Douluo Continent: Dragon's Journey Across the World

Chapter 18 First Soul Ring

Yang Ping'an followed this Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle for several days and roughly figured out the living habits of this group of thick-shelled turtles.

These thick-shelled turtles usually hide among a pile of rocks, where they have their nests. Apart from occasionally hunting, they spend most of their time sleeping. Moreover, given the habits of these Xuanjin Mingjia turtles, if you fail to strike them in one blow, they will probably hide and never reappear.

These thick-shelled turtles mainly feed on various small fish and shrimp in the streams, and they are basically unable to hunt other powerful land-based spirit beasts.

There were more than ten of these thick-shelled turtles, three of which were over a hundred years old, and the rest were ten-year-old soul beasts.

A chill ran through Yang Ping'an's eyes. These thick-shelled turtles had been inseparable, and it seemed that only by killing them all at once could they be dealt with.

Yang Ping'an dug a huge trap directly in the path that the group of thick-shelled turtles were bound to take. The trap was three meters high and five meters long and wide, and the bottom was filled with various homemade spikes and even a small amount of spider venom.

The entire surface of the trap was first covered with a thick fence, which was then covered with various kinds of sand and gravel.

A very sharp steel wire was tied to the main beam of the fence, and then the wire was laid on the ground, with the end of the wire more than ten meters away.

Two more mornings passed, and when the group of thick-shelled turtles went to their usual stream to forage, Yang Ping kept a close eye on their movements the whole time, while holding the other end of a wire in his hand.

As the golden-armored tortoise walked into the trap, Yang Ping'an, who was hiding in the shadows, used all his strength to pull the steel wire. The other end of the wire directly severed the main beam on the surface of the trap, and the entire fence fell into the trap.

Meanwhile, the thick-shelled turtles that hadn't kept up turned tail and ran away, completely unlike their usual leisurely pace.

After falling into the trap, the thick-shelled tortoise seemed to struggle desperately, trying to climb out along the broken fence.

But Yang Ping'an acted very quickly, directly cutting through all the fences with his sharp longsword. The entire fence collapsed, and a total of eight shelled turtles fell into the trap, including the Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle that Yang Ping'an was particularly concerned about.

After falling completely into the trap, the numerous Xuanming Turtles let out a series of howls. Although their thick shells could protect their bodies from harm, they were easily pierced by the spikes or even poisoned when they swung their limbs or heads.

In the blink of an eye, all the thick-shelled turtles stopped crawling, retracting their limbs and heads into their shells, becoming as still as stones.

Yang Ping'an had anticipated this, so he directly threw in various traps and then set the entire trap ablaze.

As the dry wood and fire were introduced, the many thick-shelled turtles were immediately engulfed in flames and began to struggle desperately once again.

Yang Ping'an and the Purple Gold Mastiff stared intently at the Xuanjin Nether Armored Turtle in the center, which was the most difficult soul beast to deal with.

The fire burned for half a day, killing several ten-year-old soul beasts and producing several white soul rings. However, these hundred-year-old soul beasts were clearly much stronger in fire resistance and defense. After being scorched by the fire for so long, their auras had obviously decreased significantly.

Yang Ping'an, however, was not at all at ease. He simply waited quietly, occasionally adding more firewood, while the Purple-Gold Mastiff patrolled in the distance, using its sense of smell to detect whether any people or soul beasts were approaching.

After one of the hundred-year-old thick-shelled turtles died, a hundred-year-old soul ring appeared on the scene for the first time, and Yang Ping'an felt that it was about time.

With a powerful wave of his hand, Yang Ping'an created a massive steel net that enveloped the Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle. He then used all his strength to pull the turtle up and prepared to leave the area quickly.

The fire has been burning for so long that this place is no longer safe. It will likely attract spirit beasts and people, which would be troublesome.

After Yang Ping'an pulled the Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle out of the fire, it tried to extend its limbs and head to attack the enemy in front of it.

However, Yang Ping'an's steel net was specially made to capture soul beasts. It was not only extremely sharp, but it would also tighten the more the beast struggled. Before long, the Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle had considerable wounds on its limbs and head, its soul power was getting weaker and weaker, and its whole body was even starting to look like it was on the verge of death.

Seeing this, Yang Ping'an immediately carried the several-hundred-pound Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle and ran, only stopping after running for a full hour.

Yang Ping'an brought the Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle directly into an abandoned soul beast nest. The nest was over four meters long and wide, and was probably the nest of some kind of bear-type soul beast. This bear had probably been hunted down long ago.

After entering the nest, disregarding the darkness inside, he took out the longsword he had prepared in advance and thrust it straight at the head of the Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle.

The Xuanjin Mingjia Turtle was already severely injured. After being stabbed several times, it finally let out a mournful cry, and a yellow soul ring appeared in the dim nest.

Yang Ping'an did not absorb the spirit ring for the time being, but instead made some arrangements outside the nest. In addition to scattering some powerful spirit beast dung powder, he also dug some small traps.

After everything was arranged, Yang Ping'an began to prepare to absorb the soul ring.

The Purple-Gold Mastiff seemed to have an immense desire for this spirit ring, and even a hint of greed appeared in its eyes.

Having spent so many years with the Purple-Gold Mastiff, Yang Ping'an naturally understood the Mastiff's little scheme. He sat cross-legged and began to absorb the spirit ring.

Following the method for absorbing a spirit ring, Yang Ping'an summoned the Purple-Gold Mastiff in front of him and used his spirit power to guide the spirit ring to his body.

As the spirit ring was placed on his body, Yang Ping'an felt as if his entire body was engulfed in flames. Countless energies surged into his body, and his blood seemed to begin to boil. Even his skin and blood were burning, as if his body was being impacted by some kind of energy.

If Yang Ping'an hadn't been practicing blacksmithing for a long time and using it to train himself, he wouldn't know if he could have survived the impact of this energy. In fact, Yang Ping'an even began to feel that his body was on the verge of collapse due to the influx of too much energy.

Five hours passed, and Yang Ping'an's expression changed repeatedly, sometimes becoming extremely ferocious, sometimes extremely decisive and ruthless, before finally calming down. This indicated that the absorption of the spirit ring had been completed without any major incident.

When Yang Ping'an opened his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness. Even the rays of light that had been shining from outside were gone. It seemed that it was already night.

Yang Ping'an clenched his fist, feeling that his strength and physical fitness had improved significantly. Especially after summoning the Purple-Gold Mastiff, he observed that the Purple-Gold Mastiff's power seemed to have increased considerably, particularly its metal-attribute energy. Absorbing this soul ring would likely greatly enhance the Purple-Gold Mastiff's abilities.

Yang Ping'an carefully examined his body and found that his soul power had reached level thirteen, which could be said to have greatly improved his strength.

(End of this chapter)