The Blackwood Jiao raised its front claw.
Black wooden armor grew from its surface, layer upon layer covering its body.
A pitch-black blade of light descended.
The wooden armor shattered one layer after another.
Several cracks appeared across the Blackwood Jiao's scales.
It raised its head as black light continuously gathered.
Lin Tian had already arrived before it.
He grabbed the Blackwood Jiao's front claws with both hands, and immense strength erupted at once.
The Blackwood Jiao's body was forcibly lifted.
It thrashed wildly, its thick tail lashing toward Lin Tian's chest.
Lin Tian did not let go.
His chest took the blow, but he merely took half a step back.
Then Lin Tian exerted strength through both arms and slammed the Blackwood Jiao into the ground.
Boom!
A massive crater was smashed into the center of the clearing.
Dirt and shattered rocks shot into the air.
The Blackwood Jiao's body sank into the bottom of the crater, with large patches of scales cracked apart.
Before it could rise again, dozens of vines burst from the ground and tightly bound its body.
The Blackwood Jiao struggled without pause.
The vines were pulled taut by its strength, yet not a single one snapped completely.
Life Divine Light from the Primordial Chaos Azure Lotus descended.
The vines absorbed the life force of the surrounding vegetation and continued growing thicker.
The Blackwood Jiao opened its mouth and spat out a black beam of light.
Lin Tian threw a punch.
The Nine Nether Beast's Destruction Power erupted alongside his fist.
The black beam was scattered head-on.
His fist continued forward and slammed heavily into the Blackwood Jiao's lower jaw.
Crack!
The Blackwood Jiao's lower jaw split apart on the spot.
Its enormous body was knocked off the ground.
Xue Qinghe stood in the distance, watching the battle before her without speaking for a long time.
That was a Blackwood Jiao with more than fifteen thousand years of cultivation.
Even at her peak, she could not have suppressed it in such a short time.
Yet Lin Tian only had twenty levels of Soul Power.
He had not used his second soul skill.
He had not even unleashed the Nine Nether Beast's special ability.
Relying solely on his powerful body and martial soul strength, he was able to confront the Blackwood Jiao head-on.
"What kind of physique is this?"
Xue Qinghe watched Lin Tian charge at the Blackwood Jiao again and again.
With every collision, the Blackwood Jiao was injured.
Even collisions between his arms and its scales left wounds upon its body.
Lin Tian's attacks varied in strength.
Yet the Blackwood Jiao bled every time.
Xue Qinghe soon noticed something unusual.
"Defense isn't working at all."
The Blackwood Jiao's wooden armor could block part of Lin Tian's strength.
But the damage that struck within its body could never be neutralized.
No matter how hard its scales were, Lin Tian's fists could leave wounds on its body.
Xue Qinghe could not understand such power.
She could only attribute it to Lin Tian's two god-tier martial souls.
The battle continued.
The Blackwood Jiao gradually slowed.
Its head, chest, abdomen, and tail were already covered in wounds.
Large amounts of black blood spilled onto the ground, and the surrounding plants immediately withered upon being stained by it.
Several wounds had also appeared on Lin Tian's body.
But the Primordial Chaos Azure Lotus continuously released Life Force.
The moment those wounds appeared, they rapidly closed.
Lin Tian's momentum remained at its peak throughout.
He grabbed the Blackwood Jiao's swinging tail and exerted force through both legs.
"Come here!"
The Blackwood Jiao's enormous body was dragged forward.
Lin Tian stepped into the crater.
The Nine Nether Beast raised its wolf head, its nine massive tails stretching backward at once.
The Primordial Chaos Azure Lotus bloomed with towering azure light.
The powers of destruction and life surged into Lin Tian's right arm simultaneously.
The Blackwood Jiao sensed danger.
It frantically mobilized its Soul Power, black wooden armor layering over its head again and again.
Lin Tian raised his fist.
"It's over."
His fist descended.
The first layer of wooden armor shattered with a bang.
The second layer exploded immediately afterward.
The Blackwood Jiao's scales continuously broke apart.
Just as his fist was about to touch its head, the power of the Pearlglow Gauntlet within Lin Tian suddenly lit up.
The strength of this punch instantly doubled.
Boom!
Destruction Power pierced through the Blackwood Jiao's head.
Black blood and shattered scales flew apart together.
The Blackwood Jiao's enormous body froze in place.
Then it crashed heavily into the crater.
The earth shook once more.
The ancient trees around them swayed without end.
Lin Tian stood before the Blackwood Jiao's head and slowly withdrew his fist.
"The power of a critical hit is indeed pretty good."
Xue Qinghe walked closer.
She looked at the fallen Blackwood Jiao, then at Lin Tian.
"You truly killed a soul beast over fifteen thousand years old with your own strength."
"Its Soul Ring is just right for me."
Lin Tian nodded.
He turned and walked to the Blackwood Jiao's corpse.
A pitch-black Soul Ring rose above the enormous corpse.
The Soul Ring slowly rotated.
Black light illuminated the entire clearing as the aura of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast continuously spread.
Lin Tian stood beneath the Soul Ring.
Xue Qinghe looked at it and asked, "Are you preparing to absorb it?"
"Of course."
Lin Tian raised his hand.
As though drawn by something, the pitch-black Soul Ring slowly drifted toward his palm.
Xue Qinghe did not stop him.
She merely watched Lin Tian, waiting for him to create another record no one else had ever achieved.
Lin Tian's fingertips touched the Soul Ring.
Boom!
Immense power instantly surged into his body.
Massive Soul Power rushed into his meridians.
Lin Tian sat cross-legged beside the Blackwood Jiao's corpse, the Nine Nether Beast floating behind him.
The pitch-black Soul Ring spun violently.
The energy accumulated through fifteen thousand years of cultivation rampaged through every part of his body.
Soft cracking sounds rang continuously from Lin Tian's muscles and bones.
After twenty enhancements from the Tank Engine, his meridians had long surpassed those of soul masters at the same level.
The violent Soul Power struck without pause, yet it could never tear apart his body.
The Primordial Chaos Azure Lotus floated at his right.
Azure Divine Light spilled from between its petals and merged into Lin Tian's body.
The moment tiny cracks appeared in his battered meridians, they rapidly recovered under the nourishment of Life Force.
Xue Qinghe stood some distance away.
She did not approach, merely watching Lin Tian quietly.
The power contained within the pitch-black Soul Ring was far more ferocious than that of an ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring.
The Blackwood Jiao possessed a trace of jiao dragon bloodline.
Its body, Soul Power, and vitality all surpassed those of most soul beasts of the same age.
If it had been any other twentieth-level soul master, their body would have burst apart the instant they touched the Soul Ring.
Yet Lin Tian remained seated steadily.
Other than the continuously rising blood energy around him, there was not the slightest sign that he could not endure it.
Within the Spirit Sea.
An enormous Blackwood Jiao coiled in the darkness.
It opened its giant maw, sending countless black wooden spikes stabbing toward Lin Tian's spiritual origin.
"I killed you head-on when you were alive."
"Now that you're nothing but a lingering remnant, you still want to resist?"
With a thought from Lin Tian, the Nine Nether Beast slowly rose from the depths of the Spirit Sea.
Its savage wolf head looked toward the Blackwood Jiao.
Its nine massive tails spread open at once.
Destruction Power descended from all directions.
The wooden spikes the Blackwood Jiao had just formed shattered on the spot.
Its massive jiao body also continuously cracked beneath the suppression of Destruction Power.
It still tried to struggle.
The Primordial Chaos Azure Lotus had already bloomed on the other side.
Azure Divine Light illuminated the Spirit Sea.
The Blackwood Jiao's lingering ferocity quickly dissipated, eventually transforming into pure Soul Power and merging into the Nine Nether Beast's body.
Outside.
Lin Tian's aura suddenly surged.
The Nine Nether Beast raised its head, and wood grain patterns appeared over the surface of its pitch-black scales.
Those patterns lasted only a moment before being completely swallowed by Destruction Power.
The pitch-black Soul Ring slowly shrank.
At last, the Soul Ring encircled the Nine Nether Beast and rotated steadily.
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