After realizing that one of his long-ingrained habits had accidentally screwed over Shrek's twelve direct-line elites, Elder Xuan no longer cared about drinking or eating chicken legs. He picked a direction at random and swiftly flew off.
As for why he did not hurry back to Shrek and summon all of Shrek's Titled Douluo to search together as quickly as possible—don't ask. Elder Xuan had his own plans.
"Ruoruo, how do you feel?"
When Zhang Lexuan opened her eyes again after absorbing the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, Han Ruoruo's eyes were filled with worry. Even with the boost from the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, it was still far too risky for Zhang Lexuan's body—which had originally struggled even to absorb a Ninety-Thousand-Year Soul Ring—to absorb a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
The outcome was far from good. Although the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring had successfully fused with her, its power had inflicted internal injuries on her. But injured or not, the remaining four could only rely on this Spirit Douluo to hold the line. Thus, Zhang Lexuan forcibly suppressed her injuries and gave everyone a reassuring smile.
"Very well. Just like when Elder Mu fused with his eighth soul ring, I leaped straight to Rank 83. This Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring and soul bone really are powerful enough."
"It's good that you're alright." The three of them slowly let out breaths of relief, and their confidence in leaving the Star Dou Great Forest alive increased somewhat.
A Rank 83 Spirit Douluo with four hundred-thousand-year soul skills could even fight an ordinary Titled Douluo. It was just that their current condition was far too poor. Otherwise, Zhang Lexuan alone would have been enough to help the other three hunt Soul Rings.
"Junior Disciple Sister—no, Eldest Senior Sister—we should leave the Star Dou Great Forest first. In our current state, we're no longer suited to hunting Soul Rings." The disfigured Shrek student glanced at the Shrek student with a broken leg as he spoke.
By this point, none of them had any desire to remain in the Star Dou Great Forest. All they wanted was to return and recuperate.
"That works too." Zhang Lexuan nodded in agreement. Her own condition was actually quite poor as well; the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring had harmed her too greatly.
Normally, an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring and soul bone, even at only Rank 83, would not generally be weaker than a Titled Douluo with those four hundred-thousand-year soul skills alone.
Yet Zhang Lexuan now was not even comparable to the Rank 86 Zhang Lexuan of later days. Even with Cai Meier, a Titled Douluo, by her side and with the enemy in the open while they were hidden, she had still worried about three Evil Soul Masters at the Eight-Ring Soul Douluo level. This showed just how serious Zhang Lexuan's injuries were.
Thus, with everyone already at their limits and unwilling to continue, they quickly gathered the corpses of the other Shrek students and headed for Shrek Academy.
Normally, everything should have ended here. Of Shrek's twelve people, eight dead and four alive was the original plot—but the problem was that this was not the original story.
A butterfly flapping its wings could trigger a storm, let alone someone who had recently entered a Golden Hawksbill Turtle's territory to capture one, then driven a powerful soul beast from its territory to make absorbing a Soul Ring easier.
With those two events combined, leaving the Star Dou Great Forest safely was no longer an easy matter for them.
Before they had gone very far, a Nether Poison Wolf over sixty thousand years old blocked their path.
This kind of soul beast had originally been perfectly suited as a seventh Soul Ring for Shrek students like them, yet no one felt even the slightest joy. Instead, they were filled with worry.
Wolf-type soul beasts usually lived in packs, but Nether Poison Wolves were an exception. They were an exception because each individual was already powerful enough.
Although this sixty-thousand-year Nether Poison Wolf could not compare to the previous hundred-thousand-year banyan tree, it was more than enough to deal with an ordinary Spirit Douluo.
The moment she saw the sixty-thousand-year Nether Poison Wolf, Zhang Lexuan's heart sank. But immediately afterward, eight Soul Rings—two yellow, two purple, three black, and one red—appeared, and she pushed the aura of her eighth soul ring with all her strength.
"Get lost! We don't need a Soul Ring yet!" Zhang Lexuan shouted sternly, as though she could kill the Nether Poison Wolf at any moment.
Seeing the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, the intelligent sixty-thousand-year Nether Poison Wolf considered retreating. Yet after glancing at the condition of those around Zhang Lexuan, as well as Zhang Lexuan's poor complexion, seven Clones appeared beside it moments later. Clearly, Zhang Lexuan's Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring had not frightened it away.
Seeing the Nether Poison Wolf split into seven Clones, Zhang Lexuan knew that this was the only way she could fight now.
Without any hesitation, Zhang Lexuan's seventh Soul Ring lit up. Seventh Soul Skill, Silver Moon True Body!
In an instant, Zhang Lexuan seemed like a goddess of the moon, radiating a gentle yet powerful glow.
Then, she alone faced the Nether Poison Wolf's true body and four of its Clones.
It was not that she did not want to deal with the Nether Poison Wolf by herself, but her current condition could no longer support her doing so.
Her body simply could not support her using her Eighth Soul Skill. Even this Martial Soul Avatar had been forcibly squeezed out of her body.
This has to end quickly, Zhang Lexuan thought. Whether it was her or Shrek's remaining four students, they had all reached their limits earlier. A brief rest was nowhere near enough to make up for their physical depletion.
Without a powerful healing-type soul master to regulate their bodies, merely enduring the strain of fighting the hundred-thousand-year banyan tree had already been more than enough for them. If they kept fighting, they might never make any further progress in this lifetime.
Thus, in order to end the battle quickly, Zhang Lexuan's fourth, fifth, and sixth Soul Rings lit up in succession, determined to kill the Nether Poison Wolf's true body in one stroke.
Facing Zhang Lexuan's soul skills, the Nether Poison Wolf dodged at astonishing speed. Whenever it could not dodge, it used its Void soul skill to endure Zhang Lexuan's attacks head-on.
If this had been Zhang Lexuan before fighting the hundred-thousand-year banyan tree, even if she had only possessed Rank 80 Soul Power and lacked an eighth soul ring, she would have had an eighty percent chance of swiftly killing it through precise control of her soul skills. But Zhang Lexuan was now utterly spent.
Though the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring was excellent, it had not replenished the depletion caused by her forced burst of power. Instead, it had become a burden on Zhang Lexuan to some extent.
But Zhang Lexuan was still Zhang Lexuan. Even if she could not defeat the Nether Poison Wolf for the moment, she still held the advantage. The others, however, were not so fortunate.
First, the owl soul master with the broken leg, still unaccustomed to his injury, had his neck bitten through by a Nether Poison Wolf Clone. Then the three-versus-three became a three-versus-two—or rather, a one-versus-one and a one-versus-two.
The senior brother forced into the one-versus-two was quickly killed in the siege of the two Nether Poison Wolves. Left with no choice, Zhang Lexuan could only protect Han Ruoruo behind her and have her provide support as much as possible.
Yet Zhang Lexuan had been unable to kill the Nether Poison Wolf's true body and four Clones in a short time. With three more Clones added, the pressure on her increased sharply.
Before long, the injuries from fighting the Nether Poison Wolf, the Nether Poison Wolf's poison, the depletion caused by forcibly pushing her body, and the damage inflicted by the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring—all of those problems grew increasingly severe as time passed.
Finally, after repelling another attack from the Nether Poison Wolf, Zhang Lexuan's Soul Power and physical condition had both reached their limits.
As she watched the Nether Poison Wolf charge at her once more, Zhang Lexuan could only helplessly watch its fangs draw closer and closer to her body.
Am I... going to die?
In an instant, everything that had happened in the past seemed to flash through Zhang Lexuan's mind. The next moment, she closed her eyes as if accepting her fate. Han Ruoruo did the same. Her condition was not much better than Zhang Lexuan's, and at this point, all they could do was wait for death.
Yet the pain she imagined, of wolf fangs piercing her body, never came. When the two opened their eyes again, they saw that a figure had appeared before them at some unknown point, blocking the Nether Poison Wolf that had been about to devour them.
"Are you two alright?"
Before you continue