Fourth Soul Skill: Hell Venom Fire

Dugu Feng gathered his inner strength into his legs and unleashed A Thousand Li in a Flash.

Only an afterimage remained where he had stood.

In less than half an incense stick's time, he had reached the summit of the volcano.

Dugu Feng did not rashly step forward. Instead, he hid in the shadows and quietly observed.

At that moment, two urgent roars came from the volcano's peak.

Dugu Feng held his breath and focused, suppressing his aura to its lowest point to avoid being noticed.

His eyes were sharp as an eagle's, staring keenly into the distance.

One creature was covered in black rock burning with black flames, with two sharp horns growing from its head.

However, it was relatively slender, only a little over three meters long. The other was a full five meters in size, its entire body burning with crimson flames.

It was a typical Fire Lizard King, while its opponent, though somewhat smaller in build—

Could make countless Soul Masters tremble at the mention of its name, because that smaller lizard was a Hell Poison Lizard.

The Fire Lizard King opened its mouth, spewing a pillar of crimson flame.

The Hell Poison Lizard on the right did not dodge and likewise spat out a pillar of fire. Although it was much smaller than the Fire Lizard King's flame pillar—

When the two pillars collided, the black pillar of flame pierced straight through the center of the crimson one.

The black fire forcibly shattered the crimson flame pillar down the middle.

The black flames rushed straight into the Fire Lizard King's mouth. By the time it reacted and tried to dodge, it was already too late. The black pillar shot directly into its body.

"Awooo!"

A miserable howl instantly erupted from the Fire Lizard King's mouth, echoing throughout the volcanic region.

Upon hearing the sound, the Fire Lizards all lowered their heads in fear.

Its massive body crashed to the ground.

The Fire Lizard King rolled around endlessly, trying to ease its pain.

Unfortunately, the fire poison, like white phosphorus, had already begun burning thoroughly within its body.

The crimson flames outside its body were actually being replaced bit by bit from within by black flames.

Hidden in the darkness, Dugu Feng watched with his own eyes as the giant beast was reduced to ash from the inside out.

It finally died unwillingly.

On the other side, although it was the victor—

The Hell Poison Lizard was not in much better condition. There was a deep bite mark across its waist.

It had been inflicted by the Fire Lizard King.

Dark-red blood flowed from the wound and dripped onto the ground.

The ground was instantly scorched with a deep mark.

Dugu Feng seized the opportunity and activated the Spirit Bone skill, A Leap of a Thousand Li.

In an instant, he appeared above the Hell Poison Lizard.

Soul Power within his body gathered in his palms, and his second soul skill, Spiritual Snake Hidden Force, followed immediately.

His palms descended, and the vast Soul Power transformed into hidden force that struck directly into the Hell Poison Lizard's body.

Although the Hell Poison Lizard's fire poison was terrifying, its weakness was the spine on its back. Once its spine broke, death was certain.

As both palms fell, they unleashed a force of immense weight. All of it became hidden force, like a raging flood, smashing through the Hell Poison Lizard's spine in one stroke.

The Hell Poison Lizard's spinal column shattered on the spot, but the terrifying hidden force did not stop there.

It pierced straight through the Hell Poison Lizard's abdomen and left two palm prints heavily imprinted in the ground.

The Hell Poison Lizard's belly was blown apart on the spot.

After succeeding in his ambush, Dugu Feng quickly pulled away.

Watching the Hell Poison Lizard struggle desperately even after its abdomen had been blown apart by his strike—

He could not help but sigh at how tenacious a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast's vitality truly was.

"I wonder how many thousand years this fellow has lived. Hell Poison Lizards are extremely rare, so there is no way to determine their age. Still, judging from that Fire Lizard King, its cultivation should not have exceeded thirty thousand years."

"Once a Fire Lizard King's strength reaches thirty thousand years, its bloodline begins to revert to its ancestors, and wings grow from its back."

Although Dugu Feng did not know this Hell Poison Lizard's strength, he could estimate it based on its opponent, the Fire Lizard King.

Dugu Feng circulated his Soul Power and struck out with one palm.

After Toad Style reached the perfected realm, its charging speed became much faster than before. The reason Toad Style relied on stillness to counter movement was mainly because it required time to gather power.

But at the perfected realm, Toad Style could gather power much faster.

With one palm strike, the Hell Poison Lizard's head was directly blown apart as well.

A Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring slowly condensed, but Dugu Feng did not rush to absorb it.

After all, it was dangerous for a Soul Master to absorb a Soul Ring without anyone standing guard.

Dugu Feng directly took some potent poison from the Pill Poison within his body and turned it into poisonous gas.

He arranged it around the area, forming a poisonous mist.

Coupled with the aura left behind by the Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast here—

Only after finishing all this did Dugu Feng begin absorbing the Soul Ring in earnest.

After five or six minutes, Dugu Feng opened his eyes.

"Sure enough, only those who endure hardship can rise above others. The previous Ice-Fire Tempering greatly improved my physique. I never expected this Hell Poison Lizard to be twenty-three thousand years old;

Three thousand years beyond what I had expected!"

Dugu Feng's fourth soul skill was called Hell Venom Fire. With the enhancement of Ultimate Fire, its power doubled.

After striking an enemy, the flames would cling like maggots to a bone and continue burning.

Unless one possessed Ultimate Ice or exceptionally powerful Soul Power, the only way to extinguish it was to immediately cut off the part that had been touched by Hell Venom Fire.

Other than those methods, only Dugu Feng himself could reclaim the Hell Venom Fire.

But even then, the part burned by Hell Venom Fire would still need to be cut away.

"Poison-using Soul Masters hold a tremendous advantage in battles of life and death. But in competitions such as the Soul Master Tournament, they are instead at a disadvantage, because they could be eliminated at any time for killing an opponent."

"This Hell Venom Fire is too powerful. It must never be used in an ordinary spar, because once it is unleashed, it will either cripple or kill."

Dugu Feng then sensed his Soul Power, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

This Hell Poison Lizard had raised his Soul Power by a full two levels.

That was even under the influence of his ultimate attributes.

Without the influence of ultimate attributes, his Soul Power might have risen by five levels in one go.

Just as Dugu Feng was preparing to leave, the corner of his eye casually swept over the Fire Lizard King that had earlier been burned to ash.

He suddenly discovered that there was actually a Spirit Bone among the Fire Lizard King's ashes.

He hurried over and picked up the Spirit Bone.

"It is actually the Fire Lizard King's Right Arm Bone. Although that Fire Lizard King had not exceeded thirty thousand years, it was at least twenty-five thousand years old."

"What a pity. It is merely a pure fire-attribute Spirit Bone, and its age still falls short of what I want. Even if it is not a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, it should at least be seventy or eighty thousand years old."

Dugu Feng looked at his right leg bone. As his strength increased, the age of this right leg bone had risen from ten thousand years to fifteen thousand years.

As the Spirit Bone's age increased, the Soul Power needed to activate the Spirit Bone's soul skill naturally decreased as well.

Although A Leap of a Thousand Li could cross a thousand li at its maximum distance, that was only if one's Soul Power could sustain it.

Dugu Feng placed the Fire Lizard King's Right Arm Bone into his portable system space.

He then left the volcano's summit and headed toward the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.