Xu Zi wielded his pair of amethyst dragon fists, swinging both arms in turn. His fists, bearing the power of destruction, hammered down like a dense amethyst rainstorm, pouring onto the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon's throat, neck, and head.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud...
Only when the specially made floor cracked and red-and-white brain matter seeped from the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon's seven orifices did Xu Zi stop his smoking fists.
Unfortunately, with a Soul Tool binding its mouth, the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon could not even scream before those destructive dragon fists beat it to the brink of death...
The next moment, Xu Zi's draconic eyes sharpened again. His first Soul Skill, Will of Destruction, erupted a second time, shocking the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon's blood-seeping eyes into utter vacancy.
With four thumps, the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon's limbs lost their supporting strength, and it collapsed onto the ground.
Xu Zi flicked both wrists, shaking the blood out of the amethyst cracks in his fists.
Time waited for no one. The sixty-second countdown was about to run out.
At a thought from Xu Zi, the thousand-year second ring beside his calves shone, and his second Soul Skill burst forth-
In an instant, the light behind Xu Zi dimmed.
It was light-being devoured!
This was a functional Soul Skill activated by a two-thousand-year Devouring Dragon Soul Ring. Its function was bound to be devouring.
A purple phenomenon rose behind Xu Zi once more, rapidly collapsing into a dark purple blazing sun.
Driving his will of destruction, he employed a Beast Soul Master technique that would only be developed ten thousand years later: Martial Soul Materialization.
The original purpose behind developing this technique was to allow all Beast Soul Masters to use their powerful spiritual power as support to turn their Beast Martial Souls into physical entities, thereby adding a fearless combatant they could control remotely.
However, for a Beast Soul Master to achieve Martial Soul Materialization, two strict conditions had to be met simultaneously: besides possessing sufficiently powerful spiritual power, they also had to rely on a Soul Spirit as an intermediary for regulation.
Yet Xu Zi currently possessed neither prerequisite. In terms of his mind, the baptism of the will of destruction had merely made his spiritual power far surpass others of his level. He was still far from the profound level required to "materialize the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon."
Except...
He possessed something above spiritual power-will!
The first ring supported his first Soul Skill, mobilizing the will of destruction contained within his Purple Sun Martial Soul.
The next moment, a fierce, deep purple dragon head rapidly took physical form within that purple sun...
In just two and a half seconds, the enormous dragon head had emerged from the purple sun and opened its abyssal maw toward the ground ahead.
The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul, transformed through the two-thousand-year Devouring Dragon Soul Ring-
Second Soul Skill: Purple Dragon Devours the Sun!
A dark purple black hole, like a black star of death that devoured everything, was born within the materialized Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon's mouth.
Holding that dead-sun black hole in its mouth, the purple dragon descended to devour the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon...
At the same time, the three Level 4 Soul Tools, the Soul Hunting Beast Traps, suddenly lost their supply of Soul Power. They promptly sprang open, releasing their restraints, before Xu Zi drew them back into the Sun-Branding Ring's Soul Tool storage space.
Half a second later, the dragon head opened its mouth and engulfed its prey with the black hole. With a single lift and swallow, the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon, over six meters long, was swallowed whole into the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon's belly...
Just then, the sixty-second limit expired, and Xu Zi swiftly released his Martial Soul Possession.
The amethyst dragon-scale armor covering half his body immediately shattered into brilliant purple radiance that rose back into the purple sun, revealing Xu Zi's patches of reddened skin.
With Martial Soul Possession released, the materialized Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon had already withdrawn into the solar disk before the purple sun contracted and dispersed. Driving the power of destruction within its body, it settled into digesting the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon in its belly.
"Hah, hah..."
A bead of cold sweat slid down his cheek as Xu Zi panted lightly in the cool late-morning breeze.
The faint sounds of muscle fibers tightening and joints settling back into place rang out densely within him.
Suddenly, footsteps and running figures appeared within Xu Zi's field of view.
This was the special-grade residential area, where some Spirit Hall Academy instructors of considerable status and achievement lived.
During that last minute, there had been both dragon roars and violent punches. The disturbance had naturally been considerable.
Attracted by the earlier tremors, several academy instructors had reached the rooftops of the neighboring villas just as Xu Zi released his Martial Soul Possession, looking over in his direction.
Xu Zi was busy steadying his breathing and had no attention to spare for lying to cover up the commotion he had caused.
A faint Soul Tool glow lit up in his hand, and he held the Heaven Prison Pope Token high for others to see.
Although this token was called a Pope Token, it had been issued by the Great Enshrined. Thus, within Spirit Hall, both the Pope Hall faction and the Elder Hall faction were bound to recognize it.
He swept the hand holding the token around once, and the Heaven Prison Pope Token persuaded every instructor on the surrounding rooftops to withdraw.
"Whew..."
Bracing both palms against his knees, Xu Zi finally steadied his breathing.
Possession by a god-level dragon Martial Soul was an extreme test of a Soul Master's strength.
Sixty seconds was precisely the injury-free limit for Xu Zi's physique and mind to bear the power of destruction and the will of destruction.
Adding Martial Soul Materialization, an operation that consumed tremendous amounts of Soul Power and spiritual power, on top of that was somewhat too much of a stretch for a low-ranking Soul Master's cultivation.
But without Martial Soul Materialization, if Xu Zi had to slowly "eat" it by himself, there was no telling how long it would take him to devour the six-meter Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon.
After all, absorbing only the Soul Ring without devouring the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon's flesh would be nothing short of squandering heaven's treasures when it came to that trace of golden bloodline.
Thus, although using Martial Soul Materialization was enormously taxing, it was worth it!
Once I finish absorbing the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon's Soul Ring, everything will resolve itself, Xu Zi silently affirmed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He sat down cross-legged on the spot and began regulating his breathing beneath the morning sun.
Absorbing an over-limit third ring was no everyday game.
Although he possessed a two-in-one Martial Soul, by his own estimate, his physical foundation was only just enough to withstand a high-quality Soul Ring over four thousand years old and approaching five thousand.
But after those sixty seconds of Martial Soul Possession, with the power of destruction coursing through him, his body had already reached its injury-free limit.
Of course, he could hardly be blamed for finding it difficult to maintain Martial Soul Possession. Although the additions to his first two Soul Ring slots were both dragon-type Soul Rings of the highest caliber, neither had anything to do with strengthening his physique.
That was also why, despite his physical fitness far surpassing others of his level, he still could not sustain Martial Soul Possession for long with the power of destruction upon him.
But now-
All his previous difficulties had become passing clouds.
The Golden Crocodile was a top-tier Soul Beast specializing in the physical body, possessing both offense and defense. How much more so for an apex existence like the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon?
And all the more so when the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon's body also contained that trace of golden bloodline.
Or perhaps calling it a power bloodline-
Would be more fitting!
"Whew..." Exhaling a long, even breath, Xu Zi opened his clear eyes.
The Sun Martial Soul truly lived up to its nature as a light-attribute Martial Soul. Under the blessing of the daytime sun, his condition recovered quickly indeed.
Together with the Devouring Dragon's traits, which constantly "devoured light" to replenish him, Xu Zi took only a little under an hour to return to his most vigorous state of mind.
Just then, a stream of pure energy seeped from the Purple Sun Martial Soul, pouring into Xu Zi's body out of thin air...
-His Martial Soul was feeding back into him!
Xu Zi immediately realized: had the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon been completely devoured?!
His Martial Soul was now feeding an entire Soul Beast's essence back into Xu Zi's body as its host.
"That speed-worthy of the ancestral clan of lesser dragons!" Xu Zi praised.
The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon's digestion was unexpectedly fast, but still within reason. After all, the power of destruction served as its "digestive fluid," coupled with the natural suppression the ancestor of lesser dragons held over lesser dragons.
In just a little under an hour, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon had removed the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon's impurities and digested it into pure energy.
Yet Xu Zi did not rush to absorb this pure energy. Instead, he actively interrupted his Martial Soul's feedback.
His cultivation was still stuck beneath the three-ring bottleneck. No matter how much of that returned energy he absorbed, he could not break through his current level.
Moreover, if that energy accumulated, it might gradually damage his body by overfilling it.
Thus, his most pressing task now was...
Xu Zi activated his Martial Soul again, and a brilliant purple sun slowly rose once more.
Within the profound solar disk, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon opened its enormous mouth in response to its host's call.
It spat out a bright purple ring of light, which slowly descended beyond the solar disk...
Yes, this was the four-thousand-year Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon Soul Ring.
The Soul Ring fell out of the purple sun and finally hovered over Xu Zi's head, constantly scattering motes of light like fine purple snow.
His most pressing task now was to absorb this four-thousand-year Soul Ring and break through the level-30 bottleneck in one stroke, converting all the Soul Power that had accumulated beneath his third-ring bottleneck over nearly two months into actual levels in the Soul Elder realm.
But after the earlier disturbance, the rooftop was no longer secluded.
Xu Zi quickly reached out and caught the bright purple Soul Ring with his Soul Power, then hurried back downstairs to his third-floor bedroom.
He had gone up to the rooftop earlier precisely because the villa contained too many furnishings and fine decorations to let the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon thrash around inside.
On a soft leather couch, Xu Zi, already fully prepared, suspended the Soul Ring above his head again and calmly entered the Soul Ring absorption stage.
Although the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon had originated as a Golden Crocodile and lived in the core region of the Golden Forest, it was not a metal-attribute Soul Beast. On the contrary, it was an extremely rare strength-attribute Soul Beast.
The fact that members of its species generally possessed a golden bloodline was sufficient evidence of this.
At this, Xu Zi could not help closing his eyes and sighing. "The strength attribute-among Soul Beast species, practically every one possessing it is a top-tier existence. Truly worthy of being the bloodline attribute the Dragon God and the ancestor of the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon were born with."
Guided by his Soul Power, the four-thousand-year Soul Ring released large quantities of strength-attribute origin: transparent and without substance, like ripples in the void. It descended along with the purple motes of light, and Xu Zi absorbed it into his body bit by bit.
At that moment, he could tangibly feel his physical fitness and bodily strength continuously rising at an astonishing speed!
It was the exhilarating sensation that only came when muscle groups thickened and muscle fibers, tightened to a certain point, suddenly relaxed and stretched in the opposite direction!
The Soul Ring also lived up to its four-thousand-year age. Its dense attribute energy rapidly piled up within Xu Zi's body after being absorbed, breaking through the level-30 Soul Ring bottleneck in one stroke like a mountain of steel crushing a thin sheet of ice.
Suddenly, a restless presence seeped out of Xu Zi's body, turning into a fluctuation of Soul Power that pushed aside the surrounding air.
His cultivation broke through-level-31 Soul Elder.
There was no strain whatsoever. Everything fell naturally into place.
Not only that, all the Soul Power accumulated beneath his bottleneck for nearly two months became Soul Power Levels, pushing Xu Zi straight up to level-32 Soul Elder.
Of course, this was only the prelude.
Under the four-thousand-year Soul Ring's continued nourishment, his level-32 cultivation changed rapidly. The Soul Power within him rose like a boat lifted by rising water, quickly reaching the barrier to level 33.
Another fluctuation of Soul Power spread out from Xu Zi's body.
His cultivation advanced again-level-33 Soul Elder!
The Soul Ring's energy poured down, and as time passed, Xu Zi's Soul Power and physique maintained steady growth.
In cultivation, one knew neither spring nor summer, and time gradually slipped away...
Outside the window, the sun turned from white to yellow, then from yellow to gold, signaling that late morning had given way to afternoon.
A restless surge of Soul Power abruptly expanded. Xu Zi rose another level, becoming a level-34 Soul Elder.
In just under half a day, his Soul Power Level had already made four consecutive leaps.
Unless one consumed immortal-grade medicinal herbs or absorbed a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, such explosive growth was difficult to achieve in the Soul Elder realm.
Just as Xu Zi's Soul Power cultivation continued rising and was about to reach the barrier to level 35...
The purple ring above his head finally exhausted its rain of purple light. It then slowly rotated downward, eventually settling around the outside of his thousand-year second ring.
The three rings of light-yellow, purple, and purple-fit together seamlessly.
In an instant, as the Soul Ring settled into place, a set of information fed back from it into Xu Zi's mind...
This was a Soul Skill.
Supported by a Soul Ring, supplied with Soul Power, and using a Martial Soul as its tool to execute a move or a set of techniques-that was the essence of a Soul Skill.
And at that moment, the Soul Ring absorption reached its conclusion-
Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul, over-limit third-ring configuration: four-thousand-year Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon.
The instant the third ring settled into place, a pair of bright purple eyes abruptly opened.
Looking down at the three Soul Rings revolving outside his crossed legs, Xu Zi sensed the spare capacity in his "nine-tenths-full" body and could not help sighing:
"As expected, ah... If the Soul Ring had been another three to five hundred years older, it would have reached the most perfect upper limit of what I could withstand."
Had the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon been forty-five hundred years old, he would already have been a level-35 Soul Elder.
But eight or nine things out of ten in life went awry. It was only reasonable that obtaining a Soul Ring could not be perfect in every respect.
Xu Zi suddenly clenched his hand forcefully. The air in his palm fled rapidly between his five fingers, producing faint yet clear whooshes.
"With the strength of my current physique, sustaining Martial Soul Possession with the power of destruction coursing through my body for three minutes would be more than manageable."
"But-it's nowhere near enough! Because..."
The vanished vertical slits suddenly reappeared in Xu Zi's pupils!
Because the greed in the human heart knew no end.
This was not a flaw of human nature, but the key to humanity's ability to dominate the world.
Of course, speaking of the immediate situation, this devouring of the Dark Golden Crocodile Dragon still could not be considered perfect.
Because the most crucial treasure of all-the golden bloodline-had yet to yield its final proceeds.
And the moment he finished absorbing the Soul Ring, Xu Zi could clearly sense a golden energy, exceedingly familiar to the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, appearing within his body as the Soul Ring settled into place.
This golden energy was extremely similar to the fundamental attribute of the power of destruction: the strength attribute.
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(Please read through the latest chapter next Tuesday, friends, or the system will eliminate the book!)