Blazing Sun Eagle, Second Soul Ring

Fifteen days later.

Ten kilometers northeast of Heaven Dou City lies a dense forest known as the Sunset Forest.

Although it is not considered an arctic region, most of the plants in the Sunset Forest are temperate species unique to the north, and the vegetation is not overly dense.

Therefore, moving through the Sunset Forest is quite convenient, making it easy to track the movements of Soul Beasts in the sky or on the ground.

Judging by the distribution of Soul Beasts, the Sunset Forest has a significant number and variety of them, but few have reached the ten-thousand-year cultivation level; to encounter a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast, one must enter the Core Zone of the forest.

At this moment, in the Outer Zone of the Sunset Forest.

A predatory bird Soul Beast is fleeing through the sky above the forest.

A closer look reveals that this bird is vermilion in color with sharp, golden eyes, a body length of five meters, and exceptionally full plumage.

Its wings, in particular, are covered in exquisitely crafted vermilion feathers that absorb sunlight, making them appear incredibly brilliant.

Most peculiarly, every time this bird flaps its wings, a few vermilion feathers fall off and transform into clusters of flames, causing the surrounding air temperature to rise sharply—it is clearly a fire-attribute avian Soul Beast.

This is indeed the case; this bird is a Blazing Sun Eagle, a high-grade fire-type Soul Beast that has just entered its two-thousandth year of cultivation and possesses a natural talent called Flash Fire.

Once attacked by fire or light-heat energy, the Blazing Sun Eagle uses its Flash Fire talent to absorb this energy into its body, rapidly increasing the temperature around it to boost the power of its fire attributes or burn its enemies.

In the Flash Fire state, the Blazing Sun Eagle can also absorb the sun's light and heat energy, converting it into any energy it requires for recovery, allowing it to fly tirelessly.

Trailing the Blazing Sun Eagle in hot pursuit are Ye Chen and Combusken.

The Blazing Sun Eagle flies at an extremely high speed over the Sunset Forest, a pace that ordinary Soul Masters cannot match.

Thus, Ye Chen pursues while sparring with Combusken, continuously helping it stack its speed.

After twenty speed stacks, Combusken's speed attribute has reached its limit; although it lacks the ability to fly, it treads on the air at high speed, chasing the Blazing Sun Eagle like a giant humanoid bird.

At this point, the running speed of Combusken as a flightless bird comes into play.

In this state of high-speed air-treading, Combusken utilizes the running speed granted by its Blazing Bird Soul Ring, combined with the ultimate speed attribute boost, allowing it to catch up to the Blazing Sun Eagle in just five breaths.

"Combusken—"

With an excited cry, Combusken lunges forward, appearing ahead of the Blazing Sun Eagle. It treads on the air with its left foot and kicks the eagle's forehead with its right.

Before the Blazing Sun Eagle can be sent flying, Combusken twists its body, switching to its right foot to tread on the air while delivering a high kick with its left, sending the eagle soaring into the higher sky.

The preceding Double Kick was bolstered by the Focus Energy skill, making it easy to strike vital points. Aided by its specialized training in perception, Combusken lands both kicks on the Blazing Sun Eagle's weak spots.

The ensuing intense pain leaves the Blazing Sun Eagle dizzy and disoriented. Once kicked into the higher sky, it becomes a punching bag, left at the mercy of Combusken's Explosive Eight-Stage Kick, which strikes its back, abdomen, and head in rapid succession.

Bang, bang, bang! "Skree—"

The sound of air being torn by each kick and the screams of the Blazing Sun Eagle echo through the sky one after another.

After enduring the Explosive Eight-Stage Kick, the Blazing Sun Eagle is knocked unconscious. As it falls to the ground, its brilliant wing feathers stop absorbing sunlight, and the high temperature around its body rapidly dissipates.

Thanks to its own fire attribute, Combusken is immune to the high-temperature burns released by the Blazing Sun Eagle.

While the Blazing Sun Eagle's Flash Fire talent can absorb Combusken's fire-attribute skills, Combusken possesses Fighting-type skills as well, and can even tread on air at high speeds.

It can be said that Combusken held the absolute advantage in this battle, not to mention that its Speed Boost Ability had pushed its speed to the limit.

When the Explosive Eight-Stage Kick is unleashed at such extreme speed, its power is far beyond what a low-level thousand-year Soul Beast can withstand.

However, the more powerful a skill is, the greater the burden it places on the body.

The Explosive Eight-Stage Kick is no exception; because every move is performed at extreme speed combined with high-frequency air-treading, its explosive power is immense, leading to a massive consumption of stamina and leg endurance.

After using the Explosive Eight-Stage Kick, Combusken suffers from recoil, causing its legs to temporarily experience pain and exhaustion, rendering it unable to move.

Ye Chen finally catches up using Agility. Seeing Combusken half-kneeling on the ground, he asks with concern, "Combusken, are you alright?"

"Combusken!" Combusken shakes its head to indicate it is fine. It tries to stand up, but the recoil forces it back onto its knees.

Running over to Combusken, Ye Chen takes a plant called Dragon Ganoderma Grass from his bag and feeds it to the creature.

According to the Herb Transcript, Dragon Ganoderma Grass possesses the properties of accelerating healing and restoring Soul Power, making it a low-grade heavenly treasure.

Under normal circumstances, Dragon Ganoderma Grass takes a hundred years to take root and grow into a vine, and a thousand years to sprout leaves.

Dragon Ganoderma Grass with leaves is known as Dragon Ganoderma Leaf; its efficacy in accelerating healing and restoring Soul Power is superior to the grass, and it is considered a higher-grade herb.

Ye Chen has been searching the Sunset Forest for a thousand-year Soul Beast for his second Soul Ring these past few days, and having encountered several stalks of Dragon Ganoderma Grass, he harvested them to use as medicine.

"Combusken!" After consuming the Dragon Ganoderma Leaf, the recoil Combusken suffered vanishes completely. Not only is its body restored to health, but half of its depleted stamina and Soul Power are also recovered.

"Let's go, we need to find a safe place to absorb the Soul Ring." As he speaks, Ye Chen lifts the body of the Blazing Sun Eagle over his head and uses Agility to run toward the entrance of the Sunset Forest.

Combusken follows by his side, providing protection at all times.

About half an hour later.

One kilometer from the entrance of the Sunset Forest.

In a hidden clearing within a small thicket, the Blazing Sun Eagle lies quietly. It had regained consciousness once on the way out of the forest, only for Combusken to knock it out again.

Taking advantage of its unconscious state, Ye Chen uses a dagger to finish it off.

Threads of purple light slowly rise from the body of the Blazing Sun Eagle, converging into an ethereal purple ring.

After recalling Combusken into his body, Ye Chen sits cross-legged on the ground, closes his eyes, and begins to circulate his Soul Power.