Chrysanthemum Duelist's Instant Kill of the Shadow Mantis, Qin Xuan's First Spirit Skill

The mixed zone in the northeast of the Star Dou Great Forest.

In a grove of withered trees.

A jet-black mantis, roughly a zhang in length, appeared to be chewing on something.

Beside it lay the mangled carcass of another mantis.

This corpse was a size smaller than the living one, seemingly possessing only a few hundred years of cultivation.

Upon seeing this, Qin Xuan stopped fifty meters away from the Shadow Mantis.

Even a thousand-year soul beast cannot escape its animal instincts.

That one lying on the ground is clearly a male mantis.

It seems to have been killed by this female Shadow Mantis quite some time ago; its forelimbs have already been completely devoured.

Just as Qin Xuan was deep in thought, the Shadow Mantis noticed him.

Seeing only a human child who had yet to obtain a soul ring, the Shadow Mantis spread its razor-sharp forearms, flapped its wings with force, and lunged toward Qin Xuan.

"Insolent!"

At that moment, a golden streak of light shot through the air, hurtling toward the Shadow Mantis.

BOOM—

Just as the Shadow Mantis reached Qin Xuan's face, the golden streak struck its abdomen.

It was blasted three zhang away instantly.

As the brilliance faded, Qin Xuan saw that the golden light was nothing more than a single, radiant golden petal!

With just that one strike, the Shadow Mantis's abdomen bled profusely; it was severely wounded and could barely even stand.

Looking up, Qin Xuan saw that it was Yue Guan who had launched the attack.

He had arrived at the scene long ago, merely concealing his aura while hovering in mid-air.

"Little Xuan, go ahead and deliver the finishing blow to the Shadow Mantis," Yue Guan said, retracting his Wonder Velvet Chrysanthemum martial soul as he landed beside Qin Xuan.

"Elder Chrysanthemum is truly worthy of being a Titled Douluo; what a magnificent display of skill!" After offering a polite remark, Qin Xuan summoned the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger.

Although it was currently only a dark, shadowy projection, the three-zhang-tall Nine Nether Evil God Tiger still exuded an immense sense of oppression.

Watching the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger approach with blood-red eyes and a look of greed, the Shadow Mantis's pupils constricted in terror.

Enduring the agonizing pain, it turned to flee.

ROAR—

With a heaven-shaking tiger roar, the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger leaped, pinning the Shadow Mantis to the ground.

It immediately swung a massive paw, striking the Shadow Mantis squarely in the head.

With a loud thud, the mantis's head shattered like a crushed watermelon!

If even a mere shadow projection is this formidable, once I possess the Martial Soul Avatar, wouldn't the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger's divine abilities be enough to instantly kill soul masters of the same rank?

Seeing this, Yue Guan remained calm on the surface, but he was inwardly quite astonished.

A moment later, a purple soul ring emerged from the Shadow Mantis's corpse.

Without a word, Qin Xuan sat down on the spot to begin absorbing the soul ring.

On the other side, the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger did not vanish.

It flicked the barb on its tail, piercing the Shadow Mantis's carcass.

As the barb retracted, a miraculous scene unfolded.

A miniature black hole, three meters in diameter, manifested above the corpse.

Accompanied by the howling of a gale, the black hole erupted with a powerful suction force.

Black, thread-like energy began to flow from the Shadow Mantis's body, all of it drawn into the black hole.

In just a few moments, the essence blood and soul energy of the Shadow Mantis had been completely drained.

Its body now resembled a shriveled balloon; all flesh and blood had vanished, leaving behind nothing but an empty husk.

After completing all this, the phantom of the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger began to dissipate, finally merging into Qin Xuan's body.

This ability is named 'Evil Emperor Hook', and it is far more formidable than the 'Evil God Hook' of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.

The devouring of the Evil Emperor Hook is extremely tyrannical; besides being able to instantly drain a target's soul power, vitality, and essence blood, it can even extract their bloodline to fuse into one's own.

Qin Xuan can also derive the abilities of that soul master or soul beast based on the bloodline, which is truly heaven-defying!

Any target devoured by the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger, whether human or soul beast, will have their soul scattered and destroyed, leaving no chance for reincarnation!

Looking at the calm and composed Qin Xuan, Yue Guan wore a look of astonishment, while a hint of fear flashed in his eyes.

He desperately wanted to ask some questions, but fearing he might disturb Qin Xuan's absorption of the soul ring, he remained silent, only sighing inwardly:

What a Nine Nether Evil God Tiger, to actually possess such a perverse ability as devouring!

Come to think of it, the ability of Qin Xuan's Nine Nether Evil God Tiger seems extremely similar to the legendary Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.

But this devouring speed and power are far superior to that of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger!

If a soul master were to be devoured, wouldn't their soul also be scattered and denied reincarnation?

About half an hour passed.

Qin Xuan's expression remained normal as he sat cross-legged on the ground, though a fine layer of sweat had seeped onto his forehead.

Seeing this, Yue Guan let out a heavy sigh of relief.

After all, absorbing a thousand-year cultivation for a first soul ring is a serious leap in level, far exceeding the physical limits of a soul master.

From ancient times to the present, there has never been a precedent for absorbing a thousand-year level soul ring as a first ring.

If Qin Xuan could successfully absorb a thousand-year soul ring, he would undoubtedly be creating a miracle!

Thinking of this, Yue Guan's eyes burned with heat, filled with anticipation.

On the other side, Qin Xuan, who was currently absorbing the energy of the soul ring, also felt very surprised.

He had prepared himself to endure the pain that the energy impact would bring to his internal organs.

However, the expected pain did not arrive.

Instead, the energy of the thousand-year soul ring flowed like a gentle stream, gradual and steady, making the absorption process very smooth.

As for the resentment of the thousand-year soul beast, it was not even worth mentioning.

The moment the Shadow Mantis's resentment appeared in his sea of consciousness, it was devoured by the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger; it didn't even have a chance to fight back...

Another ten minutes passed.

Qin Xuan suddenly opened his eyes and stood up, his aura surging sharply.

A purple soul ring rose from beneath his feet.

"Good heavens, it only took forty minutes to successfully absorb a thousand-year soul ring!" Yue Guan quickly darted to Qin Xuan's side, saying in disbelief.

Hearing this, Qin Xuan responded with a joyful expression:

"I didn't expect the absorption to be so fast either."

"This is all thanks to the might of the Nine Nether Evil God Tiger."

"If I had rashly attempted a thousand-year soul ring with just an ordinary White Tiger martial soul, I would have ended up exploding and dying."

Yue Guan said with great emotion: "Absorbing a thousand-year level for your first soul ring, Xiao Xuan, you can be considered the first in the entire Douluo Continent."

"Come to think of it, your first soul skill is of the assault type, right? And that Nine Nether Evil God Tiger seems capable of devouring the essence blood of soul beasts and converting it into your own soul power?"

"Yes." Qin Xuan nodded slightly, responding unhurriedly:

"After absorbing this thousand-year soul ring, I broke through to the Great Soul Master realm, rising two levels."

"My first soul skill is called Dark Fire Wind Blade, and it is indeed an assault-type soul skill."

"This skill can instantly fire several blades of fire with extremely strong cutting power, and the range is as far as a hundred meters."

"With my current soul power, I can release up to five fire blades at once."