The air was saturated with soul power so dense it was almost tangible, even more abundant than in Spirit Hall's forbidden grounds.
"Perfect."
Qian Daoliu remained calm as six wings unfurled behind him. His golden Angel Martial Soul possessed him, and nine Soul Rings circled his body—eight black and one red—emanating a suffocating pressure.
The space ahead twisted, and an enormous creature stepped out of the void.
It was a pitch-black giant dragon over fifty meters long, its spread wings blotting out the sky.
Its dragon eyes were dark gold, filled with brutality and murderous intent.
Most terrifying of all was the aura surrounding it, black as ink. It was clearly a terrifying Soul Beast of ninety thousand years, nearly one hundred thousand years old!
"A dark-attributed draconic beast?" Qian Daoliu raised an eyebrow slightly. "Interesting."
The Dark Dragon threw back its head and roared, its dragon breath surging forth like a tidal wave.
Qian Daoliu neither dodged nor blocked, allowing the breath, hot enough to melt steel, to slam into him.
Golden light exploded. The dragon breath dispersed, but Qian Daoliu did not move an inch. Even the hem of his robes remained unwrinkled.
"That's all you've got?"
He spoke indifferently and clenched his right hand in the air. The Angel Holy Sword condensed in his palm.
The next instant, Qian Daoliu vanished from where he stood.
The Dark Dragon whipped around, only to see a streak of golden light flash past its side.
Splat—
A rain of blood sprayed from its neck as its massive dragon head flew into the air.
One sword strike had severed its head.
The Dark Dragon did not even have time to let out a second scream before its enormous body crashed to the ground.
At death's door, it struggled madly. Its tail swept across the ground, plowing trenches dozens of meters deep.
But Qian Daoliu was already standing in midair, looking down at the dying beast.
A moment later, the giant dragon finally went still.
At that moment, a dense ball of soul power floated out from the dragon's corpse and shot straight into Qian Daoliu's body.
His entire body trembled. He clearly felt that energy travel through his meridians before finally converging on one of his nine black Soul Rings.
That black Soul Ring began to shake violently, its color changing at a visible rate—from ink-black to dark red, then from dark red to blood-red.
"This is... one hundred thousand years?!"
Even with Qian Daoliu's composure, his pupils abruptly contracted.
He had originally believed that Spirit Pagoda Lv.1 could only raise Soul Rings to the ten-thousand-year level. Raising a black Soul Ring to seventy or eighty thousand years should already have been the limit.
Yet now, that Soul Ring had directly broken through to one hundred thousand years!
Not only that, he could clearly feel the upper limit of his soul power rising wildly as well.
The limit of Rank Ninety-Nine was increasing... the barrier that had plagued him for so long was actually beginning to loosen.
"What an incredible Spirit Pagoda!" Qian Daoliu threw back his head and laughed. "It seems this old man's limits are far greater than this!"
When he exited the Trial Space, the Soul Rings around him had already become seven black and two red.
The two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings complemented each other, and their vast aura made even the ground floor hall of the Spirit Pagoda tremble.
Elsewhere, Golden Crocodile Douluo's trial was just as thrilling.
He entered a swampy region, where corrosive mist filled the air.
Possessed by the Golden Crocodile King Martial Soul, Golden Crocodile Douluo's body expanded to three meters tall. Dark-golden scales covered him from head to toe, while nine Soul Rings—two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red—circled his body.
His opponent was a ten-thousand-year Earth Dragon. Though not as large as the Dark Dragon Qian Daoliu had encountered, it was still twenty meters long, its body covered in rock-like armor and its aura steady and heavy.
Golden Crocodile Douluo grinned. "Just what I wanted!"
Without any fancy movements, he charged forward and wrapped both arms tightly around the Earth Dragon's head.
The Earth Dragon thrashed wildly, churning the swamp into chaos, but Golden Crocodile Douluo's arms were like iron pincers and did not budge in the slightest.
"Get up!"
With a thunderous roar, Golden Crocodile Douluo actually ripped the entire Earth Dragon out of the swamp and smashed it viciously into the ground.
The Earth Dragon's armor cracked, and blood splattered everywhere.
Seizing the advantage, Golden Crocodile Douluo followed up with punch after punch, each carrying the force to split mountains and shatter stones.
After ten punches, the Earth Dragon was completely dead.
The ball of soul power surged into his body, and Golden Crocodile Douluo shuddered.
He could feel one of his two hundred-year yellow Soul Rings begin to pulse frantically. Its yellow color faded into purple, then the purple deepened... until it finally settled into a profound black!
"A ten-thousand-year Soul Ring!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
He had thought it would rise to at most a thousand years, but it had unexpectedly leaped straight to ten thousand years!
The other yellow Soul Ring had also advanced into a thousand-year purple Soul Ring.
The overall increase in his strength far exceeded his expectations.
"Good! Good! Good!" He said "good" three times in succession, a sharp light bursting from his eyes. "At this rate, it won't be long before I, Golden Crocodile, have all black—or even all red—Soul Rings!"
Guangling Douluo's trial was the most straightforward.
He stepped onto an ice field, where cold winds howled and the world was blanketed in white.
It perfectly suited his Martial Soul's attributes.
Possessed by the Guangling Divine Bow Martial Soul, Guangling Douluo clenched his right hand in the air. A longbow, icy blue throughout with golden patterns flowing across its body, condensed in his palm.
The bowstring was twisted from Extreme Cold Ice Silk and Radiant Silkworm Silk, radiating the dual fluctuations of ice and light.
Nine Soul Rings—two yellow, two purple, and five black—circled his body, sparkling brightly against the icy plains.
His opponent emerged from the depths of the ice field: a ten-thousand-year Ice Bear, five meters tall at the shoulder and covered in crystalline ice armor. Every step it took made the ground tremble.
The Ice Bear roared and spewed freezing breath, turning even the air in its path into ice crystals.
Guangling Douluo neither dodged nor retreated, a cold smile curling across his lips.
"Ice and light dual attributes—just the thing to test my bow on!"
He stepped forward with his left foot and drew the bow into a full moon.
An arrow condensed from thin air upon the bowstring. Its shaft was icy blue, yet its arrowhead burned with golden flames of light.
The utterly different energies of ice and light fused perfectly, releasing a palpitation-inducing fluctuation.
The Ice Bear seemed to sense the threat and charged forward with an enraged roar.
Guangling Douluo released the string.
Whoosh—
The arrow tore through the air, trailing a streak of icy-blue light behind it.
It precisely pierced the Ice Bear's left eye and shot out through the back of its head.
The Ice Bear's massive body froze in place. Then ice crystals began spreading from its wound, while golden flames of light scorched it from within.
In less than three breaths, the ten-thousand-year Ice Bear crashed to the ground. Its body was completely frozen on the outside, while its insides had been reduced to charcoal.
"Fifth Soul Skill, Ice-Light Demon-Breaking Arrow." Guangling Douluo lowered his bow and nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad."
The ball of soul power surged into his body.
Guangling Douluo's whole body shook as both of his hundred-year yellow Soul Rings began trembling violently at once.
The yellow faded, and purple emerged—not ordinary pale purple, but a deep shade bordering on purplish-black, only a step away from ten thousand years!
He could feel that both Soul Rings had reached over nine thousand years. One more time, and they would definitely break through to ten thousand years.
"Two thousand-year Soul Rings close to ten thousand years!" A sharp light burst from Guangling Douluo's eyes. "The ice-and-light dual attributes really are fierce. Next time, I'll go straight for ten-thousand-year Soul Rings!"
Excited, he turned several somersaults in the Trial Space before laughing loudly and exiting.
About a quarter of an hour later, the portal flashed, and Qian Daoliu and the other two emerged.
Yet when everyone saw the changes in the three of them, they all drew in a sharp breath.
Nine Soul Rings floated around Qian Daoliu. What had originally been eight black and one red had now become...
Seven black and two red!
Before you continue