Swan As night deepened, the emerald swan's feathers gleamed faintly with a green light in the darkness.
Dongfang Jing silently followed behind.
Just as he was worrying about how to get of the forest and hesitating whether to continue following the emerald swan, a sound of footsteps interrupted his thoughts.
He quickly hid in the dense grass, holding his breath to observe.
He saw a group of five people appear in a clearing in the forest.
The leader was a solemn-faced old man in a red robe. Behind him were three men and one woman, four young people who looked to be sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen years old.
Judging from their luxurious clothing and energetic demeanor, they were clearly of noble birth or came from a wealthy family.
Dongfang Jing recognized the red robe on the old man's body as the attire of a bishop from the Spirit Hall.
A cardinal was second only to a platinum bishop in status.
The old man had brought these young people to the Star Dou Great Forest, undoubtedly for training or to hunt for spirit rings.
At this moment, all five of them were drawn to the emerald swan, which was healing an injured spirit beast.
"Teacher, what kind of spirit beast is this?" asked the only girl in the group.
The red-robed elder stroked his beard, momentarily speechless despite being a Soul Saint, struggling to recall the information he had read.
Emerald swans were indeed incredibly rare, but their existence had indeed been recorded by Soul Masters of the Spirit Hall.
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be an Emerald Swan, an extremely rare healing-type Soul Beast," the elder slowly explained. "It's said that His Holiness the Pope once dispatched a Soul Master force deep into the forest specifically to capture these Soul Beasts for Soul Rings and Soul Bones, but..."
"The result?"
"That entire team was wiped out, the reason still unknown. Rumor has it that Emerald Swans only appear in the core area of the forest, but occasionally one or two will appear in other areas."
"Doesn't that mean we're very lucky!" The four students immediately became excited.
The bishop nodded approvingly, his gaze falling on the male student at the back of the line: "Xu Yu, you just broke through to level 30. This Emerald Swan isn't very big; it must have only recently broken through a thousand years ago. Its Soul Ring will definitely grant you a healing Soul Skill, and maybe even a Soul Bone!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Yu, a student, couldn't hide his excitement.
The cardinal decided to let the students do it themselves, considering it a valuable experience.
The four of them summoned their spirit souls—Black Horned Boar, Giant Ring Blade, Golden Scepter, and Golden Swallow. Except for Xu Yu, who was a support-type spirit soul with only two spirit rings, the other three were Soul Masters with the best spirit ring configurations.
These four were the very same group that would represent the Spirit Hall Academy team alongside the Spirit Hall's Golden Generation in the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament a few years later.
They slowly approached, while the Emerald Swan continued to focus on healing the injured spirit beast.
After the healing was finished, the healed spirit beast fled without looking back.
The swan, noticing the four approaching aggressively, frantically flapped its wings and flew into the air.
"It can actually fly?" The three boys were dumbfounded, exchanging bewildered glances; they all lacked aerial spirit skills.
But Zhang Ping, who possessed the Golden Swallow spirit soul, immediately made her move.
Her beast spirit soul was very special, possessing the characteristic of being controllable from outside the body.
Her first spirit ring lit up, and she shouted, "Go! Golden Swallow!"
A golden swallow shot out from her body, controlled by her, transforming into a straight streak of light.
The emerald swan had absolutely no combat or defensive capabilities, and one of its wings was accurately struck.
With a mournful cry, the swan fell to the ground.
"So weak?" Zhang Ping was a little confused, then turned back and gave her companions a thumbs up, "Xu Yu, it's ridiculously weak, you go and finish it off."
Xu Yu nodded, drew his short sword from his waist, and stepped forward.
The cardinal behind him stroked his beard and smiled, pondering the ownership of the spirit bone.
'Such a rare spirit beast, if it gives birth to a spirit bone, I hope these kids will be more sensible.'
Just as he was enjoying the moment, a mirror-blade throwing knife silently shot towards Xu Yu!
"Watch out!" The cardinal instantly completed his spirit possession, his seven spirit rings shining brightly, and used his body to deflect the throwing knife.
The other four students were caught off guard!
Seeing the dissipating mirror-blade throwing knife on the ground, they were all drenched in cold sweat!
The bishop roared, "Who goes there? Show yourself!"
Hearing the commotion, everyone looked over.
A mysterious figure emerged from the grass, wearing a cracked mask and a black cloak.
"Who are you? Why did you ambush my students?" the bishop demanded coldly.
The four disciples huddled together, warily eyeing the masked man before them.
Dongfang Jing lowered his voice: "If I really wanted to kill, your disciples would already be corpses. That was just a warning. This swan has done me a favor; you should use a different soul beast."
"What a joke!" the bishop scoffed. "A soul beast has done you a favor? You'd be laughing your head off!"
The cardinal had already lowered his guard.
With his Soul Saint cultivation, he had already sensed Dongfang Jing's true strength; he was just a slightly strange Soul Venerable who dared to oppose the Spirit Hall, posing no threat to him whatsoever.
"I am a Cardinal of the Spirit Hall. If you know what's good for you, remove your mask and state your name!" The Cardinal questioned, but he was also scanning his surroundings, fearing that other powerful figures might be lurking in the shadows.
"Clear Sky Sect, Tang San."
"What? Clear Sky Sect!" The Cardinal was initially startled, but then, remembering that the opponent's spirit wasn't the Clear Sky Hammer, he flew into a rage. "A mere Soul Master dares to mock me!"
At this moment, he was certain that there were no other powerful figures around.
It was just that this Soul Master who suddenly appeared had something wrong with his head, daring to oppose the Spirit Hall!
"Die!"
The Cardinal roared and charged forward.
Dongfang Jing, however, stood still, rapidly gathering soul power in his palm.
Although the Cardinal didn't understand why the opponent didn't have a spirit ring, he didn't take the attack of a Soul Master seriously.
"Your attack is useless against me!" the Cardinal mocked.
"Then what about your disciple?" Dongfang Jing said coldly, "Third Soul Skill, Whale Devouring Annihilation!"
He thrust out with his palm, and the shattered mirror materialized into the head of a demonic tiger whale that tore at the ground, countless spikes rising from the ground on both sides of its path!
The cardinal was horrified. This power was a third-level soul skill?!
And what did he mean? What happened to my disciples?
The cardinal parried while glancing towards his disciples.
He saw another whale head attacking the four students from the side at incredible speed!
"What?! Where did this come from... so despicable!!!"the cardinal roared, "Seventh Soul Skill, True Martial Soul Body!"
His body rapidly expanded, his hair grew wildly, and he transformed into a real chimpanzee!
He pounced on his disciples, using both hands and feet.
Boom!!!
The whale heads from both directions collided with the chimpanzee simultaneously.
The cardinal shielded his four disciples beneath him, his back enduring the barrage of shattered mirrors and exploding ground spikes!
When the dust settled, his back was cut by the mirror blades, leaving streaks of crimson.
"Teacher!" The students rushed forward anxiously, treating him hastily.
The old man in red looked around with lingering fear. The ground was cracked, and the area they had been in was filled with sharp shards of glass, deeply embedded in the earth; the scene was a complete mess.
The veiled figure and the jade swan had vanished without a trace.
"Damn it!" The bishop slammed his fist on a tree. "How did he do that? How could such a powerful soul skill be released twice from different directions simultaneously?"
"Teacher, what about Xu Yu's soul rings?"
"I can no longer sense that person's aura. Let's find other suitable soul beasts first," the bishop said bitterly. "I must report this to the Platinum Bishop!"
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(End of Chapter)