He could not delay any longer.
He took a deep breath and mobilized all the remaining Soul Power in his body, pouring it into the Fierce Slash Blade.
At the same time, he held the last Azure Flame Pearl in his palm and wrapped it in Soul Power, ensuring that not a trace of its aura leaked 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 was less than ten meters away did he suddenly 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 front hooves, blasting a huge pit into the ground.
The blast disrupted the mammoth's charge. Its front hooves stepped into empty air, and its massive body lost balance, toppling forward.
Now!
A sharp light flashed in Ning Chen's eyes. He shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, leaping toward the falling mammoth!
He stepped on the mammoth's lowered head for leverage and flipped himself above its neck.
Then he gripped the Fierce Slash Blade with both hands, pouring all the Soul Power he had left, along with the Pure Yang True Qi of the Nine Yang Divine Skill, into the blade!
The flaming patterns on the Fierce Slash Blade blazed to their limit. The entire blade emitted a dazzling crimson glow, and the air around it warped under the searing heat.
Ning Chen let out a roar and brought the blade down!
This strike landed squarely in the seam between the mammoth's cervical vertebrae and skull.
That was the weakest point in its diamond armor, and also where he had already left a blade mark before.
Crack!
This time, the diamond armor finally shattered.
Carrying immense force, the Fierce Slash Blade hacked viciously along the crack and sank all the way into the mammoth's cervical vertebrae.
The Diamond Mammoth released an earth-shaking wail. Its enormous body convulsed violently a few times before crashing to the ground.
The impact smashed a massive shallow crater into the earth. Dust surged into the sky, and the surrounding trees trembled violently.
Ning Chen rolled away with the falling mammoth and crashed heavily onto the ground. Pain wracked every part of his body, and the web between his right thumb and forefinger had torn completely open, blood streaming down 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 being scrapped.
But he had no time to worry about that.
He struggled to his feet, dropped to one knee, and panted heavily.
Sweat mixed with blood dripped from his forehead, and even his vision had begun to blur.
A profound black Spirit Ring slowly rose from the Diamond Mammoth's corpse, giving off an enchanting gleam in the dim forest.
A seventeen-thousand-year Diamond Mammoth was a top-tier soul beast famed for its defense, and the energy contained within its Spirit Ring was immensely vast.
Ning Chen took a deep breath and activated the Nine Yang Divine Skill. The Pure Yang True Qi within him flowed slowly through his meridians, bringing his condition to its peak.
Then he extended his right hand, drawing that profound black Spirit Ring slowly into his body.
The instant the Spirit Ring entered him, a violent surge of energy flooded through his limbs and bones like a breached 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 operated the Nine Yang Divine Skill with all his strength.
Like a warm river, the Pure Yang True Qi wrapped around the violent energy, taming and guiding it bit by bit as it slowly circulated along the Spirit Ring pathway of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
Sweat continuously rolled down his forehead, and his clothes were soon soaked through.
The strength of the Nine Yang Divine Skill played a crucial role at this moment.
After every surge of violent energy, the Pure Yang True Qi immediately rushed in to refine it. Through repeated tempering, his meridians instead became tougher and broader.
The process lasted for a full two hours.
When Ning Chen opened his eyes again, a deep violet glint flashed through them before vanishing.
He slowly raised his right hand. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda appeared in his palm, its exquisite form radiating an even more brilliant glow. Four Spirit Rings revolved behind Ning Chen.
One yellow, two purple, and one black.
The fourth Spirit Ring, ten thousand years.
The fourth tier of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda lit up with a gentle earthy-yellow glow, and a heavy defensive power surged from within.
What the Diamond Mammoth had bestowed upon him was precisely the defensive enhancement ability he had long dreamed of: "Seven Treasures Turn to Glaze, the Seven Treasures' Fourth Name: Strength."
Ning Chen felt the surging Soul Power within his body, and a satisfied smile appeared on his lips.
After absorbing this Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, his Soul Power had leaped from level forty to level forty-five, rising five levels at once.
Part of that was due to the accumulation from breaking through level forty into the Soul Ancestor realm, but the energy boost provided by the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring was undeniably substantial as well.
He rose to his feet and stretched his body. A series of crackling pops sounded from head to toe.
Though the Fierce Slash Blade had been ruined, he had successfully advanced to Soul Ancestor and reached level forty-five Soul Power. 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 a moment's thought, he went over and used the Starlight Bracer to condense a sharp star blade, cutting off several of the mammoth's most intact diamond armor plates and storing them in his storage ring.
These diamond armor plates were top-grade defensive materials and might prove useful for artifact crafting in the future.
Only after finishing everything did he turn and leave the wrecked battlefield, heading deeper into Sunset Forest.
Ning Chen's next objective was to search for the location of the Icefire Yin-Yang Well in Sunset Forest, which Dugu Bo had claimed for himself.
The search lasted half a month.
Over those half a month, Ning Chen practically scoured the middle region of Sunset Forest from end to end.
Every morning, he rode the Windrider Airship into the sky and surveyed the forest's terrain from a hundred meters up, 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 would hunt solitary soul beasts to practice his new fourth Spirit Ring ability.
After half a month, he had become thoroughly proficient in using his fourth soul skill.
That afternoon, Ning Chen was patrolling the low skies aboard the Windrider Airship as usual.
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 for his aerial view, it would have been almost impossible to discover.
More importantly, a faint layer of mist seemed to float above the valley.
Poisonous miasma!
Ning Chen's heart tightened. He guided the airship lower and slowly approached.
The closer he came to the valley, the more distinct the fishy-sweet smell in the air became, while the surrounding mist gradually took on a pale green hue.
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