The third soul ring, a fifty-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear!

Star Dou Great Forest.

Luofan and Porcupinefish Douluo headed straight for their target. With Porcupinefish Douluo's potent poison, they soon brought down a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear over nine thousand years old, leaving it barely alive!

"Luofan, kid, it's done. Come finish it off!" Porcupinefish Douluo called to him.

The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was a top-tier assault-type soul beast.

Even a hundred-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear could rival a thousand-year-level soul beast in combat!

This one was over nine thousand years old, and its actual strength matched even many soul beasts twenty or thirty thousand years old!

This was the third soul ring Xue Qinghe had picked out for Luofan in advance.

The main concern was that soul rings from ten-thousand-year soul beasts came with soul shock.

Luofan had obtained a Wisdom Skull of spirit and intelligence over sixty thousand years old, greatly increasing his spiritual power!

But in Xue Qinghe's view, since all of Luofan's soul rings could grow in age, there was no need to risk soul shock by absorbing a ten thousand year soul ring. Giving him one over nine thousand years old was not only safer.

In a month or two, it would grow beyond ten thousand years on its own. Wasn't that a much sounder approach?

"All right!" Luofan nodded at Porcupinefish Douluo's words.

He raised the Exquisite Pagoda in his palm and hurled it at the dying Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear!

The pagoda swelled as it flew, crashing down with a boom!

Its attack-related rule effect allowed fifty percent of its attack to ignore defense. Despite the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's thick hide and astonishing defenses, Luofan successfully dealt the finishing blow!

A purple soul ring emerged immediately afterward!

"What a shame. No soul bone dropped—not even one of the six main types, let alone an external soul bone!"

A top-tier soul beast like the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear should, in theory, have had a fairly high chance of dropping a soul bone.

Shaking his head regretfully, Luofan put the thought aside. He sat cross-legged and drew the soul ring, over nine thousand years old, toward himself, swiftly beginning to absorb it!

Porcupinefish Douluo stood quietly to one side, guarding Luofan.

At the same time, he privately wondered what improvements absorbing this soul ring would bring Luofan.

Most importantly, what kind of soul skill would he awaken?

Aside from his soul rings growing in age automatically, both soul skills Luofan had awakened seemed to possess rule-based effects.

Would his third soul skill also have a rule-based effect?

Although this nine-thousand-year soul ring fell short of ten thousand years, absorbing the ring of a top-tier assault-type soul beast was no easy task!

Porcupinefish Douluo guarded him in silence. Anyone absorbing a soul ring must not be disturbed, especially when the ring was so old! Otherwise, failing to absorb it would be the least of their worries—they might explode and die!

Time ticked by. Occasionally, soul beasts less than a thousand years old appeared nearby, but the power radiating from Porcupinefish Douluo frightened them away. Everything went smoothly.

In the blink of an eye, roughly half an hour passed!

But just as Luofan drew the soul ring in and reached the critical stage of absorption, an enraged roar suddenly rang out.

It was accompanied by heavy, thudding footsteps!

Another enormous Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear emerged from deep within the woods!

The newcomer glanced at the soul beast's corpse nearby. Its eyes instantly turned blood-red and locked onto Luofan and Porcupinefish Douluo!

"This is bad. This Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear is over fifty thousand years old!" Porcupinefish Douluo's expression changed drastically at the sight of it!

A hundred-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear could rival a thousand-year soul beast. Wouldn't this one, over fifty thousand years old, be at least as strong as an ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul beast?

Even Porcupinefish Douluo felt immense pressure!

Had Luofan already finished absorbing his soul ring, Porcupinefish Douluo would certainly have grabbed him and fled upon seeing this Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear!

Even if Luofan had yet to begin, he would have urged him to abandon the ring. Staying alive came first!

But now Luofan had reached the critical stage of absorption and could no longer stop. Porcupinefish Douluo looked at him and sighed!

What choice did he have? Wasn't protecting Luofan the main reason he had come?

However reluctant he was to fight, he could only charge in and put his life on the line!

Porcupinefish Douluo drew a deep breath. Not daring to hold anything back, he immediately unleashed his seventh soul skill, Martial Soul Avatar, and charged at the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear!

Roar!

Clearly sensing Porcupinefish Douluo's strength, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear let out a frenzied roar and swiftly activated Frenzy, sending all its attributes soaring!

At the same time, it activated its innate Dark Gold Dreadclaw ability, and dark gold light shimmered over its enormous paws.

Beneath that dark gold glow, each claw seemed to become a blade of finely tempered steel!

Bang!

In their head-on clash, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was forced half a step back!

Porcupinefish Douluo, however, was knocked seven or eight meters away, his feet carving two long furrows through the ground!

There was no helping it. As a rank ninety-two Titled Douluo, Porcupinefish Douluo was naturally at a disadvantage in a head-on clash against a top-tier assault-type soul beast like this!

Although the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear had gained the upper hand, it still did not dare underestimate Porcupinefish Douluo!

After all, a rank ninety-two Titled Douluo was still extremely powerful!

Its gaze shifted to Luofan nearby. A soul beast tens of thousands of years old was no less intelligent than a human. Recognizing Luofan as the easy target, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear charged straight at him!

"You beast! Don't you dare!"

Seeing its move, Porcupinefish Douluo cried out in alarm and hurriedly lunged forward!

He knew Luofan's talent very well. Once someone like him matured, he would undoubtedly become a pillar of Spirit Hall. How could he let anything happen to him here?

If anything truly did happen, the Young Master would never spare him!

Bang!

The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear had anticipated that Porcupinefish Douluo would come to the rescue. It swung its paw again, swatting at him!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Under the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's onslaught, Porcupinefish Douluo retreated again and again, his face growing ever paler!

In terms of sheer offensive power, he was no match for this Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear!

Luofan, please, you little terror, hurry up! I can barely hold on!

Porcupinefish Douluo was like a delicate flower battered again and again by a torrential downpour. All he could do was silently pray that Luofan would finish absorbing the ring soon!

At that moment, every second felt agonizingly long to him!

He had no idea how much time passed. Just as he was nearing his limit, Luofan finally finished absorbing the purple soul ring.

Three soul rings appeared around Luofan's Exquisite Pagoda martial soul—black, purple, and purple!