“Everyone, protect the supplies!”
Mu Liao’s face changed drastically, his heart leaping into his throat.
The other five villagers became as if facing a great enemy, simultaneously calming the somewhat restless Snow Spirit Deer and staring intently at the cave less than a hundred meters ahead.
Tang Sui glanced at the tense group, hesitated slightly, and did not mention that she possessed a soul tool with space capable of holding all their supplies.
With strangers she had never met and whose backgrounds were unknown, maintaining personal boundaries was crucial.
Being overly solicitous might instead invite unnecessary suspicion.
Furthermore, Tang Sui was confident in her ability to protect them from the group of soul beasts ahead.
Yes, a "group."
As Tang Sui’s party approached, and with the uneasy cries of the Snow Spirit Deer echoing, the soul beasts that had already taken shelter in the large cave seemed to sense the approach of uninvited guests.
Under Tang Sui’s mental scan, they began to move towards the cave entrance. Not only Tang Sui, but everyone else could finally see the true faces of the soul beasts that had entered the cave before them to escape the wind and snow.
With a body over six meters tall, covered in thick, coffee-colored fur, even their white hooves were largely covered by long manes.
Saddle-shaped blue and white patterns were spread around their eyes, and their dry, pink snouts, like those of pigs, twitched slightly, as if sniffing the strange scent carried on the wind.
Long, white, curved tusks extended from the shallow brown fur surrounding the pink snouts, each measuring a full three meters in length. From a distance, they resembled two embedded ice sculptures, crystal clear throughout, with a faint blue light subtly flowing within.
After the largest and tallest soul beast emerged from the cave, the other soul beasts, though smaller, averaged between four and five meters in height, with tusks over a meter long.
One after another, they completely blocked the cave entrance, causing Mu Liao’s heart to sink further. His voice trembled as he said, "Not good... it's Ice Tusk Pigs!"
Ice Tusk Pigs were gregarious soul beasts that only lived in cold regions.
Their diet was varied and omnivorous; they didn't necessarily attack people when encountered.
What truly weighed heavily on Mu Liao and the others was that Ice Tusk Pigs were known as the "bandit gangs" of the snowy plains.
A herd of Ice Tusk Pigs, including juveniles, typically consisted of six or seven individuals.
Their primary food sources, aside from foraging in the snowfields, were intercepting teams like theirs transporting supplies to and from the village, targeting seeds and other dried fruits and vegetables.
Of course, if they could kill humans, they would not hesitate to do so, then consume the corpses, digesting the soul power of the soul masters. Although they couldn’t absorb it completely, they could absorb a portion, converting it into their own energy. Su Dan Novel Network
Their natural defense was astonishing, as was their destructive power; they could even pierce the fine steel armor of soul master soldiers!
If, among soul beasts, the Armored Rhinoceros and the Diamond Mammoth were known for their absolute defensive capabilities, then the Ice Tusk Pig represented balanced development, with defense and offense being directly proportional.
Even if inferior to the other two, encountering them meant a fierce battle.
The Ice Tusk Pigs that discovered these unfortunate bipeds had their eyes light up, especially when they saw the abundance of supplies on Mu Liao’s sleds. The greedy desire reflected in their eyes made Mu Liao and the others’ hearts sink again.
“Body length six meters... tusks three meters... oh no, this is an Ice Tusk Pig with over ten thousand years of cultivation!” Mu Liao looked at the leading Ice Tusk Pig, which was over six meters tall, with a look of horror.
Tang Sui leaned forward slightly, her body detached from gravity, and leaped lightly to the front of the first sled. Her clear blue eyes swept over the huddled Ice Tusk Pigs.
Based on their tusk and height data, as well as the fluctuations in their soul power, she assessed their cultivation levels.
Two five-thousand-year-olds, one three-thousand-year-old... well, there was also a young one hiding in the cave, only around two hundred years old.
The leading six-meter-tall Ice Tusk Pig was likely their leader.
It seemed they had brought their young to seek shelter from the storm.
Survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle, this was the rule of survival in this world.
Thinking of this, Tang Sui turned her head to look at the soul master closest to her and asked, “Do you guys eat meat?”
“Wh-what?” The man didn’t react. Tang Sui patiently asked again:
“I asked, do you eat meat? If you do, then leave them all for us.”
The villagers, finally understanding, stared in shock, then exclaimed in horror, “But that’s a ten-thousand-year-cultivated Ice Tusk Pig!”
Unless the hundred soul master cavalry stationed at Ilod City reinforced them, they were only seven people!
And among them, apart from Miss Tang whose soul power level was unknown, the strongest was only Brother Mu at the Great Soul Master level.
How could they fight? It looked like a losing battle!
Ignoring the villagers, Tang Sui raised her right arm, her fingers opening in the air as if holding something, and spoke to herself, “So, we should eat them then.”
“Buzz —”
Circles upon circles of majestic soul rings floated around Tang Sui.
The Snow Spirit Deer closest to Tang Sui were the first to sense the distortion of space and the faintly exuding terrifying aura. They immediately froze like petrified wood, their pair of intelligent deer eyes trembling with fear due to the rapidly rising terrifying aura. They met the seven dark gold masks emerging from the void, and the suddenly opened black and gold vertical pupils.
“——!”
Their minds filled with terror, the Snow Spirit Deer’s brains went blank. They stood there like ice sculptures, their snow-white fur gradually being dyed the colors of the radiant soul rings.
Purple, purple, purple, black, black, red, red, red.
The brilliant light rendered the surrounding snow into interlacing shades of purple, black, and red, and also froze Mu Liao and the others in place, as they gasped in unison.
“Th-three hundred-thousand-year!”
“It’s actually a Soul Douluo Your Excellency!”
“So, so strong...”
“Unbelievable... Tang... This Your Excellency appears so young, yet has already become a powerful expert at the Soul Douluo level!”
“Then, are we, are we saved?”
The last sentence was spoken by a rather timid villager.
Before his companions could respond, the first and fifth soul rings simultaneously flashed. Tang Sui’s figure distorted in place. In a blink of an eye, she arrived before the Ice Tusk Pigs, who had become agitated upon sensing Tang Sui’s terrifying aura.
“Roar —!”
The leader of this herd of Ice Tusk Pigs showed a look of horror. It raised its two powerful, thick forelegs covered in thick fur and stomped down fiercely towards Tang Sui.
“Boom!”
A black and red demonic energy barrier erected itself. The Ice Tusk Pig leader’s hooves struck as if hitting a bronze wall and iron rampart, emitting a deafening roar.
“Roar roar!”
The other Ice Tusk Pigs let out cries of pain. Dark gold afterimages sliced through the void. In an instant, their coffee-colored fur was cut, and their skin, which even spears couldn't pierce, was scored with bloody wounds by the thin blades of the masks, creating one gash after another. The splashing blood fell onto the snow, adding a touch of alluring red.
—Author’s Notes—
I will start double updating tomorrow 0v0