The Ever-Burning Flames, Amaterasu!

The courtyard fell silent.

Wang Changbi stood to one side, his mouth slightly agape and his eyes wide as bells. He looked at Dai Tu, then at the crumpled patch of clothing over the Sect Master's chest. His throat bobbed, but no sound came out.

What had just happened?

That level-twenty-five Soul Grandmaster kid had used a soul skill, and then... the Sect Master's Soul Power armor had cracked?

Though it was only the outermost layer, a tiny, insignificant crack, and though the Sect Master had not even moved, that was the armor of a level-ninety-eight Super Douluo!

Even with his full strength as a four-ring Soul Ancestor, he could never hope to leave the slightest mark on it.

Yet Dai Tu had done it.

He had done it with a first soul skill granted by a hundred-year soul ring.

"A spatial soul skill..." Wang Changbi murmured, repeating the Sect Master's words. The way he looked at Dai Tu changed completely.

It was no longer the gaze directed at a "newcomer," nor the gaze directed at a "genius."

It was the gaze directed at a "monster."

Du Busi, however, was not looking at Wang Changbi. All his attention was focused on Dai Tu, on those eyes that had just faded from crimson.

"Mangekyō Sharingan..." Du Busi spoke the name softly, as if savoring it, yet also as if confirming it. "Good. What a fine Mangekyō. Kid, do those eyes of yours have other abilities?"

Dai Tu fell silent for two seconds, then nodded.

"Yes."

"Show me." Du Busi's voice carried an unquestionable command, but even more than that, it held excitement he could barely suppress.

"Use your strongest attack. Don't hold back. Let me see where the limits of those eyes lie."

Dai Tu glanced at Du Busi, then at the Soul Power that had only just recovered somewhat within him.

That strike of Kamui: Distortion had consumed nearly twenty percent of his Soul Power. Less than eighty percent remained, and the next soul skill would consume even more.

Dai Tu took a deep breath and raised his head again.

The scarlet Mangekyō appeared once more, gleaming with a sinister light in the night. This time, its pattern spun faster, more frantically, as though something were awakening in the depths of those eyes.

"Second soul skill!"

Dai Tu's voice was soft, so soft that the night wind nearly scattered it.

But his eyes were locked firmly on Du Busi's right shoulder.

"Amaterasu."

The words fell.

There was no warning, no process.

A cluster of flames ignited out of thin air on Du Busi's right shoulder.

Black flames.

The fire was strange. It made no sound as it burned, gave off no heat, and did not even emit light.

Had it not been nighttime, that absolute blackness that seemed to devour everything might have gone entirely unnoticed.

Yet it was there, burning silently, slowly spreading from Du Busi's right shoulder.

Du Busi lowered his head and looked at the black flames on his shoulder, his brow furrowing slightly.

He could feel a peculiar force steeped in the aura of destruction clinging to his skin, trying to burn through his Soul Power armor, burrow into his flesh, and incinerate his bones.

No, it was more than incineration.

It was "erasure."

Just like that spatial soul skill earlier, this flame was attempting to completely "erase" that part of his body from this world.

"Interesting..." A flicker of surprise passed through Du Busi's eyes, but he did not panic. With a thought, surging Soul Power rushed toward his right shoulder, attempting to extinguish the black flames.

But the next second, his expression changed.

Because the flames could not be extinguished.

Deep green Soul Power surged toward the fire like a tide. Yet under the impact of that Soul Power, the flames not only failed to go out—they burned even more fiercely.

Like a parasite clinging to bone, they stuck fast to Du Busi's skin, ravenously devouring the incoming Soul Power before turning it into fuel, spreading faster and more violently.

Within only a few breaths, the flames had spread from the size of a fist across his entire right shoulder and had even begun to creep toward his chest and right arm.

"What kind of flame is this?!" Du Busi was finally moved.

He tried three methods. First, he struck it with Soul Power, to no effect. Then he attempted to use water-attributed Soul Power, which should have countered it, but that too was useless.

At last, he even drew upon a portion of his Martial Soul Avatar's power. A layer of dark green scales emerged over the skin of his right arm, a trait of his Body Martial Soul after its second awakening. Their defense was comparable to the shell of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

Yet the black flames continued to burn.

They burned quietly, stubbornly, tirelessly, devouring every force that tried to extinguish them before growing stronger and fiercer.

"Sect Master!" Wang Changbi finally snapped out of it. His face went pale as he rushed forward to help.

"Don't come over!" Du Busi shouted sharply, staring fixedly at the flames on his shoulder as jade light flashed in his eyes. "These flames... can burn Soul Power, burn energy, even burn laws. Ordinary methods cannot put them out."

He turned to Dai Tu, a note of urgency in his voice. "Kid, how do these flames go out?"

Dai Tu stood where he was, his face pale as paper. Amaterasu's consumption far exceeded his expectations. In just those brief dozen seconds, the Soul Power in his body had drained away like floodwaters through opened gates. It was now completely depleted.

"Either... they burn the target to the end." Dai Tu's voice was weak, yet still calm. "Or... I extinguish them myself."

But Du Busi was, after all, a level-ninety-eight Super Douluo, and his reaction was incredibly swift. At the instant the flames were about to break through the scales' defense and scorch his skin, he made a move no one had expected.

He raised his left hand, curled his fingers into a claw, and savagely grabbed his own right shoulder.

Riiip!

The sound of flesh tearing rang out.

Du Busi actually tore off a large chunk of flesh from his right shoulder, along with the burning black flames!

Blood sprayed everywhere. Chunks of flesh and fragments of scales fell to the ground. Having lost what they clung to, the black flames slowly went out, eventually turning into a wisp of black smoke that dispersed into the air.

Du Busi gave a muffled grunt. A bloody hole the size of a bowl had opened in his right shoulder, deep enough to expose bone. Yet his expression did not change. He merely circulated his Soul Power, and the flesh around the wound began to writhe, healing at a visible rate.

After only a few breaths, the bloody hole had shrunk by more than half. Though it had not fully recovered, the bleeding had already stopped.

"Good, good, good..." Du Busi looked at the still-smoking pile of flesh on the ground, then at Dai Tu, whose pale face swayed unsteadily. Suddenly, he threw back his head and laughed.

His laughter was thunderous, making the entire courtyard tremble faintly.

"Spatial soul skills! Flames of law! A level-twenty-five Soul Grandmaster nearly injured me, a level-ninety-eight Super Douluo!"

Du Busi laughed until tears nearly came out. He stepped before Dai Tu in a single stride, his huge hand gripping Dai Tu's shoulder tightly as he shook him hard.

"Kid, do you know what those eyes of yours mean?!"

Dai Tu was shaken so badly that his head spun, but he still forced himself to shake his head.

"It means your Body Martial Soul has completed its second awakening!" Du Busi's voice overflowed with wild joy, almost turning into a roar.

"And it is the highest grade—Gold-Grade Awakening!"