"Roar, roar, roar!!"
A piercing cry that seemed to strike straight into the depths of the soul rang out. The Bone Dragon, whose strength Elder Yi had restrained to that of a Soul Saint, thrust out all four claws and charged straight through the storm.
The Bone Dragon crushed most of the densely packed Skeleton Soldier fodder beneath its feet. Everywhere it passed, the sound of Soul Fire burrowing into the earth rang out.
And Xu Qing was still... charging up?
Holy crap!!
I don't even have a Soul Beast illusion yet!!?
I thought I had one! Why is engraving this thing so troublesome?!
That's right. Xu Qing's first Soul Skill, Go All Out, dealt damage by conjuring an illusion of a Soul Beast.
Because a body-type Soul Master's Martial Soul was their own flesh, any injury meant damage to their Martial Soul, making it extraordinarily fragile.
His strength was waning...
There wasn't enough time.
Thinking this, Xu Qing simply stopped trying to sketch out a Soul Beast and moved on to something else. At once, the gloves in his Sea of Consciousness covered his hands.
"Whoosh—"
An oppressive aura swept in, blotting out the sky and sun.
The enormous boss finally arrived above Xu Qing. It opened its cavernous jaws, its icy bone fangs interlocking. Rotten zombies could even be seen between its teeth.
It gathered an aura of utter death, and a black sphere appeared in its mouth, rapidly growing larger!
The Skeleton Soldier fodder below kept charging, as though they couldn't feel the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
They swarmed toward him, but the moment they touched the ice, the extreme cold fractured their already exceedingly fragile bones. They fell to the ground, and before they could get back up, the next Skeleton Soldier trampled them to pieces.
It's coming... a beam on par with a Soul Saint's strike...
Elder Yi, hidden in the shadows, thought this, yet he showed not the slightest trace of concern. He was perfectly calm.
His spiritual power rested on the Bone Dragon. From this strange perspective, he observed Xu Qing's every move.
"BOOM—!!!"
At last, the death hanging overhead came crashing down!
The pressure felt like thousands upon thousands of tons of rain gathering in the sky and falling all at once.
Bzzzz...
What!!
Elder Yi was stunned! He couldn't make sense of it!
Xu Qing had merely raised one hand... No!
It was that pair of gloves!
He had only lifted his left hand and spread his fingers, meeting the eerie purple beam with his pitch-black glove.
The death energy continuously eroded the surface of this Level Six Soul Tool.
Xu Qing didn't feel the slightest bit of heartache. After all, Tian Meng, you little bastard, your skin was tough as hell.
A mere Soul Saint's strike?
Who are you looking down on? Bring on a Titled Douluo!
I'll take on ten!!
That was what Xu Qing was thinking right now.
"Your skin sure comes in handy, Tian Meng."
He shifted his feet and dodged to the side. The dangerous beam grazed past Xu Qing and slammed into the ice platform below.
"Defense test complete... Next up... attack power."
Whoosh!
Xu Qing vanished from where he stood!
Elder Yi's heart lurched! Was that a spatial Soul Skill? No! Had he merely jumped up by pushing off hard with both legs!?
Could a Soul Ancestor really have this kind of physical strength!?
The next instant, Xu Qing appeared directly above Elder Yi's field of vision—in other words, right over the Bone Dragon's head.
His golden ring instantly shrank, then silently stood upright behind Xu Qing's head, shining brilliantly!
"Tenfold Strength Normal Punch!"
Roar!!
An astonishing aura solidified around him. His dark eyes were dyed a brilliant golden hue.
He hung in midair, one leg thrust sharply back, both hands drawn far apart as if pulling a bow.
BOOM—!!
Ugh... I'm so dizzy...
Elder Yi's view began to spin. Unable to see clearly, he had no choice but to withdraw this wisp of his lingering consciousness. Only then did he see what was really happening.
The Bone Dragon was tumbling through the air and crashing toward the ground, a fist-shaped impression stamped clearly into its hardest skull!
"Phew..."
I'd actually used up seventy percent of my Soul Power.
Though I had channeled some Soul Power into it at the moment of impact to increase its mass.
But still...
Xu Qing shook his hand. White smoke was rising from it.
Rumble!
The Bone Dragon slammed into the ground. The Skeleton Soldiers had already been mostly shattered by the shock waves; now some were dead, and the rest were maimed.
"...Is this all I can do?"
Xu Qing was a little dissatisfied. His Soul Power was far too inefficient. He'd used up more than half of it with just one punch.
Did that mean I could only throw one punch with all this invincible strength of mine?
That wouldn't do!
Looks like I'll have to conserve it from now on and rely on my body instead.
"Roar..."
The Bone Dragon let out an unwilling cry. The fist-shaped dent slowly cracked as it moved.
A faint, ghostly blue flame gradually emerged.
One punch had knocked its Soul Fire loose.
Xu Qing naturally noticed the movement below, so he released the spiritual power supporting him from beneath. Without that feeble force,
he plummeted toward the ground almost instantly.
But at the moment he hit, he bent his knees and hunched forward, relying on his powerful muscles and perfect control over his body.
He directly canceled out the impact.
This was the battle technique Xu Qing had figured out!
Dissipate Force!
"Uh... So there's more than one Bone Dragon..."
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and peered into the distance, straining his eyesight to its limit.
He spotted several long, wormlike figures in the sky.
For several days in a row, Xu Qing spent his time this way.
First, fighting was exhilarating. Second, it let him avoid the old man's poison-immunity package.
Even with willpower like Xu Qing's, he couldn't keep a straight face in front of Cthulhu Medicinal Cuisine.
Let alone swallow it.
Xu Qing used to treat it as a way to train his willpower, but now he understood.
"Is this old man trying to dye my skin the same shade of green as his?"
"Heh... My own natural skin is already handsome enough. There's really no need."
"What's no need?"
Speak of the devil.
Green Old Monster stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his pectorals bulging like they were about to pop out.
"It's time to head to the Far North. Titan Snow Demons are already rare, and they live in the dangerous core region. It won't be easy to hunt one for a Soul Ring without any trouble."
"We have to go early. The time spent going back and forth isn't something to sneeze at!"
"Time is money! Money is strength! Strength is..."
Smack!
Xu Qing patted Du Busi on the shoulder, cutting off the old man's rambling. He said nonchalantly,
"Anyway, things are different for you now. Once you've fully formed a Soul Core, you don't have to worry about your rank dropping from using Gold-Level Awakening too much."
"With an invincible bodyguard like you, old man, I can punch my way through Star Dou, kick my way across the Far North, and roam Douluo Continent, invincible wherever I go."
"Ugh, every day it's nag, nag, nag. So annoying..."
As he spoke, Xu Qing turned and walked away, waving a hand over his shoulder.
"Hey! You little brat!"
"And you're a blind bear..."
"..."
Only now did Du Busi finally understand what Old Jin meant when he'd talked about the rebellious phase...
He'd raised Xu Qing from a baby, cleaning up after him and feeding him every step of the way.
Without even turning his head, Xu Qing plopped down in a shady spot beneath the eaves, on the steps.
Yet he seemed to have read minds, knowing exactly what Du Busi was thinking.
"If you'd taught me how to form a Soul Core sooner, I might've considered listening to you just a tiny bit."
Before you continue