Shadow Flood Dragon! The Nine Nether Beast Was an Ancient Ferocious Beast with a Terrifying Bloodline!

Lin Yuan walked alone through the dense forest in the inner region.

The light around him grew dimmer and dimmer, while the air filled with the musty stench of a place that had not seen sunlight in years.

Towering ancient trees blocked out the sky, and tangled vines coiled around their trunks like giant pythons.

After searching for several hours, he came across quite a few Soul Beasts that were two or three thousand years old.

But he never made a move.

It wasn't because these Soul Beasts were too powerful, but because they simply didn't meet his requirements.

As an ancient Ferocious Beast, the Nine Nether Beast possessed an exceptionally domineering bloodline.

If he forcibly absorbed a Soul Ring with ordinary attributes, not only would it fail to bring out the Martial Soul's full power, it would also dilute its purity.

Only Soul Beasts with powerful Ferocious Beast bloodlines of their own, or mutated top-tier bloodlines, could serve as the nourishment best suited to the Nine Nether Beast's growth.

Before he knew it, Lin Yuan had reached the heart of the Soul Hunting Forest.

A Dark Swamp shrouded in dense fog lay ahead.

A layer of foul-smelling, dark green duckweed floated on the swamp's surface. The area around it was deathly quiet; not a single insect chirped or bird called.

Lin Yuan stopped and planted his feet on a relatively solid blue-gray stone.

He planned to take the opportunity to rest briefly and recover some strength.

The moment he came to a stop, a shadow stirred beneath the water deep in the swamp, gliding swiftly and silently.

It was a Shadow Flood Dragon over fifteen meters long.

Its entire body was covered in hard scales as black as ink, each one edged with a poisonous, eerie gleam.

It was an exceptionally savage, evil Soul Beast. Relying on the trace of Flood Dragon blood in its veins, it had dominated this Dark Swamp.

It never spared any living creature that dared approach its territory.

At that moment, its blood-red eyes, like a pair of lanterns, had already fixed on Lin Yuan by the shore through the murky water.

It craved the flesh and blood of human Soul Masters with near-mad hunger.

The surface of the water did not ripple at all as the Shadow Flood Dragon launched its attack without warning.

"Splash—"

Black mud and foul water surged into the air.

The Shadow Flood Dragon's enormous head burst through the surface.

It opened its cavernous jaws, lined with razor-sharp fangs, and aimed straight at Lin Yuan on the shore.

A thick torrent of black venom sprayed forth like a waterfall.

The venom had the terrifying power to rot bone and eat away flesh. Wherever it passed, even the air sizzled as it corroded.

The surrounding plants turned into pools of black sludge the instant the venom touched them.

An ordinary Soul Master would have had no chance of dodging this sudden spray of poison and would have been reduced to a pile of bones on the spot.

But Lin Yuan's senses were extraordinarily keen when it came to the aura of demonic beasts.

The moment the Shadow Flood Dragon moved beneath the water, he had already sensed the killing intent.

As deadly venom poured down from above, Lin Yuan didn't move a step. He didn't even furrow his brow.

The Nine-Nether Ao Bloodline, hidden deep within his meridians, erupted in an instant.

Dark power, thick as ink, surged wildly from his body, forming a twisting vortex of darkness before him.

The venom could have melted rock, yet the moment it touched that dark power, it vanished without a trace, swallowed up as easily as a stream flowing into the sea.

Not a single drop even splashed onto Lin Yuan's clothes.

Its attack thwarted, the Shadow Flood Dragon let out a shrill hiss.

Its enormous tail slammed into the water. Using the recoil, its massive body shot toward Lin Yuan's face like a black arrow loosed from a bow.

Lin Yuan sneered.

"You're asking for death."

He stomped down with his right foot, shattering the blue-gray stone beneath him, then launched himself skyward.

Instead of retreating, he charged straight at the enormous beast.

In midair, Lin Yuan clenched the five fingers of his right hand.

A violent force gathered around his fist.

There was no fancy technique—only the ultimate eruption of pure physical strength and bloodline power.

His fist slammed with pinpoint accuracy into the softest spot beneath the Shadow Flood Dragon's jaw: its Reverse Scale.

"Bang!"

A thunderous boom exploded above the swamp.

The Shadow Flood Dragon's enormous body, over fifteen meters long, was forced to a halt in midair for an instant by the overwhelming force.

Then a heartrending scream rang through the forest.

A mouthful of black blood mixed with chunks of its internal organs gushed from the Shadow Flood Dragon's maw.

Its body tumbled back into the swamp like a broken kite, sending mud flying in every direction.

The blow enraged the Ferocious Beast, whose veins carried Flood Dragon blood.

It thrashed wildly, churning the entire swamp like boiling water.

Countless black, venomous water arrows shot toward Lin Yuan from every direction.

Lin Yuan flipped through the air and landed steadily on a thick branch of a nearby ancient tree.

Looking down at the Soul Beast in its frenzy, he sensed the savage Flood Dragon bloodline surging within it.

This was an extremely rare four-thousand-year-old Soul Beast.

It perfectly met the requirements for his First Soul Ring.

Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly. The blood in his body began to race through his veins faster than ever before.

Over the past few years, Bibi Dong had given him countless rare spiritual herbs and medicines that were difficult to find anywhere else, all to build a solid foundation for him.

Their tremendous medicinal power had remained dormant throughout his body, never fully absorbed.

Now, spurred by the life-and-death battle, that long-stored power burst open like a barrel of gunpowder set alight.

A surging flood of energy swept through Lin Yuan's meridians.

The Nine Nether Beast's bloodline and Martial Soul were fully roused at that moment.

Behind Lin Yuan, the phantom of an ancient Ferocious Beast, vast enough to blot out the sky, slowly appeared.

Its nine tails, each like a demonic dragon capable of smashing stars with a single lash, lashed wildly through the air.

As his Martial Soul fully manifested, Lin Yuan's aura began to soar, and his power surged for a time.

The pressure of a supreme predator from the ancient age, one that had stood alone through the ages, swept down upon the swamp below.

The Shadow Flood Dragon, which had been attacking furiously, suddenly shuddered as the pressure descended.

It was absolute suppression, reaching down to the depths of its soul.

Before an ancestral Ferocious Beast like the Nine Nether Beast, the trace of Flood Dragon blood in its veins was as lowly as dirt.

Seizing the instant the Shadow Flood Dragon was cowed by the pressure, Lin Yuan leaped straight down from the branch.

"..."

Every punch Lin Yuan threw carried enough force to shatter the void.

When the Flood Dragon's tail swept toward him, he met it head-on with both arms.

Time passed, little by little.

"Boom!!!"

The frenzied battle raged for a full half hour.

Every ancient tree within a hundred meters had been destroyed, and the ground was pocked with enormous craters that made the heart tremble.

Lin Yuan's clothes were in tatters, and several bloody gashes from the scales marked his arms and shoulders.

Yet he showed not the slightest sign of fatigue. Instead, he fought more fiercely with every passing moment, each strike more deadly than the last.