4  ‘Thunderbolt’ Bei Bei

Bei Bei spoke with slight astonishment, “Little brother Huo, you definitely need to think about this carefully. Joining a sect is not a small matter. Even though our Tang Sect is already on the decline, when all is said and done, we were still once the number one sect under the heavens. If you regret your decision in the future, and wish to betray the sect, no matter whether it is Tang Ya or myself, neither of us will forgive you. ”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Big brother Bei, I’ve already thought this matter through carefully. I no longer have any relatives, and am of a young age as well. I only learned how dangerous the outside world was after coming to the Great Star Dou Forest this time around. I want to become an outstanding individual and a powerful Soul Master. Joining the Tang Sect is no doubt a shortcut for me to achieve that. Not only does joining the Tang Sect let me enter Shrek Academy, I can furthermore receive guidance from the both of you. Moreover, I believe in the both of you. The two of you were willing to tell me of the predicaments the Tang Sect is currently facing. I can thus feel the sincerity that the both of you hold towards me. I’m willing to help the Tang Sect regain its glory together with the both of you.”

“Good, you couldn’t have said it any better.” Tang Ya took hold of Huo Yuhao, and embraced him in excitement.

Bei Bei also nodded slightly as he looked at Huo Yuhao, as if he felt the same way too. Huo Yuhao was much more mature than his peers of the same age. Although he’d only obtained his first soul ring after he was over ten years old, and even though talent was important, hard work was absolutely necessary, let alone the fact that he was a rarely-seen owner of a spiritual-type body soul. It could be said that the Tang Sect had gotten him for a cheap price.

The faint fragrance on Tang Ya’s body caused Huo Yuhao’s face to immediately turn red. He didn’t dare to move at all, he just stood there innocently.

It was Bei Bei who again helped him out of this embarrassing situation, “Teacher Xiao Ya.”

Only now did Tang Ya loosen her embrace on Huo Yuhao’s arm. She smiled at him, and looking at her appearance, she was extremely pleased. Obviously, though she absolutely wouldn’t admit it, the very first reason that she’d wanted Huo Yuhao to join the Tang Sect was because of the excessively delicious roasted fish that he made…

“Little Yuhao, you should formally become my apprentice now. Our Tang Sect only has three people as of now, and we don’t have that many rules. Once you become my apprentice and call me your teacher, you’ll be a member of our Tang Sect in the future.” Tang Ya said firmly.

Huo Yuhao nodded and kneeled down in front of Tang Ya with a ‘putong’ sound. He then paid his respects to her, “Disciple Huo Yuhao greets teacher.”

Tang Ya stood there, unmoving. After letting him pay his respects three times, she helped him up. Note: Paying his respects, for those that don’t know, means knocking his head to the ground.

“Very good, Yuhao. In the future, you’re teacher’s second disciple. Acknowledge your eldest senior brother.” As she spoke, she pointed towards Bei Bei.

“I acknowledge eldest senior brother.” Huo Yuhao bowed again, this time towards Bei Bei.

Bei Bei smiled slightly and said, “You don’t have to be so polite, junior brother. We’ll be family in the future.”

Tang Ya seemed to relax as she said, “Yuhao, you should be like Bei Bei, and refer to me as Teacher Xiao Ya in the future. However, don’t learn to be as cheeky as him, understand?”

“Yes, teacher.” After paying his respects, Huo Yuhao had clearly become slightly reserved. However, the blankness in his heart had stabilised a lot. Joining the Tang Sect had caused a sense of security to imperceptibly appear in his heart. This feeling hadn’t appeared in his heart in a very long time.

Xiao Ya flipped her wrist over, and pulled out a book from somewhere. She then passed it to Huo Yuhao, “Little Yuhao, this is a copy of our Tang Sect’s Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record; our Tang Sect’s secret techniques are recorded inside. Out of them, the Mysterious Heaven Technique is the foundation to all of the other techniques contained within. If you use it to meditate, it will definitely increase your cultivation speed. Your cultivation is still shallow, so changing your cultivation technique to the Mysterious Heaven Technique won’t have any side effects. Later on, Bei Bei and I will guide you in cultivation. Besides the Mysterious Heaven Technique, the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record also has five more secret techniques. They are, respectively: Mysterious Jade Hands, which is for training one’s hands; Purple Demon Eyes, which is for train one’s eyes; Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, which is a capturing technique; Ghost Shadow Perplexing Tracks, which is a speed-type technique, and Hidden Weapon Hundred Separation, which is a method to use hidden weapons. The most famous techniques of our Tang Sect involve our hidden weapons, but you need to establish a good foundation before you can cultivate in them. What you need to do now is begin cultivating in the first five secret techniques. In the future, I’ll teach you how to use hidden weapons.”

“Earlier, when I said that our Tang Sect had a secret technique that’d be especially suitable for you, I was referring to the Purple Demon Eyes. The Purple Demon Eyes is a technique to train one’s eyes, and you’ll be able to release an extremely strong spiritual attack after cultivating it to a certain degree. Since your martial soul is the Spirit Eyes, there shouldn’t be a more suitable technique for you than this. You should train in this technique as much as possible.”

After receiving the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record that Tang Ya had handed him, Huo Yuhao carefully placed it into the folds of his shirt, “Thanks, teacher. I’ll definitely put in a lot of effort to cultivate these techniques.”

Bei Bei tapped his belt, causing a belt that was black, and embedded with round white jades, to appear in his hands.

“Junior brother, I’ll give you this imitation of the Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges that our Ancestor Tang San once had. Just take it as a meeting present from your eldest senior brother. With it, carrying a few items on you will be much more convenient.”

Whilst speaking, Bei Bei fastened the Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges belt onto Huo Yuhao’s waist, and told him how to use it. As it turned out, the twenty four embedded jades on the belt each had a half-metre wide space that could be used to store various objects. Huo Yuhao only needed to guide his soulforce into the belt to be able to use it. It was a relatively precious soul tool.

Huo Yuhao’s poor talent was reflected by the state of his body, but he was extremely smart. After a few tries, he managed to easily control the Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges. However, a lot of his soulforce had been drained while he was learning to control it.

Tang Ya said, “Little Yuhao, the reason why I followed your eldest senior brother out here was the same as yours; it was to kill a soul beast for its soul ring. Follow us, I’ll take you back to Shrek Academy once I’m done.”

“Yes, Teacher.” Huo Yuhao hurriedly gave a respectful reply.

Tang Ya giggled and said, “Although you’ve already taken me as your master, you don’t have to be so reserved. Since the Tang Sect only has us three, what’s the point of us being so old-fashioned?”

Bei Bei unhappily said, “With a teacher like you, it’d be a wonder if your disciples were able to be reserved. It’s getting late, let’s hurry up. Hopefully our luck will be better, and we’ll be able to find and kill a suitable soul beast on the outskirts of the Great Star Dou Forest.”

“Yeah.” Tang Ya nodded and said, “Let’s go.”

Tang Ya walked in front, while Bei Bei remained behind, pulling Huo Yuhao along by the hand. The three of them sped up simultaneously, and rushed towards the Great Star Dou Forest.

After obtaining his first soul ring, Huo Yuhao clearly felt that his own cultivation had risen greatly. This was especially so for his body, allowing him to be much more relaxed during the journey. However, his speed was still greatly different compared to Tang Ya and Bei Bei’s. A gentle flow of soulforce flowed out from Bei Bei’s hand into his, practically carrying him along on their journey. On the other hand, Huo Yuhao himself didn’t need to expend much strength.

While they ran, Bei Bei spoke to Huo Yuhao, “Junior brother, our Tang Sect’s Mysterious Heaven Technique is presently one of the continent’s best cultivation techniques. As long as you cultivate it diligently, you’ll definitely reap some benefits. I’ll tell you the tricks needed to circulate the Mysterious Heaven Technique. You must remember them.”

“Okay.” Huo Yuhao nodded his head, and listened to Bei Bei’s explanation seriously.

Not only was Bei Bei’s outward appearance scholarly, he also had an extremely gentle and meticulous temperament. When he explained the Mysterious Heaven Technique’s cultivation technique to Huo Yuhao, he patiently explained all of the particulars of the technique in detail. When they came across an area that Huo Yuhao didn’t understand, he would give an explanation that was both easy and simple to understand, which caused Huo Yuhao to quickly become immersed in the fantastic technique.

Tang Ya, who was walking in front, couldn’t help but stick her tongue out, because she was completely certain that she’d be unable to explain things as orderly as Bei Bei was, if she were the one to teach Huo Yuhao. As the sect master of the Tang Sect, she herself was truly unqualified as a teacher.

Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao continued onwards, with one person talking and one person listening. Almost two hours unknowingly passed.

The large road had already disappeared, and their surroundings were now filled with dense forest. The air had turned fresher and cleaner, but there seemed to be a faint serious aura emitted from the depths of the forest.

“This is the general method used to cultivate this technique. As for the specifics, you’ll have to slowly get a feel for them after trying it out for yourself. If you have anything that you don’t understand, you can ask me.” Bei Bei said to Huo Yuhao.

“Thanks, eldest senior brother.” Huo Yuhao’s admiration towards Bei Bei had continuously risen while Bei Bei had been explaining everything to him; naturally, his respect for Bei Bei had grown as well.

At this moment, Tang Ya, who’d been walking in front, suddenly let out a cold snort. Her footsteps suddenly turned illusory, and her body instantly turned into consecutive afterimages as she pounced towards a large tree on the group’s right. The only thing that Huo Yuhao could faintly see was a few cold lights that flickered outwards. A Wind Baboon, similar to the one that had almost killed him previously, fell from a treetop.

Xiao Ya unhappily said, “These Wind Baboons are simply the most detestable creatures. Not only do they take the initiative to attack, they even launch sneak attacks.”

Huo Yuhao hadn’t used his Spirit Eyes earlier, so he was entirely unable to see how Xiao Ya had moved, “Teacher Xiao Ya, did you use a soul skill just now?”

Xiao Ya was slightly proud of herself as she replied, “It wasn’t a soul skill, but the synergy of our Tang Sect’s Ghost Shadow Perplexing Tracks and hidden weapons. Wasn’t it awesome? If you cultivate properly, you’ll also be able to use them together in the future.”

“Xiao Ya, careful.” Bei Bei’s expression suddenly changed. He suddenly raised his right hand and made an illusory grabbing movement towards Tang Ya. Clearly, they’d worked together frequently, as Tang Ya’s toes tapped the ground lightly, and her body flew up. She seemed to be weightless as she was pulled over by the absorption force exerted on her by Bei Bei’s hand.

A pitch black shadow instantly fell to the ground and let out a light noise. Following that, a strong sweet smell assaulted the senses of everyone present.

Huo Yuhao’s mind felt dizzy, but a wave of icy air instantly surged through his body, sealing his mouth and nose. An icy mist flew slightly outwards from Huo Yuhao’s mouth and nose, causing the sweet-smelling poison gas that he’d previously inhaled to be dispersed into the air.

An ice attribute? My second martial soul? Huo Yuhao immediately questioned the stream of icy air’s origins. However, he clearly hadn’t controlled it.

Just as he was beginning to feel pleased because of his second martial soul’s effects, Tang Ya had been pulled closer by the absorption force of Bei Bei’s hand. She used her right hand to press against Bei Bei’s shoulder, causing her delicate body to curl up and then flip around in midair to land behind Bei Bei.

Two light rings simultaneously rose up from Tang Ya’s legs, the bright yellow colours moving up and down in a rhythmical manner. Her two soul rings were unexpectedly of the hundred-year rank.

In that instant, long blue vines were rapidly released from Tang Ya’s body. One of them just so happened to wrap around Huo Yuhao’s waist, while even more dispersed into the distance.

However, compared to Tang Ya, Bei Bei, who was standing in front, shocked Huo Yuhao even more.

Up to this point, in his mind, this eldest senior brother of his was a gentle, scholarly person. He always wore a gentle smile when he was beside Tang Ya, and had an extremely approachable feel. However, at this moment, he’d changed into a completely different person.

When Xiao Ya had jumped over his head, a dazzling blue light had shone from in-between Bei Bei’s eyebrows. Following that, the blue light instantly expanded outwards from his eyebrows, and spread to his entire body. The fierce blue light resembled several small snakes as they exploded out, surrounding and moving all over his body. Except for the blue lightning symbol that had appeared on his forehead, only a single change had appeared on his body due to his martial spirit.

However, just this one, simple change caused Huo Yuhao to have a completely new understanding towards Soul Masters.

The part of his body that had changed was his right arm. His right sleeve had turned completely into ash due to the expansion of his right arm, which had suddenly increased in length by more than half a foot. His entire arm had become extremely thick, and was now covered in violet-blue scales. His hand had turned into a claw that was also covered with the same scales, while every joint in his hand had become extremely thick. The violet-blue lightning that circled his body gathered and separated unceasingly. However, his soul rings, two of which were yellow and one of which was purple, weren’t like those of an Soul Masters; they didn’t circled around his his right arm instead of his entire body, the place where the unusual changes had appeared.

These three rings signified that he was a Soul Elder. His eldest senior brother, who was only four to five years older than him, was unexpectedly already a Soul Elder-level expert, who was already above the rank of thirty! Furthermore, his soul rings were two hundred-year ones and a thousand-year one, which was the best possible combination.

For soul rings, white represented a ten-year soul ring, yellow represented a hundred years soul ring, purple represented a thousand year soul ring, and black represented something even higher, a ten thousand year soul ring. Besides these, if the mighty hundred thousand year soul beasts, such as the ones who’d persecuted the Skydream Iceworm, were turned into soul rings, they’d be red in colour.

Huo Yuhao had already asked them their ages. Bei Bei and Tang Ya were both the same age—fifteen. However, Bei Bei was slightly older, if you looked at the month that they were born in. Considering the fact that he’d reached the Soul Elder realm at such an age, and that he had three soul rings of this level, using the words ‘heaven’s chosen’ to describe Bei Bei couldn’t be any more suitable. If you looked at their cultivations, he’d clearly surpassed Tang Ya, who was only a Soul Grandmaster that was above rank twenty, despite being his master.

“Gua, gua…” After letting out this strange cry, the shadow that had landed on the ground instantly shot out, pouncing towards Bei Bei.

Bei Bei snorted coldly, and a layer of purple light appeared in his eyes. He placed his thick right arm in front of him horizontally, causing a web of lightning to immediately cover the space in front of him, which prevented the shadow from passing.

“Ka la—” Under the rumbling sound of lightning, the shadow rebounded backwards, while Bei Bei staggered three or four steps back at the same time. The expression on his face changed slightly; Clearly, his opponent’s strength had surpassed his prediction.

“It’s a Mandala Snake! Wah, it’s a thousand-year one too, this is too good! Bei Bei, I want this one.” Tang Ya wasn’t astonished, but instead happy as her lovable voice let out a loud cry.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao had also clearly seen the shadow that had ambushed them. It was a three-metre-long snake, whose entire body was pink. There was also a small protrusion on its forehead that faintly resembled a flower.

Bei Bei clearly didn’t share Tang Ya’s excitement, and instead had a serious expression on his face. Although he was already a Soul Elder-level expert, it was still hard for him to easily achieve victory over a thousand-year soul beast. However, the reason that it was possible for him to do so in the first place was because of his sufficiently strong martial spirit. If an ordinary Soul Elder were to see a thousand-year soul beast, the only thing that they could do was turn around and run.

“Xiao Ya, take care of Yuhao.” Bei Bei let out a low roar, causing the first soul rings on his right arm to flicker. Under the strong undulations of his soulforce, a foot-long violet-blue dragon claw condensed and shot out towards the Mandala Snake.

This was Thunderous Dragon Claw, Bei Bei’s first soul skill.

However, the Mandala Snake was extremely crafty. It had previously been entrenched in the ground, but it suddenly shot into midair the moment that Bei Bei’s attack activated. Its long tail suddenly whipped about in midair, immediately resembling a pink-coloured shadow as it pounced towards Bei Bei.

Bei Bei didn’t retreat, but instead advanced. He instantly leaned his body downwards, while using the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Tracks to flash forward. The lightning dragon claw that had already flown out unexpectedly turned around in midair to pursue the Mandala Snake from behind. At the same time, his second soul ring lit up. Countless snakes of lightning suddenly expanded simultaneously, turning into lightning arrows that flashed through the air, forming a dense, thunderous web that tried to envelop the Mandala Snake.

The previous Thunderous Dragon Claw had only been used to make the Mandala Snake move, while the net formed from Bei Bei’s second soul skill, Vigorous Thunderbolt, was the true trap. As long as the Mandala Snake was trapped by the net of lightning, the Thunderous Dragon Claw could catch up to it from behind. Even if the Mandala Snake wasn’t severely wounded, it would at least give Bei Bei a decisive opportunity.

However, a thousand-year soul beast’s strength was absolutely not that simple. As the lightning web closed in on the Mandala Snake, it spat out a pink mist from its mouth, which caused a smell ten times sweeter than earlier to spread out.

Tang Ya took Huo Yuhao with her as she rapidly retreated, for fear that they would both would be affected by the mist. This was also the first time that worry had appeared on her charming face.

When the lightning arrows formed from the Vigorous Thunderbolt skill were sprayed by that pink mist, it was as if they’d been submerged; their might was still present, but it had instantly become fragmented.

The Mandala Snake displayed its valiant side at this moment. Its body suddenly straightened out in midair, and it proceeded to powerfully smash through the lightning web. It had unexpectedly managed to open a gap in the web made by Vigorous Thunderbolt. When it flew out from the web, it swung its tail, causing the pink light at the tip of its tail to brighten. It then whipped the Thunderous Dragon Claw behind it, loudly shattering Bei Bei’s first soul skill.

However, Bei Bei’s attacks weren’t completely useless. As someone who had one of the strongest beast souls, his attack power was at the peak of soul masters at the same rank as him. Although the Mandala Snake was valiant, a fine layer of lightning had appeared on its body after it had consecutively broken through two of Bei Bei’s soul skills. When it landed on the ground, it was unable to continue releasing attacks.

At the same time, Bei Bei didn’t proceed to launch anymore attacks. He didn’t dare to inhale the toxic pink mist that had spread out into the air either. As he rapidly retreated, a porcelain bottle appeared in his hand. After dumping a pill out for himself, he threw the bottle towards Tang Ya.

Tang Ya grabbed the porcelain bottle and immediately dumped out two pills. She ate one pill, and shoved the other into Huo Yuhao’s mouth.

“Bei Bei, I’ll help you.” While chewing the pill, Tang Ya said.

Bei Bei shook his head and replied, “This fellow is very troublesome, I’m afraid that I’ll have to plan on a battle of attrition. There’s a very high possibility of soul beasts appearing in the surroundings, so you should be careful. I’ll take him on alone. Also, take care of Yuhao.”

This was the second time that Bei Bei had reminded Tang Ya to take care of Huo Yuhao, which caused a warm feeling to surge through his heart. Throughout his entire life, Bei Bei was the first person other than his mother to treat him this well. Due to this, he couldn’t help but be moved.

I want to help eldest senior brother; I’m not trash.

Huo Yuhao rapidly poured his soulforce into his Spirit Eyes, and the soul skills that he’d just obtained immediately flashed through his mind.

A faint golden light appeared in his deep blue eyes once again, and his jade-white soul ring started to rise up from his feet.

If you looked at them just from the surface, you couldn’t see any signs of anything happening. However, the next moment, both Bei Bei and Tang Ya’s bodies simultaneously shook, an astonished look appearing in their eyes.

From their point of view, time seemed to have slowed down. Everything around them had become exceptionally clear, and a large amount of information instantly appeared inside of their minds wherever they looked. When Bei Bei looked attentively at the Mandala Snake, the distance between him and the snake appeared in his mind; even the minute changes in strength from every one of its muscle appeared in his mind. All of the subtleties and minute details had appeared clearly in the depths of his mind.

Not only that, but they didn’t even need to use their eyes to see anything in a thirty metre radius around them. All of their surroundings had appeared inside of their minds as three-dimensional shapes. Furthermore, any subtle changes that occurred would immediately be reflected in their minds.

This was…

No matter whether it was Bei Bei or Tang Ya, they both immediately thought of Huo Yuhao. Was this Huo Yuhao’s first soul skill? Why could it be so mystical? With the assistance of a detection ability like this, facing any opponent would be far, far, too effortless—especially with an opponent like the Mandala Snake, which was a soul beast specialised in speed. For a person like Bei Bei who had sufficient attack power, there wasn’t anything else that could be as helpful as an ability to predict his opponent’s movements and seize a key opportunity.

This ten-year soul ring’s skill was actually so strong? Its auxiliary ability was this outstanding? Sure enough, it deserved its name as a rarely seen mutated spiritual-attribute martial soul!

Huo Yuhao naturally didn’t know that both Bei Bei and Tang Ya had credited the mysticality of the skill that he was currently using on his mutated martial soul. However, in reality, he wasn’t using one soul skill, but two.

The two skills that he was using were the first skill that the million-year soul ring had given him, Spiritual Detection, combined with the second skill, Spiritual Sharing.

These two skills were auxiliary-type skills, and this was the first time that Huo Yuhao had used them. Although he hadn’t been able to completely comprehend the subtleties behind the two skills, he was still able to exhibit most of their enormous effects.

With the current strength of his body, the might of the Skydream Iceworm’s soul rings were roughly equivalent to that of a four hundred year soul beast’s. Because of this, the range of his Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing was roughly thirty metres. However, with his current power, the maximum number of people that he could simultaneously share his Spiritual Detection ability with was three. His strength wouldn’t be enough if there were more people.

His soulforce consumption while using these two skills wasn’t great, but Huo Yuhao had to use a certain amount of spiritual power too. It could be said that he was using both spiritual power and soulforce to jointly support these two skills. With his current level of cultivation, lasting at least an hour wouldn’t be a problem at all. The exact amount of time that he could last could only be discovered later on, through testing.

A low rumble suddenly reverberated from Bei Bei’s body. His whole body emitted strong, violet-blue lightning, and the scales on his right arm rapidly spread outwards towards his body, encasing the right part of his chest within them. This caused the aura released from his body to instantly rise abruptly. His third soul ring, the purple one, also released a dazzling radiance at this moment.

This was the skill from his thousand-year soul ring, ‘Thunderous Fury’.

As a person who possessed a beast soul with the strongest attack power, his third soul skill, ‘Thunderous Fury’, was capable of instantly raising the effects of Bei Bei’s soulforce attacks by more than fifty percent. Furthermore, the strength of his lightning attribute had also doubled. Although this wasn’t a direct attack skill, it still managed to increase Bei Bei’s condition to an extraordinarily strong realm. Even some four-ringed Soul Ancestor experts wouldn’t be his match if they had weaker martial spirits.

Although Bei Bei wasn’t that old, his amount of combat experience was extremely plentiful. After obtaining the support of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing, he knew that his chance had come. Since he couldn’t be sure of how long Huo Yuhao could maintain this state, he immediately decided to use all of his strength at once by releasing his strongest ability.

A violet-blue lightning bolt curled around the dragon claw that his right hand had turned into, and a Thunderous Dragon Claw about twice the size of the previous one appeared around his hand. However, Bei Bei didn’t directly release it this time. Instead, his body flashed as he pounced towards the thousand-year Mandala Snake.

The Mandala Snake was also crafty. Its thousand years of cultivation had caused it to possess a certain amount of intelligence. The aura released from Bei Bei’s body had already caused it to feel a considerably high level of danger. Since itself unable to harm its opponent anymore, it suddenly spat out a mouthful of toxic mist towards Bei Bei, before turning around to run away.

“Humph!” Bei Bei snorted coldly, and the light in his eyes suddenly turned slightly profound. A layer of fragmented lightning suddenly burst outwards from his body, forcibly dispersing the toxic mist. At the same time, the Thunderous Dragon Claw in his right hand shot out towards the space diagonally to the left of him.

At this moment, the effects of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection fully appeared. The reason that Bei Bei could predict his opponent’s movements and strike first was because of the Spiritual Detection that Huo Yuhao had shared with him. When the Mandala Snake sprung forwards, it fled diagonally to the left in front of Bei Bei. However, at this moment, an enormous absorption force appeared in the path that it had taken in order to escape, and it was almost as if it had simply delivered itself right into Bei Bei’s hands. Once the enormous absorption force caught the Mandala Snake, its forward momentum was immediately dissolved, and it was sucked towards Bei Bei.

With the threat of life and death looming over its head, the Mandala Snake immediately exploded out with power. A fierce pink light immediately shone from the top of its head, and it let out several sharp hisses. The flower-like protrusion on the top of its head suddenly exploded, and an arrow made of pink blood flew straight at Bei Bei.

However, Bei Bei had already responded to this in advance. The instant before the flower-like protrusion exploded, the Thunderous Dragon Claw on his right arm had already launched a fierce attack. It landed on the body of the Mandala Snake in the same instant that the protrusion exploded.

The arrow made of pink blood had only flown several inches before it was swept away by the explosion. However, Bei Bei felt cold sweat form. The Thunderous Dragon Claw that he’d released had actually turned pink when it touched the pink blood. If it weren’t for the fact that he was able to predict his opponent’s movements, and seize a decisive opportunity, it might’ve been very troublesome for him if he’d been infected by that blood arrow.

Bei Bei’s figure flashed as he instantly charged forward. This time, the thousand-year Mandala Snake had no countermeasures left. It was accurately grabbed by Bei Bei’s right claw when it was only seven inches away from him. It still attempted to use its body to wrap around Bei Bei’s, but directly lost consciousness after being struck by the terrifying lightning from Bei Bei’s Vigorous Thunderbolt.

The thousand-year Mandala Snake was widely known for its tyrannical body and its lightning-like speed. However, once it fell into the hands of Bei Bei, who possessed an extraordinarily powerful martial spirit, its defensive power wasn’t worth mentioning at all. Under the state of Thunderous Fury, Bei Bei’s dragon claw let out a fierce blow, partially crushing its head. Its bones seemed as if they could be crushed at any time.

“Xiao Ya.” Bei Bei let out a low roar.

Tang Ya naturally wouldn’t let go of such a good opportunity. Carrying Huo Yuhao, she rapidly approached the Mandala Snake. A half-foot long throwing knife appeared in her hand, which she then flung directly into the Mandala Snake’s mouth that Bei Bei had pinched open, ending the life of the thousand-year Mandala Snake.

The violet-blue light from his lightning vanished as Bei Bei finally relaxed, while a purple soul ring slowly condensed and formed above the Mandala Snake’s head.

Tang Ya looked towards Bei Bei with an excited expression, and Bei Bei nodded back at her, “Quickly start. I didn’t think that we’d meet a thousand-year soul beast at the edge of the Great Star Dou Forest. The quality of soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest has really increased.”

Tang Ya giggled and said, “I didn’t think that it’d go this smoothly. Protect me.” Whilst speaking, she rapidly sat down in a cross-legged position beside the Mandala Snake. A blue, gem-like luster shone in her right hand, and she slowly raised her empty hands. After gently tapping the purple soul ring above the Mandala Snake, it was immediately sucked into the blue light in her hand. Then, it merged with her body.

The smile on Tang Ya’s face suddenly vanished as she began to concentrate on absorbing the soul ring. Only now did Huo Yuhao realize that Tang Ya had already reached the bottleneck of the thirtieth rank. The reason why she and Bei Bei had come to the Great Star Dou Forest must’ve been to look for a suitable third soul ring for her. Only, what was Teacher Xiao Ya’s martial soul? A blue vine?

“Xiao Ya’s martial soul is Bluesilver Grass.” Bei Bei said gently, as if he’d seen through the doubt in Huo Yuhao’s heart.

Huo Yuhao was astonished as he replied, “The Bluesilver Grass? The same martial soul as the person in the Tang Sect’s legends?”

Bei Bei nodded his head and said, “Ten thousand years ago, the first generation sect master of the Tang Sect relied on his Bluesilver Grass martial soul to forge the Tang Sect’s glory. Afterwards, he became a God and left. However, he didn’t leave any descendants in the Tang Sect. For the sake of remembering him, the later generations of the Tang Sect stubbornly glorified Bluesilver Grass when choosing the next sect master. In addition to that, the Tang Sect would put much more effort into nurturing Soul Masters who possessed Bluesilver Grass. Unfortunately, the facts have proven themselves. Bluesilver Grass isn’t something that just anyone can unleash great power with. Ever since the almighty legend of the Tang Sect left, the Tang Sect hasn’t had any more experts with Bluesilver Grass that were able to stand at the pinnacle of the continent. However, this tradition has continued to be passed down, and nobody can change it. Xiao Ya’s innate talent to use her Bluesilver Grass is already rather good, so I hope that she can make some sort of a breakthrough.

Huo Yuhao was slightly curious as he asked, “Eldest senior brother, if that year’s Tang Sect was truly as strong as the legends say, why did it head down the road of decline?”

Bei Bei smiled slightly and replied, “You’ll gradually understand the answer to this question once you arrive at Shrek Academy. There were many internal and external problems. Currently, the only people left in the Tang Sect are the few of us, but in fact, this isn’t a bad thing at all. At the very least, it’ll be very hard to use certain restrictions on us. On the contrary, junior brother, you’ve truly given me a great surprise!”

Huo Yuhao naturally understood that Bei Bei was referring to the soul skills that he’d just used. He couldn’t help but scratch his head in embarrassment. “I was just trying to use it, it’s good that it was a bit helpful.”

Bei Bei firmly said, “How could that only be considered ‘a bit’ helpful? I don’t normally have the assurance to face a thousand-year soul beast. If it weren’t for that fantastic assistance from your spiritual power, it would’ve been very hard for me to escape in one piece.”

Previously, when his confrontation with the Mandala Snake had reached its last crucial point, he’d relied on Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection skill to help him accurately predict the Mandala Snake’s every movement. Not only that, but the most important moment was when the Mandala Snake had detonated its crown.

The moment before it happened, Bei Bei had clearly felt a kind of bright feeling surround the Mandala Snake’s crown within the Spiritual Detection world. He hadn’t been able to see it with his eyes at all. This all came from the feeling that he’d felt from the three-dimensional world of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection. Because of this, he’d been able to near-instantly react subconsciously. If not, he might not have been able to retreat in one piece if the toxic blood had polluted him.

This also made Bei Bei aware of how enormous of a role Huo Yuhao’s skill had had during the battle. He made a conservative estimation; if he had the assistance of Huo Yuhao’s skill during a fight with an opponent, his overall strength would be increased by twenty to thirty percent minimum. This was a phenomenal increase! Furthermore, this was only Huo Yuhao’s first soul skill.

Huo Yuhao still had some lingering fear in his heart as he said, “That snake was truly too fierce. Eldest senior brother, what soul beast was it”

Bei Bei replied, “It’s called a Mandala Snake, and its toxicity is extremely strong. Not only does it have a numbing effect, it also has a strong destructive effect towards one’s mental state. It was one of the most terrifying existences amongst poison-type soul beasts. Its body was extremely tough, and ordinary blades will have difficulty wounding it. Its only weaknesses are its mouth and eyes. However, the Mandala Snake will always protect these two exrtemely well. Furthermore, its speed is incomparably quick. However, the most terrifying part of this snake is its attack. Once it clearly identifies its opponent, it rarely gives up.”