Dawnlight Dragon

With that, Wu Lie gave Jiang Yu no time to react. He grabbed him and shot into the distance as a streak of light.

In a forest roughly two kilometers away, a brutal battle was underway.

Broken trees, deep claw marks gouged across the ground, and the savage aura lingering in the air made it clear that neither combatant was harmless.

"Roar!"

A fierce wind rose. From a hundred meters away, a thunderous roar struck Jiang Yu's ears and left his head ringing.

When Jiang Yu recovered, his eyes lit up.

Jiang Yu's Spiritual Power was high for a One-Ring Soul Master, yet that roar alone had nearly knocked him unconscious. No ordinary Soul Beast could do that.

As they drew closer, Jiang Yu finally saw the source of the roar: a pitch-black tiger with a white marking shaped like the character for "king" on its forehead.

The tiger was over two meters long and stood a full 1.3 meters at the shoulder. Despite its size, it was remarkably agile.

"See that, kid? That's a Ghost Tiger, one of the most ferocious creatures in the Soul Beast Realm. Its speed and attack power rank among the best of its kind."

Though Wu Lie was telling Jiang Yu about the Ghost Tiger, his gaze remained fixed on the Soul Beast facing it.

Clearly, the Ghost Tiger was not their target.

Jiang Yu knew that too.

His Light Dragon Dagger Martial Soul had a light attribute, while the Ghost Tiger leaned toward darkness. They were a poor match.

The Soul Beast facing the Ghost Tiger, on the other hand, plainly fit the traits of a light-attributed beast.

It was a dragon, covered in pure white scales that gave off a pale golden glow.

Compared with the Ghost Tiger's lean build and explosive strength, the dragon was over five meters long yet exceptionally well-proportioned. Even in battle, its every movement was graceful and composed.

Each attack left ripples of golden light hanging in the air.

"There's no mistaking it. A Dawnlight Dragon! It really is a Dawnlight Dragon! I can't believe their bloodline still survives. Kid, you've struck it lucky this time!"

Wu Lie clapped Jiang Yu hard on the shoulder, excitement filling his voice.

"Grandpa Wu, what kind of Soul Beast is a Dawnlight Dragon? Why are you so excited?"

Wu Lie was a Titled Douluo, and his Red Dragon Martial Soul carried fire dragon blood. It was unquestionably among the finest lesser dragons. Any dragon Soul Beast that could excite him this much had to be both powerful and rare.

Jiang Yu's question brought Wu Lie's excitement somewhat under control. Then he said:

"Dragons have a strict hierarchy. The mightiest true dragons have all but vanished from the world. Only lesser dragons have survived to pass down their bloodlines, and some of them are extraordinarily powerful. The Dawnlight Dragon is one of them!"

"They're said to carry pure Light Dragon Clan blood. If one cultivates for a hundred thousand years, its bloodline might even revert to that of a true dragon."

"Let me put it plainly. That Ghost Tiger has cultivated for at least eighteen hundred years, but it was helpless against a Dawnlight Dragon that can't have cultivated for much more than seven hundred. The dragon may even have chased it all the way here."

"To put it another way, our odds of finding a Dawnlight Dragon in the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest were about as slim as my odds of becoming an Ultimate Douluo. Yet here we are."

Wu Lie patted Jiang Yu's shoulder again and gestured for him to look up.

"Look! The Ghost Tiger's nearly finished. No surprise there. Dragons, even lesser dragons, stand at the pinnacle of Soul Beasts. And this Dawnlight Dragon commands Light Flame. Its attack power, explosive strength, speed, and defense are all top-tier for a Hundred-Year Soul Beast."

As Wu Lie finished speaking, the Dawnlight Dragon raised its head. A golden fireball formed and shot out like lightning. The Ghost Tiger dodged with remarkable speed, but the explosion still caught it. Great patches of its black fur were scorched away, and its hindquarters were a bloody mess.

Already near exhaustion, the Ghost Tiger could not withstand such a wound. It crashed to the ground, and a vivid purple Spirit Ring slowly appeared above it.

What terrifying power.

Even from dozens of meters away, with layers of vegetation between them, Jiang Yu felt the blast of heat and force. It drove home how vast the gap was between him and the Dawnlight Dragon.

Jiang Yu turned to say something to Wu Lie, only to find, to his surprise, that Wu Lie had vanished.

Boom!

A heartbeat later, another deafening crash rang out.

This time, it came from directly behind Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu turned and found himself staring straight at the Dawnlight Dragon's enormous head.

Wu Lie, who had vanished moments before, now stood atop the dragon, pinning the barely living beast beneath his feet.

"What are you standing around for, kid? Show the same ruthlessness you did when you killed those men. Finish this beast off and claim its Spirit Ring."

Seeing Jiang Yu still frozen in place, Wu Lie urged him on.

Jiang Yu snapped out of it.

The Dawnlight Dragon lay there with its tongue hanging out and its eyes rolled back. The gap between a Hundred-Year Soul Beast and a level ninety-three Titled Douluo really is enormous. Jiang Yu drew a specially made shortsword and drove it deep into the dragon's eye socket, ending its life.

A Yellow Soul Ring slowly rose. Jiang Yu sat cross-legged, quickly steadied himself, then drew the imposing ring toward his body with his Soul Power.

The moment the ring entered his body, violent energy swept through him. Fortunately, three months of conditioning had brought his physique to its peak.

The searing energy hurt as it coursed through his meridians and limbs, but the pain was bearable. As the energy washed over him, Jiang Yu could clearly feel his meridians, muscles, bones, Martial Soul, and even Soul Power growing tougher and stronger.

Compared with his former Soul Scholar level, this was a complete transformation.

No wonder a single Spirit Ring could make such a vast difference in a Soul Master's combat strength. The difference went down to the very core.

The initial pain gave way to a comforting warmth as the process drew to a close. Roughly two hours later, Jiang Yu opened his eyes, and his aura surged.

His Soul Power had broken through to level thirteen!

That three-level leap came not only from the vast energy within the Dawnlight Dragon's Spirit Ring, but also from the Soul Power Jiang Yu had accumulated through three months of meditation and cultivation, now surging forth all at once.

Before Jiang Yu could celebrate, though, his expression changed. His face fell, and helplessness crept into his eyes.

At that moment, the last of Jiang Yu's hopes that things might turn out differently collapsed.

But he had prepared himself for this possibility, and he had no intention of hiding it.

After all, this was an inborn flaw in his Martial Soul. Unless he found a way to fix it, his cultivation would likely remain stuck at level thirteen for the rest of his life.