Meng Yiran

The little girl frowned slightly, clearly distressed over the clothes.

The middle-aged man put away his dagger and glanced at the Ironclad Dragon Bear's corpse.

Then he gave Lu Mingfei and Huang Fei a slight nod in greeting before leading Yu Tianheng and his sister back the way they had come.

Lu Mingfei watched their retreating figures, his gaze lingering on Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianjiao for a while.

Yu Tianheng's battle had indeed been impressive.

With twenty-fifth-rank soul power and two century-old soul rings, he had easily suppressed a five-hundred-year Ironclad Dragon Bear by himself. Such strength was truly rare among the younger generation.

As for that little girl named Yu Tianjiao, she had absorbed her first soul ring at only seven years old, and her performance after possessing her martial soul had been quite good as well. Her talent could not be underestimated.

Huang Fei had stood silently to the side the entire time. Only after the Yu Clan members disappeared at the end of the valley path did she speak calmly.

"The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect's martial souls truly have their merits. But Lu Mingfei, remember this: in terms of bloodline, your Black Dragon King martial soul stands far above the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. Your path ahead will be longer than theirs.

"The Ironclad Dragon Bear is too low in age and unworthy of you. Keep going. Deeper within Dragon Valley, there will surely be prey better suited to you."

Lu Mingfei withdrew his gaze and nodded.

He glanced at the Ironclad Dragon Bear's corpse on the ground and silently offered an apology.

Then he turned around and followed behind Huang Fei, heading deeper into Dragon Valley.

The mist ahead grew thicker and thicker, while the dragon's might became increasingly oppressive.

Lu Mingfei felt the tattoo on the back of his hand pulsing more violently, as though anxiously urging him to hurry—faster, faster.

Huang Fei led Lu Mingfei deeper into Dragon Valley as the surrounding fog continued to thicken.

The rock walls on both sides of the valley path were covered in dark green moss and vines, while the air was thick with a pungent odor mingling the stench of earth and blood.

After walking for roughly half an hour, Lu Mingfei could clearly sense that the soul beasts around them were steadily growing stronger.

A Thorn Earth Dragon more than seven hundred years old lay behind a huge boulder beside the path.

Its gray-green scales were covered in sharp reverse thorns.

Whenever it saw someone passing, it let out a low, threatening growl. But after sensing the unfathomable fluctuations of soul power emanating from Huang Fei, it shrank back and did not dare provoke them.

After another quarter of an hour, a Venom Lizard Dragon nearing eight hundred years old was coiled upon the rock wall above the valley path. Its two eyes stared fixedly at the pair below, while venom dripping from its mouth corroded the rocks with hissing smoke.

This time, Huang Fei merely lifted her eyelids and released a wisp of soul power pressure. The Venom Lizard Dragon immediately retreated into a crack in the rock wall, not daring to show itself again.

Still shaken, Lu Mingfei looked up at the crevice in the rock wall and swallowed.

They had only been walking for half an hour and had already encountered an eight-hundred-year soul beast. If they went any deeper, it was probably only a matter of time before they encountered dragon beasts at the thousand-year level.

Just as he was thinking this, a fierce sound of battle suddenly came from the valley path ahead.

Thunderous explosions mingled with the rustling of something rapidly slithering across the ground, along with the cries of humans exerting themselves.

Huang Fei paused briefly, then gestured to Lu Mingfei. The two silently approached a bend in the path, pushed aside a dense cluster of Dragon Blood Vines, and looked toward the source of the fighting.

It was a relatively open patch of valley floor. Several Dragon Blood Trees around it had been snapped cleanly in half, and the ground was covered in deep trenches and craters filled with shattered stone.

At the center of the valley floor, a giant snake nearly fifty meters long stood with its head raised.

The giant snake was covered entirely in dark green scales.

An inky green gleam shone through the gaps between its scales. Its body was as thick as a water barrel and coiled in layer after layer. Its head was triangular, with a dark red ridge running along the top, while its eyes were eerie golden vertical pupils.

Most striking of all, faint clusters of tiny protrusions could be seen where its head met its neck, resembling immature buds of dragon horns that had not yet fully developed.

This Mandala Snake's size and aura far surpassed those of its ordinary kind. It clearly carried dragon blood within its body and was transforming in the direction of a flood dragon.

Facing the Mandala Snake was a young girl gripping a snake-headed cane, confronting the giant serpent.

Lu Mingfei's gaze landed on the girl, and for a moment, he found it hard to look away.

The girl appeared to be in her teens and wore a fitted dark green outfit that clearly outlined her figure.

She was not particularly tall, roughly the same height as Lu Mingfei, but her proportions were exceptionally balanced.

Her chest had already developed curves somewhat at odds with her age. Her slender waist was drawn in tightly by the belt of her outfit, while the lines from her waist to her legs were smooth and supple, carrying the agile vitality of a snake.

She had long dark green hair tied in a high ponytail behind her head, swaying gently with her movements.

Her oval face had delicate features, but the most eye-catching part was her large brown eyes. Her eyelashes were as long as two little fans, fluttering with every blink.

Combined with her tense, focused expression, she possessed a contradictory beauty that was both sharp and radiant.

At the tip of the snake-headed cane in the girl's hand, a two-foot-long Tongue Blade flickered with a cold blue gleam.

A yellow soul ring pulsed up and down beneath her feet, its radiance steady and full.

"First Soul Skill, Tongue Blade."

The girl gave a low shout and thrust her snake cane forward. The Tongue Blade shot out like a living creature, streaking with blue light straight toward the Mandala Snake's vital point.

The Mandala Snake reacted swiftly, twisting its head aside to avoid the critical strike. Even so, the Tongue Blade scraped across the scales at the side of its neck, leaving behind a shallow white mark.

Enraged, the Mandala Snake let out a sharp hiss. Its enormous body launched forward as it opened its bloody maw and bit toward the girl.

Yet the girl was astonishingly agile. With a twist of her waist, she sidestepped in an almost unbelievable manner, barely evading the lethal bite.

Lu Mingfei finally shifted his gaze away from the girl and looked toward the two people at the edge of the valley floor.

On the other side of the valley floor stood a white-haired old woman leaning on a snake-headed cane.

The old woman appeared to be in her sixties or seventies, yet she was exceptionally vigorous. Though her face bore many wrinkles, her skin was rosy like that of an infant, and a sharp gleam flashed in her eyes. She was clearly profoundly cultivated.

Six soul rings pulsed around her body—two yellow, three purple, and one black. She was unmistakably a Soul Emperor-level powerhouse.

She did not intervene, merely keeping a close watch on every movement in the center of the battlefield, ready to provide support at any moment.

Not far from the old woman's side stood a tall, thin old man.

The old man appeared to be at least in his seventies. His silver hair was like frost and snow, and he held a gleaming silver dragon-headed cane more than four meters long.