Douro Continent

Chapter 128 The Thousand-Year-Old Phoenix-Tailed Crested Serpent (Part 2)

He handed each person a sausage and a cured sausage, saying, "My sausage can maintain its vitality in the air for twelve hours, meaning that eating it within twelve hours will have an effect. The sausage provides healing and satiety, while the cured sausage's main function is detoxification."

Everyone accepted the sausages and carefully put them on their person. They understood that Oscar was giving them some first in case there wasn't enough time to give them to everyone in the event of a crisis.

The continuous release of soul power made Oscar's face somewhat pale, but fortunately, his beard concealed it. The sausages he conjured were very effective for others, but only about a third of their effect on him, roughly balancing the consumption of his soul power. Therefore, he could only recover his soul power through meditation after it was depleted. Of course, the sausages' ability to satisfy hunger was also useful to him.

Zhao Wuji looked around at everyone and, seeing that the seven youths in front of him were all ready, waved his hand and said, "Let's go."

This time, Zhao Wuji had Dai Mubai and Tang San walk ahead, while he personally brought up the rear, taking the first step into the Star Dou Great Forest.

Upon entering the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiao Wu was the most excited. She didn't seem to realize it was a dangerous place at all, jumping and skipping around, indescribably happy. Zhao Wuji frowned at her, but since Xiao Wu didn't exceed his limits, he didn't say anything more.

The terrain within the Star Dou Great Forest is extremely complex, and there are no roads in the forest at all, so the task of clearing a path naturally fell to Dai Mubai.

Using his Martial Soul Possession ability, Dai Mubaihu deflected the sharp blades in his palms, slicing through the thorns in their path with a flick of his wrists, without affecting their speed at all.

Tang San followed closely behind Dai Mubai, maximizing his eyesight and hearing, and carefully observed his surroundings.

The master had once specifically explained to him the knowledge about wild spirit beasts. Wild spirit beasts are extremely aggressive and harbor deep hatred for humans who increase their strength by killing them. Most terrifyingly, some wild spirit beasts live in packs, meaning that one might encounter a group of powerful wild spirit beasts. In such a situation, unless the spirit master possesses extraordinary strength, it would be very difficult to withstand them.

Therefore, the master repeatedly warned that once you enter the range of wild soul beasts, you must be extremely careful and cannot make any mistakes, otherwise you may face annihilation.

The reason Grandmaster sent Tang San to Shrek Academy wasn't actually to teach him anything specific. If Shrek could teach him, how could Grandmaster not teach him? However, Grandmaster was constrained by his own limitations. While teaching Tang San was no problem, once Tang San reached level 30, Grandmaster could no longer assist him in obtaining spirit rings.

A level 30 spirit beast can only withstand spirit rings of the thousand-year level. Thousand-year spirit beasts are extremely rare in nationally bred areas, and those with good attributes are even rarer. Suitable ones can only be found in wild spirit beast habitats. Therefore, the most important reason why Grandmaster sent Tang San to Shrek Academy was to hope that the strength of the Shrek Academy teachers would help Tang San obtain a suitable spirit ring.

Soon, they encountered soul beasts, and a whole group of them.

With Zhao Wuji deliberately lowering his voice, the group stopped advancing. Tang San was the first to discover this group of spirit beasts; they were a group of toothed weasels. These spirit beasts were not large in size and their attack power was not very strong, but their teeth were extremely powerful and could bite through metal.

Tang San grabbed Dai Mubai, who had been cutting through the thorns, with one hand, and waved his other hand behind his back to the others, indicating that there was no danger. Based on the experience taught to him by his master, he could tell at a glance that this group of twenty or thirty fanged weasels were only ten-year-old soul beasts.

The toothed weasel has a very keen sense of smell, and at this distance it had obviously already spotted them, but it didn't do anything, clearly showing no interest in them.

Tang San pointed to the side, and Dai Mubai understood immediately, continuing to cut through the thorns to help everyone move forward.

As they walked forward, Dai Mubai asked Tang San in a low voice, "Why are we going around them? Those toothed weasels weren't strong; we could have just killed them."

Tang San smiled and said, "They pose no threat to us, so why kill them? If all Soul Masters acted like this, would there still be any Soul Beasts in this forest many years from now? Besides, my teacher said that even if you encounter low-level Soul Beasts in the Wild Soul Beast Forest, you can't be careless, because once you fight them, the smell of blood and the noise could easily attract powerful Soul Beasts. We'd better be careful."

Dai Mubai said with heartfelt admiration, "Your teacher must be a very powerful elder. This is all valuable experience."

Tang San recalled Grandmaster's helplessness, and a bitter smile appeared on his face. Powerful? Grandmaster didn't seem to fit the bill. This was also Grandmaster's greatest regret in his life.

The Starry Sky Forest is so dense that the phrase "blocking out the sun" is not an exaggeration at all; it's not easy to see sunlight inside the forest.

The group traveled for about an hour, and it was now noon. During this time, they encountered many spirit beasts, mostly ten or a hundred years old. They generally avoided them, refraining from direct confrontation. Occasionally, some foolish beasts would attempt to kill themselves, but Dai Mubai's tiger paws easily resolved the situation. Of course, he heeded Tang San's advice and didn't kill the spirit beasts, merely driving them away or injuring them.

"Alright, everyone, let's take a break." Zhao Wuji's voice relaxed the tense group. Dai Mubai cleared away the thorns around them, creating a clearing of nearly a hundred square meters. The group sat down against the trees to rest for the time being.

Oscar naturally contributed his sausages. At this point, no one was in the mood to appreciate what tasted good or bad. They ate Oscar's sausages and drank the water they carried with them, taking a break.

Zhao Wuji ordered them to rest for an hour. This area was still on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, where high-level spirit beasts were rare and the terrain was relatively safe. Their goal was to help Oscar kill a suitable thousand-year spirit beast, which required them to venture deeper. The further they went, the more dangerous it became, and the better their rest time would be. Therefore, adjusting to their optimal condition in a relatively safe place was essential.

Xiao Wu leaned on Tang San's shoulder. For some reason, she, who had been so excited when she first entered the forest, became listless after her first encounter with a soul beast, as if she had something on her mind. Tang San had tried to ask her about it, but Xiao Wu always said that she was fine.

Just as everyone had rested for about half an hour, suddenly, Tang San and Zhao Wuji both turned their gazes in the same direction.

Zhao Wuji shouted, "Get up, everyone! Tell us if something is approaching!"

Tang San and Dai Mubai, in perfect unison, stepped in front of Oscar and Ning Rongrong, while Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and Fatty stood guard beside them. Immediately, everyone released their martial souls, including Zhao Wuji.

The rustling sound grew louder and louder, and even Oscar and Ning Rongrong, who were both support-type Soul Masters, could clearly sense how quickly the unknown creature was approaching.

"Zhu Zhuqing, see what it is," Zhao Wuji ordered in a deep voice.

Zhu Zhuqing remained silent, quietly leaping up and extending her sharp claws. She swiftly climbed a nearby tree as if walking on flat ground, looking in the direction from which the sound came.

Cats have excellent vision, even at night, let alone at midday.

Soon, Zhu Zhuqing's cold voice came from the tree, "It seems to be a flying snake, but it can't fly very high, only about three meters above the ground. It has a fleshy crest on its head, which looks bigger than its head and is as red as blood. Its tail is quite special, fan-shaped."

Zhao Wuji's eyes lit up. "It's a Phoenix-tailed Crested Serpent! This kind of soul beast is quite rare. The crest on its head has many wonderful uses. Oscar, you're in luck. It's a pity we don't know how old this Phoenix-tailed Crested Serpent is. Zhu Zhuqing, keep an eye on its direction of travel, and report to me immediately if there are any changes."

"Yes. It's heading this way, and it's moving very fast, but it seems to be having some trouble maintaining its balance."

Tang San suddenly asked, "How long is this Phoenix-tailed Crested Serpent? What color are its wings?"

Zhu Zhuqing said, "The wings are light red and are about six to eight meters long."

Tang San did a quick calculation in his mind and said with certainty, "This is a thousand-year-old Phoenix-tailed Crested Serpent. Its pale red wings are a sign of its thousand-year evolution. Judging from its length, it is between six and eight meters long, and its cultivation level should be between 1,300 and 1,800 years. Oscar, you're perfect."

"The Phoenix-tailed Crested Serpent is non-venomous, a rare and powerful non-venomous snake. Its attack method is to constrict its enemies, suffocating them. Its attack method is simple, but incredibly fast. Furthermore, its crest stores various nutrients, which can grant it an instant speed boost in times of crisis. If you obtain this spirit ring, your next spirit skill should be related to speed. Whether it's assisting in increasing speed or adding speed to yourself, it's a good choice. Because the Phoenix-tailed Crested Serpent's attack power isn't particularly strong and its attack method is relatively simple, those over a thousand years old are rare. You're lucky this time."

(End of this chapter)