External Soul Bone!

"Bang!"

The sharp claws slammed into the spider's abdomen with a dull thud.

The Man Faced Demon Spider was knocked several meters sideways, a gash splitting its abdomen as dark green bodily fluids gushed out.

But it was a three-thousand-year Soul Beast, after all, and its injuries only made it more frenzied.

The spider abruptly turned and spat a massive web from its mouth, casting it down over Dugu Yan's head.

Dugu Yan's pupils contracted. She lashed out with her flood dragon tail, barely managing to whip the web apart, but fragments stuck to her arm, immediately sending a searing pain through it.

"It's poisonous!"

She gritted her teeth and retreated, several pits corroded into the scales on her arm.

Tang San's gaze sharpened. His right hand shot up, sending three Bone-Piercing Nails flying in a triangular formation straight at the Man Faced Demon Spider's compound eyes.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

Two were blocked by its legs, but the third sank precisely into a gap in its compound eyes.

The Man Faced Demon Spider shrieked, its entire body convulsing violently as its movements immediately slowed somewhat.

"An opening!"

Xiao Wu seized the opportunity to close in, wrapping her long legs around the spider's neck and twisting with the strength of her waist.

"Crack."

A crisp snap rang out.

A fissure was forcibly twisted into the junction between the Man Faced Demon Spider's head and thorax.

It struggled madly, its remaining legs flailing wildly and plowing several deep furrows in the ground.

Tang San pushed his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to its limit, his figure flitting behind the demon spider as dozens of strands of Dragon-Patterned Blue Silver Grass surged out once more.

This time, all of them coiled around its already injured hind legs.

One loop, two loops, three loops.

They tightened further and further.

The dragon-scale patterns on the surface of the Blue Silver Grass glimmered with pale golden light as it began draining the Soul Power within the demon spider.

The Man Faced Demon Spider's struggles visibly weakened.

"An opening!"

Dugu Yan's gaze focused. The phantom Jade Phosphorus Flood Dragon abruptly swelled as she brought her clawed hands together.

Without using a Soul Skill, she condensed a jade-green sphere of energy from her Soul Power and hurled it straight at the Man Faced Demon Spider's distorted human face.

"Boom!"

With a deafening blast, the spider's abdomen burst open, splattering dark green bodily fluids everywhere.

The Man Faced Demon Spider's enormous body swayed, its eight long legs twitching spasmodically a few times before it finally crashed to the ground.

A deep purple Soul Ring rose from its corpse, revolving slowly.

A three-thousand-year Soul Ring of exceptional quality.

Dugu Yan stared at the Soul Ring, her chest heaving, her eyes filled with irrepressible elation.

"Don't rush to absorb it yet. See what else is on the Soul Beast."

Tang Tianlin's voice came from behind her.

Hearing him, Dugu Yan immediately crouched and used both hands to push aside the broken fragments of shell on the Man Faced Demon Spider's abdomen.

Suddenly, her hands stopped.

At the shattered human face, a purplish-black bone lay half embedded between shell and flesh.

The bone was long, slender, and slightly curved, like a section of spider leg shrunk countless times over.

"A Soul Bone?!"

Dugu Yan's pupils abruptly contracted.

She had never expected this Man Faced Demon Spider to actually yield an extremely precious Soul Bone!

Though it was only three thousand years old, it was still a priceless treasure.

Hearing the commotion, Tang San strode to Dugu Yan's side and crouched to examine it closely.

At first, he frowned slightly. Then his pupils abruptly contracted, and he said in surprise, "This isn't an ordinary Soul Bone. It's an External Soul Bone!"

"An External Soul Bone?" Dugu Yan froze.

Xiao Wu blinked, looking utterly bewildered.

Tang San explained, "I once looked through a Record of Heaven and Earth's Strange Objects in the Clear Sky Sect's library. It specifically recorded an extremely rare type of Soul Bone."

"Unlike ordinary Soul Bones, which attach to the torso and limbs, External Soul Bones exist independently outside the skeleton, taking the form of extensions of the limbs and naturally fusing with a Soul Master's flesh and blood."

"Once absorbed, it's like growing another arm or a wing. It can even grow stronger as the Soul Master improves!"

At this point, Tang San looked up at Tang Tianlin. "Big Brother should know better than I do just how rare this thing is."

Leaning against a tree trunk, Tang Tianlin merely nodded faintly at his words.

An External Soul Bone was one in ten thousand, its value surpassing even that of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.

The only External Soul Bones recorded in the original story were these Eight Spider Lances and Bibi Dong's Six-Winged Purple Light Wings.

Compared with the Six-Winged Purple Light Wings, the Eight Spider Lances were more versatile, possessing deadly poison, piercing, devouring... They could be called a lethal weapon that combined offense and defense.

However, Tang San was now following the path of life, so this thing would be of little use to him.

Dugu Yan, on the other hand, already possessed close-combat and poison abilities following her Martial Soul Evolution. If she were equipped with these Eight Spider Lances as well...

"Young Lord, please decide what to do with this Soul Bone."

Dugu Yan stepped back, making room.

In her eyes, this External Soul Bone could belong to no one but Tang Tianlin.

"I agree."

Tang San nodded as well.

Seeing this, Xiao Wu hurriedly chimed in, "I have no objections either."

In their eyes, of everyone present, no one was more qualified to absorb this External Soul Bone than Tang Tianlin.

Hearing their proposal, Tang Tianlin felt gratified.

These fellows had a little filial devotion in them after all. The time I've spent nurturing them hasn't been wasted.

Then Tang Tianlin shook his head. "There's no need. I already have an External Soul Bone."

As his words fell, his left arm abruptly jolted.

Dark golden light erupted from his sleeve, and five sharp claws, each two feet long, sprang out in an instant,

In a flash, a savage, ferocious aura spread across the area, sending an involuntary chill down the three others' spines.

It was as though they were facing an overlord-level Ferocious Beast.

A moment later, Tang Tianlin withdrew his left arm and said calmly, "All right, discuss it among yourselves. Any of you can have it."

Hearing this, Tang San considered for a moment before saying gravely, "Dugu Yan, your Jade Phosphorus Flood Dragon Martial Soul follows the path of poison attacks and close combat. This Man Faced Demon Spider itself possessed both deadly poison and powerful offensive attributes, making it a perfect match."

"Also, an External Soul Bone is different from an ordinary Soul Bone. It requires a Soul Master's own Soul Power to activate and nurture it."

"By absorbing this Soul Ring first, your Soul Power and Martial Soul will have already resonated with the Man Faced Demon Spider's aura, allowing you to bring out the greatest possible power of this External Soul Bone."

Xiao Wu immediately raised her hand. "I agree!"

She and Yanyan were already close sisters. Besides, if Yanyan became stronger, she would have another helping hand in future fights. Why wouldn't she welcome that?

Dugu Yan looked at the two of them, her eyes reddening slightly.

This is an External Soul Bone, something even more precious than a hundred-thousand-year one, and they're just giving it to me?

As the granddaughter of a Titled Douluo, Dugu Yan had an illustrious status, but in truth, she had barely had any friends growing up. (Ye Lingling had been taken in.)

When she was little, everyone who approached her did so for her grandfather, without exception.

And now, Dugu Yan felt what true friendship was.

She said nothing sentimental, merely giving Xiao Wu and Tang San a long look. Without further hesitation, she walked over to the Man Faced Demon Spider, sat cross-legged, and drew the Soul Ring into her body.

Jade-green light enveloped her entire body as the phantom Jade Phosphorus Flood Dragon behind her continually grew more solid and larger.

Just then, Tang Tianlin's gaze suddenly sharpened.

Within his perception, a faint trace of Soul Power was steadily approaching.

Turning his head, he saw a python seven or eight meters long flying low over the ground. A fleshy crest grew on its head, and a pair of pale red wings sprouted from its back as it flew swiftly toward them.