Douluo: Poisonous Tongue, Loves Telling the Truth

[Soul Bone Skill: Teleportation]

Within the line of sight of the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow, the figure of Xia Ran flickered for an instant, appearing as if he had retreated a few steps.

But none of that mattered; in the face of absolute speed, it was confident that this strike would hit its mark!

Just as it expected, a black streak of light flashed past, piercing directly through Xia Ran's left chest, right where the heart was located.

At the same time, a figure suddenly appeared behind that thousand-year Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow.

[Slash]

The Black Blade was unleashed. Taking advantage of the fact that the opponent had not yet reacted, Xia Ran immediately brought it down upon the small body.

Seemingly out of instinct, at the critical moment, the small Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow exerted all its strength to tilt its body, dodging the fatal blow!

However, this blade still severed its left wing, and the dark attribute erupted, invading the opponent's body and plunging it into a state of total unconsciousness.

The shrill, miserable screech came to an abrupt halt, and the ten-thousand-year Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow finally realized that the one it had attacked was a decoy!

Turning its head to look at the sky, it found that the man was holding a blade in one hand and clutching the heavily injured, unconscious small sparrow in the other, staring right back at it.

In an instant, fury flooded its mind. The ten-thousand-year Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow erupted with a terrifying aura, and a massive rain of arrows shot violently toward the figure.

Seeing this, Xia Ran was struck with horror. Suspended in mid-air, he could not perform any evasive maneuvers and could only watch helplessly as countless arrows descended upon him.

If he used Void to dodge, the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow in his hand would inevitably fall and be rescued by the opponent, rendering all his long-term planning completely wasted.

His brain raced to find a countermeasure. At the most critical moment, he held the small sparrow horizontally in front of him.

Seeing this, the ten-thousand-year Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow was terrified and hurriedly dissipated its attack!

All the rain of arrows vanished within less than five meters of Xia Ran.

Landing on the ground, Xia Ran let out a sigh of relief. If those arrows had truly hit him, he would likely have been dead or at least severely wounded.

The Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow was simply too strong, and its abilities were extremely bizarre; under normal circumstances, even a Soul Saint might not have absolute certainty of taking it down.

If Xia Ran had to face it alone, surviving would not be a problem, but if he wanted to kill it, he truly lacked absolute certainty.

But now the situation had reversed. He guessed that these two soul beasts must have a close relationship; otherwise, this ten-thousand-year Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow would not have rushed to the front every single time.

"Sacrifice yourself to me voluntarily! I will let it go!"

Chapter 55: Sacrifice of the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow

Xia Ran clutched the unconscious small sparrow in one hand and held his blade to its neck with the other.

Seeing this scene, the ten-thousand-year Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow revealed a human-like expression of ferocity, staring fixedly at Xia Ran.

Once a soul beast advances to the ten-thousand-year level, it can generally understand the meaning expressed by humans. As long as what Xia Ran said was not complex, he believed the opponent should be able to understand.

As a top-tier soul beast, the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow possessed considerable intelligence; otherwise, it would not have been hunting humans with a companion.

Therefore, even if the opponent only had twenty thousand years of cultivation, it should surely have the qualifications to sacrifice itself. At the very worst, a life for a life was also an option!

"Jiji!"

"Jiji-jiji~"

Sure enough, the opponent actually made sounds, but Xia Ran was left speechless—he couldn't understand a single thing!

"I swear by my Martial Soul, as long as you sacrifice yourself to me, I will let it go."

"If not, may my Martial Soul shatter and lead to my death!"

Xia Ran could only try to communicate with the opponent; if that truly failed, he would think of other ways.

In any case, he was determined to have the soul ring of this Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow today!

Although the age was slightly high, the Whale Rubber he had consumed over the years had not been for nothing. Furthermore, the soul ring attribute was compatible with his Martial Soul, which would significantly reduce the difficulty of absorption.

Of course, if the opponent sacrificed itself voluntarily, he wouldn't even need to consider using "Soul Shock."

"Jiji!"

The opponent kept chirping, but Xia Ran couldn't understand it at all!

The scene became extremely tense until, after a long while, the opponent finally made its choice.

The Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow flew in front of Xia Ran, looking as if it had resigned itself to fate. A human-like expression of sorrow appeared on its face, and the soul power around its body began to peel away as its life force rapidly faded.

Xia Ran guessed that this was the beginning of the soul beast sacrifice ritual.

As time slowly passed, the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow completely ceased all movement, and a black soul ring condensed into shape, merging into Xia Ran's body.

Immediately afterward, Xia Ran, in his Martial Soul Avatar state, felt a massive surge of energy instantly flood his entire meridian system, moving several times faster than his usual cultivation speed!

Yet, despite such high speed, his body felt no discomfort; instead, his own Soul Power Level was climbing rapidly.

Level 51, 52, 53... 60!

His soul power improvement entered a bottleneck once again. Xia Ran had guessed correctly: the awakening of his second Martial Soul and the fusion of the two great soul bones brought him a soul power increase far exceeding ten levels.

"As long as I absorb one more soul ring, I will be able to advance directly to a Soul Emperor."

Yellow, purple, purple, purple, black—five soul rings appeared, slowly pulsing behind Xia Ran.

[Fifth Soul Skill: Shadow Arrow]

[Use spirit power to condense an arrow of the dark attribute. Upon hitting an enemy, it deals damage and inflicts the Soul Breaking effect.]

[Soul Breaking: Reduces the enemy's maximum total spirit power by 20%.]

A strange light flashed across the black spirit ring, and a black arrow appeared out of thin air, hovering beside Xia Ran.

"Finally, an offensive skill!"

Five spirit rings, yet only one offensive skill; aside from support spirit masters, Xia Ran was likely the only one to do this.

For many years, he had relied on his proficient application of spirit skills to face enemies, and what landed on them were basically just normal attacks. It was slightly better after he obtained the Black Blade, but before that, he had lost many times in the Soul Fighting arena.

He was extremely satisfied with this fifth spirit skill; not only was it an offensive skill, but it was also a ranged one.

With his current total spirit power, firing thirty or forty arrows at once was no problem. With such a scale, no matter how agile the opponent's footwork was, they could not dodge them all.

Just as he was rejoicing in his heart, a strange energy suddenly surged continuously behind his back.

"This is? An External Spirit Bone!"

Having the experience of Zhu Zhuqing absorbing the Eight Spider Lances previously, Xia Ran was certain that this feeling was undoubtedly an External Spirit Bone!

"Let it go!"

"I can help you condense the spirit bone!"

A strange female voice rang out within his spiritual sea, and Xia Ran could not help but be stunned!

"Are you the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow?"

"Human! I admit defeat regarding today's events. If you let it go, I can help you condense an External Spirit Bone!"

Hearing this, Xia Ran used his spiritual power to communicate with the other party.

He figured it must be due to the sacrifice that allowed the other party's soul to communicate with him briefly.

"Rest assured, I have already sworn by my martial soul that I will not take its life again."

"If I let it go now, it will die in the mouths of other spirit beasts in its current state. After you help me condense the spirit bone, I will help it find a secluded place to recover from its injuries."

The other party seemed to be weighing the pros and cons, and it was only after a long while that it replied.

"It's a deal. If you dare to go back on your word..."

As it finished speaking, the voice stopped abruptly. It was clear that the other party also knew it no longer had any bargaining chips left.

Even if it did not help this human condense the spirit bone, this human had ways to fuse it on his own.

It only regretted provoking someone it shouldn't have today!

It had intended to use this human as a trial target to train its offspring, but it never expected to end up trapped itself.

Now, it could only pray that the other party would keep its oath.

Thinking of this, it took the initiative to mobilize the last trace of its soul power to help this human condense the External Spirit Bone.

Xia Ran only felt that the energy behind his back seemed to be actively building up, and this feeling became more and more obvious, with the energy growing increasingly vast.

Before long, accompanied by the pain of skin being torn, a pair of pitch-black wings suddenly unfolded.

Xia Ran's upper garment was instantly shredded to pieces, and the surrounding withered leaves were blown away by the gale stirred up as the wings stretched out, forming a vacuum zone with Xia Ran at the center.

From a distance, it looked like a rain of falling leaves.

At this moment, Xia Ran was bare-chested, his ink-colored hair dancing with the circulation of his spirit power, and the wings behind his back flapped slowly, kicking up gusts of wind.

"Human! Remember what you promised me!"

As the last word fell, there was no more movement in Xia Ran's spiritual sea.

He tried to search for the soul of the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow that had fallen into a deep sleep, but after searching for a long time, he found nothing.

"Has its soul power been exhausted?"

It was to be expected; the soul of a twenty-thousand-year spirit beast was ultimately weaker. Unlike Da Ming or Er Ming, this Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow seemed to have truly vanished!

With the situation stabilized, Xia Ran began to check his own state.

Now, with the blessing of the other party's soul power, the External Spirit Bone had completely fused with his own body.

[External Spirit Bone: Shadow Demon Cloud Wings] comes with flight capabilities and also possesses a spirit bone skill.

[Shadow Demon Cloud Slash: Converges spirit power into the wings to release two dark-attribute slashes.]

The skill effect was somewhat similar to a sword qi attack, and its power was determined by the total amount of spirit power mobilized. Overall, it could be considered a standard, solid offensive skill.

In the future, he could try to launch slashes through the Black Blade; after all, the wings were merely a carrier for releasing energy, and since the Black Blade was also a weapon, it should be possible.

Xia Ran had not expected such a huge harvest after only entering the forest for a few days.

A ten-thousand-year spirit ring from a Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow!

An External Spirit Bone with flight capabilities!

With a smile on his lips and in a great mood, he looked at the little sparrow in his hand.

Since this guy had one of its wings severed by him, it certainly wouldn't have any ability to survive in the short term.