Qing Hongyuan dove from high above. The Azure Snake Dragon Wing folded in, and his body fell like a meteor toward the Wind Wood Dragon's back. Just before impact, his wings snapped open, unleashing the fifth soul skill, Azure Snake Dragon Wing, at full force. The edges of the azure wings sliced through the scales on the Wind Wood Dragon's back, leaving a long, bloody gash. The Wind Wood Dragon jerked its head in pain, sweeping its horn toward Qing Hongyuan. With a beat of his wings, he narrowly evaded the strike.
Shen Wanqing stood at the edge of the battlefield, the phantom of her Jade Orchid martial soul glowing at full strength. Three emerald orchids bloomed above her head, and three beams of light shot out at once—one landing on Qing Zhengyue, one on the longblade in his hand, and one on everyone across the battlefield. Attack power increased, speed increased, Soul Power recovery increased. Every beam was perfectly placed.
High in the air, Qing Mufeng looked down from above, his Azure Dragon Pupil fully activated as he observed the Wind Wood Dragon's every movement and predicted the direction and force of each attack. Dragon might continually weighed upon the Wind Wood Dragon. Every few breaths, the forty-thousand-year soul beast would raise its head to look at him, its golden vertical pupils filled with hatred and resentment, but it could not take flight. The Azure Dragon bloodline's suppression of serpentine soul beasts, combined with his dragon might, made flight impossible for it. It could only passively endure the beating on the ground.
The Wind Wood Dragon's situation grew increasingly dire.
At the front, Qing Zhengyue's longblade struck again and again. There was nothing flashy about his blade technique. He simply hacked, every strike landing in the exact same spot. The Wind Wood Dragon's right foreleg had been flayed open, its bones exposed. It was nearly unable to stand.
At its flank, Liu Yunlan's poisoned dagger stabbed into its joints again and again. The poison spread through its body, slowing its movements and dulling its reactions.
Above it, Qing Hongyuan dove repeatedly, his Azure Snake Dragon Wing leaving bloody gashes across its back. Its scales shattered, blood streamed down, and more than half the spikes along the Wind Wood Dragon's back had broken.
In the distance, Shen Wanqing's support soul skills never ceased. The light of the Jade Orchid blanketed the entire battlefield. Qing Zhengyue's wounds healed rapidly, Liu Yunlan's strength steadily recovered, and Qing Hongyuan's Soul Power was continuously replenished.
High above, Qing Mufeng's dragon might ruthlessly suppressed the Wind Wood Dragon's will to fight, leaving it unable to flee and unable to win.
The forty-thousand-year Wind Wood Dragon was driven back step by step under the siege of the five.
But it still resisted.
It opened its mouth and spat out a massive azure Wind Blade straight at Qing Zhengyue. The blade was over ten feet in diameter, its edges sharp as knives. Wherever it passed, it shaved away a layer of earth from the ground.
Qing Zhengyue did not dodge. He raised his longblade, his black soul ring blazing to its peak, and slashed down.
The blade edge collided with the Wind Blade, producing a piercing metallic screech. The Wind Blade split in two and swept past either side of him, severing two large trees behind him at their waists.
Even more powerful Wind Blades burst from its mouth. Once, twice, three times. It panted heavily. Every Wind Blade consumed a great deal of Soul Power, but it had no other choice.
Qing Hongyuan descended from the sky, his Azure Snake Dragon Wing fully spread, the azure scale patterns on his wings shining at their brightest. He swept past the Wind Wood Dragon's head, and the edge of his wing slashed across its eye.
The Wind Wood Dragon let out a shrill hiss. Its left eye was cut open, blood running down its cheek. Its vision blurred, and its attacks began to fall into disarray.
Qing Zhengyue seized the chance.
His longblade pierced into the Wind Wood Dragon's neck from the right side and emerged from the left. The Wind Wood Dragon's body stiffened violently, and the light in its golden vertical pupils gradually faded.
Liu Yunlan's short dagger pierced its heart at the same time, and poison instantly spread through its body. Qing Hongyuan's Azure Snake Dragon Wing made one final pass across its back.
Qing Mufeng's dragon might continued to suppress it until its body crashed to the ground.
The Wind Wood Dragon was dead.
The forty-thousand-year Wind Wood Dragon had fallen in a valley deep within the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range.
Qing Zhengyue pulled out his longblade and staggered back two steps, his chest heaving violently. His robes were soaked in blood—some his own, some the Wind Wood Dragon's. A bone-deep wound ran along his left arm, left behind by the Wind Wood Dragon's final strike before death.
Liu Yunlan crouched on the ground, gulping down air. A few strands of the old woman's silver hair had fallen loose, and her face was pale, but she was alive.
Qing Hongyuan descended from the air. The instant he landed, his knees buckled, and he nearly dropped to the ground. The luster of his Azure Snake Dragon Wing had dimmed considerably. He had consumed too much Soul Power.
Shen Wanqing stopped using her support soul skills. Her face was even paler than Liu Yunlan's, sweat streaming down her cheeks from her forehead as her hands trembled faintly.
Qing Mufeng descended from the sky, and the glow of Spring Returns to Earth enveloped the entire battlefield. Green motes flickered over everyone's bodies. Their wounds healed rapidly, and their Soul Power steadily recovered.
The five collapsed onto the ground, and for a long while, no one spoke.
After some time, Qing Zhengyue rose to his feet and walked to the Wind Wood Dragon's corpse. A forty-thousand-year Wind Wood Dragon was larger than any soul beast he had ever seen.
"Yunlan, absorb it." The old man's voice was somewhat hoarse.
Liu Yunlan took a deep breath, rose to her feet, walked to the Wind Wood Dragon, and sat down cross-legged.
A forty-thousand-year black soul ring slowly rose from the corpse. It was not ordinary black. A trace of dark red showed through the black, the distinctive color of a forty-thousand-year soul beast.
Liu Yunlan closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. The black soul ring drifted toward her and slowly entered her body.
The moment it entered, her body jolted violently. Forty thousand years of Soul Power surged into her like a flood, battering her meridians. The lingering resentment within the soul ring frantically assaulted her spiritual sea—a phantom of a forty-thousand-year Wind Wood Dragon rampaged through her mind.
The sixty-year-old woman clenched her teeth and desperately held on to the clarity of her mind.
Her Whale Rubber-strengthened meridians endured the Soul Power's impact. Every inch of their walls was repeatedly scoured, and every scouring brought intense pain, but she made no sound. The circulation of the Azure Dragon Method helped her refine this immense power. Her meridians widened, her acupoints expanded, and her Soul Power rose.
Level sixty breakthrough. Level sixty-one. Level sixty-two.
The Wind Wood Dragon's Soul Power continued to surge. Liu Yunlan's body trembled faintly, and her robes were soaked with sweat.
Level sixty-three. Level sixty-four.
Her Soul Power finally stabilized.
A level sixty-four Soul Emperor.
Eight levels higher than Qing Hongyuan.
Liu Yunlan opened her eyes, their rims slightly red.
Level sixty-four. In all her life, she had never imagined reaching level sixty-four.
The black soul ring slowly revolved beneath her, her sixth soul ring—the forty-thousand-year Wind Wood Dragon.
Information about her fifth soul skill flooded into her mind.
Jade Dragon Wing.
It shared the same origin as Qing Hongyuan's Azure Snake Dragon Wing, yet it was different. The Jade Dragon Wing's feathers were emerald green, their edges gleaming with a jade-like luster.
Liu Yunlan closed her eyes, feeling the newly born power within her, and drew a deep breath.
She finally had wings.
Before you continue