Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

The once-silent Black Soul Beast's lair, like a beehive that had been punctured, instantly erupted into chaos.

Deep inside the cave, one after another, black soul beasts crawled out.

Twenty heads.

Thirty heads.

More breaths are awakening in the darkness.

Samuel's eyes sharpened.

"Walk!"

He suddenly rushed out.

Luca followed closely behind, drawing his twin axes, dark blue energy emanating from their blades.

Xilun took a step down.

Three lightning patterns lit up slightly, and his whole body transformed into a blurry lightning shadow, instantly passing over the two black soul beasts that pounced on him, and directly rushing into the dark cave entrance.

The roar of beasts behind us was deafening.

The cave was even colder and darker inside.

A putrid, damp, and bloody stench wafted towards us.

Black threads hung from the cave walls and ceiling, some places still entwined with half-melted animal bones, dripping viscous liquid.

Xilun walked forward, gun in hand, his footsteps silent.

Samuel and Luca followed behind, one on each side.

The three shadows were stretched long in the darkness.

No one spoke.

Only the rustling sound coming from deep within grew clearer and clearer.

It looks like countless tiny feet crawling on the stone wall.

The cave gets narrower the further in you go.

The black threads gradually increased in number. At first, they were just scattered in the cracks of the stone wall, but as you went deeper, almost the entire passage was covered by semi-transparent spider webs.

The spiderwebs had a dull luster, unlike the Black Soul Beast's usual misty body, and instead possessed a certain real resilience.

Xilun raised his spear and parted a strand of hanging spider silk.

The tip of the gun dipped slightly.

The spider silk was stretched, but it did not break immediately. Instead, it stretched into a very thin arc on the tip of the spear, like a piece of beef tendon soaked in oil.

Xilun narrowed his eyes.

Even with the sharpness of the Thunder Spear, coupled with the water-thunder force he casually added, it couldn't be easily cut through.

Something's not right about this.

The Black Soul Beast is half-alive and half-dead, with many parts of its body made of condensed soul mist. After it dies, it will disintegrate into black mist and rarely leave behind a stable physical form.

But the spider silk before them was so tough it was almost like a magical material.

Luca walked by, swung his short axe, and cut several strands of spider silk in a low, hoarse voice.

"Don't stop."

Xilun ignored him.

""

He used the tip of his gun to pick up the broken spider silk and sensed a faint trace of life remaining within it.

It looked as if the Black Soul Beast had devoured some living creature and then fused its flesh and blood essence into the spider silk.

This lair is not just a gathering place for ordinary Dark Soul Beasts.

There may be something else deep inside the cave.

Samuel noticed Xilen's movement, his eyes flashed, but he didn't say anything.

He knew, of course, that this place was unusual.

He came precisely because it was unusual.

The intelligence initially came from an inner court disciple who had been severely injured and forced to leave the realm.

The man had only ventured to the outer edge of the decaying stone forest when he saw a spider-like black soul beast dragging the corpse of a third-tier sea beast into the cave.

More importantly, the man had seen a faint gray medicinal scent outside the cave.

In a heavily polluted place like the Blackwater Abyss, the presence of medicinal fragrance often signifies a wondrous object nurtured by the combined energy of death and soul power.

Samuel originally planned to take it down himself.

After one attempt, he discovered that there were too many beasts on the outer perimeter, and the spider was extremely cunning, always hiding deep inside.

He needs a knife that is sharp enough.

Xilun is that knife.

If the knife kills the spider and then breaks inside, all the spoils will belong to him.

With this thought in mind, Samuel regained his composure.

Failure is not scary.

What's scary is that after losing, you're afraid to gamble again.

He had few options left.

After his defeat in the Sea of ​​the Dead, his reputation in the inner court plummeted, his ranking was surpassed by Xilun, and his family began to question whether his resource allocation was worthwhile.

If he cannot bring back enough spoils from this hunting day and prove himself again, his influence in the inner court will only weaken in the future.

To reach the fourth tier, he needs more than just talent; he also needs resources, reputation, and supporters.

These things will not fall into the hands of the losers on their own.

"Front."

Luca suddenly stopped.

A wide, shadowy area appeared at the end of the passage.

The three slowed down and passed through the last layer of hanging spider webs.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

This is a natural cave hall.

The dome is tens of feet high, and the surrounding stone walls are covered with layers of spider silk, like a huge and disgusting white membrane.

In the center of the cave hall stands an upside-down black stone pillar, beneath which crawls a huge spider.

Its body was as big as a house, and its eight long legs were like black spears, with bone spurs growing at the joints.

Its abdomen was translucent, filled with churning gray-black mist, in which countless tiny human faces floated and sank, emitting silent screams.

The most striking feature is the junction of its chest and abdomen.

There was a piece of jet-black crystal embedded there.

The crystal was more complete than the black crystal of the previous three giant turtles, with no cracks on its surface and a deep, rich luster, as if it had absorbed all the darkness around it.

Perfect black crystal.

Xilun's breathing paused almost imperceptibly for a moment.

If a complete black crystal can refine one's strength, then a perfect black crystal is enough to further dissolve the subtle barriers between strength and flesh.

For him now, this is more important than ordinary third-tier spiritual materials.

Once you obtain it, the path to the third-tier extreme realm will be greatly shortened.

Samuel and Luca also saw the black crystal.

Greed gleamed in Luca's eyes, and his fingers tightened slowly around the axe.

But the next moment, the three of them almost simultaneously looked down at the spider's body.

There, gray spiderwebs enveloped the skeleton of a huge sea monster that had been dead for an unknown period of time.

Inside the ribcage of the skeleton, a small, dark grass, about half a foot tall, was growing.

The grass has only three leaves, with long, thin leaves and pale white veins, like fine lines ground from bone.

Its roots are embedded in the decaying marrow, surrounded by a few drops of viscous ash liquid, emitting a very faint yet refreshing medicinal fragrance.

Samuel's pupils contracted sharply.

Luca felt a sudden heaviness in his chest.

"Bone-Melting Grass".

He uttered three words in a low voice.

Xilun's gaze narrowed slightly.

He had seen the name in the pharmacy's records.

The biggest challenge for a third-tier extraordinary individual advancing to the fourth tier is the conflict between their physical body, strength, spirit, and the nascent form of their future small world.

Losers suffer at best a severe blow to their foundation, and at worst, their lives are distorted on the spot.

To reduce the failure rate, many factions prepare advancement aids in advance.

Ice Spirit Elixir, Fire Spirit Fruit.

If both are used simultaneously, the chances of success increase by 10%.

Bone Elixir is an even more precious option, as it can make the spirit and bone marrow of a third-tier perfect extraordinary cultivator more stable when attempting to break through to the fourth tier, increasing their chances of success by about 20%.

Bone-Melting Grass is one of the two main ingredients of Bone-Melting Elixir.

Even a single plant would be enough to drive many third-stage perfect disciples of the inner court to their deaths.

This bone-destroying herb is not large.

It's enough to make at most one or two doses of medicine.

It's simply impossible to divide them equally.

The cave was eerily quiet for a moment.

The enormous spider did not seem to be fully awake yet; only the gray mist on its abdomen rose and fell slowly, and its eight long legs occasionally tapped the ground, making a soft tapping sound.

Samuel suppressed his racing heart and said calmly, "It was an unexpected gain."

Luca licked his chapped lips.

"Kill the spiders first."

Xilun glanced at the two of them.

"and then?"

Samuel met his gaze and said slowly, "Both the Perfect Black Crystal and the Bone Nether Grass are precious. Since it's a collaboration, we should naturally divide the spoils according to our efforts."

Luca sneered.

"We'll decide how to divide it after we kill them. If we argue now, no one will get anything."

Xilun did not call out this nonsense.

Because he didn't intend to split it.

He might not need the Bone Grass right now, but the path to the fourth tier is already in front of him, and he can't give up anything that can increase his chances of advancement.

Moreover, Samuel and his companion harbored murderous intent from the very beginning.

At this point, talking about distribution is just the three of them hiding their knives in their sleeves and being polite with each other.

"Can."

Xilun slowly raised his gun.

"Kill the spiders first."

Samuel let out a breath.

"I'll suppress them head-on, Luca will cut their legs, and Junior Brother Xilun will use his marksmanship to find weaknesses in Black Crystal."

He spoke so naturally, as if he were seriously planning tactics.

Xilun nodded.

"it is good."

The next moment, Samuel's palm suddenly erupted with power.

A thick, wave-like wall rolled forward and crashed violently into the spider in the center of the cave.

The sleeping spider suddenly raised its head.

Countless human faces on the abdomen opened their eyes simultaneously.

A sharp screech instantly pierced the minds of the three.

The golden thunder eye between Xilun's brows glowed slightly.

The Great Thunder Breathing Technique resonated within the chest cavity, crushing the auditory hallucinations that had just begun.

Samuel and Luca were clearly prepared, having each taken anti-pollution drugs. They only paused briefly before continuing their charge.

boom!

The wave crashed against the spider, but it was like hitting a flexible spider web, with the sticky black silk dissipating the force layer by layer.

The enormous spider braced itself on its eight legs, moving with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, it leaped out from under the stone pillar, its forelegs transforming into two black spears that pierced towards Samuel.

Samuel gave a low shout and thrust out with both palms.

Overturning tides and shattering mountains!

Two waves of energy overlapped in front of him, forcefully blocking the spider's legs.

A loud explosion occurred.

Samuel's feet sank into the stone, but he did not retreat.

He is indeed stronger than he was in the Sea of ​​the Dead.

His strength became more solid, his physical body was fully restored, and he even had a sharpness that had been suppressed for a long time.

Luca swept past from the side, slashing down with his double axes close to the ground.

Two dark blue axe beams struck the spider's left leg joint, sparks and black mist flying everywhere.

The spider felt pain, and its abdomen suddenly swelled up.

"Watch out for spider webs!"

Samuel reminded him in a deep voice.

Before the words were even finished, the spider opened its mouthparts and sprayed out a large clump of grayish-white spider silk.

Spider silk spread out in the air, like a giant net suddenly unfurled, covering the three of them.

A flash of lightning appeared beneath Xilun's feet.

The Canglang Step incorporates the explosive techniques of the Flash Thunder Step, allowing the body to instantly shift several feet to the side.

The spiderweb brushed past his shoulder and fell, sticking to the stone wall with a snap, causing the entire wall to tremble slightly.

Xilun thrust out with a backhand thrust.

The lightning at the tip of the spear compressed into a single point, piercing the edge of the spider web.

It's sizzling!

The lightning exploded, charring the spiderweb, but it did not completely break.

Xilun's gaze deepened.

This level of resilience is unlike anything the Black Soul Beast itself possesses.

The spider's long legs swept across again.

Instead of retreating, Xilun advanced, his Canglei Spear grazing the spider's legs, the water currents enveloping him, using the force to deflect the frontal impact. Then, with a shake of the spear, seven layers of tidal energy shot into his joints.

boom!

The spiny segment of the spider's right foreleg shattered.

The massive body suddenly tilted.

Luca seized the opportunity, crossed his two axes, and cleaved them into the other long leg joint.

Samuel seized the opportunity to step forward, unleashing a torrent of palm strikes that landed three times on the spider's head.

With the combined attack of the three, the spider finally showed signs of weakness.

But the more smoothly the battle went, the deeper Samuel's murderous intent grew.

West London is too stable.

Since entering the cave, he has not made any unnecessary movements.

Every dodge was perfectly timed, and every shot landed in the spider's most vulnerable spot.

Even more terrifying is that he has not yet used the Breath of the Styx, nor has he released that eerie dark red and black aura.

With just his marksmanship, lightning strikes, and movement skills, he was already able to fight alongside them against a third-tier extreme realm black soul beast.

What if we give him a few more years?

What if he reaches the fourth level?

By then, I will not even have the right to stand in front of him.

A chill suddenly ran through Samuel's heart.

It's not fear of death.

Instead, the fear was completely shaken off, forgotten by the times and by the public eye, and when it was mentioned, it was forever just a joke on Xilun's path to adulthood.

No.

He must die here.

The spider went completely berserk after being injured.

Its abdomen suddenly contracted, and dozens of spider silks shot out simultaneously, sealing off the escape routes around the cave.

Xilun took several steps, avoiding the three spider webs, but found a recessed stone cave on the left.

The cave appeared to be a safe haven from the spider's direct spit, but in reality, it was sealed off on three sides with only one entrance.

A glint flashed in Samuel's eyes.

The opportunity is here.

He exchanged a glance with Luca.

Luca's short axe struck the spider's side heavily, forcing it to turn around, allowing one of its legs to sweep towards Xilun's back.

Samuel shouted, "Junior Brother Xilun, quickly hide in the cave on the left!"

"I can't stop this strike, lest I accidentally hurt you!"

As he spoke, he frantically gathered power in his palms.

Thick waves rolled through the cavern, their power astonishing, as if they were about to blast the spider to pieces with a single blow.

Xiren stood still, with spider legs sweeping towards him from behind, Samuel's palm strike about to erupt in front of him, and the narrow groove to his left.

If he hides inside, Samuel can block the exit with a single blow.

With spider legs, palm strikes, and spider silk attacking him from all sides, even the strongest man would suffer severe injuries.

A hint of coldness appeared on Luca's lips.

But Siren did not move.

He simply raised his eyes and looked at Samuel.

"No need."

Xilun's voice was calm.

"Senior brother, kill this Black Soul Beast."

Samuel's pretense gradually faded away.

The waves condensed into a deep blue vortex in his palm.

"Silon".

He said in a low voice, "Why are you always in my way?"

The next moment, he didn't slap the spider.

Instead, he turned and struck Xilun in the chest with a palm strike!

Luca suddenly lashed out almost simultaneously.

The two axes transformed into two dark blue-green streaks of light, slicing towards Xilun's waist and neck.

Behind them, the raging spider's long legs tore through the air and crashed down heavily.

A three-way attack.

The murderous intent fully erupted.

The air in the cave seemed to be instantly compressed.

Samuel's palm strike, accompanied by a deep blue wave of energy, came crashing down head-on. Luca's twin axes blocked the sideways path from above and below, while the spider's long legs behind him slammed down with a shriek.

If it were six months ago, Xilun would have had to immediately use the Breath of the Styx or break the Blood Lock to break the deadlock with his trump card.

But things are different now.

There was no panic in his eyes.

There was only a cold, clear understanding.

From the moment Samuel proposed the collaboration, he knew this moment would come.

Three golden lightning patterns lit up simultaneously.

Deep within his left wrist, right arm, and major tendons, Lei Li opened his eyes like a sleeping giant.

boom!

The stone surface beneath Xilun's feet shattered.

His figure neither moved to the left nor retreated, but instead charged straight forward to meet Samuel's palm strike.

Luca's twin axes slashed from the side, but only struck a lingering streak of lightning.

"So fast!"

Luca's pupils contracted sharply.

The next instant, the Thunder Spear struck the thickest point of Samuel's palm strike.

The tip of the spear was as sharp as a needle.

The water surged like a tide.

Thunderous power, like a dragon.

Samuel felt his surging palm force being pulled by a supple force, and the force that was originally pressing forward was slightly deflected.

Immediately afterwards, lightning exploded at the tip of the spear.

boom!

The two forces exploded within a three-foot radius.

Samuel groaned as a tearing pain shot through his palm, and his entire arm went numb from the shock.

Xilun's shoulders slumped, but he did not back down.

Using the force of the impact, he spun half a circle like a fish swimming in water, and swept out the Thunder Spear, which met the spider's long legs that came crashing down from behind.

The gun barrel bent into an astonishing arc.

The ninefold tidal force did not fully erupt; it merely formed seven continuous layers.

Bang bang bang!

The bone spurs on the surface of the long foot broke off layer by layer.

The enormous spider was knocked off balance by the shot, its abdomen slamming heavily against the stone pillar, emitting a mournful hiss.

Luca did not hesitate.

He's a man who has killed many people.

While on a mission along the North Sea coast, he once personally beheaded a fellow traveler in order to seize a third-tier spirit fruit.

Before he died, the man looked at him with disbelief, as if he couldn't understand why his fellow disciple could be so ruthless.

Luca never felt guilty.

Resources on the path of cultivation are limited. If you are slow or weak, you may die at the hands of others in the future.

He helped Samuel because Samuel promised him priority access to the Bone Dark Elixir.

If the potion can be refined, even if I only get half of it, it will give me a better chance when I try to break through to the fourth tier in the future.

What does it matter if one Siren dies for this slim chance?

Luca crossed his two axes, his strength suddenly contracted to its limit, and then exploded again in the next moment.

"Tide-Splitting Slash!"

The dark blue light on the axe blade tore through the air, slashing towards Xilun's nape with a sharp whistling sound.

Xilun did not turn back.

The golden lightning eye between his brows, formed from the third transformation, lit up slightly.

All the surrounding air currents, water vapor, and lightning fluctuations became incredibly clear to him.

The wind cut through by Luca's axe blade.

Samuel gathered his palm power once more.

The spider's abdomen is about to spray out silk.

Everything seemed to be a step behind.

Xilun's right foot touches the ground.

Lean forward to avoid the first axe blow.

The spearhead struck backward, hitting the surface of the second short axe precisely.

when!

The sparks exploded.

Luca felt a sudden numbness in his hand.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Xilun turned around, and the Cang Lei Spear rose from below, the tip of the spear grazing past Luca's chest.

Luca felt a chill run down his spine and forcibly turned away.

puff!

The spear tip tore through his protective armor, leaving a deep, bone-revealing gash on his chest.

If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, that shot would have shattered his heart.

Samuel's expression changed completely when he saw this.

They hadn't underestimated Xilun's strength.

In the forty-seventh chapter of the Linglong Pagoda, he defeated the triplets, achieved physical perfection, and mastered the third transformation of the Golden Thunder Vortex Scripture.

These results are amazing.

But Samuel always believed that with himself and Luca joining forces, plus the Black Soul Beast leader keeping them in check, they would be able to crush Siron in the cave.

But after actually fighting him, he discovered that Xilun was even more terrifying than the rumors suggested.

His strength wasn't just in his immense power and ferocious lightning strikes, but also in the astonishingly steady stability of every step he took.

Like someone who has fought countless storms in the deep sea, knowing when to advance, when to yield, and when to turn the enemy's strength into their own.

"Luca, don't hold back!"

Samuel gritted his teeth and hissed.

A fierce glint flashed in Luca's eyes. He pulled a short red needle from his waist and plunged it into his shoulder.

The next moment, his skin flushed an abnormal red, his blood vessels bulged, and his breathing became heavy.

His aura suddenly surged dramatically in a short period of time.