The First Millennium Soul Skill, Earth Flame Lizard Dragon Armor

A thousand-year Flame Demon Tiger, or a thousand-year Earth Fire Dragon Lizard?

This choice did not leave Yan conflicted.

The tiger was the king of beasts, and the Flame Demon Tiger was considered a formidable presence among fire-element soul beasts. However, compared to the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard, it still fell far short.

In the Douluo World, soul beasts existed within a strict hierarchy. This was not only due to differences in cultivation, but also the difference in status engraved within their bloodlines.

Because of the Dragon God's existence, the strongest among soul beasts were the True Dragon lineage, followed by the various dragon species possessing True Dragon blood.

Such as Earth Dragons and all manner of Sub-Dragons.

Though the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard was called a dragon lizard, its dragon bloodline was still quite potent. It was enough to place it among the Sub-Dragons, standing above the vast majority of soul beasts of the same rank.

Without much hesitation, Yan quickly said, "Elder Yue Guan, this junior chooses the thousand-year Earth Fire Dragon Lizard."

Yue Guan was not particularly surprised by Yan's choice. He merely nodded and turned to leave.

Before long, the Soul Hunting Squad finished resting and set out.

The Earth Fire Dragon Lizard's habitat lay deep within the Soul Hunting Forest, in a valley rich with fire elements.

The closer they came, the more obvious the scorching heat in the air became, and a pungent sulfurous smell began to spread.

The soil beneath their feet changed from dark brown to dark red, hard as stone underfoot.

The surrounding vegetation had also changed drastically. Heat-resistant dark-red Iron Wood and Fire Velvet Grass had replaced the original trees and the ubiquitous Blue Silver Grass.

The group traveled through the valley and soon arrived before the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard's lair.

It was a pitch-black cave. Several charred boulders naturally concealed its entrance, leaving only a rather narrow crack. Scorching gusts mixed with a heavy sulfurous stench continuously gushed out from within.

Simply standing at the entrance, they could feel the invisible pressure of a dragon-type soul beast's aura.

"This is it."

Resak glanced at the Soul Hunting Squad behind him. "Fall back!"

After everyone retreated more than ten meters, Resak suddenly leaped into the air.

The Thunderstorm Bear Martial Soul instantly possessed him, and his already muscular body swelled by another size in an instant.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black—seven Soul Rings in the optimal configuration appeared behind him.

He raised a bear paw already covered in pale blue arcs of lightning. The third purple Soul Ring behind him flashed.

A gigantic palm formed of lightning shot out instantly, and a thunderous boom exploded through the valley.

The boulders shattered in response, fragments of stone shooting in every direction amid flashing lightning.

The violent roar instantly woke the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard, which had been sleeping within the cave.

An utterly furious roar rang out from the depths of the cave. Surging soundwaves, accompanied by overflowing dragon might, burst wildly from within.

The next moment, a massive black shadow wreathed in dark-red flames charged from the shattered entrance like a cannonball.

The Earth Fire Dragon Lizard!

It was nearly eight meters long, shaped like an enlarged and ferocious giant lizard. Its entire body was covered in heavy black-red armor-like scales. A row of bony spikes stood upright along its back like short spears, while the protruding spike at the end of its tail resembled a massive spiked warhammer.

It raised its vicious head. Its crimson-gold vertical pupils burned with savage fury as they locked firmly onto Resak, who had dared to destroy its lair.

It suddenly let out a roar, its open maw filled with gleaming fangs.

Worthy of a thousand-year Sub-Dragon soul beast—its imposing presence was worlds apart from the Shadow Moon Wolf and Charm Heart Fox from before.

The Earth Fire Dragon Lizard opened its huge mouth wide. Blazing red light gathered in its throat, and in the next instant, a crimson torrent of scorching breath surged toward Resak.

"Hmph!"

Resak snorted coldly. The second yellow Soul Ring behind him flashed, and lightning instantly coiled around his body, as if he had donned a suit of lightning armor.

Thunder Armor possessed him, directly blocking the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard's seemingly devastating fiery breath.

Without stopping, Resak stamped the ground and shot forward. He was as fast as an arrow leaving the bow, arriving before the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard in the blink of an eye.

He leaped high into the air, violent lightning surging over his right fist. Before the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard could even react, his punch slammed heavily into its head.

Violent lightning instantly spread across the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard's body, making it release a pained howl.

It struggled twice, but still collapsed to the ground powerlessly. Half of its enormous, ferocious head had caved in, and it was clearly about to lose its life.

"Yan!"

Without Resak needing to remind him, Yan had already stepped forward.

The dagger in his hand was useless against such a massive creature, so he had borrowed a longsword from a nearby member of the Soul Hunting Squad earlier. He sprinted toward the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard.

Without hesitation, Yan gripped the longsword and thrust it directly into the vital point between its head and neck, killing it in one blow.

The Earth Fire Dragon Lizard's body convulsed violently one last time, then the light in its crimson-gold pupils completely faded.

A thousand-year Soul Ring with a faint purple glow immediately rose from its corpse.

Yan looked at the thousand-year Soul Ring, took a deep breath, and sat cross-legged on the ground to begin drawing it in and absorbing it.

As the Flame Overlord possessed him and the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard's Soul Ring descended, Yan instantly felt a vast energy like erupting magma surge into his body.

His meridians swelled at once, faintly feeling as though they were about to tear apart. Yan gritted his teeth and endured the pain of absorbing the Soul Ring.

The intense fire-element power scorched his skin until it began to redden. The sweat dripping from his body slowly evaporated into wisps of white mist.

The Flame Meditation Method operated at full force at that moment, racing against time to digest the immense power brought by the thousand-year Soul Ring.

Yan felt that, in the unseen depths, the Soul Power bottleneck that had always restrained him was loosening and shattering bit by bit.

As he absorbed the Soul Ring and raised his realm, the dark-gold origin left behind by the Flame Emperor deep within Yan's sea of consciousness was stirred and trembled slightly.

Immediately afterward, a wisp of ancient dark-gold light, finer than a strand of hair, separated from that origin.

Following some mysterious path, it quietly flowed through Yan's limbs and body before finally merging into his wildly circulating Soul Power and the violent Soul Ring energy.

Within Yan's body, the Soul Ring energy that had originally rampaged about as if it had met a king instantly became much more docile. Its essence was wrapped up by that stream of light and settled together into Yan's life origin.

At the same time, the Flame Overlord phantom behind Yan began to slowly change.

Its originally dark-red, somewhat rough lava-and-rock texture rapidly transformed into a deeper dark-gold hue.

The phantom's outline became more solid and imposing. It faintly formed muscle lines resembling those of a humanoid, while two slight bulges rose from its head as though a pair of horns were about to emerge. Ancient flame runes flashed and vanished deep within the phantom.

If Yan could have seen the changes in the Flame Overlord behind him, he might have cried out in shock. His Flame Overlord seemed to be transforming toward the Flame Emperor's form.

This breakthrough had directly deepened the fusion between the Flame Emperor Origin and Yan, and even his Martial Soul showed faint signs of evolution.

The trembling of Yan's body gradually subsided. His crimson skin slowly returned to normal, and the aura that had been somewhat chaotic from the energy's impact began to rise steadily.

The entire process lasted nearly three hours. When the faint-purple thousand-year Soul Ring completely entered Yan's body and the final trace of energy had been absorbed and transformed, he slowly opened his eyes.

He rose to his feet. A thousand-year purple Soul Ring slowly appeared behind him, and the name of the skill granted by the Soul Ring surfaced in Yan's mind: Earth Flame Lizard Dragon Armor.