Blood Rhinoceros Steel-Armored Bull

Huang Batian and his grandson Huang Tieyi joined forces to flip the Octagonal Shield Turtle onto its back, leaving its belly facing the sky.

"Fuck! You vile humans! How dare you trick me..." The Octagonal Shield Turtle stuck its head, limbs, and tail out of its shell. "You've put me in that crude pose you humans call a turtle flipped on its back. How dare you humiliate me like this! Once I turn over, you'll pay..."

Huang Tieyi watched the Octagonal Shield Turtle thrash its head and limbs, trying to right itself. The sight was ridiculous.

"Grandpa, if we attack it now, do you think it'll pull its head back into its shell?" Huang Tieyi asked, his voice full of mockery.

"Who knows? Let's try it." Huang Batian turned to Sword Douluo Chen Xin. "Sword Douluo, here's your chance to vent some anger..."

"Thanks..." Sword Douluo Chen Xin summoned his Martial Soul, the Seven Kill Sword, and charged forward with a swing. Just as the sword tip was about to touch the Octagonal Shield Turtle, its head, limbs, and tail snapped back into its shell. It even locked the door.

"Humans, you have no honor! I'm already like this, and you still want to hurt me..." The Octagonal Shield Turtle's indignant voice came from inside its shell. "If you've got the guts, flip me over and see if I don't crush you!"

Huang Tieyi stepped up and knocked on the Octagonal Shield Turtle's shell. It rang with a metallic clang. "Big turtle, you can stay like that. We've got things to do, so we're leaving."

"A Yi, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast should work for your Seventh Soul Ring. Why don't we kill it?" Lei Zhenyun said. "There are so many of us. I refuse to believe we can't pry its shell open."

"Grandpa Yun, I already have a target for my Seventh Soul Ring. This big turtle doesn't fit my plan. It might work for my Eighth Soul Ring, though," Huang Tieyi said, shaking his head.

"In that case, let's get the Saintess her fifth Soul Ring first," Ling Yuan Douluo said.

"Hey, don't go! Flip me back over..." The Octagonal Shield Turtle stuck out its head and shouted. "Please come back! Stay and chat with me for another hundred Gold Soul Coins' worth..."

None of them paid it any attention. They went on with their plans while the Octagonal Shield Turtle kept chattering away. If it hadn't been a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the nearby Soul Beasts might have killed it themselves. It was simply too noisy.

After another half day of travel, the group encountered a nine-thousand-year-old Iron-Armored Rhinoceros. It had a violent temperament, formidable defenses, and attacked humans on sight. Most importantly, it lived in herds. Finding one meant finding a whole group, because its kin would never be more than ten meters away.

"An Iron-Armored Rhinoceros should suit the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect boy's fourth Soul Ring..." Before Huang Batian could finish, the Seven Kill Sword flashed out. One strike severed all four of the rhinoceros's legs and brought it down.

The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros let out an agonized bellow. The ground began to shake as every Iron-Armored Rhinoceros nearby charged toward them.

"Fuck, Sword Douluo, you really know how to stir up trouble!" Lei Zhenyun said, pressing a hand to his forehead.

"Then I'll kill them..." Embarrassed, Sword Douluo Chen Xin rushed at the gathering Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses and unleashed the pressure of a Titled Douluo.

The Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses were too low-level. They could feel the invisible pressure a Titled Douluo exerted, but it did not fill them with fear. To low-age Soul Beasts, the pressure of a Titled Douluo and that of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast felt entirely different. A Titled Douluo's pressure was merely some unseen, untouchable thing that inexplicably hampered their steps. A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's pressure awakened fear buried in their bloodline memories.

Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses surged toward him. Sword Douluo Chen Xin swung the Seven Kill Sword, Sword Qi crisscrossing amid boundless killing intent. Soon, more than thirty rhinoceroses lay in pools of blood, dead beyond any doubt. Only the first one remained alive, lying helplessly in pain as it watched everything unfold.

Watching its kin and companions die, it felt fear rise in its heart. Then came hatred. Its eyes turned scarlet.

"Fengzhi, kill this one yourself and you'll gain your fourth Soul Ring..." Before Sword Douluo Chen Xin could finish, the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros he had wounded rose to its feet in an eerie motion. It let out a mournful bellow. The blood of the dead rhinoceroses lifted into the air, forming crimson streams that poured into its body. Its four limbs regrew, but they had turned from gray to blood-red.

As it absorbed vast amounts of its kin's blood, its body swelled. Cracks gradually appeared across it, and throbbing blood vessels were plainly visible within them.

"Bloodline reversion..." Huang Tieyi's face filled with shock, his eyes wide with terror.

"Whatever it is, I'll kill it..." Sword Douluo Chen Xin swung the Seven Kill Sword. "Fourth Soul Skill: Killing Intent Unveiled!" A vast, razor-sharp wave of Sword Qi slashed toward the evolving Iron-Armored Rhinoceros. Bang! The Sword Qi struck an invisible wall without making the slightest ripple.

"A Yi, what's bloodline reversion?" Bibi Dong asked curiously.

"Bloodline reversion is when a Soul Beast awakens the bloodline hidden inside it and returns to its ancestor's strongest form. The strongest form of the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros is its ancestor, the Blood Rhinoceros Steel-Armored Bull. Back then, Soul Beast ancestors weren't ranked simply by age, but by combat strength. The Spirit Hall's Library Pavilion has records of it. The Blood Rhinoceros Steel-Armored Bull ranks eighteenth in overall combat strength. I don't know exactly how strong it is," Huang Tieyi explained.

"Sword Douluo, your luck is something else! You fight an eight-thousand-year-old turtle, and it turns out to be a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that wandered into a low-age Soul Beast region out of sheer boredom. Then you kill an Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, and it undergoes bloodline reversion. I'm impressed!" Lei Zhenyun gave Sword Douluo Chen Xin a thumbs-up.

The Iron-Armored Rhinoceros bellowed as its body doubled in size. The cracks across it stretched smooth, and all its scales fell away. New scales grew back layer by layer from head to tail, each bearing triangular barbs. At that moment, the Iron-Armored Rhinoceros completed its reversion into a Blood Rhinoceros Steel-Armored Bull. An invisible pressure radiated from its body. Its age was no longer any measure of its strength.

"Go..." Ling Yuan Douluo's expression turned grave. She scooped up Bibi Dong, leaped into the air, and activated her Martial Soul Avatar, taking flight.

Huang Batian tucked Huang Tieyi under his arm and immediately flew into the sky as well.

Sword Douluo Chen Xin held the Seven Kill Sword as he faced the Blood Rhinoceros Steel-Armored Bull. He wanted to retreat too, but he could feel that it had locked onto him. If he made a reckless move, Ning Fengzhi beside him might...