Eight Rings Bore Down
The rumbling lingered for a long time.
A rain of cyan-blue arrows swept across the ice passage, instantly engulfing the Evil Soul Masters at the front in explosions.
Blood, shattered ice, and broken weapons flew out together.
Lin Yuan stood before the smoke and dust, the Imperial Bow held across his body.
Behind him, the footsteps of the Skywater Academy group and the civilians were rapidly receding.
Still not enough.
They haven't retreated to a safe distance yet.
"Kill him!"
A furious roar came from the smoke and dust.
A black blade light tore through the haze, hurtling straight toward Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan sidestepped it.
Boom!
The blade light slashed into the ice wall, leaving a crack several meters long.
Two figures charged out of the smoke and dust.
The man on the left held a long black saber, with five Soul Rings circling beneath his feet.
The other had gray wings sprouting from his back and hands transformed into sharp eagle talons. He, too, was a Soul King.
Behind them were more than a dozen surviving Evil Soul Masters.
"A mere Soul Ancestor, and you dare block so many of us!"
The black-saber Soul King bellowed:
"Chop him to pieces!"
Several Soul Ancestors charged out first.
One released black chains, others wielded sabers and flanked him from both sides, while two ranged Soul Masters gathered their Soul Skills at the rear.
Lin Yuan raised the Imperial Bow.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two iron arrows flew past the foremost enemies, each piercing a ranged Soul Master's brow.
The next instant, black chains were already coiling toward his legs.
Lin Yuan leaped into the air.
The chains skimmed across the ice.
Two saber-wielding Soul Ancestors struck at the same time.
Lin Yuan turned in midair and swept the Imperial Bow across.
Clang!
Both sabers were knocked aside at once.
After landing, Lin Yuan stepped forward and smashed the bow hard into one man's throat.
Crack!
Bone snapped.
The other Soul Ancestor had only just steadied himself when an iron arrow plunged into his heart.
Lin Yuan pulled out the arrow, turned, and fired it.
Whoosh!
The arrow pierced the throat of the Evil Soul Master controlling the chains, sending him toppling backward.
"Useless trash!"
The black-saber Soul King charged into the fray.
Black light surged along his blade.
"Second Soul Skill, Blood-Severing Slash!"
A blade ray several meters long swept across the ice passage.
Lin Yuan kicked off the ice wall and leaped up.
The blade ray swept beneath his feet, severing several ice pillars in succession.
Great masses of shattered ice came crashing down.
The gray-winged Soul King swooped down at the same time.
His sharp eagle talons went straight for the back of Lin Yuan's neck.
Within his Hunting Sense, that trace of Soul Power was rapidly closing in.
Lin Yuan forcibly twisted in midair, bringing the Imperial Bow in front of him to block.
Clang!
The eagle talons collided with the bow.
The powerful Soul Power knocked Lin Yuan out of the air.
The instant his feet touched down, he slid several meters backward, leaving two long tracks across the ice.
The gray-winged Soul King gave him no chance to catch his breath.
His wings abruptly spread wide.
"Fourth Soul Skill, Rending Feather!"
Dozens of gray feathers turned into sharp arrows, raining down to blot out the sky.
Lin Yuan rapidly retreated.
The feathers drove into the ice one after another.
One gray feather grazed his shoulder, tearing through his robes and leaving a bloody mark on his skin.
The black-saber Soul King attacked from the side.
His blade slashed straight at Lin Yuan's waist.
Lin Yuan raised his bow to block.
Clang!
The heavy force traveled through the Imperial Bow into his arms.
Lin Yuan used the force to retreat, drawing three iron arrows with his right hand at the same time.
The bowstring thrummed.
Three arrows flew at once.
The black-saber Soul King swung his saber, cleaving two arrows apart.
The third skimmed past the blade and pierced his left shoulder.
"Damn it!"
The black-saber Soul King roared and snapped the arrow shaft.
The gray-winged Soul King swooped down from above again.
Lin Yuan looked up.
His third Soul Ring lit up.
"Soul Lock."
A cyan-blue arrow left the string.
The gray-winged Soul King folded his wings in front of himself for protection.
But the arrow abruptly veered in midair, circling around his wings and shooting into his chest from the side.
Shlk!
Cyan-blue chains erupted from the arrow wound.
His limbs, torso, and wings were bound at once.
The gray-winged Soul King stiffened and fell heavily from the air.
Thud!
A broad stretch of ice shattered.
"Break!"
He frantically drove his Soul Power.
The chains shook violently.
The first chain burst apart.
The second followed close behind.
Lin Yuan had already drawn his bow again.
Whoosh!
An iron arrow pierced his brow.
The gray-winged Soul King's body jerked violently.
The wings he had just raised drooped limply.
The first Soul King was dead.
Seeing this, the black-saber Soul King instinctively halted.
"Who exactly are you?"
Lin Yuan did not answer.
Another iron arrow rested on the bowstring.
The black-saber Soul King's expression darkened.
"He's used up a lot of Soul Power!"
"Everyone, attack together!"
The remaining Evil Soul Masters charged from all directions.
Flames, ice spikes, poisonous mist, and blade light blasted toward Lin Yuan at once.
Lin Yuan leaped backward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several Soul Skills exploded where he had stood.
The shock waves lifted his robes, and shattered ice scraped past his cheek, leaving a thin bloody mark.
Lin Yuan landed on a slanting ice pillar.
Four iron arrows rested on the bowstring at once.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Four streaks of cold light pierced the battlefield.
Three Soul Elders fell at the sound.
The last arrow pierced a Soul Ancestor's knee, pinning him to the ice.
Lin Yuan leaped down from the ice pillar and snapped his neck beneath his foot.
The black-saber Soul King had already circled behind him.
His blade tore through the air, slashing toward Lin Yuan's head.
Lin Yuan suddenly ducked.
The black saber skimmed past the tips of his hair.
He turned, seized the broken arrow in the black-saber Soul King's shoulder, and shoved it inward.
Shlk!
The arrowhead drove deep into his shoulder blade.
The black-saber Soul King roared in pain and lashed out with a kick.
Lin Yuan blocked with the Imperial Bow and was knocked several steps back.
"Fifth Soul Skill!"
The black-saber Soul King raised his saber high.
All his Soul Power surged frantically into the blade.
"Blood Severs Mountains and Rivers!"
A massive black-and-red saber phantom coalesced within the ice passage.
Lin Yuan steadied himself.
His fourth Soul Ring lit up.
Cyan-blue power of The Hunt rapidly gathered at the arrow's tip.
"Heavenfall Arrow."
The saber phantom descended.
The arrow left the string.
Boom!
The cyan-blue arrow light collided head-on with the black-and-red saber phantom.
Violent Soul Power instantly swept through the passage.
Great stretches of the ice walls on both sides cracked apart, and shattered ice fell like rain.
The saber in the black-saber Soul King's hands broke apart inch by inch.
The arrow light continued unabated, piercing his chest and pinning him to the ice wall behind him.
He lowered his head to look at the bloody hole in his chest, his lips trembling.
"How... is this possible..."
Cyan-blue power of The Hunt erupted inside him.
The black-saber Soul King's head drooped.
The second Soul King was dead.
Lin Yuan's breathing grew noticeably heavier.
After using Starfall Arrow Rain, Soul Lock, and Heavenfall Arrow in succession, he had already consumed most of the Soul Power in his body.
His right hand, which gripped the Imperial Bow, was trembling slightly as well.
Yet his pursuers still did not stop.
"He's almost out of Soul Power!"
"Kill him!"
Another group of Evil Soul Masters arrived from deep within the passage.
Their leader was tall, with scarlet eyes and a face covered in claw scars.
Five Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet.
After Martial Soul Possession, dark red wolf fur covered his entire body, and his hands transformed into sharp wolf claws.
The Blood Wolf Soul King.
He glanced at the two Soul Kings lying on the ground, without the slightest fear on his face.
Instead, he took out a dark green pill, tilted his head back, and swallowed it.
The pill entered his stomach.
The scars on the Blood Wolf Soul King's face began to writhe.
His Soul Power, originally at rank fifty-three, climbed rapidly. His body swelled along with it, and his eyes gradually took on a layer of dark gold.
"As long as I kill you..."
"His Lordship the Furnace Keeper will surely grant me more sacred pills!"
The Blood Wolf Soul King dropped onto all fours and charged.
He was even faster than the previous two Soul Kings.
Lin Yuan had only just raised his bow when the man was already upon him.
A wolf claw swept across.
Lin Yuan leaned backward.
The sharp claw tips grazed his chest, tearing open three bloody gashes.
The Blood Wolf Soul King landed and spun around, his other wolf claw following immediately.
Lin Yuan raised the Imperial Bow to block.
Bang!
A tremendous force erupted.
Lin Yuan was blasted away, his back slamming hard against the ice wall.
Without pausing, the Blood Wolf Soul King pounced again.
"Fourth Soul Skill, Blood Shadow Division Kill!"
Three blood-red wolf silhouettes appeared simultaneously.
One on the left, one on the right, and his true body lunged at Lin Yuan from three directions.
Lin Yuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
He extended his Hunting Sense.
The two wolf silhouettes had no signs of life.
The one in the middle was his true body.
He did not dodge.
The instant the Blood Wolf Soul King closed in, Lin Yuan abruptly drew the Imperial Bow.
"Star Chaser."
A blue-green streak of arrow light shot out at close range.
The Blood Wolf Soul King had no time to dodge and could only raise a wolf claw in front of his face.
Squelch!
The arrow pierced his palm and shot into his right eye.
"Aah!"
The Blood Wolf Soul King let out a piercing scream.
Lin Yuan stepped forward, looped the Imperial Bow's string around his neck, and yanked it tight.
The Blood Wolf Soul King struggled wildly.
His sharp wolf claws left several wounds on Lin Yuan's arms.
His strength was still increasing.
Flesh buds even began growing in the arrow wound in his right eye, trying to push the iron arrow out of his body.
Lin Yuan released the bowstring.
The Blood Wolf Soul King had only just turned around when an iron arrow shrouded in blue-green light pierced through his lower jaw and penetrated his skull.
The Power of The Hunt overpowered the abnormal regeneration within his body.
The Blood Wolf Soul King's body gradually stopped struggling.
The third Soul King fell.
Their surroundings fell utterly silent.
The remaining Evil Soul Masters stared at the corpses littering the ground, not daring to come any closer.
Three Soul Kings.
More than ten Soul Ancestors and Soul Elders.
All had died at the hands of a single Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
Lin Yuan stood among the corpses, his robes already dyed red with blood.
Wounds covered his chest, shoulders, and arms.
Less than forty percent of his Soul Power remained.
Yet he still raised the Imperial Bow.
The arrowhead slowly swept across the remaining crowd.
"Next."
The Evil Soul Masters all backed away.
Some gripped their weapons, but their arms would not stop trembling.
Some had already turned around, wanting to flee deeper into the ice cave.
Just then.
A muffled boom came from the direction of the pill furnace.
The entire ice cave shook with it.
Dark green furnace flames lit up in sequence along the patterns on both sides of the passage.
A Soul Power pressure far surpassing that of a Soul King slowly rose from the deepest part of the ice cave.
The ice walls began to crack.
Under the invisible pressure, the blood on the ground flowed to either side as well.
Ecstasy appeared on the remaining Evil Soul Masters' faces, and they all fell to their knees.
"We respectfully welcome His Lordship the Furnace Keeper!"
Footsteps sounded from the darkness.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
With every step, the surrounding Soul Power grew a degree heavier.
A gaunt figure slowly emerged.
His dark green robe dragged through the blood covering the ground.
The green-robed elder did not look at his subordinates kneeling on either side.
His gaze remained fixed on Lin Yuan.
Yellow.
Yellow.
Purple.
Purple.
Black.
Black.
Black.
Black.
Eight Soul Rings rose one by one from beneath his feet.
The instant the final black Soul Ring appeared, the entire ice passage seemed to freeze.
The Imperial Bow in Lin Yuan's hands sank slightly.
The Soul Douluo's pressure weighed like a mountain, crushing the ice beneath his feet until it cracked continuously.
The green-robed elder stopped before the three Soul Kings' corpses.
His dark golden eyes swept over the arrow wounds between their brows and in their chests.
Then he raised his head to look at Lin Yuan.
An enormous phantom of a dark green medicinal cauldron slowly rose behind him, nearly filling the entire ice cave.
"You killed three of my Medicine Keepers."
"And you still dared to stand here waiting for me."
The corners of the green-robed elder's mouth slowly spread into a grin.
"Very good."
"I have the main ingredient for this batch of pills."