The next day, Zhu Ziyang and the other six were searching through the mixed region of the Star Dou Forest for soul beasts suitable to become Soul Rings for Jiang Nannan, Beibei, and Xu Sanshi. At the same time, they were also keeping an eye out for the Star Vine that Xu Jiujiu wanted.
By afternoon, they happened upon a Golden Earth Dragon. Its cultivation was precisely fifteen thousand years, which made it a perfect candidate for Beibei's fifth Soul Ring.
"Take it down!" Zhang Lexuan gave the command but did not act herself. A ground dragon soul beast under twenty thousand years wasn't worth her effort as a Soul Douluo with spirit power at Rank 87. So the task of dealing with it naturally fell to the others.
Who were those others? Beibei, of course, had to join the fight since it was his ring, and then Jiang Nannan, Xu Sanshi, Huo Yuhao, and Xu Jiujiu—meaning five of the seven acted, while Zhu Ziyang and Zhang Lexuan, the two strongest, did not lift a hand.
In truth, having five people gang up on a fifteen-thousand-year Golden Earth Dragon was overkill. The dragon didn't even understand until its final moments how it deserved to die so miserably.
Once it was dealt with, Beibei immediately began absorbing its Soul Ring. At the same time, he also used a secret technique passed down to him by Mu En. After performing a series of actions that baffled the others, the Golden Earth Dragon's ring was successfully absorbed. Along with it, Beibei inherited one of Mu En's legacies.
One of Mu En's three ultimate techniques—Dragon Sovereign Piercing Light.
For Shrek Academy, this was undoubtedly great news. It meant that in the future, they would once again have a Dragon God Douluo bearing the Light Holy Dragon martial soul. To their enemies—especially evil soul masters—this was ominous. After all, both Dragon Sovereign Piercing Light and Dragon Sovereign Domain were skills developed specifically to counter evil soul masters.
On the third day, perhaps blessed by the goddess of fortune, they actually found a Star Vine in the forest with twenty thousand years of cultivation. Xu Jiujiu was instantly beaming with joy.
However, this Star Vine was already occupied—guarded by another soul beast. A Violet Divine Aurora Mink with fifty thousand years of cultivation. Zhu Ziyang and the others were both startled and delighted. Startled because such a soul beast was extremely rare and powerful, and delighted because it was an excellent match for Jiang Nannan's sixth Soul Ring.
The Violet Divine Aurora Mink was a top-tier rare soul beast. Its body was completely covered in purple crystal-like scales, clear and shining like amethyst. Small and sleek, even at ten-thousand-year cultivation, it would barely be half a meter in length. Its speed was astonishing, moving like a streak of aurora light—almost impossible to catch with the naked eye.
"We'll split up. Ziyang and I will handle the mink. The rest of you deal with the Star Vine!" said Zhang Lexuan.
"Understood!" responded Jiang Nannan and the others, immediately setting off.
Zhu Ziyang and Zhang Lexuan charged straight toward the Violet Divine Aurora Mink. They decided to strike first and trap it before it could react—then take their time playing with it.
Zhang Lexuan unleashed her fourth spirit skill, Moon Suppression, sending out binding moonlight. But the mink noticed instantly and, in a flash, darted out of the moonlight's range.
However, its effort was pointless. Zhu Ziyang's left eye gleamed with silver light, and instantly the entire area fell into a frozen time state. The surrounding vines of the Star Vine halted mid-motion, and the previously blindingly fast mink was frozen mid-leap, its form finally revealed.
In the stillness of time, all flashy moves became meaningless.
Zhang Lexuan's Moon Suppression landed, followed immediately by her fifth spirit skill, Moon Blade, which severed the mink's hind legs, cutting off any chance of escape.
If the mink had been a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, then perhaps time freeze would've been ineffective. But it wasn't. Its speed wasn't at the level of blinking across kilometers, and its cultivation wasn't high enough to ignore the stillness of time. Death was the only outcome.
Zhu Ziyang dashed forward in three steps. Just as the time freeze ended, he grabbed the limp, legless mink and knocked it unconscious with a single punch.
Meanwhile, the five-on-one justice mission had ended smoothly as well. The Star Vine was sliced cleanly from its roots, its life extinguished. Perhaps in decades or centuries, another Star Vine would grow in its place, but for now, twenty thousand years of cultivation was stolen by humans.
Xu Jiujiu had already begun absorbing the Star Vine's Soul Ring. Zhu Ziyang handed the unconscious mink to Jiang Nannan and said, "Nannan, it's yours."
"Got it!" Jiang Nannan accepted the mink and, with a single swift strike, ended its life. Then she sat down cross-legged and began absorbing its ring.
A fifty-thousand-year-old ring would normally be too much for most Soul Emperors. But Jiang Nannan was not average. Her Lunar Jade Rabbit martial soul gave her a flexible, resilient physique, and she had been training with intent all along. Her fifth ring was already twenty-five thousand years. Although the sixth ring would be challenging, it wasn't beyond her limits.
As Jiang Nannan and Xu Jiujiu entered deep absorption, the others didn't idle. They began checking the soul beast corpses for Soul Bones. The Violet Divine Aurora Mink, as a high-level animal-type soul beast, had a better chance than the plant-type Star Vine.
But reality has its jokes. The fifty-thousand-year-old mink did not yield a Soul Bone. Instead, the twenty-thousand-year-old Star Vine did—and it was the rarest type: a torso bone.
The Shrek team all looked at one another, momentarily speechless.
Plant-type soul beasts had only one-tenth the chance of producing Soul Bones compared to animal-type ones. Yet luck was on their side today. Whether they should celebrate or be concerned was unclear.
"Sister Lexuan, you decide what to do with this Soul Bone," Beibei said as he handed her the vine's torso bone. Though he was tempted to keep it for Tang Ya, he resisted. According to Shrek Academy's rules, Soul Bones go first to the one absorbing the Soul Ring. If that person doesn't want it, then it's discussed among the team. If still no one wants it, the academy arranges a trade.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't need discussion—but Xu Jiujiu wasn't technically a Shrek student.
"Hmm..." Zhang Lexuan accepted the Star Vine torso bone with a thoughtful look. After a moment, she sighed and said, "Let's follow the rules. If Jiujiu doesn't want it, we'll decide what to do next."
"Sounds good!" Everyone nodded in agreement. This was perfectly in line with Zhang Lexuan's personality.
An hour later, Xu Jiujiu successfully finished absorbing the Soul Ring and was the first to awaken. Her eyes opened, her beautiful face alight with joy. She stood up and said to everyone, "Thank you all so much!"
"No need to thank us," Zhang Lexuan replied with a smile. "This is what we should do."
"Judging from your smile, you got the skill you hoped for. Want to tell us what it is?" Zhu Ziyang asked with a grin.
"Sure!" Xu Jiujiu answered without hesitation. "My sixth spirit skill is called Star Chain. It manifests a chain that links up to five teammates together, boosting defense and allowing all damage taken by one to be shared across all."
"What a powerful support ability!" Xu Sanshi's eyes lit up. As a defense-type soul master, he fully understood the value of damage sharing. "If I combine this with my Black Tortoise Swap, I could tank ten of Beibei's attacks!"
"Oh? That so? Then we'll test it when we get back!" Beibei grinned dangerously in reply.
"No wonder the Star Crown martial soul rivals the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda," Zhang Lexuan said in admiration. Then she added, "Jiujiu, take a look at this!"
She revealed the glowing green Star Vine torso bone to Xu Jiujiu, who stared at it in astonishment. "Is this... a Soul Bone?"
"Yes," Zhang Lexuan confirmed. "It came from the Star Vine. According to our academy's rules, the Soul Bone goes to whoever absorbs the ring. You get to decide—absorb it yourself or pass it to someone else on the team."
"This..." Xu Jiujiu hesitated, then took the bone and thought for a moment. "I'll absorb it myself."
"Alright then. Begin now. We'll guard you. And don't worry—we'll keep this a secret, on Shrek Academy's honor!" Zhang Lexuan said warmly, unsurprised by the decision.
The others were also fine with it. Though Beibei was a little disappointed, he voiced no objection.
Xu Jiujiu gave the team a grateful glance, then sat down to absorb the Star Vine torso bone.
(End of Chapter)
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