As a powerful Soul King just thirty-three years old, Wang Yan had always been immensely proud.
Graduating from Spirit Hall Academy at his age already made him an outstanding student. In his eyes, reaching the pinnacle of life was only a matter of time.
Then he was assigned to crouch in the bushes.
In Spirit City, if you had a grandfather at the Soul Douluo level or above, or caught the eye of some important figure, you could land a cushy desk job even without being among the most talented. You could become a "special envoy" dispatched to various regions, raking in profits while basking in prestige. But if you were merely a genius who happened to emerge from the lowest ranks...
You could only follow the rules and work your way up from the bottom.
Despite such an unfair workplace, he remained deeply enthusiastic about his work. It was precisely this conscientious, responsible attitude, never slacking off, that had allowed him to discover the girl with innate full soul power.
What was this? An achievement that could send him soaring to the heavens in a single step! Such an enormous contribution could easily earn him a commendation from the Pope herself. As the girl's guide, he would surely have her gratitude in the future, too.
But as he followed her, he began to feel something was wrong. The girl actually ran into an area where ten-thousand-year soul beasts gathered, found a demon wolf sleeping soundly, picked up a stone, and hurled it at its head. Then she sprinted toward him, turned into a white streak, and vanished into the distance in no time.
In weather like this, even soul beasts were reluctant to move, often sleeping for several days at a stretch. The demon wolf had been enjoying its sleep when it was suddenly disturbed, and its eyes instantly turned red. Spotting Wang Yan crouched in the bushes nearby, it pounced without hesitation.
"Holy shit!" Wang Yan paled in alarm as the demon wolf lunged at him. He was about to turn and flee, but one look at its breed made him abandon the idea.
Demon wolf was a very broad category, referring to wolves that had undergone special mutations and become exceptionally bloodthirsty and savage. Within that category were further mutated breeds, such as gale demon wolves and Blazing Fire Demon Wolves.
The one before him was a gale demon wolf, an exceptionally fast creature. As a power attack system soul master, he certainly couldn't outrun it. He had no choice but to take it head-on.
Gale demon wolves possessed a fairly impressive bloodline among soul beasts. Having only recently broken through to Soul King, Wang Yan would struggle even against an ordinary ten-thousand-year soul beast. Even if he could defeat this gale demon wolf, he would have to pay a price.
Since battle was now unavoidable, Wang Yan hesitated no longer and summoned his martial soul-a Samurai Sword crackling with electricity. The gale demon wolf lunged at him, and, not daring to withstand it head-on, he slid low across the ground and narrowly dodged.
Taking advantage of the opening as the demon wolf turned, the black soul ring behind Wang Yan abruptly lit up. "Fifth soul skill, Thunderbolt Slash!"
The electricity surrounding the Samurai Sword blazed brighter, with rolling thunder gathering around it. Then Wang Yan swung fiercely, unleashing a bolt of lightning more than two meters long from the blade, sending it straight toward the gale demon wolf.
The gale demon wolf neither ducked nor dodged. Its aura surged, fierce winds whipped up around it, and it swiped its claws repeatedly, sending several equally imposing wind blades hurtling toward the lightning blade arc.
The wind blades collided with the blade arc, and the two enormous forces canceled each other out, leaving neither side with an advantage. However, Wang Yan followed close behind his blade arc. As the two forces dissipated, he burst through and leaped into the air. A purple soul ring lit up behind him, and he brought a crushing slash down upon the gale demon wolf like thunder from the heavens.
He knew full well that when fighting a soul beast without intending to claim its soul ring, the best approach was to beat fear into it until it fled. Thus, he unleashed his strongest moves right from the start.
The gale demon wolf knew this human was difficult to handle. Normally, it would have fled long ago, but it was still furious and never even considered retreating. Wind energy gathered in its hind legs and foreclaws. With a powerful thrust, it launched itself off the ground and charged toward Wang Yan in midair.
Seeing the gale demon wolf's sharp claws coming straight for his chest, Wang Yan gritted his teeth. Instead of defending, he charged right at it.
His attack was already committed. Pulling his blade back to defend now would only throw his own formation into chaos. Seeing that his opponent had no intention of defending either, he slashed straight at its neck, then twisted slightly to the side.
This move traded one injury for another. If its claws merely injured his arm while his slash dealt it a grievous wound, he would come out well ahead!
Unexpectedly, the gale demon wolf suddenly lowered its head. The claws that had been aimed at his chest raked toward his abdomen instead, while Wang Yan's blade struck solidly into its back.
It was already too late to retreat, and he couldn't pull the Samurai Sword free. Wang Yan made an immediate decision, withdrew his martial soul, and met its claws with both hands.
The force of that swipe was tremendous, enough to rip his belly open. The instant they made contact, the gale demon wolf's claws tore through his arms, leaving them a bloody mess. A bloody gash also opened across his abdomen, but fortunately, he suffered no fatal injury.
That crushing slash had also dealt the gale demon wolf considerable damage, nearly severing its spine. After its swipe, it lost the courage to attack again and finally snapped out of its fury at being woken. It crashed to the ground, howling, then struggled to its feet and prepared to flee deeper into the forest.
Wang Yan wasn't faring much better. White bone showed through the wounds on the hands he had used to block, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably. Seeing the gale demon wolf preparing to retreat, he hurriedly sat down, took several pills from his waist, crushed them, and sprinkled them over his wounds before beginning to regulate his breathing.
Just then, the little girl he had been following returned from the direction in which she had fled, gripping a coldly gleaming dagger in both hands. Like a streak of white lightning, she charged straight at the gale demon wolf with unstoppable momentum.
The gale demon wolf was now utterly listless, its reactions severely dulled by its nearly severed spine. It had only just turned at a noise in the distance when Leng Xiyue plunged her dagger hard into its body, then tumbled several times along with it.
Leng Xiyue was dizzy herself. Under Xiao Bai's guidance, she had simply aimed herself toward the gale demon wolf and charged. In truth, had the wolf reacted even a little faster, she might have crashed headfirst into a tree.
Pushing her speed to the limit with her current strength was far more thrilling than an ordinary person's roller coaster ride.
Still, this was a matter of life and death. Fighting down her dizziness, Leng Xiyue pulled the dagger free. Before the gale demon wolf could recover from the pain, she blindly stabbed it several more times, then sprang away and ran. Only after putting several dozen meters between them did she feel safe enough to watch, ready to rush in and finish it off at any moment.
As a dagger of at least Soul King grade, it naturally had no trouble piercing the gale demon wolf's defenses. In fact, its grade might have been considerably higher than Leng Xiyue imagined.
That first stab into the gale demon wolf had felt like cutting tofu, meeting no resistance whatsoever. This had little to do with her high-speed charge, because the follow-up stabs had felt exactly the same, each sinking all the way in.
Even so, she didn't dare approach recklessly. The slightest touch from the gale demon wolf's attacks would leave her seriously injured or dead. This was no joke.
By now, the gale demon wolf was a bolt at the end of its flight. Its spine had already been broken, leaving it unable to run quickly, and now it had taken several solid stabs as well. Blood poured from its body as it struggled deeper into the forest.
Apparently, a vital organ had been injured. Before it had taken more than a few steps, it collapsed to the ground with a thud, and a black soul ring rose from its corpse.
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