Benares

Leng Yulai's killing intent surged in her eyes. "I've lived my entire life in her shadow. Whether it was talent, status, or reputation, she surpassed me in every way."

"Now that she has finally taken in a peerless genius, I will personally destroy him. Killing you will be the best revenge against her."

"Today, not only will you die, but I'll take your head and throw it before that woman. I want to see her proud mask shatter with my own eyes, to see her suffer beyond all hope!"

As her words fell, she raised a hand and swept it forward. A pitch-black phoenix shadow surged forth, blotting out the sky as it swept toward Xiling with terrifying power capable of destroying everything.

Ultimate darkness, ultimate cold, ultimate despair.

Before this terrifying attack, one capable of instantly annihilating a Soul Douluo, Xiling's white hair stirred without wind.

His azure eyes were clear and cold, without the slightest trace of fear. Instead, he grew calmer still.

Watching the phantom Dark Phoenix rush toward him, Xiling parted his thin lips. "Come forth, Benares."

The moment the words left his mouth, the void abruptly trembled!

Brilliant icy-blue and silver-white light tore through the darkness like a blazing sun ripping apart the night. Overwhelming dragon might swept across the battlefield, forcibly suppressing Leng Yulai's Dark Phoenix pressure!

A massive dragon covered from head to tail in icy-blue, luminous white scales emerged fiercely from a spatial rift.

Its four eyes were cold as winter stars, its enormous head held high. Frigid ice mist and flickering lightning coiled around its body, while its gigantic wings spread wide enough to blot out the entire sky, blocking all daylight and casting a heavy shadow below.

Roar—!!

A dragon's roar shook the heavens, its sound waves sending layer upon layer of air ripples outward and directly dispersing the lingering force of the black flames rushing forward.

Benares's dragon eyes swept coldly over the black phoenix phantom. Its enormous wings suddenly swept forward, unleashing intertwined elemental power of ice and lightning to meet Leng Yulai's attack head-on.

Boom—!!

A deafening explosion rocked the sky as terrifying energy shockwaves spread wildly. Layers of earth were torn from the ground, while all grass and trees were reduced to dust.

The Dark Phoenix attack, powerful enough to instantly kill a Soul Douluo, was completely halted by Benares with nothing more than its dragon body. It shattered and dissolved into specks of black light.

Leng Yulai's expression changed drastically. As she stared at the colossal dragon floating in the air, disbelief and terror appeared in her eyes for the first time.

"A soul beast! A soul beast comparable to a Limit Douluo, and a dragon at that! But how is this possible?"

She could not understand it. How could a mere Soul Elder possibly possess this?!

Then, as if she had suddenly recalled something, she stared fixedly at Benares and cried out, "You're the dragon that appeared in Eastsea City three years ago!"

At those words, Xiling's eyes flickered as he seemed to understand something. So the commotion from his martial soul awakening three years ago had actually been that great? But none of that mattered now.

He looked at Leng Yulai as three purple-gold soul rings appeared around him. One of them lit up. "Third soul skill, Shifting Places, Changing Scenery!"

The instant the soul skill activated, the entire space abruptly warped. Invisible spatial power, like a giant hand of heaven and earth, instantly enveloped Xiling, Benares, and Leng Yulai, who had yet to recover from her shock.

There was no earth-shaking sound, only a flash of blinding white light. The man, woman, and dragon who had just been in the forest outside the city were forcibly transferred in the next instant!

The surroundings changed in a heartbeat. The noisy forest vanished, replaced by a desolate wilderness of yellow sand stretching as far as the eye could see.

A fierce wind swept gravel through the air with a howl. There was no sign of human habitation anywhere, only boundless skies and barren land.

Caught completely off guard, Leng Yulai felt the world spin. The space around her seemed to be crushed and reconstructed, and by the time she came to her senses, she was already somewhere unfamiliar. Her face instantly turned livid.

"A spatial transfer soul skill?! You can actually forcefully relocate such a large area!"

She stared fixedly at Xiling, the shock in her heart beyond words. A spatial soul skill that could disregard the gap in cultivation and forcibly transfer an entire battlefield was simply unheard of!

Fighting in Eastsea City would inevitably harm innocent people, and that was not something Xiling wanted to see. He might not be a good person, but he could never bring himself to involve innocents.

Like Xu Xiaoyan's Absolute Validity, his third soul skill, Shifting Places, Changing Scenery, belonged to the rule-based category. It could forcibly transfer everyone within a battlefield to another location.

The soul power consumed by the transfer did not depend on strength, but on the number of people.

Ignoring Leng Yulai's grim expression, Xiling walked to Benares's side and gently stroked its dragon head. "Go, Benares."

Benares let out a long roar that sent yellow sand billowing throughout the wilderness.

Its icy-blue dragon eyes locked firmly onto Leng Yulai ahead. Ice and lightning elements around its body churned violently, as piercing cold and rampant lightning intertwined into a massive energy storm that swept across the wilderness.

Leng Yulai forcibly suppressed the turmoil in her heart. Nine soul rings rose one after another as the soul power of a rank ninety-seven Super Douluo erupted without reservation.

"Three-word battle armor, equip!"

Black streams of light surged from her body, and black battle armor with a metallic sheen instantly covered her entire form. Phoenix patterns were engraved across it, phoenix-wing-shaped ornaments extended from both sides of her helmet, and a pair of black phoenix battle-armor wings spread open behind her.

Empowered by the battle armor, her aura surged again. She raised a hand and unleashed her eighth soul skill.

Black phoenix soul power condensed into a gigantic slash dozens of meters long, carrying a dark aura that could annihilate everything as it swept horizontally toward Benares.

The full-force strike of a rank ninety-seven Super Douluo possessed power capable of destroying the world.

In midair, Benares's dragon eyes turned cold as it immediately activated Thunder Dragon Form!

The ice mist around its body dispersed, and its scales turned dark purple and electric blue. Violent lightning coiled around its dragon body, its attacks carrying a paralytic effect. With a beat of its wings, it used Close-In Dash, turning into a streak of lightning as it dodged the slash and swung its lightning-wreathed claws viciously at Leng Yulai.

Leng Yulai snorted coldly and abruptly retreated. At the same time, she activated her seventh soul skill, Dark Phoenix True Body. A huge Dark Phoenix phantom appeared behind her and fused with her body as she met Benares's claws head-on.

Boom!

Lightning collided with dark evil fire. Leng Yulai was sent stumbling back repeatedly, while Benares rode the momentum into the sky. It opened its dragon maw wide and unleashed Thunder Breath. Three enormous spheres of lightning howled forth, exploding in midair as a vast thunderstorm swept down.

"Dark Phoenix Plume!"

Countless black phoenix feathers condensed at Leng Yulai's fingertips and shot out like torrential rain. As they shattered the lightning spheres, she flung out a spindle-shaped crystal, silver all over, with what appeared to be a vortex swirling at its center.

The moment the crystal appeared, spatial power surged forth, only to be suppressed by an inexplicable force.

Before Leng Yulai could understand what had happened—

Roar!

Benares roared and immediately switched to Ice Dragon Form. Its body was covered in ice crystals, its attacks now carrying a freezing effect. Its dragon wings swept fiercely, raising a frost tornado, while countless ice spikes burst from the ground and sealed off all of Leng Yulai's escape routes.

Extreme cold swept in every direction, freezing all the yellow sand on the ground. Leng Yulai activated her three-word battle armor at full power to defend herself, yet the frost tornado still covered its surface in ice and slowed her movements.

Benares seized the opportunity. Its dragon body spiraled into the air as ice and lightning elements fused around it and gathered in its mouth. A massive sphere of blended ice and lightning elements crashed down.

Leng Yulai's face went deathly pale. Her ninth soul skill, Dark Annihilation, erupted with all her strength. Black phoenix flames transformed into a towering sea of fire, attempting to block the fatal strike.

But the instant the ice-lightning elemental sphere struck the ground, it triggered a massive, destructive explosion. Ice-cold force and lightning completely swallowed the sea of dark fire.

The terrifying shockwave blasted Leng Yulai and her three-word battle armor away. She smashed heavily into the frozen ground, blood spraying wildly from her mouth. Cracks covered the surface of her battle armor, and she was already severely injured!