The three Supreme Ant Emperors all struck a strange posture at that moment. Including their front mandibles, all six of their legs were raised high, while only their bellies pressed flat against the ground. They lay perfectly still, motionless — just like before, when they had waited for Tang San's attack.
Waiting for an opening again? Tang San couldn't help but chuckle. With a thought, golden light erupted from his back as the Eight Spider Lances unfurled behind him. The sensation of fullness and weight settling across his back instantly boosted all his attributes, and he descended soundlessly back to the ground. If you're waiting for an opening, then I'll give you one.
Bang! Bang! Bang! — three muffled booms erupted the instant Tang San touched down. The three Supreme Ant Emperor brothers slapped all six limbs against the ground simultaneously, the terrifying force of impact generating tremendous rebound that launched them toward Tang San like three cannonballs. The speed they achieved in that instant was no less swift than the Evil Spirit Tiger's charging skill. In the blink of a dark flash, they were upon him.
What they had been waiting for was the sensory signal from the ground. Though Tang San had landed lightly, the landing still produced the faintest ripple of force — and they seized on that judgment to lunge straight at him. They were actually launching a body slam directly at Tang San.
The three Supreme Ant Emperors were closing in far too quickly. Fast as Tang San's reactions were, the Sea God's Trident in his hands could only block two of them — the third slammed straight into his body.
Bang! Bang! — in the two muffled impacts, the two Supreme Ant Emperors that had collided with the Sea God's Trident were swept clean off their feet, sent flying back no slower than they had come. Under Gravity Control, the gravity within the Sea God's Trident's area of effect was amplified tenfold, driving its weight to astronomical figures. Though the Supreme Ant Emperors possessed immense strength, it was not nearly enough to match that terrifying magnitude — the trident merely hummed from the impact, and the two ants were already sent hurtling away.
But the third and final Supreme Ant Emperor charged in from the side. Tang San twisted his body, presenting his back to absorb the impact. BOOM! — a thunderous detonation rang out as his body staggered forward a full step. Had it not been for the Sea God's Trident's monstrous weight, that collision would have sent him flying.
But the Supreme Ant Emperor that had slammed into him didn't fare much better. Its entire body crackled with golden lightning as it tumbled backward, rolling across the ground. Though it hadn't been knocked back as far as its two brothers, it was the only one now trapped in paralysis.
It turned out that the spot Tang San had allowed it to strike was precisely the center of his back where the Eight Spider Lances protruded — the area he felt was the hardest point on his body. Ever since the Eight Spider Lances had evolved, Tang San had been eager to test just how much defense this external soul bone's continuous impression of hardness could actually provide.
Of course, he had prepared himself in advance. The Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy condensed instantly into his back. Should the energy barrier formed by the Eight Spider Lances fail to withstand the Supreme Ant Emperor's impact, the Mysterious Heaven Skill's power would at least minimize the damage.
The tremendous impact force sent his body pitching forward, but instead of alarm, Tang San felt delight. Though this method of testing his own defenses was somewhat reckless, the result was absolutely perfect.
The Supreme Ant Emperor's impact force could be imagined — and yet, despite the collision pitching him forward, Tang San felt no violent tremor. He merely felt a wave of heat wash across his back. The force of impact dispersed instantly across his entire back, the former sensation of solidity dissolving into countless tiny, searing whirlpools that rapidly broke down the shockwave, not allowing a single thread of it to penetrate past the Eight Spider Lances' defense. Through his spiritual perception, Tang San discovered that the skin across his entire back had turned golden, with a faint pattern of raised ridges forming like armor to shield his body. The golden lightning ripples that had appeared on the Supreme Ant Emperor after being repelled — those were caused by the searing heat from Tang San's back being transmitted into its body. It was clearly an effect akin to damage reflection.
Tang San understood that his judgment had been entirely correct. The Eight Spider Lances had truly evolved to that realm — even if they had only just crossed the threshold and had not fully attained the power of that level, it was already immensely beneficial for him. The three Supreme Ant Emperors before him might not amount to much, but what he would face next was the most powerful Soul Beast in the vast ocean — the Deep Sea Demon Whale, a creature that had already surpassed the hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast category. That behemoth would not be so easy to deal with.
The last time he had faced it, Tang San had used the Eight Spider Lances to land a minor blow. Now that the lances had evolved once more, Tang San naturally had that much more confidence in facing it again.
"I'm done playing with you." A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips. Tang San did not pursue the Supreme Ant Emperor that had been repelled by his body — instead, he rose into the air once more, vanishing into his Blue Silver Domain. The reason he chose not to give chase was not because he didn't want to eliminate them one by one, but because the three Supreme Ant Emperor brothers' movements were so perfectly synchronized that he could tell their minds were attuned as one. If he attacked one, the other two — even if confused by his Blue Silver Domain — would surely come to its rescue in time, surrounding him three against one once more. Never mind that these three Supreme Ant Emperors were merely ninety-thousand-year Soul Beasts; combined, they were equivalent to three powerhouses wielding a three-in-one fusion technique. It wasn't a Martial Soul Fusion Technique like the Golden Iron Triangle's, but it was still formidable enough. Unfortunately, their weakness was glaringly obvious — and their greatest strength, raw power, was directly countered by him. By now, this battle held no more suspense.
High in the air, the Eight Spider Lances were fully extended, spread evenly and straight behind Tang San's back. The radiant golden lances, combined with the Sea God's Trident in his hand and the trident's brand on his forehead, gave him an appearance that truly resembled the Sea God himself.
Eight beams of golden light fired almost simultaneously from the Eight Spider Lances. Under the cover of the Blue Silver Domain, they struck the Supreme Ant Emperor that had previously been repelled by the lances' backlash.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! — eight crisp rings erupted in unison. Under the impact of the eight golden beams, a cascade of sparks burst from the Supreme Ant Emperor's back. The Eight Spider Lances had ascended to the divine rank, and yet this strike had failed to punch clean through its carapace — the eight beams had only left eight dents in the armor.
"What incredible defense." Tang San let out a sigh of admiration. But strong defense didn't mean there was no way around it. The eight golden threads, sent vibrating by the impact, followed the Eight Spider Lances' slight adjustments and immediately wrapped around the Supreme Ant Emperor like eight silk bonds, binding it tight.
A piercing scraping sound erupted as a layer of pale golden mist rose from the Supreme Ant Emperor's body. The creature's shrill shriek was accompanied by an explosion of its full power, its body writhing frantically as though trying to tear apart the Devouring Gold Threads that the Eight Spider Lances had ejected.
Unfortunately for it, the Devouring Gold Threads were nothing like the Blue Silver Emperor. They had no physical form whatsoever — they existed entirely as concentrated energy. No matter how the Supreme Ant Emperor thrashed, the most it could do was intensify the glow of the threads or stretch them slightly longer. There was simply no pull force transmitted back to Tang San, let alone any possibility of breaking free.
The golden mist rising from the Supreme Ant Emperor's body was produced by the Devouring Gold Threads' contact with its flesh. The evolved Devouring Gold Threads possessed not only tremendous penetrating power but also utterly terrifying corrosive properties. The Man-Faced Demon Spider's lethal venom, combined with the accumulated toxins within the Eight Spider Lances and the ice-fire poisons from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, blended into something that would not be outmatched by the Death Domain released by Bibi Dong's Death Spirit Spider Martial Soul — it might even surpass it. Though the Supreme Ant Emperor's defenses were formidable, under the erosion of multiple lethal poisons, it was wracked with excruciating pain. While the Devouring Gold Threads could not dissolve its carapace in the short term, they ceaselessly corroded its body — the longer it persisted, the more severe the erosion became. Moreover, the Devouring Gold Threads' other attribute — devouring — was now coming into play. As the Supreme Ant Emperor struggled, its strength was being siphoned away drop by drop, absorbed by the threads and transmitted back into Tang San's body. The speed of energy absorption far exceeded the drain Tang San sustained from maintaining the Devouring Gold Threads and the Blue Silver Domain. There was even a subtle indication that his Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy was slowly increasing.
The other two Supreme Ant Emperors immediately noticed what was happening. Forgoing their search for Tang San's position, they darted over to their brother's side at top speed, hoping to help it break free of the Devouring Gold Threads.
But the moment they arrived, two additional barbs sprouted from each of the Eight Spider Lances behind Tang San — another sixteen Devouring Gold Threads shot out, and the two brothers promptly followed in their sibling's footsteps, bound as tightly as the first.
Tang San was somewhat surprised to find that once these three terrifyingly powerful ninety-thousand-year Soul Beasts were wrapped by the Devouring Gold Threads, their strength seemed to diminish significantly. They had even lost the ability to flee, simply rolling around on the spot, struggling desperately to break free. The explosive speed they had displayed earlier was nowhere to be seen.
What was going on? These were ninety-thousand-year-level Soul Beasts! Could it really be that the Eight Spider Lances, having reached the divine level, had truly become this powerful?
In truth, Tang San didn't realize that while the divine level was indeed the key reason the Devouring Gold Threads could restrain these three Thousand Jun Ant Emperors, something even more important was the pressure the Eight Spider Lances themselves exerted on them.
The Eight Spider Lances were an external soul bone derived from the Human-Faced Demon Spider, and the Human-Faced Demon Spider was the natural enemy of all insect-type Soul Beasts. If an ordinary Thousand Jun Ant were even tainted by the aura of a Human-Faced Demon Spider, it would be rendered completely immobile. Yes, these three Thousand Jun Ant Emperors did possess ninety thousand years of cultivation. But Tang San's Eight Spider Lances didn't emit the aura of an ordinary Human-Faced Demon Spider. After numerous evolutions, the aura emanating from his Eight Spider Lances was equivalent to that of a divine-level Human-Faced Demon Spider. With the Devouring Gold Threads binding their bodies, this completely overwhelming aura instantly prevented the Thousand Jun Ant Emperors from unleashing even half of their true strength.
These three Thousand Jun Ant Emperors possessed three supreme abilities: strength, defense, and speed. Although they lacked powerful soul skills, these three traits alone made them invincible among the ranks of Thousand Jun Ants. Other Soul Beasts found it extremely difficult to defeat them. Physical attacks were shrugged off entirely thanks to their hardened carapaces, energy attacks couldn't breach their defenses, and under their combined speed and strength, they could frequently shatter an opponent's body on impact. Even when facing Soul Beasts with Control Type skills, they could break free with their extraordinary power and launch a devastating counterattack.
Tang San's Devouring Gold Threads could be classified as an energy attack, but a Control Type energy attack at that. Breaking free from them was already nearly impossible. On top of that, they carried a devouring effect and a highly corrosive toxic effect, plunging the three Thousand Jun Ant Emperor brothers into a dire crisis.
However, if it had been only the Devouring Gold Threads, they could have used their speed to flee in three directions—at least two of them would have escaped the threads' reach, after all. The Devouring Gold Threads from Tang San's Eight Spider Lances couldn't extend infinitely. Unfortunately for them, they had the terrible luck of encountering the aura of a divine-level Human-Faced Demon Spider, which left all six of their limbs limp and weak, rendering escape utterly impossible. Trapped and suppressed, their strength was continuously drained by the Devouring Gold Threads while their carapaces were corroded away. Tang San didn't even need to add any further attacks—they had already lost all chance of escape.
At the beginning, Tang San had worried that these three might feign weakness like the Dark Evilgod Tiger had done before, looking for an opportunity to strike back. But as the three Thousand Jun Ant Emperors grew progressively less able to withstand the lethal toxin on the Devouring Gold Threads, their struggles grew weaker and weaker while the speed at which their energy was being drained increased steadily. Only then was Tang San fully certain that they had no chance left.
He cautiously drifted down to the ground. Sure enough, the Thousand Jun Ant Emperors didn't react at all. Tang San then dispelled his Blue Silver Domain.
He hadn't expected that killing these three would be far easier than killing the Dark Evilgod Tiger. It seemed his Eight Spider Lances had completely suppressed them. With their strength and cultivation, they would be more than sufficient to serve as the sixth, seventh, and eighth Soul Rings for his Clear Sky Hammer. A strength attribute would obviously be the most useful for the Clear Sky Hammer. Once he absorbed their Soul Rings, his business in the Star Dou Great Forest would be complete, and he could reunite with his companions by the seaside before heading to Sea God Island.
Although this trip to the Star Dou Great Forest had brought danger, for Tang San, the entire process had gone fairly smoothly—taking considerably less time than he had originally planned.
He didn't rush to finish off the three Thousand Jun Ant Emperors. At this point, Tang San's own body felt uncomfortably bloated; the energy transmitted through the Devouring Gold Threads was simply too massive. He had no need to use soul skills to release it. He simply sat down on the ground, deployed the Blue Silver Domain around himself once more for protection, and began absorbing the foreign energy.
The moment he started absorbing, Tang San immediately noticed a difference in the Devouring Gold Threads compared to before. Beyond the increased devouring speed, what surprised him most was that the energy arriving through the Devouring Gold Threads was no longer simply raw devoured power. After being relayed through the Eight Spider Lances, it had been filtered. Although it wasn't the same type of energy as his Mysterious Heaven Skill, it was completely devoid of any elemental attribute—pure, refined energy that required no further filtering through the Mysterious Heaven Skill. It could be fused directly into his own Soul Power.
This discovery delighted Tang San. If this was the case, then from now on whenever he used the Devouring Gold Threads against enemies, he could convert the devoured energy into his own without any loss during combat. Combined with the Blue Silver Domain's ultimate ability, All Rivers Run Into the Sea, his sustained combat capability on the battlefield would increase to a terrifying degree. And enemies facing the Devouring Gold Threads would find it even harder to break free. The Devouring Gold Threads carried poison—a brand-new ability that had appeared after the Eight Spider Lances evolved. To be able to transmit lethal toxin even in energy form—truly worthy of being a divine-level external soul bone.
Dense white mist spread throughout Tang San's body in rhythm with his breathing. The Three Caudle Convergence reappeared. A faint fragrance wafted from his person as all six soul bones within his body simultaneously radiated warmth. His Soul Power, accompanied by the gradual conversion of foreign energy into his own, began to slowly increase.
Level ninety-five was the bottleneck for Titled Douluo. Although the energy devoured from the three ninety-thousand-year Thousand Jun Ant Emperors was staggeringly vast, after being absorbed and converted by the Mysterious Heaven Skill, it was like a drop of mud sinking into the ocean—Tang San could feel only the slightest boost. The rate of growth was painfully slow.
But Tang San wasn't anxious. The gap between level ninety-five and level ninety-six was one that eighty percent of Titled Douluo could never breach in their entire lifetimes. How could such a breakthrough come easily? Yet every fraction of Soul Power gained would serve as greater assurance for future advancement. As the saying went, dripping water pierces stone—it was forcing growth too quickly that led to danger.
The three Thousand Jun Ant Emperors struggled with ever-fading strength. Their hardened carapaces, under the fierce corrosion of the Devouring Gold Threads, gradually cracked apart and melted away. Their life force dwindled with each drop of power that was extracted. When the last traces of energy within their bodies were wrung dry by the Devouring Gold Threads, the violent corrosive toxin simultaneously claimed their lives.