The Molten Heart Stone-Throwing Ape died instantly, and a purple Soul Ring slowly emerged.
With the Soul Ring safely in hand, Zhang Yang finally breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly changed magazines, then aimed his gun at the Rock Mountain Lord in the distance.
The battlefield now looked like this: the enormous Rock Mountain Lord was roaring low, its Soul Power fluctuating wildly as it flew into a rage.
Yan, now three meters tall, was trying to keep it occupied and buy time.
Beside Zhang Yang, Xie Yue and Hu Liena were performing a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
As for Zhang Yang, who had just taken down the Molten Heart Stone-Throwing Ape, he was already springing into action.
He darted between the branches, actively searching for an opening.
"Roar!"
The Rock Mountain Lord's paw collided with Yan's fists. Yan flew backward, dissipating the impact, while the Rock Mountain Lord let out an enraged roar.
"Now's my chance. Second Soul Skill: Armor-Piercing Declaration!"
The first and second Soul Rings beneath Zhang Yang's feet lit up at once as he hung in midair.
Second Soul Skill: Armor-Piercing Declaration.
Effect: Once activated, the next five bullets gain the "ignores physical defense" property. They strike the target's body directly and are highly effective against armor, scales, hardened skin, and similar defenses. Their effect is reduced against pure energy defenses.
The first and second Soul Skills activated simultaneously.
The next moment, Zhang Yang squeezed the trigger. Five bullets, sharp as awls, pierced through the Soul Power shielding around the Rock Mountain Lord without resistance. They entered through its open mouth and burst out the back of its head, spraying flowers of blood.
"!"
The Rock Mountain Lord's roar cut off. The swampy, earth-element Soul Power surging around it instantly fell into disarray.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
Zhang Yang seized the opening and held down the trigger.
"Ha! Third Soul Skill: Hellfire!"
Yan stepped into a bow stance and clenched his right fist. A searing, dark-red light burst from it as violent Soul Power gathered around his knuckles.
Once he had built up enough power, Yan threw a punch. A blaze of scorching heat and intense light surged toward the Rock Mountain Lord.
The violent, searing fire-element Soul Power tore apart the Rock Mountain Lord's disordered earth-element Soul Power like a blade. Flames as hot as those from hell engulfed it in an instant.
"Bang."
Landing on the branch of another tree, Zhang Yang fired the last bullet in his drum magazine, then swapped in a fresh one.
Right after, his first Soul Skill lit up again. He lowered his head, took aim, and fired in an instant.
"Whoo-whoo, gah! Gah-gah!"
The little Molten Heart Stone-Throwing Ape that had been lurking in the distance and spying on the battle took a bullet to the head and died on the spot. A white ten-year Soul Ring drifted out.
The little thing had watched its parents' Soul Rings emerge and still hadn't run for its life. It was clearly harboring ill intent, waiting for a chance to do something wicked. It couldn't be allowed to live.
"Phew." Yan withdrew his fist and watched the Rock Mountain Lord burn like a torch in the distance, his gaze full of pride.
A sharp whoosh split the air. Two Moon Blades crossed the night sky, their keen edges catching the cold light as they slashed straight through the Rock Mountain Lord.
With two swishes, like blades cutting through worn leather, the figure of the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Demonic Charm, appeared beside Yan and came to a stop. "It's stopped moving. Looks like it's dead."
The pride on Yan's face grew even stronger.
Zhang Yang leaped down to the ground and joined them. He didn't look at the Rock Mountain Lord, but instead turned to Demonic Charm.
Its long red hair streamed behind it, and its face had become androgynous, impossible to identify as male or female. Its voice sounded as though Xie Yue and Hu Liena were speaking the same words in unison.
"A Martial Soul Fusion Skill? That's kind of interesting." Zhang Yang smiled.
Without any fire-element Soul Power to feed it, the flames quickly died down. The Rock Mountain Lord, burned to charcoal, lay on the ground, its purple Soul Ring floating in the air above it.
"Check the area and clear out any potential threats," Demonic Charm ordered.
Zhang Yang and Yan nodded, and the three of them quickly split up.
Zhang Yang circled the area but didn't find any Soul Beasts that were more than a hundred years old.
That made sense. Three thousand-year Soul Beasts had been fighting for so long that even if other Soul Beasts had been nearby, they would have fled in fright. What kind of fool would stay here and wait to be found?
Not long after Zhang Yang returned, Yan and the two who had ended their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Xie Yue and Hu Liena, came back one after another.
After confirming the area was safe, Xie Yue turned to Zhang Yang. "Zhang Yang, you can absorb the Soul Ring now. The three of us will keep watch."
"Then I'm grateful to all three of you." Zhang Yang nodded and sat cross-legged. He rested the M14 on his legs, and the thousand-year Soul Ring from the Molten Heart Stone-Throwing Ape in the distance quickly drifted over and settled around the M14's barrel.
"Whoosh!"
Xie Yue, Hu Liena, and Yan immediately took up positions in a triangle, protecting Zhang Yang in the middle.
"Honestly, there's not much to keep watch for. Didn't we already clear out the whole area?" Yan couldn't help saying after standing guard for a little while.
"People who drown are always the ones who know how to swim." Xie Yue's voice remained steady. "Don't let your guard down. Stay focused through the last watch."
Yan reluctantly pursed his lips and turned his gaze back to the distance.
Just then, Hu Liena spoke up. "Yan, I didn't expect your Hellfire to hit so hard."
Hu Liena could tell that Yan was in a particularly awkward state of mind.
In truth, Yan had already accepted Zhang Yang as a member of the Xie Yue Squad.
First of all, the Pope, Bibi Dong, wanted Zhang Yang to join the squad.
It was an immense pressure that couldn't be resisted. It weighed on Yan so heavily that he had to find reasons to convince himself to accept Zhang Yang.
So, pushed by that pressure, Yan had to observe Zhang Yang and try to find a reasonable basis for accepting him.
As the saying went, once you suspected your neighbor of stealing your axe, everything he did looked suspicious. If you went looking for reasons with your answer already decided, you could find them by the handful.
Yan had plenty of reasons to convince himself, including but not limited to, "It's good to have another long-range fighter on the team," "He's making an effort to fit in," and "More hands are always useful," among many others.
All right. Yan had now accepted the fact that Zhang Yang would become his teammate. So why did he still act as if he and Zhang Yang were at odds?
Boys in their rebellious years always cared about saving face.
If he changed his attitude after only a few days, wouldn't that mean he was a fickle person with no mind of his own?
What Hu Liena needed to do now was gradually untangle Yan's emotional knot.
And the first step was to praise him.
Then she could give him a way to back down gracefully.
At Hu Liena's words, Xie Yue nodded too. "That's true. The Rock Mountain Lord is no easy Soul Beast to deal with."
"Yan's Flame Lord really is a top-tier special Beast Martial Soul. Who would've thought its third Soul Skill would be so powerful?"
"Heh, I was also especially sensitive to earth-element Soul Power fluctuations, so I caught that brief opening."
Hu Liena said, "Yan's Flame Lord is a top-tier Martial Soul with both fire and earth attributes, so it's only natural he's sensitive to earth-element Soul Power."
"And it boosts fire-element Soul Skills to an extraordinary degree, too."
Xie Yue praised him. "It only took me and Nana a moment to transform, and your third Soul Skill had already burned the Rock Mountain Lord to death."
"Just from the sound of my Moon Blades cutting into its flesh, I knew it was dead."
As he spoke, Xie Yue released Soul Power to draw over the Rock Mountain Lord's thousand-year Soul Ring.
The thousand-year Soul Ring didn't budge.
Yan laughed heartily, his expression brightening. "I didn't expect my third Soul Skill to hit so hard either. It was a thousand-year Soul Beast with an earth attribute, yet it burned to death just like that."
With that, Yan deliberately struck a handsome pose. He lifted his chin, planted one hand on his hip, stretched the other out, and made a stylish beckoning gesture.
Thousand-year Soul Ring: "..."
The moment was utterly awkward.
Yan's face instantly filled with embarrassment.
"Ha, haha, I must not have controlled my Soul Power properly just now."
Yan looked at the Soul Ring in the distance and, unwilling to give up, tried again.
Thousand-year Soul Ring: "..."
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