Unlike the Black Tortoise Soul Master Tang San had encountered before, who used his turtle shell as a shield, Tai Nuo relied purely on brute force.
The method Tang San chose was to break through at a single point. Although the Eight Spider Lances couldn't pierce deeply, breaking through skin was well within their capability.
As the saying goes, those involved are confused while the onlookers see clearly. The surrounding students who were watching the fight, including Tai Long, could distinctly see black blood flowing from the wounds left by the Divine Crossbow, while the areas where Tang San's Eight Spider Lances had struck were rapidly spreading with a patch of dark purple-black.
A sensation of alternating hot and cold washed through his entire body. Tai Nuo suddenly felt his vision blurring. He shook his head hard, but the feeling only intensified.
"You… you used poison…"
With the Eight Spider Lances braced against the ground, Tang San looked down at Tai Nuo from above and said calmly, "Poison has always been part of my abilities. Do you still want to keep fighting?"
Tai Nuo was essentially a power-type assault Soul Master, while a Control Type Soul Master already held a natural advantage against assault types. Though the gap in their Soul Power was enormous, Tang San leveraged his Tang Sect's ultimate techniques to not only function as a Control Type but also possess the agility of an agile-attack type and a lethal poison. On top of that, he utilized all these advantages perfectly, which immediately put Tai Nuo on the defensive. The moment the Divine Crossbow's bolts pierced Tai Nuo's skin, the outcome of this battle had already been decided.
Half a year spent at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eye would not go to waste. Every one of Tang San's hidden weapons carried a different lethal poison. Just as Dugu Bo had once said, even the most powerful Soul Masters would fear him. Poison was a special form of attack — to face a Soul Master who wielded deadly poison, one first had to be extremely cautious. But Tai Nuo, going up against Tang San, clearly felt a psychological advantage. In his eyes, dealing with a mere child like Tang San would be as easy as taking something from his own pocket. Yet he had never imagined that he would capsized in a gutter.
"You…" After managing a single word, Tai Nuo realized his tongue was no longer obeying him. He desperately tried to circulate his Soul Power to resist the spread of toxins in his body, but he had already been hit by two different poisons, and earlier, in his anger, he had pushed his Soul Power to accelerate his blood flow. How could he possibly resist it now?
Among the toxins of the Eight Spider Lances were the properties of the Eight-Angle Mystic Ice Grass and the Blazing Infernal Apricot. While these two immortal herbs hadn't directly increased Tang San's Soul Power, the cold and fire toxins they carried had completely merged with him, and combined with the venom of the Man-Faced Demon Spider, the result was terrifying. One could say that even Dugu Bo, facing the toxins on Tang San's Eight Spider Lances, could only rely on his own poison resistance to endure — there was no way he could detoxify someone else. With this level of poison entering his body, even with Tai Nuo's fifty-eighth-level strength, there was only one possible outcome.
"Three, two, one — fall." Tang San spoke the four words with composure. Tai Nuo's massive body crashed to the ground, filth and dark blood flowing from his wounds.
"Tang San, I'll fight you to the death!" A huge black shadow dove from the air — it was Tai Long.
Though Tai Long's body was still difficult to move, his eyes were bloodshot. As the saying goes, a father's murder demands an irreconcilable vengeance. Seeing his father in such a wretched state, he had completely forgotten the gap between himself and Tang San.
Thanks to the Eight Spider Lances, Tang San's agility could rival even the agile-attack type Zhu Zhuqing. How could he possibly be caught by Tai Long? He called out in a deep voice, "Tai Long, if you don't want your father dead, stop your attack right now. Otherwise, I won't be able to save him."
Though Tai Long was somewhat rash, he was far from stupid. Hearing that his father could still be saved, his mind cleared somewhat, and he halted his pursuit of Tang San.
With the Eight Spider Lances tapping against the ground, Tang San moved to Tai Nuo's side and thrust one lance into the man's back. As his Soul Power circulated, the dark energy on the body of Mighty Titan Tai Nuo visibly flowed toward the lance.
At this moment, the students watching from atop the crater looked at Tang San with eyes full of awe. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, who would believe that a Soul Venerable at just above level thirty could defeat a Soul King nearing level sixty?
In their view, this was nothing short of a complete victory.
Before Tang San, Tai Nuo seemed utterly powerless to fight back.
The poison had struck fast and left fast. In just a short while, the blood flowing from Tai Nuo's wounds had turned red again. Through extensive practice, Tang San could now control his Eight Spider Lances perfectly. He withdrew the toxins from the lances and struck several acupoints on Tai Nuo's body, halting the flow of blood.
Tai Long stared blankly at Tang San as he performed all of this.
If earlier that morning he had still resented that he and Tang San shared the same level of Soul Power, then now, in his eyes, Tang San had become a figure of absolute superiority.
He simply could not understand why, when they were both at level thirty-seven, this seemingly ordinary-looking youth before him was so incredibly much stronger. No wonder Xiao Wu had chosen him.
What Tai Long could never have known was that the gap between Tang San and Tai Nuo, though twenty-one levels of Soul Power apart, also included an external spirit bone that Tang San could effectively treat as an additional ten levels. And that was before factoring in the ultimate techniques of the Tang Sect that served as his foundation.