Red Emperor · Calamity Star

"Roar."

Accompanying the soul-stirring roar—

Was an enormous figure wreathed in flames, nearly fifteen meters tall.

A sixty-five-thousand-year soul beast: the Molten Rock Giant Turtle.

Its surface was covered in a layer of dark-red turtle shell, its back carapace like a flattened hill.

The patterns on its shell were not ordinary geometric cracks, but more like solidified lava flows. Dark fissures of varying widths crisscrossed its surface, glowing a dim crimson deep within.

The edges of its carapace curled slightly upward, forming a ring of serrated protrusions. At the tip of every protrusion remained black magma that had cooled and crystallized.

Its head was triangular, flatter and broader than that of an ordinary turtle. Its eye sockets were deeply sunken, and its murky orange-red eyes resembled embers buried in furnace ash.

Every step it took made the ground sink slightly, leaving ankle-deep footprints. The soil around them cracked from the heat, releasing wisps of white smoke.

There were still traces of Liu Erlong's recent attacks on its body, but against its hard armor and fire resistance—

Those attacks amounted to just two words.

Like scratching an itch!

They could not even knock the solidified magma off its carapace.

The Molten Rock Giant Turtle was in a foul mood.

It had been sleeping perfectly well.

But first, the fire-element energy it had been continuously absorbing vanished, forcing it to wake up and investigate.

Then, a sudden fragrance tempted this old turtle, which had not eaten in who knew how many years.

Finally, when it had made up its mind to take a look, the scent actually disappeared.

And some lunatic had even attacked it just because it appeared.

What kind of nonsense was this?

So even if it was a turtle—

It was angry!

The light within the cracks on the Molten Rock Giant Turtle's carapace brightened as it directly spewed a massive amount of lava forward.

"Block it!"

Huo Yu screamed and was the first to act, intercepting the incoming lava.

Huo Wu also used Resistance Ring of Fire with all her strength, but the gap between them was simply too great.

Resistance Ring of Fire's interception effect was far from satisfactory.

Thankfully, Liu Erlong squeezed out every last bit of soul power to block the wave.

Then, she and Huo Yu both fell completely unconscious.

Am I going to die?

Watching the giant turtle begin charging up again before her eyes—

Huo Wu knew they could no longer stop it.

Damn it... I'm so unwilling to accept this.

I haven't even been in love yet.

Just then, Huo Wu suddenly felt a little cold.

What's going on?

The area was just hit by lava, wasn't it?

"Look up!"

Jiang Zhu's voice drew everyone's attention.

A massive golden dragon had somehow appeared above them.

A golden dragon?

Was it a soul beast too?

It looked even bigger than the Molten Rock Giant Turtle.

Huo Wu felt that her funeral might be a little too extravagant.

There were actually so many ten-thousand-year soul beasts here to see her off.

Wait, if they fight, can we escape?

Or will we get caught in it and die anyway?

Before Huo Wu could figure out the answer—

She began doubting her own eyes.

Why did that golden dragon seem to be turning red?

"Honestly, what exactly did he learn from that bloodline?"

An unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out. Huo Wu looked ahead—

And discovered that a youth around her age had somehow appeared in front of everyone.

"Please gather a little closer."

He spoke with a smile, and then an icy-blue glow lit up his left arm.

Huo Wu did not know why she listened to him, but in her daze, she joined the others in gathering behind him.

"How beautiful."

Jiang Zhu was once again the first to notice the changes around them.

Ice crystals resembling scales had appeared around them at some unknown point. The ice floating in midair refracted dazzling colors.

"Thank you for the compliment."

Seeing that there were enough ice crystals around them, Yu Yuan used the soul skill he had obtained from the Ice Dragon King.

The Ice Dragon King soul ring hidden within his body flashed.

Permafrost · Dragon-Scale Frost Coffin!

The scattered scales instantly converged, enveloping everyone, including Yu Yuan.

Layers upon layers of dragon-scale-shaped ice crystals formed a coiled giant dragon, shielding everyone tightly within its body.

"You can close your eyes. It might get a little bright next."

Bright?

Why?

Huo Wu did not understand, so she chose to open her eyes even wider.

At that moment, Yu Yuan also informed the Golden Dragon that everything was ready.

"Grrr!"

Having received the message, every scale on the Golden Dragon's body had turned crimson.

After locking onto the Molten Rock Giant Turtle, it beat its dragon wings and charged toward it.

It smashed through the lava the turtle had spewed, knocked the Golden Dragon's opponent onto its back, and then detonated the energy it had accumulated for so long.

Red Emperor · Calamity Star!

Boom!

Immense heat and light erupted at once, and an exceptionally standard mushroom cloud rose into the air.

Crack, crack, crack, crack.

The scales forming the ice dragon peeled away layer by layer, but they ultimately blocked all damage except the light perfectly.

Unfortunately, Yu Yuan still heard two screams amidst the tremendous explosion.

Hm?

That shouldn't be possible.

Did I calculate the defense wrong?

Relying on the light-filtering membrane in his draconic eyes, Yu Yuan transformed and opened his eyes to check behind him.

Mm.

Huo Wu and Jiang Zhu were both clutching their eyes and rolling on the ground.

Ah, I get it. I really do. I was like that the first time too.

Yu Yuan looked at the two women sympathetically, but ultimately chose not to rewind time.

Watching other people suffer is so fun. I really don't want to rewind it.

Since his eyes were already open, Yu Yuan took the opportunity to carefully observe the Red Emperor · Calamity Star that the Golden Dragon had comprehended from the Fire Dragon King's bloodline.

It was actually the same move as Heavenly Flame · Calamity Star of Annihilation on his soul skill list.

However, when gathering fire elements, the Golden Dragon had relied on its powerful dragon body and Golden Sacred Dragon Bloodline to add a massive amount of light elements as well.

Then it declared that this was a new move and insisted on naming it itself, so it changed the name.

But the damage did seem to have increased. The light element also possessed a certain degree of penetration.

Wait?

Does this count as radiation?

As the explosion subsided—

Yu Yuan left the ice dragon behind to protect everyone and walked out alone.

Wow, that was excessive.

The damage from this move was far greater than Yu Yuan had expected.

Even though the Golden Dragon had sent its opponent flying and moved some distance away afterward, the entire area around Yu Yuan had still turned into scorched earth.

As for the center of the explosion?

Mm.

A massive crater had already been vaporized into existence.

Aside from flowing liquid rock, there was only the Golden Dragon, which had somehow crooked its neck again, and an enormous turtle shell within the crater.

Oh, and a soul ring.

After returning the severely injured Golden Dragon to the summoning space—

Yu Yuan looked at the scene before him and ultimately decided to list this move as a forbidden technique.

"This move really can't be used often. It's far too wasteful."

Leaving aside the environmental destruction, all that remained of the Molten Rock Giant Turtle was its soul ring and turtle shell.

There was no soul bone, and he could not even try making an artificial one, since most of its body had evaporated.

In Xiao Kong's words, they had failed to maximize their profits.

They had taken a huge loss.

"Um, thank you for saving us."