The night passed quickly.
The three of them traveled light and hadn't made any special preparations. After all, with a Titled Douluo leading the hunt for a thousand-year Soul Beast, they hadn't expected anything to go wrong.
Chen Jieqi and Dugu Yan were simply treating it as an outing. It didn't even count as training.
Considering the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well was fairly close to the wasteland mounds where the Thorn Earth Dragons lived,
Dugu Bo decided to get a Soul Ring for Dugu Yan first. She had already been delayed for half a year.
Once he'd made up his mind, the three of them set off toward the wasteland mounds.
The midday wind carried dry dust across the rolling wasteland mounds.
The yellow earth beneath their feet was dry and cracked. Scattered clumps of withered grass trembled in the wind, and the air was thick with a heavy, oppressive, earthy smell.
"Whoosh—!"
Dugu Bo appeared atop a mound with the other two in an instant. A gust of wind kicked up dust, revealing the enormous beast below in full.
Before them was a creature about five or six meters long and nearly two meters tall at the shoulder. Its limbs were short and thick, packed with muscle, and its body was covered in thick, grayish-yellow scales marked with rusty patches.
Its head resembled a blunt, rounded dragon's, with a single short, thick bony protrusion on its forehead. Its eyes were a murky earth-yellow, and its snout was short.
Its thick tail made up almost half its body length, and its back was lined with bone spikes half a foot long. Its feet were clawed dragon paws.
A Thorn Earth Dragon was coiled in the middle of the mound. The bone spikes along its back trembled faintly with each breath; just looking at them was enough to make one's scalp prickle.
"That's the one. It's just shy of three thousand years old, and its earth attribute is pure."
Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes, the corner of his mouth curling into a haughty smile.
"Yanyan, watch closely. Grandpa will catch it for you."
Before he had even finished speaking, Dugu Bo vanished from the top of the mound, leaving only his voice echoing in the wind.
Chen Jieqi and Dugu Yan leaned out to look down. The fierce battle they'd expected never came.
The Thorn Earth Dragon at the foot of the mound was just about to roar when an invisible pressure of Soul Power crashed down on it like Mount Tai. Its enormous body froze instantly, and terror filled its murky, earth-yellow eyes.
Dugu Bo landed lightly in front of the dragon and gently patted it with his right hand.
"Go to sleep!"
"Thud—"
The enormous creature, five or six meters long, seemed to lose all its strength. Like a well-behaved little one, it was forced into a "sleep."
The next moment, Dugu Bo grabbed the dragon by the skull with one hand and lifted the nearly three-thousand-year-old beast overhead with ease. With a flash, he was back atop the mound.
Chen Jieqi and Dugu Yan stared wide-eyed at the dragon, several times larger than the two of them combined, held effortlessly over Dugu Bo's head. Neither could speak for a long moment.
"Is... is this the power of a Titled Douluo?"
Dugu Yan murmured, her dark-orange hair trembling faintly with shock.
Dugu Bo tossed the dragon onto the ground, dusted off his hands, and smiled.
"It's just a little bug.
"Yanyan, go ahead. Grandpa will keep watch."
Dugu Bo's voice brought Dugu Yan back from her shock.
"Okay, Grandpa!"
Dugu Yan took a deep breath and hurried over to the Thorn Earth Dragon. She drew a sharp dagger from her Soul Tool,
and drove it precisely into the dragon's vital spot. The enormous beast didn't even struggle, enjoying a rare, "peaceful" death.
A strong smell of blood, mixed with a faint dragon's might, instantly spread through the air. Above the dragon's corpse, a pale purple Soul Ring slowly took shape.
Its light shifted and flowed, imbued with heavy earth energy and the imposing might of a dragon. It shone brilliantly.
Dugu Yan sat cross-legged, and the dark-orange scales between her brows suddenly lit up. A heavy halo of earth-element energy erupted.
Single-Horned Golden Flood Dragon Martial Soul Possession!
Dark golden scales spread along her meridians and over her skin. A sharp golden horn emerged from her forehead, and both hands became scaled dragon claws, their fingertips gleaming coldly.
She raised a hand and gently drew the pale purple thousand-year Soul Ring up from the Thorn Earth Dragon's corpse. Heavy as a mountain range and carrying the might of a dragon, it hovered above her head.
The next moment, earth-element Soul Power crashed down like a collapsing mountain, slamming into her meridians.
"Ugh..."
Dugu Yan grunted, cold sweat beading on her brow.
The Thorn Earth Dragon's power was savage and forceful, carrying the weight of rock and the unruly nature of dragon blood. Like a wild horse that had broken free, it surged through her meridians, tearing at them as it tried to burst her body apart.
An ordinary Soul Master would have had their Soul Power scattered and meridians shattered by now. But within Dugu Yan, the power of the Earth Dragon Golden Melon quietly answered like warm, nurturing earth, gently enveloping and assimilating the rampaging earth-dragon power.
"Steady yourself. Guide the Soul Power with all your strength."
Dugu Bo's voice soothed her with Soul Power.
Dugu Yan closed her eyes. The dark golden scales covering her body rose and fell faintly with her breathing. Her aura was as steady as a mountain rooted deep in the earth.
She no longer resisted the raging earth-element power. Instead, she took the initiative to guide the power of the Earth Dragon Golden Melon within her, using it as her foundation.
Following the Single-Horned Golden Flood Dragon's skeletal channels, she drew in, bit by bit, the thousand-year Soul Ring's power, which belonged to the Thorn Earth Dragon.
Slowly, the pale purple Soul Ring's energy intertwined with the power of the Earth Dragon Golden Melon. In the end, the bloodline of the Single-Horned Golden Flood Dragon fully accepted and refined it.
The powers of earth and dragon flowed through her, perfectly resonating with the fundamental forces of earth, strength, and defense.
In that moment, her Soul Power didn't just leap in quantity—it was elevated in quality as well.
Time slipped quietly by in this tranquil fusion. Across the wasteland, the only sound was the wind passing through the clumps of withered grass.
Dugu Bo stood nearby with his hands behind his back, watching Dugu Yan go from her faint trembling at first to her steady breathing later.
At last, his furrowed brow relaxed, and the worry he'd been holding in his heart finally eased.
"She did it."
Dugu Bo murmured to himself, a hint of pleased laughter in his eyes.
No one knew how much time had passed. Even the wind across the wasteland seemed to grow gentler.
The Thorn Earth Dragon's power, which had been rampaging through Dugu Yan's meridians, gradually shed its unruly, savage force.
It became the steady, weighty power of the earth, as solid as a mountain range, and flowed slowly through her meridians.
"Hum—!"
A faint tremor rang out as the pale purple thousand-year Soul Ring finally settled into place. It came to rest at her waist, revolving alongside the two yellow rings.
Dugu Yan slowly opened her eyes. A glint flashed in her earth-yellow gaze, and her aura changed abruptly.
The dark golden scales that had covered her body now bore a layer of dark-yellow, rocklike spikes. Each scale was as tough as iron, darker in color, and faintly imbued with the weight of a mountain range.
She stood up. Her presence had shifted entirely from a lively young girl's to the steady, weighty, unbreakable majesty of a dragon.
"Grandpa, Xiao Qi, I did it! I absorbed the Soul Ring!"
Her voice was full of barely contained excitement.
"I'm a bona fide Soul Elder now!"
"Hahaha, good!
"As expected of my granddaughter!"
Dugu Bo burst out laughing and stepped forward to pat her gently on the shoulder, his eyes filled with pride and relief.
Chen Jieqi hurried over too, a smile in his eyes.
"Yanyan, congratulations!
"You're so much stronger than before!"
"Come on, let's test your Soul Power level."
After taking a moment to catch her breath, Dugu Yan accepted the Spirit Power Crystal Dugu Bo handed her and lightly pressed her palm against it.
"Level 34!"
Dugu Bo burst into laughter again.
"Congratulations, Yanyan.
"All the hard work you put in over these past six months has become real strength."
Holding the crystal, Dugu Yan felt the powerful Soul Power surging through her. She looked down at herself and realized she could barely see her toes anymore.
After obtaining her third Soul Ring, she seemed to have grown a little taller. Her once-slender waist now looked more graceful and upright.
She looked more vigorous than ever, carrying an air of steadiness and weight.
Sunlight spilled across the wasteland. The pale purple thousand-year Soul Ring revolved quietly at her waist, and the dark-yellow, rocklike spikes gleamed coldly beneath the sun.
With her grandfather and younger brother there to witness it, a brand-new earth-type dragon Soul Elder had been born.