," Huang Tieyi said hurriedly. "Let's withdraw from their defensive range."

"Withdraw? I—" Lei Zhenyun's voice turned irritable, but one look from Ling Yuan Douluo silenced him.

The five slowly backed out of the Crab-Claw Demon Spiders' defensive range. "What do we do now?"

"You little brat, what do you say we do?" Huang Batian asked, looking at Huang Tieyi.

"We wait here. After a Crab-Claw Demon Spider gives birth, the mother kills the father and eats his corpse to replenish her strength. Then we can pick up a Soul Ring for free. How nice is that?" Huang Tieyi said calmly, looking toward the layers of webbing. "Besides, Crab-Claw Demon Spiders have a natural enemy in the Star Dou Great Forest: the Titan Giant Ape. That's the target I want for my Soul Ring. If its age is right, I can take advantage after the two sides tear each other apart."

"Heh, you little brat. That's quite a scheme you've cooked up," Lei Zhenyun said with a laugh.

"Grandpa Yun, how is that scheming? Wouldn't it just be good timing?" Huang Tieyi said, smiling. "If its age isn't right, we'll still have to go deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest."

"So we can drink now, right?" Lei Zhenyun said, giving Huang Tieyi a disdainful look.

With a helpless sigh, Huang Tieyi took a jug of wine from his Space Ring and handed it to Lei Zhenyun, then took out another for his grandfather, Huang Batian. He gave three bottles of fruit juice to Ling Yuan Douluo and Bibi Dong and kept one for himself.

He leaned leisurely against a tree trunk and watched the direction where the Crab-Claw Demon Spider was giving birth, his eyes full of anticipation. Er Ming was still a few years from becoming a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and he was not too bright yet. No, even after reaching a hundred thousand years and learning to speak, his brain still would not work very well.

Huang Tieyi looked forward to the appearance of Er Ming, the Titan Giant Ape. If he could kill him now and claim his Soul Ring, he would also be taking away one source of support from Tang San's future path of growth.

It was a fine idea, but putting it into practice would be difficult. In his sixth life, he had experienced firsthand how strict Ah Rou, the woman transformed from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit, could be. She was a strict mother in the modern mold: she had rules for everything.