Word Count: 2,748 Words
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That was more like it. Even if she didn't absorb a strength-type overlord like the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear or Vigorous Vajra Bear for the Golden Dragon, at the very least it should be something like a Fifteen Ton Ant King with its tremendous brute force.
What kind of trash was a Bloody Baboon?
Absorbing a Bloody Baboon King in another timeline was purely a case of sudden mental illness.
After Teacher Ling Bai's evaluation, Student Ling Qiuxi's results were as follows:
Mental state: Normal.
Behavior: Reasonable.
Logic: Sound.
Authentic original version! (Available for flirting.)
The hunting team members awakened one by one and emerged from their tents. Huo Yuhao had finished absorbing all four Ice Blade Mantis spirit rings and activated his Spiritual Detection Sharing. Everyone's minds filled with the image of hundreds of Bloody Baboons converging on their position from all sides.
Bloody Baboons ranked only slightly above average in the spirit beast world. Had they encountered the four Ice Blade Mantis brothers, they would have faced certain annihilation. Their only noteworthy feature was their powerful physique, with size and strength comparable to bear-type spirit beasts.
Countless pairs of cruel, bloodthirsty eyes illuminated the darkness as the Bloody Baboon troop charged forward with savage howls.
"We're not well-suited for night battles. Let's end this quickly," Zhang Lexuan commanded sharply.
'Not well-suited' referred to their Martial Spirits shining far too brightly. Many spirit beasts in the Star Dou Forest were attracted to light, and the Halo, Moon, Light Goddess Butterfly, and Seraphim... each dazzled more brilliantly than the last.
A prolonged battle would attract every spirit beast within ten kilometers. Swift resolution was their best choice.
Mo Xuan's halos instantly spread out to support the team. Li Yongyue remained behind to protect him while the others manifested their Martial Spirits and rushed toward the Bloody Baboon horde.
With the Golden Dragon Spear in hand, Ling Qiuxi's aura turned razor-sharp. Her golden vertical pupils locked onto the robust Bloody Baboon King, and her grip on the spear shaft tightened unconsciously.
That unspoken, flirtatious tension between a man and a woman had sent her hormones surging. She was riding an exhilarating high, the likes of which she had never experienced in ten thousand years, only for these Bloody Baboons to douse it all with cold water.
The Golden Dragon woman was very angry, and the consequences would be dire!
A resounding dragon roar echoed as brilliant golden light expanded into a shimmering curtain. Ling Qiuxi tapped her toes against the ground and launched herself forward like a cannonball.
Bloody Baboons thrived on brutal, head-on clashes. One swung its thick arms horizontally at the Golden Dragon Spear without flinching from her assault.
Ling Qiuxi had chosen a 10,000-year Bloody Baboon, a leader-class existence within the troop. Yet even this 10,000-year spirit beast renowned for its physical strength had its arms torn apart by the Golden Dragon Spear. A massive gash tore across its chest and abdomen, spraying crimson blood as the creature collapsed lifelessly.
The leader fell in a single clash, immediately sparking chaos in the Bloody Baboon troop. The Bloody Baboon King could no longer hold back. It pounded its chest with both fists.
A sound like thunder from a great drum exploded outward. Every Bloody Baboon gained a layer of scarlet light, and their earlier fear vanished completely, replaced by suicidal frenzy as they hurled themselves at Ling Qiuxi.
Innate Spirit Skill: Group Bloodthirst!
Yet Ling Qiuxi's eyes held no regard for this rabble of trash spirit beasts. The Golden Dragon Spear pierced one Bloody Baboon's heart while her left hand seized the sparse hair atop another 10,000-year Bloody Baboon's head.
Then everyone watched as she hoisted the three-meter-tall, muscle-knotted Bloody Baboon upside down by its hair. It struggled and howled, but all efforts proved futile. In her hands, it became a living hammer that she swung around, smashing its kin's bones to splinters.
"How terrifying..."
The Shrek members felt their skin crawl watching Ling Qiuxi decimate the Bloody Baboons as if they were dry weeds. Wang Dong Er clicked her tongue secretly. Too violent. Simply too violent!
Ling Bai wove through the Bloody Baboon horde with leisurely grace. Each swing of his Angel Sword claimed a life, reaping the baboons like death incarnate.
Zhang Lexuan's skin gleamed with crystalline fairness under the moonlight. A bright moon rose behind her, and wherever its glow touched, the wails of dying baboons filled the air.
Huo Yuhao refused to be overshadowed. This was the perfect chance to test his new spirit skills. The spiritual power of his Spirit Eyes receded, replaced by an absolute chill as five black 10,000-year spirit rings rose to orbit his body.
His second, third, and fourth rings ignited. Water vapor surged from the air into his body, coating his palms in diamond-like ice crystals and enveloping his form in thick, unyielding ice armor.
Ice Jade Scorpion's Second Spirit Skill, Ice Amplification!
Third Spirit Skill, Frigid Scorpion Pincers!
Fourth Spirit Skill, Ice Armor Protection!
With these three skills active, Huo Yuhao transformed into a close-combat juggernaut, trading raw blows with the Bloody Baboons. Only with the bolstering power of spirit rings could the Ice Jade Scorpion unleash the full, radiant glory of an Ultimate Martial Spirit.
Ling Bai and Ling Qiuxi moved like two mob-clearing machines, cutting through the horde as if it were deserted. The 50,000-year Bloody Baboon King watched its clan suffer heavy casualties. Its muscles swelled dramatically as it shot upright and leaped over its kin, lunging for the pair.
Contempt flashed in both their eyes simultaneously. Their fifth spirit rings blazed with light as a scorching sun suddenly appeared in the night sky, exceeding a hundred meters in diameter within moments.
The earth trembled. A giant golden dragon soared into the air. The Golden Dragon's Scorching Sun illuminated every detail of the surroundings, and the soaring temperature made everyone present break out in sweat.
Seraphim's Fifth Spirit Skill: Scorching Sun Wheel!
Golden Dragon's Fifth Spirit Skill: Golden Dragon's Roar!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Violent explosions tore through the night. When the light faded and the hunting party regained their senses, they found themselves surrounded by charred Bloody Baboon corpses. A dazzling array of spirit rings—white, yellow, purple, and black—rose from the carnage.
The Bloody Baboon King still clung to life. A wound pierced through its chest and back, and though its chest rose and fell faintly, the injury continued to corrode and expand. Death was imminent.
Not a single other Bloody Baboon could move. The forest had fallen eerily silent; not even the chirps of insects or calls of birds remained.
Two figures slowly approached. Their faces seemed cast from the same mold. The height of their noses and the highlights and shadows cast by the silver moon were identical. One held the Angel Sword, the other gripped the Golden Dragon Spear. Walking side by side, they created a picturesque scene all their own.
Brilliant golden light condensed behind them, forming the illusory figures of the Seraphim and the Golden Dragon. The auras of the two great Martial Spirits intertwined, and Ling Bai and Ling Qiuxi's momentum seemed to rise continuously.
Mo Xuan lowered his voice and quietly asked Li Yongyue, "Old Li, is this Martial Spirit Resonance?"
Li Yongyue nodded gravely. "A Holy-type Seraphim... and a Strength-type Golden Dragon... I've never heard of any connection between these two Martial Spirits, so it must be Martial Spirit Resonance produced by a blood connection!
If they're not biological siblings, I'll eat shit!"
Ling Bai and Ling Qiuxi calmly retracted their Martial Spirits and returned to their normal states. Their expressions remained peaceful, as if the battle had taken no toll whatsoever.
As the ones involved, they could feel the strange connection between their Martial Spirits, and they had a good guess as to why.
The Ultimate Light and Ultimate Fire from the Seraphim's evolution originated from the Three-Eyed Golden Lion and contained its bloodline. It was only natural that it would resonate with Ling Qiuxi.
Legend claimed that Martial Spirit Resonance was the prerequisite for a Spirit Fusion Skill. Perhaps they, too, could have one.
The Bloody Baboon King's Group Bloodthirst relied on spiritual power, so it could barely serve as a spirit ring for a spiritual-type Martial Spirit. Considering how difficult spiritual-attribute spirit beasts were to find, Huo Yuhao chose to kill and absorb this half-baked Bloody Baboon King.
Ling Qiuxi had no reason to object this time, and so it became the fifth spirit ring for his Spirit Eyes.
The group waited on the spot with Wang Dong Er standing guard for Huo Yuhao. She suddenly noticed that the Bloody Baboons slain by the Golden Dragon Spear were visibly and rapidly shriveling into dried corpses, their residual spirit power mysteriously vanishing.
She glanced at Ling Qiuxi with dread, her voice just loud enough for Zhang Lexuan to hear. "Directly sucking their life force dry... that's as sinister as an Evil Spirit Master..."
Zhang Lexuan gave a helpless smile. Wang Dong Er had a point. The Golden Dragon Spear's ability resembled those of Evil Spirit Masters. But Shrek Academy could do nothing about her. The Martial Spirit Resonance was ironclad proof confirming the sibling relationship between Ling Bai and Ling Qiuxi.
Even the righteous act of eliminating evil had to take a person's background into account. In the eyes of the academy, Ling Qiuxi was Ling Bai's biological sister, and Ling Bai was backed by the only Limit Douluo from the continent's three original nations.
Shrek Academy was strong on the outside but weak within, lacking true peak-level combat strength. They could only hope for Jianmu Douluo to deal with Dragon Emperor Douluo Long Xiaoyao and the yet-to-appear Death God Douluo Ye Xishui. They absolutely didn't dare offend the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
Now that Ling Bai had graduated and Ning Tian and Wu Feng had withdrawn, even Yan Shaozhe was coaxing Ling Qiuxi with kind words, practically begging her to join the academy and serve as a bond to maintain the close relationship between Shrek and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
Ling Qiuxi entered a meditative state as if no one else existed. The Golden Dragon Spear possessed the special effect of absorbing life force. All beings who fell to it became nutrients, a portion of which would be purified and fed back to her.
After digesting the energy from the Bloody Baboons, her spirit power would surely soar by several ranks once she obtained her sixth spirit ring and broke through her bottleneck.
A 50,000-year spirit ring required significant time to absorb. By the time Huo Yuhao awoke, the sun hung high in the sky.
The hunting team set off once more. Huo Yuhao and Li Yongyue had obtained their desired spirit rings. Excluding Ling Bai, only Ling Qiuxi and Mo Xuan still needed their sixth rings.
They continued deeper into the Star Dou Forest, arriving at the Core Region where 10,000-year spirit beasts appeared frequently. The forest was shrouded in mist, heavy with morning dew, and the aura of life felt even fresher here.
The quality of spirit beasts in the Core Region far exceeded that of the Hybrid Region. In less than an hour, they encountered a 20,000-year Azure Sea Spirit Ape, which Mo Xuan happily claimed for himself.
Just as they prepared to move on, disaster struck. A beam of emerald light shot silently through the trees, heading straight for Ling Qiuxi's head.
The Spider Emperor Sense proved its worth once again. Ling Bai yanked Ling Qiuxi aside in the nick of time and slashed out with his Angel Sword, yet he only managed to sever two or three emerald feathers.
The beam of light made a sharp turn and hovered in midair on flapping wings. A discontented voice complained:
"Hey, insolent human! Those were feathers I've been growing for tens of thousands of years! Compensate me with your brain matter immediately!"
It spoke human language—a 100,000-year spirit beast!
Greenshadow Douluo Elder Song immediately shielded the hunting team. The sneak attack had been so fast that even she hadn't had time to react. If not for Ling Bai's swift response, Ling Qiuxi would already be a corpse.
The creature was a palm-sized bird-type spirit beast, entirely emerald green save for its red beak. Its small eyes gleamed with fierce light.
"An Emerald Demon Bird?!"
Ling Qiuxi's gaze sharpened. The Emerald Demon Bird was a spirit beast that fed on brain matter. In a sense, its diet matched what hers had once been.
In ancient times, an Emerald Demon Bird had fed on the brain of a true dragon, leading the enraged dragons to slaughter the species to near extinction. Since the Star Dou Forest was ruled by the Silver Dragon King and the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, any Emerald Demon Bird that showed its face would be killed instantly, let alone a 100,000-year one!
"Little Green, don't be so impatient. Let me eat first..."
Another hoarse voice rasped. Eight thick, long legs swept through the ancient trees as a sinister spider revealed itself. Its round body was covered in tufts of green hair, and nauseating mucus dripped to the ground with corrosive hissing.
A 100,000-year Soul Devouring Spider Emperor!
It lived by devouring souls, a typical evil spirit beast and another demon that shouldn't exist in the Star Dou Forest!
"HOWL—"
A distant, desolate wolf howl drew nearer. Three wolf-shaped spirit beasts rushed toward them at astonishing speed. With their front claws raised, they could actually run upright like ape-type spirit beasts!
The 10,000-year Three Mutant Wolf Apes!
"Run! There's... there's another one!
It's stronger than the Emerald Demon Bird and the Soul Devouring Spider Emperor—incomparably powerful!"
Huo Yuhao released his Spiritual Detection Sharing at full power. He had captured the image of a figure overflowing with evil energy that surpassed even the great demon king in his heart, Death Abyss Douluo!
"Three 100,000-year spirit beasts!"
Elder Song was horrified. The Emerald Demon Bird alone was extremely difficult to handle. She could protect herself but couldn't guarantee the Inner Courtyard students' safety. Add the Soul Devouring Spider Emperor and an unknown evil spirit beast of at least 100,000 years… their only option was to flee!
And even then, they might not be able to escape!
"You all retreat first! I'll hold these spirit beasts off!"
Elder Song instantly erupted into her Greenshadow Godly Eagle Avatar, preparing to single-handedly block the five spirit beasts, especially the fastest of them, the Emerald Demon Bird!
"Retreat!"
The Inner Courtyard students took to their heels, unable to stop themselves from cursing internally. What's with today? Did we poke a nest of evil spirit beasts?!
"Ling Bai, it's here. It brought that group of guys!"
On the team's left flank, Ling Qiuxi gritted her silver teeth. That familiar evil aura… she would never forget it even if it were turned to ash!
"This time it's not just the two of us. Don't forget what you're wearing. We'll settle old and new scores together!" Ling Bai's tone was ice-cold.
"Let's go!"
Secrets were best kept among the fewest people possible. Ling Bai wrapped an arm around Ling Qiuxi's slender, supple waist and used the chaos to break away from the hunting team. They sped through the forest until reaching a secluded clearing.
The next second, the Darkness Domain descended. The surrounding woods instantly gained a dangerous, pitch-black tinge.
The Soul Devouring Spider Emperor, Emerald Demon Bird, and Three Mutant Wolf Apes appeared. In their center stood a massive black tiger with Evil God Wings on its back and a hook-like tail.
The 100,000-year Dark Demon Evil God Tiger!
The six great spirit beasts were still conversing as they approached. The Soul Devouring Spider Emperor emphasized:
"Brother Tiger, we agreed. The soul of the Emperor Destiny Beast is mine."
"The brain matter, the brain matter is mine~" the Emerald Demon Bird chirped impatiently.
The Three Mutant Wolf Apes growled: "Master, we want to eat the flesh..." (in spirit beast tongue)
"Don't worry. I only want the power of destiny and that human's essence. The soul, brain matter, and flesh are all yours."
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger lowered its head to examine the wound on its chest, torn open by the Eternal Scar and still unhealed after all this time. Then it looked up at the two figures and smiled broadly:
"Seraphim. Emperor Destiny Beast.
I've come... for my revenge!"
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Title: Emerald Demon Bird and Soul Devouring Spider Emperor, The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's Revenge
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