Azure-Scaled Snake King, Soul Imprint

Duan Qingya's voice was like a devil's whisper, instantly shaking Su Yuntao's resolve after his initial refusal.

"But I don't know how to extract the Snake Gallbladder. Once it ruptures, it's useless."

"I do, and I even brought tools! Just leave this sort of thing to me, Senior!"

Seeing Su Yuntao begin to relent, Duan Qingya pressed his advantage and opened his backpack, revealing more than a dozen dissection tools.

Now Su Yuntao fell completely silent. He had never imagined that this kid would bring such things along to hunt Soul Beasts!

But then he thought of Sisi's approaching birthday, and how he still needed five hundred Gold Soul Coins to afford that Necklace.

"When I first broke through to rank ten, I wanted a good Soul Ring too. But I was poor back then and couldn't afford a Soul Hunting team, so I had to hunt by myself."

"Now that I'm a two-ring Soul Master, I suppose I can lend you a hand this once, as a small consolation to my past self!"

Su Yuntao was too embarrassed to admit he was doing it for the Snake Gallbladder, so he came up with this excuse to make himself look a little nobler.

"Thank you for your kindness, Senior Su Yuntao! You truly are a great senior. I'll be sure to learn from your example!"

Once Su Yuntao agreed, Duan Qingya started flattering him again. Saying a few nice words cost him nothing, after all.

Faced with Duan Qingya's "admiring" gaze, the already somewhat vain Su Yuntao immediately puffed himself up.

"Kid, wait here. I'll be right back!"

Without waiting for Duan Qingya to reply, Su Yuntao activated his Lone Wolf possession and charged at the Azure-Scaled Snake King, which was still digesting its meal.

"Damn, I didn't think Su Yuntao was this gutsy! He charged straight out without another word!"

Seeing Su Yuntao hesitate earlier, Duan Qingya had thought he would stall a little longer. Instead, the moment he activated his Martial Soul, he attacked the Azure-Scaled Snake King's eyes.

But his moment of glory lasted less than three seconds. The damage from Su Yuntao's Soul Skill was still a little too low.

His attack had only slashed open the Azure-Scaled Snake King's eyelids without injuring its eyes.

The Azure-Scaled Snake King, which had been sound asleep, snapped its eyes open in pain and spotted Su Yuntao retreating.

Bang!

Watching the Azure-Scaled Snake King snap a tree thick enough to encircle with both arms with a single lash of its tail, Su Yuntao, who had narrowly avoided that blow, couldn't help swallowing hard.

Already thinking of retreating, Su Yuntao surveyed his surroundings, trying to find an escape route. But the enraged Azure-Scaled Snake King had already fixed its sights on him.

"Senior, attack its tail! There's a wound on its tail!"

Duan Qingya could tell at a glance that Su Yuntao wanted to retreat, but if he ran away, Duan Qingya really wouldn't have any way to kill this Azure-Scaled Snake King anytime soon.

Su Yuntao, who was "playing" The King of Qin Circling the Pillar with the Azure-Scaled Snake King, instinctively glanced at its tail upon hearing Duan Qingya.

Sure enough, just as Duan Qingya had said, there was an arm-length wound on its tail. From its appearance, some kind of tiger Soul Beast had probably inflicted it.

Whoosh! Crack!

Having nearly been hit again, Su Yuntao panted heavily as he stared at the increasingly frenzied Azure-Scaled Snake King. Steeling himself, he charged once more.

Seeing that the human before it dared to charge instead of retreating, the Azure-Scaled Snake King immediately opened its enormous mouth and lunged to bite Su Yuntao.

As the Azure-Scaled Snake King opened its mouth, its pungent, foul stench struck Su Yuntao first, nearly bringing him to "tears."

"First Soul Skill, Thrust!"

Su Yuntao forcibly suppressed his urge to vomit and used the brief burst of momentum from his first Soul Skill to dodge past the Azure-Scaled Snake King's mouth.

"Second Soul Skill, Lone Wolf Gale Claws!"

As his second Soul Skill activated, sharp wolf claws appeared on Su Yuntao's hands, and he attacked the wound on the Azure-Scaled Snake King's tail with all his strength.

In just a few seconds, Su Yuntao completely tore open the Azure-Scaled Snake King's scabbed-over wound and "kindly" enlarged it to more than twice its original size.

Wracked with pain, the Azure-Scaled Snake King stopped attacking Su Yuntao and began thrashing in agony instead.

But its thrashing only tore the already enormous wound open further.

Countless branches and stones lodged in the wound, constantly tormenting the Azure-Scaled Snake King's nerves.

"Senior, don't just stand there! Strike while it's sick and take its life! Keep attacking! Don't stop!"

Seeing Su Yuntao standing frozen in place, Duan Qingya, who was already ready to deliver the finishing blow, immediately shouted at him.

Afraid of getting caught in the frenzied Azure-Scaled Snake King's rampage, Su Yuntao turned to give Duan Qingya a disgruntled look when he heard him calling for a finishing blow.

But the moment he turned, Su Yuntao saw Duan Qingya charging toward him with an excited expression and a knife in each hand.

"Good heavens! Are you sure you're here to dissect the Azure-Scaled Snake King and not me?"

With his instinct to yield to someone with less to lose kicking in, Su Yuntao hurriedly backed away, afraid Duan Qingya might get carried away and dissect him too.

Facing the retreating Su Yuntao, Duan Qingya merely lowered his knives and continued urging him helplessly:

"Senior, let's hurry! I'm afraid that if we drag this out any longer, the Azure-Scaled Snake King will kill itself."

Only after seeing Duan Qingya lower his knives did Su Yuntao unleash his Soul Skills at the Azure-Scaled Snake King again.

With Su Yuntao's assistance, the earth beneath the Azure-Scaled Snake King was soon stained dark red with blood.

"Kid, give it the final blow!"

Watching the Azure-Scaled Snake King on the verge of death, Su Yuntao, whose Soul Power was almost exhausted, shouted loudly.

Receiving no response, Su Yuntao was about to turn and curse at Duan Qingya when he noticed that Duan Qingya was already standing on the Azure-Scaled Snake King's head, plunging both knives into it.

"Done! Job finished!"

Using the force of the Azure-Scaled Snake King's convulsions, Duan Qingya landed safely beside Su Yuntao and even dusted off his clothes.

A few breaths later, the Azure-Scaled Snake King's body went completely limp, and a Yellow Soul Ring formed above its corpse.

"Kid, the Soul Ring's appeared! Hurry up and absorb it!"

Su Yuntao, who was having his injuries treated, abruptly stood up upon seeing the newly formed Soul Ring, knocking all the ointment Duan Qingya had just prepared onto the ground.

At his words, Duan Qingya promptly abandoned Su Yuntao's treatment, jogged over to the Azure-Scaled Snake King, and summoned Azure Chi.

Sensing the energy, Azure Chi drew the Soul Ring onto itself before Duan Qingya could give any instructions and began absorbing its power.

Seeing Azure Chi so impatient, Duan Qingya could only sit down and absorb the power flowing out of the Soul Ring.

"Master, there's a remnant soul in this Soul Ring too. Can I eat it?"

While meditating to absorb the Soul Ring, Duan Qingya suddenly heard Azure Chi speaking in his mind about eating a remnant soul.

"A remnant soul? Eat it if you want. We'll be tempering your soul later anyway."

Azure Chi was always greedy for food, so Duan Qingya was already used to it.

"Huh? Something's wrong. Why is the Soul Ring around this kid starting to dissipate? Did the absorption fail?"

While guarding Duan Qingya, Su Yuntao suddenly noticed that the Soul Ring Duan Qingya was absorbing was fading. But that only happened when Soul Ring absorption failed!

The problem was that Duan Qingya looked completely relaxed, without the slightest sign that his absorption had failed!

At that moment, Duan Qingya also realized something was wrong. He discovered that the Soul Power he had just absorbed was disappearing.

"Master, I just noticed a problem. After I ate the remnant soul, that thing called a Soul Ring seems to be collapsing?"

Following Azure Chi's perception, Duan Qingya finally saw what Azure Chi meant by a remnant soul. Furious, he grabbed Azure Chi by the neck and shook it madly.

"You glutton! Didn't you notice that your so-called remnant soul was a Soul Imprint? Hurry up and use your own Soul Imprint to stabilize the Soul Ring again!"

At Duan Qingya's words, Azure Chi immediately got to work.

Following the sequence of its earlier "meal," it stamped its own Soul Imprint back into place.

Just as Su Yuntao was at a complete loss, he suddenly noticed that the Soul Ring around Duan Qingya had stabilized again.

"Huh?"