Once all the preparations were complete, Xu Zhengyang thrust his spear through the White-Eyed Devil Tiger's eye, piercing straight through its entire skull. A purple Soul Ring immediately appeared above its corpse.
Xu Zhengyang looked at the purple Soul Ring, a trace of wariness and hesitation entering his eyes.
Across the entire Douluo World, it seemed that in "Douluo Continent II," only Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong possessed thousand-year second Soul Rings, and both their circumstances were extremely unusual. Apart from them, not even anyone in the Body Sect possessed a thousand-year second Soul Ring.
The gap between thousand-year and hundred-year Soul Rings was immense. It lay not only in the increase in their age and power, but even more in the transformation the Soul Beasts had undergone.
After hesitating for just one second, Xu Zhengyang sat cross-legged on the ground, looking utterly untamed and incredibly fierce.
"They could do it, and so can I. And I'll definitely do it better than them."
Xu Zhengyang summoned his Martial Soul, the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear, and began using his spiritual power to draw the eleven-hundred-year Soul Ring slowly toward it.
The instant the thousand-year Soul Ring settled around the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear, a terrifying force surged through Xu Zhengyang's entire body. He immediately felt as though his whole body were being consumed by raging flames.
At that moment, the blood throughout his body began to boil. Every cell, every bone, and even every trace of marrow bore tremendous pressure.
All his bones seemed about to shatter in that instant, and all his blood seemed about to evaporate completely. Even his skin began to develop fine cracks, blood seeping out in great quantities, as though he were submerged in magma.
Xu Zhengyang seemed on the verge of collapse. This agonizing pain was a hundred times more intense than when he had absorbed his first Soul Ring. Even his entire mind seemed engulfed in raging flames, and his soul began to grow hazy.
Xu Zhengyang clenched his teeth so hard that even his gums seemed about to be crushed. Blood slowly flowed from his mouth.
"I absolutely cannot lose. My era has only just begun. In this lifetime, I will never bow beneath anyone."
Xu Zhengyang's body teetered on the verge of collapse again and again, but each time he was about to lose himself, he thought of his family, his lofty ambitions, and how he absolutely could not come to this world only to accomplish nothing. He had to change his own fate and his family's.
Sustained by that refusal to yield, by his own persistence and stubbornness, Xu Zhengyang was like a fierce tiger, his entire body burning hot as he exuded the imposing presence of a tiger roaring through the mountain forests.
Xu Zhengyang possessed a constitution of utmost hardness and utmost yang. Like the king of beasts, he grew fiercer the longer he fought. It was precisely this tiger-like physique that allowed him to struggle on the brink of collapse time after time, and recover each time he was about to crumble.
To an outsider, Xu Zhengyang would have looked nothing like a normal person at that moment, but rather an enraged tiger. Not only did he exude a terrifying presence, even the ground within several meters seemed affected by a scorching heat, gradually turning to ash.
An unknown amount of time passed before Xu Zhengyang's body finally began to settle down, but his Soul Power and imposing presence continued to climb. In particular, when he opened his eyes again, they shone with a mesmerizing light, as fierce as a tiger's.
"I did it. I finally did it. I finally absorbed a thousand-year second Soul Ring."
At that moment, Xu Zhengyang could not help letting out a long roar, as though venting the defiance in his heart, while also sounding utterly domineering.
Just as Xu Zhengyang was about to examine his physical condition carefully, he suddenly felt as though his Soul Power were about to spiral out of control. Not only was the Soul Power throughout his body in turmoil, even his Martial Soul seemed completely beyond his control at that moment.
Xu Zhengyang gritted his teeth and used all his strength to stabilize his Soul Power.
"How is this possible? How is this possible? I clearly succeeded in absorbing the Soul Ring. How could this happen?"
At that moment, Xu Zhengyang felt his Soul Power rapidly gathering in his eyes beyond his control. An unbearably dazzling, stabbing pain filled his eyes, as though he had gone blind.
His entire mind, in particular, seemed to have suffered some sort of stimulation, and his whole head felt about to split open.
Xu Zhengyang clutched his head tightly, his eyes filled with unwillingness to yield, yet also revealing incomparable ferocity.
As time passed, the Soul Power actually began gathering rapidly between his brows. The space between his brows felt about to split open, and a terrifying tearing sensation instantly spread throughout his body, subjecting him to the utmost agony.
Just then, with his eyes still tightly shut from the excruciating pain in his body, he suddenly perceived a flash of light before him. He seemed able to see his surroundings clearly in an instant, and could even see the fluctuations of Soul Power in the space around him.
Yet Xu Zhengyang distinctly felt that his eyes were closed. How could he see anything outside?
At that moment, in particular, his entire field of vision seemed completely beyond his control. Moreover, this vision was actually connected to his brain, as though he had gained another eye, and this eye resonated with his Soul Power.
Enduring the excruciating pain in his body and the confusion in his heart, Xu Zhengyang used all his strength to control his Soul Power, doing everything he could to stabilize it.
Only after a full half hour, when Xu Zhengyang's Soul Power was nearly exhausted, did this vision begin to fade. At the same time, the tearing sensation between his brows gradually disappeared.
Xu Zhengyang sat limply on the ground. That sensation just now had been incredibly strange, as though he had gained another eye, yet also as though his field of vision had expanded enormously. Even his soul's perceptions seemed to reach ever farther.
Only once his Soul Power gradually recovered did Xu Zhengyang take a mirror from his Soul Tool and examine his face carefully.
There was nothing unusual about his face, except for what seemed to be a faint, barely visible mark between his brows.
When Xu Zhengyang slowly controlled his Soul Power and gradually gathered it between his brows, that tearing sensation appeared again.
The previously smooth space between his brows actually split open, and a strange eye appeared immediately afterward. The eye darted about as though beyond his control, looking in every direction around him.
In appearance, the eye somewhat resembled the vertical eye between the White-Eyed Devil Tiger's brows, though it was considerably smaller.
Xu Zhengyang was inwardly shaken as well. Could this be the White-Eyed Devil Tiger External Soul Bone?
Xu Zhengyang once again concentrated fully on sensing the vertical eye. He felt that, under its effects, not only had his vision become incredibly clear, but this vision in particular seemed connected to his mind. Even his spiritual power had increased considerably.