The Final Struggle

The Black Jade Earth Dragon facing Yue Guan did not dare to savor the fragrance in the slightest.

Because a lethal threat had already surrounded it.

Fear surfaced in its dark golden beast eyes for the first time.

It let out an even more urgent dragon roar, its four limbs suddenly exerting force as its entire body launched from the bottom of the rocky pit like a cannonball, pouncing toward Yue Guan.

Its dark brown scales gleamed with a metallic luster beneath the sunlight. Its massive four-meter body carried an innate gravity field as it crushed toward Yue Guan.

The air was compressed by the gravity field, letting out a shrill hum. The ground caved in around it the instant the Black Jade Earth Dragon leaped, sending shattered stones flying.

Finally, when the Black Jade Earth Dragon was only a foot away from Yue Guan.

Yue Guan moved.

His body shifted half a step to the side.

The Black Jade Earth Dragon's enormous body swept past his side, and the wind pressure it brought sent his golden hair streaming behind him.

But it did not touch him.

Not even a little.

At the very instant the Black Jade Earth Dragon flashed past him, Yue Guan raised his left hand.

Nine Spirit Rings, representing a Titled Douluo, lit up one by one beneath his feet.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.

With every Spirit Ring that appeared, Yue Guan's soul power aura surged dramatically.

"Sixth Soul Skill, Golden Stamens Wreathed in Rosy Clouds!"

His sixth Spirit Ring lit up instantly.

The phantom of the Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum in his palm abruptly bloomed.

Golden petals poured down from the sky like meteors.

Each petal was as thin as a cicada's wing, yet the sound they made as they flew through the air was not a gentle rustle, but a piercing whistle that tore through the air.

They were like countless flying blades shooting forth.

The petals sliced easily into the Black Jade Earth Dragon's scales.

Those overlapping dragon-scale patterns, that dark brown armor gleaming with metallic light, were as fragile as paper before the petals unfurled by the Strange Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum.

"Rip!"

A series of cutting sounds rang out.

The Black Jade Earth Dragon's body suddenly stiffened in midair, its massive form involuntarily crashing toward the ground.

Its enormous body slammed into the earth with a boom, making the ground shake once more.

But the Black Jade Earth Dragon did not collapse.

It struggled to prop itself up on its forelimbs.

Dozens of fine cuts had appeared across its dark brown scales, and every one of them was bleeding.

Dark red blood seeped from the gaps in its scales, staining the rocks beneath its feet.

But it was still conscious.

Its dark golden beast eyes were filled with unwillingness and rage. The Dragon King bloodline granted it a pride carved into the depths of its soul.

It was not some weak, lowly soul beast that would resign itself to defeat after taking a few blows.

It was a draconic beast with the bloodline of the Mountain Dragon King flowing through its veins. Even if it died, it would die standing.

The Black Jade Earth Dragon suddenly threw back its head and released a shriller dragon roar than before.

This roar was not intimidation. It was a desperate struggle for life.

The soul power within its body began to run wild. A layer of earthen yellow light surfaced over its dark brown scales, and its gravity field erupted.

In an instant, the shattered stones within a radius of ten meters floated into the air, only to be crushed into powder by invisible gravity in the next moment.

Even the air became viscous.

Standing twenty meters away, Ye Xunhuan could feel a heavy pressure surging from the Black Jade Earth Dragon, as though an invisible hand were pressing down on his shoulders.

Xu Qingqing covered her mouth, her face turning pale.

Though she did not understand soul beasts, she could still tell that this Black Jade Earth Dragon was about to stake its life on the line.

Yue Guan stood where he was. His golden hair drifted slightly backward beneath the gravity field's pressure, but his body did not move in the slightest.

He glanced at the Black Jade Earth Dragon, a smile at the corner of his lips.

"You still have strength left? Not bad. The bloodline of the Mountain Dragon Clan truly is formidable."

The Black Jade Earth Dragon's four limbs violently kicked off the ground.

A web of cracks exploded across the earth again as its enormous body, like a dark brown cannonball carrying a gravity field twice as powerful, charged toward Yue Guan.

Faster, fiercer, and more reckless than before.

This was its final strength.

"Fifth Soul Skill, Gathering of Frost Blossoms!"

Yue Guan still did not move. The fifth Spirit Ring on his body lit up.

He raised his right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and lightly slashed through the air.

Countless metallic chrysanthemum petals gathered into a tornado around him.

The Black Jade Earth Dragon slammed into the petals.

"Bang!"

"Rip!"

The enormous impact exploded, and shockwaves scattered in every direction. Ye Xunhuan had to raise a hand to shield his face.

But the Black Jade Earth Dragon did not break through the tornado.

It was blasted back, its four-meter body flying seven or eight meters away. Its limbs plowed four deep trenches into the ground before it finally crashed into a huge boulder and came to a stop.

Cracks spread across the boulder from the impact.

At the same time, many wounds deep enough to expose bone appeared across its body.

They had just been carved open by the Gathering of Frost Blossoms.

The Black Jade Earth Dragon lay on the ground, its limbs trembling violently.

Most of the scales on its forelimbs had shattered, exposing dark red flesh and white bone beneath.

Dark brown blood poured from its wounds, pooling beneath its body.

It still wanted to stand.

Its forelimbs pushed twice. On the third attempt, they gave out.

It pushed again, then collapsed again.

Yue Guan did not attack again.

He stood where he was, quietly watching the Black Jade Earth Dragon struggle.

There was neither pity nor cruelty in his golden eyes, only a calm gaze, as though he were watching a flower wither in the wind.

The Black Jade Earth Dragon finally gave up trying to stand.

It lay on the ground, and the light in its dark golden beast eyes gradually dimmed.

Its unwillingness remained, and so did its anger, but its body no longer obeyed it.

A low whimper came from its throat. It was no longer a dragon roar, but the mournful cry of something near death.

"Come over."

Ye Xunhuan stepped forward.

Yue Guan patted him on the shoulder.

"Absorb it. It no longer has the ability to resist."

Ye Xunhuan looked at the Black Jade Earth Dragon lying on the ground.

More than half of its dark brown scales had shattered, its limbs were bleeding, and its dark golden beast eyes were already half-closed.

It was still breathing, but every breath came with an obvious tremor.

A two-thousand-seven-hundred-year-old draconic soul beast.

From the moment Yue Guan attacked until now, less than thirty breaths had passed in total.

Ye Xunhuan was deeply shaken. The strength possessed by a Titled Douluo was nothing like the pathetic joke readers from his previous life made it out to be. It might truly be inferior to the cultivation world, but moving mountains and filling seas was absolutely possible.

"Kid." Yue Guan's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Ye Xunhuan withdrew his gaze. "Elder Ju."

Yue Guan smiled, his golden hair hanging over his shoulders.

"Though this Black Jade Earth Dragon's Mountain Dragon King bloodline is mixed, it is still, without question, the bloodline of the Mountain Dragon King. You possess the bloodline of a Behemoth within you. I read in the records before that the Behemoth race and the Dragon Clan are mortal enemies. When you absorb its Spirit Ring, it may not let you have an easy time."

"I understand." Ye Xunhuan nodded heavily, his tone solemn.

Yue Guan raised his chin. "As long as you know, go absorb it."

Ye Xunhuan strode forward, and the Behemoth Spirit instantly possessed him.

His claws extended. With a swift motion, Ye Xunhuan ended the Black Jade Earth Dragon's life.

As the Black Jade Earth Dragon's life force faded away, a pale purple Spirit Ring emerged from its body.

Ye Xunhuan did not dare delay for even a moment. He swiftly sat cross-legged and drew the Spirit Ring above his head.