Did You Ask Me Before Self-Destructing?

"Heh, I didn't expect you beast to have some backbone. But if you want to self-destruct, did you ask me first?"

Xia Yu was not particularly surprised by the Golden Tortoiseshell's fierceness or its attempt to self-destruct.

Soul beasts were like that. Most of them were stubborn and pigheaded.

Throughout history, quite a few soul masters had encountered this problem.

After going to great lengths to defeat and cripple a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, they were dragged down by the soul beast's self-destruction and perished together.

Or even if they were not taken down by the soul beast's self-destruction, not a single soul ring or Soul Bone would remain.

In short, hunting a hundred-thousand-year soul beast was never as simple as defeating or crippling it.

You also needed the ability to stop the soul beast from self-destructing.

Did Xia Yu have the ability to stop the Golden Tortoiseshell from self-destructing?

Of course he did.

Xia Yu did not even seem to make a move. With a mere thought, the Golden Tortoiseshell's increasingly violent aura was suppressed once more by the Two Extremes Stillness Domain.

"Roar! This damned domain, break for me!"

Upon noticing that its self-destruction was gradually being suppressed, the Golden Tortoiseshell's pupils shrank violently, and its mind wavered.

However, it did have some ability. It immediately stirred the Gold of Life within its body, the thing that had made its life worse than death.

Normally, the Golden Tortoiseshell could do nothing about the Gold of Life.

But now, with the tremendous boost brought by burning its life force, he had not only recovered his cultivation of one hundred and ninety thousand years, but had also become even stronger than at his peak.

So, by slightly stirring the Gold of Life and using the life energy it leaked out to accelerate the self-destruction process, he could still manage it.

With the Gold of Life's life energy pushing it along, the Golden Tortoiseshell actually began to withstand the suppression of the Two Extremes Stillness Domain.

See? He could now easily use his spiritual will to mobilize soul power and convey his thoughts.

He was no longer struggling as he had been before.

"Hmph. It's nothing more than a futile struggle. Not worth mentioning."

Just as the Golden Tortoiseshell held back the Two Extremes Stillness Domain's suppression, Xia Yu made his move.

A gigantic Vajra fist formed from blood energy and soul power appeared out of thin air in midair.

Carrying an aura capable of destroying heaven and earth, it smashed viciously toward the Golden Tortoiseshell, which was still contending against the Two Extremes Stillness Domain.

"Roar! Invincible Barrier!"

Sensing a deadly threat, the Golden Tortoiseshell could no longer spare any attention to resisting the Two Extremes Stillness Domain.

It let out an earthshaking roar, and a dazzling golden barrier instantly enveloped its entire body.

Boom!

The golden giant fist crashed into the golden barrier like a falling meteor, erupting with a thunderous blast.

Terrifying shockwaves swept in all directions. The stone walls of the underground cavern shattered into fragments and were hurled everywhere by the blast.

When everything finally settled, the cavern had expanded by an entire circle.

As for the Golden Tortoiseshell, its entire body had been smashed into the ground.

Even its golden barrier had dimmed completely, its surface covered in cracks as though it could collapse at any moment.

"You beast think you can self-destruct in front of me? Who are you looking down on? Keep going. Let's see if I don't tear apart that turtle shell of yours."

Although he had not shattered the Golden Tortoiseshell's Invincible Barrier in a single blow, Xia Yu was not discouraged.

After all, his attack had genuinely interrupted the Golden Tortoiseshell's self-destruction.

If that thing were not still continuously burning its own life force, the backlash from this alone would probably have been enough to make it suffer.

"Roar! Human, die! Die! Die for me!"

With its self-destruction interrupted and its final chance to perish together gone, the Golden Tortoiseshell completely descended into madness and went berserk.

Splash!

Endless waves surged forth, mixing with the dirt and rocks falling from the ceiling of the underground cavern to form a terrifying waterspout that blasted toward Xia Yu.

That was not all. The Golden Tortoiseshell gathered terrifying earth-element energy before itself and fired an earthen-yellow beam toward Xia Yu.

"Good timing. This is a perfect chance to test the power of the Indestructible Vajra Body."

Faced with danger from both sides, Xia Yu was not nervous in the slightest. Instead, he was eager to give it a try.

His mysterious ornate robes fluttered as golden-red blood energy rose from his body. With one punch, he unleashed a terrifying column of force that pierced straight through the descending waterspout.

As for the earthen-yellow beam that followed, Xia Yu responded in an astonishing manner.

He made no preparations at all. He simply raised his left hand, spread his fingers, and held it before the earthen-yellow beam.

Yes, Xia Yu directly used his hand to catch the earthen-yellow beam fired by the Golden Tortoiseshell.

Boom!

Without any surprise, the Golden Tortoiseshell's earthen-yellow beam struck Xia Yu's left hand without mercy.

But what happened next was beyond the Golden Tortoiseshell's expectations.

It was useless. The earth-element energy beam it had fired with all its strength while burning its life force was actually caught by Xia Yu's hand.

The moment the beam touched Xia Yu's left hand, it could not advance even an inch further.

Thus, a bizarre scene unfolded.

In front, the Golden Tortoiseshell desperately kept firing the beam.

Yet Xia Yu simply held out his left hand and caught that terrifyingly powerful beam.

"Disappear for me!"

As Xia Yu suddenly twisted his left hand, a red-and-blue Taiji diagram formed from blood energy, soul power, and spiritual power flashed into existence.

With just a slow rotation, the Taiji diagram erupted with terrifying power and directly ground the earthen-yellow beam fired by the Golden Tortoiseshell into nothingness.

Not even the slightest residual wave escaped.

"Heh, I didn't expect that a sudden whim would let me create such a terrifying self-created soul skill. From now on, this move will be called the Yin-Yang Millstone."

While Xia Yu was still smug over having created the self-created soul skill Yin-Yang Millstone, the Golden Tortoiseshell had already fallen into utter despair.

Its self-destruction had been interrupted, and even its final berserk assault had achieved no meaningful result.

Its fate seemed to have been decided long ago. No matter what it did, it could not escape becoming Xia Yu's soul ring and Soul Bone.

"Roar! I refuse to accept this! Even if I die, I'll tear a piece of flesh from you, human!"

Even knowing that the outcome was already decided, the Golden Tortoiseshell still refused to await death.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Golden Tortoiseshell unleashed countless attacks, seeking only to injure Xia Yu, this hateful human.

However, things did not go as it wished. Xia Yu easily neutralized every one of its attacks.

Then he effortlessly closed in before it and used the golden giant fist carrying the power to destroy heaven and earth to shatter its prized Invincible Barrier.

Boom!

As the final thunderous blast rang out, the Golden Tortoiseshell's shell shattered, and its massive body collapsed limply to the ground.

At this moment, it was already on its last breath, taking in more air than it let out.

"Whew, this turtle shell really was hard enough. But in the end, I was still better. I said I'd tear apart your shell, you beast, and I meant it. I always keep my word."

Xia Yu breathed heavily and dispelled the martial soul fusion skill.

Though he had seemed relaxed throughout that battle, it had consumed a great deal of his blood energy, soul power, and spiritual power.

Fortunately, it had all been worth it. Not only had he gained more combat experience from this battle, but he had also obtained a terrifyingly powerful self-created soul skill.

This could truly be considered an unexpected windfall.