Deep in the forest, a cold, clammy wind swept through layers of branches and leaves, stirring the dry fallen leaves carpeting the ground. It carried a faint scent of blood, lending the entire dense forest an air of deadly menace.
Hiss-!
The Mandala Snake's long, supple body was covered in vivid, multicolored patterns. Its icy slit pupils remained fixed on Xiao Chen ahead, foul-smelling saliva dripping from its jaws, making it an imposing sight.
It was a genuine three-thousand-year-old Mandala Snake.
In the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform, this was already a formidable Soul Beast. It was swift, and deadliest of all was the potent venom contained in its mouthful of fangs.
One bite would allow the venom to invade instantly, leaving the body stiff and weak. For low-ranking Soul Masters, it was an enemy deadly enough to take their lives.
In the monitoring room outside, Leng Yaoyu's heart instantly rose into her throat as she sat before the screen. Her brows knitted tightly, and her eyes filled with worry.
Her hands tensed slightly, her gaze locked on Xiao Chen's dedicated monitoring feed as she went on alert, ready to intervene and end the trial at any moment.
"This is bad. He's encountered this type of Soul Beast too soon."
Leng Yaoyu's thoughts were in turmoil.
Xiao Chen currently had only rank-seventeen Soul Power. He was merely a One-Ring Soul Master who had broken through not long ago, with a shallow foundation and only one Soul Skill.
Even ordinary Soul Grandmasters above rank twenty had to proceed cautiously and give their all when facing a three-thousand-year-old Mandala Snake. The slightest carelessness would leave them defeated and injured. With Xiao Chen's current strength, he theoretically had no means of contending with it at all.
Yet inside the Spirit Ascension Platform, Xiao Chen showed not the slightest panic or fear as he faced the Mandala Snake mere steps away.
He stood straight where he was, his dark eyes fixed on the Mandala Snake lunging toward him. His mind remained steady, without the slightest disturbance.
The next instant, dense, pitch-black Soul Power surged from his body, washing around him like a tide. A deathly still, icy aura instantly enveloped the surroundings.
His first Martial Soul, Wither, revealed itself in full.
The pitch-black, squared body of his Martial Soul hovered quietly above Xiao Chen, wreathed in a black mist of annihilation. It possessed none of a living creature's warmth, and only its ghastly white eyes stood out, staring fixedly at the Mandala Snake before it.
The instant the Wither Martial Soul's aura spread fully, the Mandala Snake, which had been brimming with ferocity and attacking with tremendous speed, abruptly froze in midair, its killing lunge forcibly halted.
Hiss... hiss, hiss...
Its forked tongue flicked rapidly, its massive body trembling slightly beyond its control. Its colorful scales tightened layer upon layer, and the vicious gleam in its eyes vanished completely, leaving only the instinctive fear of a living creature.
Even with its three thousand years of cultivation, all its vitality was firmly suppressed before this pure power of withering, and an irresistible terror arose from the depths of its soul.
This was what made the Wither Martial Soul so terrifying.
It was not merely suppression through Soul Power, but an attack on vitality itself.
Any creature possessing life would instinctively fear it, provided the disparity in cultivation was not too vast. It was equivalent to applying an extra debuff.
There was no unnecessary maneuvering, nor any need to probe.
Xiao Chen knew well that the best way to deal with a swift, venomous Soul Beast like this was to strike first with a killing blow, giving it no chance to retaliate or launch a sneak attack.
His gaze sharpened, and he suddenly called out in a low, cool, crisp voice, "Wither Head!"
Hum!
His Martial Soul shuddered, and the pitch-black mist churned violently.
Three hideous, icy wither heads, each wreathed in a heavy aura of annihilation, tangled black mist, and chilling death energy, aimed at the Mandala Snake frozen in place and suddenly shot forth!
Three pitch-black beams tore through the forest air, moving too quickly for the Mandala Snake to react.
At the brink of death, the Mandala Snake forcibly broke free of its instinctive terror. Summoning every ounce of strength, it abruptly flexed its midsection, trying to dodge sideways out of this lethal strike.
Boom!!!
A deep, thunderous explosion erupted. Pitch-black mist instantly swept across the entire forest clearing, and raging Soul Power ran rampant, shaking leaves and branches loose from the towering ancient trees around it.
In the end, the Mandala Snake failed to evade it completely, and the terrifying blast's shock wave slammed into its body.
A bizarre scene instantly unfolded. Visible gray-black patterns of decay raced across the Mandala Snake's entire body like vines, while the surging Soul Power within it weakened and dissipated at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Its vibrant vitality was instantly stripped away and extinguished, and its once-supple, powerful body rapidly shriveled and stiffened.
In less than a second, the Mandala Snake that had been blazing with ferocity just moments before lost every trace of life. Its massive body collapsed heavily onto the fallen leaves, its jaws hanging open limply. Its body twitched twice before falling utterly still, without the slightest further movement.
The entire process took fewer than three breaths.
As Xiao Chen looked at the thoroughly dead Mandala Snake, he, too, was stunned.
He had not expected Wither's effects to be so absurd.
A Soul Beast with three thousand years of cultivation could certainly be considered powerful among its peers, possessing abundant combat instincts and a formidable body. Yet before the power of withering, it did not even qualify to resist with all its might, and was easily crushed like an ant.
"It seems I underestimated Wither," Xiao Chen said softly.
He had originally planned to use this Mandala Snake to hone his practical combat skills and had prepared for a drawn-out struggle. Instead, a single Soul Skill had ended the battle outright, truly exceeding his expectations.
Against such overwhelming suppression, the Mandala Snake had no room whatsoever to fight back before him.
Meanwhile, in the monitoring room outside, Leng Yaoyu fell silent once again.
Her tense body slowly relaxed, and the worry in her eyes faded completely. For a long time, she could not speak.
She had already been preparing to end the trial, afraid that Xiao Chen would lose and suffer injuries that damaged his mind.
Yet the scene displayed on the screen completely overturned everything she knew.
A rank-seventeen One-Ring Soul Master had instantly slain a three-thousand-year-old Mandala Snake.
With a feat like this, never mind geniuses his own age-even among the younger generation across the entire continent, there was no second person to be found.
Countless geniuses trained bitterly for years, relying on exquisite techniques and top-tier Soul Skills just to barely hunt down foes above their level. Yet Xiao Chen had accomplished it with ease.
"Everyone says geniuses are invincible, yet between one genius and another lies a gulf like a heavenly chasm."
Ordinary geniuses relied on effort, accumulated resources, and tactics to turn the tables, but Xiao Chen's talent had long since leaped beyond the conventional cultivation system of Soul Masters. With his unique Martial Soul, he had achieved an all-encompassing, higher-dimensional crushing advantage.
Inside the Spirit Ascension Platform, the Mandala Snake's corpse soon turned into motes of luminous white spiritual energy. The energy slowly flowed into Xiao Chen's body, successfully allowing his Evil Eye Soul Spirit to break past the seven-hundred-year mark.
Xiao Chen reined in the pitch-black Soul Power surrounding him, withdrew his Wither Martial Soul, and surveyed the deep, silent forest around him.
With a Mandala Snake having appeared, there probably would not be many Soul Beasts of greater age in this Primary Spirit Ascension Platform. Continuing to hunt would only waste time.
After finishing the hunt, he suddenly thought of Na'er, but then put his mind at ease.
He was not worried about Na'er's safety. After all, the current Na'er was not the Gu Yuena who had just taken human form in the original story. With thirty percent of the Silver Dragon King's origin power and the Silver Dragon Spear, her strength certainly would not be lacking.
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