The First Soul Ring, Green Bamboo Forms an Array

It was the second day since they had entered the Soul Hunting Forest.

Li Man suddenly raised her hand, signaling everyone to stop.

A dense bamboo grove lay ahead.

Bamboo leaves swayed in the wind.

Yet not a single bird could be heard in the grove.

"A Soul Beast."

Han Yue released his Ironback Ape Martial Soul.

Three Soul Rings slowly appeared.

"Which direction?"

Li Man did not answer immediately.

She crouched down and picked a tiny scale out of the dirt.

The scale was a bluish green.

Its edges bore markings resembling bamboo joints.

"Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake."

"It's probably more than three hundred years old."

Yu Xiaogang took the scale and examined it.

"The scale has already changed from pale green to bluish gray."

"If it's over four meters long, it may be close to four hundred years old."

"Green-Jointed Bamboo Snakes are skilled at disguising their bodies as bamboo branches."

"Their first attack usually comes from above."

Li Man looked up at the bamboo grove.

Hundreds of bamboo stalks swayed in the wind.

Any one of them could be a coiled snake.

"Would it be suitable for my First Soul Ring?"

"Its attributes are compatible."

Yu Xiaogang said:

"A snake's flexibility and constricting ability can improve your Green Jade Bamboo's control."

"Green-Jointed Bamboo Snakes are also skilled at using bamboo stalks to change direction."

"That might strengthen your rebound movement."

"But we must confirm its exact age first."

Han Yue was about to enter the bamboo grove.

But Li Man planted her Green Jade Bamboo in the ground.

"It's already noticed us."

A faint vibration traveled through the bamboo.

It wasn't footsteps.

Rather, one of the bamboo stalks was bearing extra weight.

Li Man closed her eyes.

The wind stirred all the bamboo.

Most of the vibrations followed the same rhythm.

Only the seventh bamboo stalk ahead and to the left swayed half a beat slower than those around it.

"Above us!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, a green shadow pounced down from the tip of a bamboo stalk.

The snake opened its mouth.

Two venomous fangs went straight for Li Man's shoulder.

Dong Jian stepped forward.

His left arm grew heavier.

Bang!

The snake's head slammed into his arm.

The impact pushed Dong Jian back two steps.

As soon as the Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake landed, it swiftly coiled around his waist.

"Don't let it coil all the way around you!"

Yu Xiaogang warned him.

A snake Soul Beast's physical strength lay in its constriction.

Once it had fully coiled around him, Dong Jian, who had no Soul Ring, would have a hard time breaking free head-on.

Dong Jian's legs grew lighter.

He rolled away before the snake could coil around him.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake did not pursue him.

It slid up a bamboo stalk with its body pressed against it.

In the blink of an eye, it blended back into the grove.

"It's 4.1 meters long."

Li Man had gotten a clear look at the snake's body.

"It's approximately 380 to 400 years old."

Yu Xiaogang nodded.

"It's suitable."

"But you two must do most of the fighting yourselves when hunting Soul Beasts."

"Han Yue will only step in if your lives are in danger."

Li Man tightened her grip on the Green Jade Bamboo.

"That's how it should be."

She walked into the bamboo grove.

Dong Jian followed at her side.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake had the advantage of the terrain.

Chasing it head-on would be pointless.

Li Man deliberately struck a bamboo stalk to her right with her Green Jade Bamboo.

The sound spread through the grove.

Bamboo leaves on the left rustled faintly.

The snake did not attack.

It was watching them too.

"It knows we can read the vibrations in the bamboo,"

Dong Jian said.

"So it'll make misleading noises,"

Li Man replied.

"Then let's make it choose a target."

The two quickly separated.

Dong Jian made louder footsteps on the left.

Li Man lightened her breathing and moved through the bamboo shadows on the right.

Sure enough, the Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake chose Dong Jian.

It was more accustomed to attacking larger prey that made obvious noise.

The snake dropped from above.

Dong Jian did not dodge immediately.

Only when the fangs were less than a foot from his shoulder did he suddenly make his body lighter.

He charged forward.

The snake's head missed.

Dong Jian restored the weight to his right leg.

He planted his foot on the snake's tail.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake immediately turned to bite him.

Dong Jian was forced to lift his foot.

But Li Man had already appeared behind it.

The Green Jade Bamboo swept across.

Crack!

It struck the middle of the snake's body squarely.

An ordinary wooden stick might not have harmed the snake's scales.

But the Green Jade Bamboo was a Martial Soul.

Soul Power erupted along the bamboo.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake was whipped off the ground.

Its body curved in midair.

Its tail suddenly coiled around the Green Jade Bamboo.

Li Man did not let go.

Using the force of its coil, the bamboo snake lunged at her.

This was its specialty.

It used its target's weapon as a pivot to rapidly close the distance.

"Good!"

Li Man deliberately pushed the bamboo downward.

The Green Jade Bamboo bent.

The snake's body was forced to change angle.

Dong Jian grabbed its tail from the side.

Black Soul Power gathered in both his arms.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake unleashed its strength.

Dong Jian's feet gouged two tracks in the dirt as he was dragged along.

"Li Man!"

"Hold on for one more breath!"

Li Man stepped on the base of the bamboo.

The bamboo bent to its limit.

Part of the Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake's body was coiled around the stalk.

The other part was held by Dong Jian.

The snake itself formed a taut bowstring.

Li Man suddenly lifted her foot.

The force of the rebound erupted.

The Green Jade Bamboo flung the snake against the ground.

Bang!

Dirt burst from the ground.

Dong Jian followed through by flinging the snake's tail outward.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake lost its support.

Li Man thrust the tip of the bamboo downward.

It struck the snake's vital point.

Pfft!

The snake's scales split.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake let out a piercing hiss.

It did not die immediately.

Its tail lashed wildly.

Li Man could not dodge it completely in time.

The tail struck her squarely in the side.

Her body flew toward a bamboo stalk.

Dong Jian immediately reached out and caught her.

Both of them staggered backward.

"Can you keep going?"

Dong Jian asked.

"Yes."

Li Man pushed his hand away.

She steadied herself again.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake was already wounded.

But the closer it came to death, the more dangerous its counterattack became.

It did not hide again.

Instead, it coiled its body.

A green light appeared on the surface of its fangs.

"It's going to spit venom."

Yu Xiaogang called out a warning from outside the grove.

Li Man did not retreat.

She tapped her Green Jade Bamboo against the ground in quick succession.

Two echoes sounded, one to the left and one to the right.

The bamboo snake's head moved with the sounds.

It could not determine the true position.

Dong Jian charged out from the front.

The snake's jaws turned toward him at once.

Green venom sprayed out.

Dong Jian's legs grew lighter.

He rolled to the side.

The venom grazed the hem of his clothes and landed on the bamboo.

A wide swath of bamboo leaves rapidly withered and turned yellow.

This was the moment Li Man had been waiting for.

After spitting venom, the snake could not close its jaws for a brief moment.

She stepped on a bent bamboo stalk.

Its recoil sent her into the air.

The Green Jade Bamboo plunged down into the snake's mouth.

It pierced through the roof of its mouth.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake's body went rigid.

At last, it fell to the ground.

Yellow specks of light gathered above the corpse.

They gradually formed a Yellow Soul Ring.

Li Man did not absorb it immediately.

First, she checked her injuries and the state of her Soul Power.

Only after confirming that she had not been poisoned did she sit down cross-legged.

"You can't rely on outsiders during the absorption process,"

Yu Xiaogang said.

"Hold on to your consciousness."

"Don't let the Soul Beast's residual will affect you."

The Yellow Soul Ring slowly descended.

The Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake's residual power surged into her meridians.

Li Man's body jolted violently.

An endless bamboo forest seemed to appear before her eyes.

Countless snake shadows swooped down from the bamboo tops.

They wrapped around her wrists, ankles, and neck.

This was the resistance of the Soul Beast's residual will.

Li Man did not struggle.

Her Green Jade Bamboo Martial Soul rose within her consciousness.

Bamboo did not tear and bite like a savage beast.

It only took root and grew.

A stalk of green bamboo broke through the earth between the snake shadows.

Then came a second.

A third.

A fourth.

The bamboo forest no longer belonged to the Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake.

Instead, it began to obey Li Man's will.

In reality,

The Yellow Soul Ring gradually stabilized.

Four green bamboo shadows slowly rose around Li Man.

Slender bamboo vines connected the shadows.

An hour later,

Li Man opened her eyes.

The Yellow Soul Ring pulsed around the Green Jade Bamboo.

A level-eleven Control-Type Battle Spirit Master.

"First Soul Skill."

Li Man raised her right hand.

"Green Bamboo Binding Formation."

Four bamboo shadows appeared at four separate positions around her.

Bamboo vines grew rapidly from the ground and curled toward Dong Jian's ankles.

Dong Jian did not dodge.

The vines tightened.

Their strength was several times greater than that of ordinary Green Jade Bamboo.

More importantly, each bamboo shadow could serve as a pivot for Li Man to change the direction she and her companions moved in.

She controlled the first bamboo shadow, bending it.

A bamboo vine wrapped around Dong Jian's waist.

"Get ready."

"Come on."

Recoil!

Dong Jian was sent flying more than ten meters.

He nearly crashed into a bamboo stalk when he landed.

Clear surprise appeared in Han Yue's eyes.

"Control enemies."

"Restrict their routes."

"And speed up teammates."

"One First Soul Skill has so many uses?"

Yu Xiaogang shook his head.

"Fundamentally, there's still only one."

"Using the bamboo formation to create pivots and bamboo vines."

"The different effects come from how the Soul Master uses it."

Li Man withdrew the Green Bamboo Binding Formation.

For the first time, an unconcealable smile appeared on her face.

She had obtained her First Soul Ring.

Not only had she become a Control-Type Soul Master,

She had also gained the Soul Skill best suited to her own fighting style.

Just then,

Heavy footsteps came from the distance.

Thud.

Thud.

A thick bamboo stalk snapped as something crashed into it.

A massive blackish-brown bear emerged from the forest.

It stood more than two meters tall at the shoulder.

Pale yellow, rocklike markings covered its forehead.

Han Yue's expression immediately turned grave.

"Earth Savage Bear."

"Its age is close to four hundred and twenty years."

The first Soul Beast the Divine Dragon Secret Realm had recommended for Dong Jian-

Had finally appeared.