Chapter 26: Poison Soul Beast

Tanshou, an elder from the Yingtian Sect, along with the four members of the Xiao family, had already flown to the entrance of the poisonous cave. Without hesitation, they stepped inside as if carried by a gentle breeze.

Tanshou’s spiritual sense remained fixed on the presence of the Poison Soul Beast, so he didn’t get lost in this utterly unfamiliar poisonous cave.

Inside the cave, it was pitch dark, and the five of them could only use their spiritual senses to navigate. The poisonous gas in the cave floated around like mist, filling the entire space.

The detoxification robes worn by the five of them seemed to slow down their detoxifying function in such dense poisonous air. As soon as some of the poison was dispelled, another type of poison would immediately take its place.

These robes also required spirit stones to activate—top-quality spirit stones at that. To conserve their vital energy for detoxification, the five had to use these precious stones. As soon as the robes’ detoxifying effect began to fade, they would immediately replace them with new top-quality spirit stones.

The consumption of top-quality spirit stones was extremely fast—almost one stone needed to be replaced every ten breaths. This was a great strain on them, but fortunately, the Poison Soul Beast, which their spiritual senses were locked onto, was not far away, so they didn’t feel it was a waste.

One hundred li, fifty li, ten li… one li!

Tanshou smirked coldly and suddenly flew forward. His right hand transformed into a claw, and five strands of yellow Earth Energy shot out like ropes, wrapping around the black sphere ahead—nothing less than the Poison Soul Beast.

The Poison Soul Beast was simply a sphere, without any eyes, mouth, ears, or other organs—just a completely black orb. At that moment, its body was trapped by the five strands of Earth Energy. It suddenly contracted and expanded, swallowing those strands.

Tsk tsk!

Suddenly, the Poison Soul Beast made a sound, as if mocking Tanshou’s incompetence.

Tanshou was stunned. He hadn’t expected that his advanced fusion spell, “Five Claws to Bind the Dragon,” wouldn’t even work against the Poison Soul Beast. He immediately realized he had to go all out. By then, the four members of the Xiao family had also flown over and joined Tanshou in surrounding the Poison Soul Beast.

…

The four from the Biyan Peak were now less than a thousand li away from the poisonous cave and landed on a peak.

“It seems the Yingtian Sect has sent Elder Tanshou, while the Xiao family has dispatched four elite killers in the mid-stage fusion phase. What boldness! Good. Now that those five have entered the poisonous cave, we can hide our presence and sneak in as well,” Yan Guan said calmly.

Yan Zhen, Yan Chen, and Yan Hong showed signs of hesitation. They watched as more and more poisonous gas poured out of the cave entrance, at an increasing speed—clearly, the battle inside was fierce.
“Senior Yan Guan, I think the battle in the cave is extremely intense. With Tan Xiu and the four members of the Xiao family’s group, they can’t subdue the Poison Soul Beast right away. If that Combined Stage monster also appears, we’ll face heavy attacks once we go in,” Yan Zhen said.
Originally, the four from Biyan Peak thought the Xiao family’s group would encounter the Poison Soul Beast in the wilderness. In that case, they could wait in ambush and attack the Xiao family once they subdued the beast, then seize it. But now that the Poison Soul Beast was in the poisonous gas cave, they had to consider the Combined Stage monster as well.
“Yan Zhen, Yan Chen, Yan Hong—how can you still hesitate at this critical moment? We must seek opportunities in danger. As long as we’re careful, we can seize the Poison Soul Beast while holding off that Combined Stage monster’s attacks, giving us a chance to escape,” Yan Guan shouted angrily, staring at them intently.
“Yes, senior,” Yan Zhen, Yan Chen, and Yan Hong replied immediately, shaken.
The four from Biyan Peak also swiftly slipped into the poisonous gas cave.
The Dimension Ball attached to Yan Guan followed them inside as well.
Inside the Dimension Ball, the Artifact God woke up Qu Yi, who had been in meditation for over a year, and said with a smile, “Qu Yi, the good show is about to begin. You can stop scanning the Dual Path for now.”
Qu Yi flew to a soft chair and lay down, smiling. “A good show? What kind of show? It’s just Biyan Peak’s four people lurking in the background, trying to steal the Poison Soul Beast that the Xiao family captured.”
The Artifact God shook its small head and said with a laugh, “It’s not just those four from Biyan Peak. Outside the poisonous gas cave, there are four demon cultivators lurking at the entrance. They probably plan to ambush whoever tries to take the Poison Soul Beast last. This one will be quite interesting to watch.”
Hearing this, Qu Yi found it very amusing. It seemed the Xiao family would have to fight hard against the Poison Soul Beast, then Biyan Peak would try to steal it from them. And when Biyan Peak finally succeeded in capturing it and tried to leave the cave, those four lurking demon cultivators would strike to take it away.

“Great show indeed! Let them fight it out properly. When only one is left standing, then we’ll step in and seize the Poison Soul Beast,” Qu Yi said with a loud laugh, already imagining himself taking the Poison Soul Beast after those who fought to the death were left furious.

But the Artifact God suddenly changed tone, fluttering his eyes and smiling. “Qu Yi, do you want to hear some more good news?”

At that, Qu Yi’s eyes immediately lit up. If even this mysterious Artifact God called it good news, it must be true. He asked eagerly, “What good news? Artifact God, tell me quickly!”

The Artifact God lay back on the soft chair, head tilted upward, and said leisurely, “Qu Yi, haven’t you thought about why this poisonous cave gave birth to Poison Fiend Beasts, and even the Poison Soul Beast?”

Qu Yi’s eyes widened as he asked, “Artifact God, are you saying there are other treasures in this poisonous cave?”

The Artifact God nodded and then fell silent.

Meanwhile, the Dimension Ball had already flown away from Yan Guan and headed deeper into the cave.

……

Tan Xiu, an elder of the Ying Tian Sect, along with the four members of the Xiao family, surrounded the Poison Soul Beast, each holding a sword and staring at it intently.

“Xiao Long, Xiao Hu, Xiao Bao, Xiao Lang—use your combined attack technique together. I’ll also cast my strongest spell to attack this Poison Soul Beast at the same time. We must knock it out in one go and leave this poisonous cave immediately. I feel like that combined-stage Poison Fiend Beast is about to arrive,” Tan Xiu transmitted his message to the four of them, his voice filled with urgency.

The four members of the Xiao family nodded in unison.

“Starless Earth Annihilation!”

Tan Xiu suddenly shouted. Then, his yellow sword drew nine circles in a row, with his vital energy emanating from the sword to form nine yellow spinning earth balls. As these nine earth balls rotated, they suddenly surrounded the Poison Soul Beast. Then, they exploded like stars bursting in the sky, releasing massive Earth energy that seemed to destroy the entire space.

At the same time, the four members of the Xiao family swung their black swords, making about five crosscuts each. Five cross-shaped Earth energy blades, like air blades, attacked the Poison Soul Beast. As these five blades flew toward the beast, they suddenly connected to form a grid-shaped air blade sphere.

This was the Xiao family’s ultimate technique: The Inexorable Net.

In an instant, two powerful spells from the combined-stage level attacked simultaneously, bombarding the Poison Soul Beast from all sides with fierce assaults.

Tsk tsk!

Sure enough, this time the Poison Cloud Beast wasn’t as easy to defeat as the ‘Five-Clawed Dragon’. Its roars carried fierce anger, clearly indicating it was suffering severe blows, with its entire body also heavily injured. The two spells finally disappeared, and the Poison Soul Beast was revealed—originally the size of a human head, it was now only the size of an egg. The spiritual energy it emitted was only at the level of late Yuan Ying stage, having been greatly weakened. It was evident just how strong the Poison Soul Beast’s vitality was—two advanced fusion spells still failed to kill this late-stage Divided Spirit Poison Soul Beast. “It seems our decision was right. Fortunately, we attacked it with advanced fusion spells; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so weakened, and it would have been hard for us to capture it alive,” Tan Xiu said with a smile. At that moment, the Poison Soul Beast seemed on the verge of death, lying motionless on the ground. “Xiao Long, quickly use the Spirit Bag to capture the Poison Soul Beast,” Tan Xiu ordered immediately. The Spirit Bag was a top-tier spiritual container that could trap monsters below the Tribulation stage. “Yes!” Xiao Long replied, immediately taking out a blue Spirit Bag and channeling his spiritual energy into it to suck in the Poison Soul Beast. Suddenly, four figures appeared in the surrounding space—those were the four members of the Green Flame Peak who had sneaked in. Yan Guan, Yan Zhen, Yan Chen, and Yan Hong had entered by hiding their auras, waiting for this moment to let Tan Xiu and the four members of the Xiao family exhaust their spiritual energy capturing the Poison Soul Beast before seizing it. When the four from Green Flame Peak appeared, they didn’t use magic weapons to attack but instead simultaneously formed hand seals while reciting spells. “Great Luo Art, Treasury of Treasures, Draw Spirits and Contain Things, Seal the Embryo… Disperse Poison and Drive Away Things, Return to Heaven and Earth, Unseal the Magic Array!” All four recited a spell while rapidly alternating hand seals, their fingers moving swiftly with faint flames floating at the tips—quite impressive. It turned out the four from Green Flame Peak were casting the ‘Unseal the Magic Array’ spell. As they finished reciting the spell and pointed their fingers, they covered Tan Xiu and the four from the Xiao family. Instantly, the poison-dispelling robes on Tan Xiu and the others became ineffective, losing all their ability to dispel poison. When the four from Green Flame Peak appeared and saw the magic array unseal in an instant, Tan Xiu and the others hadn’t had time to stop it before noticing the anomaly in their robes, realizing they had fallen for a trap.

Tanshou and the four members of the Xiao family could only activate their True Energy Shields to resist the attack of the poisonous gas around them. Xiao Long also tied his Spirit Gathering Bag to his body, watching the four people on Biyan Peak warily, ready to break through and escape.
As long as they managed to break through, the four of the Xiao family could still make it to the secret space teleportation array set up by their clan, from where they could quickly flee the Demon Poison Star Region.
Just as the two groups were about to engage in a fierce battle, a powerful wave of poisonous gas suddenly spread throughout the entire cave, as if all the poison was flowing like waves through the cave.
“Ah, a Poison Beast in the mid-stage of fusion!”
All nine members of both groups sensed it and were filled with horror.