Once the Saber-Toothed Ice Spirit Tiger was trapped, Wei Xuan stopped moving, no longer needing to evade.
He had absolute confidence in his own Soul-Guided creations — that beast couldn't possibly escape.
Though each metal orb he'd thrown was only a third-tier Soul-Guided Device, when four of them worked in concert, they rivaled the defensive strength of a top-tier fourth-tier Soul-Guided Device.
Combined with his first Soul Skill, the cage formed by those four orbs was exceptionally sturdy. For any Soul Beast under ten thousand years, escape was virtually impossible.
Of course, exceptions existed — a handful of extraordinary Soul Beasts with overwhelming power — but those were rare.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The Saber-Toothed Ice Spirit Tiger rammed the icy walls in a frenzy, trying to break free.
But the cage was fused firmly with the ground. No matter how violently the beast charged, it couldn't shake it even an inch.
Had the cage been larger, the tiger might have gathered enough momentum to crack it, but with each wall barely five meters apart, there was no space for a full-power strike.
At nearly three meters long, the creature couldn't even turn freely — its strength neutralized by confinement.
Wei Xuan watched calmly for a moment, then began channeling Soul Power into the four metal spheres.
Those Soul-Guided devices weren't just for restraint — each contained an internal explosive mechanism.
"Boom!"
The four spheres cracked simultaneously, detonating in unison. The thunderous explosions echoed through the forest, joined by a piercing, dying roar.
Brilliant bursts of icy light bloomed outward, the shockwave tearing through the frozen prison. The reinforced ice walls shattered instantly, unleashing a wave of frigid wind that swept through the trees.
Wei Xuan stood motionless amid the storm. With a single thought, the surrounding frost gathered before him, forming a massive ice shield.
The blast wind raged for hundreds of meters. Trees swayed violently, their leaves stripped away by the gale.
When the dust settled, a suffocating aura of cold destruction lingered in the air.
Through the haze, faint purple light flickered in the distance — oppressive and eerie.
"Your Highness, congratulations," came Jing Hongchen's voice beside him. "You've slain a near-two-thousand-year Saber-Toothed Ice Spirit Tiger with your own strength."
No one knew when he'd appeared. His gaze was fixed on the devastation ahead, his expression a mixture of pride and astonishment.
A mere twentieth-rank Soul Master defeating a beast of that level — such a feat would sound impossible to anyone who heard it.
Of course, phrased differently — a fourth-tier Soul Engineer defeating a two-thousand-year Soul Beast — the shock would be less.
"It was only possible with the help of Soul-Guided Devices," Wei Xuan said with a faint smile, his tone even. "If I relied solely on Soul Power, I couldn't have killed it."
He raised a finger, releasing a gust of frost-laden wind that swept away the lingering dust.
The battlefield came into view — four massive craters connected into a jagged pit.
At the center lay the shattered corpse of the Saber-Toothed Ice Spirit Tiger, its crystalline hide torn and bloodied beyond recognition. Above the carcass floated a purple Soul Ring, faintly emanating killing intent.
Within that Soul Ring's glow seemed to flicker the tiger's spectral image, twisted and wrathful — a haunting afterimage of its death.
For a beast of such defense to be obliterated outright spoke volumes about the explosion's power.
But the price was high — the four third-tier devices had been completely destroyed.
"This is still your own strength," Jing Hongchen said, laughing heartily. "At eight years old, slaying a thousand-year Soul Beast — Your Highness, you've broken another record!"
He seemed even more excited than Wei Xuan himself. Watching this boy accomplish the impossible had become his favorite kind of thrill.
Wei Xuan smiled faintly but said nothing, walking toward the tiger's corpse.
Jing Hongchen followed with a warm smile, long accustomed to Wei Xuan's composed demeanor.
"Your Highness, absorb the Soul Ring in peace," he said reassuringly. "We'll handle everything else. No beast or schemer will come near you."
"My thanks, Hall Master," Wei Xuan replied softly, a flicker of cold light flashing in his eyes.
That chill wasn't directed at Jing Hongchen, but at those who had lured him to this place.
Just days earlier, someone had conveniently reported sighting a two-thousand-year Saber-Toothed Ice Spirit Tiger in the Jingyang Mountains.
Wei Xuan had been suspicious from the start.
Outside the Extreme North, ice-attribute Soul Beasts were exceedingly rare — much less one of the tiger's caliber. For such a creature to appear here, and with the exact cultivation years he needed, was far too coincidental.
It had to have been brought here intentionally — bait meant to lure him out.
He didn't need to think hard to know who was behind it: Xu Tiannan.
His so-called elder brothers had already perished one after another. Now, apparently, it was his turn.
He had come anyway — if they wanted to end him, he would use this opportunity to end them instead.
Being hunted was tiresome. It was time to eliminate the problem at its root.
"Seems some people never learn," Jing Hongchen said coldly, eyes narrowing. "To dare target His Highness again… they must have grown tired of living."
Wei Xuan nodded silently, then sat cross-legged to begin absorbing the Soul Ring.
Over the past two years, his cultivation had been relatively slow — or at least, it felt that way to him.
The cultivation system of the Douluo Continent differed greatly from that of the Immortal Realm. He'd needed time to adapt, to understand how to walk this new path.
Careful and methodical — progress had been steady, if not rapid. Between studying Soul-Guided Engineering and refining pills, reaching level twenty in two years was no small feat.
To others, such progress would be astonishing; to him, it merely felt… slow.
But through that slow study, he had fully unraveled the mysteries of this world's cultivation system.
And understanding the principles behind it would yield immense benefits — not just faster progress, but a clearer road ahead.
Cultivation, after all, was like walking a fog-shrouded road. Most travelers simply kept moving forward, never looking down to understand the path itself.
Few ever tried to dispel the fog — to see what truly lay beneath.
Wei Xuan had chosen differently. He wanted to pierce the haze, to find a way uniquely his own.
In this world, the limits of godhood might bind others — but not him.
Even heaven and earth themselves could not block his path.
Jing Hongchen, seeing him enter meditation, turned his attention outward.
After a moment's thought, he raised his palm. A silver barrier shimmered to life, enclosing both him and Wei Xuan within.
This was no ordinary Soul Shield. It was a ninth-tier Soul-Guided Device crafted by Kong Deming himself — the Silvermoon Flowing Light Barrier.
Only after deploying it did Jing Hongchen relax slightly, standing quietly to guard Wei Xuan as he cultivated.
"Sometimes," he murmured, glancing at the boy, "being too brilliant really does invite trouble."
If Wei Xuan weren't so gifted, perhaps there wouldn't be so much blood and jealousy around him.
Ten hours later, night had fallen.
The forest was pitch black, the moonlight unable to pierce the dense canopy.
Though Jing Hongchen kept the barrier's radiance dimmed, faint silver glimmers still leaked through — making it the most conspicuous object for miles.
The woods were silent, save for the occasional distant beast's cry.
Then—
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The silence shattered as five cannon shells streaked through the night sky, descending straight toward the Silvermoon Flowing Light Barrier.
One of them glowed with a particularly dreadful aura, the energy it radiated so oppressive that the air itself seemed to shudder.
Even before detonation, its mere presence twisted the atmosphere.
The other four shells, though weaker, were still formidable — terrifying by ordinary standards.
Any high-rank Soul Engineer who saw them would have turned pale in shock.
Because the weakest of those five shells were eighth-tier Fixed-Mounted Soul-Guided Cannon Shells.
And the strongest among them — the one blazing with deathly power — was a ninth-tier Fixed-Mounted Soul-Guided Cannon Shell.
A weapon of strategic class, one that only the Sun and Moon Empire possessed.
(End of Chapter)