Douluo Continent: The Eternal Dawn

Chapter 103 Soul Ring Mutation
Zhang Lexuan and Ye Xixuan exchanged a glance, then warned in a deep voice, "Everyone, be careful, a soul beast is approaching."

Ma Xiaotao and Vina, who were meditating cross-legged on the ground, opened their eyes at the same time.

When they entered the Star Dou Great Forest earlier, the group avoided most of the soul beasts, so Ma Xiaotao's soul power was hardly depleted. Her reason for meditating was mainly to relieve mental fatigue and maintain her condition; after all, for soul masters, meditation is more effective than any other form of rest.

Vina's soul power had also recovered to its peak during the half-hour meditation.

Vina stood up and came to Ye Xixuan's side. Her emerald green eyes instantly turned into a strange bright silver, and her mental sharing had already fallen on everyone.

Under her mental detection soul skill, Ye Xixuan was finally able to see the appearance of the three soul beasts.

Despite being wolf-shaped spirit beasts, their length exceeded five meters, and their shoulder height was well over one and a half meters. This was a massive size that surpassed lion and tiger spirit beasts and was comparable to bear spirit beasts, which was extremely rare to see in wolf-type spirit beasts.

"A wolf-type soul beast with dark attributes?" Ma Xiaotao stepped forward, blocking the crowd, a hint of doubt appearing in her eyes.

"How come it's so big?"

"Xiao Tao, don't be careless. This should be a mutated soul beast," Zhang Lexuan said calmly in a low voice.

Mutant spirit beasts have always been a very important research topic at Shrek Academy, much like the mutation of martial spirits in human spirit masters. So-called mutant spirit beasts can become stronger or weaker.

The only explanation for how large wolf-type spirit beasts can grow is that they are mutants, and powerful mutants at that.

Ye Xixuan had already recognized the three wolf-type soul beasts from his memories of his past life. He calmly continued to add to Zhang Lexuan's words, "Sister Lexuan, Sister Xiaotao, these are variants of wolf-type and ape-type soul beasts."

"What do I care about some mutant soul beast? It's just three mere ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts." Ma Xiaotao curled her lip disdainfully, and with a light tap of her toes, she shot out like an arrow. Her eyes blazed with intense light, and fiery red feathers quietly appeared around her body.

The intense golden-red flames, carrying a terrifying aura, instantly illuminated the entire area.

The three giant wolves were not intimidated by Ma Xiaotao's imposing aura. Instead, they seemed to be enraged, letting out a roar to the sky. A layer of purple light shone on their magnificent bodies, and they raised their two front paws, standing upright.

At first glance, they actually resemble human bodies, with bulging muscles that exude explosive power, except for their heads, which are completely wolf-like.

Zhang Lexuan could only shake her head helplessly at Ma Xiaotao's recklessness, but she did not stop her.

The inner disciples of Shrek Academy are all undisputed elites, and fighting opponents of higher levels is commonplace for them. Not to mention someone like Ma Xiaotao, whose soul power cultivation has reached level 70 and who is a quasi-Soul Saint. In addition to her six soul rings with the best possible ratio, she also possesses at least three soul bones, making her combat power enough to crush some ordinary seven-ring Soul Saints.

Three ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts were naturally not enough to pose a threat to her.

Zhang Lexuan simply stood by calmly, keeping watch for Ma Xiaotao, while also keeping an eye out for any other soul beasts approaching.

Vina leaned close to Ye Xixuan's ear and casually asked, "Xixuan, since these three wolf-axes are mutated soul beasts, their quality should be quite good. I can sense through my spiritual power that their cultivation level is around 12,000 years. Are you considering them as your fourth soul ring?"

"To me, their cultivation levels are actually a bit low," Ye Xixuan said with a smile and shook his head.

"With my current physical strength, the maximum age of my fourth spirit ring should be around 30,000 years. However, since they are mutated spirit beasts, the probability of them dropping spirit bones should be higher. Since we've encountered them, there's no reason for us to let them go, especially since they attacked us first." If it's really as he remembered from his previous life, these three wolf-apes can drop three identical spirit bones. After fusing them, the quality would definitely be top-grade among ten-thousand-year spirit bones.

Furthermore, the soul bone contains a powerful teleportation soul skill.

In the world of Soul Masters, teleportation has always been known as a life-saving skill, and Soul Bones with teleportation Soul Skills are rare and precious.

Faced with Ma Xiaotao's approach, the three wolf-apes, despite their own confidence, still couldn't help but feel the pressure.

Apes and other ape-like spirit beasts are renowned for their intelligence; they possess not only formidable physiques but also considerable wisdom. They immediately changed their original plan, deciding to join forces to deal with Ma Xiaotao first.

The three wolf-axes shifted slightly, their upper bodies hunched over and crawling, somewhat resembling the wolf-bandits described in ancient texts, appearing as werewolves.

A dense aura of darkness suddenly burst forth from them, and clusters of purplish-black bubbles rapidly spread from the ground, covering Ma Xiaotao engulfing her.

Ma Xiaotao snorted coldly, and her second and third spirit rings flashed one after another. Above her head, the phantom of the Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul looked up and let out a clear and melodious phoenix cry.

With the amplification of her second soul skill, Phoenix Rebirth, and her third soul skill, Phoenix Wings Soaring to the Sky, her entire body was engulfed in brilliant golden-red flames, and the feathers of her phoenix wings behind her seemed to transform into flames.

The combined power of her two amplification-type soul skills is by no means inferior to that of an ordinary ten-thousand-year soul skill.

Before Ma Xiaotao even arrived, the purplish-black bubbles had already burst and vanished into nothingness under the terrifying heat of the phoenix flames.

The two soul skills, Phoenix Reborn and Phoenix Wings Soaring, not only amplify the power of her phoenix flames, but also maximize her speed.

Immediately afterwards, Ma Xiaotao's legs also lit up at the same time. Rings of golden-red light instantly flowed backward from her long legs, followed by two beams of golden-red flames shooting out from the soles of her feet. This was not her spirit ring skill, but a spirit bone skill, and specifically, two identical leg spirit bones.

Ma Xiaotao was already seething with anger, so how could she possibly hold back when these three wolf-apes delivered themselves to her doorstep? Due to her rapid increase in speed in a short period of time, a series of explosions and shrieks erupted in the air wherever she went.

She actually used four soul skills at the same time to amplify her speed. The burst of power she generated in that instant was probably unmatched even by a seventh or eighth-ring level expert.

With a deafening roar and explosion, Ma Xiaotao crashed into the three-headed wolf ape like a fiery meteor. Golden-red phoenix flames splashed out in all directions, and the forest within a hundred meters in diameter seemed to be covered with a dazzling layer of fire. The ground trembled violently, startling the soul beasts in the distance, who roared angrily.

However, through Vina's shared mental detection, Ma Xiaotao clearly knew that the three wolf-apes were not directly hit by her attack, but suddenly teleported to a place dozens of meters away, avoiding the center of the fire eruption.

The three wolf-axes surrounded Ma Xiaotao in a pincer-like formation. Their bodies staggered backward under the impact of the violent energy, and some parts of their bodies were even scorched black by the phoenix flames.

With a wave of her right hand, Ma Xiaotao surveyed her surroundings with a haughty gaze, her wings fully unfurling behind her. Bathed in the crimson flames around her, she resembled a phoenix truly reborn from the ashes.

"Hmph! So what if you teleport? Do you really think you can escape unscathed from me?!"

"Xiao Tao, watch out!"

Just then, Zhang Lexuan's exclamation came from afar.

Just as Ma Xiaotao realized what was happening, she saw a purplish-black halo light up beneath the feet of each of the three wolf-apes. The three purplish-black lights suddenly magnified in her vision, and at the moment the three halos overlapped, she found herself right at the center of their intersection.

A cruel glint flashed deep in the eyes of the three-headed wolf ape. In an instant, Ma Xiaotao felt as if her entire body was bound by a tremendous force, and all her soul power fell silent.

At this moment, the three-headed wolf-ape's entire body turned into an almost transparent purplish-black, transforming into a pillar of light that soared into the sky. The three intersecting purplish-black rings on the ground shone brightly, seemingly about to immobilize her within them.

"A Trinity Martial Soul Fusion Technique?!" Ma Xiaotao was shocked. She never imagined that this legendary Trinity Martial Soul Fusion Technique would appear on three identical wolf-ape soul beasts.

Although her individual strength far surpassed that of the three wolf-apes, she still let her guard down.

Just before the Three-Headed Wolf Ape Martial Soul Fusion Skill was about to be completed, Ye Xixuan's dark Fallen Wings flapped behind him, and he rushed to Ma Xiaotao's side in time.

The dark demonic sword, crackling with blackish-purple lightning, was suddenly thrust downwards into the very center of the three-elemental blackish-purple halo under his control, and dense, fine lightning instantly spread out.

As if collapsing from within, countless fine cracks appeared on the surface of the three black halos, and then they shattered with a roar.

The three wolf-axes were all weak and bleeding from their seven orifices. Their martial soul fusion skill was forcibly interrupted, and they immediately fell into an extremely weak state.

Ye Xixuan's gaze sharpened, and a cold, deathly black shadow wriggled and spread out, with sharp shadow spikes rising from the ground. Three of the thickest shadow spikes pierced directly through the left chest of the three-headed wolf ape, completely shattering its heart.

Gazing at Ye Xixuan's tall and straight figure, which was almost as tall as herself, Ma Xiaotao was touched, but she stubbornly snorted.

"Who asked you to help me? Their spirit fusion skill might not be able to hurt me."

Ye Xixuan turned around and glanced at Ma Xiaotao. Influenced by his own martial soul, his entire demeanor was completely different from before. His cold expression was filled with an indifference that seemed to disregard everything, a kind of domineering and arrogant desire for control.

That one glance was enough to instantly weaken Ma Xiaotao's aura.

From the moment she awakened her martial soul, she displayed talent far exceeding that of ordinary people. Later, she was brought to Shrek Academy by Yan Shaozhe, where she also became one of the best among the inner disciples.

Despite her fiery personality, deep down she always longed for a man who could forcefully conquer her.

After a slight moment of distraction, Ma Xiaotao subconsciously added a sentence in a low voice.

"It's not that I blame you." It's hard to imagine that this fire-obsessed man would bow down in front of a woman.

Zhang Lexuan and Vina, who arrived later, were more drawn to another strange phenomenon.

Although Ye Xixuan forcibly interrupted the three wolf-apes' spirit fusion skill, the three black spirit rings that appeared after their deaths continued to fuse in the air.

The black spirit ring that appeared after the fusion was noticeably deeper in color. Its aura was so unique—composure, restrained, and profoundly elevated. It was practically identical to the feeling a spirit master experiences after completing a spirit fusion skill.

Zhang Lexuan, Vina, and Ma Xiaotao almost blurted out, "A mutated spirit ring?!"

(End of this chapter)