Chapter 12: Exceeding the Age Limit, First Spirit Ring.
Flanders saw the scene before him, a slightly cunning smile curling his lips.
He knew his chance had arrived. The two spirit beasts before him were already at the end of their strength.
"Cat Owl, possess!"
Flanders summoned his martial spirit. His wings spread out, and seven spirit rings—two yellow, two purple, and three black—emerged. He then transformed into a dark shadow and swooped down towards the Earth Dragon Emperor.
His incredibly skilled technique clearly showed that Flanders had done this sort of thing before.
He also understood the saying, "A lean camel is bigger than a horse." Although his own strength was already superior to the Earth Dragon Emperor, to prevent a sudden capsize or the Earth Dragon Emperor's self-destruction, he immediately exerted his full strength, aiming to render it unconscious.
As spirit beasts at the pinnacle of the spirit beast pyramid, the Earth Dragon Emperor and the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear naturally possessed highly acute senses.
By this time, they had spotted the human not far away, and he was charging towards them, targeting the Earth Dragon Emperor.
"Roar!" "Roar!"
The Earth Dragon Emperor and the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear roared at the two simultaneously, but made no move.
This was clearly a warning; if Flanders approached any closer, the two soul beasts would attack together.
While the warnings were heeded, Flanders was unlikely to take them seriously.
Even though these two hundred-year-old soul beasts were comparable to ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts,
Flanders was a Soul Sage after all. Two injured hundred-year-old soul beasts were no match for him.
In the next second, the roaring Earth Dragon Emperor was struck down by Flanders' blow, leaving him defenseless.
Seeing this, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's pupils narrowed.
Then, with fear in its eyes, it regarded the human before it, knowing it would be easy for him to kill it.
Then, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear roared threateningly toward the sky. But it made no move, or rather, dared not advance any further.
The Earth Dragon Emperor's fate had already shaken it.
As for Flanders, he ignored the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. After confirming that the Earth Dragon Emperor had completely lost its resistance, he waved to Xuan Mo behind him, signaling him to come forward.
When Xuan Mo reached him, Flanders pointed at the Earth Dragon Emperor and said, "Mo, I estimate it's around four hundred years old. Now it's yours."
Then, he said to the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, "Get out of here. I won't kill you today."
He turned and began to warily monitor his surroundings, keeping a peripheral eye on the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. If it made any unusual movements, he would leave it behind as well.
Although the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear couldn't understand human language, it understood that the two men were targeting the Earth Dragon Emperor, not it.
Without hesitation, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear decisively left.
Seeing this, Xuan Mo breathed a sigh of relief and unsheathed a sharp blade from his "King Kong."
Looking at the dying Earth Dragon Emperor before him, Xuan Mo, without hesitation, stabbed it in the head wound, destroying its nerve center and ending its life.
A yellow spirit ring slowly rose from the Earth Dragon Emperor's corpse and appeared before him.
Xuan Mo, however, was unsure of its age.
But after a moment of contemplation, Xuan Mo no longer hesitated. He sat cross-legged and gazed at the Earth Dragon Emperor's spirit ring. A glint of heat flashed in his eyes, and he began to absorb it.
The yellow spirit ring slowly drifted towards Xuan Mo, transforming into a stream of light and merging into his body, casting a veil of yellow light on Xuan Mo.
Soon, however, Xuan Mo could clearly feel a surge of heat rushing into his body. Before he could react, the heat began to burn his body like a scorching flame, and the soul power contained in the spirit ring coursed wildly through his meridians.
Under the powerful surge of soul power, Xuan Mo felt as if his body were about to explode, the excruciating pain nearly causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
This movement immediately caught Flender's attention, his gaze now grave.
"Oh no! I'm afraid this Earth Dragon Emperor's cultivation has surpassed four hundred years, perhaps even five hundred. This is terrible. He's absorbing beyond the age limit of his soul ring."
Flender's tone was already tinged with a wry smile, and he blamed himself. "It's all my fault. I didn't know the soul beast's age before letting it absorb. Sigh! Now I can only hope that young Mo can survive this. Otherwise..."
Xuan Mo felt a throbbing pain throughout his internal organs as the powerful energy tore at his body.
If it weren't for his exceptional physique, coupled with his training from a young age, which had honed his strength to that of a middle-aged man with a newly acquired beast spirit, his body would have long since succumbed to the energy's impact and exploded.
"Damn it! I didn't expect this Earth Dragon Emperor's cultivation to be so advanced!"
Xuan Mo's body was pounded furiously by the Earth Dragon Emperor's remaining power, leaving only his consciousness.
As Xuan Mo and the spirit ring energy reached a stalemate, a smile played on his lips.
"Luckily, I still have a backup plan!"
Instantly, Xuan Mo's martial spirit possessed him, and his clothes were torn apart.
Flender, though somewhat alarmed by this, did nothing. During this process, all he could do was prevent Xuan Mo from being disturbed by the outside world.
Just as Xuan Mo completed his spirit possession, a black vortex slowly formed around him.
As Flender watched in astonishment, the vortex slowly absorbed the raging energy from the spirit ring, transforming it into pure energy, nourishing Xuan Mo's bloodstained body and healing all the wounds. Soon, Xuan Mo's body stabilized.
But within Xuan Mo's consciousness, a khaki Earth Dragon King roared furiously.
Then, filled with resentment, the Earth Dragon King lunged forward, as if to destroy Xuan Mo's consciousness.
But just then, a massive beast with a human face and a goat's body, eyes in its armpits, and tiger teeth and human hands slowly emerged.
Upon seeing the giant beast, the remnant of the Earth Dragon Emperor suddenly quieted down, huddled aside and trembled, not daring to make any rash moves.
The giant beast simply glanced at it, then opened its mouth slightly and swallowed the remnant of the Earth Dragon Emperor in one gulp, then slowly disappeared into Xuan Mo's sea of consciousness.
(End of this chapter)