Second Soul Skill, Sacred Dragon Devouring Essence

The moment the purple soul ring touched Xiao Jin, a terrifying suction force surged into Chu Jin through their martial soul bond.

When absorbing the first soul ring, the Radiant Nightmare Dragon Lizard's main source of pressure had been its mental illusion.

The Light-Eating Dragon Lizard was completely different.

Its lingering instinct was only to devour.

The instant the soul ring's energy entered his meridians, it began frantically plundering Chu Jin's Soul Power, as though it wanted to drain his dantian, blood, and mind dry.

Chu Jin's body suddenly tensed.

Veins rapidly bulged beneath his skin.

The Soul Power that had originally been circulating according to his meditation method was forcibly dragged toward Xiao Jin by the soul ring's power.

Xiao Jin's body began to swell as well.

Its abdomen inflated like a balloon, purple light continuously spilling from between its scales.

Qian Renxue stood some distance away, her brows quickly furrowing.

"The soul ring is devouring him in reverse."

Golden Crocodile did not immediately intervene.

"It is the Light-Eating Dragon Lizard's bloodline instinct."

"This is also part of what must be endured when absorbing a soul ring."

Others could forcibly interrupt the absorption.

But that would mean the soul ring absorption had failed, and both Chu Jin and Xiao Jin would suffer severe backlash.

As long as their lives were not truly in danger, Golden Crocodile would not interfere.

Chu Jin quickly realized that simply resisting was pointless.

The Light-Eating Dragon Lizard soul ring was devouring his Soul Power.

The more he locked his Soul Power inside his dantian, the fiercer the struggle became, and the greater the pressure on his meridians.

His Double Pupils opened despite his closed eyes.

Dark-gold mental vision spread through his body.

Every meridian and every strand of soul ring energy became crystal clear.

After entering his body, the purple energy mainly gathered toward Xiao Jin's heart and abdomen.

That was the Light-Eating Dragon Lizard's devouring instinct, attempting to reconstruct a light sac inside Xiao Jin's body.

Xiao Jin possessed the bloodline of the Twelve-Winged Sacred Dragon.

It naturally had no need for a light sac belonging to a Light-Eating Dragon Lizard.

Chu Jin stopped resisting.

He actively released the Soul Power within his dantian, guiding the stolen power into Xiao Jin's heart.

As though it had found a breach, the Light-Eating Dragon Lizard soul ring's devouring speed abruptly increased.

Qian Renxue's expression changed slightly.

The Soul Power fluctuations around Chu Jin's body were rapidly weakening.

Golden Crocodile still did not move.

He could sense that Chu Jin's mental state was extremely stable.

This was not a loss of control.

It was deliberate guidance.

A vast amount of Soul Power entered Xiao Jin's heart.

The golden bloodline power that originally belonged to the Twelve-Winged Sacred Dragon was stimulated and rapidly awakened.

Golden and purple energies collided within Xiao Jin's body.

The Light-Eating Dragon Lizard wanted to devour everything.

The Twelve-Winged Sacred Dragon bloodline, meanwhile, wrapped around the surging purple energy in return.

Within the spiritual world.

A gigantic phantom of the Light-Eating Dragon Lizard opened its maw.

A dark vortex engulfed the entire space.

The mental power surrounding Chu Jin and Xiao Jin was continuously dragged into the vortex.

Xiao Jin let out an enraged dragon roar.

Though its body was far smaller than the Light-Eating Dragon Lizard's, its bloodline aura was steadily rising.

The Light-Eating Dragon Lizard devoured a strand of Sacred Dragon power.

Following the connection between them, Xiao Jin pounced forward and bit down on the corner of its mouth.

Golden teeth tore away a large mass of purple mental energy.

The dragon lizard phantom angrily flung its head.

Xiao Jin was hurled into the air.

A dark-gold Heavy Halberd formed in Chu Jin's hand.

He did not directly attack the dragon lizard's body.

His Double Pupils locked onto the center of the dark vortex.

All of the Light-Eating Dragon Lizard's devouring power gathered there.

The Heavy Halberd shot forth.

Dark-gold light pierced through the vortex.

The devouring power briefly stalled.

Seizing the chance, Xiao Jin dived from the air, crashed into the center of the vortex, and clamped its jaws around the innermost purple sphere of light.

The Light-Eating Dragon Lizard wanted to swallow it.

Xiao Jin was also devouring the Light-Eating Dragon Lizard.

Their powers collided in the most primitive manner.

One by one, the Twelve-Winged Sacred Dragon markings within Xiao Jin's body lit up.

The overwhelming majority remained sealed.

Yet even the small portion of bloodline that had been activated stood at a level far beyond the Light-Eating Dragon Lizard.

The dragon lizard phantom began to shrink.

First its tail.

Then its limbs.

Chunks of purple energy were bitten from its body by Xiao Jin and swallowed into its stomach.

Chu Jin also condensed another Heavy Halberd, continuously disrupting the devouring vortex.

No one knew how much time had passed.

The Light-Eating Dragon Lizard phantom let out one final roar.

Its entire body was torn apart from the middle by Xiao Jin.

The purple mental energy transformed into a flood and surged entirely into Xiao Jin.

In reality.

Purple light flashed violently across Chu Jin's body.

Xiao Jin's swollen abdomen rapidly returned to normal.

A layer of dark-gold markings spread from its abdomen to its chest, intertwining with its original Sacred Dragon markings.

The purple soul ring gradually stabilized.

Soul Power began flowing back into Chu Jin from Xiao Jin.

Level twenty-one.

Level twenty-two.

Level twenty-three.

The Soul Power brought by absorbing the second soul ring, the energy accumulated during past battles, and the bloodline's feedback were all released, directly raising Chu Jin to level twenty-three.

These three levels had not been gained through meditation.

[Level Up!] did not activate.

Chu Jin had expected this.

He slowly opened his eyes.

The dark-gold light in his Double Pupils was deeper than before.

The purple soul ring slowly rotated around his body.

The first deep-yellow soul ring and the second purple soul ring appeared at the same time, forming an exceptionally striking contrast.

Qian Renxue strode over.

"How do you feel?"

"Soul Power level twenty-three."

Chu Jin stood up and moved his limbs.

His meridians were undamaged.

His body had also been strengthened again by the baptism of the thousand-year soul ring.

Xiao Jin lay on the ground.

Its size had not noticeably increased, but an extra ring of dark-gold patterns had appeared on the scales of its abdomen. When it opened its mouth, a tiny vortex could vaguely be seen within.

Golden Crocodile asked, "Soul skill?"

Chu Jin closed his eyes and sensed it for a moment.

The second soul ring slowly lit up.

"Second Soul Skill, Sacred Dragon Devouring Essence."

"It can devour Soul Power attacks of a certain strength, elemental energy, and residual Soul Power on the battlefield."

"The power it devours can be used for recovery, to strengthen the next attack, or stored as a foundation for growth."

Qian Renxue's eyes brightened slightly.

"It matches the direction we anticipated."

Golden Crocodile, however, did not rush to celebrate.

"The limit?"

Chu Jin looked at Xiao Jin.

"It needs testing."

"It cannot devour mental attacks, lethal poison, or curses."

"It also cannot directly consume material martial souls or purely physical attacks."

"Energy beyond its body's limit will cause backlash to Xiao Jin."

Only then did Golden Crocodile nod.

It was more normal that there was no limitless devouring that ignored rank and attributes.

"Try it now."

Qian Renxue retreated more than ten meters.

She suppressed her own Soul Power to the level of two soul rings and raised her hand to condense an ordinary Angel Light Blade.

"Ready?"

Chu Jin nodded.

"Xiao Jin."

The second soul ring lit up.

Xiao Jin stepped forward and opened its mouth.

A dark-gold vortex formed within.

Qian Renxue swung her sword.

A golden blade of light shot out.

The moment it approached Xiao Jin, it was tugged by the vortex.

The light blade rapidly warped, finally shrinking into a clump of golden energy that Xiao Jin swallowed whole.

Xiao Jin's abdomen lit up.

Its body also swelled slightly.

"Recovery."

Chu Jin sensed the condition of his martial soul.

"Some of the stamina spent absorbing the soul ring just now has recovered."

Qian Renxue swung her sword again.

The second light blade was raised to the power of the three-ring level.

Xiao Jin still opened its mouth and swallowed it.

This time, its abdomen visibly bulged, and the golden light across its body became even richer.

"Counterattack."

Chu Jin gave the order.

Xiao Jin raised its head.

The energy from the two Angel Light Blades it had just swallowed rapidly gathered in its mouth.

A golden breath attack burst forth.

Boom!

The breath attack struck the valley's rock wall.

A large amount of shattered stone came crashing down.

Its power clearly surpassed the second light blade Qian Renxue had released alone.

"Absorb two attacks, then release them in one burst."

Qian Renxue examined the marks on the rock wall.

"There was no loss during the conversion process. On the contrary, it even mixed with Xiao Jin's own holy light."

"This ability is well suited for counterattacks."

Chu Jin looked at Xiao Jin.

After releasing the energy, its belly returned to normal.

"Test the upper limit again."

Qian Renxue gradually increased the power of her attacks.

Soul Elder Initial Rank.

Soul Elder Middle Rank.

Once it reached Soul Elder High Rank, Xiao Jin's swallowing speed noticeably slowed.

The light blades did not completely vanish after entering the vortex. The remaining portions grazed Xiao Jin's scales, leaving shallow wounds.

Xiao Jin's belly also swelled rapidly.

It began to wobble as it walked.

Qian Renxue immediately stopped attacking.

"The current limit for a single attack is close to Soul Elder High Rank."

Chu Jin shook his head.

"That's only for the light attribute."

"Xiao Jin is naturally compatible with the light attribute, so its swallowing limit is higher."

"If it were fire, lightning, or ice, the result should be different."

Xiao Jin suddenly let out a low cry.

Its belly grew rounder and rounder.

Although the energy it had swallowed had reached its limit, it had yet to release all of it.

Chu Jin was about to have it use Sacred Dragon Breath.

But Xiao Jin stubbornly shook its head.

It seemed to think it could continue digesting it.

It took its first step.

Its body swayed to the left.

The second step.

It swayed to the right again.

As the third step landed, all four of Xiao Jin's legs went limp at once.

Plop.

Its whole body flopped onto the ground.

Its belly was as round as a golden ball.

Qian Renxue crouched down and poked it.

Xiao Jin rolled half a turn across the ground and ended up on its back, its legs in the air, unable to flip itself over no matter what.

Seeing Chu Jin and Qian Renxue watching it, it immediately stopped struggling and closed its eyes, pretending to sleep.

Chu Jin grabbed its front paw and lifted it off the ground.

"Can you still eat?"

Xiao Jin shook its head firmly.

"That's the limit."

Chu Jin looked at Golden Crocodile.

Golden Crocodile fell silent for a moment.

"At least it's very straightforward."

Xiao Jin opened one eye.

Only after confirming that no one was laughing at it did it close its eye again.