Chapter 142 - Massacre of the Toxic Spider Web
As a side effect of exhausting his soul power, Tang Wulin felt fatigue wash over him as he sat down on the ground.
Right. That feeling of controlling everyone had left an indelibly deep impression upon his heart. This sense of satisfaction just couldn’t be gained elsewhere.
He had used little Goldlight to strengthen his Bluesilver Grass, but there were no benefits that didn’t come with a cost. During the time his grass had been strengthened, his soul power had also been rapidly consumed.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to keep the Man-Faced Demon Spider bound the whole time. If he could do that, he would be able to easily kill the Man-Faced Demon Spider with his Golden Dragon Claw, regardless of whether he struck a vital spot or not.
However, the soul power consumption was simply too great for him to sustain. He had no choice but to recall Goldlight from his Bluesilver Grass in order to preserve enough soul power to use his Golden Dragon Claw.
Although his actions seemed to have been in perfect concert with Gu Yue at that final moment, in reality, it was simply that everything had gone according to their plan. Of course, no one would actually believe this. All of their actions incorporated a deep understanding of one another. In fact, even Tang Wulin and Gu Yue were surprised by the depth of their mutual understanding.
“That was an incredible victory!” Zhang Yangzi exclaimed, giddy with excitement and admiration. His words echoed everyone’s thoughts at that moment.
“Everyone, rest here and recover your soul power,” Tang Wulin said weakly, before taking the lead and closing his eyes to begin meditating.
As for the issue of safety? Why did they need to worry about that now? They were surrounded by the highly toxic spider webs of the Man-Faced Demon Spider, preventing both humans and soul beasts from approaching. They were in a perfectly safe position to rest right now.
The five sat in a circle with Tang Wulin in the center. Although they had been acting as a team for several months already, it wasn’t until a few moments ago in their triumph that they truly acknowledged Tang Wulin as their team captain.
Tang Wulin had controlled their entire battle against the calamity known as the Man-Faced Demon Spider, and had even fought with it face-to-face. Even though he may have potentially suffered torturous pain at the hands of the Man-Faced Demon Spider, he had not backed down from his duty. His unyielding will had truly been admirable to them.
Not only had he fulfilled his duties as the team captain, but he had also demonstrated the Bluesilver Grass’ power over control. Regardless of whether they were friend or foe, the degree of control would be unparalleled and would likely be even more amazing if his soul power had not been so weak.
The dim yellow light of spirit energy was slowly being absorbed into Tang Wulin’s body. Despite its outward similarities to other yellow spirit energies, the energy from the hundred-year Man-Faced Demon Spider was far different from those of ordinary soul beasts. The thousand-year soul beast’s energy they had killed before hadn’t been like this either. Due to it currently being the rebellion period, the energy was even more rich and distinct.
The benefits of killing a hundred-year Man-Faced Demon Spider soon appeared. As it was currently the rebellion period, there were more soul beasts actively roaming the forest than usual. Very quickly, soul beasts began to appear.
Not all soul beasts possessed sharp senses and different soul beasts possessed different ways of perceiving the world. As such, they were all taking a detour around the remains of the chaotic battle.
The Man-Faced Demon Spider possessed a terrifying toxin within its body, as well as its webs. Furthermore, its webs were extremely tough, to the point that even large soul beasts might not be able to break it if they charged into it. And after that… they would only be met with tragedy.
Ten-year soul beasts would be killed in a flash by the toxic spider web while hundred-year soul beasts would only be able to struggle for a few moments, before they too, met their demise.
As long as one was ensnared by the spider webs, there was no hope for survival. Those with keen senses could avoid the webs, but those with dull senses could only fall prey to the Man-Faced Demon Spider.
Spirit energy overflowed from the soul beasts that died within the webs. If it were the normal spirit ascension platform, the energy would quickly disperse, but it was currently the rebellion period so the dispersion rate was much slower. Not too far from the spider webs, the five students of class zero meditated in the only calm of the webbed chaos. They were subconsciously slowly absorbing all of the spirit energy of the beasts that fell prey to the webs.
In the beginning, there were only a few weak soul beasts that died, but gradually, the number and strength of soul beasts increased. More and more spirit energy drifted over to the five students.
……
“This… how can this be? There must be some issue with the spirit ascension platform.” The staff member stood there, dumbstruck as he watched the spirit energy surrounding the five coalesce and grow stronger and stronger. His expression was almost as if he had seen a ghost.
Could he say the five of them were cheating? Absolutely not! However, the amount of spirit energy the five would be able to absorb would only increase as time passed. This spirit energy didn’t come from thin air either, its origin the Spirit Pagoda’s greatest secret. Yet, it was being consumed rapidly right now.
It could be said that the students of class zero had accidently exploited the strength of the Man-Faced Demon Spider to obtain such a wonderful opportunity.
“Teacher Wu, I’ll definitely have to report this situation to the higher-ups,” the staff member solemnly stated.
Wu Zhangkong merely glanced at him. “What rules have my students broken? They defeated the Man-Faced Demon Spider and now they’re just meditating and recovering. Everything happened naturally. With my impression of the spirit ascension platform, you shouldn’t have the power to change any of this either. The spirit ascension platform runs by itself; you can only provide maintenance, nothing more.”
Beads of sweat dripped down the staff member’s forehead. “Yes, the spirit ascension platform cannot be easily altered. But if this continues on, your students will also experience difficulties. Can their spiritual power and body bear the pain of their spirit soul evolving to the thousand-year level? Especially the two children with only one ring, their pain will be even greater. They will definitely be in danger if their spirit soul’s level surpasses what they can handle.”
That was right. In their current situation, their spirit souls were continuously undergoing small evolutions and eventually, their bodies would meet the limit of what they could support. Fortunately, they were still quite far from meeting their limits.
As for whether a one-ringed Soul Master could support the rebound of gaining a thousand-year spirit soul… there was not one bit of worry in Wu Zhangkong’s heart. Tang Wulin’s body was far stronger than an ordinary Soul Master and he was also at the Spirit Connection realm, so a thousand-year spirit soul would be no problem for him. He was even less worried about Gu Yue. She was on the boundary of reaching rank 20 and gaining a second soul ring while both her body and spiritual power were superb.
These brats have really gone above and beyond this time for their final exam!
Seeing Wu Zhangkong void of any sort of reaction, hesitation crept into the heart of the staff member. Still, he picked up the communicator and dialed a number. Anyway, the original reason why they existed was to ensure that the spirit ascension platform operated normally.
Tang Wulin’s body felt bloated after he finished recovering all of his soul power. When he opened his eyes, he was met with a frightening scene.
An extremely thick yellow light surrounded him and his comrades. Is, is this spirit energy?
A bit further away was a pile of soul beasts corpses. Some of them had already been dissolved by the spider web’s corrosion, but many were still mostly intact, and there were even some that were still in their last moments of struggling for their life.
He had exhausted the most amount of soul power, so he was also the last one to awake from his meditation. Everyone else had long awakened and were all staring dully at the scene outside.
“What..., what’s going on?” Tang Wulin quietly asked.
It’s the toxins, the Man-Faced Demon Spider’s toxins,” the normally quiet Wang Jinxi said with an odd expression.
Tang Wulin quickly understood their current situation. The Man-Faced Demon Spider truly was worthy of being called a soul beast killer; its toxic spider webs had killed numerous ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts. Moreover, all of the beasts’ spirit energy had been absorbed by them. Their spirit souls had continuously evolved in such a fortunate situation.
Without any conscious thought, Tang Wulin looked down to see Goldlight on his chest shaking its head. Its body had expanded by a whole circle.
“If we continue like this, won’t our spirit souls…” Tang Wulin said in shock.
A bitter smile forced its way onto Wang Jinxi’s face. “Not really. There’s only so much our bodies can bear right now. Those of us with two soul rings definitely can’t do it. At the very least, I know for certain that I can’t support two thousand-year soul rings with my current level of spiritual power. I estimate that my limit is five hundred years for both my soul rings. Yangzi’s limits should also be similar, maybe just a bit better actually. Only you and Gu Yue haven’t gotten your second rings yet, so you two might still have a chance at obtaining thousand-year soul rings.”
Tang Wulin immediately made an awkward expression. Considering their current situation, if their spirit souls grew saturated with spirit energy, then they wouldn’t be able to enter the spirit ascension platform anymore and battle soul beasts. There was also the potential danger of their spirit souls exploding due to their insufficient spiritual power.
“You guys don’t need to look so confused. The Man-Faced Demon Spider’s webs will disappear soon. We need to prepare to depart.” Gu Yue’s voice cut in.