No one knew how much time had passed.
In the valley, Dugu Yan and Xiao Xuan were chatting.
Suddenly, a muffled sound of something rushing through the air came from above.
Rumble-!
As the sound rang out, an enormous pitch-black shadow was unceremoniously hurled down from high in the sky, crashing headfirst onto the edge of the rocky shoal!
Boom!!
The ground shook violently, gravel flew in all directions, and clouds of dust billowed into the air.
Immediately afterward, Dugu Bo drifted down from midair and landed, his dark green robes swishing in the wind.
Dugu Bo casually brushed the dust from his sleeves and laughed heartily.
"Young friend Xiao Xuan, come take a look. Does this Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast I hunted for you suit your wishes?"
Xiao Xuan rose from the bluestone, his gaze unhindered by the rising dust.
It was a giant beast six or seven meters long, its entire body seemingly cast from layers of heavy dark iron and dark yellow granite.
A short, thick, heavy spiral stone horn grew from its face. Even now, with its bones broken and sinews torn by Dugu Bo, blood flowing from its mouth and nose, and deathly wounds leaving it on the brink of death, a savage, murderous aura still churned in the depths of its dark brown eyes.
An Earth-Shaking Beast!
This beast was a rare variant in the Soul Beast encyclopedia, dwelling deep within the earth veins year-round and devouring the essence Qi of the earth.
Judging by the powerful Soul Power fluctuations emanating from it and the bone patterns on its back armor, this Earth-Shaking Beast had comfortably surpassed twelve thousand years of age!
Looking at the dying Earth-Shaking Beast, Xiao Xuan's dark eyes lit up with a burning gleam.
A Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and a rare variant at that. I wonder what kind of Soul Skill I'll obtain?
"Thank you for going to such trouble for me, Senior. This Soul Beast is exactly what I wanted!"
With that, Xiao Xuan gripped the blue-green spear in his hand and walked slowly toward the Earth-Shaking Beast in the rocky crater.
The Earth-Shaking Beast let out a feeble roar of rage, trying to make a final, desperate struggle like a cornered beast.
But Xiao Xuan dipped his wrist, and the Blue Jade Bamboo in his hand became a sharp, cold flash like a shooting star. Carrying the edge of Armor Piercing, it plunged cleanly through the vital point on the Earth-Shaking Beast's face!
Puchi!
The Earth-Shaking Beast's massive body convulsed twice. The savage light in its eyes faded completely, and it collapsed heavily into the rocky crater, its life extinguished.
Hum-!
As the Earth-Shaking Beast breathed its last, motes of black light, as deep as the night, rose and gathered above its massive corpse. They gradually coalesced into a pitch-black, heavy Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring that gave off a dull, oppressive pressure!
Xiao Xuan did not hesitate for a moment.
He sat cross-legged before the Earth-Shaking Beast's corpse and formed a guiding seal with both hands, drawing the ten-thousand-year black ring in midair slowly down over his head!
Seeing Xiao Xuan truly begin to draw in the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan, standing nearby, both held their breath.
Dugu Bo clasped his hands behind his back, secretly gathering his emerald-green Soul Power at his fingertips. He stood guard at Xiao Xuan's side without taking his eyes off him, ready to forcibly intervene and interrupt the process at the slightest sign of trouble.
Boom!
The instant the pitch-black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring settled around Xiao Xuan, a tyrannical, violent torrent of energy roared into his extraordinary meridians through the crown of his head, as brutally unstoppable as a mountain flood bursting through a dam!
The raging, immense Soul Power surged and roared like a frenzied dragon, rampaging through his meridians and internal organs, trying to burst apart the human body that dared to absorb a ring beyond its rank!
Yet Xiao Xuan remained unperturbed.
After undergoing several rounds of body tempering that had remade him from the inside out, Xiao Xuan's meridians and skin had long since become as sturdy as divine iron and a treasured furnace.
No matter how that energy ravaged and scoured his body, his broad, thick meridians remained as steady as a rock, without so much as a hairline crack appearing!
Immediately afterward, an even more dangerous second deadly threat descended!
The powerful lingering resentment left behind after the death of the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast took the form of a vicious-looking apparition of the Earth-Shaking Beast. Bearing a towering tide of resentment, it roared and charged straight at his sea of consciousness. It was the Soul Shock that struck terror into the hearts of countless Soul Ancestors!
Roar-!
The giant beast's apparition brandished its claws and bared its fangs above his sea of consciousness, trying to tear Xiao Xuan's mind and consciousness apart.
But Xiao Xuan sneered inwardly.
The Immortal Herb Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew that he had just consumed had already elevated and fortified his sea of consciousness and spiritual court to a transcendent level.
Facing the roar of the Soul Beast's remnant soul, a brilliant cyan radiance shone in the depths of Xiao Xuan's sea of consciousness. His pure, abundant spiritual power formed a colossal golden sword that cleaved downward through the air!
Boom!
In a single clash, the giant beast's apparition fell apart beneath the magnificent golden light of his spiritual will. Completely purified and ground away, it became pure, harmless essence Qi that settled deep within his sea of consciousness.
The fury receded, leaving only the pure and boundless divine essence of the earth.
The medicinal power of the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, previously dormant and sealed within Xiao Xuan's body, fully reawakened under the powerful pull of the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. The two joined like the mighty waves of great rivers and surged forward, splitting bamboo as they broke through the level-thirty barrier where he had stalled, then climbed without stopping!
Level thirty-one!
Level thirty-two!
Level thirty-three!
He took all the immense energy into himself like a whale drawing in water, finally settling firmly at the peak of level thirty-seven!
Hum-!
Xiao Xuan let out a long breath of turbid air and abruptly opened his eyes!
The moment he rose to his feet, three rings of light slowly emerged from the void beneath him, overlapping and pulsing!
Purple!
Purple!
Black!!
Two purple and one black!
Above the two thousand-year purple rings, the ten-thousand-year black Soul Ring radiated a noble, profound light like the endless night, along with a dense, heavy pressure!
A level-thirty-seven Battle Soul Elder!
His Third Soul Ring was twelve thousand years old!
The sight before him overturned the common understanding of the entire continent. Even Dugu Bo, who had been prepared for it, was utterly dumbstruck, his aged face rigid and his beard trembling slightly.
Dugu Yan, meanwhile, covered her mouth with both hands, her beautiful eyes filled with admiration and incredulous shock.
With a thought, the black light beneath Xiao Xuan's feet suddenly flared!
Third Soul Skill-Gravity Field!
With the tips of his feet as its center, a gravitational ripple spread silently across a radius of thirty zhang!
Within the field, the force of gravity changed at his will!
He could instantly increase the gravity bearing down on every enemy within the field by five or even ten times, leaving his opponents mired as if in a swamp, unable to take a single step!
Or he could reverse the law in an instant, reducing his own gravity until he was as light as a feather, his spear striking like lightning, killing at will!
Attack and defense intertwined; gravity obeyed his will!
Xiao Xuan dismissed his Martial Soul and Soul Rings, a smile appearing on his face.
The Third Soul Skill actually has an effect similar to a domain!
The Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring truly lives up to its reputation!
More importantly, Xiao Xuan could also improve this Soul Skill through fusion.
Just like the Blue Jade Bamboo, he could add more properties to it.
At that thought, Xiao Xuan looked toward the other side of the valley.
There stood a length of ink-black bamboo about ten zhang long, its appearance exceptionally distinctive.
Dugu Bo might not have recognized it, but Xiao Xuan knew it was Ink Jade Divine Bamboo, which would only appear in later generations.