Battle Against the Mutated Skeleton, Another Explosion?

"This thing is hard to deal with."

Dai Yueheng stood at the front of the team, his White Tiger Martial Soul already fully possessed. His claws were covered in a layer of dim white Soul Power as his tiger eyes stared fixedly at the mutated skeleton ahead.

He had clearly left a deep claw mark across its breastbone earlier. The mark had clearly damaged its bones, yet it had only existed for a few breaths before beginning to heal on its own.

Ordinary attacks seemed ineffective against this monster.

Not only that, Dai Yueheng had discovered that the mutated skeleton could not be approached carelessly. The last time he had tried to enter melee range, the ribs on its chest had suddenly spread outward like two rows of fangs. The gaps between the bone fragments widened severalfold, like a massive mouth that had nearly bitten him.

Though he had dodged it, Dai Yueheng was still shaken. If he had been hit, he would have been severely injured, perhaps even killed on the spot.

"There are energy fluctuations around it that are corroding even my flames. Damn it."

Ma Xiaotao gritted her teeth as she watched the mutated skeleton ahead. Not only had it corroded her flames, it had also used undead energy to stir up the evil aura within them. She now had to devote extra effort to suppressing the restless agitation surging within her body.

Whoosh—

The sound of something cutting through the air came, followed by an arrow wreathed in black flames.

"Roar!"

Dai Yueheng spat out a beam of light that collided with the arrow, triggering a massive explosion.

Beside Dai Yueheng, Ma Xiaotao's heart stopped for an instant when she saw those black flames. She knew that flame all too well—it was her evil fire!

"Senior, I have a way to control it for three seconds. Focus your fire on it. Its head is its weak point."

Huo Yuhao's voice reached the official team members' ears. The group exchanged glances, then began gathering strength.

They had no idea how a three-ringed Huo Yuhao intended to handle a monster nearly twenty thousand years old, but Huo Yuhao had far too many strange things about him. It somehow seemed entirely reasonable that he had such a method.

"I'll hold it back."

Ling Luochen held the Staff of Ice in her hand as the ten-thousand-year soul ring behind her lit up. A dense circle of white frost spread outward from her, skimming along the ground toward the mutated skeleton.

Creak—

When the frost touched the mutated skeleton's ankles, a thin layer of ice crystals began forming over its grayish-white bones. Its movements visibly slowed, its once-fluid motions becoming intermittent and jerky as faint cracking sounds came from its joints.

By then, Huo Yuhao was ready.

A peculiar golden orb appeared in his hand, with a special rune floating at its center.

"Dominate!"

The orb flew from Huo Yuhao's hand and shot directly into the mutated skeleton's skull.

Undead Domination Magic—this was a specialized attack spell Electrolux had improved specifically for the mutated skeleton. It had been precisely adjusted for the mental structure of undead creatures. As long as the caster's spiritual power was strong enough, they could directly dominate the target for a short time.

The mutated skeleton had almost no means of defending against this attack. Its mental structure had been designed to resist physical attacks. Against magic specifically aimed at undead consciousness, it did not even have room to struggle.

With the aid of the magic, Huo Yuhao's spiritual power entered the mutated skeleton's consciousness core. The two forces began a tug-of-war within its skull, leaving neither side able to move for the moment.

Unfortunately, this was not a traditional one-on-one battle.

"White Tiger Radiant Wave!"

"Phoenix Piercing Cloud Strike!"

"Slash!"

"Thunderous Might!"

The voices of Dai Yueheng, Ma Xiaotao, Chen Zifeng, and Bei Bei rang out almost simultaneously. Purple and black soul ring light alternately flashed in the darkness of the Twilight Forest.

Long-range attacks converged upon the motionless skeleton from different directions. Firelight, lightning, sword light, and white light erupted across the mutated skeleton's body at the same time. The surrounding environment churned violently under those forces, and the trees were pressed backward by the explosive shockwaves.

"Boom—"

The explosion shook the branches and leaves of the surrounding trees until they rustled loudly.

After the lingering force of the blast dispersed, all that remained where the mutated skeleton had stood was a pile of scattered bone fragments. The largest rib had broken into several pieces, with thin white smoke still rising from the fractures.

"It's finally over."

Seeing the mutated skeleton sprawled across the ground, Chen Zifeng breathed a sigh of relief. Among everyone present, he had been the closest to it, since his ranged attacks did not have much range.

He was just about to withdraw his sword when his gaze casually swept over the ground. Fine cracks began appearing across the surfaces of those bone fragments, dark red light seeping from the fissures as though something were expanding outward from within.

"A soul bone? No, what is that?"

"Senior Chen!"

Huo Yuhao suddenly remembered—the mutated skeleton would explode after dying!

Boom...

The mutated skeleton's remains erupted in multiple explosions in an instant. Black flames surged from the gaps between the bone fragments like a dark flower suddenly blooming.

"Hm?"

Within the Nine-Headed Serpent nest in the Flame Swamp, Xuan Zi happily ate roasted Nine-Headed Serpent meat beside the blazing flames when he suddenly heard a massive explosion.

At the sound of that explosion, Xuan Zi's heart skipped a beat, and he nearly choked on the Nine-Headed Serpent meat in his mouth.

"Don't tell me something went wrong?"

Xuan Zi entered Martial Soul Possession, and an earthy yellow light shot into the sky as he immediately flew toward the explosion.

"You little brats had better not get yourselves killed! You are Shrek's future hope."

Xuan Zi was deeply worried. When he had learned that the strongest soul beasts in the Twilight Forest were only around twenty thousand years old, he had not taken leading the team too seriously. The soul beasts here were unlike those outside. If something really happened, he would have no way to explain it to Mu En.

At first, he had thought that with two top-tier Soul Emperors like Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng present, nothing could possibly go wrong.

The site of the explosion...

"Cough, cough..."

Chen Zifeng had thrown himself behind a massive boulder one second before the explosion. When the boulder exploded, it had blocked part of the shockwave, but Chen Zifeng was still affected by the blast.

"Chen Zifeng, how do you feel?"

Gongyang Mo stepped forward, entered Martial Soul Possession, and poured all his buffs into Chen Zifeng to help him recover.

"I'm fine, but these flames feel awful."

Chen Zifeng answered. He was, after all, a Soul King, and his defense was quite good. However, those strange black flames felt terrible, as though they were burning his soul.

"Yuhao, come help Chen Zifeng take a look."

When Ma Xiaotao saw the black flames on Chen Zifeng, she frowned and stepped back, immediately calling Huo Yuhao over. She did not dare approach Chen Zifeng.

She knew the aura of evil fire far too well.

"Senior, it might get a little cold. Bear with it."

Huo Yuhao stretched out his hand. The second soul ring behind him lit up, and a small emerald-green scorpion appeared in his palm.

"Junior, you're not going to let that sting me, are you?"

Chen Zifeng gave a bitter smile. Normally, he would not have been afraid, but the moment he saw that little scorpion, he felt a fear that came from deep within his soul.

"Don't worry, Senior. I simulated this using my second Martial Soul and second soul skill. It works faster this way."

Huo Yuhao smiled. What he had simulated was the four-hundred-thousand-year Ice Empress, though it was still not very lifelike due to his lack of understanding. If his cultivation were stronger, or if he had mastered his simulated soul skill better, it could have been even stronger.

The simulated Ice Empress Scorpion crawled onto Chen Zifeng's wound and stabbed the burned area.

"Hiss—"

An extreme chill pierced his body, making Chen Zifeng suck in a cold breath. Setting everything else aside, the alternating cold and heat felt truly refreshing!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

The Ice Empress Scorpion quickly finished stinging Chen Zifeng's wounds. Just as the treatment was about to end, Xuan Zi finally arrived above them.

"Whew... Good thing everyone's alright."

Seeing that no one was hurt aside from Chen Zifeng's minor injury, Xuan Zi finally relaxed. He had just remembered the incident with the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast last time. It had truly been terrifying.

Xuan Zi looked at the shattered rocks nearby and quietly injected his Soul Power into them.

Below, the treatment complete, Chen Zifeng stood up. His body still felt cold inside, but that scorching sensation had disappeared.

"You really don't make things easy. Chen Zifeng, minus one point."

Behind them, Xuan Zi looked down at the group from above. He took out their evaluation sheet and deducted a point beside Chen Zifeng's name.

"If I hadn't injected Soul Power into that rock, do you think you could have come out intact by relying on it alone?"

Seeing Chen Zifeng's dissatisfaction, Xuan Zi spoke. That was right—the Soul Power he had just injected was for exactly this reason. If Mu En found out that he had not been there and the Shrek team had nearly died, he would be in serious trouble.

Mu En was now a true Limit Douluo. He could beat Xuan Zi senseless with one hand.

After hearing Xuan Zi's words, Chen Zifeng wanted to argue, but could only swallow his protest. After all, he was not certain what state he would be in if Xuan Zi had not acted. This had been an explosion from a twenty-thousand-year soul beast, after all.

"Thank you, Elder Xuan."

"Hmph."

Xuan Zi glanced at him, then turned and flew away. His robes traced an earthy yellow streak across the twilight sky before quickly vanishing into the distant darkness.

"This should be fine now, right?"

Xuan Zi felt that this was probably a one-time occurrence, and there should not be any more problems afterward. A Magic Map appeared in one hand while he held the unfinished Nine-Headed Serpent steak in the other, taking a huge bite.

"I'll try this Minotaur salad-sauce meat this time. I've never had it hot before."

Xuan Zi swallowed, then immediately flew toward the Minotaur Maze marked on the map.

Meanwhile, the Shrek group below was still resting.

"He really knows how to fool people."

Xia Liang watched Xuan Zi leave. Just now, he had smelled roasted Nine-Headed Serpent meat on the Taotie Douluo. Anyone could tell what he had been doing. As for the Soul Power in that rock? Xia Liang had watched Xuan Zi inject it himself.

"This Senior Xuan Zi..."

After hearing Xia Liang's explanation, Huo Yuhao was speechless as well. Looking in the direction Xuan Zi had left, he wondered whether Xuan Zi truly was not afraid that something might happen to them.