Chapter 12

Four years later, Spirit Tower, intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform.

Amidst the layers of greenery, the girl was dressed in a pure white dress, her long silver hair hanging over her slender waist. Her silver-white pupils were ethereal and clear, with a pure radiance flowing like morning stars. Her features were exquisite to the point of perfection, and her otherworldly face made this world dim in comparison.

"Roar—"

Opposite the girl, the soul beast roared in fury. A crystal-clear toad, about two meters tall, was snow-white like jade, with only a pair of beast eyes that were blood-red, as if they were about to drip blood, looking exceptionally terrifying.

Zhu Qing Bing Chan, three thousand years of cultivation!

An ice, fire, and highly toxic soul beast, its territory used to be at the junction of the Jibei and the human world, known as the king in the cracks!

A flash of silver light passed, and the iconic Silver Baiyin Baiyin Longqiang was held in her hand. The girl's identity was self-evident—it was Xiang Xiang Naer four years later. One end of the Silver Baiyin Baiyin Longqiang pointed diagonally at the ground, heroic and spirited, like a majestic Valkyrie.

"Silver Dragon Rage!"

Xiang Xiang Naer shouted clearly, her voice as crisp as pearls falling on a jade plate. Two purple soul rings suddenly rose beside her, and the second soul ring bloomed with light!

Her silver eyes burned with scorching brilliance, and the Silver Baiyin Baiyin Longqiang erupted with dazzling silver light. A layer of silver dragon scales emerged from her right hand holding the spear shaft, then spread toward her entire delicate body, covering all exposed skin except for her face in the blink of an eye!

Silver Baiyin Baiyin Longqiang second soul skill, Silver Dragon Rage!

A strengthening soul skill. The Silver Long Wang bloodline within the Silver Baiyin Baiyin Longqiang fed back into Xiang Xiang Naer, causing her attack, speed, mental power, and soul skill power to skyrocket!

The amplification of Silver Dragon Rage was extremely powerful, and the flame-like colors continued to rise. Xiang Xiang Naer seemed to have transformed into a volcano in an erupting state. Intense flames adhered to the silver dragon scales, and Xiang Xiang Naer's body was hidden within them, converging into a huge silver dragon shadow. Dragon roars sounded, clear and resonant!

"Roar..."

The power Xiang Xiang Naer erupted with far exceeded her soul power. The Zhu Qing Bing Chan subconsciously retreated half a step with its hind legs. Standing opposite that silver dragon, it couldn't help but find it difficult to breathe, its heart pressed by an incredibly heavy boulder—that was the fear originating from the deepest part of its bloodline!

The three-thousand-year soul beast already possessed not-low intelligence. The human in front of it was extremely dangerous. The Zhu Qing Bing Chan understood it had to go all out. The bumps on its back ruptured, and rays of blue-white light resembling liquid shot toward Xiang Xiang Naer!

Innate soul skill, Corrosive Ice!

Although it had the word "ice" in its name, the most terrifying thing about the Zhu Qing Bing Chan was the mixed highly toxic poison born from combining the extreme cold aura of heaven and earth with the fire-attribute eyes: Zhu Qing Bing Chan poison!

Just a tiny drop would corrode a Plate-Armor Giant Rhino of the same rank into a pool of toxic water!

The Zhu Qing Bing Chan held Xiang Xiang Naer in absolute respect, almost squeezing out all the toxins in its body. The Corrosive Ice covered the sky and earth, and a dense rain of highly toxic poison fell from the sky!

However, the next second, Xiang Xiang Naer told the Zhu Qing Bing Chan: your ancestor is still your ancestor!

The silver-white dragon roared at the sky. Xiang Xiang Naer didn't dodge or evade, charging straight into the ice rain. The flames jumped with tiny black specks, and tiny spatial cracks constantly swallowed the Corrosive Ice!

Xiang Xiang Naer was the other half of the Silver Long Wang. Even if she hadn't inherited that multi-element power, her innate elemental affinity still existed. Fusing with the soul spirit Thorn Dragon was a medium that allowed her to communicate with the spatial attribute within her body; from then on, space became a weapon she controlled!

Eight or nine out of ten of the Zhu Qing Bing Chan's strength was in its highly toxic poison, and its physical fitness and close-quarters combat were not top-tier. It was instantly rushed by Xiang Xiang Naer, and the Silver Baiyin Baiyin Longqiang swept across!

First soul skill, Silver Dragon Slash!

Suspended in mid-air, the Zhu Qing Bing Chan sprayed blood wildly, not stopping until it shattered seven or eight ancient trees. Its forelimbs were shattered, its chest and abdomen cracked in large areas, and bright red hot blood meandered down, its aura withered and listless.

"Zhao Xuanzhen!"

After heavily injuring the Zhu Qing Bing Chan with one blow, Xiang Xiang Naer shouted loudly.

The person Xiang Xiang Naer spoke of had a slender and upright figure, his black hair tied up, his face fair and handsome. He wore dark cyan clothing inside and a loose robe outside, his sleeves dotted with Tai Chi totems, corresponding to the changes in yin-yang airflow.

Xiang Xiang Naer fought the Zhu Qing Bing Chan, and at the same time, a soul beast with an imposing aura stood opposite Zhao Xuanzhen.

A toad-type soul beast, its appearance not at all ferocious or disgusting, but instead infinitely exquisite and luxurious. A brilliant gold was the main body color, its eyes were bright and piercing, and three legs supported its entire body.

Four-thousand-year soul beast, Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan!

The Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan is a descendant of divine beasts, naturally controlling the metal attribute, also known as the Metal Controller.

Since the Sun Moon Empire, the predecessor of the Sun Moon Federation, the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan has held a lofty status in the Sun Moon Federation. A family with the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan as their inherited martial soul has held important positions in Sun Moon for generations!

The Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's pair of brilliant golden beast eyes were overflowing with killing intent. The two soul beasts had originally been one sleeping in the metal mining area of the Sun Moon Federation and one living on the edge of the Jibei, made into soul spirits alive by the Spirit Tower and put into the intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform simulated as the Star Dou Great Forest mixed area.

They walked together by chance and became lifelong partners. The Zhu Qing Bing Chan poison and metal control were both top-tier abilities. The two toads gradually became the overlords of the intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform, and ordinary soul beasts dared not approach.

Zhao Xuanzhen and Xiang Xiang Naer broke into their territory, and the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan was furious, bound to bury the two humans in boundless metal artillery fire!

"Creak, creak..."

Accompanied by the clanging sound of metal, circles of golden light climbed up. The skin on the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's back split open, and one after another, gun barrels formed, bathed in light!

The Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan was like a soul guidance artillery platform. Legend has it that the origin of soul guidance devices was precisely this kind of soul beast. Tens of thousands of years ago, ancient soul guidance masters imitated the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan to create soul guidance devices!

Countless metal light spots condensed all around, rushing toward the gun barrels with the momentum of all rivers running into the sea. When each point of light approached the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan, it was nourished and strengthened, and a thick golden halo spread out, the metal aura rich and boiling!

Innate soul skill, Metal Blast!

Zhao Xuanzhen's gaze was very calm, so calm that it had no temperature at all, as if everything in the world was difficult to reflect in it. That seemed to be absolute arrogance, but it was so natural, and his whole person contained a state of mind where all things were in his heart.

True Self, possess!

A wisp of black hair was dyed white, and two thousand-year soul rings rose imposingly. Distinct from Xiang Xiang Naer's bright purple, Zhao Xuanzhen's soul rings faintly revealed a pitch-black color as deep as an abyss!

The Metal Blast struck, the artillery fire roaring violently as if piercing the eardrums, forming a curtain of fire that covered the sky and sun with huge kinetic energy. A hint of human-like pride appeared in the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's eyes. The innate ability of a divine beast bloodline was not something ordinary people could touch. Its beast eyes widened slightly; it wanted to witness with its own eyes the artillery fire crushing the humans into dust!

"Quack!?"

The Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan was suddenly stunned, looking at Zhao Xuanzhen under the encirclement of the Metal Blast in disbelief.

A scene that overturned the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's four-thousand-year cognition occurred: not a single shell hit Zhao Xuanzhen. At the moment of approach, they were pulled by a force, constantly rotating around his body. The deep purple soul ring at the end of the sequence shone brightly!

Second soul skill, Yin-Yang Reversal!

The yin-yang dual Qi drew an inviolable black and white domain. Every metal shell that approached would be enveloped by the yin-yang dual Qi, thereby converging into a vortex mixed with black, white, and gold colors centered on Zhao Xuanzhen.

The Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan increased its output, refusing to believe it. Black smoke rose from the gun barrels on its back due to metal-attribute overload, but the result remained unchanged. The vortex not only didn't dissipate, but instead expanded more and more!

If the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan could speak, it would definitely laugh three times first, then point at the sky and curse: broken heaven-defying matching mechanism!

The human's soul skill on the opposite side was completely the nemesis of long-range attacks!

Immediately following, something that made the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's liver and gallbladder tremble occurred: the vortex that absorbed all its attacks actually rushed back at it. The most outrageous thing was that the energy contained within it was even greater than the total amount the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan had released!

Gold was the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's artillery fire, and black and white belonged to Zhao Xuanzhen's yin-yang. With the two major soul skills superimposed, the power would only be more terrifying than the original Metal Blast!

One knows one's own business best; the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan knew too well how powerful the two rounds of artillery fire from the Metal Blast were. As Yin-Yang Reversal descended, the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan instinctively felt there was no way to avoid it, as if its body would inevitably be annihilated by the yin-yang dual Qi in the next instant!

Yin-Yang Reversal counterattack, with a locking effect!

The principle of the Yin-Yang Reversal soul skill is not difficult to understand—nothing more than borrowing force to strike with force, turning the world around. The yin-yang dual Qi absorbs the enemy's long-range attacks, converts them into its own momentum, and strikes back, guaranteed to hit.

The current soul skill power was the greatest since Zhao Xuanzhen obtained the second soul skill, with ninety-eight percent of the credit belonging to the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's long-range artillery bombardment that had been famous on the continent for ten thousand years!

Borrowing force, striking with force—the core is the borrowed force.

If it were replaced by a Wind Baboon, Yin-Yang Reversal would have exploded the tank; the two wind balls sprayed by that lung-fog thing were not as good as one of the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's!

To counter a guaranteed-hit skill, besides the invincible virtualization, one could only try every possible way to reduce the damage. The Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's body immediately melted into liquid metal!

Yin-Yang Reversal exploded, the sharp aura of metal raging. The liquid transformed by the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan was cut into pieces, and then the liquid re-formed, turning into the bruised and battered Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan!

The Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's heart beat like a drum. Fortunately, the divine beast bloodline gave it a life-saving divine skill, otherwise it would have really died aggrieved under its own innate soul skill!

Two-on-two, the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan and the Zhu Qing Bing Chan were both heavily injured almost simultaneously. The soul beasts knew that humans would not show mercy, and the ruthlessness of a trapped beast surged in their hearts!

The Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan rushed toward the Zhu Qing Bing Chan. The two toads were like two pools of liquid merging into one, fusing into a huge red-gold toad, mixing the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan's metal and the Zhu Qing Bing Chan's highly toxic poison. A pair of black beast eyes were like a pitch-black tomb abyss!

"Soul beast version of a martial soul fusion skill, first time seeing it!" Xiang Xiang Naer flashed to Zhao Xuanzhen's side.

"There are traces to follow. Ten thousand years ago, two soul masters possessed this skill. What humans can do, soul beasts can naturally do too," Zhao Xuanzhen said.

Soul beasts not only possess fusion skills, but there even exist three-in-one fusion skills, and the fusion of the Three-Legged Sanzu Sanzu Jinchan and the Zhu Qing Bing Chan had precedents!

"I'll leave the long-range to you!"

The Silver Baiyin Baiyin Longqiang turned into a stream of light and returned to Xiang Xiang Naer's body. The silver scales on her body faded away like a tide. Xiang Xiang Naer hid safely behind Zhao Xuanzhen; the gap between the two thousand-year soul beasts and Zhao Xuanzhen was not something a martial soul fusion skill could make up for.

"Okay."

Zhao Xuanzhen smiled faintly, not caring about Xiang Xiang Naer's slacking behavior.

The second soul ring lit up, the deep purple soul ring expanding outward, and the Yin-Yang Reversal vortex enveloped them again!

The red-gold toad opened its huge mouth, a white-hot light brewing deep in its throat, filled with the cold hardness of metal and the sinister nature of ice-fire poison. A kind of near-twisted and hysterical madness erupted with a boom!

Human, let's see if you can bounce this back!

"Extremes meet!"

Zhao Xuanzhen pushed his palms flat, the yin-yang dual Qi vortex rippling. Visible ripples wrapped the light layer by layer, and the power of the martial soul fusion skill rotated rapidly in the cyclone!

Withdrawing his palms and pulling back, the martial soul fusion skill from ten thousand years ago, called Red Dust Attachment, bloomed with even more intense light, heading straight for the red-gold toad with a magnificent tail flame!

"Boom!!!"

A terrifying explosion sounded, as brilliant and gorgeous as a lotus in full bloom. In the red-gold toad's desperate eyes, Yin-Yang Reversal reflected back, destroying all life within the range of destruction.

Energy feedback, seven hundred years!

The last piece of the puzzle was filled, black covering purple!

Spirit Ascension, ten-thousand-year soul ring!

Two ten-thousand-year soul rings, black as ink, floated up and down, and Zhao Xuanzhen's aura skyrocketed accordingly.

Relying on the absolute physical support of True Self, Zhao Xuanzhen was already able to withstand two rounds of ten-thousand-year soul rings, and his mental power had broken through to the Spirit Sea Realm a year and a half ago, enough to carry a ten-thousand-year soul spirit!

Xiang Xiang Naer's body and spirit also far exceeded soul masters of the same rank, but the physical amplification provided by the Silver Baiyin Baiyin Longqiang and True Self was not on the same level. Her soul ring age had reached its limit, and she was temporarily unable to withstand two ten-thousand-year soul rings; today was to accompany Zhao Xuanzhen to complete his Spirit Ascension.

Pressing the signal device, the two left the intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform.

Waking up from the metal cabinet, the sound of high heels stepping on the floor clearly entered their ears in the quiet underground space. A slender and graceful figure came close to the two and said warmly:

"Xuanzhen, is there any abnormality in your body?"

Zhao Xuanzhen got up and looked at the figure, answering with a smile: "Everything is as usual, Teacher."

Leng Yaozhu breathed a sigh of relief. She cherished this only direct disciple too much. She had originally hoped he would wait a while before Spirit Ascension, but she couldn't overcome Zhao Xuanzhen.

"Don't worry, Aunt Leng, I'm watching him!" Xiang Xiang Naer said with a giggle.

Leng Yaozhu poked Xiang Xiang Naer's little head helplessly and said: "It's been three months since I tested your body data. Let me see your recent changes. Xuanzhen, you go first."

A helmet fell toward the top of Zhao Xuanzhen's head, and a blue crystal ball appeared in his hand.

On the white soul guidance screen, the mental power value kept jumping, and the crystal ball with a limit of thirty ranks was instantly shining, missing only the last imperceptible bit.

"Twenty-ninth rank peak," Leng Yaozhu nodded.

"There were signs of a breakthrough in soul power last night; I'll break through to Soul Venerable in two or three days at most," Zhao Xuanzhen said.

Four years, growing from thirteen to twenty-nine. If calculated at thirty, and removing the one rank of soul power provided by the second soul ring, it averaged exactly four ranks per year.

Referring to Xu Xiaoyan and Xie Xie, who were also born with full soul power, Zhao Xuanzhen's cultivation speed was like driving on a highway.

"Beep beep beep!"

The mental power value stagnated.

Six hundred sixty-six, everything goes smoothly.

Spirit Sea Realm, 500-5000, mind like the sea, vast and boundless, mental power truly reaching a high rank, can fuse five yellow soul spirits, or three purple soul spirits, one black soul spirit.

Taught everything by the innate Spirit Penetration Realm, Illusion Brain Douluo Han Tianyi, plus being trained by the True Illusionary Realm three times a week, Zhao Xuanzhen's mental power far exceeded his peers.

A moment later, Xiang Xiang Naer's data came out: twenty-seventh rank Great Soul Master, mental power five hundred twenty, Spirit Sea Realm!

"520, perfect number!"

Xiang Xiang Naer looked at the mental power value and giggled, Zhao Xuanzhen covering his face helplessly.

It's over, symptoms of love-brain are appearing!

(End of chapter)