Three days later, Tang Sui, Hao Te, and Zhou Zhuo, who had successfully obtained his sixth soul ring and advanced to a Soul Emperor with their help, parted ways. Tang Sui headed alone towards the deeper parts of the Icefield Forest.
She moved like a wisp of smoke, gliding through the snow-covered forest, concealing her aura and leaving no trace of her passage. Her seemingly random route led her to the territory of a soul beast tribe—the Purple Scale Scorpion.
The closer she got to the heart of the soul beast forest, the more diverse the environment became. This was because the soul beasts residing there would, according to their species' habits, reshape their habitats into the most comfortable living conditions.
A layer of faint blue mist, like morning fog, enveloped the ground where the snow cover was gradually thinning. Jagged, ice-cold rocks stood scattered, forming large and small stone mountains, forcibly transforming the snowy environment into a rocky one. Occasionally, a few plants with strong poison resistance pushed through the damp, cold earth, or plants that inherently possessed toxins grew in this area. Her spread-out spiritual power even registered the underground movements wherever she passed.
A semi-transparent, black and red membrane silently materialized the moment Tang Sui entered the area shrouded in the faint blue mist. After thoroughly surveying the rocky terrain, Tang Sui finally stopped on a branch of a withered, black wooden tree, looking down at the mist-shrouded ground below.
She watched as plants, emerging from stone holes about half a meter wide, dangled like lily-of-the-valley buds at their ends, swaying in the wind. Their roots were formed by strings of small blue fluffy balls. A smile touched her lips, and she abruptly released her aura, powerfully dispersing it and creating violent ripples in the air. The strings of plants instantly straightened like a rattlesnake's tail, quivering rapidly and emitting a "rustling" sound, as if wind were blowing through leaves.
Beneath the hard, frozen soil, deep within the network of burrows that had long been dug, a pair of golden beast eyes suddenly opened. The massive pincers growing beside sharp limbs twitched, and the clumps of blue spheres slumbering nearby trembled. Like mantis shrimp stretching out in a comfortable environment, they revealed their deep blue carapaces and dark purple abdomens. Sensing the summons and the arrival of an uninvited guest, their sharp, wriggling legs and their spherical pincers, each tipped with a white spike, became active.
On the ground, Tang Sui saw the strings of plants adorned with "buds" retract into their holes with a "whoosh," and then the ground began to tremble. The fine tapping sound of some arthropod walking on the ground grew louder. Scorpions emerged from various dark stone holes. The ground, covered with a layer of soil, also caved in to form large holes. Scorpions, ranging from half a meter to three meters in length, appeared like a well-trained troop. In less than a minute, they occupied the ground, their plant-like tails held high, forming a dense, spine-chilling sight. Although their dominant color was deep blue, they were indeed Tang Sui's target—the Purple Scale Scorpions.
The "soldiers" accurately locked onto the black wood where Tang Sui was, surrounding her completely. They brandished their seemingly venomous, spherical pincers, menacing Tang Sui with bared claws.
A smile devoid of warmth curved Tang Sui's lips. The next moment, the black wood she was standing on was snapped by a giant pincer that burst from the ground. Tang Sui, gracefully leaping from the branch to avoid the attack, hovered in mid-air. She looked at the six-meter-long, carapace-like body emerging from the sunken soil and released a trace of her aura.
The Purple Scale Scorpion Queen, a social creature living in matriarchal groups, fixed its cold, fierce golden eyes on Tang Sui. Sensing the deliberately released aura, its golden eyes narrowed, revealing a hint of human-like surprise and apprehension. It let out a roar.
"Roar!?" A strange beast? What brings you to my kingdom?
Understanding the meaning behind the Purple Scale Scorpion Queen's roar, Tang Sui's smile widened. Her clear voice rang out, "Purple Scale Scorpion Queen, I mean no harm. I merely wish to inquire about the Ice Scale Armored Dragon that used to reside near your territory."
The Ice Scale Armored Dragon? These four words seemed to be a powerful trigger, igniting intense killing intent towards Tang Sui in the Purple Scale Scorpion Queen's golden eyes.
"Roar—!!!" The roar and sound waves, imbued with special messages, spread out. Instantly, the scorpion group, which had been calmly guarding their positions, became agitated. Their plant-like tails, unlike those of ordinary scorpion soul beasts, lacked stingers and resembled dangling lily-of-the-valley buds. The ends began to tremble. What appeared to be blooming flowers were actually petals made of flesh and blood, unfolding and expelling more faint blue mist.
The faint blue mist expelled by hundreds of Purple Scale Scorpions simultaneously strangely transformed into a deep purple hue the next second, filling the space and obscuring vision.
"Oh dear, why such a sudden surge of hostility?" Tang Sui's eyebrows rose. A black and red barrier expanded, deflecting a Purple Scale Scorpion that swooped in from below.
With a playful grin behind her fox mask, her delicate voice carried a sharp edge, "It seems our direction was correct. It does know something."
"Bang bang bang—!" Scorpions charged at Tang Sui from below with astonishing speed. The seemingly non-venomous white spikes on their pincers struck the barrier, emitting a "ding" sound.
As for the Purple Scale Scorpion Queen? A colossal dark shadow appeared somewhere above Tang Sui, engulfing her in its shade. It intended to attack Tang Sui from both above and below, sealing off all her escape routes!
Tang Sui tilted her head back, meeting the golden eyes radiating savagery. The curve of her lips turned downward. The fingertips at her side moved, and a wisp of black mist materialized, coiling around her wrist.
"Why do some beasts always want to try their luck and die?"
A vortex-like, pitch-black domain, like two slices of bread in a sandwich, appeared one above Tang Sui and the other beneath the barrier she stood on, swallowing both the leaping and the descending scorpions into its interior.
"Whoosh whoosh—" The ripples created by the domain's appearance sent out strong gusts of wind. The gathered deep purple mist was blown away, revealing the scorpions poised to attack, their eyes wide with fear.
Looking at the pairs of eyes filled with terror, a cold glint entered Tang Sui's smile. The barrier enveloping her rose, slowly merging into the black domain unfolding above, as if piercing the scorpions' hearts. She spoke in a slow, deliberate manner:
"Next, it's time for an undisturbed, friendly exchange~"
The Purple Scale Scorpions, whose intelligence had awakened: "!!!" They didn't understand, but judging from the terrifying aura emanating from the humanoid strange beast, it was certainly not good news!
— Author's Notes —
Made it in time! By the way, I watched the last few episodes of Douluo that I had saved today. The Spirit Hall is truly pitiful. The dangerous thought of defecting has increased (?)