Of the three Spirit Masters standing before them, Tang San immediately recognized two: the Serpent Grandma, Chao Tian-Xiang, and her striking granddaughter, Meng Yiran.
But it was the third figure who commanded absolute gravity. Beside them stood a tall, slender elder, his silver hair matching his wife's. Gripped tightly in his hand was a towering, four-meter-long silver Dragon Head Cane, the carving so breathtakingly intricate it seemed almost alive. Deep wrinkles mapped his face, but it was the aura radiating from him that froze the blood in Tang San's veins. Oscillating slowly around the elder were eight terrifying spirit rings.
Two yellow, three purple, three black.
Although the quality of his rings only held a thousand-year advantage over Zhao Wuji's, the sheer number of them painted a horrifying reality. He was an eightieth-rank titan. A Spirit Douluo. Tang San didn't need to ask to know the identity of this god-like figure. He was the Dragon Duke, Meng Shu.
The Unrivaled Dragon Serpent family was finally united. The Dragon Duke didn't even need to unleash his spirit power to completely dominate the atmosphere. Just as Meng Shu prepared to initiate his attack, a deep, raspy voice cut through the tension.
"Senior Dragon Duke, I ask that you stay your hand."
Bursting from the tree line, the immovable Bright King, Zhao Wuji, arrived with the rest of the Shrek students trailing behind him. Exhaustion was etched deep into their faces; they hadn't rested for a single second since Tang San vanished. Guided by the seismic tremors of the Dragon Head Cane striking the earth, Zhao Wuji had led them straight to the epicenter.
Seeing his comrades arrive, the iron will sustaining Tang San finally buckled. His vision swam, and his body gave way. Dai Mubai moved like lightning, catching his brother before he could hit the dirt, supporting his dead weight.
Between the catastrophic clash with the Titan Giant Ape, his unhealed injuries, and the agonizingly hurried journey, Tang San's physical and spiritual reserves were completely bled dry. Oscar rushed forward, instantly manifesting two fresh Recovery Sausages and forcing them into Tang San's hands.
The Dragon Duke's expression remained carved from stone at Zhao Wuji's arrival. With his wife by his side, the legendary Unrivaled Dragon Serpent possessed power that could rival the heavens; they certainly held no fear for Zhao Wuji alone.
Staring at the Dragon Head Cane and those suffocating eight spirit rings, a bitter pill formed in Zhao Wuji's throat. Having already burned his Spirit Avatar, he was fighting at barely fifty percent of his peak condition. Let alone Meng Shu, he couldn't even defeat the Serpent Grandma in his current state.
"It is the honor of this junior, Zhao Wuji, to meet the senior Dragon Duke."
Meng Shu cast a cold, imperious glance at him.
"The immovable Bright King. Not satisfied with stealing the Phoenix Tail Crest Serpent, your disciple has now slaughtered my granddaughter's prey, the Man Faced Demon Spider. Do you not owe me an explanation?"
Zhao Wuji bowed slightly. "Senior, I believe there is a misunderstanding. Furthermore, while I am the instructor of these children, Tang San is not my disciple. His master is someone else entirely; I would not dare take credit for his tutelage."
"Oh?" Meng Shu thought to himself. 'This boy's strength and intellect are astonishing. Could his master be...'
Seizing the opening, Zhao Wuji quickly added, "Senior Dragon Duke, might we speak in private?"
Meng Shu's brow furrowed imperceptibly, but he gave a curt nod. Holding absolute supremacy, he feared no trickery. With a single tap of his Dragon Head Cane, he glided twenty meters away in an instant. Zhao Wuji hurried after him, his voice dropping to an inaudible whisper.
Initially, Meng Shu's face registered profound shock. Then, slowly, his expression darkened into a complicated, somewhat unsightly grimace. When the brief conversation ended, Zhao Wuji remained perfectly calm and respectful. Meng Shu walked back to his wife and granddaughter, whispering the revelation to Serpent Grandma. Her eyes widened in equal astonishment. When the ancient couple looked at Tang San again, the murderous intent in their eyes had completely vanished, replaced by a profound, calculating respect.
What had Teacher Zhao told them? Did he invoke the Grandmaster's name? But the Grandmaster, while a god of theory, lacked the martial strength to deter the Unrivaled Dragon Serpent.
As expected, Meng Shu spoke, his voice echoing with finality. "So, he is the Grandmaster's disciple. It seems the Grandmaster's theories finally have the chance to manifest into reality. Out of respect for him, I will let this transgression pass. But heed my words, boy: if you cross us a third time, I will not care who your master is. Let us leave."
He turned on his heel.
"Grandpa!" Meng Yiran cried out in disbelief, panic lacing her voice. "He stole my spirit beast twice! Are we just going to walk away?"
Meng Shu looked at his granddaughter with helpless affection. "What would you have me do? I am an old man; it is beneath me to bully the young. Let it rest."
Meng Yiran's eyes burned with fierce indignation. "No! If you won't seek justice, then I will take it myself! Tang San, if you are a man, face me in one final contest!"
Tang San pushed himself upright, his brow furrowing. "You wish to challenge me again? Have you forgotten how thoroughly I defeated you?"
"I have not!" Meng Yiran shot back. "And do not think your previous victory guarantees another! I will not take advantage of your depleted spirit power. We will compete using a different method."
Taking a deep, agonizing breath, Tang San felt the sausages mending his internal devastation. He stepped forward. "What are the stakes?"
Even drained of spirit power, he possessed absolute confidence in his hidden weapons. His Godly Zhuge Crossbow was primed. While he couldn't kill her without incurring the Dragon Duke's wrath, he could easily neutralize her.
Meng Yiran glared at him with venomous hatred. "If I win, you forfeit the right to absorb this Man Faced Demon Spider's ring. If you win, it is yours."
"Fine. What is the contest?"
The Dragon Duke and Serpent Grandma made no move to leave, silently supporting their granddaughter's fiery pride.
Before Meng Yiran could lay out the rules, Oscar stepped out from the Shrek formation, a wicked glint in his eye. "Hold on a minute. That's hardly a fair wager."
All eyes snapped to him. Oscar strutted over to Tang San, speaking with supreme, brazen confidence.
Meng Yiran's eyes flashed with disgust. "What do you want, then?"
Oscar flashed a devilish grin. "If you lose, you don't just walk away letting Tang San take what he already killed. You need to pay a price. We don't ask for much—just that you kiss Tang San."
"Little Ao!" Zhao Wuji groaned inwardly, terrified of sparking the Dragon Duke's wrath anew.
But to everyone's absolute shock, a booming laugh erupted from Meng Shu. "Excellent! It is decided. The young should always possess a little fire."
A rare, genuine smile broke across the elder's face, while his wife beside him blushed at the memory of their own youth. Meng Yiran was stunned by her grandfather's agreement, but her absolute confidence in her throwing skills silenced any protest.
Tang San, desperate to begin absorbing the ring, didn't care about the ridiculous stakes. He raised his hand in an inviting gesture. "After you."
With a flick of her wrists, Meng Yiran manifested identical short blades. They were sixteen centimeters long, lacking a hilt, forged from exquisite metal that glinted deadly in the forest gloom.
"I have 32 Spirit Cleaving Knives," she declared. "We will each take 16. My grandfather will strike that tree twenty meters away. The moment the leaves fall, we strike. Whoever pins the most leaves to the trunk wins."
She laid out her terms with absolute arrogance. Yet, as she finished, she noticed a bizarre shift in the Shrek Academy students.
Zhao Wuji's eyes were wide, blinking uncontrollably. Oscar slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle a snort. Ma Hongjun staggered, nearly collapsing in silent laughter. Zhu Zhuqing's icy glare melted into sheer disbelief. Ning Rongrong openly giggled.
But Tang San? A faint, almost imperceptible smile ghosted across his lips. For the first time since Xiao Wu had been taken, the crushing weight on his soul lifted ever so slightly. With a flick of his wrist, he stowed his Godly Zhuge Crossbow back into the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.
Sensing their mockery, Meng Yiran's face flushed with rage. "Shall we begin?" Tang San asked gently, shaking his head.
"We use that tree!" she snapped, pointing to a massive redwood twenty meters away.
"Very well."
The Dragon Duke and his wife caught the strange confidence radiating from the Shrek students, a seed of doubt finally planting itself in their minds.
"Grandpa, begin!" Meng Yiran commanded.
"Ready?" Meng Shu asked. Without taking a step, he slammed his Dragon Head Cane into the earth.
THOOM.
The application of force was divine—a muffled shockwave traveled precisely into the trunk without damaging the bark. A cascade of leaves rained down from the canopy.
Meng Yiran moved like a dancer. Both hands blurred, unleashing her Spirit Cleaving Knives with incredible agility. In a single breath, sixteen blades tore through the air.
But beneath Meng Shu's god-like perception, Tang San's movements defied reality. The moment the cane struck the earth, Tang San turned his back to the target.
Simultaneous with Meng Yiran's volley, Tang San launched his sixteen blades. While hers flew in a deadly straight line, Meng Shu watched in absolute awe as Tang San's blades curved through the air in impossible, supernatural arcs.
A concentrated, explosive thwack echoed as steel bit into wood. The leaves settled. The contest was over.
Meng Yiran sneered at Tang San's back. "You didn't even throw?"
Tang San casually shook an empty cloth pouch. "I already did."
As Meng Yiran frowned in confusion, the Dragon Duke and Serpent Grandma materialized beside her. Meng Shu let out a long, heavy sigh. "A brilliant, divine skill. Yiran... you have lost."
"I don't believe it!" Meng Yiran screamed, refusing to accept that an exhausted boy could best her in her most masterful art. She sprinted toward the tree.
"Yiran, you lost completely," Meng Shu murmured to the wind.
Meng Yiran inspected her blades first. Exactly as planned, all sixteen were embedded tightly into the trunk, each pinning one to three leaves. A flawless execution.
But as her eyes drifted upward to find Tang San's blue-tasseled blades, her blood ran cold.
All sixteen blades were embedded in perfect alignment. They formed three horizontal lines—a top line of five, a middle line of five, and a bottom line of six—perfectly spelling the character '三' (San).
Every single blade had pinned a dense stack of over ten leaves, and every single blade had penetrated the wood to the exact same millimeter of depth. The contrast between her scattered blades and his absolute, terrifying precision was staggering.
Meng Shu's voice drifted to her ears. "Admit defeat, child. His skill is a realm even I cannot fathom. To throw simultaneously, strike simultaneously, and produce only a single sound... Furthermore, he threw them backward, relying entirely on his hearing. Such mastery can only be described as divine."
Meng Yiran turned around, her spirit utterly crushed. She walked back like a ghost.
Tang San stepped forward, his hand brushing his waist. A volley of steel needles shot forth, precisely striking the hilts of his blades, dislodging them and catching them flawlessly in his cloth pouch on the rebound. He walked up to the devastated girl.
"Miss Meng. Your knives."
She looked up, her beautiful face pale. "Are you mocking me?"
"No," Tang San said softly. "You need not feel ashamed. I have trained in the art of hidden weapons for nine years."
"Hidden weapons?" The term sparked a flicker of life in her eyes.
"Weapons utilized in absolute secrecy," Tang San explained, handing her the knives. "To be honest, these throwing knives do not suit you. If you switched to needles, your lethality would multiply. Like this."
He produced a sleek, 16-centimeter needle. "This is the Penetrating Bone Needle. It weighs a fraction of your knife but possesses terrifying piercing power. If you wish, I can teach you the foundational methods of hidden weapons."
Meng Yiran stared blankly. "You... would teach me?"
"The path of hidden weapons is boundless. Do you wish to learn?"
She nodded numbly. For the time it took to brew a cup of tea, Tang San imparted the secrets of Sound Track Identification, opening her eyes to an entirely new world of martial combat. The Dragon Duke and Serpent Grandma watched in silence, their previous animosity replaced by deep, smiling approval.
Meng Yiran looked at Tang San deeply. "I will not thank you."
"I didn't expect you to," Tang San smiled faintly.
Without warning, she lunged forward and pressed her lips firmly against his cheek. Tang San froze, his face and ears instantly burning a bright, violent crimson.
Seeing his flustered panic, Meng Yiran's depression vanished, replaced by a triumphant smirk. "Don't get any weird ideas. That was just my end of the bet. We are leaving. Humph!"
The elderly couple shared a knowing smile, nodded respectfully to Zhao Wuji, and carried their granddaughter into the sky, vanishing into the forest to hunt anew.
Oscar slung an arm around Tang San, a filthy grin on his face. "Well, San-er? Was it heaven?"
Tang San glared at him, utterly speechless. "Just give me another Recovery Sausage."
Turning toward the corpse of the Man Faced Demon Spider, the levity instantly died. A dense, abyssal purple halo had condensed above the carcass. It was time.
Eating the sausage, Tang San sat cross-legged before the monstrous corpse. "I must trouble everyone."
"San ge... that spider is a monster. Are you sure?" Kyle asked, his voice tight with worry.
"I must," Tang San replied, his eyes burning with absolute resolve. "Trust me."
Kyle fell silent. "Understood."
Zhao Wuji gave a grim nod and waved his hand. The Shrek students formed an impenetrable defensive perimeter around Tang San. With his brothers and sisters guarding him, Tang San purged all distractions from his mind.
He raised his right hand. The blue radiance of the Blue Silver Grass blossomed from his palm. Taking a slow, measured breath, he summoned the beast's spirit ring.
The dark purple halo, having waited in the void for a vessel, sensed Tang San's spirit and rushed toward him like a violent, collapsing ocean. Watching the tyrannical energy envelop the boy, Zhao Wuji's heart pounded. The sheer ferocity of the spirit power fluctuation was terrifying.
"This ring is too violent," Zhao Wuji muttered darkly. "Absorbing it will be akin to walking through hellfire. We can only pray his will holds."
What he didn't say was the unwritten rule of Spirit Masters: the closer to death the absorption pushes you, the more god-like the resulting ability will be.
Time bled away. The Shrek students watched in horrifying silence.
Tang San was encased in a thick, pink mist. But this was not the light of spirit power. It was blood.
The tyrannical energy of the Spider was systematically shredding him from the inside out. Fine droplets of blood had begun seeping from his pores, vaporizing into a pink fog under the immense heat of his surging spirit power.
His brows were locked in agony, his lips clamped shut as violent tremors wracked his body. Horrifying, gut-wrenching cracks echoed from the mist as his bones fractured under the pressure. Yet, the third ring still refused to manifest its true form. The Spider's malice was actively fighting him.
"Teacher Zhao," Dai Mubai whispered, his fists clenched tight enough to draw blood. "If this continues... he will die."
"I know," Zhao Wuji gritted his teeth. "But we absolutely cannot interrupt. The backlash would obliterate his soul. He must conquer this mountain alone, or..."
Suddenly, the soft snapping of twigs shattered the silence.
"Who's there?!" Zhao Wuji roared, spinning around, his spirit power instantly erupting. This was Tang San's most critical moment; he would slaughter anything that dared approach.
"Teacher Zhao!"
A slender silhouette burst from the dense foliage. The entire group froze. Emerging from the shadows, remarkably alive, was Xiao Wu.
She was a mess—her clothes torn, her signature scorpion braid unraveled into a wild mane—but her complexion was flushed and healthy. If anything, surviving the abyss had matured her aura.
"Xiao Wu! You aren't dead?!" Oscar blurted out, instantly regretting his wording.
"Did you want me to die?!" she snapped back, before her eyes locked onto the bloody fog. "What is this?! What is happening to Little San?!"
She bolted toward him, but Zhao Wuji physically restrained her. "Do not touch him! He is absorbing his third ring."
"Kyle! Why didn't you stop him?!" Xiao Wu screamed, her voice cracking.
"Trust in San ge," Kyle replied stoically.
Xiao Wu's eyes darted to the monstrous corpse nearby. The blood drained from her face. "A Man Faced Demon Spider... Oh god. The Grandmaster said the absolute limit for a third ring is 1,760 years! Look at its legs! They exceed three meters! This beast's cultivation is over two thousand years!"
Zhao Wuji stared at her in shock. "How do you possess such intricate knowledge of spirit beasts?"
Realizing she had slipped, Xiao Wu deflected, "The Grandmaster taught us!"
"But how did you escape the Titan Giant Ape?" Zhao Wuji demanded, the impossibility of the situation gnawing at him.
"I don't know," Xiao Wu lied smoothly, fear genuinely flashing in her eyes. "It carried me deep into the core. Suddenly, a terrifying bull's roar shook the earth. The Titan panicked, dropped me, and fled. When I woke up, I found a dying 1,000-year beast nearby. I broke through rank 30 and took its ring."
"Rank 30?!" Zhao Wuji gasped. The records just kept shattering.
"Ge..." Xiao Wu fell to her knees, tears carving tracks through the dirt on her face. Staring at the bloody mist, she whispered, "Please don't break. It's all my fault. Please wake up."
As if answering her prayer, Tang San's iron will finally dominated the beast's malice. The violent energy surrendered, beginning the true fusion. The blood stopped seeping. A faint, majestic blue light pierced through the crimson fog.
"He did it!" Zhao Wuji exhaled, a manic joy in his voice. "The crisis has passed! To subjugate a 2,000-year ring... he truly is a monster among monsters."
The Blue Silver Grass materialized, swarming around Tang San. It hadn't grown larger; instead, it had condensed, becoming thinner, sharper, and shifting from deep blue to a lethal, iridescent purple-blue.
"Everyone, fall back!" Zhao Wuji commanded. "His newly acquired power will be unstable. The overflow could be dangerous."
Just as everyone let out a collective breath of relief—Tang San screamed.
"AHHHHH!"
It was a sound of pure, unadulterated agony. Tang San's chest thrust forward, his spine arching into the air at a horrific angle.
"GE!" Xiao Wu shrieked.
RIIIP!
The fabric on Tang San's back violently tore open. Standing directly behind him, Dai Mubai watched in sheer horror as eight fist-sized, grotesque lumps bulged out from both sides of Tang San's spine.
"What in god's name..." Dai Mubai backed away.
Tang San convulsed as if being electrocuted. Fresh blood sprayed from his pores.
CRACK!
The eight lumps violently burst open. But the skin didn't tear; it stretched and yielded as eight dark purple, obsidian-like appendages erupted from his flesh, growing at a terrifying, explosive speed. The moment they breached his body, Tang San's convulsions ceased, his expression melting into a peaceful trance.
But the nightmare for the onlookers had just begun.
In the blink of an eye, the eight dark purple appendages shot past one meter in length. As they breached 1.5 meters, sharp, wicked joints formed, and the limbs jaggedly redirected, extending further into the air.
"Those... those are..." Oscar stammered, paralyzed by fear.
They didn't stop until they reached three terrifying meters in length. Gleaming with a toxic, purple luminescence, they were thickest near his spine and tapered down into horrifyingly sharp, stinger-like points. They released a faint, sickly-sweet aroma into the air.
"They're the legs of the Man Faced Demon Spider!" Ma Hongjun shouted.
Zhao Wuji had witnessed countless ring absorptions in his life, but his mind went entirely blank. This defied every known law of the spirit world.
The grotesque metamorphosis concluded in a display of horrifying majesty. The eight spider lances flexed rhythmically. The bottom four lances pierced the solid earth like hot knives through butter, lifting Tang San's meditating, cross-legged body high into the air.
Suspended by the demonic, three-meter-long spider legs, Tang San looked like a dark god descending upon the mortal realm. Slowly, the mutated, toxic-purple Blue Silver Grass surged upward, weaving a dense, impenetrable cocoon around his body, leaving only the eight terrifying lances exposed, twitching gently in the night air.
The Shrek Academy group fundamentally could not comprehend what was unfolding before them. Trapped outside the demonic cocoon, all they could do was pace the perimeter. Deep within the silken purple shroud, the sickening sounds of bone cracking and shifting continued to echo endlessly.
Ma Hongjun, unable to contain his unease, shifted his weight from foot to foot. He gripped his own arms, his eyes darting toward the pulsing cocoon. "Tang San isn't going to turn into a giant spider, right?" he muttered, his voice tight.
Kyle rested the shaft of his spear against his shoulder, his eyes fixed calmly on the purple mist. "I don't know what's happening," he said, his voice a steady, grounding anchor amid their panic. "But my instincts tell me San ge is fine. There is no need to worry." He lowered his weapon slightly, glancing back at the group. "Oh, and I almost forgot—thanks to the clash with the Titan Giant Ape, I've broken through rank 30. I need my third ring."
The tension in the air dissolved instantly. Zhao Wuji shot up from his resting spot, his heavy boots crushing the underbrush. "Incredible!" he boomed, striding over to clap a massive hand on Kyle's shoulder.
Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing immediately crowded around him, their faces breaking into relieved smiles as they showered him with congratulations.
However, Tang San's chaotic, unbridled release of spirit power had drawn the attention of several predators. High in the canopy above, leaves rustled violently.
"Prepare yourselves," Zhao Wuji ordered, his tone shifting instantly back to that of a militant commander. He slammed his fists together, his spirit rings materializing. "We have incoming."
The group immediately fell into a defensive formation, weapons drawn and spirits flaring. Emerging onto a thick branch was a Scarlet Blood Leopard, three meters long, its crimson fur rippling with water-like wave patterns. It bared fangs the size of daggers, drool hissing as it hit the forest floor.
Kyle stepped past the defensive line, twirling his spear with a terrifying fluidity. "That Scarlet Blood Leopard is mine," he declared, his eyes locking onto the beast's glowing pupils. "It possesses a unique trait—it will not die as long as a single drop of its blood remains." He pointed the tip of his spear at the creature. "Ma Hongjun, I need you to restrict it and incinerate its blood. The rest of you, hold off the other beasts and protect San ge. I will end this quickly."
"Twin Spear of Yang, Expansion!" Kyle roared, slamming the butt of his spear into the earth. "First Seal: Heaven Seal Release!"
His aura flared violently, kicking up a whirlwind of dust as his muscles expanded. With a devastating thrust, he vaulted into the air. "Six Realm Technique: First Style: Twin Truth Force Pierce!"
Kyle impaled the beast, pinning it to the earth. The fatal strike should have killed it, but the Leopard's body instantly dissolved into a pool of bubbling crimson blood, slipping off the blade. A split second later, it reformed entirely unscathed and lunged, claws extended. Kyle ducked beneath the swipe, spinning his spear to deliver a bone-shattering strike to its ribs, once again reducing the beast to liquid.
Ma Hongjun stepped forward, rolling his shoulders as his first and second rings ignited. "Bathing Fire Phoenix!"
His body was enveloped in searing flames, the heat warping the air around him. Taking a deep, expanding breath, he unleashed his "Phoenix Fire Wire!"
A torrent of supernatural fire erupted from his mouth, engulfing the Scarlet Blood Leopard. The beast shrieked, thrashing blindly as the flames boiled its blood pool into a scorched, dry crust.
"Six Realm Technique: First Style: Twin Truth Instantaneous Cleave!"
Moving faster than the eye could track, Kyle became a blur of silver and red, butchering the desperate Leopard and slicing it into absolute oblivion. From the charred, mangled remains, a vibrant purple spirit ring drifted upward.
Kyle sat cross-legged in the ash, resting his hands on his knees. "I leave the perimeter to you all," he said, closing his eyes.
"Leave it to us," Zhao Wuji replied grimly, turning his broad back to Kyle to watch the tree line.
But as Kyle drew the purple halo down onto his spear, his body seized. His back arched violently.
With a sickening, muffled pop, Kyle's chest jerked forward. His heart had exploded.
An impossible volume of blood violently purged itself from his pores, spilling over his lips and pooling massively onto the earth beneath him. His skin turned a corpse-like, absolute white as he collapsed backward.
"What in the world is happening?!" Zhao Wuji roared, breaking formation and rushing toward the boy, his hands hovering helplessly over Kyle's bleeding form.
"This shouldn't be happening!" Xiao Wu cried out, dropping to her knees beside him, her hands trembling. "The Scarlet Blood Leopard's cultivation is around 1,700 years! It's the perfect limit!"
"Look at all that blood!" Ma Hongjun yelled, clutching his head in panic. "He's going to die!"
"No!" Xiao Wu shouted, her voice shaking but her eyes burning with fierce resolve. She grabbed Kyle's limp hand. "I believe in Tang San, and I believe in Kyle. They will survive this."
Then, a miracle of macabre proportions occurred. The mangled corpse of the Scarlet Blood Leopard slowly levitated, dissolving into crimson energy that seeped directly into Kyle's chest. Within the cavern of his chest, a new, supernatural heart began to beat, pumping a miraculous blood through his veins.
Kyle slowly opened his eyes, blinking against the forest canopy. He sat up slowly, looking down at the massive pool of his own dead blood.
"You're awake!" Xiao Wu gasped, throwing her arms around his neck.
Ma Hongjun exhaled heavily, slumping against a tree trunk. "Thank the gods. That was terrifying, Kyle. You spewed blood everywhere and turned white as a sheet... What happened?!"
Kyle wiped a streak of dried blood from his jaw, staring at his stained hands. "I see," he murmured. "This is my old blood."
Oscar tilted his head, utterly bewildered. "Old blood?"
"My heart was destroyed and replaced," Kyle explained, peeling off his ruined, blood-soaked shirt and tossing it to the dirt. "My new heart pumps a unique blood, completely different from a normal human's."
As he stood bare-chested, rolling his shoulders to test his new muscles, the group gasped. Emblazoned on his left pectoral was a wild, leopard-like crest.
"So, what is your third ring ability?" Ma Hongjun asked, leaning forward with wide eyes.
Kyle grabbed a fresh shirt from his spatial ring and pulled it over his head. "I'll show you when we get back to the Academy," he replied, flashing a faint smirk.
Oscar groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. "How disappointing." He then paused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Oh, by the way... when we were running from the Titan, you summoned multiple beasts. What was that?"
Kyle stopped moving. He lowered his voice, casting a cautious glance at the dark woods. "I possess more than one soul spirit."
"WHAT?!" The entire group screamed in unison, recoiling in shock.
Ning Rongrong clamped both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with disbelief. "That's impossibly rare! In the last hundred years, only two people have ever been recorded having a second soul spirit!"
"Enough!" Kyle interrupted sharply, raising a hand to silence them. "Forget you ever heard this."
"Why?" Ma Hongjun asked, throwing his arms wide. "Something this legendary should be celebrated!"
Kyle stepped closer to the Fatty, his expression cold and deadly serious. "Because of its rarity. If the wrong people find out, I will be hunted to the ends of the earth."
Zhao Wuji stepped between them, his massive frame casting a shadow over the students. "Kyle is absolutely right," he commanded, pointing a thick finger at each of them. "You will all take this secret to your graves. Understood?"
Before anyone could reply, Kyle turned his head toward the purple cocoon. "More importantly... San brother is about to wake up."