Sixth Soul Ring

Before this, Ye Guchen had prodded Sky Dream Ice Silkworm with his mental power inside the Martial Soul Space.

"What's the matter, Boss?"

Seeing that Ye Guchen was finally paying attention to him, Tian Meng wriggled his chubby body and rubbed against Ye Guchen's mental form, sniffling.

"Boss~ You're finally paying attention to me. Sob, sob."

Ye Guchen looked at the greasy bug before him, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Enough. I need your help with something."

"Just say the word, Boss. I'd gladly die a thousand deaths for you!"

"Wait for my signal!"

As the countdown ended, Ye Guchen's eyes snapped open. He launched a soul attack at the fifty-thousand-year-old Magma Demon Lion.

The intense mental assault made its head throb as if it were being torn apart.

"Roar...!"

The Magma Demon Lion rose furiously and pounced at Ye Guchen.

The ground shattered beneath its claws. Every step left behind a charred crater half a meter deep.

It was determined to tear apart this human ant who didn't know his place.

As Ye Guchen kept harassing it with his mental power, the Magma Demon Lion sprang up again in a rage and spat a beam of fire at the human provoking it.

The instant the beam grazed through the air, the rocks along its path began to melt, dark-red bubbles rising to the surface.

Ye Guchen dodged sideways, but the wave of heat still licked a red welt onto his cheek.

He immediately borrowed Xiao Hong's ability to fly, forming a pair of fiery wings behind him and soaring into the air.

Ye Guchen knew full well that with his Soul King Soul Power, even if his combat strength rivaled that of a high-ranked Soul Emperor, he stood no chance against a fifty-thousand-year-old Magma Demon Lion on the ground.

He might as well seize the skies, exploit its inability to fly, and lure it into the ambush.

"Roar!"

Seeing the provoking human suddenly take flight, the Magma Demon Lion grew even more furious and repeatedly fired beams of flame at Ye Guchen.

But Ye Guchen narrowly dodged them all with his nimble movements.

Every so often, he also launched ice spikes at the Magma Demon Lion below.

When provoking a fire-type Soul Beast, the most effective tactic was naturally to attack it with the ice-type skills it hated most.

Just as expected, the Magma Demon Lion smashed a paw into the earth. The rocks beneath it cracked outward in a spiderweb pattern, and it used the recoil to spring toward Ye Guchen, determined to tear apart the human who dared provoke it.

Seeing that it had lost its reason, Ye Guchen stopped engaging it and pretended to be overwhelmed, retreating toward the ambush.

"Listen up. I've lured the Magma Demon Lion over. When it arrives, Luochеn will block its escape route. The rest of you, seize your chance."

"Understood!"

Everyone circulated their Soul Power, watching the Magma Demon Lion draw closer on the mental map as they aimed their ready Soul Skills toward the valley below.

"It's here!"

Ye Guchen's figure streaked across the valley before stopping inside it.

The rocks in the valley began to tremble violently, shedding countless tiny fragments.

Everyone crouched in unison, their leg muscles tensed and ready to spring out at any moment.

"Now!"

The moment the Magma Demon Lion entered the encirclement, everyone unleashed the Soul Skills they had built up to their limits.

Every Soul Skill struck the Magma Demon Lion's massive body squarely.

"Roar!"

The Magma Demon Lion cried out in pain. Blood gushed from a gash in its shoulder and splattered against the rock wall with a sizzling hiss. It turned to flee, but just then, Ling Luochеn and Xiao Bing blocked the entrance.

The Ice Jade Scorpion brandished its two massive pincers and exhaled a blast of cold air. The chill instantly formed into ice spikes, forcing back the fifty-thousand-year-old fire-type Magma Demon Lion.

Everyone gasped at the sight.

Dai Yueheng stared at the point where the cold air met the Magma Demon Lion's flames.

Thick mist billowed from the boundary between ice and fire. The air warped into transparent ripples, yet the ice did not immediately melt, and the flames could advance no farther.

But the Magma Demon Lion was a fifty-thousand-year Soul Beast, while that Ice Jade Scorpion was only twenty thousand years old.

"So this is Ultimate Ice. Truly terrifying!"

Ever since Ye Guchen had made an exceptional entry into the inner court, he had kept an extremely low profile and never truly shown his full strength.

Just this Ice Jade Scorpion, which could grow alongside him, was enough to offer a glimpse of Ye Guchen's power.

When all four of his spirit beasts gathered, he had only fifty levels of Soul Power, but their combat strength was definitely no worse than Ma Xiaotao's at level sixty.

"Ice Seal!"

The wall formed from Ultimate Ice could hold it back for a moment.

Just then, an unexpected turn of events took place.

With its escape route blocked by the ice wall, the Magma Demon Lion threw back its head and let out a piercing shriek. It wasn't a cry of anger. It was calling for help.

Visible golden-red ripples spread out from it, crashing against the valley walls and rebounding in layers. The entire valley hummed and vibrated.

"Damn it!" Ling Luochеn's expression changed. "It's calling the lion pack!"

Chen Zifeng's face paled. "The Lion King will hear—"

"I know." Ye Guchen cut him off, his voice still calm.

Everyone sensed it at once: at the edge of the mental map, a terrifyingly vast source of energy was rapidly turning in their direction.

Deep within the Magma Mountain Range, a crimson pillar of fire shot into the sky, setting half of it ablaze in deep orange.

Even from several li away, the tremors in the air caused by its roar made their feet go numb.

The Lion King was rushing back.

Much faster than expected.

"Tian Meng, now!"

Ye Guchen didn't hesitate any longer.

A vast surge of mental power shot from his eyes.

This attack was a beam of spiritual light infused with the power of Tian Meng, a million-year Soul Beast, and released through Ye Guchen's Soul King body.

The beam was like a blade. It instantly shattered the Magma Demon Lion's sea of consciousness.

The Magma Demon Lion's pupils suddenly dilated.

It was as if an invisible pane of glass had shattered inside its skull.

Only Ye Guchen could hear that faint, fatal sound, like a mirror breaking.

The Magma Demon Lion's body still carried the momentum of its pounce, but it had already fallen unconscious.

Its enormous body, five meters tall and around ten meters long, toppled sideways with a thunderous crash.

The flying shards clattered against the valley walls. A fine rain of stones continued falling for a full three seconds before it finally stopped.

The valley suddenly fell silent—terrifyingly silent.

Dai Yueheng felt as though his breathing had grown ten times louder.

He stared at the motionless carcass on the ground, his back drenched in cold sweat before he even realized it.

That hadn't been a battle. It had been an execution.

If that attack had hit me... He didn't dare follow the thought any further. He only clenched his fists tighter until his knuckles cracked.

"I won't let you leave me too far behind—never."

"Roar~!"

The instant the Magma Demon Lion fell, the Lion King's furious roar rang out in the distance.

It was no longer a sound. It was a solid wall of fire surging out from the depths of the mountain range.

Birds several li away had no time to escape. They were blasted apart in midair, bursting into clouds of blood.

The Magma Lion King watched the Fire Luan Bird that kept fleeing without attacking. Then, as the Soul Power mark it had left on its kin began to fade, it realized it had been tricked.

That was no ordinary Soul Power mark.

It was a blood-contract brand—a soul mark that only a direct descendant could bear.

That fifty-thousand-year-old Magma Demon Lion was its son.

"Despicable!"

The Lion King had never imagined that the Soul Beast before it would be working with humans.

"Traitor to the Soul Beasts!"

Lava-like tears of blood welled in the Lion King's eyes. As it roared, flames soared around it, reducing the trees within a hundred meters to charred stumps in an instant.

It charged madly toward the lion pack.

Every step shook the earth. Ancient trees snapped in half along its path, and a burning ravine stretched across the forest behind it.

"Caw~!"

Xiao Hong let out a piercing cry and attacked with Fire Feather, trying to hold the Magma Demon Lion back.

But the Magma Demon Lion had eyes only for the fading Soul Power mark in the distance. It had no attention to spare for the annoying Fire Luan Bird.

It charged straight toward the lion pack without a care for anything else.

Seeing that the Magma Demon Lion was no longer falling for its bait, Xiao Hong contacted Ye Guchen through their contract and told him everything that had happened.

"Not good!"

Ye Guchen's Spiritual Detection had already picked up the terrifying source of Soul Power closing in at high speed. It was moving too fast—at least thirty percent faster than he had expected.

"The Lion King is returning to its lair. It's locked onto us. We have to leave with the Magma Demon Lion's body before it gets back!"

"Also..." For the first time, Ye Guchen's voice carried unmistakable urgency.

"It has some kind of connection with this Magma Demon Lion. It can sense where the body is. We have to sever that connection."

Everyone's expressions grew graver than ever.

The Magma Demon Lion before them was five meters tall and around ten meters long. Its body was simply too massive. Carrying it away would be difficult, and it would leave a trail that could be tracked.

Ye Guchen didn't waste time. He took out the Treasure Tome and recalled Xiao Hong.

No matter how far away his spirit beasts were, Ye Guchen could summon them back in an instant. Likewise, he could use a spirit beast as a marker and arrive at its side.

"Caw!"

At Xiao Hong's clear cry, Ye Guchen summoned it from the Treasure Tome once more.

"Xiao Hong, we need to take it with us. We can only store it in your space for now."

"Caw~"

Xiao Hong's reply came from Ye Guchen's sea of consciousness, and it sounded rather cheerful.

"That's wonderful! A Soul Beast this big will keep me fed for a whole week!"

Every spirit beast in the Contract Grimoire had a small world best suited to its needs.

Only Ye Guchen and his spirit beasts could bring others inside, but Ye Guchen still gave his spirit beasts plenty of freedom in their own spaces. Whenever he needed to borrow one of them, he would tell them in advance and show them the respect they deserved.

"Caw~!"

With Xiao Hong back, moving the enormous Magma Demon Lion became easy.

Feeling the blood-contract connection sever completely, the Magma Lion King flew into a rage.

It knew.

It knew its second son was dead.

Even their blood-contract connection had been forcibly severed.

"Roar-----!!!"

The Lion King ordered the entire pack to search for the intruders.

That was no longer a roar. It was a blood-red wave of Soul Power, spreading outward from the Lion King and covering several li in every direction throughout the Magma Mountain Range.

The lion pack instantly erupted into chaos, racing through the Magma Mountain Range and roaring. The eyes of every Magma Demon Lion burned with the same blood-red light.

It was the Lion King's fury, shared among them.

They swore to drag out the intruders and grind their bones to dust.

But the pack had realized what happened too late.

With Spiritual Detection and their shared awareness aiding them, the group held their breath and moved slowly along the shadows clinging to the mountainside. Several times, patrolling Magma Demon Lions rushed past less than ten meters above them. Scalding saliva dripped onto the places they had just stood, scorching hissing craters into the rock.

But in the end, they made it through without incident.

The moment they left the Magma Mountain Range, everyone let out the breath they had held for far too long, almost in unison.

"Roar~!"

By the time the Lion King returned, the intruders had long since vanished from the Magma Mountain Range.

It stood where its son's aura had last disappeared, in the valley already trampled into ruins. The heat slowly faded from its body, replaced by an even more frightening silence.

It had never even seen its opponent's face.

Who had killed its son?

Who had toyed with it?

It knew nothing.

The Lion King stood alone in the middle of the pack and slowly raised its head, letting out a hoarse roar.

It wasn't anger.

It was grief.

The mountains returned its cries in waves of echoes, as though the entire Magma Mountain Range mourned alongside it.

After they had moved far from the Magma Mountain Range and confirmed that the blood-contract tracking had completely failed, Ye Guchen released the unconscious Magma Demon Lion.

The sky beyond the valley was a clear, deep blue. Unlike the year-round fiery clouds over the Magma Mountain Range, clouds drifted here, and the white peaks of distant mountains were visible.

But no one was in the mood to admire the view.

"Sister Xiaotao, let's deal with it here. We'll keep watch for you."

"Okay."

Ma Xiaotao didn't hesitate. She aimed at the demon lion's head and released a fireball.

Before the demon lion could feel its final agony, a deep-black Soul Ring appeared, radiating a cold, eerie light in the night and proclaiming its death.

Everyone stared silently at the Soul Ring. The silence lasted a full three seconds.

"Second Soul Skill: Orange Soul. Fourth Soul Skill: Healing Green."

Two streams of auxiliary light broke the silence, enveloping everyone and restoring them to peak condition.

They were the auxiliary lights of Gongyang Mo's Rainbow Dragon Martial Soul.

"Truly worthy of being a top-tier support Martial Soul, on par with the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda!"

As Ye Guchen felt the effects of the support, his fatigue gradually ebbed away. He couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement. Looks like my fifth pet beast will have to be at least one with eighty or ninety percent of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda's abilities!

Though the Douluo Continent was vast, finding a suitable pet beast was still a bit of a hassle.

"Then I'll be counting on all of you!"

Ma Xiaotao gave everyone a clasped-fist salute, then sat cross-legged and released her Soul Power, drawing in the fifty-thousand-year Soul Ring.

With the Soul Hunting target taken care of, the suffocating tension in the valley finally began to fade. Chen Zifeng let out a long breath, then sidled over with a cheeky grin.

"Brother Guchen, don't you have four pet beasts? How come you've only shown us two?"

"Hey, I know!" Gongyang Mo raised his hand and came over. "He has a Geng Metal White Tiger pet beast, and it's with the outer courtyard's campus belle!"

"He says he left it there to protect her, but the real reason, well... tsk, tsk."

He finished with a meaningful look at Ye Guchen.

Everyone chuckled softly, their laughter echoing through the valley. At last, there was some relief in the air now that the mission was complete.

But Dai Yueheng didn't laugh.

Leaning against the rock wall, he watched Ye Guchen's profile, the image of the Magma Demon Lion being taken down replaying in his mind again and again.

His gaze grew complicated as he looked at Ye Guchen. There was always a faint confidence about the man before him; from beginning to end, he had remained so composed.

"I suppose that even on your own, you could've taken down that demon lion with ease, couldn't you? Just how much of your strength have you been hiding?"