The earth split beneath the Flame King Lion's feet, and lava-like liquid flowed through the cracks.
It gave off a pungent sulfurous smell.
The powerful Soul Beast rampaged through the forest with astonishing destructive force.
It slammed a paw against a small hill nearby.
With a muffled rumble, the entire hill fell apart, sending scorching rubble flying everywhere.
Every step its enormous body took left a vast depression in the ground.
Crimson magma flowed through those pits.
Wherever it passed, it left a charred black trail.
The soil melted under the intense heat, giving off an acrid, scorched smell.
Zhu Zhuqing trembled as she watched the colossal beast wreak havoc in the forest.
Such power surpassed Zhu Zhuqing's understanding of Soul Beasts.
Under that overwhelming pressure, the Nether Civet Martial Soul within her felt compelled to submit.
"This Flame King Lion's cultivation..."
Zhu Zhuqing's eyes were filled with shock.
"Is probably no less than thirty thousand years."
Looking at the crimson beast ahead, as enormous as a small mountain, Zhu Zhuqing's heart pounded violently.
The pressure of a thirty-thousand-year Soul Beast was simply too terrifying.
Even from dozens of meters away, that almost tangible pressure still left Zhu Zhuqing struggling to breathe.
"Chen Jin, this Soul Beast is too powerful. Let's avoid it for now. Don't confront it head-on."
Zhu Zhuqing reached out with a trembling, delicate hand and caught the corner of Chen Jin's clothes, worry in her voice.
Chen Jin turned his head and glanced at the small hand clutching his clothes.
His expression remained calm, without the slightest ripple in his eyes.
"Avoid it?"
Within him, the bloodline of the Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix began to surge at that moment.
That was the pride of the king of all flames.
Before Ultimate Fire, the flames of any fire-type Soul Beast had to submit.
Chen Jin's body shuddered.
A sacred force shook Zhu Zhuqing's hand loose.
Without any hesitation.
Chen Jin moved, his entire body becoming a streak of Gold-Red light as he charged straight toward the sea of flames.
The trees ahead gave way before his charge.
Gold-Red flames wreathed his body, devouring every crimson blaze that rushed toward him.
Zhu Zhuqing froze on the branch, her beautiful eyes filled with shock as she watched that figure charge resolutely ahead.
Madness.
This was utter madness.
That was a thirty-thousand-year Soul Beast, comparable to a human Soul Douluo!
Yet, watching that Gold-Red figure recede into the distance, Zhu Zhuqing gritted her teeth, and the Hell Spirit Cat Soul Power within her erupted instantly.
Soul Rings lit up beneath her feet.
"Wait for me!"
Zhu Zhuqing became a blurred black afterimage, darting through the forest at high speed behind Chen Jin.
Though her heart was filled with fear of the unknown danger, Zhu Zhuqing absolutely refused to leave Chen Jin alone to face that terrifying beast.
Fierce winds howled past her ears.
The surrounding temperature had already risen to a horrifying degree.
The wound on Zhu Zhuqing's thigh grew faintly hot under the scorching heat, but fortunately, the ointment Chen Jin had given her worked exceptionally well, and the wound did not split open.
As the distance narrowed, a faint chill unexpectedly joined the churning fire-type Soul Power in the air.
It was the aura of ice-type Soul Power.
Chen Jin, charging ahead at high speed, naturally noticed it too.
He moved extremely fast through the dense forest, his gaze piercing the layers of heat waves to settle on the clearing ahead.
The Flame King Lion's enormous body was lunging repeatedly, each landing stamping a huge lava pit into the ground.
Ahead of the beast, an ice-blue figure was dodging in disarray.
It was a young woman wearing an exquisite blue team uniform.
Her long sky-blue hair stood out vividly in the firelight, and her neat clothes were now torn in several places, exposing large patches of burned skin.
Chen Jin stopped in the treetops and focused his gaze.
"Shui Bing'er?"
Chen Jin recognized her.
The captain of Skywater Academy, Shui Bing'er.
At the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Competition, Skywater Academy had also been a strong team, and Shui Bing'er's Ice Phoenix Martial Soul had left something of an impression on Chen Jin.
He simply had not expected this pride of Skywater Academy to appear alone in the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest, much less encounter such a terrifying Soul Beast.
Shui Bing'er was in terrible condition.
Her beautiful face, cool and noble, was now drained of color.
The Soul Power within her had been depleted to its limit.
With every movement, Shui Bing'er's delicate body trembled, and she looked ready to collapse at any moment.
"Roar!"
The Flame King Lion thoroughly enjoyed this game of cat and mouse.
Every swipe of the beast's sharp claws stirred up a towering sea of flames, sealing off every route of retreat for Shui Bing'er.
The crimson flames flowed wantonly across the ground like a viscous liquid, giving off a pungent sulfurous smell.
Shui Bing'er clenched her teeth and rapidly formed seals with both hands before her chest.
"First Soul Skill, Frost Condensation!"
A faint ice-blue halo flickered beneath Shui Bing'er's feet.
A thin layer of ice armor instantly covered her body, attempting to withstand the terrifying heat.
However, the ice armor had barely formed before it melted rapidly in the rolling heat waves, turning into white steam that the intense heat instantly swallowed.
Blood seeped from the corner of Shui Bing'er's mouth; she had been injured by the Flame King Lion's sound waves.
Was she really going to die here today?
Shui Bing'er looked at the enormous creature before her, profound despair flashing through her beautiful eyes.
Her companions at Skywater Academy were still waiting for her to return.
She still had a bright future ahead of her, dreams yet to fulfill.
But.
Before this thirty-thousand-year Soul Beast, every struggle seemed so laughable.
The Flame King Lion had had its fill of playing.
The destructive red light in the beast's eyes blazed brighter.
Its enormous body suddenly leaped up, and a gigantic claw wrapped in churning lava slammed down toward Shui Bing'er's head with the momentum to destroy all things.
The terrifying pressure pinned Shui Bing'er in place.
Even the slightest movement became incredibly difficult.
Looking at that enormous fiery claw blotting out the sky and sun, Shui Bing'er closed her eyes in despair.
Two trails of clear tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, instantly dried by the intense heat.
As the shadow of death descended upon her, Shui Bing'er's heart filled with sorrow.
Boom!
An earth-shaking Phoenix Cry suddenly resounded through the forest.
Sacred and piercing, that Phoenix Cry carried supreme majesty, instantly drowning out the Flame King Lion's roar.
Immediately afterward, a dazzling pillar of Gold-Red flame came howling in from the side, like divine thunder striking down from the nine heavens.
The Gold-Red pillar moved at extreme speed.
It left a scorched black passage of nothingness through the air.
"Boom!!!"
The Gold-Red pillar collided thunderously with the enormous lava-covered claw in midair.
There was no earth-shaking explosion as expected, only a devouring sound.
Like a festering sore clinging to bone, the Gold-Red flames spread upward along the Flame King Lion's sharp claw.
The instant that peerless beast touched those flames, its enormous body actually began to tremble violently.
Its thick crimson scales hissed as they melted beneath the golden-red flames.
Drops of lava-like blood fell from the air, corroding deep pits into the ground.
"!!!"
Shui Bing'er sat collapsed on the ground, staring blankly at the scene.
The thirty-thousand-year Soul Beast that had driven her into a hopeless corner, leaving her utterly powerless to fight back, was now recoiling in pain.
Just what terrifying temperature did these suddenly appearing flames contain?
The surging waves of fire gradually parted to either side.
A tall, straight figure slowly walked out of the smoke and dust filling the air.
"..."
Chen Jin's expression was composed, and with every step he took, a Gold-Red fire lotus formed in the air to support his body.
Behind him, two enormous wings of flame slowly unfurled.
They were Phoenix Wings formed from pure Ultimate Fire.
Dark golden light flowed along the edges of the wings, radiating a sacred, inviolable pressure.
Beneath his feet, three Soul Rings revolved silently.
Yellow.
Yellow.
Purple.
Only three Soul Rings.
"A Soul Elder?!"
Shui Bing'er's pupils contracted violently at that moment.
How was that possible?
A Soul Elder in his thirties actually possessed such a terrifying presence.
Not only that, the fluctuations of Soul Power radiating from those three Soul Rings actually seemed to surpass those of an ordinary Soul Ancestor, even approaching a Soul King's.
Shui Bing'er recognized the newcomer.
Chen Jin.
The captain of Blazing Fire Academy who had shone brilliantly at the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Competition, single-handedly defeating Heaven Dou Royal Academy and even breaking Dugu Yan's poison formation.
But.
Why had Chen Jin's strength risen to such a terrifying level?
The Ice Phoenix Martial Soul within Shui Bing'er stirred abnormally.
It was an extremely high-level ice-type Martial Soul, one that should have been capable of putting up a fight against any fire-type Martial Soul.
Yet now, the Ice Phoenix within her was trembling as though it had encountered a true god, and even circulating her Soul Power had become extremely difficult.
Ultimate Fire.
This was definitely Ultimate Fire, beyond the limits of ordinary flames.
Zhu Zhuqing finally reached the edge of the battlefield as well.
Looking at Chen Jin suspended in midair and those noble, sacred wings of flame, Zhu Zhuqing's beautiful eyes filled with shock.
She had thought Chen Jin was merely powerful, never imagining he possessed such a terrifying trump card.
Under the pressure radiating from those wings, Zhu Zhuqing even felt an urge to prostrate herself in worship.
"Chen Jin..."
Zhu Zhuqing murmured softly, her hands folded over her chest.
The young man in the air paid no attention to the two women below.
Chen Jin's gaze remained firmly locked on the Flame King Lion before him.
Being driven back by a human it regarded as an ant had enraged this overlord of the forest.
"Roar!!!"
The Flame King Lion let out a roar from deep in its throat.
Its roar resounded through the clouds.
Countless dark red markings instantly lit up across its enormous body, spreading over its surface like a spiderweb.
The fire-type Soul Power within dozens of meters rapidly converged at that moment, forming an enormous vortex of flames above the beast's head.
The ground began to shake violently.
Countless spiderweb-like cracks spread outward, and rolling magma erupted from them, turning a hundred-meter radius into a lava inferno.
The beast kicked hard against the ground with all four feet.
"Boom!!!"
With a tremendous crash, the ground instantly collapsed into a deep pit several meters across.
The Flame King Lion's enormous body became a streak of crimson lightning, lunging straight at Chen Jin in the air with the momentum to destroy all things.
This strike.
It gathered all the strength of this thirty-thousand-year soul beast.
Wherever it passed, space warped in vast swaths, unable to withstand the terrifying heat.
The raging currents turned into countless sharp blades of fire that sliced through the forest, shredding the long-withered ancient trees into flying splinters, which then vanished in the intense heat.
"Chen Jin, watch out!"
On the ground, Shui Bing'er was driven back again and again by the terrifying shock waves. She could barely protect herself with what little soul power she had left, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.
Could Chen Jin really withstand an attack like this?
"Come on!"
Facing a strike powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth, Chen Jin did not move an inch.
He stood quietly in midair, the scorching wind sweeping the black hair from his forehead to reveal eyes as still as an ancient well.
Within him, the Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix bloodline seethed.
A sacred ray of Gold-Red light shone between Chen Jin's brows and swiftly spread across his entire body.
Behind him, empty space suddenly began to ripple violently.
An immense phantom of the Divine Phoenix silently emerged.
The Divine Phoenix spread its wings a hundred meters wide, every feather clearly visible and burning with Gold-Red flames that would never die.
Those noble phoenix eyes held nothing but indifference toward all things in the world.
This was the king of all fires, the deity that commanded every flame in existence.
The instant the Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix appeared, the arrogant Flame King Lion's enormous body actually froze strangely in midair for a moment.
The giant beast's eyes brimmed with boundless terror.
It wanted to retreat, but the terrifying pressure from the Divine Phoenix pinned its body firmly in midair like millions of mountains, making even the slightest movement unbearably difficult.
Chen Jin slowly raised his right hand, curling his fingers into a claw.
"Phoenix Claw."
His voice echoed through the forest.
The next instant, the sky changed color.
The crimson sky was now washed in noble Gold-Red.
An immense Gold-Red phoenix claw took shape in the void.
Heart-stopping ultimate fire wreathed the phoenix claw, and wherever it passed, it tore five charred black streaks through the void.
Waves of heat surged in like the tide.
Zhu Zhuqing stood on the cracked earth, her black hair whipping wildly in the gale.
Dazzling golden red filled everything within sight.
The enormous Gold-Red phoenix claw fully solidified in the void, every joint flowing with a lava-like texture.
The air was burning.
Every breath drawn into her lungs brought a searing sting.
Zhu Zhuqing instinctively raised a hand before her forehead, her beautiful eyes peering between her fingers as she stared intently at the figure in the sky.
Chen Jin stood in the void, the hems of his clothes snapping in the raging, fiery wind.
Beneath his feet.
Two yellow, one purple.
Three soul rings pulsed quietly.
The colors of those three soul rings were so distinct, yet so piercing to the eyes.
"How is that possible? Is he really just a Soul Elder?!"
Zhu Zhuqing felt her understanding of the world being completely overturned at that moment.
Somewhere above level thirty.
Was this really power that a mere Soul Elder could possess?
In the Star Luo Empire, in the Nether Duke's Mansion, Zhu Zhuqing had seen countless high-ranking Soul Masters.
Zhu Zhuqing had even seen powerful figures at the Soul Douluo level.
And yet.
Not a single Soul Master could exude pressure that made people want to prostrate themselves in worship while only somewhere above level thirty.
The Nether Civet Martial Soul within Zhu Zhuqing trembled uncontrollably.
The civet, which embodied shadow and speed, now huddled in a corner of her body, not daring to let even a trace of soul power spill out.
This was absolute suppression by a superior being.
It was not a difference in soul power level, but a gulf as vast as heaven and earth in martial soul quality.
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