Section 126: Astral Soul Serpent

Tang Tian stared at the Star Soul Snake before him. He had been brooding over his retreat the last time, and he had never expected to encounter it again. At once, his spirits rose.

“Hey, little snake! You were lucky last time, but you won’t be so lucky today!”

Tang Tian fixed his eyes on the Star Soul Snake without blinking and gave a low laugh.

The Star Soul Beast reacted as though facing a formidable enemy. Its body coiled into a ball, its head raised high, its cold, emotionless eyes locked on Tang Tian.

“I’ll start with you!”

He exhaled sharply and shouted as he exerted his strength. His foot sank into the earth, and his entire body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, charging straight at the Star Soul Snake.

The chill surrounding the snake suddenly intensified. In the next instant, a cold gleam swept upward from below, slashing straight toward Tang Tian’s face.

Tang Tian’s heart tightened. He touched the ground with his toes and flashed aside. The icy gleam skimmed past his body, its razor-sharp chill raising gooseflesh across his skin.

The snake’s tail!

So fast!

For an instant, Tang Tian had the illusion that the strike of the tail resembled the upward flick of a sword tip in the hands of a master swordsman. He recalled Bing saying that these Star Soul Beasts had merged with fragments of ancient martial souls and had inherited the martial techniques contained within those fragments.

The snake’s tail, rigid as a sword, suddenly turned from hard to soft in midair. Like a steel whip, it coiled toward Tang Tian’s neck.

Tang Tian ducked. Whoosh—the tail skimmed over his scalp.

By then, Tang Tian had already closed in. He clenched his fist, and true force surged through it. With a hum, the air around him immediately became turbulent.

The Star Soul Snake had not expected the surrounding air to suddenly fall into such violent disarray. The vibrations traveled through the air and into its body. They were not powerful enough to injure it, but they disrupted its rhythm.

This was Tang Tian’s latest discovery.

He could now cause the air within thirty feet of himself to vibrate, forming a field of oscillation. Anyone caught within that field would be affected. For Tang Tian, who excelled at close combat, this was yet another superb method.

The Star Soul Snake’s brief confusion gave Tang Tian the perfect opportunity.

Swish, swish, swish!

Three Moon Hand Blades struck the snake’s body.

Tang Tian’s vibrations had already been incorporated into all his martial techniques. His Moon Hand Blades were now like razor-sharp blades undergoing violent oscillation, their power greatly enhanced.

Scales flew in every direction, and three extremely fine wounds appeared on the snake’s body.

The Star Soul Snake recoiled in pain, then suddenly spat out a cloud of icy mist. The mist instantly enveloped the area around its body. Tang Tian felt a piercing chill. The cold seemed to be made of needles, boring relentlessly into his flesh.

If not for Peacock Blue blocking it, his entire body would have been covered in a layer of ice!

The freezing mist rapidly corroded Peacock Blue’s feather armor. In almost the blink of an eye, a layer of frost covered it.

“Haha! I knew you’d use that move!”

Tang Tian was immensely pleased. Since he had decided to begin opening the passage, the first thing he had thought about was how to counter the Star Soul Snake’s freezing mist.

A transparent sphere of light appeared in Tang Tian’s left hand.

The Vacuum Sphere!

After gaining a deeper understanding of vibration, Tang Tian could now form the Vacuum Sphere with ease. This one was as large as a bamboo basket, far bigger than before.

Crack!

The Vacuum Sphere shattered. With a hiss, the surrounding mist surged into it madly.

Tang Tian’s left hand was like a huge mouth, greedily devouring the cold air. The freezing mist rapidly diminished, once again revealing Tang Tian and the Star Soul Snake. In Tang Tian’s left hand, however, there was now a ball of ice.

Even with true force shielding it, his palm was almost numb. He hurriedly flung the ice ball far away. It traced a parabola through the air and landed more than a hundred feet away, shattering on impact. A thick layer of ice immediately formed over the place where it fell.

Hiss!

The snake’s tail straightened like a sword and slashed diagonally.

Tang Tian noticed that the chill surrounding the Star Soul Snake had weakened considerably. It seemed that the beast’s freezing mist was not inexhaustible after all.

Yet Tang Tian did not dodge the slash.

He thrust out his fist to block it.

Clang!

A tremendous force struck him, but Tang Tian’s body did not move an inch. Though the slash was sharp and powerful, it was still a level below the strength of Bronze Man Number Eleven in the Eighteen Bronze Men Chamber.

The snake’s tail sprang high into the air, and Tang Tian seized the opportunity to close in.

His fist, wrapped in countless vibrating ripples, slammed solidly into the snake’s body. The impact made little sound, but the snake’s body shuddered. From the point where Tang Tian’s fist struck, countless cracks spread outward like a spiderweb.

The intense vibrating force within his fist possessed astonishing penetrating power. The vibration seeped deep into the opponent’s body. Even those insensate, battered bronze men would suffer an extremely brief paralysis from it.

His experience in the Eighteen Bronze Men Chamber had taught Tang Tian that once you landed the first punch, you must never miss the chance to deliver a second!

The snake’s body was coiled together, leaving no opening.

Without hesitation, Tang Tian drove the Heaven Dragon Force through his fist and punched into the gap where two sections of the snake’s body overlapped.

Boom!

The snake’s body seemed to have swallowed a giant firecracker. It exploded upward.

At that moment, the Star Soul Beast finally recovered from the paralysis caused by the vibrations. With a furious hiss, its entire body sprang into the air. Its tail, dragging along the ground, followed the motion and whipped upward like a massive sword, cleaving vertically toward Tang Tian’s face!

Tang Tian saw his vision blur. The enormous snake body filled his entire field of view, and his heart leaped in alarm. He hurriedly protected his vital points.

Boom!

A force like a mountain collapsing into the sea struck him, sending his entire body flying sideways.

In the past, Tang Tian would have been utterly helpless in such a situation. But in the Eighteen Bronze Men Chamber, being at a disadvantage and taking a blow were entirely commonplace. At such a moment, the most important thing was not to give the enemy a chance to continue attacking.

While airborne, Tang Tian forcibly twisted his waist and steadied himself. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the Star Soul Snake opening its enormous, bloody jaws and charging toward him like an enraged arrow.

It moved as fast as lightning, reaching him in the blink of an eye.

The foul stench from its gaping maw rushed straight into Tang Tian’s face.

Idiot!

Tang Tian suddenly grinned. In midair, facing the snake’s open jaws, he forcibly twisted his waist and threw a punch.

Countless vibrating patterns burst from his fist and flew into the Star Soul Snake’s bloody mouth.

Sizzle!

The vibrating patterns converged at an astonishing speed. A transparent sphere of light formed silently and swiftly inside the snake’s mouth, then was swallowed into its belly.

In midair, the Star Soul Snake’s body suddenly caved inward at its center for no apparent reason. Its eyes bulged violently, and its entire body stiffened.

“Peacock!”

Tang Tian roared. He bent both arms and guarded his chest as the battle armor covering his body flared brightly, raising a faint blue radiance around him.

Boom!

Carrying all its momentum, the Star Soul Beast crashed headfirst into Tang Tian, who was enveloped in blue light.

Tang Tian’s vision went black. His body was hurled backward at even greater speed.

He flew more than a hundred feet through the air before crashing heavily to the ground. After lying there for quite some time, Tang Tian staggered to his feet, utterly disheveled. His arms hurt as though they had been broken.

“This fellow really does have a few tricks.”

Tang Tian bared his teeth and shook his arms until they felt somewhat better. The Star Soul Beast had evidently used all its strength in that final lunge, and the radiance of the battle armor covering Tang Tian had dimmed considerably.

Still, when he glanced at the motionless Star Soul Snake lying on the ground, he let out a sigh of relief.

If not for the Star Soul Beast’s final lunge, breaking through the defenses of a creature covered in layer upon layer of scales would not have been easy.

Although vibration possessed powerful penetrating force, it was actually less effective in this regard than Crane Body Force. Unfortunately, without a higher-grade Crane Qi Art, Tang Tian’s Crane Body Force was becoming less and less effective against increasingly powerful enemies.

The Vacuum Sphere had exploded inside the snake’s soft belly. The enormous creature’s insides had probably been shredded to pieces.

Tang Tian cautiously approached the Star Soul Snake. It lay completely still. It was thoroughly dead.

This was the first Star Soul Beast Tang Tian had ever killed.

Ya Ya came bouncing over. The moment it saw the corpse of the Star Soul Snake, its eyes lit up. Raising the small bow in its hand, it used the bowstring like a blade and began cutting apart the Star Soul Snake.

Its movements were swift and deft, leaving Tang Tian staring in astonishment.

Bing floated over and glanced at the scene. He looked completely accustomed to it.

“Though Sprout Soul Generals are low in rank, they’re clever and capable. Later, give the soul core to Ya Ya. It can grow stronger by consuming soul cores.”

“A sixth-grade soul core?” Tang Tian’s face twisted with pain.

He was desperately poor at the moment, mainly because he had distributed all his points. To buy anything now, he could only use Star Stones and soul cores. Uncle Qian had given him quite a few Star Stones, but the Shangguan family had only just escaped its predicament, and its resources were extremely limited.

“These soul cores have merged with fragments of ancient martial souls, so they aren’t pure enough to fetch a good price,” Bing explained. “But to Ya Ya, they’re excellent nourishment. I remember there was once someone in the Corps who specialized in collecting soul cores like these to feed his Sprout Soul General. His Sprout Soul General eventually became extremely powerful.”

“Can’t it consume the fragments of ancient martial souls directly?” Tang Tian asked curiously.

“It seems that became possible later, but only after the Sprout Soul General reached a certain level of strength.” Bing looked lost in recollection, though his tone remained uncertain.

“All right.” Tang Tian called out to Ya Ya, “The soul core is yours. Everything else belongs to me!”

Ya Ya let out an excited cry and worked even harder.

“I wonder how much the rest of it will sell for.” Tang Tian rubbed his chin, looking hopeful.

“Do you still have the strength to fight again?” Bing asked with a hint of mockery.

Tang Tian gave an embarrassed smile, then answered honestly, “I need a day’s rest.”

The battle had been brief but intense, leaving every part of his body aching.

“Let’s sell this thing first,” Bing said indifferently. “There’s a base here, so you can get a proper rest.”

Tang Tian acknowledged him and sat down, reviewing the battle.

Fighting was forever different from training. Even the fierce battles in the Eighteen Bronze Men Chamber could not compare with a real fight. In battle, the slightest carelessness could cost one’s life.

Nothing focused the mind more completely than the threat of death. Nothing spurred progress more rapidly than combat.

Using battle to nourish battle produced superb results.

Tang Tian’s eyes burned with fighting spirit.

After recovering his strength, Tang Tian returned to Three Soul City and casually entered a materials shop.

“Do you buy Star Soul Beasts here?” Tang Tian asked.

The shop assistant looked him up and down twice, then his eyes narrowed. Tang Tian still carried the killing aura left from slaying the Star Soul Snake. The assistant recognized the danger and hurriedly replied, “Of course we do. May I ask what rank of Star Soul Beast you hunted?”

“Sixth grade. A Star Soul Snake.”

Tang Tian did not waste words. He directly took out the already-disassembled parts of the Star Soul Snake.

The assistant became even more respectful and said deferentially, “Please wait a moment. The proprietor will be here right away!”