Chapter 185: Absorbing Tang San's Soul Ring—Watch My Dear Mother Entwine
"Cough, cough…"
"I now announce something!"
"Due to contestant Su Mo deliberately harming contestant Tang San, according to the competition rules, Su Mo has been disqualified from the tournament!"
"With contestant Su Mo disqualified and the rest of the Heaven Dou Royal Team having already been defeated, the individual competition is ultimately won by the Shrek Team!"
"The Shrek Team advances directly to the final round!"
"Additionally!"
"Due to severe damage to the competition venue, the losers' bracket final will be postponed and held in three days!"
"…"
Shortly after, the host from Spirit Hall stepped forward and declared the Shrek Team victorious in the individual competition.
And Su Mo was directly stripped of his eligibility to participate!
Faced with Spirit Hall's announcement, no one objected.
Regardless of whatever grudge existed between Su Mo and the father-son duo of Tang Hao and Tang San, it had nothing to do with this Soul Master Competition.
Since Su Mo had killed Tang San on the competition stage, it was only natural, per the rules of the Soul Master Competition, that he be disqualified.
However, this left the other members of the Heaven Dou Royal Team in a tough spot.
Without Su Mo, winning the championship was nearly impossible for them.
Forget the championship—even securing second place would be a struggle.
Having entered the losers' bracket, they would have to face the Spirit Hall Team in a group match, and the Spirit Hall Team was no pushover, boasting a Soul King like Zhu Zhuqing.
Meanwhile, the Heaven Dou Royal Team didn't have a single Soul King among them.
Upon hearing the Spirit Hall host's announcement, the other members of the Shrek Team were quite pleased.
Though Tang San was dead and they had lost him, even without Tang San, their team still had three Soul Kings!
Didn't that mean the championship of this Soul Master Competition was practically guaranteed to belong to the Shrek Team?
At this thought, the newer members of the Shrek Team grew incredibly excited. They didn't share any deep camaraderie with Tang San.
They had joined the Shrek Team later on!
Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar, naturally, felt some sadness, but they could only accept the reality of Tang San's death.
"How could Teacher do this…"
The only one notably dissatisfied was Hu Liena. With Su Mo's disqualification, he wouldn't be able to achieve a second consecutive championship!
She knew Su Mo had aimed to become the first contestant in history to win two consecutive titles!
But Hu Liena only dared to grumble in her heart—she wouldn't dare confront Pope Bibi Dong about it.
As for how the matches would unfold in a few days, Su Mo neither knew nor cared to find out.
After meeting with Ning Fengzhi and the others, Su Mo returned to Sea God Island.
Upon arriving back at Sea God Island, Su Mo didn't immediately seek out Ning Rongrong or Ye Lingling. Instead, he went to a secluded spot.
Buzz—
Su Mo then summoned the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud from his forehead.
Whoosh—
Immediately after, Tang San's corpse was released by Su Mo.
Buzz—
The moment Tang San's body appeared, a black soul ring suddenly condensed above it.
"It actually produced a soul ring?"
Su Mo was momentarily surprised.
It made some sense that killing Tang San would yield a soul ring—after all, Tang San was a hybrid of human and soul beast.
But he recalled that in the original story, when Tang San was killed by Bibi Dong, no soul ring had appeared.
So why, when he killed Tang San this time, did a soul ring emerge?
"Maybe it's because Tang San had already become a god back then…"
Su Mo quickly pinpointed the difference.
Whether that was the reason didn't matter to Su Mo.
Looking at the black ten-thousand-year soul ring before him, Su Mo debated whether to absorb it or let it dissipate on its own when its time ran out.
If he absorbed it, his Soul Hunting Spear martial soul wouldn't be able to take it, but his Rakshasa God martial soul would have no issue.
The greatest advantage of twin martial souls was that, when soul power levels became harder to increase later on, the second martial soul could absorb high-year soul rings to rapidly boost soul power.
Using the Rakshasa God martial soul to absorb a soul ring now would be a slight loss for Su Mo.
However, this soul ring held unique significance—it had emerged from the original protagonist, Tang San.
"Su Mo, can I absorb this soul ring?"
Before Su Mo could decide, Bibi Dong's figure appeared before him, gazing excitedly at the black soul ring that had emerged from Tang San.
"Third Brother…"
"Wuwuwu…"
"Su Mo, you bastard! How could you do this to Third Brother…"
"What did he ever do to you?"
Along with Bibi Dong came Xiao Wu, who was restrained by Bibi Dong.
"Rakshasa Sister, why are you still keeping her around?"
Seeing Xiao Wu, Su Mo turned to Bibi Dong.
He didn't blame Xiao Wu one bit for trying to disrupt him. He had caused her to sacrifice herself, so it was only natural for her to seek revenge.
But that wouldn't stop Su Mo from wanting her gone.
"Destroying her soul would be simple, but I think keeping her soul around might prove useful later, so I've kept her for now!"
Hearing Su Mo's words, Bibi Dong set aside her eagerness to absorb the soul ring and responded.
"Hm, then Rakshasa Sister, you handle her!"
Su Mo nodded. It was just Xiao Wu's soul, after all.
"Of course!"
As Bibi Dong spoke, she acted to restrain Xiao Wu. Somehow, she rendered Xiao Wu's soul immobile, silencing her curses.
"Wuwu—"
Xiao Wu could only glare at Su Mo and Bibi Dong with furious eyes.
"Rakshasa Sister, do you want to absorb Tang San's soul ring?"
Ignoring Xiao Wu, Su Mo turned to Bibi Dong.
"Yes, I'd like to absorb this soul ring. Is that okay?"
Bibi Dong replied, her voice tinged with excitement.
Though the soul ring before her was merely a black ten-thousand-year one, likely around twenty thousand years in quality, Bibi Dong didn't care about its grade. What mattered to her was that it had come from Tang San.
Having been killed by the Sea God Tang San, she deeply desired to absorb this soul ring that had emerged from him.
"Sure, then I'll absorb this soul ring!"
Hearing Bibi Dong's response, Su Mo had no objections.
It was just a matter of using the Rakshasa God martial soul to absorb a soul ring earlier than planned—it wouldn't affect him much.
More importantly, this soul ring from Tang San wasn't something Su Mo wanted to let slip away.
Perhaps by absorbing it, he could truly seize the protagonist aura that once belonged to Tang San?
"Rakshasa Sister, keep an eye on Xiao Wu and don't let her interfere. I'll absorb it now!"
Su Mo then sat cross-legged on the ground, focusing on the soul ring above Tang San's corpse and beginning the absorption process.
Buzz—
Since Su Mo had killed Tang San, with a single thought, he successfully drew the black soul ring that had emerged after Tang San's death toward himself, ultimately merging it into his body.
Subsequently, Su Mo quietly used his Rakshasa God martial soul to absorb the black soul ring.
"Wuwu—"
Xiao Wu watched from the side, her eyes red and teary, truly resembling a rabbit now.
But restrained by Bibi Dong, she could only watch helplessly as Tang San's soul ring was absorbed by Su Mo, powerless to intervene.
It was just a twenty-thousand-year soul ring, and Su Mo completed the absorption quickly.
Buzz—
"Su Mo, I'll kill you!"
The moment the absorption of Tang San's soul ring was complete, a soul tremor from the ring followed. Tang San's remnant soul appeared in Su Mo's martial soul space and launched an attack at him.
"Noisy!"
"You weren't my match when you were alive, let alone after death!"
Su Mo let out a cold hum, then swiftly ended Tang San's remnant soul with a single spear strike, smoothly completing the absorption of the soul ring.
Buzz—
Bibi Dong's martial soul manifested behind Su Mo, and a black soul ring condensed beneath him.
The soul ring belonging to the Rakshasa God martial soul had successfully formed.
"First Soul Skill: Entwine!"
With a slight movement, Su Mo activated the first soul skill of his Rakshasa God martial soul.
Surprisingly, it was the same as Tang San's first soul skill—Entwine.
Su Mo didn't particularly care what the soul skill was; he wasn't lacking in offensive techniques.
But now, he could use Tang San's "Dear Mother Entwine" too!
"As expected, a mere twenty-thousand-year soul ring didn't boost my soul power by much!"
What Su Mo cared about was whether his soul power increased after absorbing the ring. It did, but not enough to raise his soul power level.
It probably only boosted him by about half a level!
"If I absorb this soul bone, it should help me increase my soul power level!"
Next, Su Mo took out a soul bone.
It was a hundred-thousand-year soul bone, one he had previously taken from Tang San's severed right leg.
This soul bone, naturally, was the one Tang Hao had given to Tang San, originally belonging to the Blue Silver Empress, A Yin—a hundred-thousand-year soul bone.
Since Su Mo didn't yet have soul bones for either of his legs, he had the perfect slot to absorb it, so he began the process.
Buzz—
Thus, after absorbing the soul ring that burst from Tang San, Su Mo immediately started absorbing the soul bone that came from him as well.
However, this soul bone wasn't truly something that burst from Tang San himself—it was one Tang San had absorbed, just like the soul ring.
Still, Su Mo was quite satisfied with this soul bone.
As Su Mo absorbed the Blue Silver Empress Right Leg Bone, he was unaware that after he killed Tang San, Tang San's soul should have completely dissipated.
But because Su Mo had once connected to a future timeline, a faint link between the two timelines had formed.
Coupled with the existence of the Sea God Tang San in that future timeline, and the fact that the two Tang Sans shared the same origin, the remnant soul of the Tang San he killed was drawn to the Sea God Tang San in the future timeline. Ultimately, Tang San's remnant soul was absorbed by the future Sea God Tang San.
…
Future Timeline.
Boom—
"Damn it!"
"Su Mo, I'll kill you!"
Having just absorbed Tang San's remnant soul, the Sea God Tang San couldn't immediately process what had happened and erupted in fury.
In his rage, the Sea God Tang San instantly shifted into his Asura God state. His silver hair fluttered, and his eyes glowed with a scarlet, almost tangible killing intent.
The terrifying Asura God Domain burst forth from the Sea God Tang San's body.
"Third Brother, what's wrong?"
As the wife of the Sea God and the one who shared the Asura God position—though in reality, she was merely a sword sheath—Xiao Wu noticed his abnormality and immediately appeared before him, looking at him with concern.
"I…"
Seeing his wife, the Sea God Tang San experienced a brief moment of disorientation.
"I'm fine!"
After softly reassuring his wife, the Sea God Tang San regained his composure, closed his eyes, and carefully sorted through what had happened to him.
Since the Sea God Tang San had also transmigrated from another world, he quickly formed a hypothesis. The memories he had absorbed from Tang San were those of another version of himself from a different timeline.
Even after understanding this, the Sea God Tang San still felt intense anger.
Tang San's experiences resonated deeply with him.
Hadn't his own wife also willingly sacrificed herself once?
But he had managed to revive her in the end.
The other him, however, had failed to revive Xiao Wu and was instead killed by his enemy.
"Su Mo!"
Opening his eyes again, the Sea God Tang San coldly uttered Su Mo's name.
If Su Mo were standing before him now, he'd kill him without a second word.
What Tang San's father did had nothing to do with Tang San!
Too cowardly to seek revenge on the strong, he only dared to target Tang San—typical of someone who bullied the weak and feared the strong.
"Why? How did such a powerful figure like Su Mo appear there…"
"But not here in my world?"
The Sea God Tang San was deeply puzzled by this.
In the end, he could only feel fortunate that he hadn't encountered an enemy like Su Mo in his own life, or he might not have achieved what he had today.
"Su Mo? Who's that?"
Hearing the Sea God Tang San's words, his wife couldn't help but feel confused.
She was certain this was the first time she'd heard that name and didn't understand why mentioning it filled her husband with such killing intent.
"It's nothing, just an unimportant person!"
The Sea God Tang San shook his head with a smile, choosing not to reveal that he had absorbed Tang San's memories.
He didn't understand why he had received Tang San's memories, but he was certain that Su Mo didn't exist in his world.
Though he empathized with Tang San's plight and felt anger on his behalf, there was no Su Mo in his world, so he couldn't avenge him.
"Hm, that's good then!"
Though still a bit puzzled, the Sea God's wife accepted his explanation when he said it wasn't important, choosing to trust him.
"Xiao Wu, having you here is wonderful!"
The Sea God Tang San stepped forward, pulling his wife tightly into his arms, speaking with deep emotion.
After gaining Tang San's memories, he realized even more how fortunate he was to have revived his wife—a truly blissful thing.
"Hehe, of course it is!"
"Third Brother, I'll always be by your side!"
Hearing his words, the Sea God's wife was deeply moved and returned his embrace tightly.
…
(End of Chapter)
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