For example, within a hundred-meter radius around his body, Tang San could use his Blue Silver Domain to make every strand of Blue Silver Grass as tough as the Blue Silver Emperor, identical in shape and form.
Fighting in the forest against someone who possessed the Blue Silver Imperial Martial Soul—even without factoring in Soul Bones—a Soul Master of equal rank would have no chance of victory.
At last, the massive body of the Man-Faced Demon Spider came into view up ahead. Tang San threw back his head and let out a piercing roar, all of his hatred seeming to erupt at that very moment. As he roared, he temporarily stored Xiao Wu's body within the Ruyi Treasure Pouch, which could sustain living creatures. He didn't want Xiao Wu to see his savage side, even though she had already lost consciousness.
Amid the frenzied roar, a cone of brilliant white light surged from Tang San's body like an enormous white spear thrusting straight at the thirty-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider.
The Killing God Domain erupted. Just as with the evolution of his Blue Silver Domain, under the influence of the hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring, Tang San's Killing God Domain had evolved as well. What he unleashed now was the skill produced by the domain's evolution: Slaughter Assault.
Slaughter Assault's effect: the Killing God Domain released in a straight line, locking onto a single target. While battling that target, Tang San's speed increased by one hundred percent and his attack power by thirty percent. This boost applied to every attack Tang San launched, including his Soul Skills.
If the Blue Silver Domain enhanced area control, then the Killing God Domain's evolution enhanced pinpoint destructive power.
The white light locked onto the Man-Faced Demon Spider's body without the slightest hesitation. Tang San, already flying at tremendous speed, accelerated once more, hurtling toward the enormous spider like a cannonball.
At this moment, every strand of Blue Silver Grass within a hundred meters turned a dazzling crimson-gold, and countless Binding skills stacked onto the Man-Faced Demon Spider with reckless abandon.
Breaking free from these Blue Silver Emperors wouldn't be particularly difficult for a ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider on its own, but the sheer number it faced was overwhelming.
Against virtually limitless binding, the Man-Faced Demon Spider's speed advantage was completely neutralized. It could only watch helplessly as Tang San charged toward it. By now it understood that escape was impossible—if it wanted to survive, it had to destroy the enemy pursuing it.
A thick layer of gray radiance suddenly exploded from the Man-Faced Demon Spider's body. An eerie sight unfolded: its already colossal form swelled even further, its main body expanding to a diameter of over seven meters in an instant, resembling a giant millstone. Every thick, sturdy spider leg sprouted countless sharp barbs, as if studded with innumerable daggers.
Layer after layer of gray air currents coiled around its body, and the thickness of its chitin at least doubled.
Facing a threat to its very life, the Man-Faced Demon Spider was prepared to fight to the death. The skill it unleashed now was analogous to a human Soul Master's Martial Avatar.
The difference was that the Martial Avatar was simply a skill for Soul Masters, whereas the power the Man-Faced Demon Spider released required burning its own cultivation. This skill was called Spider God Possession—for every second it maintained this state, one year of its cultivation was consumed. If it kept fighting in this form for too long, it would collapse on its own. Therefore, for the spider, a swift victory was essential.
As soon as the Blue Silver Emperors latched onto its massively enlarged body, layers of thick smoke began to rise. After the Man-Faced Demon Spider abruptly activated Spider God Possession, its strength had become truly terrifying. With each movement of its spider legs, the rapidly corroding Blue Silver Emperors were torn apart. Its hind legs drove against the ground with tremendous force, and its massive body surged forward to meet Tang San head-on.
The overwhelming pressure sent a chill through Tang San's heart. After activating Spider God Possession, the Man-Faced Demon Spider's strength still couldn't compare to the Titan Giant Ape or the Sky Blue Bull Python, but its released aura was already approaching that level. Tang San knew he absolutely could not exchange blows with it directly.
A Blue Silver Emperor shot in from the side, wrapping around Tang San's waist and forcefully yanking him sideways. The head-on collision that should have occurred was avoided in an instant.
With a wet hiss, an enormous spider web erupted from the Man-Faced Demon Spider's mouth, hurtling toward Tang San's position. This terrifying web was entirely gray, and its coverage spanned over a hundred square meters.
A ring of pink radiance suddenly exploded from Tang San's right arm. As the glow blazed, a rapid series of cracking sounds echoed from his own bones. In the next instant, his body vanished silently from its original position. With a flash, he reappeared above the Man-Faced Demon Spider. His right arm was simultaneously enveloped in Blue Silver Emperors, turning crimson-gold. His fifth Soul Ring blazed with light.
That was right—the Soul Bone Xiao Wu had given Tang San contained a Teleportation skill.
Unlike the Teleportation Xiao Wu had once used, this Soul Bone's Teleportation had a range of one hundred meters. Moreover, it required no preparation time and could be used in succession. Each use cost one percent of Tang San's total Soul Power.
The Man-Faced Demon Spider suddenly realized Tang San had disappeared and was momentarily stunned. The instant Tang San's aura reappeared, it reared its body upward, its small eyes beneath its abdomen locking onto Tang Sim, while its two front legs—each eight meters long—thrust violently toward Tang San's chest and abdomen.
Boom—crimson-gold radiance erupted with explosive force. The Blue Silver Emperor's fifth Soul Skill: Blue Silver Overlord Spear.
With the amplification of the Blue Silver Domain and the thirty-percent attack power boost from the Killing God Domain, the crimson-gold Blue Silver Overlord Spear erupted from Tang San's arm and unleashed a terrifying wave of blood-red flames behind it. The surrounding air distorted completely, and in mid-air, a pitch-black rift was actually torn open, frantically devouring everything in its vicinity.
Having cultivated to the Soul Emperor level and with the body enhancement from the hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring, Tang San no longer needed such a long charging time to deploy the Blue Silver Overlord Spear. Among all the abilities he currently possessed, this was the one with the greatest offensive power.
The ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider was extremely perceptive. Realizing it couldn't dodge, it immediately pressed its body low, refusing to expose its eyes—its vital weak point.
Tang San hadn't intended for this strike to hit its weak point anyway. The fifth Soul Ring that the Blue Silver King had helped Tang San condense produced an effect equivalent to the Soul Skill of a fifty-thousand-year Soul Beast. To say nothing of the fact that Tang San now had so many enhancements. In terms of attack power, his Blue Silver Overlord Spear was no less potent than a seventy-rank Soul Saint's attack unleashed through a Martial Avatar—and thanks to its focused nature, in single-target damage, it actually surpassed the Martial Avatar of a Soul Saint.
Amid a thunderous explosion, crimson-gold radiance burst forth. The Man-Faced Demon Spider's colossal body under Spider God Possession was blasted flying. Such a massive form hurtling backward meant the surrounding vegetation suffered terribly.
No matter how it tried to protect its vital points, it could not contend with absolute power. The Man-Faced Demon Spider hadn't expected Tang San's attack to be this devastating.
Large cracks spread across the hardest chitin on its back, and its entire body was flipped completely into the air. It was already in a dazed, stunned state.
Although the stun effect attached to the Blue Silver Overlord Spear didn't last very long, for a Control Type Soul Master like Tang San—who excelled above all at seizing opportunities—it was more than sufficient.
A flash of crimson light passed through Tang San's eyes. The thrust from the Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone erupted. As the Man-Faced Demon Spider was blasted away, Tang San's body surged forward immediately after.
Throwing himself downward, Tang San's body—utterly dwarfed by the Man-Faced Demon Spider—shot toward the spider's underside. Simultaneously, the Eight Spider Lances on his back unfurled with explosive force.
Unlike the Blue Silver Emperor's transformation, this evolving External Soul Bone—the Eight Spider Lances—had been reshaped almost entirely through Xiao Wu's power. Now the lances were covered in barbs bristling in every direction, every inch turned a terrifying blood-red, as if they could drip crimson at any moment.
Their overall volume hadn't increased despite this latest evolution, but they no longer had a crystalline appearance. Instead, they emitted a murky, blood-soaked radiance dense with killing intent.
Tang San plummeted directly onto the Man-Faced Demon Spider. Dozens of Blue Silver Emperors burst forth, binding his own body to the spider's enormous frame. The Eight Spider Lances thrust outward with savage precision, exploiting that fleeting instant to plunge deep into the Man-Faced Demon Spider's eye.
It wasn't that the Man-Faced Demon Spider was this weak—it was simply that Tang San's Teleportation was far too sudden, and the Blue Silver Overlord Spear had been overwhelmingly dominating. Together, they had created this opening.
Though the Man-Faced Demon Spider's body was incredibly hard, its eyes were its greatest vulnerability. Tang San's Eight Spider Lances drove into its eye with devastating force, and in that instant, purple-black blood sprayed in all directions.
A piercing, agonized shriek erupted from the ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider. Its eight-meter-long front legs retracted violently, all of them stabbing toward Tang San.
If those strikes landed, never mind one Tang San—even ten would stand no chance. This was the Man-Faced Demon Spider's deathbed retaliation.
But pink radiance exploded from Tang San's right arm once more. This time, it wasn't Teleportation. The pink glow instantly formed a curtain of light that shrouded Tang San's entire body, including the Eight Spider Lances.
A resonant, metallic clang rang out. Tang San's body merely shuddered once. The terrifying spider lances of the ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider were unable to inflict any damage whatsoever. Meanwhile, Tang San's own Eight Spider Lances had already begun their frenzied devouring.
The hundred-thousand-year Soul Bone's second accompanying Soul Skill: Invincible Golden Body. Effect duration: three seconds.
The skills granted by the Soft-boned Charming Rabbit right arm bone Xiao Wu had given Tang San were not one, but two. Besides Teleportation, there was also this Invincible Golden Body.
Both skills belonged to Xiao Wu herself. Even Tang San didn't understand why a hundred-thousand-year Soul Bone would come with two skills. What puzzled him even more was that among hundred-thousand-year Soul Bones, his own Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone carried only a single flight skill.
Although the Invincible Golden Body lasted only three seconds, for Tang San it was more than enough. The ferocious devouring power of the blood-colored Eight Spider Lances dismantled the ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider's defenses in an instant.
Venom infiltrated. Devouring without restraint. Tang San could clearly feel eight streams of frigid energy flowing through the Eight Spider Lances into his body. The energy condensed directly at his back. Beneath him, the ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider convulsed violently. Its thick spider legs would never have the chance to strike a second time.
Tang San's eyes had turned completely blood-red. The terrifying killing intent released by the Killing God Domain laid a thin coat of frost over the area for more than a hundred square meters.
"Xiao Wu, can you see? Our revenge has begun. Anyone who ever hurt you—no matter who they are—there is only one ending."
The Man-Faced Demon Spider in its Spider God Possession state gradually shrank, soon returning to its previous form. The energy flooding into Tang San's body merely condensed at his back and didn't enter his internal meridians—this was entirely different from the last time the Eight Spider Lances had devoured the experts of Spirit Hall. Tang San realized this might be because the target it was devouring was the same species of Soul Beast as the one from which the Eight Spider Lances had originally been born.
The Man-Faced Demon Spider's body beneath him grew increasingly emaciated, even its hard chitin gradually softening. Suddenly, Tang San felt his back grow hot. An extremely scorching sensation shot from his back into his body in an instant, giving him a feeling of total comfort and exhilaration.
Then the heat began to recede, rapidly condensing around his chest and abdomen. Tang San could clearly feel something hard extending from his back, gathering toward his chest.
A mutation? The Eight Spider Lances were mutating? Startled, Tang San instinctively looked down toward his chest. His clothing had already crumbled to ash in the spreading tide of blood-red, and even the Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlit Night and the Ruyi Treasure Pouch were engulfed within the crimson glow.
Each of the Eight Spider Lances had shrunk somewhat, contracting from their original four-meter length to roughly three meters. But the blood-red coloration was no longer murky—it had returned to a crystalline brilliance, reminiscent of the hue Xiao Wu's body had displayed during her sacrifice.
Most remarkably, as the blood-red spread to his front, the crimson light began to ripple outward like waves on water. Before long, it fully enveloped his chest, abdomen, and back, forming a layer of blood-red plate armor. Every piece of armor matched the contours of Tang San's musculature precisely, the entire surface gleaming with the texture of a ruby. This red armor extended upward only to his neck and downward to his waist—it did not reach his limbs. And Tang San could clearly sense that while the plate armor on his back was the same thickness as the front, it was far more solid.
What was happening? Had the Eight Spider Lances truly evolved?
Yes—Tang San's guess was correct. The Eight Spider Lances had not merely evolved this time; they had undergone a qualitative leap.
The first Man-Faced Demon Spider had granted Tang San the External Soul Bone known as the Eight Spider Lances. The second had provided it with additional energy. As Tang San's strength continued to advance, the Eight Spider Lances kept evolving. The formidable power of an External Soul Bone revealed itself drop by drop. The third Man-Faced Demon Spider devoured today possessed extremely high cultivation, and it had been consumed by the Eight Spider Lances while under Spider God Possession. The result was an instantaneous mutation.
The Man-Faced Demon Spider under Spider God Possession couldn't compare to a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast in true strength, but its aura had already approached that level. The probability of producing a Soul Bone increased correspondingly. When the spider died in agony as the Eight Spider Lances devoured it, it produced the same type of phenomenon Tang San had experienced when he first obtained the Eight Spider Lances from the first Man-Faced Demon Spider. It was equivalent to the birth of another External Soul Bone.
However, this time the newly formed External Soul Bone was absorbed by Tang San's existing one. The two merged into one, producing a special fusion effect. It was precisely because of this that Tang San's original Eight Spider Lances underwent a qualitative transformation—emerging with this layer of solid armor.
Surges of tremendous power flowed from his back into every limb and bone, stimulating his physical functions. Tang San realized that his Soul Power had leaped forward significantly, advancing from the sixty-fifth level to the sixty-sixth. After passing the sixtieth level, the amount of Soul Power required for each additional rank was enormous—the fact that the Eight Spider Lances' evolution had produced such a dramatic increase spoke volumes about its magnitude.
Just when Tang San thought everything was finished, a sudden change simultaneously appeared on his head, his right arm, and his right leg.