Third Soul Ring

Bang!

A blazing fireball interrupted the Flame Pig's charge.

"Let's deal with the Flame Pig first!" Xu Jie could hardly explain himself, and besides, there was no time for explanations.

"Alright." Dugu Lu said no more. His second Soul Ring pulsed, and he immediately sprayed a mouthful of green breath at the Flame Pig.

Roar!!

With a beastly roar, fierce flames instantly spread across the Flame Pig's entire body.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

As the flames came into contact with the Jade Phosphorous Snake Breath, ceaseless sizzling rang out. The green snake breath was continuously purified by the flames.

Seeing this, Xu Jie continuously raised the Sun Martial Soul in his hand. The rising Sun Martial Soul suddenly released intense heat, causing the flames covering the Flame Pig's body to falter. The Jade Phosphorous Snake Breath surrounding the Flame Pig immediately seized the opening and clung to its body.

Roar!!!

"Ultimate Fire!!!"

The pig's squeal and the man's shout rang out at the same time. One cry was filled with pain, while the other was filled with astonishment.

As a descendant of the Dugu Family, whose lineage had endured for ten thousand years, Dugu Lu naturally understood that Ultimate Fire was the king of all flames. Only Ultimate Fire could make other flames submit.

Although the Flame Pig could sense the ultimate aura of Xu Jie's Martial Soul, the corrosion of the Jade Phosphorous Snake Breath had stirred its ferocity. It charged madly at Xu Jie.

"Watch out!" Dugu Lu, who had kept his distance from Xu Jie out of fear that his soul skill might injure an ally, could not help shouting when he saw the Flame Pig charging toward him.

In his eyes, a Tool Soul Master like Xu Jie was nowhere near as physically capable as a Beast Soul Master like himself. If Xu Jie was hit by the Flame Pig, his life would certainly be in danger.

Xu Jie watched the Flame Pig charge at him without the slightest panic. Though he looked like a fragile mage who could only hurl fireballs from afar, close combat was actually his strongest suit.

"Oh no!" Dugu Lu watched Xu Jie stand directly in the path of the Flame Pig's charge, seemingly in a panic as he put away his Martial Soul and drew a long blade. Anxiety surged in his heart as he continually prayed for Teacher Zhou to appear quickly.

Splat!

Xu Jie suddenly leaped up. With a twist of his right wrist, he drove the long blade into the Flame Pig's eyeball at a bizarre angle. At the same moment the blade pierced its eye, he slapped the Flame Pig's back with his left hand and vaulted cleanly over it. He performed a simple Thomas flare in midair before landing steadily on the ground.

Bang!

The dead Flame Pig crashed into the large tree behind Xu Jie with a tremendous impact. A purple Soul Ring slowly rose from its corpse.

"Snap out of it!" Xu Jie walked over to the dumbfounded Dugu Lu and patted his shoulder with his right hand.

"How did you do that?" Dugu Lu came back to his senses.

"Forget how I did it for now. Help me remove the poison first." Xu Jie held out his left hand, its palm glowing green, and waved it before Dugu Lu. The poison truly was powerful; purging it himself would cost quite a bit of Soul Power.

As she watched Dugu Lu detoxify Xu Jie, Zhou Yi did her utmost to keep her expression calm. Xu Jie's combat talent had truly taken her by surprise.

That entire sequence of movements had flowed like water, without a single unnecessary motion. Every flex of muscle had been perfectly timed.

Splat!

Once the poison in Xu Jie's palm had been removed, he walked over to the Flame Pig's corpse, pulled out the long blade embedded in it, stored it back in the Black Ring, and reached out to draw the Flame Pig's Soul Ring toward himself.

"You still haven't told me how you..." Dugu Lu hurriedly began asking about his earlier question, but before he could finish, he saw Xu Jie draw over the purple Soul Ring and cried out, "You're going to absorb that Soul Ring?!"

"That's a thousand-year—"

Zhou Yi grabbed Dugu Lu's shoulder before he could say anything else. She pointed at Xu Jie, who had already begun absorbing the Soul Ring, signaling for Dugu Lu to stay quiet.

The purple Soul Ring pulsed continuously around Xu Jie's body. Dugu Lu watched him absorb it, his face filled with conflict. Part of him hoped Xu Jie would succeed, while another part hoped he would fail. People were such contradictory creatures.

Whoosh!

The purple Soul Ring outside Xu Jie's body suddenly sank into him. He opened his eyes and rose to his feet as one yellow and one purple Soul Ring rose from beneath his feet.

"You really succeeded." Dugu Lu stared at the purple Soul Ring around Xu Jie, his face full of disbelief. The joy he had felt earlier at obtaining an excellent soul skill had now completely vanished.

"Let's go!" Zhou Yi clenched her fist and spoke to the two of them. If they headed back now, they could still return to Shrek Academy before dark. Once back at the academy, she could report today's events sooner.

Xu Jie did not move. He stood where he was, scratching his head with some embarrassment. "Teacher, I think I'm already level thirty."

"What?!" x2

This time, it was not just Dugu Lu. Even the usually stern and cold Zhou Yi cried out.

Seeing their disbelieving expressions, Xu Jie summoned his Martial Soul again. This time, he did not suppress the Soul Power within his body.

Whoosh!

An aura exclusive to a level-thirty Soul Elder erupted from Xu Jie's body.

"No way!!!" Dugu Lu was currently only a level-twenty-two Soul Grandmaster, but he had seen quite a few level-thirty Soul Elders. He stared suspiciously at Xu Jie, then turned to look at Zhou Yi, as though hoping to learn something from her.

Huff! Zhou Yi exhaled, no longer able to conceal the shock on her face. "I'll help you hunt another soul beast. Stay here and don't move."

As soon as she finished speaking, the black metal wings behind Zhou Yi spread open again. This time, she was even faster than before.

"How did you suddenly break through to level thirty?" Dugu Lu was now completely focused on Xu Jie's sudden breakthrough, no longer caring about his earlier series of sharp movements.

"Didn't you know that you can keep cultivating even without absorbing a Soul Ring?" Xu Jie could only helplessly use the theory of a certain master who had engaged in incestuous spiritual romance and somehow had a child to brush him off.

The reason he had been able to suddenly break through to level thirty was because he had diluted the Soul Power he had previously compressed until it was nearly liquid. Since Soul Power could be compressed, it could naturally be diluted as well.

"But..."

Bang!

The sound of flesh striking the ground interrupted what Dugu Lu was about to say.

A scarlet tiger, knocked unconscious and still wreathed in flames around its neck, was tossed in front of the two by Zhou Yi. Xu Jie said nothing. He took the long blade from the Black Ring again, stepped forward, and stabbed the tiger straight through the eye.

Splat!

A purple Soul Ring slowly rose. Xu Jie immediately drew it over, sat down, and began absorbing it.

Perhaps because time was tight, Zhou Yi no longer had the two fight the soul beasts. Instead, she directly knocked them unconscious and threw them before the two of them.