'Sharp-Scale Serpent?' Tang San followed Ethan Drake's hand and looked over. A flat, half-meter-long snake Soul Beast was pressed tightly against a branch, like a hunter waiting for prey.
'My first Spirit Ring is a snake? But teacher, my Martial Soul is plant-type.'
Facing Tang San's confusion, Ethan patiently explained, 'No. This Spirit Ring is one of your best choices.'
'According to my many years of research, plant Martial Souls are not limited to Spirit Rings from plant-type Soul Beasts.'
'The Sharp-Scale Serpent is a special kind of snake whose entire body is covered in reverse scales...'
'In short, this snake has no venom, but its scales are exceptionally sharp. Judging by its body length, although its age is not yet four hundred years, it is already top-tier within that range.'
'If it becomes your first Spirit Ring, then your Blue Silver Grass will certainly gain traits of sharpness and toughness. As for poison, there is no need to rush. The venom of low-age Soul Beasts is weak anyway. You can find a poisonous Soul Beast for your second Spirit Ring.'
'Of course, everything I say is based on my research theories. I am confident in them, but no one has ever dared test them. Even my own family looks down on me.'
'Heh, that is a poor example. Those who do not truly trust you, can they even be counted as family?' These were his original words.
Sensing Ethan Drake's low mood, Tang San wanted to step forward and comfort him, but Ethan interrupted him and asked solemnly, 'There is one thing that will not change. This is dangerous. Tang San, do you still dare take the risk?'
Tang San had been left half-dazed by Ethan's orderly analysis. After hearing the reminder, he fell silent for a moment. But then he thought about how similar his and Ethan's experiences were, and in that moment, he made his decision.
'Teacher, I believe in you.'
Seeing Tang San treat him with such respect and obedience gave Ethan Drake enormous satisfaction.
'Good. I will explain the precautions and plan. As the saying goes, hit a snake at its seventh inch. The Sharp-Scale Serpent's attack also exposes its own weakness. I will restrain it with Sanpao. Once it fires its scales and reveals its weak point, I will leave it to you to finish.'
After that, Ethan Drake and Tang San began surrounding the Sharp-Scale Serpent according to the plan.
The early stage of the plan went smoothly, but at the end, Ethan Drake made a mistake. He misjudged the speed of the Sharp-Scale Serpent's attacks, causing Luo Sanpao to run out of time to eat radishes and reduce Spirit Power consumption in the later phase.
On top of that, Luo Sanpao's attacks were enough against ten-year Soul Beasts or weaker hundred-year Soul Beasts, but against a Sharp-Scale Serpent protected by scales, it could not deal much damage early on. Later, once the serpent had fewer scales, Luo Sanpao had also run low on Spirit Power and could no longer release Spirit Skills.
Even its second Spirit Skill, which had a hypnotic effect, did very little because snakes had natural resistance to toxins.
Suddenly, the Sharp-Scale Serpent noticed Tang San approaching from the other side. After forcing Luo Sanpao back, it launched three scales at Tang San.
To be honest, against Tang San, who had learned the Tang Sect's secret arts, those three scales could not truly injure him. But Ethan Drake did not know that.
'Tang San, look out!' With a cry of alarm, Ethan threw himself toward Tang San.
Ethan Drake was not much of a person, but his feelings toward Tang San were genuinely decent.
Even with Luo Sanpao serving as a cushion, the three scales still pierced Ethan's back. After knocking Tang San down, Ethan either fainted because he had not fought in a long time or because of the force of those three scales.
Once Tang San struggled free of Ethan, a battle between man and snake unfolded on the spot.
In the end, after a sleeve arrow pierced the Sharp-Scale Serpent's seventh inch, the battle ended with Tang San's victory.
After killing the Sharp-Scale Serpent, Tang San did not rush to absorb the Spirit Ring. He first woke Ethan Drake.
'Tang San... run!' The moment Ethan woke, he told Tang San to flee. Tang San, who was guarding him, comforted him instead.
'It is all right, teacher. I swung my sword around wildly just now and somehow stabbed it to death.'
If Wu Ling had been there, his expression would have been one of pure bafflement.
A six-year-old child randomly swinging a sword had somehow stabbed a hundred-year Soul Beast to death.
In Soul Land 2, Huo Yuhao had nearly died at the beginning to a ten-year Wind Baboon.
More importantly, one person dared say it, and the other dared believe it. The one believing it was even the Master famous for theory.
After hearing Tang San's comfort, Ethan Drake seemed to still be trembling from fear. 'Good. Good...'
If Wu Ling were here, he would absolutely have reason to suspect that after learning Tang San's identity, Ethan Drake had already guessed Tang Hao was following Tang San. Otherwise, as the Master, as someone who had studied Soul Beasts for nearly half his life, how could he believe a six-year-old child had killed a hundred-year Soul Beast?
But if he had guessed Tang Hao was following, then his earlier behavior became rather interesting.
And then there was Tang Hao. Tang San was hunting his first Spirit Ring, so Tang Hao definitely followed. Just now, when Tang San fought the Sharp-Scale Serpent, he had used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Purple Demon Eye, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, and various other Tang Sect secret arts. Add in the sleeve arrow Tang San had forged, and anyone could see he was special. Yet Tang Hao had no suspicion at all. Wu Ling did not believe a Titled Sage could be so useless that he could not see Tang San's abilities.
So on Soul Land, the strange equation family equals unconditional trust, and unconditional trust equals family might truly be valid. At first glance, it seemed reasonable. Think about it more deeply, and it became very wrong.
'Right, Tang San, how long has the Sharp-Scale Serpent been dead?'
'The time? About ten minutes.'
'Heaven's will. This is heaven's will. Just as I said before, Tang San, go absorb the Spirit Ring.'
Afterward, with the help of the peerless secret text created through the Tang Sect's countless generations of painstaking effort, the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Tang San smoothly absorbed the Sharp-Scale Serpent's Spirit Ring.
Feeling the Spirit Power inside his body circulate through the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Tang San thought excitedly, 'In this world, most people only circulate Spirit Power simply and without structure when cultivating. Even the cultivation method teacher gave me increases efficiency by less than five percent.'
'But the first layer of the Mysterious Heaven Skill can raise my cultivation speed by five percent. If I cultivate it to the ninth layer, it may raise it by a full fifteen percent.'
'Using the Mysterious Heaven Skill to cultivate Spirit Power, I will definitely achieve greatness in the future!'
After absorbing the Spirit Ring, Tang San impatiently used his first Spirit Skill. A strand of Blue Silver Grass grew from his palm, then slowly formed into a flying knife the length and width of a finger.
Tang San pinched the flying knife between his fingers. With a soft whoosh, an ordinary bird thirty meters away was pierced through and killed.
'Blue Silver Flying Knife. It worked! If I pair this with my Tang Sect secret arts, I could have killed that Sharp-Scale Serpent by myself just now!'
Although Tang San was very excited after obtaining his first Spirit Skill, he felt a strange sensation as well, as if something was missing from his Blue Silver Grass.