The rustling intensified. A long, brown, vine-like form slid out from behind a large granite slab. It moved with a soft, dry hiss against the stone.
Its body was the color of weathered bark, covered in rough, segmented scales, and along its length grew flat, leaf-like appendages that rustled softly.
If it had been still and its eyes closed, it would have been utterly indistinguishable from a fallen branch. Two slitted, amber eyes opened, fixing on the trio with cold curiosity.
Mei gasped softly, taking an involuntary step back. This was no docile plant spirit.
Xiao Wu's triumphant grin didn't falter; it sharpened. "Oho! A Green Jade Branch Snake!" she announced, as if identifying a common garden pest. She dropped into a low, ready crouch, her pink eyes gleaming with excitement, not fear.
Tang San immediately shifted into a defensive stance, his hands coming up. "A what?" he asked, his voice tight with focus, his eyes never leaving the slowly advancing serpent.
"They're sneaky! They look like branches to ambush prey!" Xiao Wu explained rapidly, her words tumbling out. "They don't really need to eat much 'cause they sunbathe like plants! Annoying thing is, they're super tough! You can stomp it or crush it, and it'll just knit itself back together! It regenerates!"
The snake, as if to demonstrate, suddenly struck with blinding speed at a small rock near Tang San's foot. Its head impacted the stone with a sharp crack, and a small chip flew off. A scale on its head was damaged, but even as they watched, the broken scale seemed to soften, flow, and reform, good as new.
Mei's mind raced, filtering Xiao Wu's chaotic explanation through everything she'd read. Regeneration. Plant-like attributes. "Photosynthesis… a core of solar energy fueling cellular reconstruction…" she murmured, her academic curiosity overriding her fear for a split second.
Mei's mind, however, was whirring, trying to categorize the bizarre creature they'd just encountered. She turned to Xiao Wu, her head tilted in curiosity.
"Xiao Wu, that snake… its body was reptilian, but it had plant attributes and used photosynthesis. The spirit ring it would have produced… would it have been considered a beast-type or a plant-type?" The question was purely academic, a need to fit this new data into her growing understanding of this world's rules.
Xiao Wu scrunched up her nose, thinking hard. "Hmm… My brothers told me about ones like that! They said it's kinda… both? Or neither? It's a special mix! The ring can work for spirits that are either planty or beastly. It's a mix-up ring!"
Mei blinked, fascinated. A dual-nature spirit beast. It made a strange kind of sense. The ring would offer a hybrid boost, perhaps enhancing vitality and some physical trait simultaneously, but wouldn't specialize in maximizing either potential to its fullest. It was a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none kind of spirit ring. "I see," she murmured, filing the information away. "So it possesses a dual-nature spiritual signature. How intriguing."
"So how do you stop it?" Tang San pressed, sidestepping another testing lunge from the snake. His mind was already analyzing, searching for a weakness. Crushing was out. Cutting would likely be futile.
Xiao Wu bounced on her toes, easily dodging the snake's attention. "You gotta burn it!" she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "No regenerating from ash! Crispy snake is a dead snake!"
'I mean, it's not wrong, I heard that snake meat tastes like chicken,' Ai chirped, now projecting a tiny animated diagram of a snake catching fire.
Burn it. Tang San's eyes darted around. They had no fire starters. He had his tools, but no flint. His Blue Silver Grass was useless for this.
The Green Jade Branch Snake, tired of testing, coiled and launched itself straight at Tang San, its maw opening to reveal a pale green interior.
Time seemed to slow. Tang San prepared to meet the charge with his Mysterious Heaven Skill, knowing it might not be enough to stop the regeneration.
Then, a clear, resonant voice cut through the tension, not singing a song, but projecting pure, unwavering command.
"Hey! Over here!"
The snake's head twitched mid-lunge. Tang San's eyes snapped to the source.
Mei stood a few meters away, her posture perfect, one hand extended. She wasn't looking at the snake; she was looking past it, her mesmerizing pink eyes wide, capturing and holding the creature's slitted gaze with an almost physical intensity.
The Starlight Stage materialized faintly behind her, not for performance, but as a focus, its soft glow a stark contrast to the situation.
She had no weapons, no fighting spirit. But she had a lifetime of training in one thing: capturing and holding attention.
The snake hesitated, confused by this new, radiant stimulus that wasn't attacking or fleeing, but simply commanding its focus.
A deeper, more primal curiosity momentarily disrupted its predatory instinct.
It was only a second's distraction.
But for Tang San, a second was all he needed.
His hands blurred. A small, polished metal object—a spare component from his blacksmithing tools—flew from his sleeve. It didn't target the snake directly. Instead, it struck the large, sun-baked granite slab next to the serpent with immense, precise force.
SPANG!
A brilliant shower of white-hot sparks erupted from the point of impact—stone meeting steel at a perfectly calculated angle. The sparks, superheated by the impact and the sun-warmed rock, cascaded directly onto the snake's leaf-covered back.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a wisp of smoke curled up. The dry, photosynthetic leaves, designed to soak in sunlight, were supremely vulnerable to a sudden, intense point of it. A tiny ember caught, then another.
The Green Jade Branch Snake recoiled, a silent, writhing shudder passing through its body. It wasn't a scream of pain, but a horrible, soundless thrashing as the fire rapidly spread across its leafy appendages, greedily consuming the very energy that fueled its regeneration.
The silent, crackling blaze consumed the Green Jade Branch Snake with an eerie efficiency. In moments, the terrifying hybrid creature was gone, leaving behind only a faint scorch mark on the sun-baked granite and a softly glowing, pale yellow spirit ring that hovered serenely in the air. The color was pure and bright, the perfect hue for a first-rank spirit master's inaugural ring.
The three of them stared at the floating ring, the aftermath of the brief, intense fight settling around them. The yellow light glinted off Tang San's thoughtful eyes.
"It's a perfect first ring color," Mei observed softly, her voice cutting through the quiet. Her academic mind was already analyzing the possibilities. "The energy signature has stabilized now that the beast has passed. It feels... dense. Vital."
Tang San studied the ring, his initial plan for an Ironbark Sapling now complicated by this unexpected opportunity. He trusted Mei's knowledge implicitly. "Mei," he began, his tone serious. "Based on what we know... would this ring be suitable for me? Its nature is so mixed."
Mei considered it, tapping a finger to her chin. "Theoretically, it should suit you well," she said, thinking aloud. "Xiao Wu said the ring has dual affinity, but its core traits align with what you seek. It possessed immense vitality and resilience, able to regenerate from severe damage. Those are plant-like traits. And while its form was reptilian, its very existence was tied to plant-like photosynthesis. It's more plant than beast in its function." She nodded, her confidence growing. "I believe it would enhance the core strengths of your Blue Silver Grass significantly, and it might even give you a control or attack skill."
Xiao Wu, who had been peering at the ring with her head cocked, bounced in agreement. "Mei's right! Look at the color! It's a good yellow! And didn't you see?" She pointed at the lingering ashes. "When it was alive, it had all those super green, vibrant leaves all over it! That means it's way more plant than snake! The snake part was just for moving around and looking scary! It's basically a walking plant that hisses!"
Tang San looked from Mei's logical analysis to Xiao Wu's enthusiastic, nature-based assessment. The hesitation in his eyes faded, replaced by decisive resolve. Their arguments were sound. This ring was a unique opportunity, a powerful hybrid that leaned towards the botanical traits he needed to cultivate.
"You've convinced me," he stated, stepping towards the glowing yellow ring. He paused, then turned back to them, a rare look of uncertainty on his face. The books had described the theory of absorption, but not the practical first-hand experience. "How... how do I do this?"
Mei's eyes widened slightly; she'd assumed he knew. She opened her mouth to quote a text, but Xiao Wu was faster.
"Ooh, I know this!" she chirped, stepping forward. "It's easy! You just sit reeeally close to it, like this." She plopped down cross-legged right in front of the floating ring.
"Then you use your spirit power to kinda... pull it towards you! Guide it! Your spirit will do the rest! It might feel super weird or hurt a bit, but you just gotta hold on and don't let go 'til it's all inside!" She nodded sagely, as if she'd done it a hundred times herself.
Mei nodded in confirmation, adding a more scholarly footnote to Xiao Wu's direct instructions. "The texts say to clear your mind and focus your intention on your martial soul. Let your spirit power act as a conduit. The ring's energy will integrate with your own."
Tang San absorbed the instructions, simple from Xiao Wu, complex from the texts, but the core was the same.
He gave them both a firm nod, a look of gratitude passing between them. "Thank you. Both of you. Please keep watch."
He moved to sit before the pulsating yellow ring, taking a deep, centering breath. The light played across his determined face as he closed his eyes, reaching out with his spirit power towards the energy left behind by the remarkable Green Jade Branch Snake.
The journey to secure his first spirit ring had taken an unexpected turn, but the path forward was now clear.
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Dear lovely readers,
After reading your comment and receiving your support and kind words during my busy time, they have meant the world to me.
As a thank you, I'm happy to share that I can now commit to a much more regular—and generous—posting schedule!
I'm thrilled to say that starting this Monday, I will be posting 2 chapters every Monday and 2 chapters every Friday.
I can't wait to share the next part of the story with you all. Your continued support, whether through reading, comments, or on Ko-Fi, is what makes this possible. Thank you!