Facing the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's heavy blow, Long Xiaoyao did not even blink. He merely slowly raised his right hand, transforming it into a dragon claw covered in black Dragon Scales. Immediately afterward, he released his domain—Dark Domain. At the same time, nine Spirit Rings appeared around him: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, red, red.
Bang—
The lion claw collided with the dragon claw, erupting with a heavy boom. It was as though two mountains had crashed together! A visible shockwave spread outward from the point where the two claws met.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Dark Holy Dragon True Body!"
Long Xiaoyao let out a low roar. His seventh Spirit Ring immediately flashed, and his aura surged dramatically. His body was instantly covered in densely packed black Dragon Scales. Sunlight filtering through the gaps between the leaves shone upon the scales, yet there was not the slightest reflection, as if the Dragon Scales had absorbed all the light.
The Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's unstoppable charge was abruptly halted. Its body stopped short, as though it had struck an invisible wall of sighs. Then, like a torn sack, it was hurled backward, smashing down one towering ancient tree after another.
Meanwhile, Long Xiaoyao remained standing where he was, as steady as a mountain.
"Your bearing isn't bad, but your strength is lacking."
A cold smile curled across Long Xiaoyao's lips. Then, his sixth Spirit Ring bloomed with black light. A mass of abyss-like black Soul Power condensed at the tips of his dragon claws and shot toward the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff, which had been preparing to pounce.
The Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's once-proud golden fur was immediately corroded by the black ray, turning dull and dim. It let out a mournful cry before collapsing to the ground like a falling building with a heavy bang.
Long Xiaoyao gave it no chance to catch its breath. He instantly flashed forward, and his eighth Spirit Ring shone with an eerie red light, accompanied by a chilling pressure.
"Eighth Soul Skill, Shadow-Annihilating Dragon Claw."
Long Xiaoyao raised his right claw high. The claw blades gave off a sharp, heart-chilling aura before slashing down viciously.
Squelch!
Long Xiaoyao's claw blades plunged directly into the vital point of the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's cervical spine. The ferocity in its eyes instantly faded away, leaving behind only weak, ragged breaths.
That strike had shattered the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's bones and tendons. Its entire body sprawled across the ground like a lump of rotten mud, having completely lost any ability to resist.
Long Xiaoyao dismissed his Martial Soul Avatar. The scales receded from his body as he returned to human form. His breathing was slightly uneven, but the expenditure did not seem particularly great.
He turned toward Xu Tianchen, who stood nearby, and nodded at him, signaling that it was over and that he could come over.
Xu Tianchen seemed to have only just recovered from the battle. He took a deep breath, suppressing his anticipation and excitement over the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's Spirit Ring. He took out the Level-Three Penetrating Soul Guidance Ray that Kong Deming had recently upgraded for him from his Soul Guidance storage ring and walked toward the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff lying on the ground.
The Golden-maned Lion Mastiff, sprawled helplessly on the ground, struggled to open its dark golden eyes. Watching Xu Tianchen approach step by step, it wanted to roar, but could only let out a weak whimper.
It wanted to struggle to its feet and continue fighting, yet it no longer had the strength to even lift a single claw.
Xu Tianchen looked at the dying Golden-maned Lion Mastiff. Its eyes were filled with unwillingness, anger, a desire to live, and a pursuit of strength. Even in the face of death, it still radiated the unyielding pride of a soul beast.
He raised the Soul Guidance Ray Gun in his hand and aimed at the wound Long Xiaoyao had made.
As a Soul Guidance Ray passed through the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's brain, its already dim eyes flashed with a final glimmer before completely losing all light. Perhaps that brief flash had been its life replaying before its eyes.
As Long Xiaoyao watched deep-purple streams of light rise from the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's body and gather above its corpse into a deep-purple Spirit Ring, he said to Xu Tianchen, who was still looking at the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff:
"This Golden-maned Lion Mastiff truly deserves to be a supreme existence among Super Soul Beasts. With only over nine thousand years of cultivation, it was already no weaker than a Title Douluo. If I hadn't struck it with a continuous barrage of attacks and left it no chance to counterattack, even an ordinary Super Douluo might not have been able to take it down once it erupted again."
"Of course, it was fortunate that it had not yet reached ten thousand years. Otherwise, I would not have been confident in reducing it to this state in such a short time and with so little disturbance."
Xu Tianchen said nothing. He knew how formidable the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff was, and the stronger it was, the more it proved that the Spirit Ring it produced was exceptional, didn't it?
He walked before the Spirit Ring, took a deep breath, and sat down cross-legged. Releasing his Purple Radiance Annihilating Heaven Dragon Martial Soul, two Spirit Rings, one yellow and one purple, appeared around him. Then, with a thought, the deep-purple Spirit Ring floated toward Xu Tianchen and settled around his body.
The instant the Spirit Ring entered his body, a violent surge of energy rushed into Xu Tianchen's meridians. This energy carried not only the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's ferocity, but also its proud refusal to submit.
The energy seemed to carry the resentment of the dead Golden-maned Lion Mastiff as well, attempting to prevent Xu Tianchen from absorbing it. His face turned paper-white, and beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead, soaking through his clothes.
The Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's unwillingness and ferocity, born from its bloodline, transformed into a massive bloodline phantom within Xu Tianchen's Sea of Spirit. It roared incessantly inside, venting its indignation at having its life ended by an ant and throwing the Sea of Spirit into chaos.
"Guard your mind! Use your powerful spiritual power, the Purple Radiance Annihilating Heaven Dragon bloodline within your body, and your Sun Martial Soul that has entered dual ultimate attributes to suppress it!"
Long Xiaoyao's commanding voice exploded in Xu Tianchen's mind like primordial thunder rumbling across the heavens.
Xu Tianchen abruptly sank his consciousness back into his body. Without hesitation, he mobilized his spiritual power and manifested it within his Sea of Spirit. At the same time, a resplendent blazing sun appeared above the Sea of Spirit. The light it emitted shone upon the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's bloodline phantom with sizzling sounds, causing its original body to shrink beneath the illumination.
After the light had weakened it, the bloodline phantom was met by the breath of a deep-purple giant dragon. The bloodline phantom was beaten back again and again.
At last, after an unknown amount of time, the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's bloodline phantom finally let out one last mournful cry. The bloodline phantom manifested by the Purple Radiance Annihilating Heaven Dragon Martial Soul crushed it into glittering golden light with a single swipe of its claw, and the light merged into Xu Tianchen's Sea of Spirit.
In the outside world, Xu Tianchen also underwent astonishing changes because of this.
Xu Tianchen steadily absorbed the Spirit Ring's energy. No longer did it race through his meridians like wild horses breaking loose from their reins; instead, it became like a thoroughly tamed beast, slowly merging into his meridians and dantian. He refined and absorbed it bit by bit until it finally became his own strength.
Seeing that Xu Tianchen's condition had stabilized, Long Xiaoyao also let out a breath of relief.
More than a day had passed, and things had finally stabilized. Long Xiaoyao looked toward the Sun Moon Empire and muttered, "I wonder how Xishui is doing over there?"
At the same time, turmoil capable of affecting the entire Douluo Continent was also unfolding within the Sun Moon Empire.
Before you continue