Jiang Lin's demands weren't high. To play it safe, he wanted at least a fifteen-thousand-year Soul Ring.
On the eighth day in Sunset Forest, Tang Yuan suddenly stopped. He closed his eyes and sensed the area for a moment, then raised a hand and pointed due north.
"Over there. I can sense a Soul Beast with lightning attributes. Its presence is quite strong."
The three of them quietly made their way over.
They crossed an ancient woodland shrouded in mist, and the view ahead suddenly opened up.
It was a circular valley. The surrounding cliffs were covered in scorch marks left by lightning, every plant in the valley had withered, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of ozone.
In the very center of the valley, a Purple Lightning Mad Lion nearly four meters long was lowering its head to tear into a Soul Beast it had just killed.
Its mane was a deep purple, almost black, and thick arcs of electricity leaped across every strand. Its four enormous paws were embedded deep in the ground, and purple current crackling from its claws spread in every direction, reducing every stone it touched to dust.
Jiang Lin's eyelid twitched.
The pressure emanating from this Purple Lightning Mad Lion alone was on an entirely different level from that of the twenty-five-hundred-year-old cub they'd encountered before.
Every breath it took was accompanied by a muffled rumble of thunder, and the air around it crackled under the force of the electricity.
Elder Chen lowered his voice, unable to hide his surprise. "This one... has to be at least twenty-five thousand years old."
Jiang Lin slowly tightened his grip on the Blood Fiend Divine Thunder Halberd. The three blood-red patterns on its shaft lit up of their own accord, as if they sensed their prey, giving off a dim red glow in the gloom.
"Eight days," he said, eyes fixed on the hulking beast in the valley. At last, the corners of his mouth curled up. "Worth it."
Jiang Lin stood at the edge of the circular valley, his Martial Soul already summoned as he looked down at the twenty-five-thousand-year-old Purple Lightning Mad Lion.
His grip on the halberd tightened slightly, his knuckles tapping a silent rhythm against its shaft.
Eight days of searching, countless fruitless trips back and forth—and at last, here was prey worth fighting.
"Uncle Tang, let's move."
Tang Yuan didn't answer. He simply took one step forward.
With that single step, the rock beneath his feet silently sank, leaving a footprint an inch deep. A suffocating pressure swept down into the valley like a rising tide.
Nine Soul Rings blazed around him. The final, dazzling red ring flashed for an instant before he suppressed its light. There was no need to use his full strength against a twenty-five-thousand-year-old Soul Beast.
The Purple Lightning Mad Lion jerked its head up. Its dark purple mane stood on end, and dazzling purple lightning burst from its body.
It sensed the threat, and instinct drove it straight into battle. The muscles in its limbs bulged; then it let out a roar that shook heaven and earth. The sound waves, wrapped in arcs of electricity, spread outward in a ring, reducing the already withered plants in the valley to dust.
Then it pounced.
Twenty-five thousand years of cultivation had given it enough strength to tear apart rock. Its massive claws, wreathed in destructive lightning, came crashing down from midair, so fast they left five purple afterimages in their wake.
"Heh. Not only are you not running, you're actually attacking me..."
Tang Yuan gave a cold laugh, then raised his hand. The Clear Sky Hammer appeared in his grasp.
He swung it lightly. A hammer-shaped imprint, condensed from Soul Power to the utmost degree, appeared out of thin air and landed casually on the Purple Lightning Mad Lion's chest.
The impact boomed like a drumbeat. The Purple Lightning Mad Lion's charge came to an abrupt halt, and its massive body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, slamming into the cliff and smashing into a huge crater several yards deep.
Broken stones pattered down like rain. The Purple Lightning Mad Lion struggled to crawl out of the crater, blood spilling from its mouth and staining the mane on its chest purple. The arcs of electricity around its limbs flickered weakly, its earlier might all but gone.
A Titled Douluo against a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast was a one-sided slaughter.
And Tang Yuan was no ordinary Titled Douluo.
Elder Chen followed up with a Soul Power binding from the flank. The phantom of a Three-Eyed Fire Leopard flickered behind him, and chains of flame pinned the Purple Lightning Mad Lion firmly to the shattered cliff.
Jiang Lin walked up with the Blood Fiend Divine Thunder Halberd in hand. Blood-red light flowed along its blade as he aimed it at the Purple Lightning Mad Lion's brow.
As soon as this halberd strike landed, a black Soul Ring of twenty-five thousand years would be his.
Just then, Tang Yuan suddenly moved.
Without warning, he flashed in front of Jiang Lin. The aura he'd been suppressing burst forth all at once, and his nine Soul Rings lit up again. The red Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring blazed with a dazzling crimson light, no longer held back.
At the same time, two equally immense fluctuations of Soul Power came from the southeastern side of the valley—not one, but two.
Titled Douluo.
And there was more than one.
Elder Chen's expression changed instantly. He fully released his Three-Eyed Fire Leopard Martial Soul and stood shoulder to shoulder with Tang Yuan. Their auras intertwined into a barrier, shielding Jiang Lin behind them.
The air in the valley seemed to freeze. The auras of four Titled Douluo collided in silence, and even the dying Purple Lightning Mad Lion instinctively stopped struggling.
Jiang Lin's hand froze around the Blood Fiend Divine Thunder Halberd.
He slowly raised his head, looking past Tang Yuan's shoulder toward the southeast. A glimmer of blood-red light flickered in his eyes.
"Uncle Tang, who's coming?"
Tang Yuan didn't turn around, but his voice had already returned to its usual indifference. "Two Titled Douluo. I don't recognize them."
After speaking, Tang Yuan looked at Elder Chen.
Elder Chen shook his head too. "Don't look at me. I don't know them either."
Titled Douluo?
In Sunset Forest at a time like this?
Titled Douluo didn't need Soul Rings, so they were most likely accompanying a junior who was there to obtain one.
But who could it be?
Jiang Lin thought about who might need a Soul Ring at this point in time and could have two Titled Douluo escorting them.
Ning Rongrong of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?
No, probably not. Given how much they doted on Ning Rongrong, they would most likely capture the Soul Beast alive and bring it back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Besides, Ning Fengzhi wouldn't send both Sword and Bone Douluo out at the same time.
Then... it could only be her...
Jiang Lin's eyes flickered. He lowered his head and glanced at the Purple Lightning Mad Lion, barely alive at his feet.
"Let's leave for now. Once I've absorbed the Soul Ring, we can go take a look."
Now that Jiang Lin had guessed who the others were, he had no reason to fear them.
Tang Yuan's level-98 cultivation was right there for all to see. There was no way they were going to back down.
But the Purple Lightning Mad Lion was on the verge of death, and Jiang Lin's fourth Soul Ring mattered more right now.
Jiang Lin first struck the Purple Lightning Mad Lion with his halberd to keep it alive, then grabbed its body and prepared to leave.
He struck it to make sure it wouldn't die right away. After all, only the person who delivered the final blow could absorb the Soul Ring.
The others seemed to realize that Jiang Lin's group was no easy target, and didn't approach them.
So the two sides tacitly left each other alone.
Just as Jiang Lin and the others were moving farther and farther away from the other group, an unexpected change occurred!
The tacit understanding between the two sides, which had been holding steady, was shattered in an instant.
Because... a fifth Titled Douluo had appeared!
His presence had entered the range of both sides' perception!
Before you continue