Soul Hunting Forest (Hundred-Year Mandala Snake)

Lin Qing shot out at an angle, barely flying past the snake's head.

The Mandala Snake's vertical pupils were a cold green, like two pieces of jade set into its scales. They held no fear and no hesitation, only greed-an insatiable hunger for the abundant vitality released when Lin Qing awakened his first Soul Ring.

A chilling gleam ran across its scales. Coiled among the trees, it held its head high and flicked its scarlet tongue.

Lin Qing sprang more than ten meters away, planted his green bamboo against the ground, and stumbled several steps before regaining his balance.

Before he could catch his breath, a blob of green venom sprayed from the Mandala Snake's fangs and struck him squarely in the back with a hiss.

Before he could recover, a blob of green venom sprayed from the Mandala Snake's fangs and hissed against Lin Qing.

Lin Qing felt a warmth on his back. It wasn't a scorching heat, but a gentle warmth-as though something were awakening beneath his skin.

He looked down at his arm. The green patterns had surfaced again, spreading from his back to his shoulder, then from his shoulder to the crook of his elbow, like bamboo roots reaching through the soil.

The venom had been absorbed.

It hadn't evaporated or slid off. His skin had drawn it in bit by bit, like parched earth soaking up rainwater.

The joint of the Lone Bamboo in his palm lit up, and a green-blue light flashed and vanished.

"Don't stop." Lone Bamboo's voice rang in his ear, tinged with excitement. "Keep running. Your Bamboo Breath has absorbed the snake venom. You've mastered Mandala Snake Venom."

Lin Qing had no time to celebrate. The Mandala Snake had already turned its head and fixed its vertical pupils on him.

Shock flashed across Grandmaster's face. "A four-meter-long Mandala Snake, nearly four hundred years old.

"How could a venomous snake Soul Beast like this appear on the outskirts of the forest? Xiao Qing, run!"

"Farts like thunder-Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!" A blast of foul air rushed at the Mandala Snake, but it had little effect.

The Mandala Snake kept its eyes locked on Lin Qing. Its body suddenly curved, and it lunged, determined to swallow the human before it who was brimming with vitality.

Lin Qing shifted his grip to the Lone Bamboo, planted the green bamboo against the ground again, and launched himself away.

This time he didn't dodge to the side. He went up-springing off the ground, soaring over a clump of short bamboo, and landing on a thick bamboo branch.

The branch bent beneath him and bounced him up again, sending him toward another.

The Mandala Snake's head turned after him, swift as a dark green whip. Its body twisted into an S on the ground, its scales scraping across the earth with a sound that set his teeth on edge.

Its eyes never left him, like two nails hammered into the air.

Lin Qing leaped through the woods. Pole vault, land, pole vault again, land again.

Each launch carried him clear of the snake's fangs-he heard them snap through bamboo branches, heard its tail thud across the ground, heard his own heartbeat drumming in his ears.

But he was incredibly fast, feeling as though he were a gust of wind that could move wherever he pleased. And when he used his First Soul Skill in midair, he was astonished to discover that his Lone Bamboo could even use the air as a fulcrum for a pole vault, sending him dozens of meters in a single leap.

The bamboo tip touched the air as though it had struck an invisible wall, and he used the force to spring up and leap another several dozen meters.

He landed on a tree, panting, his hand trembling. Looking down, he saw a red mark on his ankle where the snake's tail had struck him. It stung fiercely. But green specks of light were already appearing around the mark, and the pain was fading.

Tang San hurled a throwing knife. It struck the snake's body and bounced off-its scales were too hard. It didn't draw the Mandala Snake's attention, either.

Lin Qing inwardly groaned, Wasn't the Mandala Snake supposed to eat those two in the original story? Why is it chasing me and refusing to let go now?

All three of them kept running. Lin Qing relied on the Lone Bamboo to pole-vault back and forth through the forest, trying to shake it off.

The Bamboo Breath halo behind Lin Qing lit up once more in his consciousness, and moves flooded into his mind. He raised his other hand, palm up.

Bamboo leaves drifted in from every direction-one, two, ten, dozens of them-hanging before his eyes, their edges shimmering faintly gold.

He swept his hand.

Dozens of bamboo leaves shot out like darts, their passage through the air sharp and piercing.

Countless wounds appeared on the Mandala Snake's body in an instant. Dark green blood seeped between its scales and dripped onto the ground, corroding it into blackened patches.

The snake was enraged.

It opened its great bloody maw, venom dripping from its fangs, and charged. It was as fast as a bolt of green lightning.

Yu Xiaogang pushed Luo Sanpao forward. The fat dog growled, and his body began to glow.

The Mandala Snake moved, fast as a bolt of dark green lightning. Tang San dodged to the side and flung a throwing knife. It struck the snake and bounced off-its scales were too hard.

"Farts like thunder-Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!" Luo Sanpao thrust his rear up and blasted out a cloud of yellowish gas, hitting the snake squarely on the head. The fumes made the Mandala Snake sway, and it slowed for an instant.

Just that one instant.

"Pole vault-attack seven inches down from its head." Lone Bamboo's voice rang in Lin Qing's ear, as calm as if it were reading a book.

The green-gold halo beneath his feet suddenly blazed-not just a little brighter, but bright as a lamp, illuminating the whole forest.

He shot forward, not to the side, but upward, flying into the sky above the forest.

Then he turned around. His body flipped in the air, head down and feet up, and he plunged straight down, the green bamboo gripped in his hand.

An image flooded his mind-the bottom of the Lone Bamboo became a spike. It was no bamboo joint, but a halberd, a spear, a lance, an edge sharp enough to pierce anything. He held it as though he were holding a bolt of lightning descending from the heavens.

The bamboo tip struck the Mandala Snake seven inches down from its head.

It pierced through.

Scales shattered, blood and flesh flew, and the bamboo tip sank into the snake's body. The Mandala Snake let out a piercing hiss and writhed wildly, its tail sweeping across and breaking several large trees.

"Hold steady," Lone Bamboo's voice said in his ear. "Bamboo Breath is helping you."

The green patterns appeared on his palm again, burrowing into the gaps between the snake's scales like bamboo roots and anchoring him firmly to its back.

Then countless fine bamboo roots sprouted from the bottom of the Lone Bamboo in an instant. They burrowed into the Mandala Snake through its wound and pierced its skin from the inside out.

The snake stopped moving. Lin Qing knew that this Soul Beast belonged to Tang San, so he waved his hand and withdrew his Martial Soul into his body.

"Xiao San," he said, his voice raspy as sandpaper, "this Mandala Snake is a perfect match for your Martial Soul. You should absorb it."

Tang San drove a throwing knife into the Mandala Snake's heart. A yellow Soul Ring immediately formed, and Tang San sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to absorb it.

"Your First Soul Skill," he said slowly, "is that really what a Ten-Year Soul Ring should be capable of?"

Lin Qing was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"A leap of a hundred zhang, using air as a fulcrum, and even changing direction in midair." Yu Xiaogang looked him in the eye. "A Ten-Year Soul Ring can't do those things."

Lin Qing opened his mouth, at a loss for words.

"That Martial Soul of yours," Yu Xiaogang continued, "doesn't look like ordinary green bamboo, either."

Lin Qing fell silent for a while. "Master, I don't know."

Yu Xiaogang looked at him for a long time, then nodded in satisfaction. He turned to look at Tang San.

"Your first Soul Ring really was ten years old," it said. "But those ten years were my ten years, not someone else's."

Lin Qing didn't understand. "When we've fully fused," Lone Bamboo's voice suddenly grew very soft, like wind passing through the deepest part of a bamboo forest, "your First Soul Skill can break the speed limits of time and space."

Lin Qing froze.

"Even," Lone Bamboo paused, "break the dimensional barrier."