Gangzi Gets Eaten

"Something's moving."

Flender's words put Yu Xiaogang and Tang San on alert.

If it could make even a Soul Saint wary, it certainly wasn't an ordinary Soul Beast.

But they were on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

What Soul Beast here could put a Soul Saint on alert?

The grass rustled, and a grayish-white ball sprang out.

It was a rabbit. When it saw the three people, its red eyes flickered several times, and it fled for its life, quickly running away.

A hundred-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit.

Flender's face stiffened, and he looked a little embarrassed.

He was a Soul Saint, yet he had been startled by a rabbit-and a mere hundred-year-old one at that.

His figure flashed, and he vanished in a few leaps. Moments later, he returned with a rabbit in his hand.

"A hundred-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit. The meat's good; we'll have an extra dish later."

Tang San gave him a skeptical look, unable to shake the feeling that he was trying to save face.

Yu Xiaogang paid it no mind and waved a hand. "We can get food anytime, but right now the main thing is finding a Soul Ring for Xiao San.

"A 400-year-old Mandala Snake's habitat isn't here. We'll have to search farther ahead."

Flender seized the chance to back down and tossed the rabbit away. "All right, let's go."

The group continued deeper into the forest.

Meanwhile, in the tree where Xu Qing was, the great fox rested her chin gently on his head and watched another light mirror screen.

"Master, that Haozi seems to be looking for a Mandala Snake.

"Could he really have listened to that Gangzi and decided to get a 400-year-old Mandala Snake for his son?

"And then have him get a Soul Skill called Mother's Entanglement?

"He's a Titled Douluo, for heaven's sake. How could he screw his own son over like that?"

"That guy's an idiot."

Xu Qing watched Tang Hao charging wildly forward on the screen.

"In his eyes, the Clear Sky Hammer is the strongest, the number one tool Martial Soul under heaven, while Blue Silver Grass is trash."

"When Tang San had just awakened his Martial Soul and showed him the Blue Silver Grass, the guy couldn't even be bothered to look at Tang San and went back to his room to sleep."

"But when Tang San showed him his other Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, he came running out with tears streaming down his face, hugged him, and said, 'Son, son, you're my son.'"

"So he doesn't care at all what Soul Ring Tang San attaches to his Blue Silver Grass."

"He only had Tang San become Yu Xiaogang's disciple because Gangzi and Bibi Dong have a romantic history. He wants to use Gangzi to get the cultivation method for Twin Martial Souls from Bibi Dong."

"That way, once Tang San cultivates to the Titled Douluo level, he can attach Soul Rings that are ten thousand years old or even over fifty thousand years old to the Clear Sky Hammer."

"In his eyes, Tang San is nothing more than a tool for revenge."

Hsin nodded. "So he's just a coward. He couldn't even protect his own wife, and he keeps putting his son through the wringer. No one else could sink this low as a father."

Xu Qing wholeheartedly agreed.

Other people raised daughters, sons, grandsons, and granddaughters, but here the natural order was turned upside down: Tang San was the one supporting a grown man who was utterly useless.

Hsin's ears twitched. She looked ahead, the corners of her mouth slowly curling upward.

"Master, not far ahead of Gangzi's group, there's a Ten-Thousand-Year Cave Demon Spider underground."

Since getting a number of relevant books from Gangzi a few days ago, Xu Qing and Hsin had learned quite a bit about Soul Beasts.

"Aren't we on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest? How can there be a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?" Xu Qing frowned deeply.

"That cave has been there for some time."

Hsin smiled and touched the air in front of her.

Another light screen appeared, showing a cave with a large black-and-purple spider lying asleep inside.

"That creature was probably close to breaking through to the ten-thousand-year level, so it came to the outskirts specifically to undergo its transformation and avoid attracting the attention of other Soul Beasts."

"Now its Qi is beginning to stir again, and it's also at its hungriest. Master, the show's about to begin. Let's watch."

The two watched Yu Xiaogang's group on the screen as they continued toward the Cave Demon Spider.

After they had traveled several kilometers, a faint rustling came from a thicket.

Flender stopped and was the first to charge out.

He struck into the thicket with his palm. A hiss rang out, and Flender dragged out a giant snake several meters long.

"Mandala Snake," Yu Xiaogang said, staring at the giant snake.

"That's right. It's 400 years old. Xiao San, hurry, kill it and absorb its Soul Ring."

Tang San pulled a dagger from the Storage Soul Tool at his waist.

It was another Storage Soul Tool Yu Xiaogang had given him as a gift when he took him as his disciple.

As for the original Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges, Gangzi had naturally relied on his glib tongue and suppressed his disgust to give it to Brother Scar and the others as a token of love, in exchange for being allowed to go out on his own for a few days.

Otherwise, there would have been no escaping the siege of Brother Scar's group.

Clutching the dagger, Tang San walked over, looked down at the Mandala Snake, and stabbed straight into its eye.

The Mandala Snake hissed in agony, its body writhing wildly and coiling around Flender's thigh. Flender shook it off with a burst of Soul Power.

The Mandala Snake twitched twice and stopped moving. A Yellow Soul Ring then floated up from its corpse.

It was Tang San's first time seeing a Yellow Soul Ring, and he was a little amazed.

"Xiao San, hurry and absorb the Soul Ring!"

Tang San hurriedly sat cross-legged, circulated his cultivation technique, and drew the Soul Ring toward him.

Yu Xiaogang stared fixedly at Tang San, his lips trembling.

Once Xiao San finished absorbing the Soul Ring, his Martial Soul Mimicry Theory would be a success. Who would be able to mock him then?

Flender folded his arms and silently watched Tang San absorb the Soul Ring without a word.

Just then, the ground trembled slightly.

Flender thought he had sensed it wrong, but when he saw a small depression appear in the ground, his expression changed.

"Xiaogang, get back!"

Before he had finished speaking, a purple-black spider leg burst through the ground, hooked Yu Xiaogang with the precision of lightning, and dragged him underground.

Flender's face turned ashen, and he roared, "Beast!"

His Cat Owl Martial Soul possessed him in an instant.

"Martial Soul Avatar!"

He spread his wings and charged over, reaching for the spider leg with his claws, but the leg quickly withdrew into the hole.

Flender's claws grasped at empty air.

Before Yu Xiaogang could even scream, he was dragged underground, leaving only a hole the size of a bathtub.

Flender glanced at Tang San, who was still absorbing the Soul Ring, then at the pitch-black cave. In the end, he crawled inside.

The Soul Power in his hand shone, lighting up the entire cave.

There he saw a Cave Demon Spider the size of a house, its eight enormous legs flailing like claws.

And at that moment, both of Yu Xiaogang's legs were already inside the Cave Demon Spider's mouth.

Yu Xiaogang was filled with terror, but he couldn't make a sound. His face had turned black and his lips purple; he had clearly been poisoned.

"A Ten-Thousand-Year Cave Demon Spider!"

Flender was both shocked and furious. He spread his wings, and his figure flashed forward.

His claws raked toward the Cave Demon Spider's eyes, and he followed up with a kick to its face.

Grabbing the half of Yu Xiaogang's body still sticking out, he forcibly pulled him from the Cave Demon Spider's mouth.

Flender threw Yu Xiaogang out of the cave, then, with nothing to hold him back, fought a great battle with the Cave Demon Spider inside.

"Damn beast, I want you dead!"