"How strange."
"We've been walking for so long, yet we haven't seen a single Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python?"
"Master, could the soul power fluctuations you released while hunting that ten-thousand-year soul beast for Brother Long have scared away all the soul beasts nearby?"
Chen Mo looked back and spoke with easy confidence.
With Du Busi, a Level 98 Super Douluo, leading them,
nearly all the Body Sect disciples who had come to hunt soul rings had finished absorbing theirs, except for Chen Mo.
Long Aotian sat on the ground.
He silently absorbed the ten-thousand-year fifth ring nestled around his body.
"Bullshit!" Du Busi immediately retorted. "I didn't even activate my Martial Soul Avatar! I beat that ten-thousand-year Vajra Baboon with nothing but my body. What soul power fluctuations?"
"But it is rather strange."
"Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Pythons usually roam around here."
"Yet today, never mind a ten-thousand-year one—we haven't even encountered a thousand-year or hundred-year one?"
While master and disciple pondered this,
a thousand-year Barbarian-Pattern Honey Badger, carrying a spicy strip in his mouth,
swaggered out of the bushes.
But when he spotted the humans,
the spicy strip in his mouth suddenly lost its appeal.
He opened his mouth and roared, ready to attack.
"Hmph!"
"A mere thousand-year soul beast dares run wild before me?"
Du Busi flicked a finger.
The Barbarian-Pattern Honey Badger went flying a hundred and eight thousand miles away.
"Don't get too impatient. Spirit Vein... huh? Where'd he go?" Before Du Busi finished speaking, he turned and discovered that Chen Mo was no longer there.
He looked again.
Chen Mo had already reached the bushes from which the Barbarian-Pattern Honey Badger had emerged.
His head was lowered as he examined something.
"You little brat, what are you looking at?"
The Star Dou Great Forest was fraught with danger.
Afraid something might happen, Du Busi hurried over to Chen Mo.
Chen Mo smiled. "I'm looking at a Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python."
"A Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python? Where?"
Du Busi scanned their surroundings curiously.
"Right here." Chen Mo pointed at the spicy strip by his feet, which the Barbarian-Pattern Honey Badger had been carrying in his mouth.
And that spicy strip was a Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python.
It was only a hundred-year one, though.
Once Long Aotian finished absorbing his fifth soul ring,
Chen Mo and the others headed in the direction the honey badger had come from.
After walking for quite a while,
they arrived near a pond.
A large number of Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Pythons had gathered around it.
There were countless hundred-year and thousand-year ones.
Several ten-thousand-year Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Pythons guarded the pond's perimeter without budging an inch.
"No wonder we couldn't find any after searching so long. They've all gathered here." Du Busi loosened up his limbs and asked, "Which of those ten-thousand-year Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Pythons have you taken a fancy to?"
"I'll catch it for you right now."
"Don't rush, Master. There must be something unusual about all these soul beasts gathering around the pond."
"Especially those ten-thousand-year Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Pythons guarding the middle of the pond without budging. They seem to be protecting something."
The moment he finished speaking,
an enormous snake head emerged from the pond.
It belonged to a Seventy-Thousand-Year Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python, its enormous body far surpassing those of the ten-thousand-year pythons.
"So that's it. This Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python is breaking through to Seventy-Thousand-Year level, so it gathered all these others to protect it." Understanding dawned on Du Busi.
Chen Mo gazed at the Seventy-Thousand-Year Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python, his eyes gleaming.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. What an enormous body, what a magnificent figure.
He slapped his thigh and pointed at the Seventy-Thousand-Year Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python. "I've decided! That'll be my third ring!"
Vina was astonished, making sure she hadn't misheard.
A ten-thousand-year third ring? And a Seventy-Thousand-Year one at that? Was he joking?
Even those geniuses at Shrek, famous for being monsters, had never used a soul ring combination like that.
Wasn't he afraid his body would burst and kill him?
"All right, I'll catch it for you." There was no concern on Du Busi's face. If anything, he seemed accustomed to this.
That left Vina completely bewildered.
When she looked at the others, their expressions were equally calm, without the slightest hint of surprise.
"Don't worry," Long Aotian said. "You'll soon understand why we're so calm."
Soon,
Du Busi unleashed his full aura, stunning every Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python except the Seventy-Thousand-Year one.
Then he grabbed that Seventy-Thousand-Year Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python and tossed it in front of Chen Mo.
"Do you need me to injure it badly for you?"
Chen Mo waved him off. "Master, don't be so violent. When dealing with soul beasts, we should make them become soul rings willingly."
As he spoke, Chen Mo activated his Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Pupils and looked into the Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python's eyes. "Come on, be good. Don't resist, because resisting won't help you anyway. From now on, I'm your master."
Within the green light of his pupils, three emerald flower patterns released immense Spiritual Power.
Before long,
three green flower patterns appeared on the Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python's enormous tongue.
These patterns were identical to those in Chen Mo's Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Pupils.
Soon, the ferocity vanished from the Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python's eyes, replaced by the look a pet gave its owner.
"Come here. Let me pet your head."
"Roll over."
"Lie down."
The Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python offered no resistance to Chen Mo's commands and obediently followed them.
This was the true purpose of the Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Pupils.
They granted complete control over snake-type soul beasts!
The only condition was that the difference between their spiritual power levels could not be too great.
For instance, Chen Mo could only control this Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python for ten minutes.
Du Busi reminded him, "All right, brat, stop playing around. Hurry up and get down to business."
When he first learned that Chen Mo's Body Martial Soul also possessed this ability,
he had been utterly shocked.
After all, despite spending his entire life working with Body Martial Souls, it was his first time seeing one that could control snakes.
It was simply unheard of, utterly beyond belief.
If his elder brother Du Bisou knew about this, he would probably leap straight out of his coffin,
and loudly curse him for cheating!
"I know, honestly. I finally managed to control a Seventy-Thousand-Year soul beast, and you won't even let me play for a bit first." Though Chen Mo grumbled,
he still obeyed Du Busi and told the Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python, "Be good, little snake. Hurry up and sacrifice yourself to become my soul ring."
The Spirit Vein Brocade-Scale Python nodded obediently, then leaped into the air.
A Hexagram Formation appeared beneath Chen Mo's feet.
The sacrifice officially began!
Du Busi had already led the other Body Sect disciples more than a hundred meters away.
An immense surge of soul power descended from the sky and poured into Chen Mo's body.
A black soul ring fell straight down, fitting precisely around Chen Mo.
Chen Mo circulated the Soul-Nurturing Art, devouring the soul power like mad, refining it into pure soul power and drawing it into his body.
At the same time, he did not forget to use the overflowing soul power to nourish his flesh.
Since the soul beast had willingly sacrificed itself,
there was no backlash or resentment, and it even came with a gift of its origin essence.
Chen Mo absorbed it with astonishing ease.
Meanwhile, Du Busi stood guard on the perimeter, clearing away any soul beasts that came near.
Before you continue