At that moment, the Greater Touch Dragon King's softest underside was finally exposed.
The purple soul ring beneath Bei Bei's feet suddenly flared to life at the same instant.
"Thunderous Fury!"
With a low roar, Bei Bei became like a thunder god descended to earth. Lightning scattered from his body, serpents of electricity raced over him, and even his eyes were washed in a deathly white glow.
His arm, already enlarged by Dragon Transformation, swelled yet again. Lightning churned around his dragon claw, electricity surged, and terrifying branches of lightning even spread through the surrounding air.
With his third soul skill, Thunderous Fury, amplifying both his lightning attribute and soul power, Bei Bei's lightning was beginning to show signs of being able to pierce the air itself.
The Greater Touch Dragon King sensed the danger too. It suddenly opened its bloody maw, exposing a mouthful of crooked teeth as it hissed incessantly.
Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass had reached its limit again and began snapping strand by strand.
"You stay right there!"
Chen Ping had already pulled out the Willow Wood Staff. Gripping it with both hands, he pinned half the Greater Touch Dragon King's body down like Run Tu spearing a cha, preventing it from exerting its strength.
Although Chen Ping and Tang Ya together were still nowhere near strong enough to contend with the Greater Touch Dragon King, Bei Bei only needed them to hold it back for a single breath.
Boom!
The next instant, a Thunder Dragon Claw enhanced by both Dragon Transformation and Thunderous Fury crashed down, detonating violently against the Touch Dragon King's abdomen.
Hundreds upon thousands of tiny lightning serpents surged wildly through the Touch Dragon King's body, their raging power blasting straight through every defense the Greater Touch Dragon King possessed.
The dozen or so hundred-year Touch Dragons that had been pursuing Bei Bei scattered at the sight, fleeing in terror in every direction.
The Greater Touch Dragon King finally broke free of Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass once more, along with the Willow Wood Staff Chen Ping had braced against its body. Its six scythe-like wings began beating fiercely.
"Watch out! It's trying to release smoke and escape."
The moment Chen Ping saw this, he understood exactly what the Greater Touch Dragon King intended to do.
The system's analysis report had made it perfectly clear to him that this Greater Touch Dragon King had quite a few tricks up its sleeve.
Sure enough, as soon as Chen Ping finished speaking, the tips of the Greater Touch Dragon King's three pairs of steel-blade-like wings spewed vast quantities of black mist as thick as ink.
How thick was that mist?
It was so thick that Chen Ping found even walking through it somewhat difficult. Even when he waved his hand, he seemed to feel a faint resistance, as though he had to push the mist aside.
The surroundings grew quiet as well. The dense black mist blocked almost everything, and even sound struggled to penetrate it.
As for visibility, that was out of the question.
Chen Ping instinctively wanted to retreat first. In such unfavorable conditions, if the Greater Touch Dragon King lashed out before dying and bit him, it would be no laughing matter. Whatever it bit would surely be severed.
But flashes of lightning stubbornly shone through the black mist into Chen Ping's field of vision. Though they looked like little more than a glaring white blur, they immediately put him at ease.
"Running? Where do you think you're going?"
Even through the thick mist, Chen Ping could still faintly hear Bei Bei's words and the crackling of electricity, and smell the aroma of roasted insect as the current scorched its body.
A few minutes later, as the black mist gradually dispersed, Chen Ping saw Bei Bei half-crouched over the Touch Dragon King, one dragon claw thrust into its abdominal cavity and continuously discharging electricity, one foot planted on its neck.
...if the thing had a neck.
Seeing that the Touch Dragon King was about to stop responding altogether, Bei Bei hurriedly withdrew his right hand, which had been continuously unleashing his second soul skill, Thunderous Might.
"Quick, quick, quick! Ya, hurry and finish it off! This Touch Dragon King looks like it can't hold on much longer."
Only after Tang Ya hastily pulled out a short spear half the length of an adult's arm, drove it through the Touch Dragon King's abdominal cavity into its head, and a pale purple soul ring floated out did Bei Bei finally let out a long breath of relief.
"Phew... phew... that nearly killed me..."
Bei Bei was so exhausted that he dropped onto his backside, unable to remain standing.
Tang Ya was much the same. She did not even have the strength to pull the short spear out of the Touch Dragon King's body. She sat down too and wiped some of the insect blood off herself.
Chen Ping first looked warily around to make sure all the Touch Dragons really had fled. Only then did he squat down and recover his strength alongside Bei Bei and Tang Ya.
If any soul beast they could not handle actually showed up, he would definitely be the first to spring up from his squat and run.
The three stared at one another and panted for at least half an incense stick's worth of time before they managed to recover a little strength.
"Brother, are you a first-year junior about to move up to second year?"
Bei Bei looked at Chen Ping, who was covered in insect blood, with a Lesser Touch Dragon King wrapped around his body and an unabsorbed hundred-year soul ring hovering over his head.
He racked his brain for ages but could not recall anyone like him at Shrek Academy.
Chen Ping gave an awkward smile. "More or less."
As he spoke, Chen Ping untied the Lesser Touch Dragon King's corpse from his body, and the bright yellow soul ring settled onto the ground along with it.
"Not a first-year student about to move up to second year. A first-year student who hasn't enrolled yet."
Chen Ping's words truly shocked Bei Bei and Tang Ya.
After carefully sensing the faint fluctuations of soul power from Chen Ping, who did not even qualify as a soul master yet, their eyes nearly popped out.
"Y-you... you don't even have a soul ring, yet you dared sneak in and take on a Lesser Touch Dragon King with several hundred years of cultivation while Ya and I were fighting that Greater Touch Dragon King?"
Bei Bei's voice shot up an octave, and Tang Ya looked equally horrified.
"I thought this was the second soul ring you'd prepared for yourself!"
Tang Ya's mouth fell open in shock. Where had this fierce character sprung from?
Putting herself in Chen Ping's shoes, Tang Ya could not stop shuddering at what might have happened.
Leaving everything else aside, if Chen Ping had been even a little slower, then even if he had managed to kill the Lesser Touch Dragon King through various means without any soul skills, the Greater Touch Dragon King returning to its nest would surely have caught him red-handed.
At that, Chen Ping merely gave a slightly awkward smile.
The speed at which the Touch Dragon King returned to its nest had indeed exceeded his expectations, but even if the Greater Touch Dragon King had returned earlier, it would actually have had a hard time trapping him.
After all, from the moment he entered the Centipede Cave, the airflow inside had made him certain that the cave had more than one exit.
Of course, Chen Ping was certainly not going to say any of that outright.
With a grateful expression, Chen Ping struggled to his feet and solemnly cupped his hands toward the two of them before settling back into a half-squat, half-sitting position.
"That's why I have to thank you both for stepping in so gallantly. Whether it was accidentally drawing the Greater Touch Dragon King away at the start or everything else, without your help, even the cleverest cook couldn't have made a meal without rice."
Before you continue