Chapter 131: Dark Demon Bone Vulture

It was just that their luck was bad; at the crucial moment they were intercepted by another group of Soul Masters.

Such incidents are commonplace; it all comes down to strength.

I had expected a scene of two Soul Master factions battling over a Soul Beast, but a wolf howl instantly made the situation tense.

In the Star Dou Great Forest, even within the Outer Perimeter, one must be especially cautious of gregarious Soul Beasts.

Among these Soul Beasts, wolf packs are the most common and also extremely dangerous gregarious Soul Beasts; their numbers cannot be ignored, and their strict discipline makes them hard to deal with.

Pairs of scarlet pupils, bodies over three meters long, gray‑brown fur.

Centennial Rift‑Claw Wolf!

Tie Li's current position happened to be inside their encirclement.

The other two SoulMasterForce factions ceased their quarrel; now the problem they face is how to escape the wolf pack's encirclement, no longer a fight over a Soul Beast.

The pack numbers over a hundred, and each is a centennial‑level cultivator; such a pack is terrifying.

Tie Li plans to break through the pack's encirclement at a single point; their target should be the two Soul Masters, and he is merely unlucky to be inside their encirclement.

Summoning his martial soul and Soul Ring, Tie Li scans the pack's directions, trying to find the weakest spot.

As they draw nearer, Tie Li realizes he cannot continue; when the encirclement shrinks to a certain degree, the gathered wolves become the most terrifying.

First and Third Soul Rings flare, Tie Li erupts, launching an attack in one direction.

"Hmm?"

Tie Li is startled; the wolf pack actually opens a gap.

Is this to let me leave?

The wolf king hidden in the shadows senses a dangerous aura on Tie Li, and its target is the other two Soul Masters; it does not intend to deal with Tie Li and cause unnecessary casualties in the pack.

Tie Li bursts into top speed, escaping the wolf pack's encirclement.

Sure enough, after Tie Li leaves, the pack quickly fills the gap, forming an encirclement around the two SoulMasterForce factions.

He immediately retreats from the spot, finally sighing in relief.

A single centennial Rift‑Claw Wolf is easy to handle, but this is a pack of them, with a wolf king lurking in the shadows.

Fortunately, their target is not me.

For the next ten days or so, Tie Li tries to venture deeper, but Soul Beasts harbor strong hostility toward Soul Masters; when attacked by a thousand‑year Soul Beast, he must kill it, as mere intimidation to avoid combat is useless.

"Boom"

Tie Li smashes the thousand‑year Iron‑Arm Ape's head with a hammer, then finally lets out a long sigh of relief.

This is the eighth thousand‑year Soul Beast encountered; after it dies, a purple Soul Ring emerges from the corpse.

Suddenly, Tie Li feels a deadly danger surge toward him.

He immediately rolls forward, barely evading the incoming claws.

Thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vulture!

Its spread wings exceed five meters, making it a rare gregarious avian Soul Beast.

Two thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vultures, six centennial Dark Demon Bone Vultures!

The thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vulture is massive; its wings lack any feathers or flesh, a pristine bone frame covered by gray‑white bone armor, contrasting sharply with the black feathers on its body, and its sharp eyes seem able to spot an opponent's weak points at any moment.

The creature that just attacked Tie Li was a thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vulture; possessing dark attributes, they prefer the flesh and blood of human Soul Masters over rotting Soul Beast corpses.

Distinguishing a thousand‑year from a centennial Dark Demon Bone Vulture can be done by size alone; the former is considerably larger.

If they are ten‑thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vultures, one must look at their wings; when they transition from the Thousand-Year Tier to the ten‑thousand‑year level, they grow an additional pair of Bone Wings, a tier‑based metamorphosis granting the possibility of evolving toward a higher bloodline.

When cultivation exceeds thirty‑thousand years, they sprout another pair of Bone Wings; upon breaking through to fifty‑thousand years, they can awaken a hidden divine beast bloodline, no longer ordinary Soul Beasts.

But Dark Demon Bone Vultures that can break through to fifty‑thousand years are exceedingly rare.

The leading thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vulture, seeing its attack miss, lets out an unpleasant screech, immediately summoning another thousand‑year and a centennial Dark Demon Bone Vulture to reorganize the assault.

"Oh no!"

Tie Li mutters under his breath that this is bad; aerial Soul Beasts are far harder to deal with than terrestrial ones, especially since he lacks anti‑air tactics.

"Eek"

The thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vulture flies at great speed; a moment of carelessness will lose its trail.

Tie Li can only face them, retreating continuously, his two eyes fixed on the shape of the thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vulture.

The violet lightning hammer emits crackling Lightning Light, sharpening his focus to the optimum; he must make them know he is not to be trifled with, in hopes they will back off.

Six centennial Dark Demon Bone Vultures suddenly change formation into a straight line, launching an attack on Tie Li.

The other two thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vultures lie in wait at a distance; should Tie Li show any flaw, they will launch an assault without hesitation.

First and Third Soul Rings flare, two major Amplification Soul Techniques boost his condition to peak.

Just as their claws are about to strike Tie Li, his Second Soul Ring ignites.

"Boom"

A hammer blast erupts, instantly turning three centennial Dark Demon Bone Vultures into shredded flesh; the other three are hit by the aftershock, flailing their Bone Wings in panic, nearly falling from the sky.

The other two thousand‑year Dark Demon Bone Vultures, seeing this scene, anxiously flutter their Bone Wings; as Tie Li had guessed, when they realize the human Soul Master before them is not to be trifled with, they intend to abandon the siege.

"Buzz"

A faint tremor rises from the ground; a dangerous aura emerges from below.

"Sizzle"

A thousand‑year Earth‑Raging Rat bursts from the soil, its claws over three inches long aimed at the spot beneath Tie Li.

Facing a Soul Beast, Tie Li need not worry about the effects of his soul bone being exposed.

Right‑leg bone soul skill, Ten‑Thousand‑Jun Mountain‑Shaking Strike!

The soul skill derived from pure power soul bone wields formidable power.

"Snap"

A single strike fell, and the thousand-year earth-violent rat's body instantly exploded, chunks of flesh spraying in all directions.

But the thousand-year earth-violent rat's sudden attack also gave the two thousand-year dark magic bone vultures an opportunity.

One on the left, one on the right, they simultaneously attacked Tie Li from both sides; their speed was so great that Tie Li barely had time to react.

The Purple Lightning Hammer was aimed at the dark magic bone vulture on the right, while Tie Li planned to withstand the attack of the other thousand-year dark magic bone vulture using his Lightning Armor.

Boom—

Zizzle

The Purple Lightning Hammer smashed onto the dark magic bone vulture's body, its body instantly dented; however, the claws of the other thousand-year dark magic bone vulture swept up a large area of Lightning Light on the Lightning Armor, appearing about to break through the defense, when a chain wrapped in Lightning Light seized its neck, and with a violent tug, it lost its balance.

The horn on the hammer's handle pierced its eye, penetrating its entire skull.

"Elder, the thousand-year earth-violent rat was killed by him."

Tie Li had just killed two thousand-year dark magic bone vultures when a group of Soul Masters arrived, but their target was the thousand-year earth-violent rat that Tie Li had blasted to death.

The leader, over fifty years old, had cloudy eyes that swept over the violent rat and Tie Li.

Upon seeing the dark magic bone vulture, his eyes instantly lit up.

The Bone Wing of the dark magic bone vulture is a very precious material; even a hundred-year dark magic bone vulture can fetch a considerable price, let alone two thousand-year ones.

(End of chapter)