Absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring

"Wait!"

"Don't absorb the soul ring yet. Something big is coming."

Gui Mei and Chrysanthemum Guan both looked toward the direction the Jade-Faced Fox had come running from, their expressions growing a little more serious.

"Could it be..." Remembering how the Jade-Faced Fox had seemed to be fleeing something, Deacon Long suddenly widened his eyes. "Hell Three-Headed Hound!"

Awooo! Awooo!

Two different howls drew closer from the distance. By the time everyone could hear them clearly, two vicious hounds, one larger than the other and each roughly ten feet long with three hideous heads, had already arrived before them.

Drool dripped from their mouths onto the ground, and they panted every so often.

They clearly regarded everyone as food to fill their bellies.

Xu Xiaotang and Hu Liena turned deathly pale. This was their first time seeing terrifying soul beasts of this caliber.

"Nearly ten feet long... They're both ten-thousand-year beasts." Deacon Long looked grave as he turned to Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo. "Elders, I'm afraid we'll have to trouble you."

"No problem." Gui Mei grinned, his expression frightening. "Just the thing to loosen up our muscles. These two soul beasts will barely give us enough to play with."

"Two of them, and a male and a female at that. Could they be a couple?" Chrysanthemum Douluo giggled. "Then we'll just have to send you to hell together, a pair of doomed lovebirds."

"Fourth soul skill, Gathering of Cold Blossoms!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Enormous leaflike petals shimmered as they floated in midair, ringing out like metal before surging straight toward the two Hell Three-Headed Hounds.

As the petals swept past towering trees over a hundred feet tall, they sliced cleanly through their trunks without being impeded in the slightest.

An almost human look of surprise flashed in the two Hell Three-Headed Hounds' eyes, as though they could not believe such a small human body contained such immense power.

But they would not simply sit and await death. The golden-eyed female three-headed hound raised a barrier around herself that carried a trace of sacred aura, desperately blocking the incoming metallic petals.

Meanwhile, streaks of blood-red markings appeared across the male three-headed hound's body, and a strange symbol surfaced in his dark-purple eyes.

The next moment.

The male three-headed hound miraculously appeared right before Chrysanthemum Guan, who was still unleashing his soul skill, his fangs poised to sink into the man's neck.

Boom—!

A ghostlike figure blasted the male three-headed hound backward. He smashed through more than a dozen enormous trees with trunks ten feet thick before his body finally slowed to a stop.

But the male three-headed hound was already covered in wounds, drawing in more air than he could breathe out, and looked ready to die.

On the other side, the female three-headed hound's golden barrier shattered at that very moment, and the unstoppable metallic petals sliced her apart in a death by a thousand cuts.

By the end, not a single patch of flesh on her body remained intact.

Still, Chrysanthemum Guan left her clinging to life. Perhaps the little fellow in the black robe could make use of her.

"Dying like this is letting him off easy. If Old Ghost hadn't been here, I'd have nearly capsized in a gutter." Chrysanthemum Guan cursed.

"Was that a teleportation skill he used just now, Deacon Long?" Xu Xiaonian was very curious about the astonishing speed the beast had displayed.

"It wasn't teleportation. He was simply moving fast," Deacon Long explained.

"But... He's only a ten-thousand-year soul beast. Does it make sense for him to be so fast that even Elder Ju couldn't react?" Xu Xiaonian looked puzzled.

After all, Chrysanthemum Guan was a rank-ninety-five Titled Douluo, considerably stronger than an ordinary Titled Douluo. Even against a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, he would have the strength to protect himself.

"It was the power of time," Chrysanthemum Guan said darkly. "Old Ghost and I can unleash the Two-Pole Stasis Domain. We couldn't be more familiar with that power."

Time... And he has a darkness attribute too. Wouldn't that be a perfect match for my Dark Demon Evil God Tiger?!

Xu Xiaonian looked shocked, but inwardly, he was sorely tempted. He was already setting his sights on this Hell Three-Headed Hound.

"This male three-headed hound accelerated the flow of time around himself. To us, he reached Chrysanthemum Guan in a second or two, but he might actually have experienced more than ten seconds himself."

Deacon Long explained at length, "Legend has it that the kings among Hell Three-Headed Hounds stole a sliver of the Hell Deity's power, allowing them a slight degree of control over time. To think this three-headed hound actually had the potential to become a king."

After that, Deacon Long turned to the black-robed figure. "The female Hell Three-Headed Hound has a light attribute, making her quite compatible with the Angel Martial Soul. And she happens to be at the ten-thousand-year level, which suits you very well."

The black-robed figure said nothing, but was clearly very satisfied with this soul beast and went straight over to finish her off and absorb her soul ring.

Hu Liena likewise formally began absorbing the Jade-Faced Fox's soul ring.

Seeing that Gui Mei was about to kill the male Hell Three-Headed Hound, Xu Xiaonian hurried forward to stop him.

"Wait, Ghost Elder! I think I can give it a try!"

"Hm?" Gui Mei froze for a moment before realizing what he meant. He exclaimed in shock, "You want to try absorbing the soul ring he produces? This is a ten-thousand-year beast!"

Chrysanthemum Guan was also stunned by his words and tried to dissuade him. "Do you know what happens if you fail to absorb a ten thousand year soul ring? If you die here, I won't be able to answer to His Holiness the Pope."

Deacon Long's expression grew even more serious. "Having a strong enough body isn't all you need to absorb a ten thousand year soul ring. Spiritual Power is the key. Besides, your physical constitution might not even be sufficient to absorb one."

"The first hurdle is physical constitution, and the second is Spiritual Power. I'm afraid you might not clear even one of them. With your exceptional talent, there's absolutely no need to rush this."

Xu Xiaonian was about to explain when his sister Xiaotang spoke up first:

"Please believe in Xiaonian, seniors. As his older sister, I believe he can succeed."

Chrysanthemum Guan and the other two were startled, thinking to themselves:

These two are close family, and they're clearly very affectionate with each other. Of everyone here, Xu Xiaotang should care the most about Xu Xiaonian. If even she says that, could this boy really be confident?

Seeing the hesitation on their faces, Xu Xiaonian stepped forward and said firmly:

"Please let me try, seniors. I'm confident that even if I fail to absorb it, my life won't be in danger."

The three hesitated for a while longer. Seeing that the male Hell Three-Headed Hound was about to breathe his last, Chrysanthemum Guan finally waved a hand.

"Go on, go on. Life and death are decreed by fate. I can't talk you out of it."

Gui Mei and Deacon Long could only agree helplessly.

"All right." Xu Xiaonian turned to Deacon Long with another request. "Please build a temporary earthen hut for me, Deacon Long. I have a few trump cards that aren't suitable for public view."

Deacon Long's martial soul was the Holy Light Earth Dragon and possessed an earth attribute, so this would not be difficult.

Seeing Deacon Long begin, Xu Xiaonian hurried over to the Hell Three-Headed Hound, extended his soft little hand, held his fingers together like a blade, and slashed through the air.

A brilliant golden blade of light burst forth, tearing through the three-headed hound's wounded, vulnerable abdomen and ending his life.

This blade of light was one of the two active skills granted by the Eternal Seal of his Holy Spirit Purcell martial soul after it transformed into a soul ring.

Its name was Void-Splitting Strike.

It gathered holy light into a blade to attack, possessing the ability to tear through all things. Any tangible substance would be ripped apart and broken through.

Without Void-Splitting Strike's tearing property, Xu Xiaonian could never have breached the ten-thousand-year Hell Three-Headed Hound's defenses with his rank-ten soul power, even with the beast already wounded.

Not far away.

Witnessing this, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo exchanged a glance and saw the shock in each other's eyes.

How did he do that?