The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's corpse fell, turning into a wisp of energy that entered Li Zha's body.
And as that wisp of energy surged into him,
Li Zha's two deep-purple soul rings turned pure black in an instant.
"Ten thousand years..."
"Three years of killing soul beasts in the Spirit Ascension Platform, and they've finally reached ten thousand years."
Li Zha felt a little thrilled, too.
Although increasing his soul rings' age could not change his soul skills, it would reduce their soul power consumption and give him more precise control over them.
There was another benefit, too:
Two black soul rings looked much more intimidating when he brought them out!
And that was not all.
As the Blazing Dragon Spirit advanced into a ten-thousand-year soul spirit, the number of soul skills it could provide increased to three.
The level-29 soul power within Li Zha, already suppressed to its limit, suddenly burst forth like floodwater released from a dam, instantly breaking through the barrier to become a three-ring Soul Elder!
Li Zha exited the Spirit Ascension Platform,
returned to reality,
and began his breakthrough right there, lying inside the rectangular apparatus.
"This child..."
Leng Yaozhu hurried over to examine him. Li Zha's eyes were tightly shut, and the soul power within him surged violently.
Soon,
Li Zha opened his eyes again, and a third black soul ring appeared beneath him.
"Whew! Teacher, that soul beast you arranged for me was fantastic. I've broken through to Soul Elder."
Li Zha got up with a grin.
"Zha'er, stop that. Three years, from level 14 to level 30-that was the result of your own hard work."
However stern Leng Yaozhu was, even a veteran at keeping a straight face like her could not maintain her composure.
A nine-year-old, three-ring Soul Elder!
Even Sky-Cleaving Douluo Yun Ming had not grown at such a monstrous pace back then, had he?
Leng Yaozhu had never imagined she could nurture such a dazzling talent.
Phantom Brain Douluo Han Tianyin asked eagerly:
"Li Zha, what is your third soul skill?"
Li Chen beckoned with his hand, and the Fire-Tipped Spear appeared.
The third black soul ring beneath his feet lit up.
The next instant,
Li Zha thrust several times in a flash, holding the spear in one hand, so fast that he left afterimages.
"Prairie-Fire Hundred Thrusts."
"It increases the speed of my spear thrusts."
After hearing that, Han Tianyin immediately spotted the connection.
"Li Zha, I remember your first soul skill can keep stacking damage, right? Combined with the increased thrusting speed of your third soul skill, wouldn't that create a synergistic effect?"
"Oh, in your words, what was it called? A combo?"
Li Zha nodded and smiled.
"Yes, Teacher Han. Using these two soul skills together can instantly raise my destructive power by a notch or two."
"By my conservative estimate, most ordinary Soul Ancestors probably aren't a match for me anymore. As for Soul Kings, so long as they aren't One-Word Battle Armor Masters, I'm confident I could beat half the Soul Kings on the continent."
At that thought, Li Zha snorted.
"If I fought that Dark Demon Evil God Tiger again now, I wouldn't even need to bait it with an opening. I could just stab it to death."
Han Tianyin chuckled.
He had recognized Li Zha's disposition the first time they met: the boy had a taste for killing.
Had he ended up in the Holy Spirit Cult, he would, at the very least, have become a scourge to an entire region.
Fortunately, Leng Yaozhu had brought him back.
After spending these three years with the lively Na'er, Li Zha's temperament had also improved somewhat, and he had developed the competitive spirit a child ought to have.
That had eased many of Leng Yaozhu's and Han Tianyin's worries about Li Zha.
After all, carrying hatred in one's heart all the time was truly painful.
Han Tianyin felt certain that Li Zha's parents would not have wanted their child to live like that.
Han Tianyin leaned back comfortably in his chair.
"Ah, your teacher really wants to see you go to Shrek and give all their so-called Little Monsters a beating..."
Li Zha did not respond.
Shrek?
Heh.
They don't need me to beat them. In another couple of years, Qiangu Dongfeng will team up with the Holy Spirit Cult and blast them into a giant crater.
After looking up information online, Li Zha already had a rough idea of the current timeline.
He did not know whether his arrival had changed the Dragon King timeline, but Na'er had come to the Spirit Pagoda instead of going to Aolai City.
As for Tang Fifty,
Li Zha had also checked the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters' records and discovered that Tang Fifty had entered Eastsea City's Spirit Ascension Platform for the first time a little over two months ago.
That would have been shortly after Eastsea's Class Zero was established.
Hmm.
In other words, compared to the original story, the age gap between Tang Wulin and Na'er has grown.
But that did not really matter.
Li Zha's target was not Tang Wulin anyway. It was merely the golden dragon king bloodline within him.
Li Zha turned his gaze toward the screen. On the enormous display, Na'er was fighting her graduation assessment opponent.
A five-hundred-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears were also absurdly powerful soul beasts-a ten-thousand-year one could fight a hundred-thousand-year beast.
Although they still fell short of the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, which was so absurd that a ten-thousand-year one could fight the four-hundred-and-eighty-thousand-year Xiong Jun.
Still, compared to ordinary soul beasts, a five-hundred-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was easily on par with a five-thousand-year beast.
Li Zha observed for a moment.
Although Na'er's battle was somewhat tense, she had an excellent chance of winning.
The Silver Dragon Spear and the silver dragon king bloodline naturally countered all soul beasts under heaven.
Besides,
after receiving the East Sea Dragon King's inheritance, Na'er had gained other divine powers.
"Cloud-Gathering Rain-Bringing Art!"
Holding her spear in one hand, Na'er raised the index and middle fingers of her right hand and gave a low shout.
A torrential downpour suddenly fell from the sky.
Before Na'er, the five-hundred-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear looked up at the sky in confusion.
The sudden downpour made the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear feel an oppressive force, and its body grew heavy.
At that moment,
Na'er's movements became ghostlike. Beneath the pouring rain, she moved like a swimming dragon, charging in with her silver spear.
After several exchanges,
the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's aura weakened sharply.
Leng Yaozhu gently stroked her snow-white chin and frowned.
"How strange. Is this Na'er's self-created soul skill?"
"Zha'er, I remember that when you finished off the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, you also turned a branch on the ground into yourself, so it couldn't find your real body. Is that right?"
"Where did you two get these miraculous abilities?"
Li Zha replied without blushing or so much as a flutter of his heart, "We figured them out ourselves."
Leng Yaozhu shook her head. "I might believe that a little if you said you figured yours out, but not Na'er. Her mind is entirely on playing. How could she spend time creating her own soul skills?"
As Leng Yaozhu watched Na'er's Cloud-Gathering Rain-Bringing Art, she felt an inexplicable sense of incongruity.
Just like with Li Zha's Samadhi True Fire.
"Zha'er, you taught this to Na'er, didn't you?"
"Hehe, you caught me, Teacher."
"Very well. This art does suit Na'er. Just remember to hide your talents when you're out. If anyone asks, put it all on me, so people with ulterior motives won't set their sights on you."
Leng Yaozhu did not probe further; she merely offered a warning.
In her eyes,
Na'er's Silver Dragon Spear countered every beast martial soul under heaven, while Li Zha happened to counter dragons.
That being the case,
Na'er could be considered Li Zha's right-hand woman, and there was no burden in having more skills.
Li Zha silently opened the Slaughter Karmic Flame panel.
Five hundred karmic flame points quietly arrived in his account.
[The host's first divine power or magical treasure redemption qualifies for a newcomer price.] [Currently available for redemption: choose one of Three Heads and Six Arms Form, Wind Fire Wheels, or Heaven-and-Earth Silk.]
"Hmm, which should I choose?"
Li Zha had been fine when he had no choice, but now that he did, he found himself a little torn.
Three Heads and Six Arms Form was a divine power,
while the Wind Fire Wheels and Heaven-and-Earth Silk were both magical treasures.
While Li Zha was wavering, Leng Yaozhu spoke. "Zha'er, where would you like to go for your half-month holiday?"
"Eastsea City."
"Hmm? Any particular reason?"
"The seaside sounds fun. I've never seen the ocean."
That's a lie.
I'm actually going there to reap a big harvest from the Golden Dragon King!
With that thought, Li Zha immediately knew which of the three to choose.
Heh, Golden Dragon King, if you stay inside Tang Wulin, you can only be slowly refined away.
Come into my body... I'll give you Nezha's inheritance, at the cost of all your memories...
At the thought of soon sucking the Golden Dragon King's marrow from his bones, Li Zha felt an irrepressible delight well up within him.
Before you continue