Xie Xie was quietly and cautiously traversing through the forest, shifting from the shadows of one tree to another. Compared to Zhang Yangzi, he was far more vigilant. This was because he had heard countless stories of the spirit ascension platform’s forest when he was a child. He knew that danger lurked everywhere in this forest. If he wasn’t careful, then he would quickly turn into one of the many corpses that littered the ground.

  However, danger also meant opportunity. If he was able to kill a few soul beasts, then his spirit soul would gain some strength in the real world.

  His spirit soul was actually a metal spirit soul that had been specially manufactured by the Spirit Pagoda. When he had fused it with his Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger, a mutation had occurred. Of course, this mutation was nowhere near as large as the one Goldlight had experienced after fusing with Tang Wulin. Xie Xie’s metal spirit soul had received a small mutation. As long as he had enough spiritual power, he could absorb two spirit souls and fuse them together as one.

  At that time, this was the only hundred year spirit soul, so his family had to pay the equivalent of a thousand year spirit soul for this hundred year spirit soul. Thus, his Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger both benefited from this spirit soul fusion. And like his first two soul skills, he also kept this hidden.

  In a certain sense, Xie Xie’s twin martial souls were actually a bit weaker than true twin martial souls. This was because the Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger were originated from the same place and had very little differences between them. As a result, they did not complement one another, and their powers were only additive instead of multiplicative. The most crucial difference, however, was the fact that Xie Xie needed to obtain soul rings for both of his martial souls whenever he hit a bottleneck preventing him from reaching the next rank. This was completely different from true twin martial souls where only one of them needed a soul ring to continue advancing; the other one could be saved to upgrade in the future.

  Naturally, no one else apart from him and his family knew this secret.

  Xie Xie’s first spirit soul was extremely compatible with him, but he knew that it would be impossible to find a spirit soul as compatible as his current one in the future. Despite his twin martial souls giving him an advantage in the early stages of cultivation, due to his average spiritual power, his growth would be restricted unless he had enough spiritual power to support spirit souls for both of his dragon daggers.

  The spirit ascension platform was one solution to his problems. The first thing he had to do was upgrade his metal spirit soul. If it reached the purple thousand year level, then it would be able to provide him an additional soul ring. If it reached the black ten thousand year level, then there would be another one on top of that.

  The fewer spirit souls a Soul Master absorbed, the less spiritual power they would need to sustain them. Moreover, if his spirit soul was upgraded, then the soul skills it provided would be upgraded too. This was simply the best method to increase one’s strength.

  For this reason, Xie Xie’s anticipation for the spirit ascension platform had also been the highest among the five students.

  Even after exploring the forest for a while, Xie Xie had yet to encounter a single soul beast. His steps were light and his breathing weak as he carefully surveyed his surroundings, just waiting for a soul beast to appear at any moment.

  It would be best if a lone soul beast appeared. Even if he could only kill one, his spirit soul would still receive some benefits.

  Xie Xie’s eyes twinkled with nervousness and excitement.

  “Huh?” A strange feeling suddenly washed over his body.

  He dived forward without the slightest hesitation.

  Several dozen lights flew over him, just narrowly missing his head. He stood up with a powerful twist of his body.

  This attack……

  He was horrified to see dozens of pairs of twinkling scarlet eyes open up on the trees. The attacks had been from them.

  Plant-type soul beast, Scarlet Demon Tree.

  This is bad. These trees appear in large groups!

  Compared to Zhang Yangzi, Xie Xie was far more knowledgeable about soul beasts. At the very least, he wasn’t one to recklessly attack a soul beast he couldn’t identify.

  He didn’t have any intention on fighting them. Instead, he rolled to the side and dashed away from them.

  Sure enough, the Scarlet Demon Trees shot out rays of light at him just after he moved. Had he been any slower, he would have been turned into a pincushion and died.

  So close, so close!

  Xie Xie was panting.

  “Zizi!” A screech was heard just before a yellow shadow shot straight at Xie Xie.

  Xie Xie hastily stopped and slashed out a Light Dragon Blade at his charging opponent while veering off in another direction to escape.

  That whip-like yellow shadow twisted in the air and easily avoided the Light Dragon Blade. A gigantic mouse taller than a man dug up from the ground. That yellow shadow was actually its tail. It swung its tail like a javelin piercing toward Xie Xie’s chest.

  It was a Longtail Mouse over two meters tall. This was a hundred year Longtail Mouse!

  Rather than fear, Xie Xie was filled with joy at the sight of this mouse. He knew that this was a powerful loner-type soul beast that usually preyed on insects, but wasn’t a great carnivore. It could launch shrewd attacks with its fickle tail, and was also equipped with a mouth full of steel-like teeth that could chew through uncommon metals.

  Xie Xie kicked off a tree, suddenly shooting up into the air. He released a Light Dragon Blade at the Longtail Mouse while his left hand waved slightly in a seamless manner.

  The Longtail Mouse swayed a little as it thrusted it’s tail at the Light Dragon Blade. A ray of light flashed on the tip of its tail.

  The Light Dragon Blade was split in half, sweeping right past the Longtail Mouse. The mouse was actually surprisingly fast and its leap exceptionally powerful as it quickly caught up to Xie Xie.

  Right at that moment, the Longtail Mouse suddenly shrieked in pain. A bloody line burst from its body and its body was splattered.

  How could Xie Xie let go of such a good opportunity? He exploded off of a tree trunk and into the air, spinning his body at the same time. With his Light Dragon Dagger as the starting point, he dropped onto the Longtail Mouse like a drill.

  The Longtail Mouse’s body was swallowed by the Light Dragon Storm and turned into a splatter of blood in the blink of an eye.

  Xie Xie and the Longtail Mouse’s body landed on the ground at the same time. A ball of light emerged from the hundred year Longtail Mouse’s body and moved to merge with Xie Xie. Xie Xie flicked his Light Dragon Dagger happily, but he knew that he couldn’t stay in the area for long, so he quickly ran off in a random direction.

  In this forest of soul beasts, the smell of blood was the easiest way to attract other soul beasts, especially carnivorous soul beasts.

  Naturally, he had only been able to kill the Longtail Mouse so quickly because he could launch a sneak attack with his Shadow Dragon Dagger.

  His second attack with his Light Dragon Blade had actually been used to mask the Shadow Dragon Blade that had been quietly heading toward the mouse. It had been surprisingly effective, and with his Light Dragon Storm prepared beforehand, he had been able to eliminate his opponent in one go.

  Bang, bang, bang! Before Xie Xie even had the chance to run too far, muffled booms resounded from the earth.

  Xie Xie was dumbstruck. That sound…… Why does it sound so terrifying.

  ☀

  On top of a giant tree, Wang Jinxi was gasping for breath as his enlarged body began to return to normal.

  He had just fought a fierce battle; he had met a pack of ten year Wind Wolves earlier. Although they weren’t strong, they were fast and numerous.

  There had been over twenty wolves in the pack. If he didn’t have the great strength and sturdy defenses of his transformation, then he likely wouldn’t have made it out of the encounter in one piece.

  Unfortunately, his spirit soul didn’t benefit much from the slaughter as the wolves were only ten year soul beasts. HIs spirit soul was a bone spirit similar to Xie Xie’s metal spirit soul in that it had also been fused directly into his martial soul.

  He only had about forty percent of his soul power left, while his physical strength was exhausted. For now, he had to rest and recover.

  What he wasn’t aware of, however, was that a large figure was slowly descending toward him.

  Why does it seem a bit darker now? A peculiar feeling had crept into the back of Wang Jinxi’s mind. He subconsciously raised his head to look at the sky but was shocked to find a person’s face rapidly descending toward him.

  It was a beautiful woman’s face. when she opened her mouth, though, a rows of sinister fangs were exposed. But what was even more terrifying to Wang Jinxi was the fact that this woman’s face was actually on the stomach of a giant spider!