The True Purpose of the Second Soul Ring

An easy suppression?

Chen Ming took a step back, shielding his teacher in front of him.

Du Busi unleashed his martial soul.

With an angry roar, dark green light shot into the sky, covering half the heavens.

His body instantly swelled as well, growing more than tenfold in the blink of an eye. He transformed into a twenty-meter giant, his dark green skin bulging into granite-like muscles.

Most astonishing of all were the soul rings that emerged around him one after another.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, red, red, red!

The overwhelming pressure released by those soul rings alone was enough to force people to their knees.

If Chen Ming had been Du Busi's target, he would have suffered even more terrifying suppression. At such close range, no matter how unyielding he was, he would have been instantly crushed to the ground.

As for the six Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts locked onto by Du Busi, they were roaring madly in warning. The Star Spirit Deer protected at the very rear had eyes filled with wariness and dread.

The Star Spirit Deer's entire body was covered in semi-transparent fur, with starlight flowing across its surface. At its spine, the starlight converged into an interwoven spiral vortex. Beneath that veil of starlight was a fresh Life Aura. Its antlers were emerald green, and each step of its hooves left faint jade-green motes of light on the ground.

The six Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts roared warnings as they stepped backward.

Unfortunately, with Du Busi having locked onto them, they could constantly sense a deadly crisis.

Among Soul Beasts, hierarchy was extremely strict. Unless they possessed an extraordinarily noble bloodline, a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would be terrified by the aura of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

The six Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were already performing remarkably well. The fact that they had not immediately begged for mercy was enough to show that they were exceptional.

"Considering how difficult your cultivation has been, leave now. My disciple only needs this Star Spirit Deer!"

Du Busi shouted and charged out in an instant.

The five guards belonging to the Star Spirit Deer did not retreat. Instead, they each unleashed their ultimate techniques.

The Star Spirit Deer had cultivated for ten thousand years, and the guards around it had all been carefully selected. They had powerful attackers, defenders, controllers, and agility attackers. Combined with its own support and healing abilities, they formed a practically perfect team.

Unfortunately, under absolute suppression of strength, they had no right to display the effectiveness of teamwork.

Dark green light blanketed the entire sky. In a single exchange, all six Soul Beasts were heavily injured. The five guard Soul Beasts were blasted more than a hundred meters away by Du Busi, while the Star Spirit Deer was seized by the neck in one hand, with one foot pinning it to the ground so it could not move.

If not for the astonishingly sharp perception granted by Spiritual Sense-level Spiritual Power, Chen Ming would not even have been able to see the battle just now.

Too fast.

Too powerful.

Overwhelmingly powerful.

"Leave now, and I won't pursue your earlier offense!" Du Busi snorted coldly, sweeping his gaze over the five Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

Only then did the five Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts retreat in terror.

A trace of despair appeared in the Star Spirit Deer's eyes.

It had already been very careful. It had found five bodyguards.

But the person targeting it this time was simply too powerful.

It gave a mournful cry, signaling its five companions to leave. They could not throw away their lives for nothing.

Chen Ming watched everything indifferently.

He had also lived a lifetime as a Soul Beast, and had long since understood the conflict between Soul Beasts and Soul Masters on Douluo Star.

In the end, it all came down to one thing—survival of the fittest.

This was not a world that valued feelings or ideals. This was a place where strength mattered.

The so-called national systems and continental situation were merely packaging—illogical packaging. The only thing that could truly determine the course of everything was top-tier strength.

"Xiao Ming, come."

At Du Busi's prompt, Chen Ming took out a Soul Tool Dagger.

A Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could no longer be killed by an ordinary dagger. Before coming here, Chen Ming had equipped himself with this one-use soul tool dagger, equivalent to a fifth-level soul tool. As for why it was one-use, naturally, it was so twenty-level Chen Ming could activate it completely.

The Star Spirit Deer was suppressed by Du Busi's Soul Power, and its insides had been severely corroded by Du Busi's Poison Cultivation. It was on the verge of death, yet even so, its vitality remained tenacious, and its aura was as steady as a mountain.

Chen Ming stepped forward and activated the soul tool dagger in his hand. A laser shot out from it, turning the dagger into a laser longsword.

The laser contained an extremely terrifying fluctuation of Soul Power.

Chen Ming stepped forward, gripped the Soul Tool Dagger, and viciously stabbed it into the Star Spirit Deer's skull. Even the laser of the fifth-level soul tool dagger encountered enormous resistance, but fortunately, it still pierced through.

The moment the laser entered the Star Spirit Deer's skull, it exploded. Chen Ming could see its head burst apart as the stench of blood instantly spread through the air.

As the Star Spirit Deer died, an inky-black soul ring rose from its corpse.

"Fuse with it."

Du Busi's words were reassuring.

Without needing to consider anything else, Chen Ming sat cross-legged beside the Star Spirit Deer's corpse. He drew the black Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring over and placed it around himself.

Du Busi released Soul Power nearby, deterring the surrounding Soul Beasts.

Last time, when Chen Ming absorbed a soul ring, what he endured was the threat of his martial soul being burst apart. That was actually uncommon.

This time, he truly experienced the physical agony of absorbing a soul ring beyond his limits.

The blood vessels throughout his body tore apart.

Gashes split open across his skin, blood streaming freely.

Yet within his body, Life Gold continuously released Life Force, repairing his flesh.

The pain in his body was tangible, but even more unbearable was the soul impact crashing into his Sea of Consciousness.

All of the Star Spirit Deer's unwillingness transformed into impacts upon his soul, throwing Chen Ming's Sea of Consciousness into turmoil as crack after crack was forced open.

Even amid such agony, Chen Ming had to devote himself to mending his physical wounds, guiding his Soul Power to condense the soul ring, and absorbing the essence within his Soul Martial Soul to repair and expand his Sea of Consciousness.

That was just standard procedure.

At this moment, Chen Ming also had to carefully use the Star Spirit Deer's soul ring to draw out the Life Gold within his body.

This Life Gold had played the most crucial role in nurturing this body of his, but it had also settled within him. If he could not properly guide and unleash its power soon, it would instead become a harmful substance, clogging the source of his life.

Just like that Golden Carapace Turtle that had devoured Life Gold—rather than gaining any benefits, it had ended up half-dead.

His explanation to Du Busi for choosing the Star Spirit Deer's soul ring was that he would use its Life attribute to balance ice and fire. In truth, he did not lack Life Force; what he lacked was a catalyst to draw that Life Force out.

The Star Spirit Deer's soul ring easily drew forth the immense Life Force within him. Chen Ming used the power of his Spiritual Sense to suppress Life Gold's overwhelming Life Force, controlling the soul ring so that it fused with only a tiny portion of it.

But even that tiny portion increased the Star Spirit Deer's soul ring by three thousand years.

And it was precisely this increase that made Chen Ming's suffering even more terrifying.

Chen Ming even felt as though his body was about to explode.

This was no longer a matter of split skin or ruptured meridians. His entire body was about to burst apart.

Even Chen Ming, who had lived nine lives, felt that he was truly about to explode at this moment.

He immediately activated Soul Martial Soul Possession and desperately merged it into his Body Martial Soul.