In the Core Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest, by the banks of a tributary of the Lake of Life, the smoke and scent of blood from the great battle had not yet fully dissipated. The air remained thick with the aftermath of violent energy and a faint, lingering sense of sorrow.
The members of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Family quickly cleared the battlefield and suppressed their auras. Eight Soul Douluo Elders maintained the Thunder Domain Dragon Locking Array, shifting it from a containment formation into a defensive barrier. They watched the surrounding deep forest with vigilance, guarding against any Powerful Being that might have been drawn by the earth-shattering battle that had just occurred. Yu Qingtian and Yu Bo Yu stood guard beside Yu Boxuan, protecting him as he regulated his breath. Yu Boxuan was not only heavily injured, but his Soul Power consumption had also been immense after going head-to-head with the Sky Azure Bull Python.
Tang Chen stood to the side, silently wiping the cyan blood from his Clear Sky Hammer. He looked at the massive body of the Sky Azure Bull Python, which had just been dragged from the bottom of the lake, with complex eyes. The satisfaction of having his great revenge fulfilled was intertwined with a sigh for the fall of such a formidable opponent, ultimately hardening into an even firmer belief in the need to grow stronger.
At the center of everyone's attention was the blood-red Soul Ring floating above the lake, radiating vast energy fluctuations and a faint, tragic aura, along with the newly excavated left leg Soul Bone, which was wreathed in cyan lightning and immense power.
Yu Yuanchen sat cross-legged on a green stone by the lake, his expression calm and his gaze deep. He adjusted his breathing, bringing his state to its peak. The Thunder God Seal between his brows grew slightly warm, resonating subtly with the hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring.
"Let's begin." After regulating his breath for a moment, Yu Boxuan opened his eyes and said in a deep voice.
Yu Yuanchen nodded, no longer hesitating. His Spiritual Power, like invisible tentacles, slowly reached out, gently yet firmly wrapping around the massive blood-red Soul Ring.
"Hum--!"
The moment his Spiritual Power touched the Soul Ring, a terrifying energy, vast as the sea and violent as thunder, mixed with a torrent of will filled with intense unwillingness, rage, and sorrow, surged into Yu Yuanchen's body like a bursting river!
Absorbing a hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring was no easy task! The energy it contained far exceeded that of a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, and it carried the powerful soul tremors and Will Impact of the Soul Beast before its death!
Yu Yuanchen's body shook violently, and his complexion turned pale in an instant. He felt as if he had been thrown into a violent sea of cyan lightning, with countless destructive bolts of Thunder Power crazily battering his meridians, internal organs, and soul! At the same time, the Sky Azure Bull Python's wild and unyielding roar seemed to explode directly in his mind, assaulting his mental will!
"Hmph!" Yu Yuanchen let out a cold snort, purple-gold lightning erupting from his eyes. He had been prepared; how could he fear this?
"Submit to me!"
Inside his Dantian, the already-formed vortex of Thunder True Essence suddenly accelerated. Vast and pure purple-gold Thunder True Essence surged out like loyal guards, meeting the invading violent cyan lightning. His Thunder True Essence was of an extremely high quality and contained a trace of the Thunder God's origin, granting it a natural suppression and dominion over all lightning in the world!
The seemingly violent cyan lightning, upon encountering Yu Yuanchen's purple-gold True Essence, acted as if a subject had met its king. Its violent momentum suddenly stalled; while it remained turbulent, it lost much of its destructive nature and took on a quality of... being guided and tamed!
Meanwhile, his powerful Spiritual Power condensed into an indestructible barrier, firmly guarding his Sea of Consciousness. Though the Sky Azure Bull Python's soul impact was strong, it was ultimately a rootless force. How could it shake a soul as powerful as his, which had been tempered by the Thunder God Seal and had just passed the test of the heart? The unwilling roar and sorrowful will shattered like waves crashing against a reef, unable to shake his resolve in the slightest.
The two greatest hurdles—the energy impact and the soul tremor—were easily overcome by Yu Yuanchen with absolute superiority!
What remained was the painstaking work of guiding and refining this massive amount of energy, integrating it completely into himself to condense his Eighth Soul Ring.
Yu Yuanchen focused his mind and operated his cultivation technique with all his might. The Thunder God Seal between his brows glowed, resonating with the energy of the Soul Ring on a deeper level to further reduce its rejection. The True Essence vortex in his Dantian acted like a high-efficiency energy furnace, constantly devouring and refining the surging cyan lightning, converting it into pure Thunder True Essence to nourish himself.
His body seemed to transform into glass interwoven with purple-gold and cyan light. His meridians expanded slightly under the scouring of the vast energy, becoming tougher; his internal organs glowed with vitality under the nourishment of the Life Aura; his bones emitted faint thunderous sounds as they underwent a deeper level of tempering.
This process lasted for a full three hours.
When the last trace of the violent cyan lightning was completely refined, the blood-red Soul Ring stabilized, slowly descending to perfectly settle onto Yu Yuanchen, taking its place after his seventh ring as his Eighth Soul Ring!
Yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, red, red!
The eight Soul Rings pulsed slowly, especially the two blood-red hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings, which radiated a terrifying pressure that caused palpitations! Yu Yuanchen's aura surged instantly, and he officially stepped into the realm of an eighty-third-level Soul Douluo! His Soul Power became even more vast and profound, and his control over lightning reached a new height. A Soul Douluo at just over twenty-two years old! It could be said that there had never been anyone like him before!
However, the absorption was not yet over!
The moment the Eighth Soul Ring was fully stabilized, the left leg Soul Bone, which had been radiating cyan lightning and Life Aura, seemed to be summoned. It turned into a cyan streak of light and instantly merged into Yu Yuanchen's chest!
"Ugh!" Yu Yuanchen let out a muffled groan, feeling an even purer, yet much gentler, Thunder Power and vast Life Force surge into his body, rapidly fusing with his left leg!
This hundred-thousand-year left leg Soul Bone from the Sky Azure Bull Python contained energy that was less violent than the Soul Ring but deeper and more long and continuous. In particular, its dense Life Force was a massive supplement to his foundation, which had been somewhat depleted by the successive battles and cultivation.
The fusion process was relatively smooth; his physique, having been tempered multiple times, was already incredibly robust and could perfectly accept the power that belonged to the same element of lightning.
Another half hour passed, and the Soul Bone fusion was complete!
Yu Yuanchen slowly opened his eyes. His Soul Power was only a sliver away from level 84. Cyan and purple lightning flashed in his eyes, and the aura around him was perfectly rounded and restrained, yet it carried a suffocating majesty. He stood up and stretched his body, his bones popping with faint sounds, filled with a sense of infinite power.
He could clearly feel that his physical strength, Bloodline Power, and even his Life Force had been greatly enhanced! This hundred-thousand-year left leg Soul Bone granted him not only powerful speed and strength boosts but also a nourishment and sublimation of his very life essence!
"How do you feel?" Yu Boxuan walked up and asked with concern. The others also gathered around, their eyes filled with anticipation and curiosity.
"Very good." Yu Yuanchen smiled slightly, and with a thought, he activated his Eighth Soul Ring.
Hum! The blood-red Eighth Soul Ring lit up!
Purple-gold lightning surged around Yu Yuanchen, "Eighth Soul Skill one: Holy Dragon Town Prison Tribulation!"
He shouted in a low voice, his right hand grasping at the air. A thick pillar of purple-gold lightning shot into the sky. Within the pillar, countless ancient cyan runes seemed to flow, emitting a terrifying aura that suppressed all things and locked the void! Wherever the lightning pillar passed, the space distorted under the vibration, making it difficult for others to move and causing their Soul Power to stagnate!
"Eighth Soul Skill two: Holy Dragon Annihilation Divine Thunder!"
He shifted his Soul Power, summoning the Thunder Dragon Spear. The nature of the lightning around him suddenly transformed, becoming violent and filled with deathly silence. Using the dragon spear as a staff, a purple-gold dragon-shaped divine thunder struck a hill covered in green grass like a meteor. With a loud "boom," the hill was reduced to a crater over ten meters deep, and all the plants within a hundred-meter radius withered—and this was even after he had held back some of his power.
The two skills, one for control and one for attack, one for suppression and one for destruction, complemented each other perfectly. Both were highly compatible with his lightning attribute, and after being converted by his Thunder True Essence, their power was even greater!
"Good! Good! Good!" Yu Boxuan said "good" three times, his face full of comfort and pride. Both of these skills were top-tier and provided a massive boost to Yu Yuanchen's combat capability.
The others also praised him, acknowledging that a hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring and Soul Bone were truly extraordinary.
Yu Yuanchen felt the newly acquired power and was satisfied. These two skills greatly compensated for his previous lack of powerful control methods and high-damage single-target attacks, making his combat system more complete.
"This is no place to linger." Yu Boxuan suppressed his smile and looked toward the depths of the forest, his expression grave. "The commotion just now was too great. Although we didn't disturb the beings further in, there is no guarantee that other hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts won't be drawn here. We have consumed much and need to leave as soon as possible."
The others nodded and quickly packed up. Yu Qingtian carefully put away the hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit right arm Soul Bone (left behind by the mother rabbit's fall). It was a rare treasure, though it was a pity about the hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring; with no one able to absorb it, it could only be left to dissipate on its own.
Just as they were about to leave, Yu Yuanchen suddenly felt something, and the Thunder God Seal between his brows throbbed slightly. He turned his head abruptly, looking toward the depths of the Lake of Life, in the direction that seemed to connect to another world, even more dark and mysterious.
At that very moment, he felt as if, deep within that area, there was an extremely obscure yet vast, star-like, and ancient consciousness that had fluctuated ever so slightly, like a sleeping giant god turning over, before returning to silence.
Although it was fleeting, the momentary pressure made Yu Yuanchen's soul tremble, far exceeding what he had felt when facing the Sky Azure Bull Python!
"So... it was disturbed after all..." Yu Yuanchen felt a chill in his heart, but he remained composed. He knew that it must have been the Soul Beast Master sleeping in the main area of the Lake of Life—the Silver Dragon King. She did not seem to have truly awakened, perhaps because her injuries were too severe, perhaps because she did not wish to leave the Core Zone easily, or perhaps... she had her own concerns.
But regardless, this place was not a place to stay!
"Go!" he shouted in a low voice, not looking back as his figure transformed into a bolt of lightning, speeding toward the outer perimeter of the forest first.
The others followed closely behind, quickly disappearing into the Dense Forest.
Not long after they left, the space beside the tributary of the Little Lake of Life rippled slightly, and a blurry Emerald Green Figure emerged quietly. It took one look at the devastated battlefield and the lake water stained red, let out a barely audible sigh, and then vanished as quietly as it had appeared, returning to the Little Lake of Life.
Deep in the forest, a Little Rabbit with eyes full of endless sorrow and hatred looked back once toward the direction of the human world, gritted her teeth, and stumbled away toward the even further outer reaches without looking back. Without the protection of Da Ming, Er Ming, and her mother, she no longer had the qualifications to continue occupying the Little Lake of Life.
She had to survive; she had to take revenge for Da Ming, Er Ming, and her mother. She could not die here and now.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: GodKun-Chan