The moon hung high over the Sunset Forest, silver light piercing through the swaying leaves. The gentle breeze rustled the trees, and most of the group had retired for the night. Their campfire still crackled softly, casting shadows against the tents. All seemed peaceful.
But that peace has been broken when Li Wei sense a Spirit Beast not far from the place that they are camping right now.
All of them woke up from the rest that they had.
They move along in tight formation toward the place where Li Wei sense the spirit beast. All of them do not know what kind of spirit beast lurking near their camp but they know that this spirit beast cannot be underestimate if it dare to come here when it know there presence of human.
Li Wei senses were sharp, his spirit energy flowing steadily through his core. He didn't trust the quiet of the forest—not after everything they'd seen and felt on their way here.
Suddenly, the earth trembled.
A pulse.
A wave of spirit pressure surged through the forest like a silent scream.
Zhao Wuji readying at the front while Liu Erlong watch the perimeter and her brows furrowed. Flender was already airborne, his Owl spirit activated as his wings beat once.
"Something's coming," Li Wei said, his voice low.
The ground ruptured before them, and with a hiss like a hundred blades unsheathing, the Venomous Serpent King emerged from the earth—twenty meters long, covered in black and green scales that shimmered with toxic light. Its eyes glowed like molten emeralds, slit and hungry.
"10,000 years…" Liu Erlong whispered. "That's a true Spirit Beast King."
"Everyone! Battle formation!" Zhao Wuji barked, spirit rings erupting around him.
The students leapt into position.
Zhu Zhuqing blurred into motion, vanishing into the shadows as she activated Hell Rush. Xiao Wu activated her Teleport, preparing to flank. Ning Rongrong summoned her Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, sending waves of enhancement to everyone.
Meng Yiran's eyes locked onto the serpent. Her breath caught.
"I feel it," she murmured. "Its venom… It's perfect."
The Serpent King lunged.
Li Wei stepped forward, Diendriver already in hand.
[Kamen Ride: Diend]
A portal of blue light expanded behind him, his armor materializing in seconds. The card system pulsed on his belt as he drew a summoning card.
[Kamen Ride: Garren.]
A crimson-armored warrior with a bladed pistol burst into existence, opening fire to drive back the Serpent King.
But the beast didn't retreat.
Instead, it hissed once—and from its mouth, a dark green mist swirled upward.
"That is it's ability-Serpent Legion-it able to summon clone, everyone careful." Li Wei muttered.
The mist condensed, forming two… three… five copies of the serpent, each one a shadowy echo of the original, their eyes glowing.
"Copy beasts!" Zhao Wuji growled. "Don't let them overwhelm us!"
Li Wei slotted another card.
[Attack Ride: Blast!]
The muzzle of the Diendriver gun was pointed toward the snake, launching a hailstorm of energy blasts that ripped through one of the serpent copies. But another surged toward Ning Rongrong.
"Li Wei!" she cried.
Xiao Wu teleported in front of her, unleashing a Waist Bow to kick the serpent aside. Zhu Zhuqing Hell Hundred Claw raked through another copy, her expression calm and cold.
Meanwhile, Meng Yiran darted past the front line, her serpent cane glowing.
"I can feel the rhythm of its movement," she said, eyes wide with fierce focus. "Let me engage it."
"Meng Yiran, be careful!" Liu Erlong warned.
But it was too late. Meng Yiran had already launched herself into the fray. Her cane struck against one serpent copy, coating it with her own venom. The clash of toxins created a shockwave that dissolved the copy on contact.
Only the real Serpent King remained.
It lunged, jaw wide, fangs gleaming.
Li Wei met it attack head-on.
[Final Attack Ride: Diend!]
Nine ring of Rider cards then appear infront of him, specifically infront of the Diendriver muzzle.
"Dimension shoot."
He then fires a powerful green and black beam through nine ring of Rider cards.
The beams crashed into the serpent's body. It hissed in pain, writhing—but still alive.
He need the serpent to be alive.
Zhao Wuji surged forward. "Gravity Slam!"
The ground beneath the beast collapsed as Zhao Wuji body became a living meteor. The Serpent King screeched, weakened, collapsing in a twitching heap.
Li Wei landed beside Meng Yiran. "It's yours."
Meng Yiran approached carefully. She knelt, touching the beast body.
"It's perfect," she whispered. "Compatible down to the breath."
She sat cross-legged beside the dying spirit beast, closing her eyes. The moment she began absorbing its spirit ring, a black halo emerged above the corpse and drifted into her.
"Are you sure to have Meng Yiran absorb this Spirit Beast ring?" Flender ask Li Wei skeptical. "It's a ten thousand years spirit beast. Not something that easily absorb."
Hearing that Li Wei only show a smile toward Flender. "I am sure of it Dean. Using my training that Meng Yiran. Undergoes I can confirm to you that she can absorb. Didn't you already seen what my spirit ring."
Hearing that, Flender remember Li Wei ring configuration that broke the normal preconception. Purple, purple, black, black and black. An impossible to be have and this impossible exist in front of him.
Liu Erlong, still alert, watched closely. "We'll guard her. It'll take some time."
Li Wei nodded, already scanning the darkness. "Stay ready. If it used a legion skill, there might be more waiting beyond the trees."
But for now, the battlefield was quiet.
And under the moonlight, Meng Yiran began her transformation into a true Spirit Ancestor.