Douro Continent

Chapter 148 Tang San's Powerful Third Soul Ring (Part 1)

Although there were some doubts in Xiao Wu's words, she had returned alive after all. Who could imagine what kind of relationship she had with the Titan Ape? Everyone unconsciously chose to believe her.

Zhao Wuji nodded and said, "It's good that you're back. After you were captured, Xiao San was so anxious she was practically red-eyed. She asked Oscar for a mushroom sausage and went after you..." He then briefly recounted everything that had happened. Oscar also handed him a recovery sausage at the opportune moment.

Hearing Zhao Wuji's words, Xiao Wu's eyes reddened, and tears streamed down her face like a broken kite string. Looking at Tang San shrouded in blood mist, she murmured to herself, "Brother, please don't be hurt. It's all my fault, all my fault for making you worry. You must pull through. As long as you wake up, I'll do anything."

Xiao Wu was filled with regret. She had been careless and forgot to conceal her aura, allowing Er Ming to discover her and rush to her aid. If she hadn't been kidnapped by Er Ming, none of this would have happened. Tang San wouldn't be absorbing the spirit ring in this state.

But it's too late to say anything now. We can only hope that Tang San's will is strong enough to overcome this difficulty.

At this moment, only one thought remained in Tang San's mind: "Xiao Wu, I will definitely come to save you." It was for this thought that he persevered, no matter how immense the pain, refusing to let his spirit collapse first. At this critical juncture of life and death, the foundation of Tang San's training since childhood became apparent. His body was already much stronger than that of ordinary people his age, and his Xuan Tian Gong was an exceptionally resilient and orthodox Taoist internal energy technique.

If the energy of the Human-Faced Demon Spider's soul ring were conscious, it would surely discover that its violent energy seemed poised to shatter Tang San's body each time, yet his body always managed to deflect the violent energy with its unwavering resilience at the last moment.

In each of these defenses, the energy contained in the Human-Faced Demon Spider's soul ring was being absorbed by Tang San's body bit by bit. With this ebb and flow, the violent energy was gradually weakening.

The most critical issue Tang San faces now is how to integrate the absorbed spirit ring energy with his body and the Mysterious Heaven Skill, and with his spirit Blue Silver Grass.

Although the Blue Silver Grass itself was weak and not particularly resistant to external forces, the energy of the Human-Faced Demon Spider's spirit ring was so domineering that even the Blue Silver Grass spirit was somewhat unwilling to absorb it. It was this process of mutual antagonism that brought Tang San the greatest pain.

Fortunately, he ate an Oscar recovery sausage before he started absorbing the spirit ring, otherwise his stamina would probably have given out by now.

Tang San's bones began to crackle and pop, a sound that, though not loud, was terrifying, as if Tang San's entire body could shatter at any moment.

A faint gray layer gradually appeared on the blood beads seeping from the skin's surface. As the soul ring was absorbed, the energy contained within the Human-Faced Demon Spider was undergoing a process of cleansing and transforming Tang San's body in an extremely forceful manner. The intensity of the pain involved was unimaginable.

Finally, faced with Tang San's unwavering willpower, all the energy within his body began to yield. A process of mutual absorption and transformation began.

The fine beads of blood stopped flowing, and Tang San's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. A faint blue light began to quietly emanate from his body.

Zhao Wuji exclaimed with delight, "It's done! The most dangerous moment has passed; now it's time for the soul power conversion. Tang San truly lives up to his reputation as a creator of miracles. He withstood the two-thousand-year-old Human-Faced Demon Spider soul ring. The Peerless Dragon and Snake should really be grateful; if their granddaughter had absorbed this soul ring, it might have already ruptured by now."

As the blue light was released, strands of Blue Silver Grass began to grow slowly around Tang San's body. The size of the Blue Silver Grass did not change much; in fact, it was thinner than when he had two spirit rings. The original blue-black color had turned into a blue-purple color, a fused color, and it no longer appeared in the form of patterns.

The Blue Silver Grass was now about the thickness of two fingers, and its biggest difference from before was its luster. It shimmered as if the grass had been coated with a layer of glaze.

Zhao Wuji told everyone to step back a bit. He knew that Tang San was having trouble controlling his newly enhanced power, causing his soul power to leak out. Given Tang San's previous physical condition, it would have been strange if he had been able to control this enhanced energy.

"Ah—" Just when everyone thought the situation was settled, Tang San's relaxed brows suddenly furrowed, and he let out a scream. Sitting cross-legged there, his body convulsed violently, his chest suddenly bulged, and his entire upper body arched up, making him look terrifyingly horrifying.

"Brother—!" Xiao Wu cried out, tears streaming down her face. She unconsciously clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.

Zhao Wuji was also greatly alarmed. Had something gone wrong again?

Just as everyone was surprised, suddenly, accompanied by the sound of tearing brocade, Tang San's clothes on his back were suddenly torn apart. Dai Mubai, who was standing behind him, could clearly see that four fist-sized bulges appeared on each side of Tang San's spine.

What is this? At Dai Mubai's prompting, everyone noticed the change in Tang San's back. At this moment, Tang San seemed to be enduring great pain, with fine beads of blood starting to emerge from under his skin, and his whole body was convulsing violently.

Immediately afterwards, the eight protrusions suddenly ruptured. Strangely, the skin on Tang San's back did not curl back. Eight fist-sized, dark purple objects emerged from the eight protrusions and grew wildly at an astonishing speed.

When the eight protrusions cracked and grew dark purple objects, Tang San seemed to relax, his expression becoming much more relaxed, but the spasms in his body continued.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the deep purple object grew to over a meter in the blink of an eye, and continued to grow at an astonishing speed. When it exceeded one and a half meters in length, it paused slightly, and at its end, something resembling a joint grew out. As the deep purple color extended further, it began to extend in another direction from the joint.

"This, this is..."

The eight purplish-black objects grew to over three meters long before stopping. They were entirely purplish-glossy and had an extremely smooth surface. They were thickest near Tang San's back and gradually thinned outwards, becoming as sharp as cones at their ends.

"Isn't that the leg of a human-faced demon spider?"

Looking at Tang San and then at the corpse of the Man-Faced Demon Spider on the other side, everyone was surprised to find that the object growing from Tang San's back was very similar to the spider legs of the Man-Faced Demon Spider, only it was thinner overall, but it looked shinier and even had a faint sweet fragrance emanating from it.

Zhao Wuji had seen many soul masters absorb soul rings, but this was the first time he had ever witnessed such a scene, and for a moment he lost his ability to judge.

The strange events didn't end there. After the eight spider legs stretched out behind Tang San, they began to pulsate slightly. The four lower spider legs slowly pierced the ground, lifting Tang San's body, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, into the air.

At this moment, Tang San looked as if he had gained eight arms, each three meters long, which appeared extremely bizarre.

Tang San's body finally stopped convulsing. His clothes were completely torn, and gradually, the Blue Silver Grass that had previously extended slowly curled back, wrapping around his body like a large cocoon. Only the spider legs on the outside were slowly pulsating.

The students of Shrek Academy had no idea why things had turned out this way, and all they could do now was wait. Faintly, they could only hear the cracking and popping sounds emanating from within the cocoon. As for what had happened to Tang San, no one could say for sure.

Ma Hongjun couldn't help but ask, "Could Tang San turn into a giant spider?"

Xiao Wu glared at him fiercely. "Impossible. How could Xiao San turn into a spider? This must be due to some mutation caused by the soul ring he absorbed. He'll be alright."

Even Xiao Wu didn't know if her words were meant to comfort everyone or herself; waiting was the only thing they could do now.

However, no one expected the wait to be so long.

Oscar absorbed the spirit ring in just over half an hour, but when Tang San was enveloped by the Blue Silver Grass, time seemed to freeze, and there was no movement at all.

An hour passed, then two. The sky gradually brightened from darkness, then faded back into darkness. The twelve-hour wait left everyone exhausted. Yet, no one dared to be careless; they could only wait.

The only thing that comforted them was that the eight spider legs growing from Tang San's back were constantly moving, showing signs of life.

Under Zhao Wuji's orders, everyone took turns resting, but Xiao Wu refused, remaining beneath Tang San's body the entire time. She silently prayed that Tang San would safely overcome this ordeal.

"Hmm—" A soft groan startled Xiao Wu, who was already somewhat dazed. She quickly looked up.

The slender blue silver grass slowly unfurled, stretching outwards one by one, gradually revealing its owner.

(End of this chapter)