Seeing this, Lin Gu and Tang San dodged to either side. The Mandala Snake lunged at empty air, its gaping jaws biting into the ground.
Dirt sprayed toward them. Lin Gu raised a hand to shield himself and caught his breath. He was still thinking about using Soul Beasts to stack "Steel" later when a notification suddenly popped up before his eyes:
[Kill mission triggered: kill the Mandala Snake. Reward: five hundred gold coins!]
Lin Gu was overjoyed. Five hundred gold coins? That was fantastic-five days' worth of missions.
According to the plot, the Mandala Snake would die at Tang San's hands. Sorry, Tang San, but I can only steal your kill!
In that moment of distraction, the Mandala Snake suddenly attacked, whipping its tail at Lin Gu to the side. The Soul Beast's powerful Soul Power coursed through its tail. With such tremendous force, it seemed this Mandala Snake often killed people this way!
"Xiao Gu! Watch out!"
Tang San's eyes widened. Even his teacher, Yu Xiaogang, could barely withstand this blow. How could Lin Gu, who was only six years old, withstand it?
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang clutched his chest, watching helplessly.
Naturally, Lin Gu had no time to dodge and could only take the blow head-on!
Clouds of dust instantly billowed up. Tang San and Yu Xiaogang could only watch helplessly, believing Lin Gu had been killed by the blow, their faces filled with shock and regret!
Clutching his chest, Yu Xiaogang pounded the ground at the sight and said futilely:
"I can only blame myself for being too weak to protect even my own student. Even I couldn't withstand that blow. It looks like Lin Gu is dead. Though you were usually mischievous and liked kicking my backside, it's such a pity for you to die so young."
Tang San swallowed beside him, came back to his senses, and prepared to hunt down the Mandala Snake alone.
But when the dust cleared, the sight left both of them awestruck!
Lin Gu had both hands locked tightly around the snake's tail, gripping it fast. Apart from a little dust on his body, he had actually emerged from that blow completely unharmed.
Tang San and Yu Xiaogang were dumbfounded. Looking closely, Tang San saw that Lin Gu was already wearing his Martial Soul breastplate. Could his Martial Soul have blocked the attack?
If so, the defensive power of Lin Gu's Martial Soul was truly impressive.
Yu Xiaogang felt somewhat embarrassed. A six-year-old child had withstood an attack he himself could not. For a while, he could not utter a word and simply stood there in astonishment.
Watching the Mandala Snake continue to struggle, Lin Gu looked toward Tang San and hurriedly said:
"Xiao San, stop spacing out! Hurry, kill it! I can't hold on much longer!"
Tang San quickly snapped out of it. Holding the dagger Grandmaster had given him, he immediately leaped up and stabbed toward the Mandala Snake's head.
Under their combined efforts, the Mandala Snake died there.
Lin Gu wiped the sweat from his face. This should count as completing the mission, right?
Lin Gu really had no attack power. That tremendously powerful tail swipe from the Mandala Snake had taken ten thousand health points off him outright.
But with the ten thousand points Lin Gu had just gained from "Steeling" the Mandala Snake, he still had over fifty thousand health points. It was as though he had lost no health at all.
And so Lin Gu had seized the opportunity to grab the Mandala Snake's tail and restrain it.
He had forcibly restrained it with his own body. Throughout this, his health kept draining as he endured the Mandala Snake's struggles at a cost of one thousand health points per second.
Since his attack power was insufficient and he had no weapon, he had called on Tang San to attack while he had the chance.
Naturally, calling on Yu Xiaogang would have been utterly useless.
In this encounter, he had consumed fifteen thousand health points and still had fifty-one thousand left, more than enough.
Lin Gu wiped the sweat from his face and looked at the mission notification before him:
[Mission to kill the Mandala Snake complete. Reward: five hundred gold coins!]
Seeing the system's five hundred gold coins arrive, bringing his total to one thousand, Lin Gu smiled. Good thing participating in the kill counted too.
After all, without me holding on for dear life, Tang San wouldn't have killed it so easily.
At that moment, the Mandala Snake turned into a yellow Soul Ring, which slowly emerged!
"So this is a Soul Ring?" Tang San said, his eyes wide.
By now, Yu Xiaogang had recovered some strength. With a solemn expression, he said, "Correct. This is a Soul Ring. Unfortunately, its age is too high. It isn't suitable for either of you to absorb. If you force yourselves to absorb it, I fear your bodies won't withstand it. Let's head back. Once I've recovered, I'll bring you out to hunt Soul Beasts again."
Lin Gu and Tang San cast sidelong glances at Yu Xiaogang, their faces full of disdain.
Looking at the Soul Ring they had obtained with such difficulty, Tang San did not want to give up like this. So he ignored Yu Xiaogang's words and instead said to Lin Gu:
"Xiao Gu, do you want this Soul Ring? If not, I'll absorb it!"
Lin Gu thought it over. With my current health, I can easily withstand attacks that even Big Gangzi can't withstand. In that case, doubling the age of my first Soul Ring should be no problem at all. These four hundred-odd years are still too low, then. I'll absorb a thousand-year Soul Ring instead. I wonder what sort of Soul Skill it will give me?
So Lin Gu nodded and said to Tang San, likewise ignoring Yu Xiaogang beside them, "Xiao San, go ahead and absorb it. This Mandala Snake doesn't really suit me. I want a different Soul Beast!"
Hearing this, Tang San nodded. He thought so too. After all, in his eyes, pursuing defense should be best for Lin Gu, while this Mandala Snake would provide a greater improvement for himself. So he said:
"All right, Xiao Gu, I'll absorb it, then. Once I'm done, I'll help you find a suitable Soul Beast!"
Lin Gu nodded. Beside them, Yu Xiaogang dragged his weakened body along, his expression helpless. Seeing that neither seemed to have listened to him, he said somewhat angrily:
"Lin Gu, Xiao San, have you been listening to me? This Soul Ring's age is already at the limit. Absorbing it is very dangerous! Why don't we..."
Before Yu Xiaogang could finish, Tang San interrupted him. "Teacher, I want to try!"
Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang could only accept it. He nodded. "All right, then I'll stand guard for you!"
"Thank you, Teacher!"
Though Tang San said this, his eyes glanced toward Lin Gu, as though he felt somewhat more reassured by him.
Lin Gu smiled faintly, seeming to understand what Tang San meant. Thinking that he would still need to rely on Tang San's attack power to hunt Soul Beasts for him, he patted Tang San's shoulder and said:
"Xiao San, go ahead and absorb it. I'll stand guard for you too!"
Only then did Tang San nod, sit cross-legged, and slowly absorb the Soul Ring before him!
Yu Xiaogang also recovered his Soul Power beside them.
Lin Gu, meanwhile, looked at his panel. His health was slowly recovering. By the time Tang San finished absorbing it, he should be nearly back to full health too.
And so time passed, bit by bit.
Big Gangzi had nearly recovered, but Tang San was still sitting cross-legged to the side, his expression strained and his face full of pain, groaning from time to time.
Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang said worriedly:
"Xiao San, you must hold on. Its age really is too high. If anything goes wrong, I can't bear the responsibility!"
Lin Gu folded his arms across his chest, glanced impassively at Yu Xiaogang, and said calmly:
"Don't worry, Grandmaster. Tang San will be fine!"