Second Soul Ring, Twenty-Three Thousand Years

The sudden disturbance finally broke the restraint of Jing Hongchen and his two grandchildren, who had been hiding in the shadows with their nerves stretched taut.

Jing Hongchen was the first to step forward, and Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen moved after him. But just as they tried to approach, a group of Fire Sylphs of various ages burst out of the ground as one, blocking the way between Bao Liang and the three of them.

The Fire Sylphs varied in size, the smallest no bigger than a fist and the largest as thick as a millstone. Without exception, scarlet flames burned around them, bathing the entire mouth of the fissure in firelight.

Among them was even a Fire Sylph whose presence was approaching the hundred-thousand-year mark. It loomed over the mouth of the earth vein fissure, its enormous body of scarlet flame like a small mountain. Its blazing gaze swept over the group with an inviolable majesty, as if warning them: take one more step, and bear the consequences.

That made Jing Hongchen and the others wary of smashing the mouse for fear of breaking the vase. If a fight broke out, Jing Hongchen, a level ninety-three Titled Douluo, might well be able to win. But what if he alarmed the Fire Sylphs and hurt Bao Liang while the Sacrifice was underway?

"Grandpa, how could Little Baozi..." Meng Hongchen was so anxious that her eyes had reddened. Her voice trembled, and her little hand clutched Xiao Hongchen's sleeve.

"Meng, calm down." Xiao Hongchen gripped his sister's shoulder, though his own voice was taut. He turned to their grandfather. "Grandpa, do you know what's happening?"

Jing Hongchen nodded, though there was some uncertainty in his voice. "From the looks of it, it should be a Sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

"Aren't Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts the only ones that can perform a Sacrifice?" Xiao Hongchen frowned. "Was that blue Fire Sylph just now a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"

Jing Hongchen shook his head. "No.

"It only had around ten thousand years of cultivation. As for exactly how many tens of thousands, it was too far away for me to tell.

"And Xiao, I need to correct you: Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts aren't the only ones that can perform a Sacrifice."

He paused, his gaze settling on the pillar of red light soaring into the sky. "Once a soul beast has gained intelligence, reached a certain level of intelligence, and learned how to perform a Sacrifice, it can do so.

"Apparently, a teacher from Shrek Academy's outer court pieced that theory together through conjecture, but it had never been confirmed before.

"I never thought... it would actually be true."

Jing Hongchen was at a loss now, too.

The situation was completely beyond his expectations. With his grandson and granddaughter both at his side, he couldn't even intervene rashly. If he startled the Fire Sylphs, the consequences would be unimaginable.

He had lived to such an age and seen all manner of spectacles, but a Fire Sylph willingly sacrificing itself to a level-twenty child was well outside his experience.

Fortunately, Red Dust Protection hadn't triggered.

That meant the other party bore no ill will.

So the Sacrifice was probably real, too.

"Honestly..." Jing Hongchen rubbed the space between his brows, half exasperated and half unsure whether to laugh or cry. "How does that brat always manage to get caught up in accidents?"

Only when Meng Hongchen heard "no ill will" did her tense shoulders relax slightly. Even so, her eyes remained fixed on Bao Liang below, not daring to look away for a moment.

For the next hour or two, none of the three moved. They even breathed as quietly as possible, for fear of disturbing something.

Xiao Hongchen kept his hand on his Soul Tool, Meng Hongchen's nails dug into her palms, and Jing Hongchen watched the red light without blinking-until it began to fade, and Bao Liang, floating in midair, finally showed signs of descending.

Elsewhere, the Sacrifice continued.

Bao Liang floated in midair, pure blue flames burning all over his body. The orange-red Ultimate Flame had been assimilated at some point, becoming a purer blue.

The blue flames flowed along the tips of his hair and the edges of his clothes, wrapping him in a light both tranquil and searing.

A pitch-black Soul Ring slowly pressed down over his head. It was the color of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, heavy enough to seemingly bring even the air to a standstill.

His Soul Ring emerged of its own accord, and the Explosion Martial Soul spun and compressed in Bao Liang's palm. Both the Martial Soul and the Soul Ring were turning pure blue at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The temperature kept climbing, and even the surrounding air began to warp. The scarlet earthfire on the rock walls showed faint signs of being assimilated by the blue flames.

Blue flames also poured constantly from his tightly shut right eye, sliding down his cheek before turning into streaks of light and slipping back into his body before they could touch his skin.

That eye seemed to have become the source of the blue flames, resonating across the distance with the Fire Sylph performing the Sacrifice.

Then, roughly an hour or two later.

The Soul Ring absorption was complete.

Bao Liang descended from midair and opened his eyes.

His Martial Soul and Soul Ring had turned pure blue. Only his right eye had become a deep blue, with blue flames rising from it.

Both Soul Rings had been dyed the same pure blue. Even the originally purple First Soul Ring had gained a deep blue halo, complementing the new Second Soul Ring.

And the instant he opened his eyes, a pattern appeared on his right eye-the True Eye of the Evil King.

That pattern was identical to the blue-flame dragon Fire Sylph that had just performed the Sacrifice.

It was a dragon-shaped pattern.

The outline of a dragon's skull-its lower jaw, frontal bone, and horns-was traced in blue-white flame in his pupil, every detail perfectly clear. As his eye moved, the dragon pattern slowly drifted with it, as if it had come alive and become one with this External Soul Bone eye.

His Soul Power had also shot straight up to level twenty-eight.

Second Soul Ring-twenty-three thousand years, mutated Fear Blue Flame Sylph.

Absorption complete.

Bao Liang clenched his fist. "Just... three steps left..."

As soon as he landed, Meng Hongchen rushed over and threw her arms around his arm, her eyes still red. "You damned Baozi! You scared me to death!"

Bao Liang was taken aback. Then he reached out and gently rubbed her head, his voice especially soft. "Sister Meng, aren't I perfectly fine?

"Look, I got all the benefits, and nothing happened to me."

Meng Hongchen sniffled, but didn't loosen her grip on his arm. "Do you know how scared I was when that red light shot up just now..."

"I know, I know." Bao Liang smiled. "I won't scare you next time, all right?"

Xiao Hongchen hurried over too, looking Bao Liang up and down. Only after confirming that he was unharmed did he quietly breathe a sigh of relief. "You brat, you really are hard to kill."

Jing Hongchen stared at his right eye, where blue flames flickered. After a long moment, he let out a long breath. The brat had escaped death again.

But while the three crowded around Bao Liang, asking after him, the Fire Sylphs around them suddenly changed their behavior.

The Fire Sylphs that had been bristling with killing intent and blocking their way just moments ago all became cheerful.

They flew in circles around Bao Liang, chattering away as though they had witnessed some tremendous cause for celebration.

Even more outlandishly, several Fire Sylphs zipped back into the earth vein. Before long, they emerged again, each carrying a piece of scarlet flame dragon crystal ore in its mouth, and dropped them at Bao Liang's feet with a clatter.

One took the lead, and the rest followed.

Before long, a small mountain of scarlet flame dragon crystal ore had piled up in front of Bao Liang, its glowing scarlet flames casting light over him.

A ten-thousand-year Fire Sylph with a steady presence also gently pushed the earth vein marrow ore left behind after the blue-flame dragon Fire Sylph's Sacrifice over to Bao Liang.

Bao Liang looked down at the pile of ore, then at the ten-thousand-year Fire Sylph in front of him. He asked tentatively, "...Are all these for me?"

The ten-thousand-year Fire Sylph tilted its dragon-skull-like head and nodded earnestly. Then it used scarlet flame to write the word "take" on his palm, meaning he should put them away.

Bao Liang didn't stand on ceremony. Grinning, he swept the entire pile of scarlet flame dragon crystal ore and the remaining earth vein marrow ore into his Storage Soul Tool.

Just then, a Fire Sylph suddenly looked up at Jing Hongchen, who had come over to Bao Liang's side.

It was only a single glance.

The scarlet flames covering the Fire Sylph abruptly froze, as though something invisible had struck deep into its spiritual consciousness-

Memories sealed away for years awakened with a roar in that instant.

It spun around and let out a rapid series of piercing cries at Jing Hongchen.

The cries were strange and urgent. Jing Hongchen and the others were utterly baffled, unable to make any sense of them.

But the moment it cried out-

Every Fire Sylph in the vicinity stopped in unison. Then, pairs of scarlet-flamed dragon eyes all turned toward Jing Hongchen, glaring fixedly at him with murderous looks.

Without the slightest hesitation, without a moment's pause, they attacked without hesitation.

"Run!" Jing Hongchen acted instantly, scooping up Bao Liang and the other two. His Soul Power surged as he fled for his life in the direction of the Sun Moon Continent.

Scarlet flames exploded behind them, and the Fire Sylphs hurled pieces of scarlet flame dragon crystal ore at them as Hidden Weapons, pounding the ground with a thunderous rumble.

"Holy crap-why did they suddenly go berserk?!" Caught in Jing Hongchen's Soul Power, Bao Liang still found time to glance back at the blood-maddened Fire Sylphs.

He listened intently and could faintly make out several particularly shrill, venomous notes in their cries.

After listening carefully, Bao Liang froze.

"Grandpa Jing," he shouted at the top of his lungs, "when you came to get their Soul Rings before, was there one time you pulled two Fire Sylphs out of a mine at once?"

"Yes! Why?!" Jing Hongchen roared as he ran.

"..." Bao Liang fell silent for a moment before squeezing out an answer. "That was their patriarch's son and daughter-in-law! You pulled them out while they were doing it! They say they have to finish you off today!"

Jing Hongchen: "..."

Jing Hongchen was speechless. Jing Hongchen fell silent. Jing Hongchen gave up thinking.

"Ah," Jing Hongchen sighed deeply, pushing his Soul Power even harder. "What else can I do? Let's run. I'm out of ideas."

And so, under the Fire Sylphs' relentless bombardment, Bao Liang and his party of four successfully completed this Soul Hunting Operation.

They were unharmed, the Soul Ring was in hand, and they had hauled away a pile of ore.

As for being hunted down by the entire Fire Sylph clan...

They could talk about that later.