Douluo: Lord of Arms

Chapter 38 Thorn Blade Dragon

Lin Xingyu clearly sensed his soul's advancement, his heart overflowing with joy. Then, he began to assess his own condition. While the battle had been exhilarating and his body unscathed, the drain on his mental energy was like an undercurrent, difficult to recover from. After half a day of intense fighting, the depletion of both his physical and spiritual strength had left him somewhat exhausted, and his heart was even more exhausted.

He frowned, pondering for a long time. A flicker of determination flashed in his eyes, and he finally made up his mind: to kill a thousand-year-old soul beast to conclude this operation. Firstly, this would put a shocking end to this journey to the Soul Ascension Platform, and secondly, he wanted to challenge himself and test his growth along the way.

"I've gained enough spiritual power this time! I'll give it one more try before I go, to see my limits. If I can't win, I'll retreat!" Lin Xingyu thought to himself. As a Level 29 Great Spirit Master, he was certain that Aya would still be providing his third spirit skill, and he knew how to synergize the first three. His attack power would then surge exponentially, and his combat power would undergo a qualitative transformation. Now was a good time to test his limits; after all, he wouldn't be in danger of his life on the Spirit Ascension Platform.

With his current strength, hunting a thousand-year-old soul beast should be no problem. Deep within the primary soul-raising platform, there's a buffer zone and a guardian, most likely a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. Killing it will drop the precious Dark Gold Terrorclaw External Soul Bone. As long as he doesn't run into it rashly, he'll be fine. The thought of this soul bone filled Lin Xingyu with greed; its value was simply too high. When he reached the third ring, he would definitely challenge this Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.

Having made up his mind, Lin Xingyu acted decisively and immediately selected a powerful target from the life magnetic field he sensed and prepared to start hunting.

……

Lin Xingyu sensed the magnetic field fluctuations coming from the two small beasts ahead, one large and two small. He took a deep breath and locked onto his target. The large beast was probably a thousand-year soul beast, while the two small beasts were hundred-year soul beasts, both within his control.

"Boom!" With a loud bang, the fireball condensed by the Glazed True Fire exploded. The largest thousand-year soul beast's Lingjiao nimbly avoided the impact, but the two small hundred-year soul beasts were directly injured and screamed in pain. Flames and torrents swept around, and six connected charred pits were blown out on the ground. The tree that two people hugged was also blown in half.

With his mental power and control of magnetic fields, Lin Xingyu was able to clearly see the condition of the three soul beasts: the larger one was unharmed, the smaller one severely injured. With lightning speed, he rushed towards the two smaller soul beasts. Adhering to the principle of "killing them while they are weak", he planned to deal with the smaller ones first and then deal with the thousand-year-old soul beasts to prevent them from forming a group and causing trouble.

"Bang!" A flash of light passed by, followed by a shrill cry as an earth dragon's brain was shattered by Lin Xingyu's blow. His physical strength already amounted to several thousand kilograms, and with the added strength of his martial spirit and soul power, he faced the century-old soul beast unimpeded, easily dispatching it.

The moment Lin Xingyu blew up a hundred-year-old soul beast, his blood and energy surged, and he used the momentum to unleash his second stage of strength, shooting at the other one like an arrow from a bow. Before it could react, he used the same quick and decisive method to end its life.

"Roar!" The surviving thousand-year-old soul beast roared in grief and anger, looking at Lin Xingyu fiercely.

Only then did Lin Xingyu have time to examine the thousand-year-old soul beast. It lay on all fours, shaped like a tiger, covered in iron-black scales. Over four meters long, about two meters tall at the shoulder, it had three horns on its forehead, its back bristled with thorn-like blades, and its tail was as sharp as a long sword. It turned out to be a thousand-year-old soul beast, the Thorn Blade Dragon, a ferocious earth dragon.

It carries the blood of a dragon spirit beast. While it lacks special elemental abilities, it possesses astonishing physical strength, ranking among the strongest earth dragons. Whether traversing forests, plains, or highlands, it can swiftly traverse, boasting top-tier strength, speed, and defense. Its dragon bloodline also grants it exceptional endurance, making it a formidable opponent.

This thorn blade dragon has a tail like a sharp blade. If it reaches the ten thousand year level, it will be able to use the blade on its body like a master of swordsmanship, and it can definitely give the opponent a fatal blow.

"Roar!" After roaring, the Thorn Blade Dragon rushed straight towards Lin Xingyu.

Lin Xingyu's second spirit ring instantly lit up, and the patterns on his scarlet-gold armor became visible. He mobilized his soul power, and the fire elements in the air converged frantically, instantly transforming into streaks of flame. This time, the flames didn't condense into fireballs, but instead formed a web of fire, completely blocking the Thorn Blade Dragon's path. But the Thorn Blade Dragon didn't slow down, instead accelerating its charge, its entire body bathed in a black iron light, faintly shimmering with golden luster, clearly tapping into its own bloodline power. Seeing this, Lin Xingyu retreated without hesitation, continuously activating the light within him, gathering fire elements and sending streaks of flames over it once again.

He fought and retreated, quickly adjusting his breathing. After all, slaying two hundred-year-old soul beasts in a row had taken a toll. Seizing the perfect moment, he unleashed a force field, briefly slowing the Thorn Blade Dragon's pace and allowing it to evade the impact. With a loud boom, the tree, which the two men had embraced, was snapped in half.

The Thorn Blade Dragon quickly adjusted its form and locked onto Lin Xingyu again. Lin Xingyu calmed his blood and qi, and this time, he didn't retreat, charging directly towards the Thorn Blade Dragon. Facing the aggressive opponent, he stopped condensing the Glazed True Fire and didn't use any spirit skills, simply raising his right fist high.

At this moment, Lin Xingyu's right hand radiated a strong crimson-gold light, filled with the aura of slaughter and destruction, yet also with a majestic aura of lofty superiority, overlooking all living things. For a moment, the heavens and the earth seemed to resonate with him. To oppose him was like opposing the entire universe.

Lin Xingyu perfectly fused his mental and soul power, unleashing a powerful punch. This punch, in terms of momentum, timing, power, speed, and intention, reached the pinnacle of perfection, resonating with the heavens and earth, achieving a state of unity between man and nature. In any era of the Douluo Continent, this would have been a top-tier, self-created soul skill, like the Dragon God Douluo Moon's "Reign Over the World" ten thousand years ago, or "Heaven and Man at One" in the Body Sect. While some ancient factions possess this advanced combat technique today, it's still a rare sight.

Relying on his "high-dimensional vision", Lin Xingyu integrated his soul power, mental power, vitality, martial soul origin and will into one, bringing the power of his self-created soul skills to the extreme.

Under normal circumstances, he could only fuse soul power, mental power, and willpower. This time, he imitated the power of the "High Dimensional Vision" state, stimulating the killing and destructive thoughts of the martial soul's origin, and drawing on the momentum of the "High Dimensional Vision" to launch this punch.

Although this was only a work-in-progress, its power rivaled Moon En's "King of the World." After all, the full version could only be performed with a cheat. "King of the World" evoked a sense of submission. Lin Xingyu named it "Ten Directions Annihilation," incorporating the pure killing and destructive intent of his martial spirit. Given that his armor was designed for combat, the name was fitting. He had no idea what the consequences would be of being defeated by this move, having never tested it on a human.

Lin Xingyu's self-created soul skill "Ten Directions Annihilation" debuted. "Bang!" His fist collided violently with the thorn blade dragon's claws.

"Roar!" Accompanied by a painful roar, the black light on the Thorn Blade Dragon's body shattered instantly, its right claw was directly broken, and then a powerful force like a mountain slammed down on it. Under this punch, the Thorn Blade Dragon was blown away and flew back at an even faster speed.

At that moment, a beam of white light shot straight towards Lin Xingyu, whose old strength had just faded and whose new strength had yet to return. Unable to dodge, the light struck his chest. With a muffled thud, he retreated six or seven steps before regaining his balance. Fortunately, thanks to his strength and magnetic field control, he only experienced a surge of blood and qi, and was unharmed.

Seeing that it was the Thorn Blade Dragon's tail that was attacking him, Lin Xingyu couldn't help but curse. It was so good that it could still attack with its tail when it was dying!
Seeing that the Thorn Blade Dragon had been severely injured, Lin Xingyu calmed down his qi and blood, stopped hesitating, and went straight forward. The seriously injured Thorn Blade Dragon made a final frantic struggle, but after a moment, it still became his dead soul.

A beam of light from each of the three thorn-blade dragons flew towards Lin Xingyu and was instantly absorbed by Aya. One was a thousand years old, one was five hundred years old, and one was six hundred years old—a bountiful harvest. According to the rules of the Soul Ascension Platform, when a soul master kills a soul beast, one-tenth of the beast's age and cultivation will be absorbed into the soul master's soul, divided equally according to the number of spirit rings. These three dragons provided Lin Xingyu with two hundred and ten years of spiritual energy, which increased Aya's age by one hundred and five years.

While hunting low-level soul beasts in groups was more efficient, this battle had depleted Lin Xingyu's soul power by 40%, leaving less than 20% in his internal organs. His mental strength was also greatly depleted, leaving him unable to fight any longer. "Unfortunately, my soul age hasn't reached a thousand years yet. I can only wait until the next time I enter the Soul Ascension Platform." He lay on the ground, released his spirit, and raised his hand to press the distress signal on the back of his hand.

(End of this chapter)