Tang San breathed heavily, his eyes bloodshot and so crimson at the corners that they looked as though they might bleed.
Oscar was seeing this kind of Tang San for the very first time on the side, calling out in a low voice, "Little San..."
Oscar opened his mouth, yet he did not know what he ought to say.
At this moment, any comforting words appeared hollow and powerless.
Tang San abruptly lifted his head.
Those crimson pupils stared straight at Oscar, the madness surging deep within his eyes causing Oscar to subconsciously take half a step backward.
"Little Ao," Tang San's voice was hoarse and broken, "give me a mushroom sausage."
Oscar froze, watching Tang San's bloodshot eyes, and the refusal that had reached his lips simply could not be spoken.
Regardless of the favor from earlier when Tang San helped him obtain the phoenix-tail crested serpent from Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang, or Tang San's near-out-of-control state right now, he could not simply ignore it.
He gritted his teeth.
Before everyone's eyes, Oscar once again chanted the somewhat bizarre soul spell for his third soul skill: "I have a mushroom sausage!"
A strange ripple of soul power dispersed, and a sausage of peculiar appearance slowly took shape in his palm.
The remaining few members of Shrek were all clear-headed individuals, instantly grasping what Tang San wanted to do.
Zhao Wuji suddenly stood up: "Tang San! Don't be impulsive!"
Yet before he could step forward to stop him, Tang San snatched the mushroom sausage from Oscar's hand and shoved it into his mouth without a moment's hesitation, swallowing it down.
Six translucent, phantom wings unfolded from behind his back.
"Xiao Wu, wait for me."
Tang San gave a low shout, flapping his wings to take flight, and pursued rapidly in the direction the Titan Giant Ape had departed.
"Tang San!" Zhao Wuji shouted harshly, but it was already too late to block him.
Right at that moment, Ning Rongrong abruptly stood up.
She raised her right hand, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda manifesting, and a beam of colorful light shot from the pagoda body, landing upon Tang San who had already flown several dozen meters away.
"Seven treasures have names, second: Speed!"
Ning Rongrong's clear voice echoed in the night air.
She still carried a trace of the little demoness's casual freedom, directly buffing Tang San with the second soul skill of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
Zhao Wuji gazed at the direction where Tang San vanished, his face filled with powerlessness.
Coincidentally, Tang San's pursuit route overlapped for a stretch with the direction Ye Han was traveling, except that the location Ye Han needed to reach pressed even deeper into the interior of the Star Dou Great Forest.
On the other side, Ye Han and the Fire Qilin had already arrived at the location of the target soul beast.
This was a ring-shaped valley, with a surging lava lake entrenched at the bottom of the valley.
The crimson lava continuously bubbled and burst, the rock walls surrounding the valley turned reddish from being scorched by the high temperature, and the air was permeated with a choking sulfur scent.
Yet Ye Han's expression sank.
Someone had already arrived here a step ahead.
In the center of the valley, by the bank of the lava lake, a slender figure stood quietly.
That was a woman of peerless appearance.
Dressed in a golden palace gown, her golden hair cascaded down to her waist like a waterfall, her facial features exquisite as though carved, and her skin fair and lustrous surpassing snow.
An aura of grand light and holiness lingered all around her, as if she were an angel who did not belong to this mortal, secular world.
The most eye-catching feature was the pair of pure white wings unfolded behind her, every single feather shimmering with a faint golden light.
At her feet, five soul rings slowly revolved.
Two yellow, two purple, one black-the standard soul ring configuration of a soul king.
The instant he saw the appearance of the newcomer clearly, Ye Han's pupils abruptly constricted.
Qian Renxue!
The person before him was undoubtedly Qian Renxue!
Though Ye Han had never laid eyes upon Xue Qinghe's true visage beneath the mask, this peerless appearance with the angel soul martial soul manifested, coupled with soul power at the quasi-soul emperor level, matched all these traits when cross-referenced: it could only be her.
The Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul existed in only one place across the entire continent.
At this thought, Ye Han immediately intended to command the Fire Qilin to pull away and leave.
It was not that he was wary of Qian Renxue herself.
Strong though the angel martial soul unquestionably was, her cultivation was merely ten levels higher than his own, and attempting to stop him and the Fire Qilin from escaping was practically impossible.
Relying on spiritual power far surpassing his opponent's, Ye Han had long since probed Qian Renxue's current soul power realm: level sixty quasi-soul emperor, stuck at a bottleneck just like him, awaiting a soul ring breakthrough.
At this moment, the Fire Qilin had stacked six layers of Qilin's Breath, and its speed had already soared to a terrifying degree.
Merely speaking of straight-line flight, within a short timeframe there was even assurance of shaking off most soul emperors.
The true hidden hazard lay in the fact that she was the young lord of Spirit Hall.
Since she had penetrated deep into the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for a soul ring, how could she possibly lack powerful members of Spirit Hall following along to escort her?
She was Bibi Dong's biological daughter!
A Titled Douluo was bound to be hidden in the shadows, keeping watch.
Most likely one of the two-Snake Lance Douluo She Long or Porcupinefish Douluo Ci Xue-or perhaps even both were lurking in the surroundings.
Thinking of this, Ye Han's back grew cold, a chill rushing straight from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
Being locked onto in secret by a Titled Douluo was by no means a pleasant sensation.
Yet before Ye Han could urge the Fire Qilin into motion, Qian Renxue raised a hand and spoke.
Her golden eyes fell upon Ye Han, her voice cold and clear, steadily carrying to his ears through her soul power:
"Stay where you are, and make no rash movements."
The tone was biting, yet the timbre was exceptionally melodious.
Not only was Ye Han somewhat startled upon running into Qian Renxue, but Qian Renxue was likewise extremely surprised upon seeing Ye Han.
A short while ago she had just broken through to the level sixty quasi-soul emperor bottleneck, whereupon she entered the Star Dou Great Forest under the escort of Snake Lance Douluo, intending to find a sixth soul ring of superior quality to complete her breakthrough.
Soul hunting was also a rare opportunity for her to catch her breath, allowing her to temporarily cast aside that hypocritical mask of "Xue Qinghe" and recover her true appearance, without needing to constantly maintain heavy disguises.
Who could have anticipated that deep within this uninhabited forest, she would actually run into an outsider, and moreover an acquaintance she had laid eyes on not long ago...
That outstanding student of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy who accompanied Ning Fengzhi in their meeting earlier: Ye Han.
Yet what truly shocked her was not this chance encounter.
Rather, it was the completely new dragon-shaped martial soul beneath Ye Han-which bore no resemblance whatsoever to the illustrations of the fire qilin she had seen-along with the four soul rings slowly revolving at the martial soul's feet: two yellow, one purple, one black.
Coupled with the unmasked soul power fluctuations emanating from both the dragon beast and Ye Han himself... a level fifty quasi-soul king!
Qian Renxue even suspected her own perception had gone awry.
A twelve-year-old soul king?
How could this possibly be?
Even if she scoured the records in Spirit Hall's archives, among all the talented soul masters whose names were recorded, such an exaggerated record had never once appeared.
Yet the flying speed Ye Han had displayed just moments ago was quite astonishing even viewed through her Six-Winged Angel perspective, which sufficed to prove that the opponent's cultivation was decidedly not forged.
Without the support of formidable soul power, it was utterly impossible to possess such speed.
Hearing Qian Renxue's halt command, Ye Han paused his movements.
It was not because he was deterred by a single word of hers, but the instant those words fell, an extremely formidable aura locked onto him and the Fire Qilin from the shadows.
This aura was as sharp as a bone-piercing blade, blending a cold metallic rigidity with the primal savagery of a wild beast!
Her cultivation... was by no means weaker than Dugu Bo's!
A Titled Douluo!
Ye Han's heart sank abruptly downward.
It was precisely because they were firmly locked in place by this pressure that he and the Fire Qilin did not dare to act rashly.
Yet he did not resign himself to doom.
Ye Han remained mounted on the Fire Qilin's back, seemingly hovering in midair while secretly leveraging the martial soul bond between himself and the Fire Qilin to quietly mobilize the power of the Heavenly Flames, ready to detonate at any moment.
Combining his understanding of Qian Renxue with the traits of that aura just now, the person in the shadows was nine chances out of ten Snake Lance Douluo She Long.
This individual attacked ferociously, possessing extremely strong head-on combat capability, but his shortcomings were likewise obvious: he did not excel at high-speed pursuit.
So long as he seized the right opportunity and relied on the Spatial Prison paired with a self-originated martial soul fusion skill to weather She Long's initial burst, escaping entirely remained an opportunity!
Qian Renxue perceived the tense wariness surrounding Ye Han's body.
Only then did she react to the fact that what she was currently displaying was Qian Renxue's true body, and theoretically Ye Han had never set eyes on this appearance of hers.
Her thoughts spinning swiftly, Qian Renxue slightly reined in the divine pressure naturally carried by the angel martial soul.
The pure white wings behind her beat gently, drifting slowly forward a short distance from the ground.
Her breathtaking face shed its sternness, replacing it with an expression somewhat detached yet lacking nothing in warmth.
"There is no need to be nervous." Qian Renxue's voice softened a fraction, losing the chill and rigidity of a moment ago.
"I came to this place to hunt a suitable soul beast. Your Excellency has arrived here abruptly for what purpose? Are you also aiming at this soul beast?"
Her gaze swept over the Fire Qilin beneath Ye Han, pausing briefly upon the pitch-black ten-thousand-year soul ring.
"Might I ask your esteemed name, and the purpose of this trip?"
Detecting that Qian Renxue did not intend to strike immediately, the tautness in Ye Han's heart relaxed slightly, though he still maintained preparations to active a self-originated martial soul fusion skill at a second's notice.
He weighed things rapidly in his mind: in the eyes of Qian Renxue and the Snake Lance Douluo in the shadows, his strength as a level fifty soul king was astonishing indeed, yet facing a quasi-soul emperor coupled with a Titled Douluo, it still amounted to nothing.
Ye Han drew a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the unease at the bottom of his heart, cupped his fists slightly toward Qian Renxue, and stabilized his tone as best he could to speak:
"This one is Shi Hao, a rogue cultivator, who has just turned eighteen years old this year."
"Having fortuitously broken through to level fifty not long ago, this trip entering the Star Dou Great Forest is solely to seek a suitable fifth soul ring."
"So this soul beast was already Your Ladyship's target; it turns out I intruded rashly. Since Your Ladyship arrived first, this soul beast naturally belongs to Your Ladyship. I shall take my leave immediately and will by no means disturb Your Ladyship's soul hunting."
Before you continue