The moment Zhao Wuji unleashed his Gravity Squeeze soul skill, Su Ling felt immense pressure bearing down on him from every direction.
Eventually, that pressure began forcing him toward Zhao Wuji.
Su Ling held his body steady, resisting the surrounding pressure as best he could.
"This kid really does have an extraordinary body. How has he improved so much lately?" Flender asked, looking puzzled.
The way Su Ling had just controlled his body was beyond what a Soul Elder could accomplish. Even a Soul Ancestor could not have done it, which meant his physical strength was at least at the Soul King level.
"Big Brother Su is amazing," Ning Rongrong exclaimed. She realized she seemed to have underestimated Su Ling yet again. How did he look anything like someone who had failed to absorb a soul ring?
"Good, very good!" Zhao Wuji said.
Gravity Squeeze had not dissipated; its effects continued. Su Ling had just steadied himself, but in the next instant, Zhao Wuji threw fair play to the winds and activated his second soul skill.
"Well done, kid. Let's see how much longer you can hold out."
Gravity Enhancement! Once the two soul skills overlapped, their power more than doubled.
Su Ling circulated his soul power. His body could withstand it, but his soul power was too low and held him back.
After roughly twenty breaths, Zhao Wuji ended both soul skills and said in astonishment, "Su Ling, you really surprised me. Your body is definitely beyond the Soul King level. It should have reached the Soul Emperor level, but your soul power falls far too short."
"Did your failed soul ring absorption turn out to be a blessing in disguise?"
Flender said, "Xiao Gang once said there are only two ways to absorb a soul ring beyond your level: either a soul beast of great age willingly sacrifices itself, or you possess extraordinarily powerful physical strength. Su Ling, you might have a chance of succeeding."
Clearly, Su Ling's performance had convinced Flender.
Besides, his educational philosophy had always been to recruit monster-level students, and he respected their choices.
He had initially stopped Su Ling because he thought the idea was far too unrealistic. Only after seeing how Su Ling endured Zhao Wuji's two powerful soul skills did he reassess him.
"Thank you, Headmaster. Thank you, Teacher Zhao," Su Ling said gratefully.
"All right. You earned this chance yourself. Whether you succeed will still depend on you," Flender said.
After speaking, Flender turned to the others. "Next, we'll be heading into the territory of ten-thousand-year soul beasts. It's several times more dangerous than this place, so you must be extra careful."
"Yes, Headmaster. We understand," Dai Mubai said. Seeing Flender agree to let Su Ling absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring, he secretly felt a flicker of delight. If even the slightest mishap occurred, Su Ling would never leave the Star Dou Great Forest alive.
"Let's go. Once we reach the ten-thousand-year soul beast territory, Zhao Wuji, you take the lead. I'll bring up the rear," Flender ordered.
As they continued deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest, everyone moved much more cautiously than before, slowing their pace considerably. It took them two days to reach the ten-thousand-year soul beast territory.
Earth-attribute soul beasts were not hard to find. There were plenty of them.
Their goal was clear, and they avoided unsuitable beasts whenever possible. Over five days, Su Ling encountered more than twenty ten-thousand-year soul beasts.
Four had the earth attribute, but unfortunately, none were the right age. Even the youngest was over fifteen thousand years old.
A fifteen-thousand-year soul ring could only be absorbed by a level-sixty soul master. Even if Su Ling dared to take it, Flender and Zhao Wuji would stop him.
Absorbing a soul ring one rank above his own was acceptable, but two ranks was not. More importantly, Su Ling already had conflicting attributes within his body.
Fortunately, after another two days of searching, Su Ling finally discovered a very unusual soul beast. It seemed to be a mutated beast-a Golden-Armored Earth Dragon that had mutated and evolved from a White-Armored Earth Dragon!
"Su Ling, how about this Golden-Armored Earth Dragon? It looks like it only recently reached ten thousand years," Flender said.
This Golden-Armored Earth Dragon was undoubtedly an earth-attribute soul beast. Though it had only just passed ten thousand years, it was still a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
"Then I'll take this Golden-Armored Earth Dragon," Su Ling said.
"Protect yourselves. Zhao Wuji and I will attack together. This Golden-Armored Earth Dragon may be different from other soul beasts." With that, Flender immediately released his martial soul.
After releasing his martial soul, Zhao Wuji also completed Martial Soul Possession.
Flender struck first, but the moment he attacked, he alerted the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon.
Yet when faced with Flender's attack, the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon's metallic golden armor blocked it outright. A soul skill from a level-seventy-eight Soul Saint had failed to injure a soul beast barely over ten thousand years old.
At the same time, Zhao Wuji's Great Strength Vajra Palm slammed down with a thunderous boom.
Roar...
The Golden-Armored Earth Dragon raised its head and roared, clearly enraged.
Zhao Wuji's attack relied on pure strength and had caused the beast some pain.
Zhao Wuji and Flender joined forces again, unleashing soul skills from either side.
But the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon's defenses were astonishing. For a time, neither Zhao Wuji nor Flender managed to break through its armor.
During the battle, Flender marveled that the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon's defenses were every bit as strong as those of some powerful soul beasts. Even many fifty-thousand-year soul beasts could not compare.
"Big Brother Su, I've read about this Golden-Armored Earth Dragon in my teacher's books. A ten-thousand-year Golden-Armored Earth Dragon is already comparable to many fifty-thousand-year soul beasts, and its defenses make it especially difficult to kill," Tang San finally said after observing for a while.
"Xiao San, do you know this Golden-Armored Earth Dragon's weakness?" Su Ling asked.
Tang San shook his head. "Well, my teacher's books didn't mention that, so I don't know either."
Great. All that talk was for nothing.
Su Ling did not know whether Tang San was hiding anything, but if he was, why bring it up at all?
He carefully observed the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon.
After roughly half an incense stick's worth of time, Su Ling released the Water Moon Bow and dashed forward.
"Let's go help too," Zhu Zhuqing offered.
"Don't move. We'd only cause trouble if we joined a battle like this." Dai Mubai stepped in front of Zhu Zhuqing.
Tang San said, "Dai Mubai is right. Since Big Brother Su has decided to act, he must have discovered something."
Su Ling climbed onto a nearby tree. The Golden-Armored Earth Dragon's golden armor covered its entire body.
However, it still had a vulnerable spot on its rear. The beast also liked to roar, so whenever it opened its mouth, that would be another good opportunity to attack.
With an arrow formed from five-element soul power held at full draw, Su Ling waited for his chance.
At the same time, Ning Rongrong released her martial soul and used both her soul skills on Su Ling.
Everyone glanced at Ning Rongrong. She smiled and said, "I think this should help Big Brother Su."
Ning Rongrong's support certainly helped.
And at the very instant her support took effect, Su Ling finally found his opportunity.
An arrow spun at high speed as it shot straight toward the center of the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon's rear.
This arrow inflicted far more effective damage than Flender's and Zhao Wuji's attacks.
The Golden-Armored Earth Dragon let out a great roar. By then, Su Ling had already changed position, leaping from the tree and firing another arrow in midair straight into its mouth.
One at the front and one at the rear-both spots were where the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon's defenses were weakest and where it was most easily injured.
"Now's our chance!"
Flender and Zhao Wuji attacked simultaneously. Under these circumstances, it did not take long for them to beat the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon half to death, leaving several cracks in its golden armor.
Su Ling quickly stepped forward as well and, using all his strength, ended the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon's life in one blow.
"Whew... That soul beast was really hard to kill." Even Zhao Wuji was panting heavily.
"Yes. We still had to rely on Su Ling's two arrows. Otherwise, this beast would have been no easy opponent," Flender muttered.
"Su Ling, hurry and absorb the soul ring. Leave everything else to us."
"All right. Thank you, Headmaster, Teacher Zhao."
"Everyone, sorry for the trouble."
With that, Su Ling walked over to the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon and sat cross-legged beside it.
He glanced at the black soul ring, confirming that it was undoubtedly ten thousand years old.
First, Su Ling adjusted his condition. After roughly five or six minutes, he guided the black soul ring into his body.
Around Su Ling, Flender and Zhao Wuji each guarded one direction.
Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun guarded another direction, while Tang San, Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong guarded the remaining one.
All four sides maintained their protective positions within fifty meters of Su Ling.
Su Ling guided the soul ring inside his body to fuse with his martial soul. But just as he prepared for Martial Soul Fusion, he discovered that the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon actually possessed two attributes.
It had both earth and metal attributes.
Both his predecessor's plan and his current one had been to absorb the earth attribute, then obtain the metal attribute from his fifth soul ring.
Who could have expected this fourth soul ring to contain both attributes he needed at once?
Absorbing two attributes simultaneously also meant that this soul ring absorption would be more difficult for Su Ling-and bring even greater danger.
Before you continue