The carriage stopped at the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The three of them got out and headed straight into its depths.
Unlike his last Soul Hunting trip, Lou Xu no longer had to watch out for dangers that might appear in the forest.
With Xiong Jun behind him and the reverse scale at his forehead, the Soul Beasts all gave them a wide berth.
Xiao Wu's steps were light, too.
For her, coming here meant coming home.
"Xu, where are we going... to get your Soul Ring?"
"A six-thousand-year Soul Beast with a high-grade bloodline and an innate control ability. Big Bear said he'd take us to his clan."
"Oh..."
Xiao Wu hugged the flowerpot tighter and followed with slightly hesitant steps.
After walking for more than half a day, the three arrived at a cliff.
A dense forest lay at its foot, and deafening bear roars rang out from within.
"This is the place, kid."
"A Crystal Bear, a weakened mutant variant of the Terrorclaw Bear. Its essence was damaged in a fight over territory. Now it can't advance and can only cling to life while burning through its own vitality, so your Bear Lord won't help you. You'll have to do it yourself."
"If you win, its life is yours, and you can absorb your third Soul Ring. If you lose, your Bear Lord will find you another Soul Beast, but... you'll have to heal this one with that energy full of life force."
Xiong Jun gazed down with unfathomable eyes, then stepped back twice as he spoke.
Lou Xu drew a deep breath.
A level-thirty Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster fighting a six-thousand-eight-hundred-year Soul Beast-anyone outside would think he was insane. This was practically courting death!
But he had the Tank Engine, the Myriad-Era Catalyst Stone, an External Soul Bone...
And unparalleled talent and stats!
"Xiao Wu, step back."
Holding the flowerpot, Xiao Wu retreated behind Xiong Jun and watched Lou Xu summon the Star-Iron Furnace Anvil and the Flowing Fire Cloudburning Wings, then leap off the cliff and fly down.
Sensing an intruder in its territory, the Crystal Bear raised its head and growled. The aura of Soul Power in the dense forest suddenly seethed.
Lou Xu gave it no chance to strike first.
He activated his second Soul Skill, Flame Flash, along with the Soul Bone Skills Flowing Fire, Cloud Shadow, and Burning. A flame clone appeared beside him, and they became two streaks of flowing fire that swept across, leaving a scorching trail of flame in the air.
The Crystal Bear reacted quickly, sweeping a claw at them. Using the Flowing Fire Cloudburning Wings, Lou Xu and his clone soared out of its reach and unleashed his first Soul Skill, Bellows Flame Breath, directly onto its head.
Scorching flames filled the sky, blotting out the sun. Their reach was so vast that there was nowhere to dodge!
The two Bellows Flame Breaths overlapped, and raging orange-red flames poured down like molten lava, turning everything around the Crystal Bear into a furnace!
Lou Xu hovered in the air, not even out of breath, and waited quietly for the flames to disperse.
With the Myriad-Era Catalyst Stone, his Soul Skills consumed far less Soul Power than those of ordinary Soul Masters.
That meant he could pour more Soul Power into each skill to increase its strength, while also shouldering the terrifying consumption of his real body and clone unleashing Soul Skills together.
The flames gradually faded. The Crystal Bear had covered its head and endured the blaze head-on. The layer of crystal covering its fur had been scorched red, but this only stirred its ferocity. With an enraged roar, it leaped at Lou Xu in midair.
Lou Xu barely dodged, only for it to ignore the trails of flame and turn its head despite the pain, firing a laser from its mouth.
Unable to dodge in time, he could only raise the Stariron Anvil in front of him.
Boom!
The blow sent Lou Xu flying backward. He tumbled twice in the air before steadying himself.
The webs between his thumbs and forefingers trembled, and the tremendous force left both hands aching.
Looking down, he saw a layer of crystal coating his hands, severely restricting his arms' movement.
Lou Xu slammed his hands together and shattered the crystal. The broken shards tore through his flesh, making him grimace in pain.
The Myriad-Era Catalyst Stone quietly restored his injuries and Soul Power.
He unleashed Flame Flash again. The instant the Crystal Bear turned around, he slammed his hammer, brimming with Primal Fire, into the sole crack in the crystal shield on its shoulder.
With a crack, the crystal shield shattered, and the blow split the Crystal Bear's flesh open.
Immediately afterward, the flame clone hidden behind Lou Xu followed up with an attack.
Its flame-formed Martial Soul smashed down toward the Crystal Bear's head. The bear blocked with both hands, roaring as the searing flames burned it. Fire invaded its body, continuously burning away its Soul Power.
Boom!
The Crystal Bear desperately spat out one last laser. It struck the flame clone, scattering it into clusters of flame in the air.
Yet the moment it turned its head, Lou Xu's real body was already beside it, having appeared there unnoticed.
"Smash!"
Soul Power poured into his Martial Soul. The already sizable Stariron Anvil grew even larger, wrapped in layer after layer of Primal Fire.
Gritting his teeth, Lou Xu strained to lift it. Before the bear's stunned eyes, the heavy anvil smashed down with irresistible force!
Boom!
The Crystal Bear crashed to the ground, struggled twice, and went still.
A magnificent purple Soul Ring slowly rose from its body.
"Not bad..."
Squatting atop the cliff, Xiong Jun had watched the entire fight and offered a casual assessment.
Lou Xu had no energy to bother with him. He withdrew the Flowing Fire Cloudburning Wings, dragged himself over to sit beside the Crystal Bear's corpse, and began absorbing the Soul Ring.
The six-thousand-eight-hundred-year Soul Ring poured into his body with greater violence than he had expected.
Rampaging Soul Power forced its way through his meridians, and even the Power of the First Flame could barely suppress it. The Crystal Bear's dying resentment and ferocity surged through his sea of consciousness, battering his mind again and again.
He clenched his teeth, relied on life energy to stabilize himself, and repeatedly channeled Primal Fire to scour and refine it.
He had no idea how much time passed.
When he opened his eyes, a third purple Soul Ring hovered around him, and his Soul Power had settled at level thirty-two.
A Soul Elder.
His third Soul Skill, Flame Crystal Seal.
After regulating his breathing for a moment, Lou Xu stood and unleashed his third Soul Skill on a tree so thick that it would take two people to encircle its trunk.
A faint blue light shone across the Star-Iron Furnace Anvil. He swung it once, and crystal began spreading from the point of impact on the trunk.
It covered half the surface before stopping.
Lou Xu took a deep breath and swung the Star-Iron Furnace Anvil down again.
Crack!
The tough trunk gave a crisp, glasslike shattering sound, then suddenly broke into fragments that littered the ground. The unsupported crown fell.
Lou Xu hurriedly jumped back, dodging the falling treetop.
He looked at the tiny fragments of crystallized wood on the ground and nodded in satisfaction.
A control Soul Skill that could deal damage like this-now that was worthy of his talent and stats!
Primal Fire surged out, engulfing and absorbing the Crystal Bear's corpse.
More life energy accumulated inside the furnace anvil, and a portion flowed back into him, instantly sweeping away his fatigue.
The Tank Engine reached a hundred and forty-five stacks.
He withdrew his Martial Soul and walked toward Xiao Wu and Xiong Jun.
The forest suddenly fell silent.
It was no ordinary silence. The insects abruptly stopped chirping, the wind gradually died, and even the rustling leaves seemed to have been suppressed by immense gravity.
Xiong Jun lifted his eyelids and glanced northwest.
Above the canopy, an enormous shadow slowly approached.
The Titan Giant Ape, Er Ming.
Er Ming stood a hundred zhang away, his hill-sized body weighing down the surrounding vegetation.
His gaze first fell on Xiong Jun and lingered for a moment, then passed over Lou Xu, who had just returned to the clifftop, and settled on Xiao Wu, holding her flowerpot behind a tree.
"Sister Xiao Wu..."
His voice was deep and slightly uncertain, as though he could not quite believe what he was seeing.
"Er Ming!"
Xiao Wu froze for a moment, then a smile spread across her lips.
She ran forward two steps, then stopped and glanced back at Lou Xu.
Turning around, she called out to Er Ming.
"I'm fine! Come here, Er Ming. Don't be afraid!"
Er Ming's gaze moved between Xiao Wu and Lou Xu several times before finally settling on Xiong Jun, his pupils contracting.
After returning to the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiong Jun had made no effort to conceal his aura. The oppressive might of a four-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-year Ferocious Beast was on full display!
Er Ming recognized this king among Ferocious Beasts, the ruler of their clan.
Suppressing the questions in his heart, he slowly approached.
When Er Ming drew near, his hill-sized form crouched down, and he bowed his head to Xiong Jun.
"Lord Xiong Jun."
"Mm." Xiong Jun gave a soft hum of acknowledgment.
The Titan Giant Ape was also a Soul Beast of his clan. But Xiong Jun had spent the years before Lou Xu's arrival asleep, and it had been a long time since he had seen him. In the blink of an eye, Er Ming had already surpassed a hundred thousand years.
Er Ming extended his enormous palm and gently rested it on Xiao Wu's shoulder.
"Sister Xiao Wu, come home with me. Da Ming and I both miss you so much."
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