Designing the Absorption of a Soul Ring

Liu Tianfeng moved like lightning. With a tap of his toe against a swaying branch, he leaped into the air—his first sword swept out, pale-blue sword energy crashing into the roc's beating wing like an ice wall. With a clang, it sent the creature staggering back several feet;

His second sword followed immediately, though he held back seventy percent of its force and struck only the joint of the roc's left wing with precision.

"Shriek—!"

The Ice Flame Roc let out a miserable cry. Feathers scattered from its left wing, where a bone-deep wound had appeared. Bright red blood dripped from the injury, freezing into tiny beads of ice the moment it hit the ground.

The Ice Flame Roc staggered toward the ground. Though badly injured, its vital areas had not been harmed.

Liu Tianfeng had been fully capable of killing it with a single sword strike. He had held back partly because the Ice Flame Roc was far too rare to kill without cause, and partly because Xue Tianxing had been the one to provoke it first, putting them somewhat in the wrong.

Liu Tianfeng then landed beside Xue Tianxing, his Frosty Cold Wind Sword pointing diagonally at the ground. His gaze swept over the roc, which was struggling to regain its footing, and he spoke in a low voice:

"I know you possess intelligence and can understand human speech. Leave now, and I will spare your life."

The Ice Flame Roc had still been crying out in pain, but it suddenly fell silent at his words.

It cocked its head, its amber eyes fixed on Liu Tianfeng for a long while, as though judging whether he was telling the truth.

After a moment, seeing that Liu Tianfeng had indeed withdrawn his sword intent and that the pressure of his Soul Power had eased somewhat, it slowly flapped its uninjured right wing. Though the wing still trembled slightly, it had clearly assumed a posture to take flight.

Seeing the Ice Flame Roc spread its wings to leave, how could Xue Tianxing possibly accept that?

He had deliberately provoked it into attacking earlier, then arranged for Grandpa Liu to injure it. Everything had been for this very moment.

If he let it escape now, not only would the Soul Ring be lost, but all his efforts would have been in vain.

Don't even think about leaving!

Almost the instant the roc's wings lifted from the ground, icy-blue light burst from Xue Tianxing's body—his Ice Phoenix Spirit possessed him!

Translucent icy-blue wings unfurled behind him, their tips crystallized with fine shards of ice. One yellow and one purple Soul Ring slowly rose beneath his feet, the purple ring's glow especially striking, making the stubbornness in his eyes all the clearer.

"Tianxing, you—"

Liu Tianfeng had only just sensed something was wrong and was about to stop him when Xue Tianxing moved.

"First Spirit Ability—Extreme Cold Ray!"

An icy-blue ray shot from his fingertips, carrying bone-piercing cold and moving as swiftly as lightning.

The Ice Flame Roc was already severely wounded, its left wing nearly impossible to lift. It was struggling to fly away; how could it have expected Xue Tianxing to launch a sudden attack?

It only had time to let out a short shriek before the ray struck its neck with unerring precision—that was a Soul Beast's vital point, already fragile, and once frozen by the ultimate ice-attributed Soul Power, its life force was instantly extinguished.

With a thud, the Ice Flame Roc's massive body crashed heavily onto the frozen ground. Blue-gold feathers scattered everywhere, while the light gradually faded from its amber eyes.

Standing atop the tree canopy, Liu Tianfeng stared at the corpse below, his brows knotted tightly.

He felt it was a pity for such a rare Soul Beast to die like this, but seeing Xue Tianxing's determined expression, he swallowed the words that had reached his lips. So be it. It was already dead.

Before he could recover from the shock, however, Xue Tianxing shouted:

"Second Spirit Ability—Mysterious Crane Soaring Nine Heavens!"

As the spirit ability activated, a pale cyan glow spread around Xue Tianxing. His speed abruptly surged, and his figure turned into an afterimage as he shot down from the treetop with a whoosh, heading straight for the Ice Flame Roc's corpse.

He was a full three hundred percent faster than usual—so fast that even Liu Tianfeng failed to react in time.

"Tianxing! Come back!"

Liu Tianfeng's heart tightened. He instantly guessed what Xue Tianxing intended to do and pushed off to chase after him, but Xue Tianxing had already landed beside the corpse.

"Tianxing, don't absorb it! Stop now!"

Liu Tianfeng shouted anxiously from the treetop, his voice trembling.

"That is a Soul Ring of more than nine thousand years! You can't endure it! It's too dangerous!"

Xue Tianxing answered only by raising his hand to draw in the Soul Ring. As he activated his Soul Power, a purple-black Soul Ring slowly rose from the Ice Flame Roc's corpse. Its color was deeper than that of an ordinary thousand-year Soul Ring, and faint black light flickered along its edges—it was indeed a Soul Ring more than nine thousand years old.

The Soul Ring circled twice in the air before being guided by Xue Tianxing and slowly drifting toward him.

"You reckless child..."

Liu Tianfeng stamped his feet in agitation, yet he did not dare rush down recklessly. Interrupting Soul Ring absorption was taboo; the slightest mistake could trigger a Soul Power backlash, making matters even worse.

Thus, Liu Tianfeng could only stare fixedly at Xue Tianxing, his fists clenched until they turned white and his knuckles bluish.

Flender landed beside him as well, his expression grave.

"Senior, what do we do now? Should we—"

"Don't make a sound!"

Liu Tianfeng interrupted him in a low voice, his eyes locked unblinkingly onto Xue Tianxing. There was a faint tremor in his voice as he said:

"We can only wait... Pray that this kid is tough enough to endure it. If anything goes wrong, then even if we have to forcibly sever his absorption of the Soul Ring, we must ensure Tianxing survives."

Beneath the tree, Xue Tianxing had already sat down cross-legged, allowing the purple-black Soul Ring to settle over his body.

The instant the Soul Ring touched him, he could not help letting out a muffled groan. Soul Power several times more violent than that of an eight-thousand-year Soul Ring flooded into his body, like countless ice needles stabbing wildly through his meridians. The lingering bloodline pressure of the Ice Flame Roc followed as well, leaving his chest tight and heavy.

Yet Xue Tianxing gritted his teeth and did not relent. While circulating his Soul Power to guide it, he also activated his Ice Phoenix Spirit. Icy-blue wings wrapped tightly around his body, and ultimate ice-attributed Soul Power shielded his meridians like a barrier, gradually neutralizing the violent aura within the Soul Ring.

Liu Tianfeng's heart rose to his throat as he watched. He could clearly see the cold sweat seeping from Xue Tianxing's forehead, see his body trembling faintly under the impact of the Soul Power, yet the boy did not make another sound. Even the hand seals he formed remained perfectly steady.

Hold on... Tianxing...

Liu Tianfeng repeated the words over and over in his heart, his eyes filled with worry. Even the hand gripping his sword began to sweat unconsciously.

He had lived for most of his life, yet he had never been this nervous before—this boy absolutely could not come to harm!

Xue Tianxing sat cross-legged beside the Ice Flame Roc's corpse, the purple-black Soul Ring wrapped tightly around his body as Soul Power poured into his meridians like a surging river of ice.

At first, Xue Tianxing could still rely on the suppression of his Ice Phoenix Spirit to barely guide the ice-attributed energy within the Soul Ring. Icy-blue Soul Power flowed through his meridians like a thin layer of ice wrapped around the violent energy, gradually grinding down those sharp "ice spikes."

But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a warm yet blazing force suddenly erupted from deep within the Soul Ring. It was the light attribute mixed within the Ice Flame Roc's bloodline. Previously suppressed by the chill of the ice attribute, it now broke free of its restraints and spread through his body like wildfire.