The following day, the trek into the Star Dou Great Forest began in earnest. The brief, almost comical skirmish in the town was forgotten, replaced by the palpable tension of entering one of the continent's most dangerous regions. The air grew thick with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, and the sounds of the civilized world were replaced by the cacophony of unseen creatures.
Zhang Tian, with his knowledge of the future, just followed along the group's path. It was no surprise to him when they stumbled upon their target: a magnificent Phoenix Tail Crest Serpent, its thousand-year-old scales shimmering in the dappled sunlight. The subsequent events unfolded with a predictable, almost theatrical flair. A dispute over the serpent arose with the arrival of the Serpent Cane Spirit Master, Chao Tianxiang, and her granddaughter, Meng Yiran.
A duel was arranged between Meng Yiran and Tang San. The fight was a showcase of Tang San's abilities and skills while having a pure Spirit Power battle against Meng Yiran and he won due to his cultivation of Mysterious Heaven Skill that provided him with denser and pure Spirit Power compared to those who do not utilize it. His victory though came with minor injuries.
With the ownership of the serpent settled, Chao Tianxiang and Meng Yiran departed with strained civility.
Oscar, with a look of grim determination, took the knife and ended the serpent's life, sitting down immediately to absorb its lustrous purple spirit ring.
The plan had been to return to Shrek Academy once Oscar's absorption was complete. But fate, or rather the plot, had other plans. Just as they were packing up, Tang San, who had been meditating to heal his minor injuries, opened his eyes. A flash of brilliant light emanated from him. He had broken through. Level 30.
And so, the journey was extended. The team, now with a newly empowered Oscar, delved deeper into the forest, searching for a suitable third spirit beast for Tang San. The day wore on, the shadows growing long as evening began to cast its cool blanket over the forest.
Zhang Tian walked in his designated position, his face a mask of calm, but his mind was racing.
'It's almost time,' he thought, his senses, amplified by his domain, stretching out into the darkening woods. 'The real drama of this trip is about to begin. The arrival of the Titan Giant Ape.' He felt a flicker of anticipation. This would be his first direct encounter with a true, hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beast at its peak.
His thoughts were interrupted by a low, deep tremor that ran through the ground, not a sharp quake, but a rhythmic, heavy thudding, as if the very heart of the forest had begun to beat.
THUD... THUD... THUD...
The thudding grew louder, closer. The trees began to tremble, shedding leaves like terrified tears. Small animals, moments before chittering in the undergrowth, fell silent or fled in a blind panic.
"What is that?" Ma Hongjun stammered, his face pale, the lecherous grin he usually wore completely gone.
"Everyone, on guard!" Zhao Wuji's voice was a sharp, urgent roar. He leaped to the front of the group, his massive frame a bulwark against the unseen threat. "Form a defensive circle! Protect the support masters!"
The ground shook more violently now. Through a gap in the colossal trees, they saw it. Two points of light, like massive yellow lanterns, burning with an intelligent, ancient fury. The lanterns rose higher and higher until they towered over the canopy itself.
A creature of impossible scale stepped into the clearing. It was a colossal ape, over fifteen meters tall, covered in thick, dark fur that seemed to drink the fading light. Its muscles were like sculpted mountains of granite, and its aura was one of absolute, primordial power.
The Titan Giant Ape.
It let out a roar.
It was not a simple sound. It was a physical force, a shockwave of pure sonic power that ripped through the air, flattening bushes and shaking the teeth in their skulls.
"Hold your ground!" Zhao Wuji bellowed, his own spirit power flaring to life, creating a golden barrier that absorbed the worst of the roar's impact.
The team scrambled to fight. Dai Mubai's White Tiger Light Wave, Ma Hongjun's Phoenix Fire Line, Tang San's binding vines—all of their most powerful attacks shot towards the colossal beast.
The ape didn't even seem to notice. It simply raised a hand, a hand the size of a carriage, and swatted them away like annoying flies. The attacks dissipated harmlessly against its tough hide.
"This is not a beast you can fight!" Zhao Wuji yelled, his face grim. "Its power is beyond you! Retreat!"
But it was too late. The Titan Giant Ape took another step forward, the ground groaning under its weight. It wasn't interested in a fight. Its intelligent, yellow eyes scanned the small group of humans and locked onto a single target.
Xiao Wu.
"Seventh Spirit Ability! Vigorous Vajra Bear Avatar!" Zhao Wuji roared, knowing this was their only chance. His body swelled, transforming into the giant, golden bear of his Martial Spirit Avatar, his power skyrocketing. He charged forward, a golden meteor of fury, aiming to intercept the ape.
The result was almost comical in its futility. The Titan Giant Ape simply extended one arm, caught the charging Spirit Saint by the face, and with a casual flick of its wrist, sent him flying. Zhao Wuji's avatar flickered and died as he crashed through a dozen ancient trees, landing in a heap somewhere in the distance.
The ape then reached down with its other hand. Its movements were surprisingly gentle as its massive fingers closed around the terrified, struggling form of Xiao Wu.
While the others were focused on their futile attacks, Zhang Tian had been moving with a cold, calculated efficiency.
His Blood Silver Grass had erupted from the ground, not to attack the ape, but to form protective cocoons around Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing, shielding them from the shockwaves and flying debris.
More vines had shot out to brace Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun, preventing them from being thrown by the beast's casual displays of force.
In his mind, Ah Yin's voice was tight with concern. 'Zhang Tian, be careful! This is a hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beast! A true king of the forest. Its bloodline is immensely powerful!'
'I can feel it,' he replied calmly, watching as the ape lifted a squealing Xiao Wu into the air. 'But it's not trying to harm her. It's… protecting her?'
The Titan Giant Ape, with Xiao Wu held gently in its massive palm, turned and began to crash back through the forest, heading towards the core region.
"XIAO WU!" Tang San screamed, his voice breaking with anguish and desperation. He ignored his own safety, ignored the overwhelming power disparity, and sprinted after the retreating behemoth.
'So reckless,' Zhang Tian thought. But he knew this was a pivotal moment. He couldn't let Tang San go alone.
Without a word, he shot forward, his own speed remarkable, easily keeping pace with the desperate Tang San.
Tang San glanced over, his eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears, a look of profound shock on his face.
He was stunned to see Zhang Tian, the person he considered his rival, the one who seemed to have a personal disdain for him, running beside him into what was surely a suicide mission.
"Zhang Tian? You…?"
"She's our classmate," Zhang Tian said, his voice even and direct, cutting through Tang San's emotional turmoil. "It's our duty to try and protect her. We can't just abandon her."
The simple, powerful words struck Tang San deeply. In that moment, his resentment and rivalry towards Zhang Tian melted away, replaced by a wave of gratitude and camaraderie. He nodded, his expression hardening with renewed resolve.
The Titan Giant Ape, hearing their pursuit, paused and looked back. It let out another roar, this one a simple exhalation of air, not infused with spirit power. It was a warning. The blast of wind was still powerful enough to send the two boys tumbling, knocking them back towards the rest of their stunned and injured team.
They crashed to the ground near Zhao Wuji, who had managed to stagger back, bruised and battered but alive.
"It's no use!" Zhao Wuji groaned. "Its power is too great!"
"We have to try!" Tang San insisted, trying to get to his feet.
"Wait!" Oscar shouted. He had just finished absorbing his new spirit ring, and his face was alight with a manic grin. "My third spirit ability! I can help!"
He struck his pose. "I, your father, have a mushroom sausage!"
"Mushroom sausage?" Ma Hongjun asked, confused.
"It's not a mushroom sausage!" Oscar corrected proudly. "It's a Flying Mushroom Sausage! It allows you to fly for one minute! The speed is related to your own spirit power!"
He quickly produced two of the strange, winged sausages and handed them to the only two people still in fighting condition.
"Go!" Zhao Wuji urged. "We are injured or exhausted! You two are our only hope! Find her, but do not engage! Just observe and report back!"
Tang San and Zhang Tian didn't hesitate. They choked down the sausages, and with a surge of energy, two pairs of spectral wings sprouted from their backs. They shot into the air, flying at incredible speed in the direction the ape had disappeared.
As they flew, Tang San leading the way with his desperate focus, Zhang Tian's mind was a cold, calculating machine.
'This is the perfect opportunity,' he thought. 'With everyone else left behind, Tang San is alone. Unsupervised. He will stumble upon the Man-Faced Demon Spider. He will be tempted by its spirit ring and its external spirit bone. I cannot allow that. The Eight Spider Lances are a foundational part of his power growth. Taking them from him will be a major blow to his future development. They belong to me.'
Their minute of flight was soon up. The wings dissipated, and they landed gracefully in the dark, dense forest.
"Which way?" Tang San asked, his senses overwhelmed by the vast wilderness.
"This way," Zhang Tian said without hesitation, pointing in a specific direction. "I can feel the lingering vibrations from its footsteps." He was lying, of course. He was simply following the plot's map, leading them directly to their next encounter.
They ran through the undergrowth for several minutes before they burst into a small, eerie clearing. In the center, entangled in a massive, sticky web, was a creature of pure nightmare. It was a spider, over three meters in diameter, with a hideous, man-like face on its back. Two of its eight long, sharp legs were broken, and two of its multifaceted eyes had been smashed into a pulp, leaking a foul-smelling ichor. It was grievously injured.
The Man-Faced Demon Spider.
Tang San's eyes, which had been filled with worry for Xiao Wu just moments before, now shone with a different light. A greedy, avaricious light.
"A Man-Faced Demon Spider!" he breathed, his voice filled with awe. "And it's injured! Teacher said this was one of the most suitable spirit beasts for my third ring, providing incredible toughness and poison attribute! Its age... it must be over a thousand years! This is a god-sent opportunity!"
He looked at Zhang Tian. "I need to hunt this spirit beast. I need its spirit ring."
Zhang Tian stared at him, his calm facade almost breaking. He resisted the overwhelming urge to reach out and smack the boy upside the head.
'Are you serious?!' his mind screamed in a mixture of disbelief and genuine fury. 'Just five minutes ago, you were weeping, crying your eyes out, ready to die for your precious Xiao Wu! You looked so pathetic and heartbroken that even I, who has great disdain for you, felt a flicker of sympathy for you! And now? The moment you see a convenient spirit ring, you've completely forgotten about the girl who is in the clutches of a hundred-thousand-year-old monster?! What happened to your desperate love? Your unbreakable bond? Is your devotion so cheap that it can be derailed by a single ugly spider? You absolute, sanctimonious, hypocritical fool!'
He took a deep, calming breath. "Tang San," he said, his voice dangerously flat. "Are you truly planning to waste time here? Xiao Wu could be in mortal danger. Every second counts."
He stepped between Tang San and the spider. "Go. Find her. I will hold this beast back. Your quest is more important."
In his mind, Ah Yin's worried voice piped up. 'But Zhang Tian, what about my son? He can't face that ape alone!'
'Don't worry, Ah Yin,' Zhang Tian projected back smoothly. 'You're forgetting someone. Your dear husband, the great Clear Sky Douluo, is following him like a silent shadow. Do you really think he would let his precious son come to any real harm? Tang San is safer than anyone else in this forest.'
The logic was undeniable. Ah Yin fell silent, her maternal fears assuaged by the thought of her powerful husband's protection.
Tang San, confronted by Zhang Tian's words, had the grace to look ashamed. The image of Xiao Wu's terrified face flashed in his mind, and he was struck by the foolishness of his own distraction.
"You're right," he said, his voice thick with gratitude. "Thank you, Zhang Tian."
He gave Zhang Tian one last, grateful look before turning and sprinting off into the woods, resuming his desperate search for his sister.
The moment he was gone, Zhang Tian turned to face the injured Man-Faced Demon Spider. A cold, predatory smile touched his lips. He pulled a shotgun from his storage spirit tool.
"Now then," he said to the hissing, wounded beast. "Let's get this over with."
The spider, seeing him as its only immediate threat, shot a volley of poisonous web at him. At the same time, it lunged forward on its remaining six legs.
Zhang Tian moved with a fluid grace born from his recent training. He activated his second spirit ability, releasing a cloud of invisible spores that settled all over the spider and the clearing. He then activated his first ability, 'Devour,' at its full power. He could feel the spider's life force and spirit power beginning to drain into him, not just from his direct presence, but from the countless spores now infesting its body. It was a slow, inexorable weakening.
His Blood Silver Grass erupted from the ground, not to bind it completely, but to harass it, tripping its legs and blocking its path, forcing it into awkward positions. As the spider struggled, he raised his shotgun.
BOOM!
The blast of pellets slammed into the already cracked carapace on the spider's abdomen, shattering it further. The beast shrieked in pain.
He didn't let up. He used his vines to swing around the beast, his movements a blur, constantly changing his angle of attack.
BOOM!
Another shot struck a wounded leg joint, nearly severing it.
BOOM!
A third blast hit one of its mangled eye sockets, causing the creature to thrash wildly.
Weakened by the constant drain of his Devour ability and crippled by the shotgun blasts, the Man-Faced Demon Spider was a shadow of its former power. Zhang Tian saw his opening.
"Viper's Kiss Strike!" he commanded. A single, thick, blood-red vine, hardened to the consistency of a steel spear, shot forward. It pierced through one of the spider's already shattered eye sockets and drove deep into its brain.
The beast gave one final, agonized shudder and then went still.
A brilliant, deep purple light rose from its corpse. A thousand-year spirit ring.
Zhang Tian looked at it, then at his own spirit power. 'Level 27. I can't absorb it. A shame to let it dissipate.'
He turned his focus inward. 'Ah Yin. This ring contains a vast amount of life force and spirit energy. I want you to absorb it. It will help your own body, the Blood Silver Emperor, recover its cultivation and grow stronger.'
'Zhang Tian... are you sure?' she asked, her voice touched by his selflessness. 'This is a valuable ring.'
'It's useless to me right now,' he replied. 'Its energy is better spent on you. Our strength is linked. Your recovery is my priority. Absorb it.'
'Thank you,' she whispered.
In the clearing, a single, beautiful blade of blood-red grass with golden veins materialized from within Zhang Tian. It floated over to the purple spirit ring and touched it. The 'Devour' ability, now wielded by the Empress herself, was on an entirely different level. The purple ring imploded, its energy flowing into the grass in a massive, visible torrent. The plant seemed to pulse with power, its crimson color deepening, its golden veins shining brighter.
The absorption took only a minute. When it was done, the spirit ring was gone. But something else remained, lying where the spider's corpse had been. It was a spirit bone. Eight long, sharp, purple-black legs, connected to a central spine-like structure, pulsing with a sinister energy.
The External Spirit Bone: Eight Spider Lances.
Ah Yin's plant form, now visibly more vibrant, flew back and re-fused seamlessly with Zhang Tian's martial spirit.
Zhang Tian walked over and picked up the spirit bone. It felt cold and strangely alive in his hands. He didn't hesitate. He knew absorbing it would take time, and this was not the place.
He stored the spirit bone in his storage Spirit Tool. A quick scan of his domain told him that three powerful spirit masters were approaching from the east. 'Meng Shu and his family. Right on schedule.'
He couldn't risk an encounter. He activated the flight ability of his own right leg spirit bone and shot silently into the sky, flying in the opposite direction, a triumphant, predatory smile on his handsome face. He had the prize. The board was now his.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon