Fight! Come on, fight!
Tang Wulin was trying his best to suppress his presence, secretly praying that the two powerful beasts would turn on each other.
If they fought, he might have a chance to escape. Even if they didn't, keeping this stalemate going would buy him more time to absorb soul energy.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as Tang Wulin hoped. The Flame Demon Lion King slowly began to back away from the Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear, clearly unwilling to engage it in battle.
As the lion king retreated, the bear turned its gaze directly toward Tang Wulin, then slowly raised its right claw.
Dark-golden light flared.
Tang Wulin's heart seized with instinctual dread. That powerful sense of danger made him yank on a Blue Silver Grass vine he had previously placed, launching himself sideways.
A massive arc of dark-golden light cleaved through the air, right where he had just been standing.
It wasn't just powerful—it was absolute.
There was no thunderous explosion, no shockwave. Everything in the path of that slash—trees, bushes, earth—was silently, cleanly cut apart.
That... was the true Darkgolden Terrorclaw.
A technique powerful enough to tear through a dragon's body.
"Screw it!"
Tang Wulin gritted his teeth and hurled his Thousand Refined Heavy Silver Hammer straight at the bear.
Nan Fusheng, controlling the bear, saw the hammer flying toward his face. He raised his claws.
Clang!
The supposedly durable hammer was effortlessly sliced into shrapnel, like a knife cutting through tofu.
That was Nan Fusheng's immediate impression.
And by then, Tang Wulin had already closed the distance.
His golden scales flickered to life as his Golden Dragon Claw emerged.
Tang Wulin had planned this—he wanted to test his dragon claw against the legendary Terrorclaw. He wouldn't be satisfied until he tried.
As Tang Wulin lunged in, the bear—Nan Fusheng—also raised its claw, dark-gold energy crackling around it.
Clang!
The Golden Dragon Claw and the Dark Golden Terrorclaw collided!
In that instant, Nan Fusheng saw a faint golden glow radiating from between Tang Wulin's brows.
Then came a strange, oppressive sensation.
A flood of rage—not his own, but something ancient—boiled up inside him.
Even more bizarre, Nan Fusheng instinctively understood it: this was bloodline fury, a deep-seated, ancestral enmity. It was hatred... mixed with a trace of fear.
The Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear inherited part of its bloodline from the mythical Golden Behemoth, a creature known in ancient times to feed on dragons.
Eventually, the dragons retaliated, and the Behemoths were nearly exterminated.
Though the bear was only a descendant with diluted blood, that ancestral memory lingered—it loathed dragons.
This hatred was so deep-rooted that even one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts, the Terrorclaw Bear King, once challenged Di Tian, the Dragon God's emissary.
The fear? That came from the bloodline emanating from Tang Wulin.
After all, the one who had led the extermination of the Behemoths... was the Dragon God himself.
And Tang Wulin bore the bloodline of the Golden Dragon King, half of the Dragon God's power, and a god-king level lineage.
So it was only natural for a creature like the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear to feel fear.
As their claws clashed, Nan Fusheng's Terrorclaw was slightly deflected.
His pupils contracted. Fortunately, in the next moment, Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Claw vanished—his soul power was depleted.
The Terrorclaw slashed down.
Tang Wulin's body was cleanly bisected, and Nan Fusheng absorbed all of the soul energy he left behind.
Meanwhile, back outside the Spirit Ascension Platform…
Nan Fusheng's real body felt a wave of numbness throughout. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the face of Wu Zhangkong.
"How are you feeling?" the teacher asked.
"Not too bad. Just a bit numb in the leg," Nan Fusheng replied.
Soon, a few staff members came over, poking various spots on his body with a popsicle-like probe.
"Can you feel this? Is it cold?"
"Yes," Fusheng answered.
"Conscious and responsive. Strange, that's fast! The other kid's hand is still twitching…"
The "other kid" was Xie Xie, whose left hand had been torn apart by the bear. He was still recovering.
Nan Fusheng sat up slowly, bracing against the edge of the metal chamber.
"I'm fine, teacher," he said firmly.
He climbed out and found Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi waiting nearby. Gu Yue stood beside Tang Wulin's pod, worried.
On the far end of the room, a crowd of staff was in chaos.
"Quick! Emergency treatment! This kid was shredded by a Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear! Why didn't he activate his emergency beacon?!"
Everyone rushed around Tang Wulin's pod, ready to administer life-saving treatment.
After all, being cut to pieces by that kind of soul beast could leave serious psychological and physical trauma.
But to their complete shock, once Tang Wulin woke up and underwent examination, the staff found…
He was fine.
Except for some mild spiritual exhaustion, his body was perfectly normal.
How?!
One kid lost a hand and is still trembling in pain.
But this kid, who was completely dismembered inside, walks away as if nothing happened?
When Tang Wulin saw Nan Fusheng safe, he let out a deep sigh of relief and quickly rushed over to Xie Xie.
The others followed.
Xie Xie's face was pale, his body trembling lightly. His left hand occasionally twitched—a more "normal" reaction to trauma in the platform.
Thankfully, only his hand had been cut off. He wasn't killed outright, so despite his condition, his mind was still clear.
"As long as everyone's safe," Wu Zhangkong said calmly.
"Fusheng... thank you."
Xie Xie's weak voice came from inside the metal pod.
"Huh? What's there to thank me for?" Nan Fusheng chuckled wryly.
Xie Xie forced a smile.
"Thanks for that kick.
If you hadn't knocked me away at that moment… I might not be talking to you right now."
"But I also owe you an apology.
If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have lost your leg.
With your strength, you wouldn't have been eliminated that early. I held you back."
Nan Fusheng smiled at him.
"Aren't we teammates? Helping each other is what we do.
If you want to thank me, just don't forget the fancy dinner you promised earlier."
"Deal!
Once I'm out of here, dinner's on me!" Xie Xie grinned.
The others couldn't help but smile too. The mood, which had been tense, instantly lightened.