Blazing Like the Sun! The Great Sun Hung High!

Zhu Zhuqing's heart churned like a stormy sea.

Tang Shuo had pinned her completely beneath him, and the position made her whole body feel awkward, her cheeks heating up slightly.

Tang Shuo, too, noticed the unusual softness of the girl beneath him.

Soft and squishy, as though she had no bones.

If he could keep pressing her down like this, it seemed... that would be one of life's great pleasures.

The thought vanished as quickly as it came.

He felt the girl struggling.

"Mm... I'm uncomfortable... Can you get up first?"

Zhu Zhuqing's voice came from beneath his palm, muffled and carrying a trace of embarrassed annoyance.

Only then did Tang Shuo realize what was happening. He moved with great care, slowly shifting off her.

Zhu Zhuqing quickly climbed to her feet and straightened her rumpled clothes, her beautiful eyes filled with complicated emotions as she looked at Tang Shuo.

She lowered her voice and leaned close to Tang Shuo's ear, her breath fragrant as orchids.

"You... you really plan to hunt a ten-thousand-year soul beast?"

Tang Shuo said nothing, merely nodding calmly.

His gaze remained fixed on the two soul beasts confronting each other in the distance.

Zhu Zhuqing could scarcely believe her ears.

But Tang Shuo's eyes told her he was not joking.

"If there's a ten-thousand-year one, why choose a thousand-year one?"

Tang Shuo finally spoke, his tone calm.

"Besides, they're about to determine a winner. This is a once-in-a-millennium opportunity."

The moment his words fell.

"Screech—!"

A piercing falcon cry tore through the sky.

The great battle was about to erupt.

The Blazing Sun Golden Falcon moved!

It turned into a bolt of golden lightning and dived from the sky. Its sharp talons carved dazzlingly cold arcs through the air as they struck directly for the Nether Shadow Serpent's vital point!

"Hiss!"

The Shadow Serpent's enormous body twisted sharply, narrowly evading the fatal blow by a hair's breadth.

Yet the Golden Falcon's talons still left several wounds so deep that bone showed through its pitch-black scales, black blood gushing out.

Having landed its strike, the Golden Falcon was about to soar back upward.

But the Shadow Serpent's counterattack descended in an instant.

Its massive tail was like a black iron whip, carrying immense force as it viciously struck the Golden Falcon's wing!

"Crack!"

The crisp sound of shattering bones was unmistakable.

The Blazing Sun Golden Falcon let out a pained cry, its body staggering as it nearly fell from the air.

But it was not over yet.

The Shadow Serpent opened its blood-filled maw, and its two venom-soaked fangs viciously pierced the Golden Falcon's other wing!

"Sizzle—"

Black snake venom rapidly spread. The golden feathers corroded and burned at a visible rate, turning into black smoke.

The deadly venom was devouring its life.

Yet, at that very moment between life and death.

A flash of resolute madness appeared in the Blazing Sun Golden Falcon's eyes!

It abandoned all defense, allowing the snake venom to rage through its body as it gathered every last bit of strength at the tip of its beak.

A fight to the death amidst blazing fire!

"Squelch!"

That golden beak, hard as divine iron and carrying an unstoppable momentum, pierced straight through the Nether Shadow Serpent's skull with unerring precision!

The Nether Shadow Serpent's enormous body suddenly stiffened, the life in its eyes rapidly fading.

It crashed to the ground.

And the Blazing Sun Golden Falcon finally ran out of strength as well. Its golden eyes dimmed as it swayed down beside the Shadow Serpent's corpse.

It had won.

But it had also reached the very end of its strength.

Now!

A sharp gleam flashed through Tang Shuo's eyes.

"A once-in-a-millennium opportunity."

He murmured softly, his body already turning into an afterimage as he charged straight toward the dying Blazing Sun Golden Falcon.

"Tang Shuo!"

Seeing this, Zhu Zhuqing's heart leaped into her throat, and she cried out in alarm.

"Be careful!"

Before Zhu Zhuqing's horrified gaze, Tang Shuo moved as swiftly as a streak of light.

Naturally, the dying Blazing Sun Golden Falcon noticed him too.

The last flicker of life in its golden eyes turned into contempt and disdain.

A mere human.

And he dared covet this king's soul ring?

It could not even be bothered to waste strength on a soul skill. It merely casually flapped its one remaining intact wing lightly in Tang Shuo's direction.

Whoosh—!

A scorching gale swept up dust that filled the sky, crashing toward Tang Shuo like an invisible wall.

In its eyes, this tiny human ant would be crushed into pulp by the wind pressure.

However.

Tang Shuo's figure merely swayed slightly in midair before vanishing from the spot like a ghost.

The gale, powerful enough to smash boulders, struck nothing but empty air.

The next second.

Tang Shuo had appeared before the Blazing Sun Golden Falcon, less than ten meters away from it.

He was so fast that even the Blazing Sun Golden Falcon's dynamic vision could barely catch him.

The Blazing Sun Golden Falcon's pupils abruptly contracted.

Its contempt instantly turned into astonishment.

Then came overwhelming humiliation and fury.

It was a mighty ten-thousand-year soul beast, the ruler of the skies. Even heavily injured and at the end of its strength, how could it be provoked by a mere human?

"Screech—!"

A shrill cry filled with boundless rage shot into the heavens.

The Blazing Sun Golden Falcon ignited every last trace of soul power remaining within its body.

Boom!

Golden flames erupted from its battered body.

Under the firelight, its golden feathers seemed to turn into glass, brilliant and dazzling.

At that moment, it did not resemble a dying soul beast.

Instead, it looked more like a divine phoenix reborn from raging flames.

The temperature throughout the forest suddenly surged.

In the distance, Zhu Zhuqing felt a wave of heat crash over her, nearly setting her hair ablaze.

Yet, facing this final strike that seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth.

Tang Shuo merely stopped and watched it quietly.

He murmured.

"Is that all you've got?"

Of the three chaotic energy entities within his body, one began to circulate silently.

Tang Shuo's voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of every living being present, including the Golden Falcon and Zhu Zhuqing in the distance.

"Martial Soul, Eastern Sovereign Taiyi."

The instant his words fell.

An indescribably enormous phantom slowly rose behind Tang Shuo.

The phantom was so majestic that it seemed less like a living being and more like a humanoid outline formed from countless rolling mountain ranges.

Its body was clearly illusory, translucent.

Yet the boundless power flowing within it was more real and more terrifying than any tangible existence in the world.

Then.

Two enormous halos silently emerged behind the majestic figure's shoulders.

One blazed like a golden sun.

The other was cold and clear like a silver moon.

The twin wheels of sun and moon shone together in the sky!

The terrifying aura that had once belonged to the Blazing Sun Golden Falcon, as though it could burn the eight wildernesses to ash, seemed as insignificant as a dying candle in the wind before this godlike phantom.

In an instant, it was crushed to pieces and vanished completely.

The overwhelming fury in the Blazing Sun Golden Falcon's eyes was extinguished.

Replacing it was fear born from the deepest depths of its bloodline, from the origin of its soul.

Its enormous body froze in place, not daring to move at all.

What was resistance?

It did not know.

Only one thought remained in its mind.

At another's mercy.