After leaving the three behind, Chu Qing continued using the Soul Bone Skill of his Man Faced Spider Emperor External Finger Bones. He concealed his true body and had the Man Faced Demon Puppet disguise itself as a ten-year swift.
Now that his spiritual power had improved, he could maintain the Man Faced Demon Puppet Soul Skill for a long time, making it convenient for him to fish in the Star Dou Great Forest.
He continued hunting Soul Beasts with the attributes of the four cardinal elements, but when he raised the Azure Soul Ring's age to ten thousand years, he felt as though someone was watching him.
He watched his surroundings closely but found nothing amiss.
"Not good."
It was about time anyway, so he immediately retreated toward the outskirts.
Sure enough, after he had traveled some distance, the feeling of being watched disappeared.
Two days later, he had just killed a five-hundred-year Lightning Marten and had yet to absorb its Soul Ring when an angry shout rang out from the sky.
"Slaughtering Soul Beasts indiscriminately-you deserve death!"
The voice was shrill and filled with indignation.
Chu Qing looked up in alarm and saw a thirty-thousand-year Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle with a wingspan of over ten meters diving toward him. Trees snapped beneath the beat of its wings, and a violent presence emanated from its pair of thick, golden-feathered dragon claws.
On the eagle's back was a beautiful blond figure wielding a Golden Dragon Spear, charging in to kill him alongside it.
Chu Qing immediately took control of the Man Faced Demon Puppet.
He had the Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor open its mouth and spit a web laced with spiritual poison over the eagle and its rider.
His true body remained concealed as he quickly retreated.
Jin Su, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion and Emperor Auspicious Beast on the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle's back, had noticed this ability of Chu Qing's before. As soon as she saw his true body disappear, she immediately used Golden Perception.
It granted her a three-dimensional sense of her surroundings, allowing her to perceive things others could not and gain a deeper understanding of what she perceived.
She spotted Chu Qing retreating under concealment at once. Leaping high from the eagle's back, she split a gap in the web with her spear, then swung the Golden Dragon Spear down at him.
Chu Qing sensed the killing intent behind him and was somewhat surprised. Although his concealment was not perfect, he had not expected to be found so quickly.
He turned to meet his attacker and saw clearly that the weapon smashing down at him looked like the Golden Dragon Spear. His pupils contracted in shock.
He activated his Left Arm Soul Bone, and the Moon-Gazing Armguard manifested.
He raised his arm to block and instantly felt a tremendous force crash down on him.
Although it failed to move him in the slightest, the impact stirred up wind and dust all around them.
Meanwhile, the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle tore through the web with its sharp claws, destroying the Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor, which had frozen in place without anyone controlling it.
Chu Qing sent Jin Su flying backward with a punch. He looked at the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle swooping down to seize him. It was a thirty-thousand-year Soul Beast and could not be underestimated.
Five Soul Rings, two purple, two black, and one red, rose from beneath his feet in an instant.
Even when killing a chicken, one should use an ox cleaver.
He did not dare let his guard down in the slightest.
His fifth Soul Ring immediately lit up, bathing heaven and earth in blood-red light.
Fifth Soul Skill: Imperial Rage Heaven Slaughter.
Chu Qing did not retreat. After he used his fifth Soul Skill, seven bull python shields of different colors appeared beside him: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple. An azure eighteen-foot snake lance also formed in his right hand.
This was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Skill that combined offense and defense.
The Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle swooped in and struck the multicolored shields with its claws. Though the collision resounded with a boom, it could not penetrate them in the slightest.
Chu Qing brandished the snake lance and thrust it at the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle.
The Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle's claws could tear through almost anything, but the defenses of the rest of its body were not nearly as strong.
The Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle flew up in pain, trailing a string of blood.
Having driven the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle back for the moment, Chu Qing immediately unleashed his second Soul Skill.
Ouroboros Mutual Generation.
Amid a flicker of purple light, an Ouroboros Formation emerged beneath his feet. As the bull python on the formation diagram continually devoured itself, the formation shrank little by little.
The formation moved with him as he looked curiously at Jin Su.
Jin Su wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. Chu Qing had been controlling the Man Faced Demon Puppet to hunt Soul Beasts all along, and the puppet had Soul Rings of its own, so she had thought it was Chu Qing's Martial Soul Mimicry.
Now she understood that she had underestimated Chu Qing. His true body was far stronger than the Man Faced Demon Puppet.
Four Soul Rings, two purple and two black, rose beneath her feet.
Her First Soul Ring and Second Soul Ring lit up at once.
Golden Dragon Body, Power of the Dragon.
Her presence soared instantly. With a furious shout, she stomped the ground to pieces and shot forward, charging at Chu Qing with her spear again.
Chu Qing moved to meet her. Spear and lance collided, and the moment their forces clashed, Chu Qing was quite surprised. With the boost from her Soul Skills, her strength could just barely match his.
He studied her closely. Her golden hair fluttered, and she radiated a vibrant breath of life like ears of wheat beneath the autumn sun. Her golden eyes, brilliant as the sun, constantly revealed a proud and savage spirit.
The Black Dragon Reverse Scale pendant swaying at her neck made him even more certain that this woman was probably the Emperor Auspicious Beast, and that the weapon in her hand was the Golden Dragon Spear.
"What are you looking at?"
Jin Su's furious voice rang out, accompanied by the black light of her Third Soul Ring.
Chu Qing's gaze continued downward, and he started in surprise. He explained:
"I was looking at the pendant..."
"You're still talking? You're courting death!"
Still unable to break through Chu Qing's defenses, she used her Golden Dragon Spear to unleash her third Soul Skill, Golden Dragon Head, and thrust at him. An astonishing presence erupted from the spear, forming a brilliant dragon head.
Empowered by the Golden Dragon Spear, its might surged. Her strike shattered one of Chu Qing's protective shields and sent him staggering back more than ten steps.
The Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle immediately dived down as well. Surging Soul Power gathered around its golden-feathered dragon claws, and its entire body was enveloped in the phantom image of a giant dragon claw. Raising a towering wave of air, it seized the chance to grab Chu Qing.
Chu Qing looked up, and brilliant azure light immediately burst from his eyes.
He used the combat skill Radiance of the Azure Eyes.
That was not enough, so he released Slow Domain as well.
His improved spiritual power had already made Radiance of the Azure Eyes stronger than before. Combined with the domain, its power was unparalleled.
The Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle, which had swooped in with such ferocity, seemed almost frozen in midair, wriggling forward in fits and starts.
Chu Qing's six remaining shields immediately flew up and formed a layered formation between him and the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle.
For a moment, it looked somewhat like the Mysterious Underworld Shield Formation released by the Xuanming Turtle Shell Shield.
But Chu Qing was not defending. He was attacking.
To ensure nothing went wrong, he released his first Soul Skill, Feathered Transformation, and called out:
"Iris!"
The Iridescent Shield-Tailed Snake immediately emerged from his Sea of Spirit. Following Chu Qing's raised right hand, she coiled up the eighteen-foot snake lance and possessed it, entering a special state as its spirit that could enhance its power.
He hurled the eighteen-foot snake lance fiercely at the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle.
When the lance struck the first shield, there was no collision. It passed straight through.
The first shield then transformed into a surge of blazing feathers of light and gathered around the eighteen-foot snake lance, instantly amplifying its might.
The same happened again and again. Each time the eighteen-foot snake lance passed through a shield, its power increased, and it shot toward the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle with an awe-inspiring force.
Jin Su saw it and knew something was wrong, but she was so suppressed that the Golden Dragon Spear she hurled with all her strength moved through the air as slowly as a turtle. She could only cry out in anguish:
"No!"
Her wish went unanswered. The eighteen-foot snake lance pierced the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle with terrifying pressure. Its power erupted in an instant, transforming into a six-colored Sky Azure Bull Emperor Python that coiled around the eagle and crushed it.
The Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle's wings and bones broke at once, its bones and internal organs crackling. Even its pair of dragon claws, the toughest parts of its body, snapped as easily as stalks of grass.
The six-colored Sky Azure Bull Emperor Python raised its head and roared at the sky, its roar shaking everything within a hundred li and beyond. Then it swallowed the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle whole.
In an instant, with the eighteen-foot snake lance inside the Dragon-Clawed Golden Eagle and the six-colored Sky Azure Bull Emperor Python outside it, terrifying explosions erupted both within and without.