Chapter 57: The Millennial Ghost King Vine

Ye Xixuan and Tang Ya just missed Vina and her two companions, stepping into the outer perimeter of the Star Great Forest.

The main road had vanished, and the surroundings were entirely enveloped by dense forest. Past the noon hour, the temperature inside the Star Great Forest, where sunlight rarely reached, dropped significantly once more, filled with a fresh and humid aura.

Plant-type soul beasts, unlike animal-type soul beasts, could not frequently change their active ranges for survival; instead, they remained fixed in a specific area, as their root systems were incapable of movement.

Therefore, when Ye Xixuan searched for a plant-type soul beast that matched Tang Ya in both attributes and age, there was a certain degree of purpose to it. Through the surrounding environment, one could basically determine whether it was suitable for the growth of plant-type soul beasts.

Tang Ya held Ye Xixuan's hand, her heart overflowing with a sense of security. With her carefree and bold disposition, she lacked any real sense of crisis.

"Xixuan, if I didn't know this was the Star Great Forest, I would really love to live here forever from now on." As she spoke, she took a deep breath, feeling as though her entire body had relaxed and refreshed.

A gentle smile lingered at the corners of Ye Xixuan's lips. Although both of them bore their respective hatreds and responsibilities, they shared the exact same yearning for such a life.

"In that case, we can simply find a place quite similar to this to live in seclusion in the future."

"Alright! Alright!" Tang Ya nodded excitedly again and again.

Just as the two of them were talking, a faint rustling sound came from the bushes not far away. Immediately afterward, a pure white rabbit hopped out. Its fur possessed a pure, snow-like texture, forming a striking contrast with its strange red eyes. Its ears were longer than its petite body, naturally drooping down its back, while its limbs were short yet nimble.

Tang Ya's eyes instantly lit up, and she said with a mouth-watering expression,

"A hundred-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit?! If we catch it and braise it in soy sauce, it must be delicious, especially the meat on those rabbit legs—it has the best chew."

"Sister Xiaoya, can't you stop thinking about food all the time?" Ye Xixuan wore a speechless expression.

"Isn't Sister Nannan's martial soul a Soft Bone Rabbit? Do you usually chat with her like this? Besides, the wife of that ancestor of your Tang Sect was also a hundred-thousand-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit soul beast that transformed into human form. As the current Sect Master of the Tang Sect, it's not very appropriate for you to say things like that."

"Business is business." Tang Ya proudly puffed out her plump chest, looking as if it were a matter of course.

"Who told the Soft Bone Rabbit to taste so good? We definitely have to make the most of everything, right?"

Seemingly startled by the sound of their voices, the hundred-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit kicked its hind legs hard against the ground and leaped high into the distance.

"Ah! It let it get away!" Tang Ya cried out in vexation. In the next instant, however, the rabbit's body suddenly stiffened, and a bright purple light flashed across its entire body. A layer of dense, thorny purple vines instantly grew, completely engulfing the Soft Bone Rabbit's form.

Ye Xixuan's expression darkened, and he immediately pulled Tang Ya close to his side, tightly wrapping his arm around her slender waist.

Tang Ya's chest rose and fell slightly, her expression turning alert as two bright yellow soul rings emerged from beneath her feet, revolving and undulating up and down her delicate body.

"Xixuan, this seems to be the parasitic ability of the Ghost Vine. But aren't the vines of the Ghost Vine black in color?" Her second soul ring had originated from a Ghost Vine of about six hundred years of cultivation, so she was naturally extremely familiar with it.

Ye Xixuan vaguely sensed something. His tightly furrowed brow relaxed, and he chuckled softly, shaking his head.

"It's not a Ghost Vine, but a Ghost King Vine. Sister Xiaoya, it seems the soul beast that suits you has already been found."

Before his voice had even faded, thick, bright purple vines surged into the sky from the ground, climbing up the dense surrounding trees and covering an area at least fifty meters in diameter. The menacing and sharp barbs on the vines grazed against the tree trunks, producing a spine-chilling, sharp sound.

Just like a silkworm cocoon formed by countless vines, it sealed off Ye Xixuan and Tang Ya's retreat from all directions, constantly writhing and contracting.

This was the innate ability awakened only after a Ghost Vine evolved into a Ghost King Vine: Camouflage. It was a rather insidious skill; even many soul beasts or soul masters with considerable cultivation might not be able to see through them hidden within the surrounding environment.

Tang Ya looked at these thick, bright purple vines in astonishment.

"Don't Ghost Vines only evolve into Ghost King Vines after breaking through ten thousand years of cultivation?"

"There are exceptions to everything. Judging from the aura, the cultivation of this Ghost King Vine should be around fifteen hundred years. The reason it completed its evolution before reaching ten thousand years of cultivation is most likely because it possesses the bloodline of the Ghost Vine royal or imperial family." While explaining to Tang Ya, Ye Xixuan was also keenly paying attention to the movements of the Ghost King Vine's vines.

Purple, purple, purple.

Three deep purple soul rings successively rose from beneath his feet, and his deep black eyes gave off a cold and deathly stillness.

At that moment, the barbs on those vines suddenly lit up, suffused with a crystal-clear purple radiance. Following this, a 360-degree all-encompassing rain of purple light swept down across the sky.

Ye Xixuan's gaze condensed. He wrapped his arms around Tang Ya, and his first and third soul rings flashed simultaneously.

A pair of uncanny black fallen wings unfolded from behind him, then folded together to shield him and Tang Ya within. Building upon this, every single feather on the wings seemed to be coated with a metallic luster resembling obsidian.

The purple light rain, possessing immense penetrating power, landed on this pair of folded black wings, only to instantly shatter into fragments of light and dissipate into nothingness, unable to pierce through even a fraction of an inch.

Over the years, Ye Xixuan's application and control over his soul skills had grown increasingly meticulous and refined.

For example, the fallen wings infused with the condensing shadow effect of his first soul skill, when folded together, became a formidable defensive soul skill. If fully expanded, however, the edges of the wings were equally razor-sharp, serving as an exceptional means to inflict damage on opponents, similar to the first soul skill, Winged Guillotine, of Wang Dong's Radiant Goddess Butterfly in the original plot.

No matter how powerful this Ghost King Vine was, its cultivation ultimately fell short of two thousand years. After its burst of power, it inevitably fell into a brief vacuum period.

The two pairs of feathers on the fallen wings slowly opened and closed, once again revealing the figures of Ye Xixuan and Tang Ya.

Ye Xixuan crossed his arms to protect his chest, his hands encased in gorgeous silver Heavenly Spider Claws. With a fierce downward swing of his arms, the originally silver Heavenly Spider Claws instantly switched to a deep black, transforming into their dark attribute form.

"Shadow Inscription Rotation!"

Countless pitch-black threads intertwined horizontally and vertically, erupting like an approaching storm to slice through the bright purple vines of the Ghost King Vine.

The dense barrage of attacks was practically impossible for the naked eye to capture; one could only see the surrounding vines instantly disintegrate, turning into tiny, dense fragments that fell from the sky like a silent drizzle. Meanwhile, the surrounding flowers, plants, and trees remained completely undamaged, a sight that felt somewhat eerie and chilling from Tang Ya's perspective.

For ordinary soul masters and soul beasts, such an ability was simply an absolute dimensional reduction strike.

Bathed in the fine rain formed by the shattered fragments of the purple vines, the Heavenly Spider Claws on Ye Xixuan's right hand switched back to their silver spatial attribute form, his five fingers slightly clenched.

"Heavenly Binding."

Not far away, a particularly thick, bright purple vine was immobilized right where it was along with its root system. Countless transparent spatial attribute spider silk tightly bound it, and the patterns on the surface of the vine continuously flashed with rich soul power radiance, yet it was unable to struggle even a fraction of an inch.

The ability bestowed upon Ye Xixuan by the external spirit bone Heavenly Spider Claws was indeed spider silk capable of switching back and forth between spatial and dark attributes.

However, building upon this foundation, he had developed two soul skills. To a certain extent, these could also be considered self-created soul skills.

One of them was the attack skill in the dark attribute form mentioned earlier, Shadow Inscription Rotation. The other was the spatial control skill he was using now, Heavenly Binding.

As his cultivation had increased over the years, the external spirit bone Heavenly Spider Claws had gradually evolved, and even the more resilient spatial attribute spider silk was no longer so easily severed.

When he eventually cultivated to the Title Douro realm, or even the Limit Douro realm in the future, these spider silk threads might truly transcend this plane, remaining unaffected by anything short of divine power and becoming a conceptual existence.