Torso Soul Bone

The Green Steel Sword was momentarily wedged between the bone gaps and could not be pulled out, so Ling Chen had no choice but to abandon it for the time being and put some distance between himself and the Lion-Man.

Blood poured uncontrollably from the creature's neck, and the pain caused the Lion-Man to roar incessantly.

Ling Chen could not care less about it now; having his Green Steel Sword Martial Soul stuck there was not necessarily a bad thing, as he could simply condense another one using his Martial Soul Origin.

However, Ling Chen's previous actions had already enraged the lion, and if he did not run now, he would be waiting to become nothing more than a corpse on the ground.

In a flash, Ling Chen had already vanished from the Lion-Man's line of sight.

The Lion-Man wanted to pursue, but the Green Steel Sword lodged in its neck left it feeling dizzy and disoriented, so it continued to gnaw on the nearby corpses, hoping to restore the flesh and blood of its neck.

As it fed frantically, the blood from its neck flowed even more profusely.

The newly formed flesh was repeatedly sliced open by the sharp Green Steel Sword, and this cycle only accelerated its blood loss.

It tried shaking its head to dislodge the Green Steel Sword from its bone gaps, and even attempted to slam itself against the walls to knock the blade out.

The result of these actions was that the Green Steel Sword did not come out; not only did it become wedged even tighter, but the original wound was also widened.

A pool of blood and bone-chilling pain tormented this half-human, half-lion freak.

Ling Chen had not run far, choosing instead to witness everything.

If it possessed human intelligence, removing the Green Steel Sword stuck in its neck should have been simple. It only needed to stand upright, grip the hilt with one hand to push it out, or use the other side to strike against the wall, and it would have come out quickly.

The Lion-Man before him lacked human intelligence, possessing only bestial instincts. It used the most barbaric methods, effectively torturing itself to death.

"Since it isn't human, killing it is simple. But why can't I hack through its bones?"

Ling Chen fell into deep thought, but he soon found the answer.

The Lion-Man before him had a Spirit Bone! And a torso Spirit Bone at that!

That was a spine plus the surrounding ribcage, arguably the largest Spirit Bone in a body. To have it emerge from a spirit beast and appear here was enough to make one want to play a few rounds of Good Luck.

However, obtaining this Spirit Bone would not be easy.

All Ling Chen could do was wait; after all, the Lion-Man was a Martial Soul fusion based on a human body, not a creature that had completely transformed into a spirit beast.

As long as he waited for the Lion-Man to bleed out, the Spirit Bone would naturally become his for the taking.

Moreover, this battle had given Ling Chen some inspiration.

In Slaughter City, most people thought only of killing their opponents in one strike. Especially in the Hell Slaughter Arena, facing a ten-person melee, only by quickly finishing off opponents would the pressure on one's own situation gradually decrease.

Ling Chen's six-year-old body lacked the explosive power of an adult, putting him at a natural disadvantage in head-on combat, so he could only kill through sneak attacks.

Based on his experience killing Scarface and the sight of the injured Lion-Man, he realized he did not necessarily need to kill with a single blow.

On the contrary, he only needed to sever their legs, causing them to lose mobility while also letting them die from excessive blood loss. As long as he did not leave, the opponent would never have the time to bandage their wounds.

Coupled with his small, agile frame, attacking the lower bodies of those adults would be a breeze.

Killing, it seemed, was not such a difficult task after all...

However, such methods were indeed somewhat cruel, but in Slaughter City, that was not how things worked.

In this lawless place, as long as one could kill, any method was acceptable.

Cruel? In the face of death, nothing was more cruel than death itself.

Time ticked away second by second, and the Lion-Man had not yet died, though it had already devoured all the corpses on the ground, leaving only a few puddles of blood.

Anxiety and unease consumed it, driving it to destroy the surrounding architecture to alleviate its agony.

One could still hear the pained wails of a human voice mixed with lion roars, though the sounds were growing weaker and weaker.

"The opportunity is here!"

Ling Chen picked up a stone and approached the dying Lion-Man.

The Lion-Man was leaning against the wall it had destroyed, gasping for air. The blood at its neck had dried significantly, and the mangled flesh, deprived of nourishment, had become withered and dull.

Seeing the Lion-Man in this state, Ling Chen knew there was no blood left to sustain its vital signs.

Ling Chen would not let his guard down; if this beast were feigning death to bite back, the loss would outweigh the gain.

Although the amount of Martial Soul Origin he could obtain would decrease, being able to acquire some Spirit Rings or even a torso Spirit Bone would be a wonderful thing!

After waiting for quite a while, seeing that the Lion-Man remained motionless, Ling Chen finally threw the stone in his hand at it.

The stone struck its massive lion head, but there was no reaction. Still, Ling Chen remained cautious, throwing seven or eight more stones before slowly approaching.

Only by being meticulous could one avoid capsizing in the gutter.

Confirming that the Lion-Man was dead, Ling Chen placed one hand on its head to strip the Martial Soul Origin, while reaching with the other to pull out the Green Steel Sword.

The moment Ling Chen exerted force on the Green Steel Sword, the torso Spirit Bone that had just been wedged against the blade seemed to vanish; with a casual tug, the sword came free.

"Hiss... could it be..."

Ling Chen hurriedly entered the Dragon Pillar Space to inspect it. At that moment, seven Spirit Rings flew toward the White Dragon Pillar, while the torso Spirit Bone that had just been on the Lion-Man was now flying toward the Black Dragon Pillar.

The previously dormant Black Dragon awakened, leaping up to swallow the torso Spirit Bone in one gulp.

Ling Chen had intended to fuse with that torso Spirit Bone, but his attempt to loot the corpse had been intercepted by the Dragon Pillar Space.

The Golden Dragon, having already consumed the Martial Soul Origin, seemed to perceive Ling Chen's hesitation, lowering its massive head to meet his gaze.

"You haven't even awakened your Martial Soul; you cannot absorb this Spirit Bone!"

As the words fell, the three dragons returned to the dragon pillars and fell into a deep slumber.

Ling Chen was speechless for a moment. Was it that he didn't want to awaken his Martial Soul? It was clearly because this godforsaken place lacked any facility for such a thing!

Ling Chen shook his head helplessly and placed his hand on the Black Dragon Pillar; the information about the Spirit Bone he had just obtained flowed through his arm and into his mind.

[Ownerless Torso Spirit Bone]: 13,900 years.
[Source]: Flame Heart Fire Monkey.
[Spirit Bone Element]: Fire.
[Effect]: Can be stacked onto existing Spirit Bones to increase their age, with a very low chance of adding a Spirit Bone element.
[Current Stored Spirit Bones]: 1.
[Current Stacking Limit]: 99 years.

This was similar to the Spirit Ring information from the White Dragon. After all the collecting he had done during this time, Ling Chen couldn't even remember how many Spirit Rings he had gathered, so he placed his hand on the White Dragon Pillar.

[White Spirit Rings]: 99 years (10), 67 years. [Automatically fused to current stacking limit]
[Yellow Spirit Rings]: 312 years, 198 years, 430 years, 273 years, 581 years, 900 years.
[Black Spirit Rings]: 12,000 years, 34,000 years.
[Spirit Ring Elements]: Metal (3), Wood (3), Water (4), Fire (6), Earth (3).
[Effect]: Can be stacked onto existing Spirit Rings to increase their age, with a very low chance of adding a Spirit Ring element.
[Current Stored Spirit Rings]: 19.
[Current Stacking Limit]: 99 years.

"Automatically fused?"

Ling Chen was somewhat surprised. He guessed that because he had stripped away too many white Spirit Rings, the White Dragon had swallowed and compressed them.

However, what surprised Ling Chen even more was that the Lion-Man he had just killed was actually a Spirit Emperor above level 60. Ling Chen could sense the origin of those two black Spirit Rings.

Judging by his Martial Soul, it was likely a Power Attack-type Beast Martial Soul, but how it had ended up like this in Slaughter City, Ling Chen had no idea.

After all, this place known as Slaughter City had long been destroyed by Tang San in Douluo I, and the information in the original work was far less than what Ling Chen currently understood.

If he wanted to get to the bottom of it, he would have to ask the King of Slaughter—Tang Chen!