Looking at the two corpses on the ground—his first kills—Lu Yuan crouched down without any discomfort and searched through their belongings thoroughly.
In the end, after stripping them completely and carefully examining every inch, Lu Yuan found a total of 20 gold soul coins, 30 silver soul coins, and 60 copper soul coins.
“Oh ho—didn’t expect them to be this loaded.”
“As they say, murder and arson are the fastest way to riches!”
“I spent the whole day running around and didn’t even catch a glimpse of an Exploding Wolf Spider, but at least I made some pocket money tonight.”
Looking at the pool of blood on the ground, Lu Yuan frowned.
“Can’t stay here either.
The scent of blood will attract spirit beasts soon.”
“The night isn’t suitable for fighting spirit beasts in the forest either.”
After packing up his belongings and confirming his direction, Lu Yuan quickly left the scene.
But just after he had run a short distance, a dark figure silently appeared on the very tree branch that Lu Yuan’s trident had pierced through.
The figure calmly surveyed the two bodies on the ground, not a trace of pity in his eyes.
“This kid’s a real tough one—decisive and ruthless, not a moment’s hesitation.
Even when looting the bodies afterward, his expression didn’t change at all.”
There was a hint of appreciation in the figure’s voice.
But then, as if thinking of something, a wry smile appeared on his face.
“It’s just that his personality is a bit mischievously wicked.”
He wasn’t like those two fools on the ground.
Though he didn’t know exactly what “moron” meant—
Judging by the boy’s tone, it certainly wasn’t anything good.
“This kid can’t be more than seven or eight years old, yet he’s already reached level twenty at such a young age—what exactly is his background?”
“Judging by his clothes, they’re just ordinary commoner’s attire.
But that trident martial soul of his—I don’t recall any family having that kind of martial soul.”
The dark figure glanced once more in the direction Lu Yuan had gone, then turned and vanished into the night.
After running for half an hour, Lu Yuan finally stopped.
Scanning his surroundings and finding no signs of spirit beast activity nearby, he decided to spend the night here.
“I’ll rest here for tonight.
Hopefully, no more surprises.”
With that, Lu Yuan sprinkled more beast-repelling powder and leaned against a large tree to rest.
Fortunately, Lu Yuan wasn’t plagued by bad luck—the night passed peacefully.
After eating something, Lu Yuan once again set off on his search for the Exploding Wolf Spider. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
With the clues left by the Exploding Wolf Spider from the day before, Lu Yuan found several more explosion sites along the way.
“These explosion marks are much fresher, and there’s no sign of Blue Silver Grass regrowth—it seems the Exploding Wolf Spider should be nearby.”
As he drew closer to his target, Lu Yuan’s excitement grew.
Following the traces of trampled vegetation, Lu Yuan finally found the spirit ring he’d been longing for by early afternoon.
Its body glowed with a deep purple luster, its eight legs each over two meters tall, and its eyes gleamed a bloody crimson.
With just one glance, Lu Yuan recognized the spider before him as an Exploding Wolf Spider—and around two thousand years old.
“You’ve put me through so much trouble, but at last—hard work pays off.
I’ve finally found you.”
Watching the Exploding Wolf Spider hunting a hundred-year-old Soft-Boned Rabbit in the distance, Lu Yuan felt like the mantis behind the oriole.
Time ticked by.
The Exploding Wolf Spider had several chances to hit the Soft-Boned Rabbit with its explosion, but it didn’t.
It simply chased behind the rabbit, occasionally letting out roars to frighten it.
Its intention was clear—it was toying with the rabbit for amusement.
“This little thing sure likes to play.”
After another ten minutes or so, apparently bored, the Exploding Wolf Spider stopped.
Its pair of large pincers in front of its mouth kept opening and closing.
Then, a blob of viscous fluid spat from its mouth, landing directly on the desperately fleeing Soft-Boned Rabbit.
The next second, an explosion rang out, and the century-old Soft-Boned Rabbit was killed on the spot.
Immediately after, the Exploding Wolf Spider seemed to see something that delighted it.
Its body leaned back involuntarily, and it let out a series of joyful screeches.
“Perfect timing!”
Seizing the moment while the Exploding Wolf Spider was distracted, Lu Yuan quickly armed his body and hurled one of the two halves of his trident forward.
Whoosh!
A piercing sound cut through the air.
Under the Exploding Wolf Spider’s astonished gaze, the trident pierced diagonally through its abdomen.
The sharp weapon passed through the Exploding Wolf Spider’s body, pinning it firmly to the ground.
Skreeee—!
An enraged roar came from the Exploding Wolf Spider.
Lu Yuan had no time to pay attention to its agonized screeching.
The moment the trident pierced through the Exploding Wolf Spider, Lu Yuan leaped into the air, landing directly above its body.
Gripping the remaining half of the trident tightly with both hands, Lu Yuan used the force of his falling body to drive the weapon straight into the Exploding Wolf Spider’s head.
Dark green blood spurted from the wound.
After twitching twice, the Exploding Wolf Spider breathed its last.
The moment it died, a purple spirit ring floated up before Lu Yuan.
Because Lu Yuan had often gone into the mountains to hunt, he had unknowingly developed a habit of caution.
After carefully surveying the surroundings, he returned to the Exploding Wolf Spider’s corpse.
With the experience from his first spirit ring absorption, this time Lu Yuan had no psychological burden at all.
He knew that under the suppression of his martial soul, things like spirit power conflicts and soul shocks simply didn’t exist.
Any spirit beast killed by Lu Yuan—once its soul entered his spiritual world—became nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter.
This time was no different.
Lu Yuan channeled his spirit power, and the spirit ring from the Exploding Wolf Spider merged into his body.
Without any obstruction, without the slightest trace of pain, all he felt was a warm, gentle force nourishing his flesh and blood—until all the energy from the spirit ring had been fully absorbed.
Opening his eyes, Lu Yuan stretched lazily, and his body immediately let out a series of crackling sounds.
Feeling the surging power within him, Lu Yuan performed a few simple movements—jumping, running, striking.
With each test, the joy on Lu Yuan’s face grew.
“Hahaha, this feels amazing.” After finishing his tests, Lu Yuan returned to his original spot with a smile.
“I didn’t expect not only a boost to level twenty-five, but also a noticeable increase in physical strength—a single arm can now swing a hundred catties.”
Now, every metric Lu Yuan possessed far surpassed what he’d had during his one-ring stage.
If Lu Yuan had a stat panel with a maximum of ten, he’d probably see his speed, strength, vision—all stats—increase by one.
More importantly, he could now cultivate normally.
Though he could still cultivate without spirit rings, that would only refine and purify his spirit power without increasing his total capacity.
With spirit rings, his body seemed to have expanded—able to hold more spirit power.
But those were secondary matters.
The spirit ability Lu Yuan had gained today was the real highlight.
“Hehe—now that I have my second spirit ring, the ability is exactly the Exploding Wolf Spider’s skill.”
“I can now be considered a close-combat mage—capable of both ranged attacks and hand-to-hand combat.”
“It’s a pity I didn’t get a spirit bone drop this time.”
After letting out a sigh, Lu Yuan’s eyes lit up again.
“Now that I have a new spirit ability, I need to find some unlucky sods to test it on—see just how powerful this new skill really is.”