The instant Xiao Ran charged toward the silver-white streak, Ghost Douluo's voice came from behind him, low and quick: "Galaxy Flash Slash."
Xiao Ran's pupils contracted. Ghost Douluo was warning him not to meet light with light. He needed the dark form of his First Soul Skill.
In a split second, Xiao Ran raised his right arm, and the silver-blue patterns on it turned pitch-black. A blade of inky light formed above his head, its edges glowing dark red, and slashed toward the Flash Shadow Light Beast's descending claw.
Falling-Light Rending Blade.
The black blade met the silver-white claw in midair. There was no explosion, no thunderous crash—darkness swallowed light. The Flash Shadow Light Beast shrieked and sprang back, a charred crack now running across its silver-white scales.
Xiao Ran did not pursue it. He stood his ground as Soul Power raced through his body and a scarlet glow gathered at his chest.
Second Soul Skill: Dark Star Barrage.
The Flash Shadow Light Beast was enraged. Its four hooves shattered the ground, and its body split into three. Three silver-white streaks lunged from different directions, each carrying a mental assault within a swirling vortex of light. Behind Xiao Ran, Hu Liena grunted, pain flashing through her foxlike eyes.
Xiao Ran closed his eyes.
Dark Soul Power did not need sight. He sensed them with his mind—the one on the left was real. Scarlet light burst from his chest in rapid succession, sending three dark-red spheres fanning outward. The Flash Shadow Light Beast teleported past two, but the third struck its hind leg. The sphere burst, and dark-red energy seeped into its silver-white scales, eating a charred mark into them.
The Soul Beast landed, its silver-white scales standing on end as its mental energy surged. The vortices in its eyes spun faster. Trees within dozens of meters silently split apart, their splinters crushed to powder by the pressure of light. This was its innate killing move—Flashglint Burst.
Ghost Douluo raised his cane slightly, but Xiao Ran had already moved.
He did not retreat. Instead, he stepped forward. Silver-blue patterns spread from the back of his hand to his neck, while black and silver light flickered in his pupils. His Fourth Soul Ring lit up. The ground cracked open, and dark-red magma welled from the fissures, thick and scorching, with an aura that threatened to corrode everything it touched.
Fourth Soul Skill: Dark Abyssal Extinction.
The magma erupted, forming a dark-red barrier before Xiao Ran. The instant Flashglint Burst struck it, light and darkness annihilated each other with a piercing hiss. The Flash Shadow Light Beast suffered the backlash of its own power. Its speed plunged, and great patches of scales peeled away.
Xiao Ran gave it no chance to recover. He brought his hands together, blending the silver-blue patterns and black Soul Power between his palms into a chaotic sphere of light. It was his first attempt to wield light and darkness at the same time.
"Hah!"
The sphere shot out, traced a twisting path through the air, and struck the Flash Shadow Light Beast square in the chest. The Soul Beast screamed, tumbled several times through the air, and slammed into the ground. A hole the size of a bowl had been blasted through its chest. Silver-white scales littered the earth, and the vortices in its eyes slowly dimmed.
Ghost Douluo lowered his cane and nodded faintly.
Xiao Ran dropped to one knee, gasping. Wielding light and dark Soul Power together for the first time had left his meridians burning.
"Absorb the Soul Ring," Ghost Douluo ordered. "Now, before its mind dissipates."
Xiao Ran pushed himself up and walked to the Flash Shadow Light Beast's corpse. A black ring appeared above it, five golden lines flowing within it. Fifty thousand years.
He sat cross-legged and reached into the Soul Ring with his silver-blue Soul Power. The ring became a torrent that poured into his body, and his consciousness was instantly drawn into a pure-white mental space.
The Flash Shadow Light Beast's lingering soul appeared there. It was no longer shaped like a beast, but a swirling vortex of light. Its voice sounded directly in Xiao Ran's mind:
"Your light... is different from mine."
"How?"
"My light is instinct. Your light... is a choice." The vortex spun faster and faster. "There's another power in you. Darkness. What... are you?"
Xiao Ran was silent for a moment. The Ultraman Tiga Card burned against his chest, and fragments of memories that were not his flooded his mind. He saw a silver-and-red giant standing amid ruins, the Color Timer on its chest flashing. Endless darkness surrounded it. The giant's light fought the darkness, mingled with it, and finally coexisted with it.
He opened his eyes. Silver-blue and black patterns flashed across his pupils at once.
"I'm... someone who chose both."
The vortex burst apart, becoming pure Soul Power that merged into Xiao Ran. The mental space collapsed, and his consciousness returned to reality.
Xiao Ran stood. A black Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath his feet, its five golden lines clearly visible. His Fifth Soul Ring was fifty thousand years old.
But the Soul Ring held far more than that. New Soul Power surged through his meridians, carrying the ferocity of lightning and the speed of light. Xiao Ran raised his hand. A ball of silver-blue electricity gathered in his palm, crackling.
Fifth Soul Skill: Galaxy Thunder Strike.
With a thought, he turned the silver-blue electricity pitch-black. Dark-red arcs snapped around it, leaving the smell of scorched air in their wake.
Dark Lightning Strike.
Ghost Douluo studied the electricity in his palm, his graying brows lifting slightly. "Lightning... Your Fifth Soul Skill grants you the power of lightning. That's not right."
Xiao Ran looked at him.
"The Flash Shadow Light Beast has a light attribute, with Mental Interference besides. Its Soul Ring should have strengthened your light and mental abilities, not given you lightning." Ghost Douluo narrowed his eyes. "Unless your Martial Soul had a lightning attribute all along, and it simply hadn't awakened."
Xiao Ran looked down at the silver-blue electricity in his palm. The Ultraman Tiga Card continued to burn against his chest, and a word surfaced in his mind—
Ginga.
Ultraman Ginga had the power of lightning.
Ghost Douluo suddenly turned toward the southeast. The green gem atop his cane lit up, sending an invisible ripple outward.
"What is it?" Hu Liena stepped forward, her fox tail lifting slightly.
"Someone was watching from a distance just now," Ghost Douluo said, his voice darkening. "An unfamiliar presence. Not a Soul Beast from the Sunset Forest. Whoever it was had already left by the time I extended my senses."
Xiao Ran's heart sank. Spirit Hall—was it someone sent by Bibi Dong?
"Don't dwell on it." Ghost Douluo turned and headed out of the forest. "Back to the hall. You've just broken through. You still need to stabilize your power."
Xiao Ran nodded and followed. But after a single step, he stopped.
The newly awakened Soul Power within him spread out like an invisible web with him at its center. This was the passive effect of his Fifth Soul Skill—Flowing Light Perception. It doubled the range of his mental senses and let him detect any Soul Power fluctuations with a light attribute or Mental Attribute.
At that moment, the web caught a signal.
Deep in the Sunset Forest was a source of light-attribute power utterly unlike a Soul Beast. It pulsed like a slow heartbeat, steady and ancient, its presence deliberately suppressed. It lay due north, less than forty li away.
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