Above the primeval swamp of the Sunset Forest, Xiao Lin stood atop floating ice, gazing at a marshland blanketed in thick moss.
From deep within the swamp came continuous low gurgling sounds—the noise of bubbles bursting.
Clearly, there were many soul beasts breathing beneath the mire.
"What a shame… I actually let that Medusa Serpent get away."
Xiao Lin cursed under his breath.
After wandering around, Xiao Lin had also arrived at the swamp region of the Sunset Forest.
He hadn't come here for any other reason—he was simply looking for earth-attribute soul beasts.
There should be more earth-attribute soul beasts in a swamp, right?
With that thought in mind, Xiao Lin had come here. Unfortunately, he had just let a ten-thousand-year Medusa Serpent escape.
Medusa Serpents are soul beasts with both mental and earth attributes.
Whether used as fertilizer or cultivated, they're actually quite good.
That's because most snake-type soul beasts possess dragon bloodlines—
More or less, at least.
He had originally planned to find a Medusa Serpent and nurture it for a while. Now that chance was gone.
Xiao Lin had been thinking of raising it to the level of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. If it then sacrificed itself, it might even drop a head soul bone.
Just thinking about Dugu Bo's Medusa head soul bone—
Given how precious head soul bones are, Xiao Lin truly felt deep regret.
But there was nothing he could do.
Earlier, when Xiao Lin was about to use his strength, he had hesitated for just a moment—wondering whether it was appropriate to use Extreme Fire in a swamp.
It was precisely that brief hesitation that allowed him to be petrified by the Medusa's gaze.
Fortunately, Xiao Lin's mental resistance was extremely high, allowing him to instantly break free of the petrification.
Unfortunately, by the time Xiao Lin was ready to deal with the Medusa, it had already fled.
What a coward.
Did he really look that strong?
Xiao Lin's expression darkened as he regretted it inwardly.
Xiao Lin didn't know how strong he was—but the Medusa certainly did.
With Xiao Lin holding the Coiling Dragon Staff, the sense of weight it radiated alone was enough. A mere ten-thousand-year soul beast wasn't stupid.
Normally, a weapon-type martial soul like Xiao Lin's would consume a large amount of soul power just to be summoned.
Yet Xiao Lin had barely expended any soul power at all—he'd had it summoned for most of the day without feeling the slightest strain.
No, I have to find that ten-thousand-year Medusa Serpent.
Even if he might go after the Evil Eye Tyrant's soul bone on the Sun Moon Continent in the future, that was still something for later.
And whether he could even find it on the Sun Moon Continent was still unknown.
As for the external soul bone of the God's Eye—just thinking about it for now was enough.
The Medusa Serpent, on the other hand, was a ready-made candidate for a hundred-thousand-year soul bone.
"Old Ice, Old Fire—do you have any confidence in strengthening a Medusa Serpent's soul bone for me?"
Xiao Lin hurriedly asked within his consciousness space, while in the real world he sprinted at full speed along the trail left by the fleeing Medusa Serpent.
"As long as this Medusa Serpent has dragon blood, it can be strengthened using dragon qi."
"Oh right—weren't you trying to isolate the dragon qi of some immortal herb?"
"Perfect timing. You can use the Medusa Serpent's soul bone to absorb the dragon qi around that immortal herb."
"But the most important thing is—Medusa Serpents can drop soul bones."
With both Dragon Kings in his consciousness space saying so, what did Xiao Lin have to fear?
Immediately afterward, Xiao Lin accelerated even more as he dashed across the swamp. The instant his feet touched the mire, the soft swamp ground transformed into a layer of ice to support him.
"Isn't a Medusa Serpent guaranteed to drop a soul bone?"
Xiao Lin smiled confidently. Medusa Serpents were considered high-grade soul beasts among snake-type soul beasts.
And with dragon blood in their veins, there was even less to say.
Even if it didn't drop a soul bone, he planned to use the Medusa's corpse to refine a fossil soul bone.
To obtain the Medusa Serpent, Xiao Lin was truly determined.
As long as the Medusa Serpent was willing to behave obediently, he wouldn't have harbored killing intent.
I'll give the Medusa Serpent one more chance.
Xiao Lin silently planned everything out, completely ignoring the other soul beasts within the swamp.
From the moment he stepped into the swamp and spotted the Medusa Serpent, he could be said to have entered the core region of this marsh.
And the powerful soul beasts lurking in this core region had already noticed Xiao Lin's intrusive behavior.
Although the Sunset Forest was said not to have any hundred-thousand-year soul beasts—
That wasn't necessarily absolute. What if one was hiding?
And even if there truly were no hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, did that mean there were no ninety-thousand-year ones?
A ninety-thousand-year soul beast was still not a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
And so, Xiao Lin ran recklessly across the swamp. Beneath the mire, a powerful soul beast—far stronger than the previous ten-thousand-year Medusa Serpent—had already locked onto him.
As it turned out, this stretch of swamp was the territory of the Medusa Serpent clan.
Although Medusa Serpents weren't particularly fertile, it wasn't to the extent that a single small family wouldn't exist.
Decades ago, a powerful soul master had hunted down the leader of this Medusa Serpent clan.
Since then, the Medusa Serpent group of this territory had come to harbor deep hatred toward humans.
The moment they saw a human soul master, they would actively attack.
And this time, the Medusa Serpent targeting Xiao Lin was the wife of the Medusa Serpent previously slain by Dugu Bo.
Its soul power cultivation exceeded seventy thousand years. Because it enjoyed hunting human soul masters, it now appeared in the outer section of the core region.
At present, it had already set its sights on Xiao Lin.
Moreover, it was preparing to travel beneath the swamp and launch a surprise attack on him.
In an instant—
Xiao Lin suddenly sensed an unusual sound erupting behind him.
It was the thunderous noise of an enormous mass bursting out of the water, triggering multiple explosive splashes.
After that sound rang out, Xiao Lin felt as though no sunlight could reach where he stood anymore. Everything around him was plunged into darkness.
This was the shadow cast by the massive body of some soul beast.
Xiao Lin's reaction speed was fast—but the Medusa Serpent's attack was even faster.
In just a single instant—
Xiao Lin felt a burst of ringing in his ears. His mind went blank, and his vision turned white.
This was the Medusa Serpent's mental attack.
If Xiao Lin's mental strength hadn't been strong enough, this one strike alone would have been enough to turn him into a vegetable.
Immediately afterward, before Xiao Lin could regain consciousness, a wave of stench rushed into his nostrils
(this was something Xiao Lin only realized after regaining consciousness).
Then, darkness enveloped his vision—Xiao Lin had already been swallowed whole by the Medusa Serpent.
"Gurgle!"
At the instant it swallowed Xiao Lin, the Medusa Serpent dove back into the swamp once more.
In the Medusa Serpent's eyes, Xiao Lin was nothing more than a mere Soul King.
No matter how powerful his martial soul appeared, he was still just a Soul King.
As long as the target wasn't a Soul Douluo or above—someone who had already begun tempering their mental power—its mental attacks had never failed.
All of them turned into idiots and were then digested.
Xiao Lin was no exception in its eyes.
But the Medusa Serpent seemed to have forgotten one thing—
Xiao Lin's martial soul, the Coiling Dragon Staff, had never disappeared.
Even though Xiao Lin's consciousness had been disrupted by the sudden mental assault—
(End of Chapter)