Soul Ring Revealed at Last, Tormenting Spirit Beasts for a Chance at Opportunity

However.

Under everyone's expectant gazes.

Yu Xiaoheng did not even glance at the trembling Qilin Colt and walked straight past it.

He stopped before the newly appeared two-thousand-year-plus Spirit Beast that several Elders were jointly suppressing.

He came to a halt.

A flicker of delight flashed through his eyes.

This trip to the Star Dou Great Forest had brought such an unexpected windfall.

Yu Xiaoheng's thoughts raced.

With his Sacred Dragon Body Perfection, the strength of his physical body had long surpassed the Spirit Master system's Year Limit for a First Soul Ring.

Absorbing a Soul Ring of around three thousand years carried little risk.

The Dawnlight Qilin Colt before him had undergone Dragon Transformation Ancestral Return and was at least two thousand five hundred years old. The power contained within its dragonized bloodline was even more violent, so absorbing it would naturally be far more difficult than absorbing an ordinary Spirit Beast.

But even that did not reach his limit.

Compared to the originally intended Fourteen Hundred Years Qilin Colt, this variant was the true Heaven-Bestowed Item!

As for that Fourteen Hundred Years one...

Yu Xiaoheng's peripheral vision swept over Yu Xiaogang, whose expression shifted unpredictably In the Crowd.

Perfect.

That Qilin Colt was useless to him now, but it was just right for Xiao Gang.

Though they had had some unpleasantness before, he was still his younger brother by blood.

He could not possibly let him absorb a Spirit Skill that only let him fart in the future, could he?

Just as he was about to act, the Dragon-transformed Qilin Colt pinned to the ground stared fixedly at him with its golden Vertical Pupils, which brimmed with eerily human hatred.

Yu Xiaoheng paused.

He understood at once.

Most Spirit Beasts lived alone, but the Dawnlight Qilin Colt before him existed in herds.

This variant, clearly already capable of living independently, had appeared without hesitation to come to the aid of its parents and Compatriots upon sensing that they were in danger.

Family...

His actions caused an uproar among everyone present.

"Young Master! You must not!"

"This is a Spirit Beast over two thousand years old! You have yet to add your First Soul Ring; you absolutely must not take such a risk!"

"That is right, Young Master, please reconsider! Should anything happen to you, even death ten thousand times over would not absolve us of our guilt!"

The Elders were terrified out of their wits, while the Disciples erupted in commotion.

They had just witnessed the Young Master's strength, but being strong was one thing and absorbing a Soul Ring was another! This completely violated the iron laws of the Spirit Master World! Even the gains from Body Refinement had their limits!

Yu Yuanzhen froze as well.

Though he had faith in his Eldest Son, that faith was not enough to support challenging the common understanding of the entire continent.

He stepped forward, his voice heavy and steady as a mountain.

"Xiaoheng, come back!"

"Follow the original plan and absorb the Fourteen Hundred Years Soul Ring."

However, Yu Xiaoheng merely shook his head.

"Father, my mind is made up."

"I am completely certain."

Yu Yuanzhen frowned deeply and was about to speak again when he caught sight of Yu Xiaogang's expression from the corner of his eye.

Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists tightly, his face twisting with jealousy and unwillingness before it finally turned into a soft murmur.

"Xiaoheng... has he already grown to this extent...?"

Though quiet, the words clearly reached Yu Yuanzhen's ears.

His heart stirred.

Xiao Gang was Xiaoheng's twin brother. No one understood Xiaoheng's temperament better than he did.

If even the ever-proud Xiao Gang believed he was not merely boasting, then perhaps... he truly was certain?

The resolve in Yu Yuanzhen's eyes slowly faded.

In the end, he slowly nodded.

That nod made the hearts of countless Sect Disciples leap into their throats.

Deep within the dense forest.

"Th-this Title Douluo has gone mad too? He actually agreed?"

Rou'er's eyes flickered as she felt that everything happening before her was like some farce.

Ah Yin's nature made her somewhat unable to bear it, and she even felt the urge to step forward and dissuade them.

"Absorbing a Soul Ring over two thousand five hundred years as his First Soul Ring... he will surely die!"

"Don't go." Rou'er grabbed her, her expression solemn. "That Title Douluo's aura has locked onto the Entire Venue. We can hide now only because we are using the aura of the countless Spirit Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest as cover. The moment we reveal ourselves, we die."

Ah Yin stopped and sighed softly.

Rou'er looked at the tall figure in the distance and suddenly said, "Ah Yin, do you think... this could be the chance at survival Heaven's Way has left for us Spirit Beasts?"

"Hm?"

"Among humans, there will always be people blessed with immense fortune, but they are often overly confident, just like this young man. Perhaps many geniuses fall during their growth because of their own arrogance. Otherwise, with their rate of growth, what future would our Spirit Beast race have?"

Ah Yin fell into thought as well, feeling that her words were not without reason.

Just as everyone believed Yu Xiaoheng was about to raise his dagger and create an unprecedented miracle—or meet his death.

He made a move that left everyone dumbfounded.

Yu Xiaoheng turned around and, without the slightest hesitation, dragged over the bound Fourteen Hundred Years Dawnlight Qilin Colt.

He dragged it before the dragonized variant.

Splat—!

The Jade Dagger rose and fell.

Blood sprayed everywhere!

He did not stab a vital spot. Instead, he cut a wound so deep that bone showed on the Young Qilin Colt's leg!

"Chirp—!"

A shrill cry of agony rang through the forest.

The suppressed Dragon-transformed Qilin Colt instantly went berserk. Its golden Vertical Pupils turned bloodshot red, and a beastlike roar erupted from its throat as it struggled frantically. Its immense strength even made the Elders suppressing it feel strained!

The hatred in its gaze was nearly tangible!

Everyone was Stunned.

"Young Master, what are you..." an Elder asked in a trembling voice.

Yu Xiaoheng did not turn back. As he used his dagger to carve fresh wounds into the young beast's body, he spoke.

"I once read of a Secret Technique in an ancient text."

"A Spirit Beast's extreme emotions before death can nourish its Soul Ring, greatly improving the quality of the Soul Ring and the power of its Spirit Skill, and may even produce a Spirit Bone."

"That emotion is either the unreserved love of Sacrifice, or... bone-deep hatred."

"In ordinary hunts, even if a Spirit Beast harbors resentment, it will not reach the level of 'hatred.' After all, the strong prey upon the weak; that is the cycle of Heaven's Way. But family-based Spirit Beasts are different."

As his words fell.

The Entire Venue sank into Deathly Stillness.

Yu Xiaoheng had thought that such near-demonic actions might provoke the disgust of his Clan Members.

Yet, the next moment.

An Elder was the first to react, and a fanatical understanding flashed in his eyes.

"So that was it! So that was it!"

He shouted, "What are you all standing around for?! Didn't you hear the Young Master's words? Move!"

In an instant, all the Disciples and Elders of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan moved!

Without the slightest hesitation, they pounced upon the two subdued thirty-thousand-year Dawnlight Qilin Colts and began tormenting them madly with every method at their disposal!

Miserable wails rose one after another!

"Roar—!!!"

The dragonized variant's eyes nearly split apart. Watching its parents and Compatriots being tortured to death before its eyes, its sanity was completely devoured by frenzied hatred. It desperately slammed against its restraints, Soul Power boiling around its body, yet it could not move at all!

Yu Xiaoheng quietly watched its eyes.

Nothing remained within them but resentment and hatred fierce enough to burn everything away.

It was done.

Now!

A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes. Without hesitation, at the instant the Dragon-transformed Qilin Colt's hatred reached its peak, he viciously drove the Jade Dagger in his hand into its heart!

Pfft!

All roaring and struggling came to an abrupt halt.

A deep purple halo, speckled with dazzling golden light, slowly rose from the Dragon-transformed Qilin Colt's corpse!