Chapter 10: A Fifty-Thousand-Year Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion? Absorbing a Soul Ring, Rank 55!
Even now, with its four limbs crippled and lying on the ground struggling for breath, its brilliant golden mane still exuded the majesty of a king.
Its eyes were a strange platinum color; though dim, they still held a fierce, untamable glint.
"Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion."
Yu Jingcheng slowly walked to the iron cage, looking at this former overlord of the forest, a cruel smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
"Fifty thousand years of cultivation."
"Possessing the ultimate dual attributes of Light and Fire, its attack power is top-tier among Soul Beasts of the same level."
This Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion was captured by Yu Jingcheng back when he was still a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Beast, near an ancient ruin.
It took quite a bit of effort to capture it alive back then.
"Fifty thousand years..."
Yu Jingcheng muttered to himself.
For an ordinary Soul Master, the limit for the fifth Soul Ring is usually around twelve thousand years.
Even for those gifted Geniuses, they could only barely absorb one just over twenty thousand years.
Jumping straight to fifty thousand years?
That was absolutely a suicidal act with no chance of survival.
The soul shock remaining after a fifty-thousand-year Soul Beast dies is enough to turn a Soul Sect's Sea of Consciousness into an idiot.
But Yu Jingcheng was different.
As a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Beast who had undergone Possession.
Yu Jingcheng's Spiritual Power was already at the Titled Douluo level.
Furthermore, he possessed a perfect Physical Body tempered by the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"The twenty-thousand-year Heavenly Dragon Horse was just a warm-up for me."
"You are the true feast I have prepared for myself."
Yu Jingcheng opened the iron cage's Restriction and stepped inside.
"Roar..."
The Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion let out a low growl.
It felt the dangerous aura emanating from the human before it—a Dragon's majesty even more terrifying than its own at its peak.
"Don't be afraid, it will be over soon."
Yellow, yellow, red, black—four Soul Rings pulsed out from Yu Jingcheng.
Especially that blood-red hundred thousand year spirit ring, which looked exceptionally eerie in the dim cave.
"Offer up your Soul Ring and help me break through the shackles of Rank 50."
"In return, I will take your power and ascend to the peak!"
"Light Holy Dragon, send it on its way."
Yu Jingcheng waved his hand indifferently, as if shooing away a bothersome fly.
Ang—!
The Light Holy Dragon, already poised to strike, let out a deafening roar.
Its massive Dragon claw, wreathed in brilliant golden light and carrying the weight of a mountain, slammed heavily onto the Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion's head.
Crack!
There was no suspense, and no miracle.
This top-tier Soul Beast with fifty thousand years of cultivation, which had once commanded the winds and clouds, was now gravely injured and dying; it had no power to resist the full-force strike of the Light Holy Dragon.
Its skull shattered instantly, and those golden eyes, filled with resentment and ferocity, quickly dimmed. Its massive body twitched a few times before going completely limp on the ground, devoid of life.
Buzz—
Following the death of the Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion.
A fifty-thousand-year Soul Ring slowly condensed!
This was an age that ordinary Soul Masters would only dare to attempt absorbing during the Soul Saint stage, specifically for their seventh Soul Ring.
"Come, let me see to what height fifty thousand years of Ultimate Fire and Light can push my strength."
Yu Jingcheng sat cross-legged and formed a strange seal before his chest.
A pulling force erupted, and that incredibly heavy black Soul Ring slowly drifted over, settling around him.
Boom!
The moment the Soul Ring entered his body, Yu Jingcheng's frame jolted violently.
If the Soul Power of the twenty-thousand-year Heavenly Dragon Horse was a rushing river, then the Soul Power of this fifty-thousand-year Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion was a raging tsunami of lava!
Violent, scorching, and filled with destructive energy, it instantly surged into his limbs and bones.
Simultaneously, an extremely powerful mental shock, carrying the Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion's sky-high resentment and unwillingness from before its death, slammed hard into Yu Jingcheng's Sea of Consciousness.
soul shock!
This was a backlash unique to Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beasts; the higher the age, the stronger the shock.
A soul shock of the fifty-thousand-year level was enough to instantly turn a Soul King with weak Spiritual Power into an idiot.
But before Yu Jingcheng, this was merely an ant trying to shake a tree.
"Hmph, a mere remnant soul dares to act presumptuously before me?"
Deep within Yu Jingcheng's Sea of Consciousness, that vast Spiritual Power—belonging to a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Beast's reincarnation and comparable to a Titled Douluo—instantly transformed into a golden giant Dragon, letting out a majestic roar at the intruding lion soul.
Roar—!
With just a single Dragon roar, the Golden-Eyed Sacred Lion's resentment dissolved like snow meeting a blazing sun, turning into the purest mental nourishment and being completely devoured by Yu Jingcheng.
Having resolved the mental issue, what remained was the physical Fusion.
Sizzle, sizzle...
The massive energy brought by the fifty-thousand-year Soul Ring rampaged through his Meridians, attempting to tear this human body apart.
However, the "Ice Fire Golden Body" tempered by the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well displayed its dominance at this moment.
Yu Jingcheng's entire skin took on a lustrous jade-like sheen; no matter how the violent energy surged, his Meridians remained as tough as ever, even greedily absorbing the energy to strengthen themselves.
Time passed minute by minute.
The originally violent black Soul Ring gradually stabilized, pulsing with Yu Jingcheng's breathing as it perfectly integrated into his Martial Soul.
Yellow, yellow, red, black, black.
Five Soul Rings were neatly arranged beneath Yu Jingcheng's feet; the configuration of one red and two black at the end would likely cause anyone else's jaw to drop if they saw it.
"Break!"
Yu Jingcheng snapped his eyes open, two golden beams of light shooting out.
The long-wavering Rank barrier within his body instantly shattered under the impact of this massive Soul Power.
The long-accumulated Soul Power rose frantically like a flood breaking through a dam.
Rank 51!
Rank 52!
...
Rank 54!
Finally, Yu Jingcheng's aura settled steadily at the Rank 55 Soul King Realm!
Breaking through five Ranks in a row!
This was due to the foundation of a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Beast's reincarnation, the residual medicinal power of two top-tier Immortal Herbs, and the terrifying bonuses from the over-leveled absorption of the twenty-thousand-year and fifty-thousand-year Soul Rings.
"Rank 55..."
Yu Jingcheng clenched his fists, feeling the seemingly infinite power within his body, a wild laugh full of ambition curling his lips.
"Now, even without using my trump cards, I am strong enough to crush ordinary Soul Emperors."
"If I go all out..."
"Below the Soul Saint level, I am invincible!"
"Since the main course has been finished, there's no need to keep these 'side dishes' anymore."
Yu Jingcheng restrained his wild aura, his indifferent gaze sweeping over the remaining Soul Beasts in the cavern.
The Wind Thunder Bird with broken wings, the Scaled Armor Beast with shattered scales, and that pitch-black Ghost Tiger currently huddled in the corner, trembling.
Although they were also Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beasts, in Yu Jingcheng's eyes, neither their Bloodline nor their age could catch his interest anymore.
Keeping them would only risk exposing this base and might even bring unnecessary trouble.