Ah Rou Escapes

Just as Huang Tieyi thought this strike was going to look spectacular, someone appeared before him. Ah Rou teleported in front of him and kicked him in the stomach without hesitation.

Huang Tieyi spat blood. He hurled the Big Ball Rasengan he had been holding aloft, sending the enormous sphere of water spinning through the air with the force of his throw. Though it veered off course and missed Er Ming, it still struck a Titan Giant Ape—just not Da Ming.

"Aaagh..." A scream rang out. The Titan Giant Ape struck by the Big Ball Rasengan was pierced clean through. The force of its rotation twisted and mangled all its organs together.

His clansman's scream brought Er Ming to his senses, and he stopped charging. Ah Rou teleported back onto his shoulder and looked at Huang Tieyi, who had landed in a treetop, his face somewhat pale.

"Who are you people? Why are you meddling?" Ah Rou demanded.

"To prevent the world's destruction, to protect world peace, to ensure Soul Masters can develop steadily, and to keep the Soul Beast ecosystem in balance, we are the charming villains from Spirit Hall." Huang Tieyi swept his bangs back with a finger and smiled, thoroughly pleased with himself.

"You're from Spirit Hall. No wonder you stirred up a fight between Soul Beasts," Ah Rou said, anger in her voice.

"What the hell? You're a transformed Soul Beast, and you've got the nerve to turn black into white and blame Spirit Hall?" Huang Tieyi said coldly. "If you hadn't directed the Titan Giant Apes in battle, would so many Crab-Claw Demon Spiders have died? Their two clans are natural enemies. It's normal for them to kill each other, and the balance remains after every clash. Now you're trying to destroy that balance, then pin the blame on Spirit Hall. How ridiculous can you get?"

"If I say it was you, then it was you. I am the queen of the Star Dou Great Forest. Who dares question me?" Ah Rou declared imperiously.

Listening to Ah Rou, Huang Tieyi felt that he hadn't merely been reborn—he must have crossed into some fake version of Douluo Continent. Otherwise, how could Ah Rou, his stern mother in his sixth life, have become such an arrogant, self-important fool?

"A queen? Then let me see what this queen can do." As Lei Zhenyun spoke, his Thunder Leopard Martial Soul possessed him. Quick as lightning, he appeared before Ah Rou and drove a fist crackling with electricity at her. She teleported out of the way and appeared behind him.

Just as Ah Rou was about to use Eight-Stage Throw, Lei Zhenyun twisted in midair. A whip flashing with lightning appeared in his hand, and he lashed it at her with the momentum of his turn.

Ah Rou teleported away again. At the same moment, Er Ming recovered and swung a massive hand at Lei Zhenyun. Lei Zhenyun wrapped his Thunder Whip around one of Er Ming's fingers and gave it a sharp tug, pulling himself through the hole in Er Ming's palm.

"Eighth Soul Skill: Thunder Guillotine!" Lei Zhenyun turned back. A guillotine blade formed of lightning appeared beneath his feet and slashed toward Er Ming's arm.

Ah Rou immediately teleported to Lei Zhenyun's side and swept a fierce kick toward his stomach.

Lei Zhenyun broke off his strike at Er Ming's arm and flipped through the air to avoid Ah Rou's attack. The guillotine blade beneath his feet spun away toward the back of Er Ming's head.

Ah Rou wanted to save him, but it was too late unless she teleported over and used herself as a shield. She treasured her own life and chose not to use teleportation and Invincible Golden Body to save Er Ming.

The Thunder Guillotine struck the back of Er Ming's head. His thick hide spared him serious injury, but the blade's true power lay in its lightning. The current stunned him, and he collapsed to the ground, his body twitching uncontrollably as electricity coursed through it.

Ah Rou stood in a tree and looked at Er Ming, who had smashed a great crater into the ground and was bleeding from the head. Then she turned toward Lei Zhenyun, standing below, her face dark and grave. "Be good and surrender, girl. Don't worry, we won't kill you or take your Soul Ring or Soul Bone," Lei Zhenyun said with a leering expression. "I happen to have some Whale Rubber to use. I need your help dealing with the side effects."

"In your dreams..." Before she finished speaking, Ah Rou teleported away, fleeing through a rapid succession of jumps. As she left, she blew her flute and took every surviving Titan Giant Ape with her.

"And she calls herself a queen?" Huang Tieyi sneered. He used the Six Meridian Divine Sword to pierce Er Ming's heart, then watched a black Soul Ring rise from his corpse. Rest in peace, Er Ming. Don't blame me.

Huang Tieyi sat down on Er Ming's corpse. "Grandpa, keep watch over me. This will probably take a long time."

"Don't worry. Focus on absorbing the Soul Ring. I'll keep you safe," Huang Batian said calmly.

Huang Tieyi closed his eyes and circulated his cultivation technique. Soul Power flowed through his body as he absorbed the Soul Ring Er Ming had produced. Rather than absorption, it was a process of seizing and binding. Eight lifetimes of experience had taught Huang Tieyi that gaining a Soul Skill from a Soul Ring meant wresting away a Soul Beast's soul's claim to it, then forcibly binding it to himself.

According to countless books and legends, Soul Rings were the greatest curse. After the Dragon God lost his struggle with the Human God over the Divine Realm, he laid that curse: Soul Beasts could never become gods, and neither could the humans of Douluo Continent. Later, humans changed their method of cultivation and found a path to godhood again. By absorbing Soul Rings to advance in level, they could ultimately hope to become gods.

Before crossing over, Huang Tieyi had been a modern-day cultivator, though the Great Art of Energy Absorption he practiced was incomplete. After eight reincarnations, he had worked out that it could take him as far as the Golden Core Realm. In terms of combat power, the Foundation Establishment Realm corresponded to a Soul Saint on Douluo Continent. Reaching the Golden Core Realm would probably exceed what Douluo Continent could bear; when that happened, he could ascend.

Soul Power on Douluo Continent corresponded to internal energy in his original world, while cultivators absorbed Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. One path sought power from within; the other sought it from heaven and earth. From eight lifetimes of experience, he had learned that combining Soul Power with Soul Rings produced the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy cultivated by practitioners in his previous life. That was why every Soul Ring he obtained from hunting Soul Beasts had different attributes.

Once he finished absorbing his Seventh Soul Ring, he would complete the Foundation Establishment stage of the Great Art of Energy Absorption. Naturally, he could no longer remember what the process of establishing his foundation entailed.

Ling Yuan Douluo looked toward the Crab-Claw Demon Spiders. Seeing the corpses strewn across the ground and the Soul Rings floating above them, she took Bibi Dong over to absorb suitable rings.