Chapter 144: Their Vacation (3)

"Beibei,

I hope this letter finds you well. By the time you read this, I will have already departed for Tiandou City. No matter how much time has passed, that place remains my hometown, the place where I grew up. I... (some words are blurred due to water stains).

To this day, the Tang Sect still consists of only the two of us, and my strength is no longer sufficient to continue studying at Shrek Academy. Rather than staying, I might as well leave for Tiandou City. I will reach out to the old friends of our parents and do my utmost to begin planning for the revival of the Tang Sect.

Forgive me for not saying goodbye in person. If I were to see you, I might lose the courage to leave... (large water stains).

And I think I might have made a mistake (blurred ink due to water stains)... monster (blurred ink)... should continue (blurred ink).I will stay in Tiandou City. If fate allows... (trembling handwriting), we may still meet again.

Remember, I will always love you.

Tang Ya"

A crumpled and damp letter lay on the table.

Many words on the letter had been blurred by tears, making them unreadable. But Tang Ya no longer had the strength to rewrite it.

She had already ruined several letters with her tears—this was the clearest one.

The girl glanced at the letter one last time with a trace of reluctance, then turned and left the dormitory resolutely.

In truth, she had lied in the letter.

Tang Ya's spirit power had already reached level forty, finally catching up to Beibei. She was just one spirit ring away from officially becoming a Spirit Ancestor.

Logically, with this level of strength, even though she had absorbed a hundred-year spirit ring as her third ring, she could still advance to the next academic year without issue.

But how could she explain to the academy that, as a Blue Silver Grass Spirit user, she had advanced from a Spirit Elder to a Spirit Ancestor in just one short year?

Especially since her martial spirit had undergone... some rather obvious changes.

Her Blue Silver Grass had originally been a translucent blue, but now, it had turned into an eerie dark purple-blue, even faintly exuding a bloody scent.

She was beginning to fear releasing her martial spirit in front of others.

Sometimes, Tang Ya felt that by choosing to accept the hidden talent within her martial spirit, it was as if she had unleashed a terrifying monster lurking in the abyss.

Over the past year, she had secretly absorbed the life force of plants and small animals within the academy. Whenever the life energy flowed into her through the darkening, blood-tainted vines, she would experience an odd, sickly sense of satisfaction.

It was as if there was a bottomless black hole inside her body, temporarily filled by those stolen life forces.

And the more life energy she absorbed, the more insatiable that terrifying black hole within her became.

At times, she could even sense the surging spirit power and vitality of her classmates calling out to her. The monster hidden within her martial spirit whispered, urging her to absorb the life force of other spirit masters.

And as her spirit power grew, so did the fearsome hunger.

The monster ground its teeth, scraping its claws against the walls of its cage, roaring, urging, and greedily eyeing everything outside.

Tang Ya knew that if the monster broke free, she would no longer be herself.

But she did not regret it.

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The bustling streets of Tiandou City were filled with people going about their lives, busy striving for survival. No one remembered that there once was a plaque inscribed with the words "Tang Sect" in an unremarkable little sect.

Tang Ya stood outside the city gates, gazing blankly at the location where the Tang Sect once stood.

She wore a cloak, her expression hidden beneath the shadow of her hood, making it impossible to discern her emotions.

Perhaps this was what people meant by "hesitation upon nearing home"... Tang Ya felt as if her legs were weighed down by a thousand pounds.

She did not dare to step into Tiandou City.

Just thinking about how her home had been seized by bandits filled her with rage. The monster inside her urged her to storm into the Ironblood Sect and slaughter the invaders who had taken her home.

It craved fresh life.

You already have the power, so why hesitate? The caged monster rumbled in her mind.

No... If I go to the Ironblood Sect now, it won't be revenge—it will be suicide. I must become even stronger. I will find those bandits, kill them... exact my revenge, and then revive the Tang Sect, restoring its ten-thousand-year glory.

Tang Ya rejected the monster's temptation.

The monster sneered in her mind: Just sneak into the Ironblood Sect. You know every shadow, every secret passage. Hide in the dark, drain their blood and flesh, use them as nourishment to grow stronger. Killing the leader will be effortless! If you can't even take revenge, how will you ever revive the Tang Sect?

The girl remained silent, but she was already on the verge of collapse.

Finally, she took a deep breath, turned away from the city gates, and ran northeast.

Her destination was the Sunset Forest, northeast of Tiandou City.

Both her first and second spirit rings had been obtained from the Sunset Forest. Her parents, her elders—they had all acquired their spirit rings there.

The soul beasts in the Sunset Forest were far weaker than those in the Star Dou Forest, but there were still thousand-year soul beasts, and rarely, a ten-thousand-year one. For someone alone like Tang Ya, it was the perfect choice.

The Sunset Forest seemed even eerier than she remembered.

In a way, Tang Ya understood plants. Though the trees and vegetation were still green, they carried an inexplicable sense of withering.

But she paid it no mind and ventured deeper into the forest.

Dark purple-blue vines brushed against the plants in the forest, ensnaring small soul beasts that failed to escape. Blood flowed along the vines, seeping into them... After all, this was a spirit beast forest. Even the weakest soul beast held far more life energy than ordinary animals.

The vines greedily devoured life energy. Though she had yet to obtain her fourth spirit ring, Tang Ya could feel the energy within her slowly growing.

She was searching for a suitable soul beast. The ones she had encountered so far were too weak to be worthy of becoming her spirit ring—only food.

If she could absorb her fourth spirit ring, she might break through to level forty-two immediately.

The monster in the cage purred in delight. Lost in the comfort, Tang Ya grew careless and ventured deeper and deeper into the forest.

She shouldn't have come this far.

In the darkness of the forest, someone arched an eyebrow.

A horde of strange soul beasts, disturbed by the vines, leaped out.

Tang Ya had studied many soul beasts at Shrek Academy, but she did not recognize these strange, twisted creatures.

Yes, twisted.

They were some kind of insect-type soul beast. The smaller ones were about the length of an arm, while the larger ones were half the height of a human. They had gray exoskeletons covered in sharp bristles, spider-like swollen abdomens, and scorpion-like stingers. They had only four legs and two bladed forelimbs, with glistening, razor-sharp mandibles.

They looked like the ultimate nightmare of anyone with entomophobia come to life.

The creatures made an irritated, bizarre clicking noise as if warning her to leave their territory.

The monster in the cage sneered contemptuously, and countless Blue Silver Grasses erupted, their edges sharp with fine serrations, while their tips were as pointed as spikes, easily shredding the hard shells of those soul beasts.

The insect-like soul beasts swarmed toward Tang Ya like a tidal wave, screeching from their mandibles, but they were entangled by the vines, turning into blood energy that surged into the young girl's body.

As the Blue Silver Grass turned dark purple, a sickly blush appeared on Tang Ya's cheekbones, and her eyes completely transformed into a deep purple-red — not the glow of the Purple Extreme Magic Eyes, but a greedy, gloomy gaze locked onto the blood-soaked feast before her.

Numerous yellow and white soul rings rose, with a few scattered purple ones among them, but Tang Ya didn't care for the purple soul rings; at this moment, all she craved was to absorb more... more life energy.

It wasn't until a powerful dizziness surged from the depths of her skull, accompanied by a numbing sensation from the extremities of her body, that Tang Ya stumbled to keep her balance... But everything around her—the sky, the earth, the plants, and the corpses of the insect soul beasts—began spinning in her vision.

At this moment, Tang Ya realized with shock that there was a faint, hidden, rust-like, metallic rainbow-colored glow creeping up the Blue Silver Grass leaves.

Poison! These strange insect-like soul beasts were poisonous!

And the poison was highly potent, spreading rapidly. Although Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass itself contained poison, it was no match for this peculiar venom.

As if the rain had come at the wrong time, just when Tang Ya was dizzy, a larger insect soul beast leapt out from a hidden corner.

Tang Ya couldn't even remember what happened next, or perhaps she didn't want to remember — it was as though some intense, bloodthirsty, and brutal terrifying intent took over her body — the monster tore open the cage and controlled her movements.

The largest insect monster, its silver-gray shell empty beneath, had fine Blue Silver Grass piercing through its joints, sucking the blood and flesh beneath.

The scattered, crushed insect corpses, and all the vegetation within several hundred meters had withered, their energy absorbed by the dark Blue Silver Grass in exchange for victory.

Tang Ya's condition was no better. The hidden weapons of the Tang Clan scattered across the ground, but the metal parts offered little help. Her clothes were torn and stained with terrifying blood, but the wounds underneath had already healed. As an Evil Soul Master, she grew stronger the longer she fought, and the blood energy absorbed by the dark Blue Silver Grass was slowly healing her body. However, the strange seven-colored toxin remained embedded in every inch of the giant insect's blood and flesh, and even the dark Blue Silver Grass, which had fully activated its dark potential, couldn't dispel it.

But...

She gazed at the deep, dark soul ring of the silver-gray giant insect, which still bore a hint of purple, with a flash of madness in her eyes.

This largest insect had just reached the 10,000-year cultivation level.

If she could absorb that soul ring... she would surely gain immunity to this toxic substance. Perhaps the Blue Silver Grass could even absorb the peculiar poison!

Tang Ya knew that after embracing the hidden talent of Blue Silver Grass and absorbing the life energy of many other creatures, her body could no longer be considered by the standards of a regular Soul Ancestor.

She also understood just how deep and insatiable the black hole within her body was, how much it craved to devour... whether flesh or power.

The dark Blue Silver Grass wrapped around the black soul ring. Perhaps because Tang Ya had absorbed the life force of too many similar insect soul beasts, there was no resistance when absorbing the energy of the black soul ring. The soul ring seemed to struggle violently, releasing a burst of intense energy, and a feeling of resentment and hatred assailed Tang Ya's mind.

The monster let out a sneering roar.

Tang Ya's eyes erupted with a bright yet abyss-like purple glow. Under the suppression of the Purple Extreme Magic Eyes, the last remnants of the insect monster's spiritual fluctuations completely dissipated.

Once the soul ring was fully absorbed, Tang Ya's aura skyrocketed to the 40th rank!

The strange seven-colored toxin's influence vanished, but Tang Ya didn't particularly care about that; the soul skill granted by the insect monster's soul ring was powerful enough.

By now, the dark purple vines no longer resembled Blue Silver Grass. They looked like the most bloodthirsty and cruel torture instruments that a human could imagine. Every sharp spike was designed to pierce and tear apart prey, sucking every drop of blood.

Tang Ya's face was pale, but her cheekbones bore a sickly blush, and her brows were tinged with a temporary sense of satisfaction.

The cage had been broken, and the monster was resting momentarily. Tang Ya no longer felt that her Blue Silver Grass was hideous.

Having broken through to the Soul Ancestor level, Tang Ya had yet to leave the Sunset Forest — she planned to remain and cultivate for a while longer.

She carefully avoided the Soul Masters hunting for soul rings, hiding in the forest, absorbing the power of soul beasts and plants to enhance her own strength.

Until she encountered a group.

The group had only a dozen or so people, with the strongest being a Soul Sovereign. The rest were Soul Masters and Great Soul Masters.

However, their clothes and sect emblem were something Tang Ya would never forget, even in death.

Iron! Blood! Sect!

She let out a blood-curdling scream, and purple vines, carrying the scent of rust, surged from the ground like a demon or dragon, filled with endless malice, charging toward the members of the Iron Blood Sect.

"Eh? Eh??" Someone in the layers of tree shadows exclaimed in shock, "This is not good, little one!"

A black shadow suddenly expanded beneath the tree crown, the temperature plummeting, but it wasn't cold — it was a terrifying, otherworldly chill.

A pitch-black figure slid down from the tree crown like liquid.

The figure merely raised a hand, and Tang Ya felt as if the air around her had solidified. The cold air expanded and compressed around her, suspending her body in mid-air, unable to move. She felt as though even her soul power was sluggish, unable to circulate.

Like fluttering feathers, the black shadow landed on the eerie dark purple vines. The Blue Silver Grass, with its cruel spikes, shattered instantly, leaving only the scent of blood hanging in the air.

"Let me go!! I will kill them!!" Tang Ya screamed with bloodthirsty hatred, losing all sense of reason. She struggled frantically, but the roaring monster inside her prevented her from thinking about why she couldn't resist at all. All she could think about was killing the Iron Blood Sect disciples, tearing them apart, but she couldn't move an inch.

"Hey, hey, this won't do." The figure said in a very nonchalant tone, but there was an undeniable, even threatening, undertone. "You don't even understand what you're about to do with that power, little one. Some lines, once you cross them, there's no coming back."

With that, he waved his hand at the Iron Blood Sect disciples who had narrowly escaped death.

Although the Iron Blood Sect disciples were weak, they weren't foolish. Under the leadership of the Soul Ancestor, they scrambled to flee for their lives.

Tang Ya watched her enemies escape. Her eyes were filled with fire as she glared at the one who controlled her. "You're not with them, why interfere?! Who gave you the right?!"

(The End of this Chapter)