From Old Jack's account, Su Chen and Zhang Ping learned that about half a month earlier, a villager had gone out early one morning to work in the fields and never returned. Old Jack had rallied the villagers to search everywhere within ten li, but they had found no trace of him.
At first, the villagers had merely assumed he had gone into town to sell vegetables. Yet an entire day passed without his return. Over the next few days, more villagers vanished one after another, leaving everyone gripped by fear.
"Grandpa Jack, didn't you report it to the city lord?" Su Chen asked.
"Of course I did. But it was very strange. Once the people sent by the city lord's residence arrived to investigate, these eerie incidents stopped. After they left, they started happening again. Two more villagers disappeared one after another. With no other choice, we discussed it and finally posted a commission at the Spirit Hall!"
"After we posted the commission, a Soul Master of level ten-something came to investigate the cause. But that Soul Master also mysteriously disappeared. This time, though, there were signs of a fight. Our vegetables were about to rot in the fields, yet no one dared go outside. In the end, I plucked up my courage and went to the Spirit Hall in Nuoding City to ask Master Su Yuntao for help!"
"Su Yuntao?"
Su Chen was inwardly taken aback. If he remembered correctly, Su Yuntao's first soul ring was only a ten-year one.
"Yes, Su Yuntao and Master Ma Xiunuo have already entered the forest. I'm sitting here waiting for news from them!" Old Jack replied.
"Which way did they go?" Su Chen hurriedly asked.
Su Chen had nothing against Su Yuntao, that stepping stone of a man. With Su Yuntao's strength, someone might well end up dead.
"That way! They've been inside for over half an hour. They ought to be back by now!" Old Jack pointed in one direction, his brow creasing faintly with unease.
"Grandpa Jack, I'll catch up with you later. Zhang Ping, let's go!"
Su Chen called out, already sprinting in the direction Old Jack had indicated.
Inside the forest.
A young man and an old man with a snow-white beard were examining the ground.
The young man looked about thirty, with sword-like brows, bright eyes, and handsome features. He wore a fitted white outfit with a black cloak draped down his back. At the center of his chest was the character for "soul," about the size of a fist.
The other man, despite his white beard, was full of vigor. His attire was almost identical to the handsome young man's. On his left chest was a badge engraved with swords, four blades crossing over one another. This showed that, like the handsome young man, he also came from the Spirit Hall and was a Battle Soul Elder whose cultivation had reached the Soul Elder realm.
"The trail disappears here!"
"Yes, the fight must have ended here. This is where the incident actually took place!"
"Huh, there's a scrap of cloth here?"
"There's someone in the bushes! No, that's... a corpse!"
The young man and the old man were both shocked. Pushing aside the branches, they saw a corpse with eyes stretched so wide that its eyeballs were almost falling out.
"This is... mucus?!"
The branches beside the corpse were coated with a clear liquid. The young man's hand happened to touch some of the mucus. He brought it to his nose and sniffed, his brow furrowing even deeper as he said gravely, "Snake saliva?!"
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
The silence around them suddenly gave way to rustling, as though something were rubbing against the leaves. The air also took on a trace of the rank odor peculiar to snakes. It was not particularly strong, and the young man could still detect a faint sweetness and the fragrance of tea.
"Careful, there's something venomous!"
The young man blurted out the warning and stamped his foot, sending purple soul power surging outward. Three soul rings surrounded him, colored white, yellow, and yellow from innermost to outermost. Behind him, the purple soul power condensed into the spectral figure of an upright wolf.
Thud.
Soul power surged from the old man as well, and three soul rings appeared around him. From innermost to outermost, they were white, yellow, and yellow. White soul power condensed in his hand into a staff that looked solid.
The rustling suddenly stopped.
"Su Yuntao, can you sense where it is?" Ma Xiunuo asked gravely.
"No." Su Yuntao sniffed deeply several times before adding, "But I can feel it somewhere around us."
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
Suddenly, the rustling resumed. An enormous dark shape hurtled toward them.
It had a dark green, triangular snake's head, and its ruby-like eyes were fixed firmly on Su Yuntao.
"Oh no, it's a Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent!" Ma Xiunuo cried out, his expression changing drastically.
Bang!
Barely had Ma Xiunuo's words fallen when Su Yuntao, who stood directly in its path, was sent flying by the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent. He crashed heavily to the ground, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. The serpent was so fast that by the time Ma Xiunuo reacted, Su Yuntao had already been knocked away.
In his desperation, Ma Xiunuo could spare no thought for anything else. He rushed in front of Su Yuntao and faced the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent as it opened its blood-red maw toward him.
"Ma Xiunuo, leave me! Run! This Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent has a thousand years of cultivation!" Su Yuntao cried urgently.
"No. If we die, we die together. If you die, I won't survive either!" Ma Xiunuo said gravely.
Although Ma Xiunuo and Su Yuntao were both Soul Elders above level thirty, their soul rings were not the optimal configuration. Against a thousand-year soul beast, they could still do nothing but flee for their lives. But even if Ma Xiunuo abandoned Su Yuntao, would he be able to escape? The answer was plainly no!
"If you keep hesitating, both of us will die here!" Su Yuntao urged.
"Don't worry. With us here, you won't die!"
Just as Ma Xiunuo and Su Yuntao were wavering helplessly, a voice with a hint of youthfulness reached them from behind. Immediately afterward, two figures landed before them.
"You're... Zhang Ping?" Suotuo City was very close to Nuoding City, and Ma Xiunuo often visited it. He recognized Zhang Ping at a glance.
"Yes, Grandpa Ma Xiunuo!" Zhang Ping said with a smile.
"Child, what are you doing here? Hurry and leave! This is a thousand-year Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent!" Ma Xiunuo said heavily, placing his aged body in front of Zhang Ping to shield her.
"Su Chen, will you do it, or shall I?" Zhang Ping asked, turning her head toward him.
"You do it!" Su Chen said calmly.
"All right."
Zhang Ping stepped forward, moving in front of Ma Xiunuo. With each step, a soul ring descended from above her head. There were three in total, colored yellow, yellow, and purple.
"A thousand-year soul ring!"
Ma Xiunuo and Su Yuntao cried out in surprise.
Golden soul power also condensed behind Zhang Ping into a golden swallow. It was her martial soul-the Golden-Waisted Flying Swallow!
Zhang Ping wore a short skirt, a trench coat, and tall boots. Although she was only sixteen or seventeen, her fitted coat displayed every curve of her exquisite figure. Perhaps her beauty was not enough to topple cities and kingdoms, but among all the women Su Chen had ever seen, her slender waist was truly the slimmest.
With her martial soul released, Zhang Ping's innocent beauty gained an air of nobility that only an aristocrat could possess! She looked even more enchanting!
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