Promotion to Soul Elder

A deep-purple Spirit Ring emerged above the Eyeless Snake's corpse, its color so dark it was almost black.

Amon smiled and turned to say quietly, "Yan Jin, stand guard for me."

Yan Jin was still reeling from the shock of the Magma Colossus. She glanced at the huge crater punched into the ground, then at her own fist, looking somewhat dazed.

It was not until Amon called her again that she came back to herself. "Oh, okay. But that move just now was way too cool!"

She was in excellent condition at the moment. A Martial Soul Fusion Skill usually placed an enormous burden on both users, and they would generally be exhausted after using it once. But this time, the consumption had been borne by Amon's Avatars.

Yan Jin had discovered another little secret of Amon's: he had an absurd amount of Soul Power!

It had shown itself before when he had supported her and Lei Yin during their sparring, supplying them with Soul Power, but it had never been this obvious or this shocking.

"Say, could we take on a Soul Emperor in that state?" Yan Jin asked.

Amon shook his head. "We couldn't kill one. Although our attacks have reached the Soul Emperor level, our movements are too slow. A normal Soul Emperor could easily dodge them. Of course, in special terrain or under special rules, a Soul Emperor wouldn't fare much better either..."

"Like on the Soul Master Tournament arena!" Yan Jin broke into a smile. She could already picture herself and Amon fusing their Martial Souls, transforming into a Lava Giant on the tournament stage, taking up most of the arena, and knocking out seven opponents with every punch.

"Hehehe... Hahaha... Keke..."

Wouldn't the championship be theirs for the taking?

"Enough with the ghost noises. Stand guard," Amon had to repeat.

Amon raised his hand and revealed his Martial Soul. A translucent worm with twelve rings and starry colors swam about in his palm.

Drawn by his Soul Power, the Spirit Ring flew toward Amon and settled around the worm, overlapping with one of its rings.

A surge of power rushed from his Martial Soul like a raging tide, flooding his entire body. Tearing pain tortured his nerves, and layered Whispers rose along with it.

Dozens of Time Clones helped him share the surging energy, keeping the power transmitted from his Martial Soul right at the threshold of his body's absorption limit. This allowed him to fully enjoy the benefits of adding a Spirit Ring without being injured by it.

After a long period of absorption, the energy flowing from his Martial Soul gradually faded. Amon opened his eyes, feeling the increased strength in his body, and a trace of joy appeared on his face.

Level thirty-four!

Amon had already spent some time consolidating his strength at level thirty. Though his level had not risen during that period, his Soul Power had continued to accumulate. Combined with absorbing a Spirit Ring far beyond an ordinary person's limit, he had advanced four levels in one go!

With every increase in level, the first Spirit Ring's enhancement to his control over Soul Power also improved. Amon quickly gained complete control over his rapidly increased Soul Power. The Soul Power leaking into the surroundings settled, and he returned to his usual unassuming state.

"Tch... Your control over Soul Power really is monstrous." Although it was not the first time she had seen it, Yan Jin was still astonished. "And speaking of which, don't you have way too much Soul Power...? Forget it, you don't need to answer. You wouldn't answer anyway."

"My Martial Soul can store Soul Power. I can save up my usual Soul Power and use it at a critical moment," Amon replied.

Yan Jin rolled her eyes. Her intuition told her it was far more complicated than that. She could not fully trust Amon's words, especially when they concerned his own abilities. Even if she saw something with her own eyes, she still had to consider whether it was an illusion he had deliberately created.

"Alright, let's head back... The disturbance here was too great. It might attract stronger Soul Beasts from deeper in the mountains." Amon patted Yan Jin on the head.

At that moment, Soul Power as vast as an abyss and as boundless as the sea suddenly descended. A terrifying aura spread through the area, and Amon, Yan Jin, Lei Yin farther away, Vidal, and the others all felt a dreadful pressure that seemed capable of stopping their hearts.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The volcano, which had been dormant for a long time, suddenly became active, spewing magma from its crater.

Lava flowed down from the summit like a tide. Volcanic ash blotted out the sky, dark and oppressive as though the end of the world had arrived.

"Run!" Vega roared.

"Damn it, didn't they say the volcanoes of the Ironheart Mountains hadn't erupted for hundreds of years?" Norbert stared in terror at the Volcanic Bombs that periodically landed nearby, setting tree after tree ablaze. His face was filled with panic.

Lei Yin looked worriedly behind him and murmured, "Sis..."

"Don't worry about her, just run. Don't forget, her Martial Soul is magma. A disaster like this... she probably, maybe, uh... can't handle it."

Vidal had meant to persuade Lei Yin to focus on escaping, but as he looked at the apocalyptic scene, he felt that saying, "A Magma Martial Soul isn't afraid of volcanic eruptions," was not very convincing.

Yet when he shifted his attention away from the distant volcano, he discovered that Lei Yin had already sprinted far ahead.

Lightning wrapped around his legs, raising his speed to an incredible level. He raced along in a trail of sparks and lightning, crackling all the way.

"Hey..." Vidal's mouth twitched. He caught up after using Martial Soul Possession.

Yan Jin watched the erupting volcano, gaining a more direct understanding of the path Amon had planned for her development.

This was the destructive power of magma, the destructive power of a volcanic eruption, the destructive power of a natural disaster!

But compared to that, the fleeting pressure from earlier concerned her more.

"Amon, did you feel that? That thing just now..." Even Yan Jin, who feared neither heaven nor earth, had a look of terror on her face.

"Mm... It should be some powerful Soul Beast." Amon's expression was equally grave, but there was not much worry in his eyes. The enormous creature deep within the mountains was still very far from them.

Yan Jin suddenly pointed to the summit of an erupting volcano and shouted, "Look over there! A snake—a huge snake!"

Following the direction of her finger, Amon saw a massive serpent coiled around the volcanic crater.

Its enormous body flickered in and out of view through the volcanic ash. Lava flowed down its scales, yet could not harm it in the slightest.

A pair of curved horns grew from its head. Its red scales resembled twisted worms, making it look very similar to the Eyeless Snake they had just hunted. The difference was that it had eyes.

It occupied little space in their vision due to the distance, but both Yan Jin and Amon knew that it was an unimaginably colossal creature. An ordinary snake only ten or twenty meters long would have been impossible to see from that position!

"What kind of Soul Beast is that?" Yan Jin asked.

"I don't know." Amon shook his head.

Yan Jin gave him a rather surprised look. "There's actually something you don't know."

Amon chuckled. "I'm not omniscient. How could I possibly know everything? Although I've read quite a few books introducing Soul Beasts, they only record some commonly seen Soul Beasts. This world is vast, with far too many unknowns waiting for us to explore and discover."

"I have a guess," Yan Jin said with a somewhat smug smile.

They were not nervous about the volcanic eruption. As long as they were not sitting directly in front of the crater and taking the full impact, the scattered lava at the outskirts posed no threat to them at all.

"Oh?" Amon was surprised.

"The dragon-slaying hero came to the Ironheart Mountains. There, he saw the Iron Mountain Lord dwelling in the depths of the sea of fire. He defeated the Crimson Lotus Great Serpent and forged its scales into the Sword of Fire, which would never be extinguished." Yan Jin spoke in a chant-like tone.

"You heard that from a travelogue or legend in a tavern, didn't you?" For a moment, Amon had genuinely thought Yan Jin might occasionally read one or two obscure books.

Yan Jin shrugged. "But it fits, doesn't it?"

Amon pinched his Monocle. "Indeed... Sometimes, legends come from life as well... Still, this is an unexpected delight."

He looked at the giant serpent atop the volcano, his gaze deep.