Active skill card: Soul Devour (Blue) - Soul-Eater: "Using this skill allows you to devour the target's Soul and increase your own Soul strength. However, you are not a Soul-Eater, so it is highly likely that a single consumption will cause you to suffer from split personality or be overtaken by other Souls. Please use with caution."
The skill was a good one, but the side effects were also very obvious. Moreover, devouring Souls seemed even more cruel than simple murder; after all, it would leave the opponent without even the chance to become a ghost. If someone ever told Hong Fei, 'I won't let you go even if I become a ghost,' he might be very happy to use this skill then. He put away the skill card and looked up at the sky.
The Great Protector Dragon was circling in mid-air, continuously clearing away the remaining small Soul-Eaters. Most of its body was no different from a true dragon; its mane, scales, claws, and tail were all perfect. The problem lay with its head. First were the horns. A dragon's horns should resemble those of a deer, possessing a towering and majestic appearance that represents divinity.
But the Great Protector Dragon's horns lacked any sense of majesty; they looked like they hadn't fully grown yet, and their appearance was withered, like dry tree branches. Secondly, it actually had fish fins on its head. There were three fins on each side of its head, and it even had them on its chin. Finally, even ignoring the above two points, its head as a whole looked quite strange.
Such behavior really didn't match its title of 'Great Protector Dragon.' Or perhaps, it truly was the guardian deity of the Ta Lo people and, knowing Hong Fei had designs on Ta Lo, it intentionally feigned absence? Then why did it reveal itself after Hong Fei killed the Soul-Eater, and why did it appear exceptionally excited and thrilled when devouring the Soul-Eater leader?
Could it be that the Soul-Eater's body was a great tonic for it, so it would rather give up its disguise just to jump out and eat it clean? There were many questions, and getting the exact answers was simple. Just capture it. However, the Great Protector Dragon seemed to sense Master Hong's wicked intentions toward it.
Before Hong Fei could make a move, it resolutely abandoned the few remaining small Soul-Eaters in the sky, turned its head, straightened its body, and dove straight toward the lake surface. Seeing this, how could Hong Fei let it have its way?
He immediately reached out with his claws, using the Dragon-Capturing Hand with both hands simultaneously, wanting to perform a true 'dragon capture.' However, the Great Protector Dragon was not slow at all. It suddenly twisted its long body, narrowly avoiding the two streaks of Dragon Power that came as a surprise attack.
Hong Fei couldn't help but be stunned; this was the first time his Dragon-Capturing Hand had missed. Immediately, Hong Fei's eyes narrowed. The Dragon-Capturing Hand sounded so mighty and domineering, yet it failed the very first time he tried to capture a dragon. How could this be tolerated?
Thus, he directly activated the Eyes of Death, quickly locked onto the Great Protector Dragon, and struck again. A direct hit! His hands clenched into empty claws, and the two streaks of Dragon Power wrapped around the Great Protector Dragon's waist and abdomen were suddenly pulled back.
The Great Protector Dragon's flight jerked to a sudden stop—then it was yanked sideways toward Hong Fei. The beast reared its head, eyes flashing gold as it stabilized midair. Its claws flexed against nothingness, as though gripping some invisible anchor.
Now suspended horizontally in the void, it locked into a brutal tug-of-war with Hong Fei's Dragon-Capturing Hand. Meanwhile, its tail lashed in furious circles. The dragon's raw strength matched the Soul-Eater leader's, but their battles rarely favored the scaled guardian.
The Soul-Eater's devouring techniques were too unnatural, its minions too numerous. The Great Protector's advantages lay elsewhere: its attacks burned Soul-Eaters like holy fire, and it commanded water like a god.
As the dragon's tail whipped faster, the lake below erupted. Water churned as if stirred by a giant's staff, then spiraled upward in a roaring column. Within seconds, Hong Fei was encased in a swirling prison of liquid. The currents tightened with a deafening roar, compressing around him.
Water could be gentle—but not this water. Every molecule carried the edge of a blade, the weight of a warhammer. Hong Fei strained against the dragon's pull, muscles trembling. Neither would yield.
Yet the Great Protector wasn't done. Even restrained, it had other weapons. When brute force failed, Hong Fei reached deeper. The dimensional gate within him burst open, flooding his veins with Dragon Power.
Golden-red light crawled up his arms like molten metal, spreading across his chest until even his pectorals gleamed. His shirt vaporized in an instant, revealing the Divine Dragon Mark blazing upon his skin.
The dragon's golden eyes locked onto that sigil. Uncertainty flickered through its gaze—but Hong Fei gave it no time to ponder. Releasing the Dragon-Capturing Hand, he sent the Ten Rings flying from his sleeves.
The first looped around the beast's throat like a collar. The others linked together with crackling energy, the final ring clenched in Hong Fei's fist. A sharp tug sent vibrations racing up the chain.
The dragon thrashed as the force traveled through its vertebrae. Bones groaned, joints popping like firecrackers. One more shake might've scattered its skeleton across the sky.
Gritting through the pain, the dragon twisted midair to dissipate the vibration. Then it surged forward, a living battering ram aimed at Hong Fei's chest.
Facing the Great Protector Dragon's powerful attack, Hong Fei didn't flinch. He smashed his fists together, drawing all Ten Rings to his right arm. They spun tight around his bicep, blazing gold.
Every ounce of Dragon Power flooded his veins. His punch tore through the air with a roar that shook the heavens—not just a strike, but the voice of a dragon answering its kin.
At that instant, the phantom of a divine dragon reappeared outside Hong Fei's body. In addition to that majestic, lifelike, and divinely charged massive dragon head, a small section of a nearly completely real dragon body emerged behind the fluttering mane—golden dragon scales overlapped layer by layer, with sunlight reflecting a brilliant luster on each scale.
Every inch of the winding dragon body beneath the scales was filled with a sense of boundless power. Opposite him, the Great Protector Dragon's body was enveloped in a layer of surging water waves, and behind it, a wave tens of meters high suddenly rose. The rolling currents gathered into a terrifying tsunami, and the Great Protector Dragon's body followed, carrying a violent impact force. BOOM!!
One gold, one white; the two dragons collided. In an instant, the world seemed to fall silent. A second later, time began to flow again. A blinding light erupted first, the brilliant rainbow light uncontrollably piercing into everyone's eyes, followed by the sound of a violent collision.
After the punch, the divine dragon phantom outside Hong Fei's body quickly faded, but the dragon-shaped mark on his chest grew even brighter. Opposite him, the Great Protector Dragon's body curled forward like a spring, then suddenly retreated rapidly backward. At the same time, the tsunami that had seemed to cover the sky just moments ago also rolled back in an instant.
Before long, it collapsed with a crash, and a massive amount of water fell back into the lake. The resulting ripples pushed the lake water to crash wildly against the shores. At this moment, the Great Protector Dragon, which had stayed in Ta Lo for thousands of years or even longer, felt a long-forgotten dizziness.
However, what surprised the Great Protector Dragon even more was that Hong Fei's power suddenly broke through its dragon scale defense, surging into its flesh like water that could penetrate anything. In the blink of an eye, the Great Protector Dragon felt a power it found incredibly desirable.
Like cattle and sheep wanting to eat grass, or lions and tigers wanting to eat meat, an instinctive desire, almost like a bloodline attraction, instantly filled its entire mind. The Great Protector Dragon momentarily lost its focus.
Hong Fei was unaware of this; he only wanted to quickly defeat this dragon. skill cards didn't matter; the key was to completely capture it and make it his personal property. Thus, seeing the Great Protector Dragon currently limp like a cooked noodle, Hong Fei didn't hesitate. He immediately manipulated the Ten Rings to fly out.
After enlarging, they quickly looped around the Great Protector Dragon one by one, then rapidly contracted. Hong Fei pulled with both hands from a distance, and the Ten Rings immediately stretched the Great Protector Dragon's body straight. In the blink of an eye, he had created a literal 'dragon staff.'