Racing Against Death

"Two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins? You have the nerve to say that—why don't you just go rob someone?"

Flender's eyes widened, then his pupils shifted, and a cunning smile appeared on his face.

"Fine, two hundred thousand, is it? Then this Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's soul ring will just happen to cover that two hundred thousand. Do you want it or not?"

He certainly couldn't produce a massive sum of ninety million, but two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins was something he could actually cough up.

Little brat, trying to pull this stunt on me? You're still too green.

"Fine, you win."

Lin Feng's face darkened, and he shot him an annoyed glare. Not wanting to bicker further, he hurriedly urged:

"Hurry up, if you keep dawdling, this bear is going to run away."

Flender raised his eyebrows triumphantly, the playfulness on his face instantly vanishing as he turned serious.

His Cat-Eagle wings flapped violently, his figure instantly soaring dozens of meters into the air as the fourth purple soul ring beneath his feet suddenly lit up.

"Fourth Soul Skill: Tenfold, Air Blade!"

"Hum--!"

The air emitted a piercing hum as over a hundred invisible, razor-sharp air blades struck fiercely toward the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, which was currently rubbing its body against a tree.

Wherever the blades passed, the air was sliced and distorted. Thick tree trunks nearby were caught in the aftermath and instantly severed, the cross-sections as smooth as mirrors.

"ROAR!!"

The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear let out a shrill, pained roar. The sharp air blades forcibly tore through its armor-like fur, carving dozens of deep bloody gashes into its body, and its dark golden fur was instantly stained red by boiling hot blood.

Hiding behind a tree branch, Lin Feng clicked his tongue in secret.

"As expected of an overlord capable of challenging dragons; this hide is truly tough. At only four thousand years of age, it can withstand Flender's tenfold thousand-year soul skill and only suffer minor skin wounds."

"If it reached the ten-thousand-year level, wouldn't it dare to challenge a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"

Provoked, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear spun around, its dark golden beastly pupils surging with monstrous violence and killing intent as it stared fixedly at Flender in the sky.

It let out a roar, its four limbs exerting sudden force, and it began to climb the thick tree trunk at a terrifying speed that completely defied its massive size.

In the blink of an eye, it reached the treetop, then its thick hind legs kicked off with a violent thrust. Its massive body launched into the air like a cannonball, spreading its forelimbs—equipped with terrorclaws—as it lunged fiercely toward the two people in the sky.

Flender had long anticipated its counterattack. His wings flapped hard, his figure instantly soaring higher, easily dodging the lethal pounce.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes as his fifth black ten-thousand-year soul ring suddenly lit up, and terrifying wind elemental energy instantly condensed before him.

"Fifth Soul Skill: Wind-Entangling Rending Claws!"

In an instant, three giant eagle claws formed from condensed wind elements descended from the sky.

"BOOM!"

The grass cracked like a spiderweb as the three sharp eagle claws locked tightly onto its four limbs and neck.

The tips of the claws dug deep into its flesh, and boiling blood flowed out along the claw marks, quickly pooling into a puddle on the ground.

Yet, the ferocity of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was even more terrifying than the two had imagined. Even pinned firmly to the ground, it showed no sign of submission, instead letting out an even more manic roar.

Its dark golden fur stood on end, and its muscles swelled crazily, forcibly prying apart the wind-elemental eagle claws.

Its right forepaw swiped violently, and ten-meter-long claw blades swept fiercely through the air toward Flender.

"Interesting."

A hint of gravity flashed in Flender's eyes. His wings flapped, and his figure shifted sideways like a ghost, dodging the five lethal claw beams.

At the same time, his fifth black soul ring lit up again, and the wind elemental pressure around him surged instantly.

"Since you can take such a beating, then have some more!"

"Fifth Soul Skill: Wind-Entangling Rending Claws!"

Three wind-elemental giant claws, even more solid and sharper than before, crashed down, pinning the frantically struggling Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear to the ground once more. No matter how it roared or thrashed, it could no longer break free in the slightest.

A few minutes later, The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear finally stopped struggling. Its pair of violent beastly pupils clouded over with a deathly gray, with only the faint heaving of its chest proving that it was still hanging onto its last breath.

Lin Feng gripped the top-tier treasure blade he had obtained from the Blood Wolf Fortress treasury—a blade that could cut through iron like mud—and stepped forward quickly, precisely stabbing the vital point of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's skull.

A deep purple thousand-year soul ring slowly floated up from its massive body.

Lin Feng sheathed his blade and flipped his palm, summoning the Blessing Gold Pouch. Two brilliant golden lights landed on him simultaneously.

"Tyrant's Armor!"

"Sage's Protection!"

The combined vitality bonuses of the two Godly Gear pieces caused his maximum health to skyrocket by 270%.

Gentle yet majestic golden mysterious energy wrapped around his body like silk.

This was his greatest trump card for daring to risk his life to absorb this soul ring that exceeded his limit.

If his meridian strength wasn't enough, he would make up for it with health!

As long as his health bar was thick enough that he wouldn't be instantly exploded and killed on the spot by the violent soul ring energy, as long as he was still hanging onto a single breath, he would have a chance to turn the tables.

Lin Feng sat cross-legged, took a deep breath, and began to guide the four-thousand-five-hundred-year purple spirit ring.

The moment the spirit ring attached to his body, a surge of energy, far more violent than he had anticipated and akin to a tsunami, rushed madly into his meridians.

His meridians felt as if they were being pierced by thousands of steel needles instantly; intense pain swept through his entire body. He gritted his teeth tightly, cold sweat rolling down his forehead, and his complexion turned deathly pale at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Flender stood to the side, watching Lin Feng tremble all over, even seeing fine beads of blood beginning to seep from beneath his skin, and at this moment, his heart was filled with regret.

In just a few short minutes, Lin Feng's pores were all oozing blood, turning him into a blood-soaked figure, his aura growing weaker and weaker.

The soft emerald light emitted by the Tyrant's Armor was doing its utmost to repair the meridians that were being continuously torn apart.

Yet, that repair speed was merely a drop in the bucket compared to the destructive power of the spirit ring, only barely managing to delay the rate at which his body was collapsing.

"Faster! Go faster, kid!"

Flender paced back and forth in anxiety, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists, muttering self-reproach.

"He can't withstand this at all..."

With his decades of experience, how could he not see that this was the precursor to a total collapse of Lin Feng's meridians? If not for that Tyrant's Armor hanging onto his life, he would have already been blown apart by the violent spirit ring energy.

"It has to be fast now, hurry!"

Lin Feng was currently racing against the Grim Reaper; only by making it through the most perilous first half of the spirit ring refinement and stabilizing the energy before his meridians reached their breaking point would he have a glimmer of hope for survival.

A figure suddenly rushed out from the depths of the dense forest. Seeing Lin Feng sitting cross-legged on the ground, covered in blood and on the verge of collapse, his pupils constricted, and he was so startled he couldn't even speak clearly.

"What... what is going on with this little ancestor?!"

The spirit power pressure of a Spirit Saint was released in its entirety.

Flender was not at all unfamiliar with this suddenly appearing Spirit Saint. For the past two years, Qian Linfeng had been hiding in the shadows, silently protecting Lin Feng's safety; it went without saying that he was the guard specifically sent by Lin Feng's teacher.

When Qian Linfeng confirmed that Lin Feng had ended up in this state because he was absorbing a spirit ring that exceeded his limit, he turned around, his eyes burning red with rage, and barked sternly at Flender.

"Flender, you are a Spirit Saint, yet you could misjudge the age of a spirit beast and commit such a fatal error? You are trying to get him killed..."