Bloody Battle with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast

Zhang Lexuan stood between the others and the dark figure.

Maintaining her Martial Soul Avatar heightened all her senses and sent her aura surging, but it also drained her Soul Power at a terrifying rate.

Her expression remained calm. As the dark figure paced, testing her, she kept turning to face it, never exposing an opening.

Behind her, everyone still able to stand maintained their Martial Souls. No one was the first to break the eerie silence.

The next instant, the dark figure and Zhang Lexuan moved together. Her teammates quickly spread out behind her, forming a semicircle around the battlefield.

"Fifth Soul Skill: Moonfall!"

A golden crescent moon formed in the dark sky. In a flash, it split in two, and the upper crescent became a sickle that flew straight at her opponent.

The golden sickle changed angles several times in flight, tracking the dark figure relentlessly.

A sharp gleam flashed in Zhang Lexuan's eyes. Just as the attack seemed about to land, the golden sickle abruptly slowed.

A sharp black claw swatted it. The sickle of energy scattered at once, fading into specks of golden light.

With the first attack thwarted, Zhang Lexuan urgently tried to trigger the second. Only then did she discover she could no longer sense the lower crescent.

Behind her, the golden crescent suspended in midair had silently turned bloodred.

Before she could react, the bloodred crescent plunged toward a teammate behind her.

Realizing her own ability had been tampered with, Zhang Lexuan felt panic well up inside her and shouted.

"Dodge!"

Boom!

The blood moon struck the ground, unleashing a violent explosion.

Although the teammate had dodged in advance, the blast still hurled her away. Fortunately, her Soul Power protected her, and she suffered only the shock of the impact.

Anger rose in Zhang Lexuan's eyes, but the dark figure was already upon her.

A huge black claw swept toward her. She hurriedly raised both arms to shield herself and channeled Soul Power through her body.

The sharp claws tore through her defenses with ease.

As Zhang Lexuan flew backward, another teammate immediately joined the fight, hoping to keep the Soul Beast occupied and deny it a moment's respite.

But he was only a Quasi-Soul Emperor who had yet to obtain his Sixth Soul Ring. In essence, he was still a Soul King. How could he contend with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?

After just one exchange, the Soul Beast's thick tail lashed across his abdomen.

He felt as though every organ in his body had been fed through a meat grinder. He spat a mouthful of blood and crashed to the ground.

Just then, a golden rope bound the Soul Beast's hind leg. Soul Skills of every color followed, pouring down like a storm and shooting straight at the dark figure.

The five-meter-long shadow endured only a few attacks before snapping the rope that restrained it. It twisted and darted about, seemingly trying to slip back into the darkness.

Boom—

A fierce explosion flared. By its firelight, everyone finally saw the dark figure clearly.

At a glance, it resembled a tiger-type Soul Beast. But its lithe build and manner of attack were closer to a leopard's.

The flames died, and Zhang Lexuan rejoined the battle.

Knowing her Martial Soul abilities were countered by her opponent, she stopped using Soul Skills altogether and fought it at close quarters...

At the edge of the battlefield, four figures moved cautiously: Lu Yi and the three members of the Tang Sect.

Since the fighting began, they had stayed near the battlefield, circling its edges to rescue the wounded.

Boom—

Even the shock waves from the battle were enough to make their hearts pound.

Huo Yuhao endured pain that felt as if his eyes might split apart as he shared his Spiritual Detection with Tang Ya.

Tang Ya quietly sent her Blue Silver Grass toward the wounded on the battlefield.

But the force of the fighting shattered her Blue Silver Grass again and again, forcing her to summon fresh vines.

At last, she dragged a blood-soaked figure to a nearby spot with her Blue Silver Grass. Bei Bei ran forward, scooped him up, and rushed behind cover.

The senior had fallen wounded on the battlefield. Repeated shock waves had left him barely alive.

But Bei Bei still detected a faint breath. Hope lit his face. "Quick, he's still breathing!"

Without hesitation, Lu Yi opened the bottle he had prepared and poured its contents into the wounded man's mouth.

Unlike a Healing Pill, which was hard to swallow, a liquid was easy to give to an unconscious patient.

The medicine flowed down his throat and into his stomach. Within a few breaths, the senior's breathing, though still weak, had steadied.

Delight spread across Bei Bei's face. "Brother Lu, your village truly has crouching tigers and hidden dragons. If an ordinary physician there can make medicine this miraculous, I must visit someday!"

He probably wouldn't be able to find Hogwarts.

Seeing that the medicine worked even on someone so badly injured, Lu Yi breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as it works!"

What he had given the man was a healing Potion he had brewed himself.

But he had made those Potions for his own use, and he had only five bottles.

Two had gone to saving lives. Looking toward the battlefield through the thinning Black Barrier, he unconsciously tightened his grip on the Potions he had left.

Three bottles won't be nearly enough!

Zhang Lexuan's red inner-court uniform was in tatters. It was hard to tell blood from the fabric's original color.

Across the battlefield, countless trees thick enough for two people to encircle had either snapped in half or been torn up by the roots.

Explosions and shock waves had churned the earth over who knew how many times, leaving it scorched and unrecognizable.

The Soul Beast facing her had also suffered under the inner-court disciples' relentless attacks. Its body was covered in open wounds and burns, with scarcely a patch of uninjured flesh. A ghastly slash crossed one eye.

Of course, the teammates fighting an opponent several levels above them had suffered far worse. They were arrows at the end of their flight.

During the struggle, Zhang Lexuan had recognized the Soul Beast's species: a Shadow Leopard.

Shadow Leopards were not top-tier Soul Beasts, but this one had clearly mutated, gaining powers related to the moon.

Given its ability to turn moonlight bloodred, Eclipse Moon Shadow Leopard might be a more fitting name.

That was why it had been able to interfere with her earlier attack. One thing was certain: the Eclipse Moon Shadow Leopard would make an ideal Eighth Soul Ring for her.

But as a Quasi-Soul Douluo with a Moon Martial Soul, she was also the best nourishment the Eclipse Moon Shadow Leopard could hope for. Perhaps it had appeared here because it had set its sights on her.

Though the Eclipse Moon Shadow Leopard was not a top-tier Soul Beast, it had reached the hundred-thousand-year level. Its strength was still beyond what they could withstand.

Of the eight teammates who had joined the fight, only three remained standing, and they were barely managing even that.

They were two Quasi-Soul Saints and a Power Attack System fighter who had just advanced to Soul Emperor—the three strongest members of this Soul Hunting party apart from Zhang Lexuan.

As the two sides faced each other, struggling to remain upright, Zhang Lexuan suddenly realized the other wounded teammates were gone. A powerful unease gripped her.

Keeping her eyes fixed on the Shadow Leopard, Zhang Lexuan asked the woman beside her, "Sister Ruoruo, have you seen the others?"

As the team's chief controller, Han Ruoruo had kept her attention locked on the fearsome Soul Beast every moment. She had not noticed the others. She turned to Wu Ming beside her.

Then she remembered that Wu Ming had caused the worst destruction on the battlefield, and the words caught in her throat.

"Could it be? Were they all caught in the shock waves and—"

Zhang Lexuan did not dare finish the thought. She only looked around at the last three people standing beside her.

The Shadow Leopard was in poor shape, but it was still far from easy to defeat.

Of everyone present, only she, with her Martial Soul Avatar, could stand against it.

She could not let those three continue a battle they should never have had to fight. They had to survive and preserve a spark for Shrek.

"Sister Ruoruo, take Ming and Song and go! I'll buy you time!"

As she spoke, Zhang Lexuan's Martial Soul Origin began to seethe. She was ready to fight to the death.

"Sister Lexuan! I, Zhu Song, am no coward!"

Blood spilled from the sturdy young man's mouth. He could barely maintain his Martial Soul Possession, yet he gritted his teeth, steadied his swaying body, and smiled with relief.

"The academy's juniors will remember that a Soul Emperor senior once defeated a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. That's enough for me!"

"That's right, Lexuan! I'm not listening to you as our leader this time!" Han Ruoruo refused just as firmly.

Wu Ming said nothing. Flames rose around her once more, making her answer clear.

"What pitiful loyalty!" Dragging its wounded body, the Eclipse Moon Shadow Leopard paced slowly and sneered at the four who could barely stand. "Too bad you'll all become my prey!"

Just then, a dazzling red light rose a hundred meters behind Zhang Lexuan.

A Signal Flare calling for help!

It was like a shot of adrenaline. Hope flared in Zhang Lexuan's heart.

Whoever had fired the Signal Flare, it was good news for them.

If they could hold on a little longer, Xuan Zi would arrive!

The red flare reflected in the Eclipse Moon Shadow Leopard's one remaining eye, making it restless.

It could not delay any longer. It had to finish off the humans before it and devour the Soul Master leading them.

Just as it prepared to attack, a small bag drifted slowly out of the dark night behind it.

The next instant, the bag fastened onto its backside.