First Soul Ring, Great Sun Golden Flame! Devouring a Nine-Hundred-and-Ninety-Nine-Year Soul Beast!

The Sun Crow King swooped down.

Golden-red flames became a blazing blade that split the air and slashed straight at Di Yao.

Hu Liena's heart leaped into her throat.

It was not as though she had never seen anyone hunt soul beasts.

But she had never seen a child without a soul ring confront a mutated soul beast nearly a thousand years old head-on.

This was no longer mere boldness.

He was gambling his life on a blade's edge.

Yue Guan stood nearby, Soul Power faintly gathering at his fingertips.

Gui Mei also watched the shadow beneath Di Yao's feet.

The moment a certain-death situation arose, they would intervene.

But before then, neither moved.

Because this was the path Di Yao had chosen for himself.

The Sun Crow King grew faster and faster.

Its flames had already reached Di Yao's face.

Di Yao did not block it head-on.

He shifted his body sideways, his feet stepping over scorched black stones.

It was a very small step.

Yet it perfectly avoided the Sun Crow King's sharpest claw strike.

Hu Liena's gaze narrowed.

A prediction?

No.

It was more like he had calculated in advance how the Sun Crow King would pounce.

Di Yao held his short blade in a reverse grip, dark gold Soul Power coating its edge.

The instant the Sun Crow King brushed past him, he struck fiercely.

The short blade stabbed three inches beneath its eye.

That was the weak point between the Sun Crow King's skull and beak.

It was also a location not recorded anywhere in the illustrated guide.

He had deduced it himself while observing the Sun Crow King's attacks just now.

"Pfft!"

The short blade plunged in.

The Sun Crow King let out a miserable shriek.

Golden-red flames erupted at once.

Di Yao's right arm was swallowed by fire, his skin crackling as it burned.

Hu Liena's expression changed.

"Di Yao!"

Di Yao seemed not to hear her.

His hand did not loosen.

Not only did he not let go, he instead drove the blade in even harder.

The Sun Crow King struggled madly, one wing lashing across Di Yao's chest.

"Bang!"

Di Yao was knocked half a step back, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

Yet his hand still gripped the short blade tightly.

The dark gold flames in his eyes burned ever brighter.

"Get down here!"

The Dharma Image of Demon Emperor Di Jun emerged behind him.

Golden eyes opened.

The Sun Crow King's movements stalled once more.

In that instant, Di Yao used the momentum to flip over, nearly pressing himself onto its back.

The short blade was pulled free.

Then stabbed again!

This time, it pierced the side of the Sun Crow King's neck.

The Sun Crow King released one final piercing cry.

It desperately tried to take flight, but the moment its wings spread, Di Yao pinned one down with his foot.

"Boom!"

Golden-red flames exploded.

Di Yao was blasted away, rolling twice across the ground.

The flesh of his right arm was mangled.

The robe over his chest was scorched black.

But the Sun Crow King had also fallen to the ground.

Its eyes stared fixedly at Di Yao.

Unwillingness.

Rage.

And a trace of the submission ingrained in a soul beast's instincts.

A moment later, its aura completely dissipated.

A deep yellow soul ring tinged with faint purple slowly rose from the corpse.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine years.

Only one step away from a thousand years.

Looking at that soul ring, Hu Liena felt her throat go dry.

"Is this really a First Soul Ring?"

Yue Guan's voice lowered as well.

"Close to the thousand-year limit."

"And it's a mutated Sun Crow King."

Gui Mei looked at Di Yao.

"It's not too late to give up now."

Di Yao braced himself against the ground and stood.

His right arm was still trembling.

But there was not the slightest hesitation in his eyes.

"The soul beast I killed."

"Is my soul ring."

Hu Liena could not help saying, "You're injured!"

"Absorbing a soul ring like this, the impact of its Soul Power will tear your meridians apart!"

Di Yao sat down cross-legged.

"If they tear, I'll forge them anew."

"If I can't endure it, I'll die."

He said it far too calmly.

So calmly that Hu Liena did not know how to respond for a moment.

Yue Guan glanced at Hu Liena, who was even more nervous than he was, and his smile turned subtly amused.

"Little girl, are you worried?"

Hu Liena immediately put on a cold face.

"Who's worried about him?"

"I'm just afraid the little junior brother Master just took in will die on his first day. It would be hard to explain when we return."

Yue Guan smiled without saying anything.

Di Yao had already closed his eyes.

The soul ring slowly descended.

The instant it touched his body, a violent, scorching surge of Soul Power burst into his meridians.

"Boom!"

Di Yao's body shook violently.

The Sun Crow King's lingering resentment, mixed with berserk flames, rampaged through his body like a crazed beast.

His meridians were stretched apart.

His flesh was scorched.

Even his bones felt as though flames were licking over them inch by inch.

Veins bulged on Di Yao's forehead.

The moment cold sweat appeared, it was evaporated by the heat.

Hu Liena's expression completely changed.

"His aura is in disarray!"

Yue Guan said solemnly, "Don't move."

"This is his own choice."

Di Yao could no longer hear the outside world.

He only felt as though he had been thrown into the heart of the sun.

Pain.

A piercing, bone-deep pain.

The Sun Crow King's remnant soul screamed within him.

It wanted to tear apart his consciousness.

It wanted to reclaim that wisp of Sun Fire.

But the instant the remnant soul charged into the depths of his mind, Di Yao saw his martial soul.

The Dark Gold Sun hung in the air.

Demon Emperor Di Jun sat within it.

Golden eyes lowered.

As though he were looking at a moth flying into flame.

The Sun Crow King's remnant soul froze instantly.

Di Yao's consciousness spoke coldly.

"Your fire is decent."

"But from now on, it belongs to me."

The Demon Emperor Manifestation raised a hand.

Dark Gold Flame became a furnace, suppressing the Sun Crow King's remnant soul and the soul ring's power within it.

Outside.

Fine golden-red patterns began appearing across Di Yao's body.

Those patterns resembled cracks.

Yet they also resembled fiery feathers.

Hu Liena watched anxiously.

"Did he fail?"

Yue Guan's gaze was grave.

"No."

"His martial soul is refining the soul ring."

Gui Mei said quietly, "Not absorbing it. Devouring it."

Those words jolted Hu Liena's heart.

When ordinary soul masters absorbed soul rings, they endured, fused, and adapted.

But Di Yao was different.

His Demon Emperor Di Jun was like a furnace.

It forcibly refined the Sun Crow King's bloodline, flames, and remnant soul into something of his own.

Overbearing.

Dangerous.

But the gains were terrifyingly great as well.

Time passed bit by bit.

Di Yao's breathing grew heavier and heavier.

The burns on his right arm began to scab over.

Dark gold Soul Power also flowed through the scorched black patches on his chest.

That soul ring, nearly a thousand years old, finally stabilized completely.

The next moment.

Di Yao opened his eyes.

A deep yellow soul ring rose from beneath his feet.

Yellow tinged with purple.

It was so heavy that it did not resemble a First Soul Ring at all.

Hu Liena stared blankly.

He had really succeeded.

A First Soul Ring from a nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine-year mutated soul beast.

He had truly swallowed it.

Di Yao slowly raised his right hand.

A wisp of Dark Gold Flame ignited in his palm.

Unlike ordinary flames, it did not flicker and dance.

It was steady.

Brilliant.

It carried the scorching heat of the sun, along with an overbearing force that could burn away all sinister evil.

Yue Guan's eyes lit up.

"First soul skill?"

Di Yao looked at the flame in his palm.

"First soul skill."

"Great Sun Golden Flame."

Hu Liena asked, "What does it do?"

Di Yao did not answer.

He raised his hand and flicked it.

The Great Sun Golden Flame landed on a Poison Needle left behind by the Gray-Clad Spirit King some distance away.

The needle had been found on the assassin earlier.

It had been coated in a chilling poison.

The moment the golden flame touched it, the Poison Needle instantly melted.

Before the poisonous fumes could spread, they were burned into nothingness.

Gui Mei said softly, "It counters poison."

Yue Guan added, "And sinister evil as well."

Di Yao then looked toward several low-level soul beasts in the distance that had yet to flee.

The golden flame flashed.

The soul beasts all lowered themselves to the ground, letting out frightened whimpers.

Hu Liena's expression grew even more solemn.

"It can suppress the souls of beasts too?"

Di Yao put away the flame.

"Mm."

"It burns Soul Power."

"It counters poison and sinister evil."

"It places additional pressure on Beast Spirits and soul beasts."

Yue Guan could not help saying, "A good soul skill."

This was no longer merely good.

It was an opening soul skill exceptionally suited to Demon Emperor Di Jun.

Offense.

Purification.

Suppression.

It had all three.

Di Yao rose to his feet.

His body was still somewhat weak, but his eyes shone even brighter.

Seeing this, Hu Liena could not help letting out a breath of relief.

Then she immediately realized that her reaction was inappropriate and hurriedly put on a stern face.

"Guess you got lucky."

Di Yao glanced at her.

"Not luck."

"I was prepared."

Hu Liena gritted her teeth.

This guy really could not say a single thing that made anyone feel comfortable.

Yue Guan asked with a smile, "Kid, now that you've obtained your First Soul Ring, should we head back so you can recover?"

Di Yao shook his head.

"I was born with level twenty Soul Power."

"After absorbing the First Soul Ring, my Soul Power hasn't reached its limit yet."

Yue Guan's brow twitched.

"What are you trying to say?"

Di Yao lifted his eyes toward the deeper parts of the forest.

"I still need the Second Soul Ring."

Hu Liena's eyes widened.

"Are you crazy?"

"You just absorbed your First Soul Ring, and you already want a Second Soul Ring?"

Di Yao said, "My Soul Power is still rising."

"My condition is perfect right now."

Gui Mei chuckled softly.

"This kid is even greedier than the Pope expected."

Di Yao did not deny it.

He was greedy.

Greedy for resources.

Greedy for soul rings.

Greedy for every opportunity to grow stronger.

The First Soul Ring had already settled into place.

Next, he would make Demon Emperor Di Jun's suppression system truly take shape.