Slash, Slash
Dai MuBai was in front, clearing the way into the Star Dou forest.
Teacher Zhao stayed at the back of the group, deciding to not interfere unless the students are in mortal peril.
Zhu ZhuQing jumped continuously from tree branch to tree branch, scouting ahead for potential dangers.
"Keep close. This is the Star Dou Forest, danger lurks everywhere" Liu Yan warned them, his voice filled with caution.
As Dai MuBai was about to slash again, Tang San suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
"MuBai, wait. There are ten year soul beasts in front of us. Let's go around." Tang San explained.
"Why do we have to go around?" Dai MuBai asked, confused.
"If every weak soul beast is killed without remorse and not given the chance to grow. Won't they go extinct in afew years and not allow future soul masters to grow?"
"… You're right. Let's go around" Dai MuBai thought about it, it did make sense.
Xiao Wu heard Tang San's explanation and smiled to herself, looking at him with a slight affectionate gaze.
"Ying Ying, later when Oscar gets his soul ring. We can continue our dual cultivation, you might be able to break through into soul elder. It would save us the trip to come back." Liu Yan said to Ying Xuan, which she nodded enthusiastically.
"It's been a while since we had done dual cultivation…" she blushed while absentmindedly twirling her hair.
Shaaaa
Just then a loud screech sounded from far away up above the canopy of the trees.
"ZhuQing, check for the source of the sound!" Liu Yan instructed.
"Can you see its body shape!" Tang San asked.
"It has a long string like body, about six to eight meters long! It also has a light red wings and it's red coloured at the head" ZhuQing yelled out what she could vaguely see.
After a few seconds of thinking, "no, it's not a red coloured head snake. It's one with a long red crystal comb!"
Tang San suddenly figured out what soul beast it was. "It's a thousand year phoenix tailed crystal comb snake!"
"It's length means its between 1300 and 1800 years, perfect for Oscar!" Tang San concluded.
"Hahaha! Tang San, since you understand this beast. You lead them!" Zhao WuJi laughed as he prepared to watch how his students hunt down this speedy soul beast.
"Snake soul beast naturally fear bird soul beasts" Tang San and signalled for Ma HongJun to strike as the snake got closer.
"Burn!!" Ma HongJun spewes flames from his mouth straight at the head of the snake.
Swish
The snake realising there were even more hostiles, dodged.
Utilising it's immense speed, it attempted to fly away.
"You won't get away!" Tang San launched his blue silver grass attempting to cage it in, but with the speed of the snake. Tension causes the blue silver grass to snap immediately.
As it was a few meters were away from freedom, Liu Yan had launched himself high into the air.
"This is your last flight." Liu Yan creates a giant crystal hand, too large to escape from its attack.
Slamm
Upon being hit, the snake is sent straight into the ground
Crash
The snake struggled to move, the hit from the crystal hand had broken a lot of its bones, rendering it disabled.
"Oscar, quickly! Kill the snake!" Liu Yan said as he manipulated his crystals to catch and slow his fall.
Oscar immediately took out the knife he had prepared. As he inspected the snake, trying to find the spot to stab his knife through.
"Stab the comb! You'll reach the brain." Teacher Zhao said, noticing Oscar's confusion.
"Is there really a need to kill soul beasts?" Xiao Wu asked sadly, not wanting another pitiful soul beast to die.
"If we were the ones being chased by soul beast, do you think they would let us go because we act pitiful?" Liu Yan answered before Tang San could say anything.
"This world isn't sunshine and rainbows, Xiao Wu. Death and Life is constant, if we spare it today, that doesn't mean we'll be spared when we get defeated by stronger soul beast." Liu Yan continued, he didn't intend to be cold, but such thoughts of peace was naive.
At most, peace would only last for as long as that ruler is kind, his son might have different thoughts and cause conflict between soul beast and humans again.
"Right!" Oscar nodded and just as he was about to stab the snake…
"Stop!" A voice sounded as a snake tongue darted out, intending to grab hold of the pheonix tailed crystal comb snake.
Xiao Wu, who was nearby thinking about Liu Yan's words, snapped back to reality and kicked away the tongue. "You dare try to steal our snake?!"
"That snake is mine!" The voice sounded as it revealed to be young lady, not that much older than them.
She was a beautiful girl with short hair that fell to her ears. Wearing darker clothing that tightly wrapped around her body, eliciting her curves. Her skin was paler than that of Xiao Wu. Carrying a cane with designs of a serpent about two meters long. Two yellow soul rings at her feet
"And how is this snake yours?" Teacher Zhao grew curious. Who was this young lady, daring to demand the snake they had just captured.
A sudden pressure suddenly clashed with Zhao WuJi's pressure, though it was slightly weaker.
A figure emerged from behind the young lady, seven soul rings at their feet - yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black and black.
"YiRan, don't be rash" the old lady advised the young lady.
Zhao WuJi immediately recognised the old lady in front of him, looking around to see the 'other' but finding nothing.
"So it is the esteemed Snake Grandmother, Chao Tian Xiang from the Sky Dominating Dragon and Snake Duo. Motionless Bright King, Zhao WuJi greets you." Cupping his right hand and putting it at the palm of his left to greet her.
"So it is the esteemed Motionless Bright King" Chao TianXiang said, though her face showed a sign of seriousness.
"Say, how is Dragon Grandfather doing?" Zhao WuJi asked solemnly.
"He is doing good" she replied.
Ying Xuan inched closer to the group, whispering to them "Who is this granny?"
"This is Chao TianXiang, also known as Snake Grandmother. She and her husband, Meng Shu, also known as Dragon Grandfather are called the Sky Dominating Dragon and Snake Duo. Their combat abilites are so strong, even a titled douluo would have to be cautious around them." Dai MuBai replied.
"What?!" Oscar almost yelled out loudly.
"My granddaughter has just reached the level 30 soul power. This snake is important to us. Please allow us to take the soul beast" Chao TianXiang requested, but her tone revealed she would take it by force if rejected.
"If you look at the belly of this snake, you will see three external cuts. Those are scars from our battle not too long ago." She continued.
Tang San immediately went to check, there were indeed three cuts on its belly.
"Elder, please understand. We also have a student that has reached level 30. And it was also my student's efforts that were able to bring down the snake. If not, it might have escaped long ago." Zhao WuJi seeing that Meng Shu still isn't here, decided to take advantage of it.
After all, just the snake granny was not enough to overwhelm him, the motionless bright king.
At this, she was at dilemna. After much thought, she replied with "how about we settle this by the soul master's rules. Your student VS my granddaughter."
"Under normal circumstances, I would have no objections, but you see, my student is a food class soul master." Zhao WuJi explained as she pulled Oscar forward.
"What?!" She exclaimed surprise, looking at the toung man before her.
"He looks just a year younger than my granddaughter, and he's also a food class soul master. Such talent!" Chao TianXiang couldn't help but be shocked, such a genius was rare.
"Just give me back my snake!" Meng YiRan demanded which was promptly refused by Xiao Wu.
"Hey, Ying Ying. Wanna test your luck against her?" Liu Yan whispered to Ying Xuan.
"Sure!"
As tension rose between the youngsters, Ying Xuan suddenly jumped YiRan, attacking her with her wings.
"Ah! You dare sneak attack me! First soul skill: tongue blade!" The snake tongue bursts out of the staff that YiRan held, aiming to stab Ying Xuan.
Ying Xuan spun around, using her wings to block the tongue blade while attacking Yiran.
"Second soul skill: snake body!" Yiran, using the moments of blindspots, was able to bypass Ying Xuan's attack and kick her away.
"You're nothing but a nuisance!" She claimed loudly.
Liu Yan instinctively caught her.
When Yiran noticed Liu Yan, she was stunned for a moment. She had never met someone this handsome before.
Too bad, he's not in her side.
"Come on, come at me again. Or do you need your boyfriend to protect you?" She said mockingly.
Ying Xuan simply looked at Liu Yan who nodded before charging at Yiran.
In a few exchanges, she was starting to be at a disadvantage, Liu Yan's physical condition was far superior than her.
"If this drags on, he might get impatient." Chao TianXiang was worried.
"Zhao WuJi, how about this. Whichever side wins this exchange will get the soul beast." She hurriedly and carelessly blurted out.
At this, Zhao WuJi merely smirked and accepted.
"Liu Yan finish this quickly!" Zhao WuJi instructed.
"He needs to finish quick. Wherever Dragon Grandfather is, wherever Snake Gransmother is. It would be messy if he showed up." He thought as he watched the fight.
————
Hello my readers,
This is a relatively longer chapter than previous ones.
I would like to know if you have seen any inconsistencies or mistakes i have made.
If you do, pkease mention them.
As always, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and have a great day!
Bye!!