One Finger

A faint curve lifted at the corner of Xiao Hongchen's lips, and his gaze involuntarily flicked toward Ye Chenxing beside him.

This barrage had drained nearly half his soul power. Sixty Third-Level Soul Guidance Cannons firing at once was certainly spectacular, but the consumption was equally staggering. Still, the results spoke for themselves—the two Thousand-Year Golden Tigers had not even managed a few more groans before being blasted black and blue, collapsing into the smoke with barely any breath left in them.

He forced himself not to gasp for air, doing his best to appear completely at ease.

Well? Wasn't I awesome?

However, before he could say the line he had been brewing for so long, Ye Chenxing, standing not far away, suddenly frowned.

At that very moment when Xiao Hongchen was distracted, one of the Gold Tigers that had been on the verge of death abruptly opened its eyes. A flash of desperate madness passed through them. A dazzling golden light suddenly lit up deep within its throat.

It was actually an energy attack similar to the White Tiger Radiance Wave!

This was a special individual that had not undergone mutation, yet had been born with a unique ability. Soul beasts of this sort occasionally appeared. They had not fully mutated, but possessed some special trick that caught others off guard.

The light projectile tore through the air, so fast that it gave him almost no time to react. Xiao Hongchen's pupils constricted as he instinctively twisted aside. The projectile grazed his shoulder, tearing away a strip of fabric.

More deadly still, the Gold Tiger used that brief moment of respite. The instant it spat out the projectile, all four limbs surged with force, and it pounced right in front of him.

A rancid wind hit him head-on. The Gold Tiger's gaping maw and cold, gleaming fangs rapidly filled his vision.

It all happened too quickly.

Xiao Hongchen gritted his teeth and instinctively tried to activate his defensive Soul Guide Device. But the distance was simply too close, and he had expended too much soul power in that earlier burst. His reaction was clearly half a beat too slow.

At that critical instant, a searing sensation brushed past his cheek.

It was a fire beam condensed to the extreme, as thin as a thread of flame yet radiating a terrifying heat. It swept past Xiao Hongchen's ear so closely that he could clearly feel the scorching wind it stirred against his skin. The flame shot precisely into the Gold Tiger's open mouth and pierced out through the back of its skull.

The Gold Tiger's pounce came to an abrupt halt in midair. Its savage tiger face froze in an expression of disbelief. A tiny charred hole bloomed on its forehead, and before any blood could flow, it was instantly vaporized by the intense heat. Its massive body crashed to the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust.

Everything fell silent.

Xiao Hongchen stood there in a daze, cold sweat only now soaking through his clothes. Stiffly, he turned his head and followed the path of that fire beam.

Ye Chenxing was retracting his right hand. A wisp of crimson light still lingered at the tip of his index finger, not yet fully dispersed. His expression was calm, as though he had merely flicked away a speck of dust. He had barely even changed his posture.

"Th-thank you," Xiao Hongchen forced out, his voice dry.

Meng Hongchen covered her mouth.

She had seen it clearly just now—Ye Chenxing had merely raised his hand and pointed. A flash of fire had passed, and that thick-skinned Gold Tiger with three thousand years of cultivation had its forehead pierced straight through. It was a metal-attributed Gold Tiger, whose defense ranked among the best of soul beasts at the same level. Even heavily wounded, it should not have been so fragile.

She suddenly thought of something and sharply turned to look at Ye Chenxing.

It was attribute suppression.

Fire naturally had a significant suppressive effect against metal, and Ultimate Fire's suppression of metal had long surpassed the realm of mere "advantage." It was practically the natural enemy of metal.

Before Ultimate Fire, the metal-attributed defense the Gold Tiger had been so proud of was not only useless, but became the catalyst that hastened its defeat. It was melted by the high temperature in an instant, unable to offer even the slightest resistance.

Forget this Gold Tiger that had only just entered the thousand-year level. Even a ten-thousand-year metal-attributed soul beast would have to avoid Ye Chenxing's edge.

No, it was not that simple.

Meng Hongchen shook her head, a thoughtful gleam flashing through her eyes. She looked up at Ye Chenxing.

Fire was not an attribute known for speed, not even Ultimate Fire. The nature of flame was combustion, spreading, and covering—it should have been a large-scale attack with destructive force. But that strike just now...

That strike had been too fast, so fast that it did not resemble fire at all. It was more like a wind-attributed attack, even somewhat like a Soul Guidance Ray. And there had clearly been such a great distance between him and her brother, yet his soul ring had not lit up from beginning to end...

Without using a soul skill, he had pierced through the head of a Three-Thousand-Year Golden Tiger from such a distance in one strike... How had he done it? Could it be—

A thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

She had heard her grandfather mention that soul masters from the former Three Kingdoms region of Douluo Continent had delved deeper and specialized further in Martial Soul cultivation.

Among them, a very small number of extraordinarily talented soul masters could explore unique methods of circulating soul power without relying on soul rings, creating something known as a "Self-Created Soul Skill." That was not something one could master casually. Even among the top soul masters specializing in Martial Soul cultivation, such people were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

But this person before her, this boy about her own age, had already accomplished that at such a young age?

Xiao Hongchen was still frozen in place, his face alternately pale and red. In all his life, this was the first time he had been saved in battle. He clenched his teeth and was about to say something else when a calm yet imposing voice came from nearby.

"Getting distracted in battle? Are you tired of living?"

Jing Hongchen still spoke in that unhurried tone, and he still had not shown himself. Yet his voice echoed across the clearing, making Xiao Hongchen shudder as he lowered his head in shame.

Meng Hongchen quickly walked over to Ye Chenxing and could not help asking, "Chenxing, that just now... wasn't your first soul skill, was it? Your soul ring did not light up at all. How could you unleash such a powerful attack?"

"Could that have been a Self-Created Soul Skill?"

Xiao Hongchen also pricked up his ears. A Self-Created Soul Skill was a technique that even many high-level soul masters might not possess. If Ye Chenxing could create soul skills at this age...

Ye Chenxing was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head and laughed.

"It's not that profound." He raised his right hand, palm facing upward. "It's just a simple application of energy."

"A simple application of energy?" Meng Hongchen tilted her head, utterly confused.

"That's right." Ye Chenxing thought for a moment, then gave an example. "Just as you can control how much force your muscles exert—whether you throw a full-strength punch or use only thirty percent of your strength, all of that can be precisely adjusted. I merely compressed the flame into a single point, concentrated it, then accelerated and fired it out. That's all."

As he spoke, he casually snapped his fingers. A miniature sun appeared in his palm, its golden-red light pulsing gently. Then, as if gripped by an invisible hand, the fireball slowly began to change shape—it first stretched out, then began spinning faster and faster, until it finally transformed into a palm-sized spinning top hovering quietly above Ye Chenxing's hand.

Every strand of flame on the spinning top was clearly visible. Its edges were so smooth that they seemed carved with a blade, and even its rotation was frighteningly uniform.

Ye Chenxing flicked his finger lightly, and the flaming top silently dispersed into the air.