Breakthrough to Soul Ancestor, Searching for the Icefire Yin-Yang Well

He could not delay any longer.

He took a deep breath, mobilizing every last bit of Soul Power within him and pouring it into the Fierce Slash Blade.

At the same time, he held the last Azure Flame Pearl in his palm, wrapping it in Soul Power so that not a trace of its aura could leak out.

Then, he dispelled Illusory Stars.

The mammoth immediately locked onto his position and charged at him again with an angry roar.

Ning Chen stood still. Only when the mammoth came within ten meters of him did he abruptly raise his hand and hurl the Azure Flame Pearl from his palm with all his strength!

The Azure Flame Pearl did not fly toward the mammoth's body, but toward the ground beneath its feet.

Boom!

Azure flames exploded beneath the mammoth's forehooves, blasting a huge crater into the ground.

The blast disrupted the mammoth's charge. Its forehooves stepped into empty air, and its massive body lost balance, toppling forward.

Now!

A sharp gleam flashed in Ning Chen's eyes. He shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, leaping up to meet the falling mammoth!

He stepped on the mammoth's lowered head for leverage, flipping himself above its neck.

Then he gripped the Fierce Slash Blade with both hands, pouring all his remaining Soul Power, along with the Pure Yang True Qi of the Nine Yang Divine Skill, into the blade!

The flame patterns on the Fierce Slash Blade blazed to their utmost brilliance. The entire blade emitted a dazzling crimson radiance, and even the air around it twisted under the searing heat.

Ning Chen let out a roar and brought his blade down!

This strike landed precisely in the gap between the mammoth's cervical vertebrae and skull.

That was the weakest point in its diamond armor, as well as the spot where he had already left a blade mark earlier.

Crack!

This time, the diamond armor finally shattered.

Carrying overwhelming force, the Fierce Slash Blade hacked viciously along the crack and sank all the way into the mammoth's cervical vertebrae.

The Diamond Mammoth let out an earthshaking wail. Its massive body convulsed violently a few times before crashing to the ground.

The impact smashed a huge shallow crater into the earth. Dust rose into the sky, and the surrounding trees trembled and rustled.

Ning Chen rolled away with the falling mammoth and slammed heavily onto the ground. Pain wracked every inch of his body, and the web between his right thumb and forefinger had split completely open, blood pouring from it.

The Fierce Slash Blade remained embedded in the mammoth's neck. The flames on its blade had gone out, and cracks covered its surface. It was clearly on the verge of becoming scrap.

But he had no time to care about that.

He struggled to his feet, dropped to one knee, and gasped for breath.

Sweat mixed with blood dripped from his forehead, and even his vision had begun to blur.

A deep black Soul Ring slowly rose from the Diamond Mammoth's corpse, giving off a mesmerizing glow amid the dim forest.

A seventeen-thousand-year Diamond Mammoth—a top-tier soul beast famed for its defense. The energy contained within its Soul Ring was immensely vast.

Ning Chen took a deep breath and circulated the Nine Yang Divine Skill. Pure Yang True Qi flowed slowly through his meridians, bringing his condition to its peak.

Then he extended his right hand, drawing that deep black Soul Ring toward himself and slowly absorbing it into his body.

The instant the Soul Ring entered his body, a savage torrent of energy surged through his limbs and bones like floodwaters bursting through a dam!

The energy of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring was far more tyrannical than that of a Millennium Soul Ring. That wild soul beast power rampaged through his meridians.

Ning Chen circulated the Nine Yang Divine Skill with all his strength.

Like a warm river, Pure Yang True Qi enveloped the violent energy, taming and guiding it bit by bit as it slowly circulated along the Soul Ring pathway of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.

Sweat continuously rolled down his forehead, and his clothes were soon soaked through.

At this moment, the formidable power of the Nine Yang Divine Skill played a crucial role.

After every surge of violent energy, Pure Yang True Qi would immediately rush in to refine it. After repeated tempering, his meridians instead became tougher and broader.

This process lasted for a full two hours.

When Ning Chen opened his eyes again, a deep violet light flashed through them before vanishing.

He slowly raised his right hand. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda appeared in his palm, its exquisite form now radiating an even more brilliant luster, while four Soul Rings encircled Ning Chen from behind.

One yellow, two purple, one black.

The fourth Soul Ring, ten thousand years.

The fourth level of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda lit up with a gentle earthy yellow glow, and a heavy defensive force surged forth from within.

What the Diamond Mammoth had granted him was precisely the defensive enhancement ability he had long dreamed of: Seven Treasures turn forth Glazed Tile; the fourth treasure is called Strength.

Feeling the surging Soul Power within him, Ning Chen revealed a satisfied smile.

After absorbing this Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, his Soul Power had leaped from level forty to level forty-five in one stroke, advancing five levels at once.

Part of that was due to the accumulation from breaking through level forty to become a Soul Ancestor, but the energy boost brought by the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring was indeed considerable.

He rose to his feet and stretched his body. A series of crackling sounds came from all over him.

Although the Fierce Slash Blade had been ruined, successfully advancing to Soul Ancestor and reaching level forty-five Soul Power meant that the gains from this trip had already far exceeded his expectations.

Ning Chen glanced at the Diamond Mammoth's corpse lying on the ground. After some thought, he stepped forward and used the Starlight Bracer to condense a sharp star blade, cutting off several of the mammoth's most intact pieces of diamond armor and storing them in his storage ring.

These diamond armor pieces were top-grade defensive materials and might prove useful for artifact forging in the future.

Only after finishing all this did he turn and leave the devastated battlefield, heading deeper into Sunset Forest.

Ning Chen's next objective was to search for the location of the Icefire Yin-Yang Well within Sunset Forest, occupied by Dugu Bo.

This search lasted half a month.

Over those fifteen days, Ning Chen nearly turned the middle region of Sunset Forest upside down.

Every morning, he took the Windrider Airship into the sky and surveyed the forest terrain from a hundred meters above, searching for suspicious geographical features. Though Sunset Forest was not as vast as Star Dou Great Forest, it still spanned several hundred li, with rolling mountains and crisscrossing ravines. Finding a hidden valley within it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

But he did not give up.

He searched from the air during the day and rested on the ground at night. Occasionally, he hunted solitary soul beasts to practice the ability of his new fourth Soul Ring.

After half a month, he had become thoroughly proficient in using his fourth soul skill.

That afternoon, Ning Chen was once again patrolling at low altitude aboard the Windrider Airship.

A faint white mist curled around the airship, making it look like an inconspicuous cloud from afar.

Just as he was about to turn toward another area, he suddenly noticed a long, narrow valley several li ahead. The mountains on both sides were steep, and dense vegetation concealed the valley entrance. If not viewed from above, it would have been nearly impossible to discover.

More importantly, a faint layer of mist seemed to hover above the valley.

Toxic miasma!

Ning Chen's heart tightened. He guided the airship lower and slowly approached.

The closer he came to the valley, the more pronounced the fishy-sweet scent in the air became, while the surrounding mist gradually shifted toward a pale green hue.