"Old woman, if I remembered correctly, he hadn't even come of age yet, right? And he already had five rings—no, he was about to reach six! Am I dreaming?"
Dragon Duke could hardly believe his eyes. He suspected he had entered some soul beast's illusion. If this wasn't an illusion, how else could this kid's strength be explained?
Snake Matriarch hadn't dared believe it at first either, but the pain wracking her body was all too real. How could it possibly be fake?
In the end, she could only reach one conclusion. "Old man, this kid probably deceived us. He didn't just hide his cultivation—he hid his age too!"
"Hidden cultivation?" Dragon Duke frowned at her words. "That is possible. There have been students like that before." Some students used special methods to conceal their cultivation in order to avoid recruitment by major powers, such as his Exotic Beast Family. If Chen Chu had done the same, it would make some sense.
"Hiding his cultivation is possible, but becoming a Soul Emperor at such a young age still makes him a peerless genius! There's a great chance he'll surpass us in the future."
Looking at Chen Chu's youthful face, his terrifying soul ring configuration, and his cultivation, Dragon Duke finally came to his senses. His eyes gleamed!
"Once I examine this kid's bones later, his true age will naturally be impossible to fake!"
Checking his bones to confirm his age was merely to satisfy Dragon Duke's curiosity. No matter how old he was, such talent was enough for Dragon Duke to spare no effort in recruiting him!
If he was especially young, Dragon Duke might even marry Yiran to him!
At that thought, Dragon Duke's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He seemed to have forgotten something important!
"Right, Yiran!" Dragon Duke exchanged a glance with his wife and hurried into the cave. Only after seeing his little granddaughter still steadily absorbing her soul ring did he finally relax.
Meanwhile, Chen Chu sat cross-legged beside the corpse of the fifty-thousand-year Dragon Mantis, his eyes shut tight as he guided that pitch-black fifty-thousand-year soul ring.
"As expected of a Dragon Mantis with such a top-tier bloodline. This spiritual shock is truly terrifying!"
Chen Chu's brow was tightly furrowed. Within his spiritual sea, Sagros was battling the Dragon Mantis's remnant soul attached to the soul ring!
Sagros's twin scythes carved cold flashes through the spiritual sea. The Dragon Mantis's remnant soul roared and pounced forward. The instant the two collided, Chen Chu felt as if his head had been struck by a heavy hammer, and he couldn't help letting out a muffled groan.
Dragon Duke had just relaxed at the cave entrance when he heard the sound and immediately turned back. "What's happening? Is the soul ring's age too high? Can this kid not absorb it? Is he about to explode?"
Snake Matriarch also leaned closer, staring at Chen Chu's tense face. "It doesn't look like that. It's too early to draw conclusions. Let's wait and see."
As the two muttered to each other, the battle in the spiritual sea continued to escalate. Sagros excelled at close combat, but the Dragon Mantis's remnant soul stubbornly clung on through sheer ferocity, refusing to die.
Chen Chu anxiously gritted his teeth. He wanted to help, but he had no way to interfere. He could only watch as the opponent's forelimbs cut wounds across Sagros's body.
Come on, pull your weight! You're a transmigrator too, just like me! Don't you have some kind of cheat ability? Use it already!!
As Chen Chu shouted inwardly, Sagros seemed to hear his thoughts. It suddenly feinted, then struck first, its insect scythes aimed directly at the Dragon Mantis remnant soul's core. But the remnant soul of a fifty-thousand-year top-tier soul beast was no weakling. It abruptly curled its body and transformed into a streak of black light that slammed into Sagros.
That collision tormented Chen Chu badly. His body swayed, and he nearly toppled over. A trace of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. Dragon Duke hurried forward to support him, but Snake Matriarch grabbed him. "Don't touch him! Touching him now could make his soul power go out of control!"
Dragon Duke could only pull back his hand and pace anxiously in place. "Nothing can happen to this kid! It wasn't easy to nurture someone with the potential to become a Titled Douluo. He can't fall while absorbing a soul ring! If I go down there and meet those old fellows, they'll laugh me to death!"
Snake Matriarch rolled her eyes at him helplessly. "Focus on whether he can survive first. Besides, this kid seems extremely calculating. That matter you have in mind probably won't be so simple."
As soon as she finished speaking, Chen Chu's entire body suddenly trembled. The soul power around him began surging wildly, and the pitch-black soul ring started spinning faster and faster.
Within the spiritual sea, Sagros finally found an opening. Its insect scythes firmly pinned the Dragon Mantis remnant soul's core. The remnant soul struggled a few times before finally falling silent, transforming into specks of black light that merged into the soul ring.
Sagros was exhausted as well. It lay atop the soul ring, panting as it devoured the remnant soul bite by bite, its entire body giving off a strange glow!
Chen Chu only felt a warm current continuously flow into his body along with his soul power. More than half of his previous exhaustion vanished in an instant.
A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the soul ring that had now become docile, the corners of his mouth couldn't help rising.
Sixth Spirit Ability: Nether Sky Slash Soaring Sword Summons a gigantic energy sword to unleash three powerful consecutive slashes. The first slash has target-locking and is guaranteed to hit. It restores health or Soul Power equal to 50% of the slash's damage and can also remove the opponent's beneficial effects.
"Awesome! As expected of the soul beast overlord, the Dragon Mantis with top-tier Dragon Clan bloodline! The spirit ability it gave me is utterly heaven-defying!"
Chen Chu looked at the spirit ability's description, ecstatic. With this skill, he could immediately interrupt all kinds of enemy buffs, and the first strike was guaranteed to hit. Any support-type opponent would become a sitting target before him unless the enemy reacted quickly enough to block it with their body. Of course, with Sagros's current attack power, probably no martial soul could withstand its twin scythes!
Most importantly, this skill could also restore health or Soul Power. That was the truly heaven-defying part! Its effect was even better than that of an ordinary healing-type martial soul, allowing him to fight for extended periods!
"Right, did Sagros evolve?" Only after understanding the spirit ability did Chen Chu remember why he had traveled all the way to Beast Canyon and hunted the Dragon Mantis: to let Sagros break through its shackles and evolve once more!
Sagros had evolved before, and it was somewhat different from its previous-life form. According to his memories, Sagros's next evolution should have been into the King-type.
Yet in Chen Chu's memories of his previous life, Sagros had possessed two super-evolved forms before becoming King-type: Shadow War Sagros and Phantom Heaven Sagros.
These were Sagros's two branching super-evolved forms. Shadow War Sagros was a defensive Spirit, while Phantom Heaven Sagros was a crazed damage-dealing Spirit.
After Sagros became a martial soul, these two forms had not fully manifested. Instead, their traits had been incorporated into its spirit abilities. Its Fifth Spirit Ability was essentially a simplified version of the powers of those two forms.
And his guess had indeed been right. In the spiritual sea, Sagros, having devoured the essence of the Dragon Mantis remnant soul, had transformed into a ball of light like an egg. It had now hatched.
A King-type Spirit formed through the fusion evolution of Shadow War Sagros and Phantom Heaven Sagros!
King Sagros!
It had now completely shed its original combat attributes and become an entirely new King-type Spirit.
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