Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Spinning Top, Explosive Warrior

Wang Teng put away the map and turned to walk back.

Let's walk back faster.

He followed the trail he had come from and walked for about half an hour until he arrived at the place where he had parted ways with Tang San.

At this moment, everything around was very quiet.

The only sounds were the rustling of leaves in the wind and the occasional low growl of some unknown spirit beast in the distance.

Wang Teng found a sturdy tree and sat down with his back against the trunk.

The swift steed, Spinning Top, spun around him, acting as his guard.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Teng closed his eyes, began to rest, and waited.

I waited for who knows how long.

Suddenly, from the bushes behind him came rustling sounds, the cracking sound of breaking branches, and hushed voices.

Wang Teng opened his eyes, stood up, and looked in that direction.

The shadows were indistinct in the woods, but soon, several familiar figures came into view.

Leading the group was a burly figure—Zhao Wuji.

"Teacher Zhao, over here."

Wang Teng shouted and waved to them.

Zhao Wuji walked over quickly, followed by Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Oscar and others.

Each of them looked tired, but their eyes showed more relief.

"Hey kid, I've finally met you?"

Zhao Wuji approached, looked him up and down, and continued, "Are you alright? And where is Tang San?"

"I'm fine, and Tang San should be fine too. He went after Xiao Wu," Wang Teng said.

"I stopped a human-faced spider for Tang San earlier, so I didn't follow."

Wang Teng briefly recounted his encounter with the human-faced spider to everyone, speaking in a calm tone without adding any unnecessary details.

He deliberately omitted the fact that the spider's nest was there, only vaguely saying that he had driven away the thousand-year-old human-faced spider, and that the other party did not dare to cause any more trouble.

Everyone listened quietly, and no one asked any questions.

The Star Dou Great Forest is fraught with danger, so it's already quite an achievement that Wang Teng was able to drive away a heavily injured thousand-year-old soul beast.

As soon as Wang Teng finished speaking, Zhao Wuji frowned and asked first, "Can you still walk? If you've rested enough, let's continue on and hurry up to find Xiao San, lest something happen to him alone in the forest."

Wang Teng flexed his wrists; the slight soreness from the earlier sparring had mostly dissipated. He nodded to Zhao Wuji and said confidently, "Teacher Zhao, I'm fine. I've rested enough and it won't delay our journey."

"Alright, everyone, cheer up, let's continue!"

As Zhao Wuji spoke, he raised his hand to signal everyone to gather together, preparing to continue deeper into the area following the faint traces left by Tang San.

But before he could finish speaking, a piercing scream suddenly broke the silence of the forest, so sharp it made one's heart tighten.

"Ouch—! It hurts so much!"

Everyone was startled and quickly turned to look. They saw Ma Hongjun rolling on the ground, clutching his arms. His face was deathly pale, and his forehead was instantly covered in cold sweat. He was groaning incessantly. His painful appearance was enough to make anyone's heart tremble.

Zhao Wuji walked over quickly, looked down, and immediately frowned.

It turned out that in the grass next to Ma Hongjun, there was a broken spider leg lying horizontally, with dried dark green sap still sticking to it, and the edges were as sharp as a knife blade.

Upon seeing the spider leg, Wang Teng immediately understood what was going on with the fat man.

This spider leg was clearly the one he had knocked off from that soul beast when he fought the human-faced spider!

Upon realizing the cause, Wang Teng's face instantly darkened, and he hurriedly warned Zhao Wuji, "Teacher Zhao, something bad has happened! Fatty has been poisoned by the human-faced spider!"

"These spider legs are poisonous, and quite poisonous at that!"

Upon hearing this, everyone realized what was happening and quickly gathered around, their eyes filled with anxiety.

Oscar couldn't help but mutter to himself, "How did Fatty run into this thing? Didn't he see it was a spider leg?"

Even without Ma Hongjun's explanation, everyone can guess the gist of it.

This fat man has always been very curious and a bit of a rascal. He must have seen a strange spider leg lying on the ground and, finding it intriguing, couldn't resist reaching out to touch it. As a result, he accidentally got pricked by the sharp edge of the spider leg and came into contact with its deadly poison.

Zhao Wuji squatted down, grabbed Ma Hongjun's right hand, and upon closer inspection, found a small wound on his fingertip. The wound was small, but it was constantly oozing purple blood, and a faint fishy stench could be smelled from it, which sent chills down one's spine.

"You brat, you never learn!"

Zhao Wuji was both angry and anxious. He cursed and shouted at Ma Hongjun, "Quickly, take out the antidote candy that Teacher Shao Xin gave us and eat it!"

Those candy beans were made by Shao Xin, a food-type Soul Saint. They should be more than enough to deal with the toxins of this thousand-year-old Soul Beast!

Teacher Shao Xin's detoxifying candies were distributed to everyone before the trip. They were specifically for dealing with the poisonous miasma and soul beast toxins in the forest. The taste wasn't great, but the effect was absolutely reliable.

Upon hearing this, Ma Hongjun's face turned even paler. He grimaced in pain as he frantically reached for his soul tool, turning it over and over for a long time, but he couldn't find anything.

Ma Hongjun's face turned terrified, and his voice trembled with tears as he said, "Teacher Zhao, it's all over... I finished all my candy a long time ago. I was bored on the way here, so I just chewed it all up!"

"You idiot!"

Zhao Wuji was both angry and helpless, and had no time to scold him anymore. He quickly raised his hand to open his soul tool and took out a few green antidote candies.

Chapter 169 Xiao Wu Returns

Zhao Wuji had brought extra of those, just in case someone accidentally lost them or ate them all.

And here he is, using it now.

Zhao Wuji quickly grabbed a handful of candy beans and shoved them into Ma Hongjun's mouth, urging, "Chew quickly and swallow! Don't dawdle!"

Ma Hongjun didn't dare to delay and quickly chewed hard. The bitter taste spread in his mouth, but he didn't even dare to frown. He just focused on swallowing the candy.

As the candy slowly digested, a gentle energy slid down his throat into his stomach, gradually spreading throughout Ma Hongjun's body.

As expected of a creation of a food-type Soul Saint, the effect is immediate.

Ma Hongjun felt that the excruciating pain in his body was gradually lessening, and the feeling of coldness and numbness in his limbs was also dissipating little by little.

Everyone stood guard to the side, not daring to breathe, and kept a close eye on Ma Hongjun's face.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the purple blood seeping from the wound on Ma Hongjun's fingertip gradually faded and eventually returned to its normal red color.

This means that the toxins in his body have been suppressed by the detoxifying candy and are being slowly eliminated.

After a few more breaths, the small wound on Ma Hongjun's finger began to heal slowly, and the previously swollen fingertip returned to normal, with no trace of injury visible.

At this point, Ma Hongjun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He struggled to sit up from the ground, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead and patting his chest, muttering with lingering fear, "Phew...that scared me to death. I thought I was going to die here. The poison was too strong. It hurt so much that I almost fainted."

Zhao Wuji looked at the fat man's still-shaken appearance, feeling both angry and amused.

He raised his hand and slapped him on the head, his tone full of dissatisfaction but also a hint of lingering fear, saying, "You're such a worry!"

"Of all the surprises on this Soul Hunting trip, you've had the most."

"When we get back, I'll definitely mention it to Dean Flander. Not only do I need to strengthen your combat training, but I also need to teach you how to recognize the marks of these dangerous soul beasts, so that you won't be so careless next time and encounter even more potent toxins. In that case, even antidote candies won't be able to save you!"

Ma Hongjun shrank back when he was patted. He was really scared this time and didn't dare to argue. He could only lower his head and obediently reply, "I know, Teacher Zhao. I won't dare to do it again. I will never touch anything in the woods again."

Seeing the fat man's obedient appearance, Zhao Wuji didn't say anything more. He waved his hand and said, "Alright, get up. Don't waste any more time."

"We haven't found the mistress yet, we need to hurry on our way, otherwise something else might happen."

Ma Hongjun quickly got up from the ground, patted the dirt off his body, carefully avoided the poisonous spider leg, and followed closely behind the others.

Afterwards, Zhao Wuji led the group to continue searching along the trails left by Tang San.

However, this section of the road lacked the markers left by Wang Teng beforehand. The grass in the forest was dense, and the trees were even more lush, with intertwined branches and leaves that completely blocked out the light, making visibility very poor.

The group could only slow down and bend down to search carefully in the grass and beside the tree trunks, looking for the subtle traces left by Tang San.

Perhaps it's a patch of trampled weeds, or a shallow scratch on a tree trunk. Every time we find a spot, we have to stop and check it for a long time, afraid of going the wrong way.

……

As night gradually faded, the sky began to lighten with the first light of dawn.

The first rays of sunlight pierced through the dense foliage, casting beams of light and shadow across the Starry Sky Forest.

By this time, everyone had been searching for a long time and was quite tired.

Suddenly, Wang Teng's eyes lit up, and he pointed to a giant tree not far to the left and shouted, "Teacher Zhao, look! It's Xiao San!"

Everyone quickly looked over and saw that not far to the left, Tang San was leaning against a big tree, resting with his eyes closed.

Beside Tang San, Xiao Wu stood guard, her eyes warily scanning their surroundings.

"Little dance!"

Ning Rongrong shouted immediately.

"Rongrong, everyone, we're here."

When Xiao Wu saw the person who came, her eyes lit up instantly, and she quickly stood up and waved.

Then, everyone quickly walked over, their faces showing relieved smiles.

As they approached, Wang Teng's gaze skipped over Tang San and landed on the large tree behind him. His eyes widened suddenly, and he quickly asked Xiao Wu, "Xiao Wu, is Xiao San absorbing his third spirit ring?"

Only then did everyone belatedly realize what was going on.

Everyone rushed over, their hearts filled with worry for Tang San's safety. In addition, the giant tree behind Tang San had dense foliage, and the body of the soul beast was completely blocked by the tree trunk and Tang San's figure, so no one noticed that there was something else over there.

Upon hearing Wang Teng's words, everyone quickly turned their heads and followed his gaze.

Everyone was stunned when they saw this.

Behind Tang San, on one side of the thick, giant tree, a vine thirty or forty meters long lay sprawled on the ground.

The vines were dark green and covered with damp soil, indicating they had been killed recently.

Above the vines, a thousand-year-old soul ring, entirely purple and shimmering with a faint glow, floated slowly.

The spirit ring was rotating in circles, slowly seeping into Tang San's body.

At this moment, Tang San's eyes were closed, his brows were slightly furrowed, and a faint fluctuation of soul power surrounded his body.