Absorbing a Ten-Thousand-Year Crystal Bear, an Eleven-Year-Old Soul Sect

Douluo Continent, Star Dou Great Forest.

The ancient trees here towered into the clouds, their dense branches and leaves blotting out the sky. From time to time, the roars of wild beasts echoed from the depths of the forest.

"Roar!!!"

A bear paw filled with savage power tore through the air and came crashing down with enough force to split mountains and shatter stone.

The earth trembled, soil flying everywhere. A crater several meters deep was smashed into the ground in an instant, and fine yellow crystal-like fragments shot out in all directions with the shock wave like a torrential storm, riddling the trunks of ancient trees so thick several people could barely wrap their arms around them.

And yet, at the heart of that terrifying destruction, a boy stood at the edge of the pit with his hands in his pockets, completely unharmed.

Zhuang Minghui looked only about twelve years old, with an exceptionally handsome face, short, finely cut ink-black hair, and clear, elegant features. His brows were sharp, his eyes bright as stars, and his clear gaze shone like the morning star. From head to toe, he gave off a fresh, pleasant scent like grass and trees.

Looking at the bear paw that had landed beside him, Zhuang Minghui showed no sign of fear. Instead, he seemed perfectly at ease.

He patted his firm chest and gestured as he said, "Come on, come on. Hit here. Hit right here."

Standing before him was a ten-thousand-year bear-type soul beast, a Crystal Bear.

This ten-thousand-year Crystal Bear was over five meters tall, massive and heavy like a small moving yellow mountain.

The coarse brownish-yellow fur that had originally covered its body had completely transformed, taking on a translucent yellow-crystal texture. In particular, its terrifying fan-sized paws had undergone an extremely high degree of crystallization.

One punch, two punches, three punches—every blow fell with overwhelming destructive force, and every attack was as fast as lightning.

But each and every one of those powerful attacks was dodged by Zhuang Minghui. To him, avoiding them took no more than a simple sidestep.

Every time he dodged a punch, Zhuang Minghui taunted the Crystal Bear.

"Wow, I'm so scared. Can you actually land a proper attack? You're as slow as a lightning bolt that turned into an animal."

"Roar!!!!"

Hearing the human before it mock him, the Crystal Bear flew into a helpless rage. Both fists came down at once, wanting to destroy Zhuang Minghui in one fell swoop.

"It took the bait." The corners of Zhuang Minghui's mouth lifted slightly. This was exactly the moment he had been waiting for.

Yellow, purple, purple—one yellow and two purple soul rings rose vividly from beneath his feet.

His right hand gathered an immense life form, and within that life form was life energy capable of reviving all things, brimming with vitality.

A piece of Spirit Gold as thick as a fist was held in Zhuang Minghui's hand, and his whole body was covered in an emerald-green glow that radiated life energy.

The Crystal Bear's two fists, filled with the intent to destroy everything, came crashing down onto his head.

The imagined scene of blood spraying from a split skull did not happen. Instead, another muffled boom came from the already cratered ground, and the earth sank and cracked once more.

"Roar..."

A sorrowful, furious roar rang out. The Crystal Bear staggered back again and again, its enormous body retreating several steps with a crash as both hands clutched its forehead in agony.

On its palms and around its brow, the hard yellow crystal had shattered over a wide area, and blood sprayed out like a fountain, instantly dyeing the ground beneath its feet red.

This was Zhuang Minghui's first soul skill from his Spirit Gold martial soul, Spirit Resonance: Damage Transfer.

For half a minute after this soul skill was released, any attack the opponent unleashed would be returned to them exactly as it was, causing real damage.

"Your attack's over, right? Now it's my turn!"

Seeing the Crystal Bear's ridiculous, panic-stricken state as it clutched its head and fled, Zhuang Minghui showed a confident smile.

All of a sudden, Zhuang Minghui erupted with lightning-fast speed and vanished from where he stood in the blink of an eye.

Baji Heaven, First Form—Explosive Step!

It had already been twelve years since he transmigrated here.

Twelve years. A whole twelve years. Did anyone know how he had gotten through these twelve years?!

He had become the grandson of Elder Zhuang, a Sea God Pavilion elder.

The one and only healing-type Title Douluo among the Sea God Pavilion elders.

On the day his martial soul awakened, he awakened twin martial souls: Spirit Gold and the Life Ancient Tree, shocking the entire Sea God Pavilion.

From that day onward, every time he raised his soul power by one level, his physical strength underwent an earth-shaking enhancement.

Baji Heaven was a self-created soul skill he had developed for self-defense based on something from an anime he had watched in his previous life.

It was an extremely powerful combat technique, one that allowed an ordinary person to stand against Rainbow Stone holders and even aliens.

He had only gone in with the attitude of giving it a try, practicing in the eight mimicry cultivation fields with different environments beneath the Sea God Pavilion, along with the Baji Heaven training method that had appeared in his mind. He had never expected that he would actually master it.

It was just far weaker than the original version of Baji Heaven, but it was enough!

"Baji Heaven, Second Form—Sheath Breaker!"

Zhuang Minghui's figure appeared out of thin air above the Crystal Bear's head. His index and middle fingers pressed together like a sword finger, and his whole body turned into a straight line as he dove down.

At the same time, the second purple thousand-year soul ring beneath his feet suddenly lit up.

Emerald-green radiance entered the Crystal Bear's body through its chest.

Light flashed, and its defense collapsed.

Second soul skill, Spirit Reconstruction: Decomposition. For a short period of time, it decomposed all attributes, metals, and ores, returning them to their most fragile state.

Everywhere the sword light passed, it pierced straight through!

The Crystal Bear, struck by its own two massive iron fists, was now covered in wounds.

Facing Zhuang Minghui's lightning-fast attacks, it used its wild, bestial bear paws to fight back.

But every act of resistance was no different from inflicting a second round of damage on itself.

"Looks like I won't need to step in."

In the distance, atop a thick, rugged tree trunk, a gentle, kindly old man was watching Zhuang Minghui's every move.

Seeing Zhuang Minghui beat the Crystal Bear until it was powerless to fight back by his own strength alone, the heart that had been hanging in suspense finally relaxed.

This was Elder Zhuang, Zhuang Minghui's grandfather.

Originally, he had led this soul-hunting plan, but he couldn't withstand his precious grandson's insistence on hunting the soul beast himself.

He was clearly a healing-type soul master, yet every idea he had was that of a power-attack-type soul master.

Elder Zhuang had still agreed in the end, but unable to set his mind at ease, he had chosen to follow along anyway.

"Baji Heaven, Sword Flash, Blade Rolling Clouds!"

The yellow sword light pierced through the Crystal Bear's massive body like a sharp blade.

Under Zhuang Minghui's utterly unstructured all-out assault, the Crystal Bear had no strength to resist at all.

The Crystal Bear collapsed to the ground, large sections of its crystal body shattered. Its wild aura dimmed and faded, losing all vitality.

After death, the Crystal Bear had one passive skill: self-destruction!

But that self-destruction was suppressed by powerful life energy, stopping the Crystal Bear from detonating itself.

A black ten-thousand-year soul ring rose from the Crystal Bear's corpse.

"Very good. A ten-thousand-year fourth soul ring."

Zhuang Minghui landed, stepped toward the pitch-black ten-thousand-year fourth soul ring, and began absorbing it.

All the life energy within the mixed zone and even the Lake of Life gathered toward Zhuang Minghui.

On the other side of the Star Dou Great Forest, in the outer ring.

An eleven-year-old boy in gray cloth clothes was, like Zhuang Minghui, absorbing a soul ring.

In his spiritual sea, a plump little worm was glaring at the gray bead before it as if staring at a mortal enemy.