Dai Yueheng Gravely Wounds the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, Scarlet King Enraged

"Beast!"

Xuan Zi gritted his teeth and waved a large hand. "It's only a ten-thousand-year soul beast. No matter how extraordinary it is, can it really turn the heavens upside down?"

As soon as he spoke, Xuan Zi moved.

There was no earth-shattering explosion of Soul Power, nor any dazzling soul skill. He merely raised his right hand, loosely curled his fingers, and gave the Three-Eyed Golden Lion in the center of the clearing a gentle grasp.

"Buzz!"

Space solidified.

It was not a metaphor. It truly solidified. Centered on the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the air within a hundred-foot radius seemed to turn into transparent amber, locking the golden soul beast firmly in place.

She wanted to struggle, but her body seemed bound by countless invisible chains. She could not even lift a paw.

Only those pure golden vertical pupils could still move. She stared fixedly at Xuan Zi, her eyes devoid of fear, containing only a deep, icy... mockery.

"Roar!!!"

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion opened her mouth and let out an enraged roar. The roar was not loud, yet it seemed to pierce straight through their souls, making the ears of the seven Shrek students ache and their heads buzz.

Every strand of her brilliant golden fur stood on end, radiating blinding golden light as she tried to break free from the spatial confinement.

But it was useless.

Xuan Zi was a Rank 98 Super Douluo, one of the strongest beings standing at the very pinnacle of the continent.

His spatial confinement looked effortless, but it contained a Titled Douluo's profound understanding of the laws of heaven and earth. Let alone a ten-thousand-year soul beast, even a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would have to obediently lie down if caught in his grasp.

"Snap!"

Xuan Zi snapped his fingers.

The spatial confinement abruptly tightened, like an invisible hand viciously clenching the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's body.

"Crack! Crack!"

The bone-crunching sounds made their teeth ache.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's body began to deform visibly. First came her limbs, their joints bending backward as her bones broke section by section.

Then came her spine, which groaned under the strain like a wrung-out towel. Finally came her chest cavity. Her ribs broke one after another, piercing deep into her internal organs as blood flowed from her mouth and nose, staining her brilliant golden fur red.

The entire process took only three seconds.

Three seconds later, Xuan Zi released his hand.

The spatial confinement vanished. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion collapsed limply onto the ground like a puddle of mud. Only the faint rise and fall of her chest proved that she was still alive. Yet that movement grew weaker and weaker, more and more feeble, like a dying candle in the wind that could go out at any moment.

"Done." Xuan Zi patted nonexistent dust from his hands, then turned toward Dai Yueheng with a grin, revealing two rows of yellowed teeth stained by smoke.

"Go on. Give her the final blow. Remember, aim for the heart or head. Don't let her suffer too much."

Dai Yueheng's eyes gleamed with a light so excited it was almost crazed.

Step by step, he walked before the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. He lowered his head and looked at this dying soul beast, once sacred and noble, a cruel curve rising at the corner of his lips.

"If you want someone to blame, blame your bad luck." Dai Yueheng's voice was soft, as though he were speaking to himself. "You ran into me, and you happen to look... so tempting."

He raised his right hand, curling his five fingers into a claw. His nails shot out half a foot, gleaming with a chilling cold light. The phantom of the White Tiger martial soul appeared behind him and unleashed an earthshaking roar, as though urging him onward, yearning for this soul beast's blood and soul.

Dai Yueheng hesitated no longer. His tiger claw slashed down viciously, aimed straight at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's heart.

Just as the tiger claw was about to touch her bloodstained golden fur—

"Stop!!!"

A thunderous furious roar came from deep within the forest.

That roar was filled with terror, rage, and a bone-deep... despair.

Immediately afterward, a crimson figure shot from the dense forest like a burning meteor, smashing down between Dai Yueheng and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.

"Boom!"

A terrifying shockwave exploded outward, blasting Dai Yueheng through the air. He crashed heavily more than a hundred feet away and spat out a mouthful of blood.

He struggled to his feet and stared at the suddenly appeared figure in horror.

It was a three-headed creature, somewhat resembling a fusion of a lion and tiger, but far more tyrannical than either—and it had three heads!

The Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Mastiff!

"Awoo!"

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion struggled to raise her head. Looking at that crimson figure, a trace of... grievance appeared in her pure golden vertical pupils for the first time.

Scarlet King.

One of the Ten Great Beast Kings of the Star Dou Great Forest, ranked eighth—the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Mastiff, with a cultivation of three hundred thousand years.

He had always been ordered to protect the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. He had only left briefly to drive away an eighty-thousand-year soul beast that had intruded into the territory, yet he had never expected disaster to strike in that short span of time.

When he sensed the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's aura suddenly weaken and frantically rushed back, what he saw was Xuan Zi severely injuring her, with Dai Yueheng about to deliver the killing blow.

Scarlet King's mind went blank in an instant.

Then came boundless fury, enough to burn away all reason.

"Humans..." Scarlet King's voice was hoarse like sandpaper scraping together. Every word seemed squeezed from the depths of his throat, carrying the stench of blood.

"You... are seeking death!!!"

Terrifying Soul Power erupted explosively from his body. It was not the Soul Power of a Titled Douluo, but the purest, most extreme Soul Power of a three-hundred-thousand-year beast king, brimming with an aura of destruction.

Crimson flames burned around him, scorching the surrounding air until it warped and twisted. The temperature instantly soared. The grass and trees on the ground began to wither, blacken, and burn.

Xuan Zi's expression changed instantly.

He could feel that this beast king before him was far stronger than an ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. The "quantity" and "quality" of its Soul Power had already reached the same level as his own—perhaps even... stronger.

"Who are you, sir?" Xuan Zi asked in a deep voice, leaning forward slightly as he entered a combat stance. "Why are you stopping my disciple from obtaining a soul ring?"

"A soul ring?" Scarlet King laughed, his laughter crazed and savage.

"You lowly humans dare set your sights on the Auspicious Beast? Listen carefully... she is the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the blessing of the Star Dou Great Forest, the hope of the soul beast race! Whoever dares harm her becomes an enemy of the entire Star Dou Great Forest—an enemy of all soul beasts!"

The Emperor Auspicious Beast?

Xuan Zi froze, then his pupils abruptly contracted.

He had heard that name before. In the ancient records of Shrek Academy, among those accounts concerning the deepest secrets of the Star Dou Great Forest, there had indeed been mention of an auspicious soul beast known as the "Emperor Auspicious Beast," one tied to the fortune of all soul beasts.

But those records had been vague. They only said that she was exceedingly rare, appearing once in ten thousand years, and that no human had ever truly seen her.

Could it be... this three-eyed soul beast before him?

Xuan Zi was conflicted.

Dai Yueheng was struggling as well. His fifth soul skill had already been condensed, ready to deal this soul beast a fatal blow.

Yet he hesitated too. This soul beast's identity... if he killed her, could they clean up the aftermath?

But then... a sudden change occurred.

Dai Yueheng's right hand suddenly "ignited."

It was not fire, but a cluster of silent, eerie black flames that seemed capable of swallowing all light.

"Ah!!!"

Dai Yueheng let out a miserable scream and jerked his hand back as though he had been branded by red-hot iron.

But the black flames had already touched his skin. They spread at a visible speed, devouring his flesh and searing his soul.

The excruciating pain clouded his mind. The Soul Power condensed around his tiger claw instantly went out of control, veered off course, and slammed viciously into the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's abdomen.