Second Soul Skill: Destruction Death Ray

"I thought a mutated mental-type Soul Beast might have something different to show me. But in the end, it was still nothing more than crude, clumsy brute force."

Xiao Dong's gaze chilled. Every trace of amusement and patience vanished.

To the people of Douluo Continent, this eighty-thousand-year-old beast's might was akin to a natural disaster. But to Xiao Dong, who had already fused with Tian Meng's million-year divine essence and the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, it was as laughable and immature as an ant trying to wrestle an elephant.

"In that case, be on your way. Become my Soul Ring."

The cold words slipped from Xiao Dong's lips. In the next instant, a brilliant, savage crimson light erupted deep within his dark eyes like two supernovas that had lain dormant for ten thousand years!

Homelander's core offensive power—Heat Vision!

Sizzle!

Two crimson laser beams, thick as giant pythons and burning with destructive heat, shot from Xiao Dong's pupils without warning. Wherever they passed, the dense, roiling black poisonous miasma could not endure even the blink of an eye before the unimaginable heat vaporized it, leaving a scorched void of absolute vacuum!

There was no suspense.

Under the Three-Eyed Purple Spirit Lynx King's despairing gaze, the two beams of destruction pierced straight through his forehead!

Boom!

Violent heat exploded inside the Three-Eyed Purple Spirit Lynx King's body. Before he could even scream, the eighty-thousand-year-old body, hard as tempered steel and crystal, was melted clean through, leaving two enormous, charred, bloody holes amid the blinding crimson flames!

Thud!

The huge beast collapsed like a mountain and struck the muddy swamp, splashing foul-smelling muck in every direction. Not a trace of life remained.

One strike. Instant death!

As the Three-Eyed Purple Spirit Lynx King fell, a vast torrent of dense, viscous Soul Power swept out of his corpse and gathered. In just a few breaths, a Soul Ring as dark as ink slowly rose from the swamp!

An eighty-thousand-year-old Second Soul Ring!

Around the ring, phantom faces twisted with the Three-Eyed Purple Spirit Lynx King's dying resentment and venomous hatred. They circled it, shrieking grating curses of the mind. Any ordinary Soul Master who dared absorb the ring now would have their mind shattered into idiocy by that violent grudge.

"You still dare bare your fangs at me?"

Xiao Dong landed lightly on a dry rock and gave a cold laugh. Paying the clawing, snarling resentment no mind, he extended his right hand. A wisp of gentle, milky-white Purifying Lotus Demon Flame appeared in his palm, and he pressed it toward the black ring from afar.

Hiss!

Beneath the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's overwhelmingly powerful purification, the vicious spirits could not utter half a wail. The flame licked over them, reducing them to wisps of smoke and leaving only the purest, most refined essence of the eighty-thousand-year-old Soul Ring!

Xiao Dong sat cross-legged and drew in a breath. Pulled by an invisible force, the ink-dark ring entered his meridians and acupoints without resistance and imprinted itself on his Martial Soul!

Hum!

The moment the eighty-thousand-year-old Soul Ring entered his body, a vast surge of essence burst forth like a great river breaking its banks!

Rumble!

A thunderous roar sounded through Xiao Dong's meridians. The barrier that had held his Soul Power steady at level twenty could not resist the flood of terrifying energy for even an instant. It was crushed layer by layer, like bamboo splitting before a blade!

Level twenty-one!

Level twenty-four!

Level twenty-seven!

Level thirty!

As the final crisp sound of a bottleneck shattering rang deep in Xiao Dong's mind, his Soul Power, which had soared without pause, finally settled firmly at the threshold of level thirty!

"Phew..."

Xiao Dong slowly opened his eyes. Two sharp, lightning-like gleams flashed in his pupils and vanished. He let out a long breath of slightly heated air, rose to his feet, and sensed the power surging through him like a rushing river. Surprise and irrepressible joy spread across his handsome face.

"This speed of advancement really was beyond my expectations..."

Xiao Dong shook his head with a rueful smile and tightened his fair-skinned fist, now brimming with monstrous strength.

He had only come to the Star Dou Great Forest to claim a Second Soul Ring and advance to Soul Grandmaster. He had never expected that, propelled by the eighty-thousand-year-old ring, he would reach the level-thirty bottleneck almost as soon as he finished refining it!

He needed just one more Soul Ring to advance to a three-ring Soul Elder!

Xiao Dong closed his eyes and sent his awareness into his sea of consciousness, sensing the Second Soul Ring he had just absorbed.

At a thought, an ink-dark eighty-thousand-year-old Soul Ring, its edges shimmering with an eerie luster, slowly rose beneath his feet.

His Second Soul Ring ability—Destruction Death Ray!

As he poured in his mental power, a concentrated thread of destructive will quickly took shape deep within his eyes. A low sonic boom sounded faintly in the air, sending a stab of pain through the soul.

"Destruction Death Ray..."

Xiao Dong slowly opened his dark eyes, a cold, faintly playful curve lifting the corner of his mouth.

This Soul Skill was formed entirely from the Three-Eyed Purple Spirit Lynx King's lifelong spiritual essence. It could break through any spiritual defense and strike directly at an enemy's mental core. Even an ordinary Titled Douluo caught off guard by it would have their sea of consciousness grievously torn apart.

Most terrifying of all, this beam of destruction, which existed purely on the mental plane, could be released in perfect overlap with Heat Vision, the physical power granted by his Homelander Physique!

Two crimson lasers of destructive heat, layered with an all-pervading eighty-thousand-year-old Destruction Death Ray!

"A double blow to body and soul. With power like this, even a Super Douluo above level ninety-five would hardly come out looking good after taking it head-on."

Xiao Dong clenched his fist, thoroughly satisfied with the destructive power of his Second Soul Skill.

Yet even amid his satisfaction, his gaze tightened slightly. A trace of regret crossed his mind.

In the original course of fate, Huo Yuhao's mental-type Soul Ring could grow stronger alongside his cultivation, transforming step by step until it truly reached a hundred thousand years. That depended entirely on the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm feeding it his essence.

His own Second Soul Ring, however, had become fixed at the peak of eighty thousand years after absorption. For now, it could not advance on its own.

That regret flickered through Xiao Dong's mind for only an instant before he swept it away.

Xiao Dong slowly extended his right hand and opened his palm. A wisp of milky-white Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, soft as white jade, rose gently from his fingertips.

As the flame rolled, the surrounding space warped inch by inch. It radiated a domineering power that could reduce all things to nothingness.

"Huo Yuhao needed the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to lift his seals bit by bit before his Soul Ring could advance. But why would I, Xiao Dong, need that?!"

A fierce light surged in Xiao Dong's eyes. In his mind, a wild idea spread like weeds.

The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame's true wonder lay in its ability to refine and purify all things!

If the pure essence of Soul Beasts could nourish a Soul Ring and drive its age to rise against the heavens, then with the all-conquering Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, he could simply hunt down those Soul Beasts foolish enough to cross his path!