Extinct Soul Beast

Chen Yuan was so astonished that he clenched the folder in his hand tightly.

On the sheet of paper in Chen Yuan's hand was a drawing of an exceptionally special Soul Beast, one that should no longer have existed.

The staff of the Nine Treasures Pavilion seemed afraid that the portrait would fail to convey how extraordinary this Soul Beast was, so they had used special pigments that emitted faint points of light.

The artist's skill was incredibly solid, and the Soul Beast on the page had been rendered with lifelike detail.

The Soul Beast in the portrait possessed traits of both a lion and a mastiff. It had dazzling golden fur, a demonic black face, crimson eyes brimming with savagery and madness, and a muzzle longer than that of an ordinary lion-type Soul Beast.

Its limbs were thick and powerful, its muscular contours clearly defined. Its body was exceptionally well-proportioned, and every bulging muscle seemed packed with explosive strength.

That was right. This was the ultimate stat monster that only appeared in Douluo III, a Beast King-class Soul Beast—the Golden Lion Mastiff.

With merely ten thousand years of cultivation, its strength rivaled that of Bear Lord at over four hundred thousand years. It could even send Tang Wulin, the protagonist blessed by the era during his Title Douluo stage, flying with a single blow.

The Golden Lion Mastiff was said to be the ancestor of all lion and canine Soul Beasts, born with a domain-type ability.

Once its innate Domination Domain was activated, its attack and defense would surge dramatically. All its abilities would increase by over fifty percent, with the upper limit unknown, and it would lose all sense of pain.

Once that domain was activated, it was a sure win.

Most crucially, not only would this creature fight an enemy to the death once battle began, it also ignored bloodline suppression.

The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was powerful, right? Even so, a ten-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was merely comparable to a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

But this Golden Lion Mastiff could rival a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear of over four hundred thousand years in strength as soon as it passed ten thousand years. The gap was absurdly huge.

Tang Wulin, the protagonist of Douluo III, had personally admitted that if a hundred-thousand-year Golden Lion Mastiff had survived, then Scarlet King, one of the Ten Great Fierce Beasts at three hundred thousand years, would definitely have been replaced.

But hadn't this creature, according to the setting, been suppressed by the Dragon Clan during the ancient era when dragons ruled, because it refused to submit? Its numbers had plummeted until it was eventually driven extinct.

Why would one still appear in this era?

Had a Soul Beast's bloodline reverted to its ancestors?

That was probably the only explanation that made sense.

A Soul Beast carrying the bloodline of a Golden Lion Mastiff had undergone an ancestral reversion due to some accident, thereby becoming a true Golden Lion Mastiff.

After carefully reading the information beneath the portrait, Chen Yuan found that it was mostly vague and ambiguous.

[Unknown canine- or lion-type Soul Beast. Based on common standards for judging Soul Beast cultivation, its age is roughly estimated to be between 15,000 and 40,000 years. An accurate identification is impossible.]

[Special note: This Soul Beast possesses immense strength and is presumed to be a pure strength-type Soul Beast.]

Well, the people who had discovered this Golden Lion Mastiff had no idea what kind of Soul Beast it was. Aside from its specific location and a rough estimate of its cultivation, there was not a single useful piece of information left.

Chen Yuan stared at the portrait of the Golden Lion Mastiff and sank into thought.

Although the Golden Lion Mastiff was not a fire-type Soul Beast, it was a pure strength-type Soul Beast. At the very least, it was the ancestor of lion-type Soul Beasts, so it still counted as a kind of lion.

And Chen Yuan absolutely loved those outrageous stats.

The question was, how was he supposed to kill it?

A ten-thousand-year Golden Lion Mastiff was already terrifying beyond belief. This one had cultivated longer than the virtual one in Douluo III's Myriad Beast Platform, so it could only be even more terrifying.

Clearly, the current Chen Yuan had no chance of dealing with this Golden Lion Mastiff.

And they still could not determine exactly how many years it had cultivated for.

If it was somewhere between twenty and thirty thousand years, then in this era, unless one was at Rank 98, trying to deal with it would be nothing but a fool's dream.

But this Golden Lion Mastiff was best suited to become his Fifth Soul Ring. If it became his Sixth Soul Ring instead, its cultivation would be somewhat too low.

Chen Yuan shook his head and continued flipping through the folder in his hand, but none of the Soul Beasts afterward met his requirements or lived up to his expectations.

Perhaps because he had seen the best, he was unwilling to settle.

"Ah, I'll have to think of a way."

He selected three Soul Beasts from the information. The Golden Lion Mastiff was at the top, while the other two were merely alternatives.

After leaving the Nine Treasures Pavilion and returning to the dormitory, Chen Yuan found Bei Bei unusually focused on cultivation.

During this period, Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei had both broken through Rank 40 and obtained their Fourth Soul Rings, becoming Soul Ancestors.

However, Xu Sanshi was now Rank 42 while Bei Bei was Rank 41. He was still one rank below Xu Sanshi, and that single rank was practically becoming an insurmountable gulf between them.

After all, Xu Sanshi's Soul Power Level had always been one rank higher than Bei Bei's.

Hearing the door open, Bei Bei, who had been sitting cross-legged in cultivation, withdrew from his meditative state and greeted Chen Yuan.

"Chen Yuan, have you found a target for your Fifth Soul Ring?"

"I found one, but it's a little difficult."

"No way. How many years is the Soul Beast you're planning to hunt?"

"At least 25,000 years. My Fourth Soul Ring is already 15,000 years, so shouldn't my Fifth Soul Ring be at least ten thousand years older than my fourth?"

Chen Yuan's answer left Bei Bei silent.

Bei Bei's own Fourth Soul Ring was only seven thousand years old. The combined age of all four of his Soul Rings was not even greater than Chen Yuan's Fourth Soul Ring alone.

To be honest, was Bei Bei's talent truly incapable of having ten-thousand-year Soul Rings by his fourth ring? Not necessarily.

He had simply failed to cultivate seriously over the past few years and had squandered his own talent.

"Enough. Vacation starts tomorrow afternoon. Come to the Spirit Fighting Arena with me later, okay? Your cultivation should be stabilized by now, so stop making excuses."

Ever since Bei Bei had finished hunting his Soul Ring, Chen Yuan had wanted to fight him. That would completely fulfill Mu En's task and make the Reign Over the World in his hands feel less scalding.

Bei Bei had indeed been better than before recently, but that was only because he had just advanced and needed to stabilize his cultivation.

So today, Bei Bei had to take this beating.

Otherwise, by the time they returned after vacation, Chen Yuan would already be a Soul King. They would no longer be on the same level, and even if he won, he would not be able to thoroughly wake Bei Bei up.

"Fine. Then let's head to the Soul Fighting Arena now."

Bei Bei knew he was going to get beaten no matter what, but he would not just surrender without a fight. Soul Ancestor? Who wasn't one?

Wasn't it just a difference of nine ranks in cultivation?

Wasn't it just a difference of one ten-thousand-year Soul Ring?

What was the big deal?

Did Chen Yuan believe that as long as he dared use a Soul Skill, Bei Bei would dare to throw himself at him and claim compensation?

The Spirit Fighting Zone was located near the Assessment Zone for the Freshman Assessment and the Beast Pen of the Beast Fighting Arena. Since they were all places meant for combat, it was naturally more convenient to build them together.

With vacation just around the corner, there were not many people in the Spirit Fighting Zone, only a scattered few.

After paying the ten Gold Soul Coin venue fee for the spirit fight, the two stood at opposite corners of the Soul Fighting Arena.

Bei Bei took a deep breath. To be honest, if he had a choice, he really did not want to fight Chen Yuan at all.

Who would enjoy challenging someone who could completely crush them?

He stepped forward, and blue-violet lightning erupted from his body. Both arms transformed into thick dragon claws, while four Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple—encircled his right arm.

"Bei Bei, martial soul Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Rank 41 Power Attack System Battle Soul Ancestor. Please enlighten me."

"Chen Yuan, martial soul Flame Gauntlet, Rank 50 Power Attack System Battle Soul Ancestor. Please enlighten me."

"Don't worry. I won't use my martial soul or Soul Skills."

The moment those words came out, Bei Bei instantly bristled.

Before, it had been one thing when you were a full major rank above us. But now you still hadn't even obtained your Fifth Soul Ring. What was this supposed to mean?

They had agreed to spar, yet Chen Yuan did not intend to take it seriously at all!

Even if he was going to lose, Bei Bei wanted Chen Yuan to be more serious. At least then, he would feel a little better about it.

As he released his martial soul, a lightning mark appeared on Bei Bei's forehead, his hair stood on end, and both arms turned into enormous dragon claws.

"Third Soul Skill, Thunder Fury!"

"First Soul Skill, Thunder Dragon Claw!"

As the First and Third Soul Skills were unleashed simultaneously, Bei Bei's right arm visibly thickened.

He stomped down hard and charged toward Chen Yuan like a cannonball.