The members of the Soul Hunting Group didn’t dismiss Qi Dao’s suggestion simply because of his age.
As a result, it took them just over two hours to discover the tracks of a large Ironclad Turtle in a rocky shoal.
Several enormous boulders had gathered together along the shoal, leaving a relatively spacious area in the middle.
It looked like a crude nest.
A pitch-black turtle, more than two meters in size, was lazily sprawled inside.
Its shell gleamed with a metallic luster, while its four legs were thick and powerful.
Its skin appeared to be covered in a layer of scales.
Qi Dao studied the Ironclad Turtle from a distance, a look of delight appearing on his face.
“A 600-year Ironclad Turtle!”
“This is the one!”
“Good.
We’ll cripple it first, then let Ah Dao land the finishing blow!”
Without wasting any time, the members of the Soul Hunting Group began discussing their battle strategy.
A moment later, they slowly approached the Ironclad Turtle’s nest.
When they were only a dozen or so meters away, Wang Rou stepped forward.
“Same as usual!”
With that, she released her martial soul.
A red gemstone appeared and floated above her hand, while two soul rings, one white and one yellow, rose beneath her feet.
At the same time, another slender middle-aged man from the Soul Hunting Group released his martial soul.
His martial soul was a bow.
Two soul rings, one white and one yellow, also rose beneath his feet.
His name was Chen Huan.
His martial soul was a bow, and he was a rank 26 Soul Grandmaster.
After Wang Rou released her martial soul, her first and second soul rings lit up simultaneously.
As she chanted her incantation, two streaks of red light shot into Chen Huan’s body one after another.
Her first soul skill could increase an ally’s soul power by five percent for one minute.
The boost wasn’t particularly big, and the duration was short, but obtaining a percentage-based soul skill from a 10-year soul ring was already an extremely fortunate result.
Her second soul skill could slightly increase an ally’s strength.
Although it wasn’t percentage-based, the increase was still quite substantial for a soul master of the same cultivation level.
After she applied both boosts to Chen Huan, he raised his hand and drew his bowstring.
Strangely enough, the instant he pulled the string back, an arrow materialized out of thin air.
Then his second soul ring lit up.
The arrowhead suddenly became several times sharper, while spiraling streams of soul power condensed around its tip.
Qi Dao had heard his father mention Chen Huan’s second soul skill before.
Once fired, a single arrow was enough to severely injure most soul beasts below 500 years old.
With Wang Rou’s enhancements added on top, the two effects combined could practically kill a 500-year soul beast in a single strike.
The only drawback was that the soul skill consumed an enormous amount of soul power.
Once Chen Huan used it, there was little he could do for the rest of the battle except stay on the sidelines and make up the numbers.
That was why Chen Huan usually served as the opening attacker.
After severely injuring the target with a single strike, the others in the Soul Hunting Group would take over.
Bang!
The moment Chen Huan released the bowstring, the arrow transformed into a streak of light and tore through the air with a sharp sonic boom, shooting straight toward the Ironclad Turtle’s thick neck.
By the time the Ironclad Turtle in the nest reacted, it immediately retracted its head into its shell.
However, it still failed to evade the arrow completely.
It managed to avoid its vulnerable neck, but the arrow still struck its head.
Pfft!
The instant the arrowhead collided with its skull, sparks flew in all directions.
In the end, however, the arrow still pierced four or five inches into its head.
After a moment, it transformed into specks of light and dissipated.
Blood gushed from the wound.
The Ironclad Turtle immediately let out a strange hiss before twisting its massive body and charging toward the members of the Soul Hunting Group.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The Ironclad Turtle was enormous, and its weight was even more astonishing.
Every time one of its feet slammed onto the ground, the earth seemed to tremble slightly.
“Ye Hui, restrain the big guy.
Zhang Long and Zhang Hu hold it off from the front.
Old Li, you’re in charge of keeping it occupied and harassing it.”
Zhang Long and Zhang Hu were defensive soul masters in the Soul Hunting Group, and their martial soul was a Shield.
Old Li, meanwhile, was an agility-attack system soul master whose martial soul was a cheetah.
Qi Mingyuan quickly arranged their positions, then released his own martial soul.
An iron sword instantly appeared in his hand.
At the same time, three soul rings, white, yellow, and purple, rose from beneath his feet.
Qi Mingyuan, a rank 32 Soul Elder!
The instant he released his martial soul, two streaks of red light shot into his body.
Wang Rou had made her move, applying two enhancements to her husband.
At the same time, his first and second soul rings lit up.
His first soul skill was Gale Step, which slightly increased his speed for five minutes.
His second soul skill was Sharp Sword, which increased the sharpness of his martial soul.
Qi Mingyuan was already a rank 32 Soul Elder, and with his wife’s enhancements added to him, he immediately took the lead and confronted the Ironclad Turtle head-on.
This was where his swordsmanship proved extremely useful.
Relying on his agile footwork, he continuously dodged the Ironclad Turtle’s limited attacks while wielding his sword and targeting its vulnerable areas.
The relatively soft areas of an Ironclad Turtle were none other than its eyes, neck, limbs, and tail.
With the members of the Soul Hunting Group working together seamlessly, it took them only a minute to completely suppress the Ironclad Turtle, leaving it utterly incapable of fighting back.
Seeing this, Qi Mingyuan shouted, “Ah Dao, your turn!”
Qi Dao nodded.
He stepped forward, looked at the Ironclad Turtle that was barely clinging to life, and without hesitation, thrust his sword into its neck.
Pfft!
Blood sprayed from its neck.
The Ironclad Turtle stopped struggling completely.
At the same time, a yellow soul ring gradually condensed above its body.
Looking at the soul ring before him, a hint of anticipation flashed through Qi Dao’s eyes.
The reason he had chosen the Ironclad Turtle as his first soul ring was because after a soul master absorbed a soul ring, certain characteristics of the soul beast they had absorbed would appear on their martial soul.
For example, after Tang San absorbed the soul ring of a Datura Snake, his Blue Silver Grass martial soul gained the Datura Snake’s paralyzing poison.
Later, after absorbing the Man-Faced Demon Spider, it also acquired the Man-Faced Demon Spider’s venomous properties.
After mastering the visualization method, Qi Dao’s cultivation speed had increased considerably.
However, his martial soul still had an inherent flaw.
Over the past few years, he had noticed that as his connection with Wushuang grew deeper and deeper, the cracks on the Wushuang Sword had healed by roughly one-tenth.
But that rate was simply too slow.
That was why he wanted to use the absorption of a soul ring to accelerate the process of repairing Wushuang’s flaw.
The Ironclad Turtle’s greatest characteristic was undoubtedly its shell, which was as hard as black iron.
Although it was only a 600-year soul beast, even Qi Mingyuan, a Soul Elder, had difficulty breaking through its defenses.
Qi Dao genuinely wanted to grant Wushuang the hardness of the Ironclad Turtle’s shell.
“Ah Dao, are you ready?” Qi Mingyuan asked solemnly.
“Don’t worry.
I’m confident.”
Qi Dao reassured him.
Then, under the worried gazes of his parents and the watchful eyes of the other members of the Soul Hunting Group, he calmly sat cross-legged nearby and began absorbing the soul ring.
The entire area fell silent.
Everyone in the Soul Hunting Group watched closely.
No one knew whether Qi Dao would succeed.