Absorbing a Thousand-Year Soul Ring!

The Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast seemed to have sensed Xuan Zi's aura and deliberately wanted to lure something over.

It wanted Xuan Zi to deal with the threat behind it this way.

But who was Xuan Zi? A rank ninety-eight Super Douluo, the Gluttony Douluo!

Once he saw through the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast's intentions, his fiery temper flared up at once.

What he hated most was being used, especially by something that was not even human, but merely a soul beast.

Xuan Zi shielded Ye Chen behind him. A mighty aura burst forth, and with a casual palm strike, he sent the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast sprawling to the ground.

Although this soul beast possessed a powerful bloodline and talent, it only had fifteen hundred years of cultivation.

After Xuan Zi easily knocked it to the ground, its aura instantly withered. It was barely breathing.

Perhaps its greatest mistake had been underestimating Xuan Zi's temper.

It had wanted to shift the disaster elsewhere, only to find that the true calamity had fallen upon itself.

After delivering that palm strike, Xuan Zi protected Ye Chen and stared toward the direction the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast had come from as if facing a great enemy, mobilizing all his Soul Power.

He had only acted because he was confident that no matter what happened, he could escape with Ye Chen. Yet now, all his attention was focused ahead as he made every possible preparation.

Because even he could only flee with Ye Chen if two or more of those beings from the Star Dou Core Area appeared at once.

Ye Chen was somewhat nervous as well. He stayed in the safe area behind Xuan Zi, staring unblinkingly ahead.

But after a long standoff, there was still no movement. The two of them could not sense even the slightest trace of a soul beast's aura.

While Xuan Zi found this strange, his vigilance increased greatly.

"Xiao Chen, let's withdraw first. We can only discuss the soul ring later." To be safe, Xuan Zi still intended to leave first.

He was afraid that the situation he dreaded most would occur.

It would not be an exaggeration to call Ye Chen the future of Shrek Academy. He could not allow himself to make the same mistake twice. If he personally buried the academy's future, even dying ten times would not be enough to wash away the self-reproach in his heart.

"Wait, Drunkard Grandpa. Take that half-dead soul beast with us too!" Just as they were about to leave, Ye Chen suddenly spoke. A sharp glint flashed through his gem-like bright eyes.

Although Xuan Zi was somewhat puzzled, he did not ask.

With Ye Chen in one arm and the weakened Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast scooped up in the other, he flew toward Shrek City at an incredible speed.

After the two left, three large golden eyes blinked curiously a few times in the direction the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast had come from, then vanished into the dense forest.

Beside the road between Shrek City and Star Dou Forest, on a leaf-covered patch of ground in a dense grove.

An old man and a young boy sat cross-legged, while a soul beast in a state of suspended animation lay beside them.

"No! Absolutely not!" An impatient voice rang out, startling several crows roosting in the woods into flight.

The speaker was Xuan Zi, who had just brought Ye Chen out of Star Dou Forest.

"It's fine, Drunkard Grandpa. Just let me try. I'm confident in my body's strength!"

Ye Chen rose and went to Xuan Zi's side, tugging at his hand and shaking it repeatedly as he begged him to agree.

In truth, Ye Chen wanted to absorb this Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast as his first soul ring.

Although this Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast had fifteen hundred years of cultivation, far exceeding the known limit for a first soul ring, he still wanted to try.

Two months had passed since his Martial Soul Awakening.

Perhaps because he possessed two top-tier martial souls, Ye Chen's physical strength had been increasing at a perceptible rate every day during this period.

Before awakening, his six-year-old body had struggled even to hold the Milk Bottle Gong Changlong had given him. But now, he could lift the three-hundred-jin soul tool table in Qian Duoduo's room.

And that was without using his martial souls.

Both his physical strength and raw power already surpassed those of Outer Court students in their second or third year.

Now that he had an opportunity to grow stronger, he had to seize it no matter what.

Moreover, he knew that the legendary Fusang Divine Tree possessed the ability to purify all resentment. If he was not mistaken, then he would not be affected by a soul beast's resentment while absorbing a soul ring.

That would raise the soul ring's absorption limit considerably.

"Still no. If something happens to you, how am I supposed to answer to everyone?" Xuan Zi said firmly.

He had never expected that Ye Chen wanted him to bring along the half-dead Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast so he could absorb it as his first soul ring.

As far as he knew, the maximum absorption limit for a first soul ring was around five hundred years. Yet this Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast had fifteen hundred years of cultivation, three times the known limit!

If Ye Chen truly absorbed it, would that not be gambling with his life?

"Just let me try. I know my own condition. The Fusang Divine Tree can purify a soul beast's resentment, and I wouldn't joke around with my own life!" Ye Chen said solemnly.

Although he could not be certain that the Fusang Divine Tree truly had that ability, he could only say so in order to make Xuan Zi agree.

Sure enough, after hearing Ye Chen's words, Xuan Zi began to hesitate.

He knew very little about Ye Chen's martial souls, but after thinking carefully, it did not seem impossible.

When he had helped Ye Chen undergo Martial Soul Awakening, that ultimate light had seemed capable of purifying all evil in the world, leaving an extremely deep impression on him.

Thinking of this, Xuan Zi nodded almost unconsciously.

Perhaps he also understood Ye Chen's personality. Ye Chen would not do something so suicidal.

Yet he overlooked one thing: Ye Chen was only a six-year-old child. Even with a soul in his twenties residing in his heart, he still could not escape a trace of youthful recklessness.

"Yay!" After receiving Xuan Zi's approval, Ye Chen jumped up happily and planted a loud kiss on Xuan Zi's cheek, making Xuan Zi shake his head helplessly.

Xuan Zi did not know whether his decision was correct, but for some reason, Ye Chen's words carried a strange power of persuasion. Even he felt a strong urge to believe them.

Ye Chen walked over to the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast and took a soul tool dagger from the ring Qian Duoduo had given him. He aimed at the artery in the beast's neck and drove it down viciously.

The Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast had already been half-dead. With Ye Chen's strike, its miserable fate finally came to an end.

A moment later, the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast's life force was completely drained, and a purple soul ring condensed above its corpse.

Ye Chen took a deep breath and sat cross-legged, focusing all his Spiritual Power on the Fusang Divine Tree martial soul within his body.

At the same time, following the method Mu En had explained to him, he released his Soul Power and guided the purple soul ring down above his head.

To be honest, he was still somewhat nervous, unsure what outcome awaited him.

There were only two possibilities: either the fusion succeeded, granting him an unprecedented first soul ring of a thousand years.

Or he would explode and die, his body and soul extinguished, having come to this world for nothing.