Back at the tent, only Oscar and Su Ling were staying in Su Ling's tent.
Tang San shared a tent with Flender and Zhao Wuji.
Oscar had not gone to sleep. Instead, he cultivated to consolidate his Soul Power.
Su Ling did not disturb him. He sat cross-legged and took out the supreme ten-thousand-year whale glue.
There were three portions in all, and Su Ling intended to try one.
Soon, the whale rubber entered his mouth, and Su Ling began circulating his Soul Power to absorb it.
With its side effects removed, the system-produced supreme ten-thousand-year whale glue was improving Su Ling's body with its exceptionally potent medicinal power.
It felt as though a warm current flowed into every cell in his body. Su Ling felt no pain at all. It truly had no side effects.
The Black Chest's products were extraordinary indeed.
The night passed peacefully, without any soul beasts disturbing them. By daybreak, Su Ling had absorbed most of the supreme whale rubber's medicinal potency.
His body had strengthened further. Although the gains in strength and other areas were relatively small, his constitution had definitely improved by a substantial margin.
That gave Su Ling even greater confidence in absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring at his current stage.
That morning, the ten of them ate a simple breakfast and set off again to find a suitable Soul Ring for Tang San.
Yet shortly after they set out, Su Ling, who was walking in the middle, suddenly stopped.
"Boss Su, what's wrong?" Oscar asked in confusion beside him.
Su Ling lowered his head and picked up a small pouch. Its material was anything but ordinary. After examining it with his Soul Power, he discovered that it was actually a Space Soul Tool.
It was even the kind that could store living things. With a brief probe of his spiritual power, Su Ling discovered quite a few things inside.
After just one look, Su Ling immediately put it away.
"Nothing. I just stepped on something," Su Ling said.
He could not reveal that he had picked up a Space Soul Tool. Who knew what Flender might start scheming this time?
Could this be the passive skill, Luck, that the system mentioned?
He had gone out and found money lying at his feet. Moreover, the Space Soul Tool he had picked up seemed far from simple. With over twenty cubic meters of space, it was definitely not something an ordinary soul master could own.
The ten of them continued onward. The Soul Ring Tang San needed was not easy to find.
In truth, Su Ling really wanted to say that Tang San had taken the wrong path with his blue silver grass. Grandmaster was nothing but an amateur who had turned Tang San into a test subject.
The greatest feature of blue silver grass was not its ability to control, nor was it the addition of toxins or anything of the sort.
Vitality was what made blue silver grass special. With the Clear Sky Hammer, Tang San had no shortage of offensive power. If he developed blue silver grass's life attribute to its utmost limit, it would definitely be more than ten times better than some control-type approach.
One could say he had abandoned blue silver grass's defining trait and forcibly built up its weaknesses, constantly increasing its toughness and toxicity.
Still, these were only Su Ling's thoughts. There was no need to tell Tang San. After all, Tang San had already taken the wrong path, and it was too late to change it.
Tang San's requirements for his Soul Ring were rather high, and the group searched for seven days straight. Throughout those seven days, Su Ling continued absorbing the medicinal potency of the supreme ten-thousand-year whale glue.
Of the three portions of whale rubber, Su Ling had successfully absorbed two.
By Su Ling's estimate, his constitution had definitely surpassed the level of a Soul King.
During those seven days, the three girls' affection for him also increased somewhat.
Xiao Wu's rose by three points, and Ning Rongrong's by five. As for Zhu Zhuqing, once her affection reached seventy-five, its growth slowed, increasing by only one point.
As for chests, he gained three White Chests and two Yellow Chests.
Su Ling's stockpile had now reached sixteen White Chests and ten Yellow Chests.
If he wished, he could turn the Yellow Chests into a Purple Chest, but there was no need for that yet.
Unless he had a particular need, Su Ling did not intend to use Purple Chests. Accumulating them into Black Chests in the future was what mattered most. Perhaps he could even obtain an Immortal Herb directly from a Black Chest.
That night, after dinner, everyone prepared to rest. Su Ling still took the first watch.
Just as everyone entered their tents, another notification came from Su Ling's system.
[Ding... a goddess whose Goddess Overall Rating meets the requirements has been detected within five hundred meters of the host!] [Goddess: Meng Yiran] [Goddess Overall Rating: 90] [Binding requirement: affection above 60] [Current affection: unknown]
A new goddess had appeared. Her Goddess Overall Rating of ninety just met the minimum requirement.
Meng Yiran had appeared. Didn't that mean Tang San's third Soul Ring, the Man Faced Demon Spider, was coming? And the Eight Spider Lances too?
His arrival had caused the plot to deviate slightly, yet an unseen force seemed to be correcting it.
Otherwise, why would they encounter Meng Yiran at this moment? The Man Faced Demon Spider was most likely nearby.
As he pondered, rustling sounds came from the forest.
Here it came!
"A soul beast is coming," Su Ling immediately alerted everyone.
Soon, the Man Faced Demon Spider appeared. At the same moment, everyone emerged from their tents. After all, they had only just gone inside and had not settled down to rest.
"A thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider! Dean, this is one of the best choices for my third Soul Ring that my teacher told me about," Tang San said.
No wonder people said the protagonist had excellent luck. The moment he grew sleepy, someone delivered a pillow.
When he needed a Soul Ring, a soul beast came running right into him.
"All right, I'll handle it." Flender immediately sprang into action. He could not let this Man Faced Demon Spider escape.
With a boom, Flender unleashed an eagle claw over a meter long, striking the Man Faced Demon Spider's body directly. The blow injured several of its legs, restricting its movements.
The Man Faced Demon Spider was fast. After all, it had managed to flee from the Peerless Dragon Snake couple for so long.
Flender truly lived up to his reputation as a seasoned Soul Saint. His very first attack struck with precision.
Just then, the Peerless Dragon Snake couple arrived from behind, accompanied by a distinctive young woman.
She looked fifteen or sixteen, stood around one hundred seventy centimeters tall, and had an extremely well-proportioned figure.
Compared with Shrek's three beauties, her figure was already quite fully developed. Zhu Zhuqing, Xiao Wu, and Ning Rongrong looked considerably less mature beside her.
She had large brown eyes, long eyelashes, and an exquisite, flawless face. She looked nothing like her portrayal in the animation.
In fact, when Su Ling had read the novel in his previous life, he had already noticed that Meng Yiran's appearance differed somewhat between the novel and the animation.
In the animation, she wore smoky makeup and was not particularly stunning.
Clearly, the Meng Yiran before him was different. She was much prettier than her animated depiction.
She should have been just sixteen at this point, with rank-thirty Soul Power. Compared with Shrek's monsters, her potential was not high.
Still, she was quite good compared with ordinary soul masters. After all, someone who could become the vice-captain of an advanced Soul Master Academy's team was hardly mediocre.
Her looks were not much inferior to those of the three beauties beside Su Ling. Her talent might have been what dragged her Goddess Overall Rating down to only ninety.
According to the original plot, Shrek should have stolen the soul beasts she needed twice.
But this time, they had not encountered her group when dealing with Oscar's Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent. Instead, they had met them here, before this Man Faced Demon Spider!
"This is the soul beast we were pursuing. Thank you, my friend, for stopping it for us," Dragon Duke Meng Shu said.
Flender and Zhao Wuji glanced at the Dragon Staff in his hand and immediately recognized who he was.
"So it is the Peerless Dragon Snake couple. I am Flender, the Horn of Flight of the Golden Iron Triangle. My greetings to you both."
"This is Zhao Wuji, the Immovable Wisdom King. The others are all students of our Shrek Academy. Since this is the soul beast you were pursuing, we won't touch it. Please, go ahead," Flender said.
In the original story, Zhao Wuji had only faced Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang and Meng Yiran. Meng Shu had not been present, so Chao Tianxiang had chosen to back down.
But with the two together, Meng Shu was a genuine Soul Douluo, and they also possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Their fighting strength rivaled that of an ordinary Titled Douluo, so Flender immediately chose to yield.
In fact, he had already guessed part of the situation when the Man Faced Demon Spider appeared, so he gave way without hesitation.
With Flender saying that, Tang San could hardly object.
"So you are one of the Golden Iron Triangle and the Immovable Wisdom King. Thank you both for helping stop this soul beast," Meng Shu said gratefully.
"Yiran, this soul beast is yours!" After speaking, Meng Shu struck the Man Faced Demon Spider once more.
But just as Meng Yiran took out a dagger and prepared to kill the Man Faced Demon Spider, Su Ling immediately stepped forward. "Wait. This soul beast isn't suitable for her. Letting her absorb it would only harm her."
"Boy, what are you saying?" Meng Shu looked at Su Ling. Could a soul beast he had chosen possibly harm his own granddaughter?
At that moment, Su Ling checked and saw that Meng Yiran's affection for him at their first meeting was two points.
"Hmph, how could a soul beast Grandpa chose for me harm me?" Meng Yiran gave Su Ling a cold look.
Yet Su Ling walked straight to the Man Faced Demon Spider. He glanced at Meng Yiran beside him and said calmly, "This Man Faced Demon Spider is actually over two thousand years old, beyond the absorption limit for a third Soul Ring. If you aren't afraid of the risks of absorbing a Soul Ring beyond that limit, then that's fine. Pretend I said nothing."
Before you continue