Chapter 16: A Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Soul Beast, and a Mysterious Person Who Suddenly Appears.
The deeper one goes, the more dangerous it becomes. Lin Fan has clearly noticed that the soul beasts appearing around him now are much larger and have a greater aura than before.
He hadn't felt anything while watching the anime, but walking in this real forest, Lin Fan felt a chill run down his spine. The late hour only added to the forest's atmosphere of unknown danger.
"Be careful, ten-thousand-year soul beasts are starting to appear. Let's walk slowly and not disturb them,"
Tang Yiran warned, then asked Lin Fan, "Xiao Fan, what kind of ten-thousand-year soul beast are you looking for? Don't try to be brave alone when dealing with ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Even a weaker one is equivalent to a level 50 Soul King in human form."
Lin Fan thought for a moment. According to Ling'er, the Divine Brush technique only needs to be attached to the soul ring of a ten-thousand-year soul beast to complete the advancement. The older the soul beast, the stronger its power after advancement.
From this perspective, it shouldn't be related to the strength or attributes of the soul beast itself, since Lin Fan wasn't going to acquire the soul skills of the soul beast.
Lin Fan said in a low voice, "As long as it's a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, the older the better. The type and attributes of the soul beast itself don't matter. I should be able to handle one with weaker combat power."
Tang Yiran said helplessly.
"I really don't know what you're up to, Xiao Fan. You want to absorb a soul ring, but you don't even care about the attributes and type of the soul beast. Fine, I'll keep an eye on you. If you can't absorb a ten-thousand-year-old soul ring at all and still force it, I'll knock you out and take you back."
Lin Fan smiled and didn't say anything more. The five of them continued to walk carefully along the forest. Occasionally, some birds and beasts of several hundred years old soul beasts would fly by. This level of soul beast was the most common in the Star Dou Forest, but most of them were not aggressive and did not attack humans.
"Wait..."
Tang Yiran suddenly stopped. Seeing that she didn't move, Lin Fan and the other three also stopped immediately.
Suddenly, Liu Erlong pointed in shock to a colossal creature on the riverbank ahead, her voice trembling as she said, "Xiao Fan, look over there!"
Lin Fan looked in the direction Liu Erlong was pointing and was immediately stunned. There stood a gigantic, armored, two-headed crocodile. Its long tail looked terrifying; in his previous life, it would probably be the size of two trucks.
"What is that thing…?" Lin Fan asked hurriedly.
Tang Yiran said seriously, "This is a two-headed rock crocodile. This two-headed rock crocodile looks to be 20,000 years old. The defensive power of the two-headed rock crocodile is extremely astonishing. I'm not even sure I can handle this one. Let's hurry... go in another direction."
Lin Fan nodded, and the five of them immediately bypassed the direction of the two-headed rock crocodile and went to the left.
Fortunately, they hadn't completely ventured into the center of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Although there were ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts here, they weren't concentrated together. Each ten-thousand-year-old soul beast had its own territory and didn't allow other soul beasts to invade. It was generally rare to encounter two ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts at the same time.
"Hmm?"
Lin Fan suddenly saw a cat that looked a lot like a modern-day kitten running in the distance. The cat's eyes glowed in the darkness, but one was white and the other was red. The kitten was running anxiously and meowing.
Besides it, there were some other soul beasts running as well, as if something frightened them was behind them.
This is…
Lin Fan suddenly saw a giant spider slowly crawling out of the woods behind him. This spider's spears were incredibly sharp, and it was about the size of an elephant. Most bizarrely, it seemed to have a disgusting human face on its head.
"This is a Human-Faced Demon Spider,"
Tang Yiran suddenly said. "Human-Faced Demon Spiders are the nightmare of small soul beasts. They specialize in devouring various small soul beasts that are a few hundred years old, making them extremely ferocious. Judging from its size, this Human-Faced Demon Spider is already ten thousand years old." "A ten-thousand-year-old Human-Faced Demon Spider?"
Lin Fan suddenly remembered that this was the one Tang San killed in the anime. Now it was his turn.
Tang San was only level 30 back then, and he almost died killing a two-thousand-year-old Human-Faced Demon Spider. Now this ten-thousand-year-old…
"Perfect timing, I'll take it."
Lin Fan's eyes were resolute. At this moment, he saw the Human-Faced Demon Spider suddenly spit out a mouthful of white spider silk, about to bind the kitten. Lin Fan immediately launched a relentless charge, instantly reaching the kitten. He raised his Shadow Axe and, with a series of swift movements, severed all the spider silk.
The kitten glanced back at Lin Fan, meowed a few times, and quickly hid behind a nearby tree, watching Lin Fan curiously.
The next moment, Tang Yiran rushed to Lin Fan's side, grabbed his hand, and said...
"Xiao Fan, are you crazy? A ten-thousand-year-old human-faced demon spider is not easy to deal with. Even I dare not touch its poison easily. Go to Erlong and the others, I'll deal with it. I'll let you do it after I'm almost dead."
Lin Fan said. "It's okay, Instructor Yiran, don't underestimate me. Let me do it. I can't just stand there like a useless person. This is the soul ring I need. If you're worried, just watch from the side. You can go when I'm about to give up."
"You brat..." Seeing Lin Fan's insistence, and with the human-faced demon spider already eyeing Lin Fan, Tang Yiran could only let go of Lin Fan's hand and immediately released her martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer.
Lin Fan summoned the Shadow Battle Axe and launched another merciless charge towards the human-faced demon spider. At the same time, he also summoned his first martial soul, the Purple Flame Fire Tiger.
Bang...
Lin Fan instantly appeared beside the ten-thousand-year-old human-faced demon spider. Before the human-faced demon spider could react, the Shadow Battle Axe in his hand instantly chopped off one of the human-faced demon spider's legs.
"Awooo..." The Human-Faced Demon Spider screamed in agony, immediately spitting out venomous silk. Lin Fan instantly used the Ruthless Charge double jump to dodge. Although it was grazed a little, the silk was quickly burned away by the purple flames on Lin Fan's body.
This was also why Lin Fan had summoned the Purple Flame Tiger Martial Soul, because the purple flames had a strong restraining effect on the Human-Faced Demon Spider's venom.
"Awooo..." This time, the Human-Faced Demon Spider no longer used venomous silk. It brandished its four meter-long venomous stingers and frantically stabbed at Lin Fan. This time, the Human-Faced Demon Spider was very fast, almost impossible to dodge.
"Divine Stroke..."
Just as Lin Fan was about to be stabbed, he immediately used Divine Stroke. The Azure Lotus Sword Formation bloomed around Lin Fan, instantly paralyzing the Human-Faced Demon Spider for eight seconds. Although it didn't completely paralyze this ten-thousand-year-old Human-Faced Demon Spider, its speed was greatly reduced, and Lin Fan himself entered an untargetable state, disappearing the moment he was stabbed by the Human-Faced Demon Spider.
The next moment, the Man-Faced Demon Spider let out another shrill scream. The damage from the Azure Lotus Sword Formation instantly tore countless wounds open on its body. Most importantly, its legs were right at the edge of the Divine Brush circle, suffering two piercing wounds and losing 600 points of defense.
That's right, Lin Fan's skill using the Shadow Battle Axe already had 1000 defense penetration. After touching the sword circle, the Divine Brush reduced the Man-Faced Demon Spider's defense by another 600 points. Four of its remaining seven legs were severed, and its massive body could no longer support itself.
Lin Fan instantly leaped up. The eight seconds hadn't even expired yet, and the Man-Faced Demon Spider was at its weakest. He threw the Shadow Battle Axe in his hand, slashing fiercely at the Man-Faced Demon Spider's head.
At the same time, Lin Fan used his newly acquired third soul skill, Poison Flame Impact.
"Bang..."
After the Shadow Battle Axe struck the Human-Faced Demon Spider's head, a ball of purple flame descended from the sky again, completely igniting the spider's body. The Human-Faced Demon Spider let out a few weak cries and finally died.
A moment later, a black spirit ring appeared on the spider's body.
This scene stunned Liu Erlong, Ye Keke, and Shui Yue'er, who were not far away.
"He really killed a ten-thousand-year-old spirit beast all by himself?"
Liu Erlong could hardly believe what she was seeing. A Soul Venerable who had just reached level thirty had actually killed a ten-thousand-year-old spirit beast comparable to a Soul King.
Shui Yue'er's mouth also gaped slightly in surprise. She hadn't expected that the boy she initially looked down upon, the one considered the lowest-level in the team, would repeatedly shock her.
Just as Lin Fan landed, preparing to absorb the ten-thousand-year spirit ring, suddenly, four dark figures darted out from not far away.
"Who is it?"
Tang Yiran approached Lin Fan, and the four shadowy figures, no longer hiding, saw Lin Fan begin absorbing the soul ring. One of them cursed loudly.
"Damn it, too late! How could this kid kill the ten-thousand-year-old human-faced demon spider so quickly?" another shadowy figure said. "Could he be a Soul King?" "So
what if he's a Soul King? With me here, what's there to fear from a mere Soul King?"
A strangely-looking old man in a black robe emerged from the shadows, chuckling. "Even without the ten-thousand-year-old soul ring to steal, I can still drain their soul power. Hehehe, what's more, there's such a beautiful woman..."
"That's right, Elder Ge, there are three more beauties over there. We've hit the jackpot this time, hahaha."
At this moment, Lin Fan finally saw the faces of the four shadowy figures clearly. The one in the middle was an old man in a black robe, and the other three were also old men dressed in strange clothes with bat symbols.
(End of Chapter)