As soon as Xiao Hongchen finished speaking, the spherical metal barrier began to crumble from within.
Countless flecks of metal peeled away from the barrier's inner surface. At last, it vanished completely, turning entirely into metal powder.
Guided by his thoughts, the metal powder gathered into a terrifying Metal Torrent.
He raised his right hand and swept it in a full circle.
The Metal Torrent surged in every direction, like a flood that had been imprisoned for too long finally finding an outlet.
The century-old Red Fire Monkeys had no time to escape. They were buried beneath the torrent, then ground to pieces.
The thousand-year-old Red Fire Monkeys couldn't run at all, either. Meng Hongchen's Ice Toad Poison had already eaten away at their bodies.
Liquid metal climbed up from their ankles. They tore at it, but as soon as they ripped through one layer, another surged over them—endlessly, relentlessly—until their bodies were soon bound fast.
Then, one by one, hardened metal spikes pierced straight through their hearts, bringing with them a spray of warm blood mist.
Seeing his kin mercilessly slaughtered, the Red Fire Monkey King flew into a rage. It let out a roar, and scarlet patterns appeared across its body. It had gone berserk.
Its body swelled visibly, and its speed increased severalfold. Rather than fleeing, it charged straight at Xiao Hongchen, charging into the Metal Torrent.
Metal spikes jutted from the torrent, tearing through its skin and cutting down to the bone. One, two, more than a dozen—the berserk Red Fire Monkey King didn't even try to dodge. It let the spikes rip a series of savage wounds across its body. It was ready to fight to the death!
At the same time, golden light flickered across Xiao Hongchen's right hand. The metal elements around him rushed toward his palm, where intense golden light gathered and rose continuously, almost like blazing flames. The metal powder compressed alongside it, eventually forming a metal javelin about five centimeters in diameter and two and a half meters long.
Fourth Soul Skill, Sacrifice of Gold.
Sacrificed Soul Power to greatly enhance the power of all Soul Skills and carried Soul Tools, or sacrificed external metal to trigger a golden-flame explosion and restore one's own Soul Power in reverse.
Xiao Hongchen was using Sacrifice of Gold's first function. He spent thirty percent of his Soul Power to unleash the move to its utmost.
He stepped forward with his left foot and turned his upper body halfway around. His right hand, gripping the metal javelin, rose behind his shoulder. Then he hurled it forward with all his strength.
A streak of golden light shot out in an instant. Locked onto its target by his Spiritual Power, it aimed straight for the Red Fire Monkey King's heart.
The Red Fire Monkey King sensed the threat of death. It didn't dodge, instead crossing its palms in front of its chest.
The golden streak immediately pierced through its crossed hands. The javelin's momentum didn't lessen in the slightest. Its fur, muscles, and bones were pierced as easily as paper, and at last the spearhead burst out through its back.
After piercing through its body, the golden streak continued forward, carrying it hundreds of meters and smashing through several giant trees before finally embedding itself three feet deep in a boulder.
It was clearly dead.
Silence fell. It took Meng Hongchen a long while to recover.
"That... that was an incredibly powerful attack. It was completely at Soul Emperor level, wasn't it?"
"Just luck," Xiao Hongchen replied, his expression unchanged.
And that was only the result of using his Martial Soul's own abilities.
If he had unleashed the full power of his Soul Cannon formation, the Red Fire Monkey troop would have died even faster. Under a covering bombardment, not a single one of them would have escaped.
As for his Soul Power consumption, the rare metals he carried were piled up like mountains. At any time, he could sacrifice external metal through the second function of his fourth Soul Skill, Sacrifice of Gold, to restore his Soul Power in reverse. His endurance was practically maxed out.
"You two, don't just stand there. Go collect anything valuable from the corpses. I'll recover the metal."
He walked up to the Monkey King's corpse and reached out. The golden javelin that had pierced its chest trembled slightly, then broke apart into countless flecks of metal that flowed back into the Storage Soul Tool at his waist.
The Monkey King's body slid off the boulder and crashed onto the forest floor with a heavy thud.
Red Fire Monkey fur was extremely valuable and often fetched a good price on the market.
As Xiao Hongchen skinned the Red Fire Monkey, he gathered up the scattered metal.
Just then, Ye Guyi's voice came from nearby.
"I found a Soul Bone here." Her voice was slightly louder than usual, carrying a hint of excitement she could barely contain. Xiao Hongchen looked up and saw her crouched beside a Red Fire Monkey corpse, holding up a fiery-red Soul Bone and waving it at him.
Xiao Hongchen set down the monkey hide in his hands and walked over.
Ye Guyi handed him the Soul Bone. An unusual gleam shone in her pale blue eyes.
A left arm Soul Bone, from a Red Fire Monkey of about three thousand years. It was fiery red, and the Soul Power it contained wasn't especially strong. It probably came with the Red Fire Monkey's signature Soul Skill, Fireball.
It wasn't much to write home about, but hardly worth regretting if they passed it up.
"None of you are allowed to absorb it." Xiao Hongchen weighed the Soul Bone in his hand, then put it into his Storage Soul Tool. "This Soul Bone is too low-grade. We'll take it to be auctioned off when we get back."
As soon as Xiao Hongchen finished speaking, a deafening beastly roar suddenly came from the distant forest, followed by a sharp neigh.
Two waves of Soul Power came from several miles away: one as holy as light, the other as fierce as fire.
Birds in the forest took flight, and leaves rustled down from the trees.
A figure dropped silently from the treetops.
Jing Hongchen stood before the three of them, concealing their figures with an invisibility Soul Tool.
Before long, a pure-white steed came into view.
Its body resembled a horse, but its head was shaped like a dragon. White dragon scales ran from its forehead down its neck and continued along its entire back.
Most eye-catching was the diamond-shaped, pale golden gem on its forehead. But its light was very dim now, and several wounds cut deep enough to expose bone marked its body. Golden flames still burned on the wounds, steadily widening them.
"That's a Sky Dragon Horse! It's probably around seven thousand years old, and it has the bloodline of a Holy Radiant Dragon. Grandpa, let's make it Guyi's Soul Ring. Guyi, what do you think?"
As Xiao Hongchen spoke, he looked at Ye Guyi.
Ye Guyi's Martial Soul was the Holy Angel, whose sacred attribute could already be considered an ultimate one. But her light and fire attributes were still far from ultimate. If she could raise both of them to the ultimate level, her Martial Soul might evolve into the God Rank Martial Soul inherited by Spirit Hall ten thousand years ago—the Six-Winged Seraph.
Ye Guyi naturally agreed.
Soul Beasts with sacred attributes were extremely rare. A Sky Dragon Horse with a suitable age and a light attribute would be a fine choice.
While they were discussing, the Soul Beast pursuing the Sky Dragon Horse finally appeared.
A golden streak of light, like a little sun racing through the forest, soon appeared where the Sky Dragon Horse had been.
This Soul Beast had soft golden fur, and its entire body seemed to be made of translucent crystal.
Its general shape resembled a lion, but it had four dragon claws, each treading on a ball of golden flame. And in addition to its two normal eyes, it had a third.
Gold gleamed in its two normal eyes, while its vertical pupil shone red—a strangely alluring red.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion.
Xiao Hongchen's pupils contracted slightly.
I can't believe we really ran into one. Could this be fate?
Before you continue