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**
Ling Xiao executed Explosive Step, launching a rapid, zigzagging assault.
The flurry of afterimages left the Gale Demon Wolf dazed and unable to distinguish his true form, its subordinates having already been scattered by the residual shockwaves of the previous Golden Desolation.
"Eight Extremes Collapse!!!"
Ling Xiao let out a thunderous shout.
His right fist erupted with a blackish-red glow of soul power as he aimed directly for the thousand-year Gale Demon Wolf's skull. He was unleashing the signature lethal move of the Eight Extremes Fist: the Eight Extremes Collapse.
After five years of cultivation, he had not only raised his soul power to the Soul Elder realm but had also kept up with his other disciplines. His Ox Demon Force Fist had reached a deep level of proficiency; though not yet at Great Completion, he had mastered fifty percent of its essence.
Once he returned, he could begin learning the Tiger Demon Bone-Forging Fist to further cast his physical foundation. Beyond that, his Eight Extremes Fist had already reached the stage of Great Completion.
Every move and stance carried condensed, absolute fist force, and he had fully mastered its ultimate technique, the Eight Extremes Collapse. Now, coupled with Ling Xiao's physical strength and overbearing soul power, this lethal strike displayed its true terror.
The punch landed squarely on the thousand-year Gale Demon Wolf's head.
Among wolf-type Soul Beasts, there is a saying: "Copper head, iron bones, and a tofu waist." Yet even the wolf's hardest part—the skull—was left bloodied and battered under the assault of the Eight Extremes Collapse's nine layers of hidden force.
BOOM!
A massive explosion echoed.
The thousand-year Gale Demon Wolf let out a pathetic wail as it was sent flying like a lifeless corpse. It slammed into a giant tree several meters thick and slid down, bleeding from all seven facial orifices.
Its blood dyed the fur on its head a deep, tragic crimson—a truly wretched sight. However, judging by the lingering aura on its body and the slight twitching of its limbs, it hadn't been killed instantly.
A thousand-year Soul Beast wasn't that easy to slay, though it was now severely incapacitated.
Ling Xiao smiled faintly, preparing to finish it off with another punch, when the sound of rushing wind whistled behind him. He instantly sensed an attack coming from his rear—it was the near two-thousand-year Vajra Tiger.
Seeing the wolf defeated, it could no longer restrain itself and struck.
Simultaneously, the dozen hundred-year Gale Demon Wolves that had been driven back earlier also pounced forward in unison, intending to swarm Ling Xiao alongside the Vajra Tiger and tear him to pieces.
With a cold snort, Ling Xiao did not flee. He pressed his hands together in front of his chest, circulating a massive amount of soul power while mobilizing his Martial Soul's origin to trigger the power of his third soul ring.
A purple thousand-year soul ring rose rapidly from beneath his feet.
At that moment, the blackish-red soul power radiating from Ling Xiao's body gradually shifted to gold, as if the very attribute of the Profound Sky Axe's origin power was being transformed by the third soul ring.
"Third soul skill: Vajra Barrier!"
The golden light grew increasingly brilliant.
Ling Xiao separated his hands, thrusting them diagonally upward with palms facing outward. Light followed his movement, and with a low shout, the radiance exploded.
A massive golden pillar of light expanded with Ling Xiao at its center, soaring into the heavens and shielding him within. The golden pillar rotated slowly, exuding an aura of being inviolable by all things, as the phantom of a giant tree emerged within the light.
BANG!
For the second time that day, as Ling Xiao unleashed this defensive soul skill he had gone through so much trouble to obtain, his body was protected by golden light.
The unlucky Vajra Tiger once again felt as if it had slammed into a solid wall, being vibrated back along with the dozen or so hundred-year wolves. However, this time, the Vajra Tiger had struck with its full power.
Its thick paws slammed violently against the golden light wall, aided by the dozen Gale Demon Wolves. Furthermore, Ling Xiao was only at Rank 33, which was significantly lower than the tiger's cultivation level.
Thus, while the Vajra Barrier blocked the attack, it wasn't effortless; the solidified golden energy wall trembled slightly, proving that the Vajra Tiger's strength was formidable enough to shake his defenses.
Truth be told, this wasn't Ling Xiao being arrogant by praising his opponent for merely "shaking" him; it was because his third soul ring was truly extraordinary.
When he first broke through to Rank 30 and informed Mu Chen that he wanted a defensive soul skill, it had genuinely surprised his master.
After all, Mu Chen knew Ling Xiao's combat style and personality well after all these years—the boy always preferred frontal assaults and head-on collisions.
To want a defensive skill for his third soul ring was unexpected.
While it seemed unrealistic for a weapon-type Martial Soul to obtain a defensive skill, it wasn't impossible; it followed the same logic as Ling Xiao obtaining a strength-augmentation skill for his second soul ring.
However, it was significantly harder.
The Profound Sky Axe not only possessed immense attack power but also strong strength characteristics. When absorbing a soul ring from a beast specialized in strength, the Axe's origin—since Ling Xiao's cultivation was still low.
He hadn't fully mastered it—was easily influenced by the beast's traits, making a strength-augmentation skill likely. In the Soul Beast world, those specialized in defense usually possessed massive bodies and high strength as well.
If the Profound Sky Axe absorbed such a ring, the interaction between the ring's power and the Martial Soul's origin would likely lean toward strength or attack under the Axe's influence; the chance of generating a pure defensive skill was low.
Therefore, according to Mu Chen, to ensure Ling Xiao got what he wanted, they had to choose a Soul Beast with a bloodline strong enough, cultivation high enough, and—most importantly—defensive traits so absolute that they overshadowed everything else.
It needed to show as little strength or attack tendency as possible. Only then could the soul ring maintain its essence during absorption without being swayed by the Profound Sky Axe, preventing the skill from veering toward power or offense.
The difficulty lay in the fact that such Soul Beasts were hard to find.
Generally, the high-defense races like the Diamond Mammoth, Armor Plated Giant Rhinoceros, or Armored Beast were all massive and powerful. Finding a Soul Beast that was "all defense, no offense" was theoretically difficult.
The Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan, had taken Ling Xiao into the Star Dou Forest for several months without finding a single suitable candidate. At one point, even Ling Xiao considered giving up on the defensive skill.
Fortunately, his wish was finally granted—not because Yue Guan found a beast, but because Pope Bibi Dong, upon hearing of their fruitless search, summoned them back to Spirit Hall. As for the Soul Beast Ling Xiao needed, Bibi Dong solved it for him.
As the hegemon of the Soul Master world with ten thousand years of heritage, Spirit Hall's foundations were beyond comparison. Years ago, Spirit Hall had discovered an extremely precious and powerful top-tier plant-type Soul Beast: the Shala Iron Tree.
Although the Shala Iron Tree was a plant, it was born with a Vajra Strength Body that was immune to all methods. Its defensive power was unrivaled among plant-type Soul Beasts and ranked among the very best across all Soul Beast races of equal cultivation.
Even the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum was said to be "Indestructible," but it could not compare to the Shala Iron Tree. When Spirit Hall first discovered this tree, its cultivation was too low and there was no suitable person to take it.
Instead of letting someone absorb it, they brought it back to Spirit Hall to let it grow and cultivate slowly until a worthy candidate appeared.
This spoke volumes of its rarity.
**
Enjoying the story? Support the translation and get early access to future chapters here: www.patr eon.com/c/FanficTranslator
Thanks for reading!
I have 70 advanced chapter now on Patreon. I will post 5 advanced chapter on Patreon everyday except Sunday