The outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
A dark shadow darted through the trees, moving so fast that the naked eye could no longer follow it. Four rather youthful teenagers pursued it closely. Three of them looked no older than fifteen or sixteen, yet their cultivation had already reached level fifty. Soul Kings of such an age were exceedingly rare in the world. The fourth, whom the three surrounded, was only twelve, yet he was already on the verge of reaching the Four-Ring Soul Ancestor realm. Such talent had never been seen in the history of the Douluo Continent.
Suddenly, the only girl among the four moved and vanished into the vast sea of trees. When she reappeared, pink light flashed in her eyes, and the enormous creature darting nimbly through the forest abruptly faltered. Though it lasted only an instant, that was enough for these young geniuses.
"A good chance." A handsome, upright youth charged forward. His figure transformed into a full moon, a flawless full moon, and rushed at the enormous creature with a sharpness that could cleave through anything. At the same time, the earth suddenly collapsed, and a pair of granite arms containing earth-shaking strength struck at the creature from below. One above and one below, they sealed off every path of escape for the beast, deciding the outcome of the battle in an instant. Their cooperation brought out the best in each other, leaving one to marvel that the two truly were young geniuses.
Yet the enormous creature had reached the ten-thousand-year level and possessed considerable intelligence. Seeing that the two had driven it to the brink, it made the desperate choice to sever its own wrist and blew its body apart. Like an extraordinarily powerful bomb, it sent a mighty blast surging toward the two youths. Though both shifted from offense to defense as quickly as they could, they were clearly too late to avoid the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's self-destruction.
"Brother, Yan, watch out!" the girl cried. But she and the two youths already knew that they were likely facing disaster.
In the blink of an eye, a peal of thunder rang out. A bolt of lightning appeared and vanished just as quickly, but in that brief flash, it swept up the two youths and carried them swiftly out of range of the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's self-destruction.
After he set the two youths down, the "lightning" was finally revealed: a slender youth with skin as fair as a woman's. He wore a black robe and carried an enormous Black Ruler on his back, utterly at odds with his thin frame. He nodded and smiled at the two who had escaped death, then stepped forward and hurled the mottled Black Ruler from his back with all his strength.
Boom!
A sound like a mountain collapsing rang out as the Black Ruler hurtled forward, stirring up clouds of dust. When the dust settled, the three finally saw a small scarlet lizard pinned firmly to the rock by the Black Ruler. It looked exactly like the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, but was only a tenth of its size. It struggled for a while, then died. A black Soul Ring hovered quietly above its head.
"This ten-thousand-year Flame-Horned Lizard King probably underwent a bloodline mutation and awakened this miraculous skill of the golden cicada shedding its shell. What exploded was only its false shell. Its true body was hidden inside the shell all along, so that, between life and death, it could use the false body to severely wound its enemies and escape with its life."
When the youth finished speaking, he walked over slowly, pulled the Black Ruler from the rock, and slung it over his back again. Then he cupped his hands toward the other three and said, "I'm truly sorry for troubling you this time, little senior sister and both of you, elder brothers. Hunting this Soul Ring for me was quite dangerous. Xiao Yan thanks you all."
All three smiled at his words. The burly young man even clapped him on the back, only for the Black Ruler to jar his hand painfully. Baring his teeth and hopping about, he laughed and cursed, "We're brothers. Why all the false politeness?" The other young man and the girl laughed even harder at the sight.
Clearly, these three were the Spirit Hall Golden Generation of those days-Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan. Six years had passed, and all three had broken through the bottleneck at level fifty. Yan was only one Soul Ring away from becoming a Five-Ring Soul King, while Xie Yue and Hu Liena were genuine Five-Ring Soul Kings. As for the youth carrying the Black Ruler, he was the twelve-year-old Xiao Yan.
Six years had passed, and the little child of those days had grown into a youth. His strength had grown along with him. It could be said that Xiao Yan was now a true young talent, his sharp edge fully revealed.