Ghostification!

"So you've recognized who I am." Dai Ziming brushed off his sleeves.

"Kneel now, and my earlier offer still stands."

Lin Yang did not so much as lift an eyelid at those words. His expression remained calm.

The gap in their Soul Power was too great. Even the Demon God Body's thousand-year soul ring could only cause a Soul King a little trouble.

Retreat now appeared impossible.

That left only one final path...

At that thought, Lin Yang lowered his eyelids. His pitch-black eyes had now become red, slit-pupiled eyes, with countless tiny blood vessels crawling across his pupils.

His heartbeat accelerated, and the blood within his body flowed faster as well, seeming to give off a thunderous rumble.

The true power of his second martial soul, the Demon God Body, was gradually awakening.

In the eyes of the others, Lin Yang's body suddenly began to change.

His height shot up from roughly 1.4 meters to nearly two meters. His skin turned pale, and his muscles lengthened without losing their strength.

The skin on either side of his forehead split, and two short white horns broke through.

His teeth grew pointed and his nails sharpened, wisps of bloody Qi clinging to his fingertips and instinctively making others afraid to touch them.

Strangest of all, a layer of black, flame-like markings appeared on his skin.

These markings spread downward along the left side of his neck and cheek, covering half his body.

A faint bloody Qi lingered around him without dispersing. Even the two soul rings floating beside him seemed to take on a bloody hue.

At that moment, almost every trace of anything "human" about Lin Yang vanished.

In its place was a suffocating, vicious presence.

He was like an evil ghost that had crawled out of hell.

Demon God Body: Complete Ghostification!

In this state, Lin Yang's attack and defense increased by 150 percent, his recovery ability increased by 300 percent, and the power of his soul skills increased by 100 percent.

"So this is your martial soul? It even has a second transformation."

This time, it was Dai Ziming's turn to be surprised.

He had never encountered such a peculiar martial soul before, but it only strengthened his determination to bring this person under his command.

Lin Yang ignored him and abruptly raised his head.

His scarlet gaze sent a sudden chill through Dai Ziming's heart.

How could this be? He's only a mere two-ring Soul Master.

Before he could think further, Lin Yang suddenly vanished before his eyes.

Immediately afterward, his Soul King-level senses screamed a frantic warning. A sense of extreme danger shot up his spine to the crown of his head.

Dai Ziming could no longer concern himself with keeping up appearances. He roared,

"Martial Soul Possession!"

A brilliant layer of pale-white light abruptly erupted.

A series of cracks and pops immediately rang out from Dai Ziming's originally slender frame as his body swelled.

His blond hair turned black and white, and a faint marking shaped like the character for "king" appeared on his forehead.

The hereditary martial soul of the Star Luo Imperial Family: the White Tiger.

Yet the White Tiger before him possessed none of the domineering majesty of the "king of beasts." Instead, it carried a sinister, uncanny air.

At that very moment, an impossibly swift flash of fire exploded in the corner of his eye, rapidly expanding across his vision.

Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance Flash!

The blade had yet to reach him, but its searing, razor-sharp presence was already rushing at his face.

Even with his martial soul possessing him, Dai Ziming felt a slicing pain across his neck.

Danger!

"Roar!"

Dai Ziming roared, and his third soul ring suddenly blazed with light.

His possessed body actually shrank slightly in an uncanny fashion, and several phantoms seemed to appear around him.

Third Soul Skill: White Tiger Phantom Flash!

Swish!

The fire flashed and vanished. Lin Yang suddenly appeared a short distance from Dai Ziming, a drop of blood slowly sliding down his blade and dripping onto the ground.

Three soul rings-one yellow and two purple-were now clearly arrayed around him.

"You..."

Dai Ziming was just about to speak when he suddenly felt a cool sensation on the side of his face, followed by a slight sting.

He retreated two steps and reached up to touch his cheek in disbelief.

A glaring smear of scarlet stained his fingertips.

A long, narrow wound ran diagonally from his cheekbone to his jaw, crimson beads of blood slowly trickling along it.

At the sight, Lin Yang sighed softly.

A Soul King indeed. What fast reactions.

Had he not dodged in time, that strike, enhanced by the skill of the first soul ring, would have cut his neck rather than his face.

"My face... my face..."

Dai Ziming gingerly touched the wound on his face. The piercing pain first stunned him, then sent him into utter madness.

"You dare hurt my face? I'll flay your skin and tear out your tendons! You'll die without a place to be buried!"

The final words seemed to squeeze through his teeth. Dai Ziming's figure flickered, almost turning into an afterimage.

Only a dozen or so meters separated them, a distance Dai Ziming could cross in an instant.

His blade-like tiger paw glimmered with dark-blue light, whistling through the air as it clawed at Lin Yang's chest from a vicious, treacherous angle.

Watching the tiger paw grow ever larger in his pupils, Lin Yang drew a deep breath and gripped his blade with both hands.

The Transparent World gave him absolute control over every bone, every strand of muscle, and even the flow of every wisp of Soul Power within his body.

Boom!

The pitch-black Nichirin Blade seemed to ignite, turning a blazing crimson.

Its scorching heat seemed about to set even the air around the blade alight.

Bright Red Nichirin Sword, activate!

Lin Yang stamped down hard, blasting a ring of air and cracks across the ground.

His body became a black shadow trailing a fiery-red tail as he boldly met the dark-blue claws.

"Sun Breathing, Eighth Form: Solar Wheel Haze!"

At the instant before collision, a sharp gleam flashed through Lin Yang's eyes.

The flaming blade abruptly changed direction, slipping around the tiger claws at an exquisite angle and cleaving straight toward Dai Ziming's neck.

Under these circumstances, Lin Yang's left arm was naturally exposed beneath the tiger claws.

A trace of mockery flashed through Dai Ziming's eyes. Trading injury for injury?

Dream on!

His fourth soul ring suddenly lit up. Dai Ziming opened his mouth, his chest swelling abruptly, but he did not roar.

Instead, a tangible sound wave, visible to the naked eye and even distorting space, mingled with the pressure of his Soul Power and spread in all directions like a tsunami.

Fourth Soul Skill: White Tiger Sky-Splitting Roar!

Buzzz!

Lin Yang bore the brunt of it. His vision went black, and he felt as though a heavy hammer had slammed into his head.

His eardrums ruptured instantly, and warm liquid flowed down his outer ears.

The violent sound waves even penetrated his flesh, shaking his internal organs into a pulp.

Just as Lin Yang's consciousness blurred.

An enormous, blade-clawed tiger paw sliced through the air and savagely tore at his chest.

Rip!

Blood splattered everywhere!

Lin Yang's chest and abdomen were instantly ripped open. His left forearm was severed clean off, falling to the ground in a spray of blood.

Agonizing pain struck. Lin Yang's eyes snapped open, a sweet taste rising in his throat as he violently spat out blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.

The scarlet blood mist abruptly twisted and stretched in midair.

It transformed into dozens of writhing blood-red brambles that frantically wound around Dai Ziming's body.

Both his arms and legs were tightly bound, and sharp barbs stabbed fiercely at his protective Soul Power.

"Paltry tricks!"

Soul King-level Soul Power surged unceasingly, instantly shattering the bloody brambles around his body.

Amid that eruption of Soul Power, Lin Yang used its force to flip backward, hurtling away.

With his sole remaining right hand, he drove the Nichirin Blade hard into the ground, sliding more than ten meters before finally stopping.

Lin Yang knelt on one knee, supporting himself with his blade and panting heavily as he struggled to steady his chaotic breathing and Soul Power.

Was this a Soul King's true strength?

The gap between a Soul King and a Soul Grandmaster was not merely three soul rings, but also that incomparably vast Soul Power.

The same hundred-year soul ring wielded by a Soul Grandmaster and a Soul King produced powers as far apart as heaven and earth.

Even with the Demon God Body and no fear of injury or pain, his Soul Power drained extremely quickly in this state.

In that brief span, he had already burned through thirty percent of his Soul Power.

At this rate, before I can even force out his ten-thousand-year soul skill, I'll have no choice but to use my flight skill to escape.

Just then, a cool, gentle stream of Soul Power suddenly flowed into his body, like a trickle seeping into parched soil.

This Soul Power was not vast, but it had arrived at exactly the right moment.

Lin Yang's eyes brightened. It was the Blue Silver Emperor; she was secretly helping him recover his Soul Power.

Well done!

Had the timing not been wrong, Lin Yang would have wanted to pull the Blue Silver Emperor into his arms and give her a hard kiss.

This support had come at exactly the right moment.