Summoning Ten Ten-Thousand-Year Nether Shadow Leopards (Second Soul Skill)

"Qianye."

Su Chen's voice rang out, calm as if he were stating a fact.

"What is the maximum range your Nether Phoenix Flame can cover?"

Mo Qianye froze. "If I fully activate my second soul skill, it can cover a two-hundred-meter radius. But the soul power consumption is enormous, and it won't last more than—"

"Enough."

Su Chen cut him off, his gaze sweeping across the impenetrable canopy overhead.

The sunlight was completely blocked out.

The entire forest was a vast vessel born for shadows.

The Shadow Leopard's perfect home ground.

"Its Shadow Escape requires shadows as a medium." Su Chen spoke unhurriedly, yet every word fell like a hammer on an anvil, clear and heavy. "Without shadows, it's just a slightly faster cat."

The purple-black flame in Mo Qianye's eyes leaped sharply.

He understood.

What Su Chen meant was—

"I want you to burn this forest into broad daylight."

Su Chen no longer looked at him and turned his gaze toward Chu Yao.

"Keep your Slowing Mist ready at all times."

"The first second it loses Shadow Escape, it will instinctively try to break out at full speed."

"That second will be our only chance."

Without a word, Chu Yao pulled the stopper from the gourd at her waist. Purple-green mist gathered at its mouth, poised to erupt.

"Iron Wall."

The mountain-like giant bear lowered its head, its golden pupils gazing at the tiny Su Chen.

"The moment you hear the blast, tighten the formation."

Su Chen gave his final order.

"Remember, this time, we are not driving it away."

"We are closing the trap."

The deployment was complete in three seconds.

Mo Qianye hesitated no longer and threw his arms wide.

Purple-black soul power erupted from his body, and a massive phantom of a Nether Phoenix spread its wings behind him.

Those wings, burning with dark purple flames, did not extend forward. Instead, they stretched straight upward, as though embracing the dark heavens.

Second Soul Skill—Nether Phoenix Heavenly Flame!

Go!

Dark purple flames transformed into an upward-rushing waterfall, crashing into the canopy thirty meters above.

Dead branches and fallen leaves turned to ash in an instant.

The blazing fire pierced through the thick barrier and exploded high in the air!

A purple sun was born.

A scorching curtain of light swept wildly outward from the point of explosion, devouring everything.

The entire forest instantly became as bright as day.

Yet it was not the gentle brightness of sunlight, but merciless purple radiance from the netherworld, leaving no blind spots.

The underside of every leaf.

Every gap between the roots.

Every corner once claimed by shadow.

At this moment, all of it was flooded and permeated by tyrannical purple light, leaving nowhere to hide!

Within a two-hundred-meter radius, shadows... vanished!

"Awooo—!"

An unprecedented howl, mixed with pain and terror, exploded from deep within the forest.

Three hundred meters away, the life point representing the Shadow Leopard twisted violently.

Its Shadow Escape had been forcibly interrupted!

The Ten-Thousand-Year Nether Shadow Leopard's body was as if an invisible giant hand had forcibly "squeezed" it out from the shadow of a towering tree.

The liquid texture of its fur, which had blended into nothingness, vanished. It became solid, every strand distinct.

Its limbs landed on the rough trunk, its sharp claws digging deep into the wood with a strained creak.

For the first time, an emotion called panic appeared in its eyes.

A top-tier hunter had been forcibly stripped of the night it depended upon to survive.

Without the slightest hesitation, the muscles in its hind legs tensed instantly. Its entire body became a pure black streak as it sprinted at full speed toward the edge of the Netherfire's range.

Fast!

Its speed was still too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Even without the boost of Shadow Escape, the physical explosive power of a Ten-Thousand-Year Shadow Leopard already stood at the peak of this forest's food chain.

However, just as it dashed thirty meters away.

A thick purple-green mist, carrying an ominous sheen, rolled up from the ground.

Chu Yao's first soul skill, Slowing Mist.

The Shadow Leopard plunged straight into it.

The poison did not enter through breathing, nor through contact with its skin.

Instead, it seeped directly into every pore opened by its high-speed movement, reaching its muscle fibers.

The Myriad-Poison Gu Mother's slowing effect killed speed at its root!

The Shadow Leopard's forelimbs, rushing forward through the air, visibly stiffened.

From its limit, it fell to high speed.

Then it slowed again.

From high speed, it fell to normal speed.

It was as though it had crashed into a swamp made of glue, every step incomparably heavy.

"Roar!!"

The Shadow Leopard let out an unwilling roar, its body instinctively trying to turn incorporeal again and merge into the shadows.

But it was useless.

Purple light was everywhere, searing its soul. It could not find even the tiniest crack of shadow to cling to.

At that moment, the ground trembled.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Ten Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bears closed in from all directions.

They were no longer charging. Their movements were cold, precise, mechanical.

Five pressed in from the front, three split off to block the flanks, and two sealed the rear.

Iron Wall charged at the front.

A low roar, dull as thunder, rolled from its throat—the horn of the legion assembling.

Buzz—

Legion Aura, activated!

The dark golden sheen on the bodies of all ten Fearclaw Bears surged at the same instant. Their light intertwined and resonated, forming a visible dark golden wall of light between them, flowing with metallic luster.

Dark Golden Iron Wall!

The wall of light closed in from every direction, emitting a teeth-grinding groan like compressed metal, as though a giant's fist were slowly clenching shut.

The Shadow Leopard made its final desperate struggle.

Its body suddenly tensed, pouring every last bit of soul power into its right foreclaw in one all-or-nothing gamble!

Riiip!

Three pitch-black claw blades surged to a meter long, solid as black jade, carrying an edge capable of tearing through anything as they viciously stabbed at the weakest point in the encirclement.

Shadow Thrust!

The claw blades struck a Fearclaw Bear's right eye with perfect accuracy.

"Roar!"

That Fearclaw Bear let out a painful howl and staggered backward. A fleeting gap appeared in the otherwise unbreakable encirclement.

The Shadow Leopard's pupils flared with the light of survival.

Its hind legs kicked violently against the tree trunk, and its body became one final black arrow, shooting toward that sole path to life—

"Bang."

A mountain-sized giant palm slammed sideways toward it.

It was not an attack.

It was a blockade.

Iron Wall's dark golden giant palm, weighing sixteen hundred jin, filled that gap with perfect precision. Its palm faced the Shadow Leopard's incoming snout directly.

The Shadow Leopard crashed into it headfirst.

At the same time, the wall of light formed by the other eight Fearclaw Bears instantly closed, drawing their injured companion back into the formation.

The encirclement sealed shut.

There were no more gaps.

No more shadows.

No more retreat.

The Shadow Leopard was completely trapped in a dark golden cage less than ten meters in diameter, surrounded on every side by mountain-like beasts.

It was still howling, still frantically tearing at the wall of light with its claws. Every attack left three horrifying claw marks on the dark golden surface.

But the wall flickered bright and dim as though breathing, and the claw marks healed at a visible speed.

The Legion Aura formed by ten Ten-Thousand-Year Fearclaw Bears had pushed its defensive power to a terrifying realm beyond the limits of any individual.

Su Chen walked in.

Iron Wall shifted slightly aside, opening a passage just wide enough for one person.

The Shadow Leopard saw him.

It suddenly ceased all attacks.

Its black pupils met Su Chen's calm eyes.

The panic, savagery, and unwillingness in its eyes all faded away, leaving only an utter, absolute calm.

There was no fear.

A Ten-Thousand-Year hunter that had roamed the forest had been defeated openly and honorably by a more brilliant hunter.

It accepted defeat.

Su Chen extended his right hand, his warm palm gently resting on the Shadow Leopard's cold forehead.

He could feel the faint yet still powerful heartbeat beneath that black fur.

"You are the best assassin I have ever seen."

Su Chen's voice was soft.

"From now on, your speed will serve me."

The Shadow Leopard slowly closed its eyes.

Soul power flowed in, and life returned to nothingness.

A thick pillar of pure black light shot from the Shadow Leopard's body into the sky, condensing in midair into an ink-black Spirit Ring that slowly descended.

A Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

Without the slightest deviation, the black ring spun precisely into the second groove of the Void Throne deep within Su Chen's consciousness.

Boom—

A surging power exploded within his body, but Su Chen forcibly suppressed every outward fluctuation. He merely calmly felt the connection to the second summoning sequence become fully established.

Then, he spread his fingers.

The ground beneath his feet split open silently.

They were not physical cracks.

They were ten irregular rifts formed purely from darkness, like ten gigantic eyes lurking in the abyss, quietly opening at this moment.

Ten Nether Shadow Leopards slowly emerged from those ten shadow rifts.

There were no roars.

No sounds.

They simply stood there silently, twenty ghostly green eyes lighting up amid the purple glow of the Netherfire that had yet to fully dissipate, cold and sharp.

Each one possessed the same build, presence, and razor-sharp claw blades as the Ten-Thousand-Year soul beast that had just been hunted.

Mo Qianye dispersed the Netherfire and landed atop a scorched, broken tree trunk.

He looked at the twenty soul beasts before him, radiating terrifying auras.

Ten Iron Wall giant bears, as heavy as mountains, represented absolute defense.

Ten Nether Shadow Leopards, as intangible as ghosts, represented the ultimate assassination.

One side was an indestructible shield.

The other was an uncapturable blade.

When the shield drew all firepower and attention on the frontal battlefield, the blade would silently cut the enemy's throat from the most unexpected shadows.

When the blade was unexpectedly exposed beneath the sunlight, the shield would instantly close around it, protecting the blade once more behind an impregnable wall.

Shield and blade.

Yang and yin.

Steel and shadow.

Twenty Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts formed a perfect killing loop that integrated offense and defense.

"...I believe you."

Mo Qianye's voice was somewhat dry as he stared at Su Chen's back as though he were looking at a monster.

"You really are building an army."

Chu Yao slowly emerged from the poisonous mist that was beginning to dissipate. She stared at the twenty Soul Beasts standing in neat formation, their auras intertwined, for a very long time.

She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, yet did not know where to begin.

In the end, all her complicated emotions condensed into a single question:

"What... exactly are you?"

Su Chen did not turn around.

His gaze passed over the fledgling vanguard formation before him and looked deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest, toward that darkness so dense it seemed almost tangible.

"An army?"

he asked softly.

"No."

"This is merely the Vanguard Camp."

Above the canopy, the last ember of Netherfire quietly went out.

The sky darkened once more.

At the same time.

On the northeastern edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, the gaunt old man stood beside a giant tree that had been uprooted. He slowly withdrew his withered hand from the damp earth.

He suddenly tilted his head, as if listening for something.

An extremely faint, nearly imperceptible ripple of soul power crossed the vast distance and reached this place.

It was the unique spatial tremor produced only when a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring was absorbed.

"Another ring taken in, huh."

The gaunt old man stuck out his tongue and licked his cracked lips, moving like a snake.

"He's growing rather quickly."

Behind him, three figures silently emerged from twisted shadows.

The soul power fluctuations emanating from each of them stood firmly at the realm of Soul Emperor. At the same time, five Soul Masters with Soul King cultivation stood behind the Soul Emperors.

"Elder, should we make our move now?" the somewhat lower-cultivated Soul Sage asked softly.

The old man shook his head.

"Wait a little longer."

He raised his gaunt face, so withered it was nearly unrecognizable, and a sickly, twisted smile spread across it.

"Let him grow a little stronger and collect a few more interesting 'toys.'"

"Lady Bibi Dong once said—"

"The fatter the prey, the harder it struggles. When it is offered to her as a sacrifice, she will be all the more... delighted."

The ten figures merged into the twilight once again and vanished without a trace.

Where they had just been standing, a thin layer of cold white frost slowly seeped from the rough bark of a giant tree.

That was not residual soul power.

It was the ancient forest itself, issuing a silent warning.