Lu Xiao's Terrifying Strength!

Deep within the Soul Hunting Forest.

Du Busi led Lu Xiao and Xiao Wu deeper inside, avoiding low-level Soul Beasts before stopping in front of a hidden cave.

The entrance was concealed behind dense ancient vines. It was broad and pitch-black, slanting downward at a thirty-degree angle, its depths unfathomable.

The rock walls around the entrance were rough and mottled, covered in claw marks and scratches of varying depths. Old and new marks overlapped densely, more than enough to prove that the Soul Beast dwelling here was exceptionally ferocious.

Lu Xiao raised his eyes toward the cave's black depths, his expression steady and utterly fearless.

"This is the trial ground I found for you two."

Du Busi stood with his hands behind his back. As the two focused on the cave and let their guards down, a trace of amusement flashed through his eyes.

Before his words had even faded, he suddenly threw out both arms. Vast Soul Power erupted, sweeping up the two figures and hurling them forward!

Their light bodies instantly left the ground and plummeted uncontrollably toward the dark, bottomless cave entrance.

"Old man Du! I—"

Before Lu Xiao could finish, his body had already fallen into the darkness.

Xiao Wu let out a startled cry and instinctively tried to grab the vines on the rock wall. But the fall was too rapid; her fingertips merely brushed the rough, icy stone, leaving her with nothing to brace against.

Endless darkness instantly swallowed them both. All they could hear was the howling wind and the rustling of loose gravel falling from the rock walls.

Lu Xiao instinctively tensed his body, trying to regain control, but Du Busi's immense Soul Power was far beyond anything he could resist at his current stage.

His vision was completely swallowed by darkness. He could no longer distinguish up from down or left from right, and could only rely on instinct to sense his surroundings.

The next moment, a soft, warm body suddenly crashed into his arms. Xiao Wu's unbalanced body slammed hard into Lu Xiao's face.

The unexpected contact made them both freeze. The panic of their fall was instantly replaced by intense embarrassment.

Xiao Wu's whole body stiffened, her long lashes trembling violently. Catching that faint fragrance, her body went limp at once.

"I..."

A soft cry caught in her throat, and she could not make another sound.

Lu Xiao's pupils contracted slightly, and his mind went blank for an instant.

The darkness cut off their sight, yet infinitely magnified their senses.

The soft touch of the girl's body came through with startling clarity, carrying a faint, sweet fragrance that drove away the cave's cold dampness.

He instinctively wanted to raise his hands and steady Xiao Wu, but the momentum of their rapid descent kept their bodies pressed tightly together, leaving no way to adjust their positions.

"S-Sorry, Lu Xiao!" Xiao Wu's voice was full of panic and embarrassment.

Lu Xiao forcibly calmed himself. "Don't move around! Hold on tight!"

Using the force of their descent, he decisively stretched out his arms and securely wrapped them around Xiao Wu's waist, holding her firmly in front of him. He used his back to shield her from the protruding rock walls constantly scraping past them.

The rough rock walls continuously scraped against his skin, yet failed to leave even a single mark!

The two clung tightly to each other as they rapidly slid down the slanted tunnel, darkness engulfing them like a tide.

After an unknown amount of time, the wind suddenly died down!

"We're about to land! Brace yourselves!"

The two figures crashed heavily onto a soft layer of humus, the dull impact echoing through the spacious cave bottom.

Using the force of the landing to disperse the impact, Lu Xiao held Xiao Wu and rolled twice across the ground before coming to a steady stop.

The bottom of the cave was quite spacious. Fluorescent ores embedded in the surrounding walls barely illuminated a small area nearby.

Xiao Wu hurriedly pushed herself up from Lu Xiao. Too embarrassed to look at him, she whispered, "Just now... that was so embarrassing."

Lu Xiao slowly got to his feet and brushed the dust from his clothes. Hearing that, he chuckled. "It's fine. It was just the situation. Don't take it to heart."

"More importantly, we need to be careful now."

In the depths of the darkness, pairs of ghostly green beast eyes slowly lit up, locking onto the two youths who had intruded into their territory!

Suddenly, a roar rang out, and a figure shot out of the darkness.

Golden light instantly flashed in Lu Xiao's eyes, and everything in the darkness appeared clearly in his mind.

The Golden Dragon Martial Soul was connected to his bloodline.

After fully awakening the Golden Dragon Martial Soul, Lu Xiao had gained several innate abilities!

The most important of them was Golden Perception!

This innate skill gave Lu Xiao an almost three-dimensional sensory ability, allowing him to perceive things that others could not and gain a deeper understanding of everything he sensed!

It was a wolf-type Soul Beast, about 1.6 meters long, its entire body iron-gray. The ghostly green light came from its eyes.

Lu Xiao did not dare lower his guard. He threw a punch at the Nether Wolf's waist!

There had always been a saying: "A wolf has a head of bronze, bones of iron, and a waist of tofu." For wolf-type Soul Beasts, the waist was undoubtedly their weakest point!

His fist cut through the air, carrying powerful, condensed physical strength. Even the air let out a faint explosive crack beneath the blow.

With the aid of Golden Perception, the punch landed precisely on the Nether Wolf's waist and abdomen.

Bang!

A dull, heavy impact exploded.

The iron-gray fur instantly bristled. The Nether Wolf let out a miserable howl, its massive body curling up before it was violently sent flying like a kite with its string cut, slamming hard into the cold rock wall!

Blood sprayed from its waist. The Nether Wolf gave one last wail and died on the spot!

To a wolf pack, the blood of a companion was undoubtedly a fuse.

Deep growls and wolf howls began to rise one after another from the surrounding darkness!

Pairs of ghostly green eyes lit up in succession, densely packed as they slowly emerged from the darkness on all sides, completely surrounding the two of them.

Lu Xiao's brows furrowed sharply as Golden Perception operated at full force. A three-dimensional web of awareness instantly spread across the entire cave floor.

He clearly sensed more than ten Nether Wolves lying in ambush around them, including two or three Hundred-Year Nether Wolves.

Just as Lu Xiao and Xiao Wu readied themselves, the wolf pack around them suddenly fell silent.

More than ten Nether Wolves lowered their bodies to the ground.

Xiao Wu tensed up, her petite figure standing firmly beside Lu Xiao without the slightest retreat. "Lu Xiao, something big is coming out from inside."

Before her words could fade, a tall, imposing wolf silhouette slowly stepped out of the deep darkness.

Unlike the iron-gray fur of ordinary Nether Wolves, this giant wolf was black as ink. It stood over three meters tall at the shoulder and nearly seven meters long, with a lean, powerful body and explosive, flowing muscle lines!

Most terrifying of all were its eyes. They were not the ghostly green of ordinary Nether Wolves, but a pair of deep dark-purple pupils like frigid abysses!

At the center of its forehead, a savage vertical blood-red mark ran through its brow like a crown of congealed blood!

Millennium Nether Wolf King!

The rich stench of blood from the corpse of the companion Lu Xiao had killed with one punch had completely enraged this Millennium Wolf King.

The Nether Wolf King slowly raised its head, its dark-purple eyes locking onto the two of them.

In the next instant, the black fur all over the wolf king's body suddenly stood on end!

There was no needless probing. The Millennium Nether Wolf King's body blurred, and it instantly vanished from where it stood!

Only a black afterimage remained, accompanied by a piercing shriek tearing through the air.

The golden light in Lu Xiao's eyes surged as Golden Perception operated at its limit. A dim glow lit up along his spine, and the next moment, dark cyan dragon scales covered both his arms!

At the same time, a black afterimage of a claw appeared above Lu Xiao's head!

Lu Xiao let out a low shout and moved with it.

Facing the wolf king's killing claw head-on, Lu Xiao leaped into the air and stacked both fists together, unleashing a full-force strike!

Boom—!

The collision exploded, and a violent Soul Power shockwave swept through the entire cave from the point where they clashed.

Lu Xiao's body shuddered violently, and his arms went numb!

The Millennium Nether Wolf King also let out a muffled groan. Its enormous body paused slightly, and a crack appeared on its black claws.

The killing intent in the Nether Wolf King's dark-purple eyes grew even stronger.

A deep roar rumbled from its throat once more. Every Nether Wolf around them instantly rose and slowly closed in, completely sealing off the pair's escape routes.

"Xiao Wu, leave the wolf pack to you!"

Rather than retreat, Lu Xiao advanced. He stomped hard against the ground, his body sweeping through the air like a golden dragon as he abruptly closed the distance to the wolf king.

On the other side, the encirclement fully tightened. More than ten Nether Wolves pounced fiercely, their icy fangs and claws glinting with chilling light as they fixed their sights on Xiao Wu.

"Leave it to me!"

Xiao Wu's expression was resolute, without the slightest hint of panic.

Beneath a faint red glow, her eyes began to turn red, and a pair of pink-white long ears rose from her hair.

A Hundred-Year Soul Ring rose from beneath her feet.

She seemed to grow slightly taller, while a gentle aura of Soul Power rippled around her body.

Facing a wolf pack several times her number, she neither dodged nor retreated. Her body suddenly shot into the air.

Xiao Wu moved as nimbly as a butterfly, twisting and darting aside to precisely evade the pounces of two Nether Wolves. Her supple waist suddenly twisted, and her arms coiled around the body of one Hundred-Year Nether Wolf like agile snakes.

Her Soul Power instantly tightened like the toughest of shackles, locking the wolf's body firmly in place.

That Hundred-Year Nether Wolf struggled madly, its sharp claws tearing wildly through the air, but it could not touch Xiao Wu at all.

First Soul Skill! Waist Bow!

The Hundred-Year Soul Ring lit up. Xiao Wu gave a light shout, exerted force through her waist and abdomen, and used the momentum to hurl it fiercely!

The heavy wolf body was forcibly swung up and smashed toward the other two Nether Wolves pouncing straight at her.

Three dull collisions rang out in succession. The three Nether Wolves instantly tumbled into a heap, the sounds of shattering bones clearly audible as miserable howls rose one after another.

Taking advantage of the chaos in the wolf pack's formation, Xiao Wu landed and immediately retreated. Her movements were elusive as she weaved through the gaps in the pack.

In only a few breaths, Xiao Wu alone had firmly pinned down the wolf pack that had come to surround and kill her. They could not advance even an inch, much less break away to support the wolf king.