Powerful Thousand-Year Soul Skill

At a thought from Yan, wildly blazing crimson flames erupted from his body, instantly covering him from head to toe.

Like living liquid metal, they flowed tightly along his skin, forming a suit of flame armor with savage lines and faint dragon patterns winding around the breastplate and joints.

Earth Flame Lizard Dragon Armor, an enhancement-type soul skill. Upon activation, it summoned flame armor to possess the soul master.

For one hour, it provided the soul master with a two-hundred-percent boost to all attributes and a one-hundred-percent increase in resistance to all abnormal conditions.

The armor formed by Earth Flame Lizard Dragon Armor contained explosive flame power. It could provide defensive attributes for the soul master, but its defensive limit depended on how much Soul Power the soul master supplied.

Once the defensive limit was reached, it triggered the passive skill attached to the flame armor, Flame Burst. The remaining fire elements within the armor would violently explode once its defense reached its limit.

This process was automatic and irreversible. When Flame Burst occurred, it did not distinguish between friend and foe.

However, before the flame armor's defensive capacity reached its limit, the soul master could choose whether to activate Flame Burst early or simply dismiss the armor.

Yet whether the flame armor dispersed on its own or vanished due to Flame Burst, the soul master's defensive enhancement and abnormal-condition resistance would drop to only half their original boosted values.

In other words, the enhancement would fall from one hundred percent to fifty percent, though the duration of the enhancement would remain unchanged.

An enhancement-type skill with built-in defense and counterattack?

At another thought from Yan, his flame armor immediately began to dissipate. Dense fire elements turned into specks of red light and quickly vanished into the air.

It was not the Power Attack Type skill he had expected, but obtaining an enhancement-type skill delighted Yan even more.

Early offensive skills might gradually fail to keep up as a soul master's cultivation rose, but enhancement-type skills could remain useful all the way to the Title Douluo level.

Moreover, it granted a two-hundred-percent boost to all attributes for an hour, increased abnormal-condition resistance by one hundred percent, and came with a controllable passive skill.

The soul skill provided by the thousand-year Earth Fire Dragon Lizard was absolutely among the finest thousand-year enhancement-type soul skills. At the same time, Yan's Soul Power had reached an astonishing fourteenth level.

At that moment, Yue Guan arrived with Resak, Xie Yue, and Hu Liena.

Yan hurriedly bowed, then told them about the enhancement-type skill he had obtained and its effects.

Resak was very pleased. Compared to Xie Yue, he had always favored Yan more. Yan's Martial Soul was the Flame Overlord, and like Resak, he had chosen the Power Attack Type. Naturally, Resak was happy that Yan had gained such a powerful enhancement-type soul skill.

There was no need to mention Yue Guan. A first Soul Ring of a thousand years had already been unheard of, and the effects of Yan's Earth Flame Lizard Dragon Armor were even stronger than the soul skills granted by the third Soul Rings of ordinary Soul Elders. Naturally, he was satisfied and believed Yan had not disappointed his expectations.

Xie Yue and Hu Liena also looked at Yan excitedly. They understood the power of enhancement-type skills, yet when they looked at the thousand-year Soul Ring behind him, their hearts remained filled with envy and disbelief.

When they had first arrived at the Soul Hunting Forest and Yan proposed absorbing a thousand-year first Soul Ring, both of them had thought he had gone mad.

Yet every performance Yan gave afterward exceeded their expectations. Even Elder Yue Guan had acknowledged Yan's qualifications.

Even when he had absorbed the Soul Ring just now, Yan had shown none of the agony they had expected. Instead, he had seemed as though he still had strength to spare. Their shock was imaginable.

Of course, Yan's talent and strength did not merely deal a blow to them. Xie Yue and Hu Liena exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with determination.

They were geniuses as well, and they had their own pride. If they cultivated diligently, they refused to believe they would be much worse than Yan.

Hu Liena especially had her own pride, since Bibi Dong had already accepted her as a nominal disciple.

With the Soul Ring absorbed, they cleaned up the valley. After the Soul Hunting Squad rested briefly, they set out on their return journey.

Yan and the other two had already absorbed their first Soul Rings, so they no longer worried about alerting soul beasts on the way back.

Yue Guan and Resak cleared the way ahead while everyone else followed at full speed.

Their return was far faster than their journey into the Soul Hunting Forest. Traveling at full speed, they left the forest in less than two hours.

Xie Yue and Hu Liena had the lowest cultivation levels and were already panting from exhaustion. Yan's physique was powerful, and such a long sprint was nothing to him; even his breathing remained steady.

After resting briefly, they boarded a carriage and hurried toward Spirit City.

After traveling at speed, Resak led the Soul Hunting Squad away to rest once they returned to Spirit City.

Yue Guan, meanwhile, brought Yan, Xie Yue, and Hu Liena back to Pope Palace.

Yue Guan first went to see Bibi Dong. Yan, Xie Yue, and Hu Liena returned to their respective residences, washed up, and then received a summons from Bibi Dong.

Aside from Hu Liena, this was the second time Yan and Xie Yue had met Bibi Dong.

Bibi Dong sat upon her throne, as stunning and imposing as ever. Dressed in her noble Pope robes, she appeared sacred and inviolable.

After summoning them, Bibi Dong bestowed several rewards and offered a few words of encouragement. She had no other instructions for them.

This time, Bibi Dong's gaze lingered on Yan somewhat longer.

A thousand-year first Soul Ring was indeed unprecedented. Having accepted the Rakshasa God's inheritance, Bibi Dong knew many secrets.

She knew that even the peerless powerhouses who had once become gods on Douluo Continent had never accomplished such a feat in their youth.

This made Bibi Dong take Yan seriously, and the rewards she gave him were correspondingly more generous. But that was all.

Having received a god's inheritance, Bibi Dong had vaguely learned some secrets. She knew that beneath the rule of the powerful God Realm, other worlds existed.

Their systems of power differed from that of Douluo Continent, but they likewise had peerless geniuses.

Yet even peerless geniuses would ultimately become nothing more than a pile of yellow earth if they failed to become gods.

In Bibi Dong's eyes, becoming a god and taking revenge on the Qian Clan were what mattered most. No matter how great Yan's talent was, he came after those priorities.

Yan did not know what Bibi Dong was thinking, but her rewards suited him well enough. As far as he was concerned, the more resources he obtained, the better.

After the brief audience ended, Hu Liena remained behind while Xie Yue and Yan returned to where they lived.

Unlike Yan's calmness, Xie Yue was quite pleased. In his view, Bibi Dong's summons and encouragement undoubtedly affirmed both his talent and his diligent cultivation during this time.

Yan could only smile faintly at that. It was enough that Xie Yue was happy.

They left Pope Palace and walked for some distance. Just as they were about to return to their residence—

Suddenly, a fierce killing intent surged toward Yan without any warning.