Chapter 138 – Meeting Mu Xi
Tang Wulin was the last to arrive in front of it, yet he suddenly stopped in place and raised the retrieved hammer while a yellow ring emerged from beneath him.
Strand after strand of Bluesilver Grass climbed up the ape’s body like ivy, binding it completely. Even with its tremendous strength, the Ironarm Ape was unable to break free.
A light flashed behind its head as Xie Xie took advantage of its reaction to the fireballs to quickly stab it in the head.
“Hou!” The hundred-year Ironarm Ape released a roar as its red eyes flashed with an ominous glint. It moved to sweep an arm at the back of its head.
Before it could even raise its arm halfway, however, the glimmer of life in its eyes disappeared, and its large, two meter tall body toppled over with a loud thud.
Xie Xie’s first soul ring pulsed with light as a ball of gentle light floated over from the hundred-year Ironarm Ape and circled around him. This was undoubtedly the spirit energy of the Ironarm Ape.
Just as they were told, the spirit energy absorption rate during the rebellion period was far slower than usual. Fortunately, it had only been a hundred-year beast, so it wouldn’t take too long to digest.
When Xie Xie had stabbed the Ironarm Ape with his Light Dragon Dagger, he hadn’t been able to kill the beast immediately, as after all, the ape’s skull was extremely hard. What he did to make up for it, however, was use his first soul skill while his dagger was still in the ape’s head. Like that, he was able to shoot his dagger forward into the ape’s brain, destroying it.
Tang Wulin gave a thumbs up to Xie Xie and proceeded to recall his Bluesilver Grass when Zhang Yangzi called out from behind him, “Reporting on the left side, it’s safe for now.”
Tang Wulin did not hesitate in leading the others to the left side. They didn’t dare stay in one place for too long after killing a soul beast.
From the moment the Ironarm Ape had appeared to the moment it was killed by the trio, only a dozen or so seconds had passed. During the battle, Gu Yue’s only role had been to confuse it, yet it was crucial in allowing them to achieve such an amazing and neat victory with their low cultivations.
This was the result of their three months of combat experience in the spirit ascension platform.
An individual’s strength wasn’t solely dependent on their cultivation and soul skills; their application and techniques mattered just as much.
There were many gifted Soul Masters, but the ones who lacked combat experience wouldn’t be able to display their full power in a battle. As such, Wu Zhangkong’s actions had all been for the sake of laying a good foundation for the students of class zero. With the growth of their combat experience, they would be able to display 120% of their strength!
In his experience, combat Soul Masters were meant to battle, not serve as decorations. Thus, the best way for them to improve was through combat!
For example, Xie Xie had used his Light Dragon Blade soul skill while his dagger was stabbed into the ape’s head, allowing him to puncture the ape’s brain. Only through combat experience could this type of decision making skill be cultivated.
After running to their left side for several hundred meters, they hadn’t encountered any other soul beasts, so Tang Wulin ordered, “Stop! We’ll rest here for a bit. Yangzi, you’re responsible for scouting this time.”
“Yes!” Zhang Yangzi affirmed before nimbly climbing up a nearby tree to a vantage spot. From there, he observed one side while his black eagle spirit soul observed the other, allowing him to keep an eye out in all four directions.
Tang Wulin and Xie Xie were seated cross-legged, intently recovering the soul power consumed in the previous battle.
Although they hadn’t used much soul power in that one battle, it was best to maintain their peak conditions in the spirit ascension platform. Only like this could they survive for even longer.
“There are three people approaching in our direction. Two males, one female. They seem to be about 15 or 16-years-old. One of them has three rings while the other two have two rings. One of the ones with two rings seems to be absorbing spirit energy right now.”
Zhang Yangzi succinctly reported his evaluation of the approaching group. Without any warning, a red light streaked across the horizon, shooting straight towards the branch Zhang Yangzi was perched on.
I’ve been discovered!
Zhang Yangzi immediately leapt off the tree and spread his wings while Tang Wulin and Xie Xie shot forth like a bullet.
Xie Xie’s figure blurred for a moment and then reappeared in the shadow of a tree. Meanwhile, the other four stood together, waiting for Xie Xie to alert them of their opponents’ arrival.
Three people, two male and one female, approached, giving Tang Wulin a shock when he saw them.
There stood one girl in the middle with the two boys to her side. Tang Wulin didn’t recognize the boys, but he recognized the girl. It truly was a coincidence; that girl was Mu Xi.
Floating above Mu Xi was a fireball as fiery as the sun. Clearly, she had been the one to shoot that fireball earlier.
Mu Xi’s Shining Sun martial soul was powerful and excelled in long distance artillery, with firepower that Gu Yue couldn’t even hope to compare with. The truly shocking thing was the fact that Mu Xi now had three soul rings. She actually had three soul rings now!
“It’s you?” Mu Xi was equally shocked when she saw Tang Wulin, and her Shining Sun’s radiance weakened a bit.
“Senior disciple sister.” Tang Wulin hastily took two steps forward and loudly greeted her.
“Mn.” Mu Xi nodded at him. “We’re going.” She immediately turned around and took large strides forward.
Tang Wulin had long since become accustomed to Mu Xi’s cold indifference towards him, but what he didn’t see was the proud look in her eyes after she turned around to leave. She was quite proud of herself after seeing Tang Wulin’s reaction to her third ring, and she also noticed that Tang Wulin still only had one ring.
Aren’t you a genius? Weren’t you born with innate divine strength? Yet, your soul power is so lacking. You’re making quick progress in the early stages of forging, but just wait until you reach Spirit Forging. Then you’ll understand the importance of soul power. I’ll definitely surpass you when that time comes!
“Senior disciple sister?” Zhang Yangzi gave Tang Wulin an astute look. “So it’s like that! Your senior disciple sister is so pretty! Why haven’t you ever introduced us to her before? Senior disciple sister, won’t it be better if we go together?” His final words were shouted at the departing Mu Xi.
Mu Xi didn’t even bother to look back and simply left with the two boys, soon vanishing into the forest.
With her current strength, she was definitely one of the strongest Soul Masters in the elementary spirit ascension platform, so it wasn’t worth her time to babysit Tang Wulin’s group of one rings and two rings. And besides that, she didn’t really want work together with Tang Wulin either.
Tang Wulin said somewhat helplessly, “She’s the daughter of my teacher. I don’t think she likes me all that much, so we haven’t really interacted much.”
Xie Xie let out a mischievous laugh. “This senior sister of yours sure is cruel. Yangzi, you can try getting to know her better if you’re interested. We’ll support you as your classmates.”
Zhang Yangzi shook his head earnestly. “Forget about it. I’m not into being subdued, and we’re too young for this stuff anyways. We should focus on studying and cultivating right now.”
Xie Xie raised an eyebrow at this. “Just what are you thinking? I only said you could try getting to know her better. Stop thinking about it too much. You’re only a brat in her eyes anyways.”
“Hmph!” Zhang Yangzi proudly raised his head. “Just wait until this big brother is in the fifth grade. I’ll definitely have three rings, too.” With his current cultivation speed, it wasn’t impossible for him to reach three rings by the time he was 14.
Gu Yue asked Tang Wulin, “What are we going to do next?”
Tang Wulin didn’t hesitate at all with his answer. “Wait. There aren’t too many soul beasts in this area, so we should be able to survive in this area until we pass. After that, we can go hunt soul beasts, so there’s no need to be so anxious right now.”
The five of them once again moved into position and with the large trees surrounding them, they were able to to maintain a perfect defense.
During the rebellion period, the number of soul beasts in the spirit ascension platform was far higher than normal, and they were also much more aggressive. In a short timespan of twenty minutes, they had encountered over ten soul beasts. Most of them were at the ten-year level, so they were able to make quick work of them. There were also some hundred-year soul beasts, and though they weren’t particularly strong, they required more effort to kill. Everyone shared the spirit energy, not for the sake of being fair, but for the sake of quickly absorbing all of it.
Xie Xie had taken about ten minutes to absorb the spirit energy from the hundred-year Ironarm Ape, gaining about five years each for his two soul rings.
Evolving a spirit soul to the next level was a gradual process, and it would be a long time before Xie Xie’s spirit soul reached the thousand-year level.
They had already survived for half the necessary time to pass their final exam and were relatively relaxed as they hadn’t encountered any strong soul beasts yet.
“The rebellion period isn’t that bad after all.” Zhang Yangzi had loosened up a lot from his previous nervousness since they had only encountered weak soul beasts until now.
The most dangerous situation for them was to encounter a powerful soul beast that they had no choice but to flee from. In their panic, they may run into one powerful soul beast after another and die.
Although their current course of action restricted the number of soul beasts they could hunt, it was a safe, defensive plan that maximized their survival time.