Fifth Soul Skill: Thunder Shadow Instant Kill!

The black Spirit Ring slowly descended. The moment it touched the top of Huang Yun's head, a violent surge of energy poured into his body like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

Huang Yun shuddered, nearly losing his seated balance.

This Thunder Shadow Eagle was considerably older than the Thundercloud Lightning Falcon he had hunted in Thunder Canyon, and the energy contained in its Spirit Ring was even fiercer and more overbearing.

That power rampaged through his meridians like countless electrified pythons, trying to tear them apart and destroy his Soul Power circulation.

Fortunately, after he had achieved minor mastery of the Indestructible Vajra Body, the strength and resilience of his meridians had improved beyond comparison.

A faint golden sheen appeared beneath his skin, firmly confining the violent energy within his meridians and preventing it from spilling out.

Clenching his teeth, Huang Yun mobilized his Soul Power to guide it with all his might, drawing the lightning energy into his circulation strand by strand and gradually digesting and integrating it.

Fragments of the Thunder Shadow Eagle's memories flooded into his consciousness at the same time.

Scenes of dancing with thunderstorms ten thousand meters above the ground, instincts for hunting prey among the clouds in the rift, and insights from countless explosive dashes that tore through the skies all became pure experience flowing into the depths of his soul.

With his eyes closed, he felt as though he had personally lived through the Thunder Shadow Eagle's entire life.

From learning to fly among thunderclouds as a fledgling, to dominating the skies above this rift as an adult, to the instant just moments ago when he had lured it out of the thunderclouds and ten Clones had pierced its neck simultaneously.

The absorption process lasted roughly as long as it took two sticks of incense to burn.

The Spirit Ring's energy finally settled from its initial violent state and began to fuse deeply with his Martial Soul.

The Soul Power within Huang Yun rose once again, steadily advancing from level fifty to level fifty-two before slowly stabilizing there.

His body underwent noticeable changes as well.

He felt that his explosive power had made a qualitative leap.

Previously, although he was extremely fast in battle, he needed a brief moment to gather strength after each explosive dash before launching the next.

Now, that sense of a pause to gather strength had vanished, replaced by the fluid feeling that he could unleash his full power at any moment, as though his body stored a springlike force ready for release.

The outline of his fifth Soul Skill solidified in his consciousness at the same time.

Huang Yun slowly opened his eyes, a streak of blue-black lightning flashing deep within his pupils.

He raised his right hand, condensing a wisp of black electricity at his fingertip. Unlike his previous blue-white lightning, this was mutated lightning formed by incorporating the Thunder Shadow Eagle's explosive attributes.

He stood, stretched his limbs, and took in the information about his new Soul Skill. The corners of his mouth slowly curved upward.

Fifth Soul Skill: Thunder Shadow Instant Kill.

This Soul Skill had a very special effect. It did not provide a sustained speed boost like his First Soul Skill, nor did it create a domain like his Fourth Spirit Skill. Instead, it was purely a single-use explosive charge.

Upon activation, he could lock onto a target, instantly vanish from his position, and appear directly in front of that target at his maximum burst speed to deliver a powerful piercing attack.

The entire process, from activation to impact, would take no longer than the blink of an eye.

Within a radius of five hundred meters, a locked-on target would have almost no chance to react.

Moreover, this strike carried the Thunder Shadow Eagle's unique explosive current. Upon hitting its target, it would erupt into a mass of black electrical arcs, inflicting secondary paralyzing damage that briefly left the opponent unable to move.

The strength of this Soul Skill also depended on his own base speed.

The faster his base speed, the faster Thunder Shadow Instant Kill's charge would be, and the more powerful it would become.

And his base speed was constantly increasing, which meant this Soul Skill had a terrifyingly high ceiling and would only grow stronger in the future.

"Perfect. A fifth Soul Skill that suits me beautifully."

Standing on the rocky ledge, Huang Yun swept his gaze over the rift shrouded in lightning mist, his spirits soaring.

He had perfectly absorbed his fifth Spirit Ring, broken through to level fifty-two, and gained a charging Soul Skill capable of instantly killing a single target. His gains from this trip to the Thunderclap Mountain Range were even greater than he had expected.

And when he examined the changes carefully...

His First Soul Skill's effect had increased from twelve hundred to twenty-four hundred.

His Second Soul Skill's Teleportation range had increased from four hundred meters to five hundred.

His Third Spirit Skill now produced ten Clones rather than nine, making eleven of him in total when counting his original body.

His Fourth Spirit Skill, Thundercloud, had also expanded its coverage from four hundred meters to five hundred.

Excellent!

Reining in his thoughts, he looked down at the Thunder Shadow Eagle's corpse. After confirming that it had no Spirit Bone, he packed up its valuable parts and left without lingering.

Wings unfolded behind his back, and blue-white electrical arcs enveloped his entire body. He shot skyward, quickly passing through the thundercloud layer above the rift and returning to the clear skies high above.

The thunderclouds over the Thunderclap Mountain Range churned beneath his feet. Bolts of lightning erupted and faded below, their light flickering across his face.

Hovering high in the sky, he swept his gaze over the rolling mountains and forests below and began planning his next move.

He had obtained his fifth Spirit Ring, and his Soul Power had reached level fifty-two.

He was now a Five-Ring Soul King. His first three Spirit Rings exceeded the usual age limits, while his fourth and fifth were both ten-thousand-year rings. No one of his rank anywhere on the continent could match his Soul Ring Configuration.

With minor mastery of the Indestructible Vajra Body, his physical toughness alone was enough to withstand an ordinary Soul Saint's strongest strike head-on.

As for speed, he was outright invincible.

He felt that even that so-called Six-Winged Angel, Qian Daoliu, was slower than him.

With his current strength, as long as he did not clash head-on with Dugu Bo, the man could do absolutely nothing to him.

Dugu Bo's attacks would miss, and he could not catch him. Huang Yun could kite him and launch sneak attacks. If I can't beat you head-on, I'll fight dirty and annoy you to death. There'll be nothing you can do but put up with it.

Once the time was right, though, perhaps he could use the Immortal Herbs as a password to win Dugu Bo's favor.

All he had to do was resolve the Martial Soul Backlash Poison afflicting the grandfather and granddaughter. He could simply copy Tang San's approach.

But first, he would need to consume the infernal delicate apricot and octagonal mysterious ice grass so that his blood gained immunity to all poisons.

Should I ride this momentum back into Sunset Forest and take the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew?

That was a supreme treasure for improving mental power.

It might even awaken an ocular ability in his Martial Soul.

"Why the hell am I hesitating? Just do it!"

Huang Yun planned to go big.

Besides, Dugu Bo had to tend to Dugu Yan's meridians every month to suppress her backlash poison. He could not stay in the basin all the time.

Huang Yun only needed to seize that opening and make good use of it.

With that thought, he stopped hesitating and flew straight toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Just after he left, a group arrived at the place where he had been.

They wore blue-purple clothing emblazoned with a purple lightning dragon.

They were a party from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

"A major battle took place here. I wonder which senior killed the Thunder Eagle."

"It's so big! It must have been at least twenty thousand years old!"

"We're deep in the mountains. We'd better leave quickly. If something happens, our elders won't be able to reach us in time."

After examining their surroundings, they spoke in shock.

"Let's go and report this. The Thunderclap Mountain Range has lost another rare Soul Beast over twenty thousand years old."

The man leading them nodded, then quickly departed.