"Lin Feng, don't push yourself! I don't want this Soul Ring anymore!" Wang Dong cried out in a hurry, looking at the blood running from Chen Zifeng's shoulder wound.
"I'm fine." Lin Feng glanced back and gave her a reassuring look. "The cave was too narrow for me to move freely. Now that we're outside, it's my turn to show what I can do."
His Fire Lotus was simply too powerful and hard to control. It could easily hurt his own side.
Now that he had no need to hold back, it was the perfect time to test his idea.
He was going to imitate Ning Tian's Ring Fusion secret art and see if he could forcibly fuse two different Exotic Flame Soul Rings.
The next moment, Lin Feng's aura surged.
Blue flames spread silently around him. It was the Blue Silver Nether Fire.
In this primeval forest, it was like a fish in water. It quickly seeped into the surrounding shadows and vegetation, further disrupting the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's already muddled senses.
Right after, the pale, biting flames of the Mystic Ice Spirit Flame flared up, forming streaks of ice that slowed the giant beast's movements.
In the distance, Ling Luochеn tacitly added layer upon layer of ice control, restricting its movements.
Lin Feng raised both hands. Terrifying light began to gather above his palms.
In his left hand, the dark red Nirvana Phoenix Fire twisted upward, condensing into a black Fire Lotus that pulsed with a ferocity capable of burning everything to ash.
In his right hand, the blazing Red Dragon Heart Fire surged forth, gathering into a crimson Fire Lotus that radiated pure, overbearing heat.
Two equally violent top-tier flames, each with a wholly different nature, were forcibly drawn together by his overwhelming Soul Power.
"Fuse!"
Lin Feng's gaze hardened as he pushed the Burning Technique to its limit. The two Fire Lotuses slammed together in front of his chest.
"Vmmmm—!!!"
A piercing shriek of energy exploded, and the air warped.
One black, one red, the two streams of flame tore at each other like a dragon and a phoenix, devouring and entangling one another until they forcibly fused into a black-and-red Fire Lotus with a violently blazing core!
"That attack... could probably kill a Soul King instantly." Chen Zifeng watched from afar, astonishment on his face.
"Dragon Phoenix Fire Lotus, go!"
Lin Feng stopped holding it back and flicked his finger.
The two-colored Fire Lotus drifted soundlessly away.
Just as it was about to touch the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's fur—
"BOOM!!!!!!!"
For an instant, heaven and earth seemed to turn white.
A wave of destruction burst outward, swelling and sweeping in every direction!
Within a radius of dozens of meters, towering ancient trees, solid rocks, dense shrubs... everything was flattened in an instant, burned to charcoal, or vaporized into nothing!
The scorched earth lay bare, with a huge pit several meters deep at its center.
The raging currents of energy slowly died down.
At the center, where scorched smoke billowed, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's massive body stood frozen in place.
Much of its tough, dark-gold fur had been charred and torn away. Its body was covered in dreadful burns and gashes, its face barely recognizable, and its life force had dwindled to almost nothing.
"Wang Dong! It's your turn!" Lin Feng shouted urgently.
Wang Dong snapped out of her daze. She beat her butterfly wings and shot forward, the sharp edges of her wings slicing through the air and precisely piercing the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's heart.
The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's heart gave one last twitch, then fell silent for good.
A deep purple Soul Ring slowly emerged from its battered body.
"Xixi, could you help dissect the corpse and see if it has a Soul Bone?" Lin Feng asked, turning toward Xixi nearby.
"Sure." Xixi blurred from sight and appeared beside the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's charred remains. Her dagger flashed coldly as she cut and separated the carcass with swift, precise movements.
"There really is a Soul Bone!" Xixi paused, a hint of delight in her voice, and pulled a bloodstained bone fragment from the heap of flesh.
The bone was dark gold. Even untreated, it naturally radiated terrifying Soul Power fluctuations.
"It's the rarest kind, too—a palm bone!" Chen Zifeng exclaimed, forcing himself to stand despite the pain in his shoulder. His eyes widened in astonishment.
Just as Lin Feng was about to step forward and inspect it, Xixi gave a quiet gasp. "Wait... there's another one! It's a palm bone, too!"
Everyone froze at her words, then crowded around.
"What luck..." Chen Zifeng stared at the two similarly shaped dark-gold palm bones in Xixi's hands, one left and one right, his eyes shining. "The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear is a top-tier Soul Beast with both offense and defense, and its chance of producing a Soul Bone isn't low. But most are skulls or arm bones, which mainly provide defensive enhancements. The parts that provide offensive enhancements usually come from the palms of its terrifying claws, and they're extremely rare. The academy records mention a senior who once happened upon a ten-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear palm bone. Thanks to its ability to grow stronger alongside its owner, he advanced to Super Douluo in just a few short years."
Ling Luochеn's cool gaze swept over the two palm bones, then turned to Lin Feng. She spoke with a pleased smile. "Lin Feng, you did the most work, and close-quarters combat is your weakness. These two palm bones should go to you."
"Mm, Lin Feng really is the best choice. You're strong, too, so you should be able to absorb them safely," Wang Dong agreed with a nod.
"I agree that Lin Feng should have them," Chen Zifeng said readily. Xixi also nodded silently.
Looking at his companions' sincere expressions, Lin Feng stopped refusing and smiled openly. "In that case, I'll accept."
"The three of us will keep watch. You two hurry and absorb the Soul Ring and Soul Bones. We shouldn't stay here long," Chen Zifeng said, making arrangements at once.
"All right," Lin Feng and Wang Dong replied together. They sat cross-legged and began absorbing the Soul Ring and Soul Bones in front of them.
Thanks to the solid foundation they had built by taking Whale Rubber many times, their physiques far surpassed those of their peers.
The energy of the Soul Ring and the violent power contained in the Soul Bones sent waves of force surging through them, but caused no serious difficulty.
Before long, the two had finished absorbing them.
"Get ready to leave," Ling Luochеn warned, having kept a close watch on their surroundings. She sensed other Soul Beasts in the distance, drawn by the aftermath of the battle and closing in.
The others understood. They didn't linger, and the five of them immediately followed the route they had planned on the way in, each using their own abilities to retreat quickly toward the forest's outskirts.
Some flew low on beating wings, some leapt through the trees, and some sprinted along the ground.
"Roar—!"
They had barely gone far when the brush ahead and to one side exploded apart. A huge lion, its body wreathed in crimson flames, lunged out!
Judging by its aura, it was between eight and nine thousand years old. The scent of blood had clearly drawn it here.
"Just in time."
A glint of eager anticipation flashed in Lin Feng's eyes.
He jerked his arms up and crossed them in front of his chest, giving a low shout.
A faint crack sounded from the joints of his fingers. Dark-gold light coursed beneath his skin, and the tips of all ten fingers suddenly sharpened and lengthened, turning into ten fearsome claws that gleamed with a cold, dark-gold light.
His arms took on a metallic dark-gold sheen, brimming with power.
The wounds where the claws had broken through his fingertips healed almost instantly. The claws and his arms became one, as though they had always been that way.
"Sky-Ripping Claw!"
Facing the lunging Flame Lion, Lin Feng neither dodged nor retreated. He swung both arms across in a cross-slash.
Ten sharp, dark-gold claw strikes tore through the air, moving so fast they left intersecting streaks of light behind. The gusts they raised seemed capable of ripping everything apart.
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