A Year Flies By

Time flew by. A year later.

Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Training Ground!

"Something terrible has happened! That Purple Thorn Lion Mastiff has broken through to become a Thousand-Year Soul Beast and escaped from its cage!"

News of the Thousand-Year Soul Beast's escape spread like a hurricane, throwing the students who had been quietly training into panic.

The Purple Thorn Master Mastiff was already a king among Soul Beasts. After breaking through to the thousand-year level, its strength became terrifying; even ordinary Soul Elders were no match for it.

"Go find the teachers, quickly!!"

No one had expected the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff to suddenly break free from its Shackles. Faced with such an unexpected incident, many students were caught off guard and filled with fear.

For a moment, the dozens of students on the Training Ground scattered in all directions.

"Roar!"

At that moment, a thunderous roar exploded through the sky!

A massive black shadow descended from above and crashed into the ground like a cannonball. Two Heavenly Micro Level students who had failed to escape in time were smashed alive into pulp.

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

It was a Purple Thorn Master Mastiff. Its entire body gleamed with an eerie purple light, its massive form as large as a house. Its savage maw roared repeatedly, radiating endless ferocity!

It was none other than the Thousand-Year Master Mastiff that had escaped!

"This is bad!"

The students around them all turned pale when they saw the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff arrive.

Most of them were only around level twenty. Some had just enrolled and had not even reached level twenty. Even if they were all tied together, they would be no match for a thousand-year Purple Thorn Master Mastiff.

"Teachers! Haven't any teachers come yet?!"

"What do we do? We're all going to be killed!"

"Run! Run now!"

Since the Soul Beast's escape had happened so suddenly, and there happened to be no teachers in this area, everyone was terrified. They had only one thought left in their minds—run!

However, escaping from the claws of a Thousand-Year Soul Beast was no easy matter.

"Release your Soul Rings! Martial Soul Possession!"

At the critical juncture between Life and Death, the students unleashed their Martial Souls. All sorts of strange Martial Souls emerged from their bodies—Weapon Spirits such as swords, forks, and halberds, as well as Beast Spirits such as dogs, cattle, and sheep.

There were countless varieties of Martial Souls, but most were ordinary Martial Souls that could not be considered powerful in any fundamental sense.

As for their Soul Rings, they were even worse. More than half had one white and one yellow Soul Ring, while some had only a single lonely Soul Ring—and it was white at that. Their strength was truly hard to praise.

Even with all of them unleashing their Martial Souls together, their presence could not compare to that of a single Purple Thorn Master Mastiff!

The Purple Thorn Master Mastiff spewed blazing flames, charging forward with boundless killing intent. Its iron claws tore through the air and swung fiercely at the students ahead, whipping up a powerful gust that sent seven or eight people flying.

Immediately afterward, a fireball shot forth and blasted a large group away. Those closest to it had half their bodies charred black, their flesh mangled in a horrific sight.

The Purple Thorn Master Mastiff's ferocity was unmatched. No one could stop it. In less than a moment, all twenty-some students on the Training Ground had been defeated.

"Ah! It hurts so much!"

"My right arm... it's broken..."

"So hot, so hot! I'm burned! Someone help me!"

All of the students were injured. Some had broken bones, some had been scorched, and some had their flesh torn open by the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff's sharp claws. They rolled around on the ground in agony, shrieking like slaughtered pigs.

"Roar..."

There was no emotion in the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff's cold eyes. It let out a low roar and charged swiftly toward the injured students, intending to kill them all.

"It's over. It's over. We're all going to die here."

Watching the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff close in, everyone could not help but sigh in despair. They were all seriously wounded, their entire bodies wracked with pain. They could not even lift their arms. All they could do now was wait silently for death.

Accompanied by a delicate fragrance, countless pure white petals drifted down from the sky. Their form was exceedingly strange—like flowers, yet not flowers. Looking closely, they were actually petals formed from white light.

A single petal drifted down quietly and landed atop an injured student's head. A faint glow flashed, and the petal directly merged into his body.

"What is this?!"

The student showed a shocked expression as his body trembled involuntarily. A warm current, like a hot spring, flowed quietly through him. The wounds exposed to the air miraculously healed at an incredible speed, and even his fractured right arm could be raised again!

The other students experienced the same thing. The strange petals that had suddenly drifted down healed all the wounds on their bodies!

Behind the crowd, a young girl had appeared at some point.

She was around fourteen or fifteen years old, with dazzling silver hair flowing down her back. Her slender figure was wrapped in a black dress, and a layer of black gauze covered her face, concealing her features.

Only a pair of icy blue eyes was exposed, yet they revealed no emotion at all, giving her a loneliness and indifference far beyond her age.

In the cold girl's hand rested a pink begonia flower, radiating holy light as it slowly bloomed.

"That's the inheritor of the Nine Heart Begonia... Ye Lingling!"

Everyone recognized that unusual flower-shaped Martial Soul at once. It was the renowned Nine Heart Begonia, famous across the continent for its wide-range group healing. This girl was the current inheritor of the Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul, Ye Lingling!

"Get up! No matter when it is, never give up the hope of survival!"

Ye Lingling's cold yet resolute voice came from beneath her black veil, making the students who had already given up tremble. They were all overcome with shame.

"Brothers, let's fight this beast to the death!"

Under the Nine Heart Begonia's group healing, the students' injuries healed instantly, and their Morale was greatly boosted. Their eyes reddened as they screamed madly and charged at the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff.

A trace of confusion appeared in the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff's cold eyes. It seemed unable to understand why these people it had just injured had suddenly become so lively again.

Having cultivated for a thousand years, it had developed some intelligence. When its puzzled gaze fell upon Ye Lingling behind the crowd, its eyes immediately flashed with icy light as it finally found the reason.

"Roar! Roar!"

The Purple Thorn Master Mastiff let out a wild howl and rampaged through the crowd like a war tank, sending everyone in its path flying. It charged all the way to Ye Lingling at the rear and fiercely swatted her away with one claw!

"Ah..."

Ye Lingling let out a pained cry. Her delicate body flew thirteen meters before crashing heavily beneath a massive maple tree.

"This is bad! Hurry and protect Ye Lingling!"

By the time everyone reacted, the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff had already charged before Ye Lingling once more. Its enormous iron claw aimed at her head and slammed down fiercely...

At that moment, everyone's attention was focused on Ye Lingling. Yet no one noticed that beneath that maple tree stood a black-haired youth who had remained there for an entire day!

The black-haired youth had his eyes shut, his body lowered. His left hand held the scabbard while his right gripped the hilt. He maintained a stance as though preparing to draw his blade, yet he had not drawn it all this time!

From the beginning, no one had noticed the youth's presence. He merely stood there silently, as if he had merged with nature itself. Even his breathing followed the rhythm of the breeze!

Am I going to die...?

The fear of death bore down upon her. As Ye Lingling watched the massive iron claw crash toward her, terror rose in her eyes, and her heart was filled with despair.

Just as the Purple Thorn Master Mastiff was about to kill Ye Lingling, the youth's "momentum," accumulated over an entire day, finally erupted with a thunderous burst!

A snow-white longsword suddenly broke free from its scabbard...

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