Chapter 157: Fierce Battle of Beasts

The Soul-Piercing Strike was merely a simple technique that attacked the opponent's spirit with soul power, nothing profound.

If Su Yishan had been prepared in advance, Ye Yuan would not have succeeded.

After all, Ye Yuan was only at the intermediate soul power level of a pill master, on par with Su Yishan.

His strike relied on catching the opponent off guard.

Of course, soul techniques were nothing special to Ye Yuan, but in a mortal kingdom like Qin, they were extremely rare.

Even the crudest soul technique!

When warriors in Qin fought, they never expected the opponent to use a soul technique, because such things were too scarce.

Thus, warriors who possessed soul techniques often succeeded in sneak attacks.

But too few people knew them, so few that there was no need to guard against them. After all, it would be a major taboo to be distracted by guarding against soul techniques in every battle.

"Yes, I should have thought of that. Aside from a soul technique, how could Su Yishan have made such a low-level mistake?" Nanfeng Zhirou murmured.

Ye Yuan turned to leave, but Nanfeng Zhirou snapped out of it and quickly caught up, grabbing him and saying, "Ye Yuan, teach me this soul technique, okay?"

Ye Yuan shook his head and said, "No."

Seeing Nanfeng Zhirou's expression change immediately, Ye Yuan quickly added, "Your top priority now is to cultivate the Reverse Water Art. Wasting time on other things will only delay your training. Once you've mastered the Reverse Water Art, I'll teach you something even better!"

Nanfeng Zhirou's anger turned to joy as she said, "You said it! If you don't teach me then, I'll... I'll..."

Nanfeng Zhirou stammered "I'll" for a long time but couldn't think of a better threat.

Ye Yuan's strength was now on par with hers; what could she threaten him with?

"Don't worry, I have plenty of soul techniques. As long as you can reach a sufficient level, I'll give you as many as you want! Let's go!" Ye Yuan said generously.

In his previous life, Ye Yuan had almost given up on martial arts but had studied the path of the soul quite extensively, thus cultivating many soul techniques.

Of course, his purpose in cultivating the soul was still for pill refining. These soul techniques helped Ye Yuan better understand the soul, so he gladly pursued them.

...

A day later, Ye Yuan, Nanfeng Zhirou, and Yuan Fei arrived at the Gray Pine Forest and picked the Songyang Fruit.

Naturally, there was a powerful beast guarding it, but it was only a second-tier beast.

Ye Yuan released Yuan Fei, and the second-tier beast immediately trembled, showing no hostility at all.

The hierarchy in the beast world was even stricter; a second-tier beast facing a third-tier beast could only submit.

Having obtained the Songyang Fruit without effort, Ye Yuan and his group hurried to the Black Water Ravine, the habitat of the Seven-Colored Cloud Python.

The Black Water Ravine was east of Red Ridge Peak, about a thousand li away, and six hundred li from the border of the Endless Forest, a very dangerous place.

But for Ye Yuan now, it wasn't too dangerous.

With a third-tier beast by his side, he could go anywhere within a thousand li of the Endless Forest.

However, Ye Yuan usually didn't keep Yuan Fei by his side but had him stay inside the spatial artifact.

The Endless Forest was filled not only with many trial participants but also with many beast hunters. If someone ran into them, they would have no choice but to kill to silence them.

Ye Yuan didn't want to kill innocents, so it was better to keep a low profile.

Moreover, Ye Yuan entered the Endless Forest to train himself. If he let Yuan Fei charge ahead in everything, it would defeat the purpose of training.

A day later, Ye Yuan and Nanfeng Zhirou finally arrived at the Black Water Ravine.

Here, the stream babbled and the forest was beautiful—a nice place.

The six-hundred-li area was a dividing line where first-tier and second-tier beasts mixed.

Further north was mostly the territory of second-tier beasts; to the south, mostly first-tier beasts.

Of course, this wasn't absolute.

But the warrior Ye Yuan had healed was unlucky to encounter the Seven-Colored Cloud Python here; it was like hitting the jackpot.

Based on the warrior's description, Ye Yuan judged that this Seven-Colored Cloud Python might be at the mid second-tier level. At this strength, he might not need Yuan Fei to come out; he could handle it himself.

But Ye Yuan didn't dare be careless. The Seven-Colored Cloud Python's venomous mist was formidable, and its physical body was very powerful. If he was accidentally swept by it, he would be in big trouble.

"According to records, this Black Water Ravine was originally the territory of a high-level first-tier beast, but at some point, the Seven-Colored Cloud Python took it over. I suspect there must be something here that the python likes, otherwise it wouldn't be attached to this place. We might even get something good," Ye Yuan transmitted to Nanfeng Zhirou.

Nanfeng Zhirou was already used to Ye Yuan's encyclopedic insights and only asked, "So what should we do now? Lure it out and kill it?"

Ye Yuan shook his head and said, "No rush. Let's sneak in first and see the situation."

The two took concealment pills and quietly infiltrated the Black Water Ravine.

After passing through layers of dense forest, they finally approached the pool of water.

But just then, from a clearing by the pool came the sounds of fierce fighting!

Ye Yuan parted the leaves and looked, only to see two beasts locked in a fierce battle.

One was a black python, about two zhang long. Looking closely, he saw a seven-colored pattern on its seven inches—it was the Seven-Colored Cloud Python!

The other beast was a sturdy white tiger, also a second-tier beast.

But the white tiger was slightly weaker than the python, only at the early second-tier level.

The battle was intense, but the Seven-Colored Cloud Python clearly had the upper hand, and the white tiger was already covered in wounds.

Bright red blood stained its white fur, making it look pitiful.

Yet the white tiger seemed stubborn; despite its injuries, it refused to retreat, instead roaring and actively attacking the python.

It looked as if it intended to die together.

"Ye Yuan, that white tiger can't win, so why doesn't it run?" Nanfeng Zhirou transmitted, also very puzzled.

Ye Yuan shook his head slightly and transmitted back, "I don't know. Maybe it has a reason not to retreat?"

"Beasts have reasons? I think it's just stupid, insisting on fighting that python to the death. Could they be fighting over territory? With such heavy injuries, even if it wins, it probably won't survive."

"All things have spirits; beasts also have feelings, as you saw with Yuan Fei. Low-level beasts don't have complex emotions, but if it knows it can't win yet refuses to retreat, it must have its own reason."

As he spoke, Ye Yuan parted the leaves further, widening their view.

What came into sight was a small white tiger, the size of a kitten, trembling there.

Nanfeng Zhirou couldn't help but look at Ye Yuan in surprise.