Chapter 217: The 200,000-Year Golden Scorpion King
After Yang Lingling finished absorbing the soul ring from the mutated 100,000-year Ghostvine, the group resumed their journey in the Star Dou Forest. Now, Yang Potian's four newly absorbed spirit rings contributed to a wide range of attributes: wood, space, earth, and darkness. In addition, the Nether Leopard's incredible speed had imbued him with a strong wind attribute, while the Taotie Divine Ox offered him formidable earth and strength properties.
With these four spirit rings bolstering his Main Martial Soul, Yang Potian's physical endurance, defense, strength, and speed had all significantly improved. Even at level 96, he felt confident he could challenge Golden Crocodile Douluo at level 98.
As they ventured deeper into the forest, the group came upon an unusual stretch of desert spanning several kilometers. The terrain appeared to be quicksand, an anomaly in a forest as lush and vibrant as Star Dou. A lifeless aura hung over the area, and the sand's temperature was much higher than the surrounding forest. Yang Potian surmised that something dangerous must be lurking within.
To test his theory, he tossed a 2,000-year-old Horned Deer into the quicksand. As soon as the creature landed, it seemed gripped by an intense fear and struggled to escape, but a powerful force pulled it deeper until its life force rapidly faded. Normally, even a low-level soul beast would survive in quicksand for a while, but this deer perished almost instantly—suggesting something sinister lay below, likely an exceptionally powerful soul beast.
After some thought, Yang Potian decided to try again, this time using a 20,000-year Earth Demon Bear. The same thing happened: as soon as the bear entered the quicksand, it was sucked in, and its life force faded within moments.
Watching this, Yang Pingan looked hesitant. "Big Brother, whatever's hiding in that quicksand must be an extremely powerful soul beast. If we have to fight it in the sand, we might be at a serious disadvantage. We don't even know what type of beast it is—it could end badly for us."
Yang Potian nodded. "Soul beasts of this level often stay hidden; only a few, like the Taotie Divine Ox, walk around openly. If we want to stand a chance, we'll need to lure it out."
Yang Tianyue chimed in, confused. "But how do we draw it out if it's buried in the quicksand?"
After some thought, Yang Potian replied, "I'll go in and flush it out myself. All of you stay ready to provide support from outside."
The others were shocked. "Brother, that's too dangerous! We don't even know what kind of soul beast it is!" Yang Tianyue protested.
Yang Potian only smiled. "Don't worry. With my current strength, no soul beast can easily best me. And if things get dicey, I'll retreat immediately."
Knowing that his spatial powers made him nearly impossible to trap, Yang Potian took his spear and, under the others' watchful eyes, plunged it deep into the quicksand. The spear drove through the sand, creating a deep chasm as it pierced downward nearly 50 meters into the desert floor. Soon, a strange suction force tugged on his spear, as if something below were trying to swallow it whole.
Yang Potian smirked. "It's got some nerve, trying to devour my Martial Soul!"
Channeling his soul power into his right leg, he used his Bone Dragon Tail Strike, summoning a massive dragon tail that slammed into the sand, parting it like waves. The force rocked the quicksand, and in an instant, his spear shot back to his hand. Emerging from the depths was a colossal, golden soul beast—a scorpion of staggering proportions.
This Golden Scorpion, over 20 meters long, gleamed with a metallic sheen, and its claws and stinger were coated in a deadly-looking blue toxin.
"A 200,000-year-old Golden Scorpion King…" Yang Potian whispered, swallowing hard.
Furious at the intrusion, the Golden Scorpion roared, "Human! How dare you disturb my rest? I'll tear you to pieces!"
Without a word, Yang Potian gripped his spear and flashed forward, thrusting it at the creature. But the scorpion, formidable and cunning, snapped its claws together to catch his spear, its body sliding back but with its massive tail already swinging forward, poised to strike him down.
Yang Potian twisted his spear to block the stinger, then activated his second spirit ring, summoning a dark void behind the Golden Scorpion. With a tremendous push, he shoved it and himself through the portal, teleporting them to an open field two kilometers from the quicksand. By isolating it from its preferred terrain, he hoped to limit the scorpion's advantage.
As soon as they landed, his five teammates sprang forward, surrounding the Golden Scorpion and cutting off any escape.
"Humans! You dare scheme against me? I'll kill you all!" The Golden Scorpion's monstrous aura surged, far stronger than a typical 100,000-year soul beast—it exuded the intimidating presence of a fierce beast.
"Attack!"
As Yang Potian uttered a single, cool command, he charged at the Golden Scorpion King with his Breaksoul Spear in hand. The other five moved in response, attacking the scorpion from all angles. Yang Tianyue wielded her Sea God Trident to strike its massive tail, while Yang Pingan, Dugu Yan, and Niu Mang each targeted its torso—Yang Pingan from the left, and Dugu Yan and Niu Mang from the right.
Yang Potian then activated his sixth soul skill, Golden Lion Strike. A beam of golden energy shot from his spear, forming the shadow of a ferocious golden lion as it barreled straight toward the Golden Scorpion King. Since Yang Potian's sixth soul ring had reached the 100,000-year mark, this soul skill's power had transformed dramatically, exhibiting a fierce golden energy that amplified its destructive force. The Golden Scorpion King, realizing the power behind this move, raised its claws in defense, but the golden lion's assault left a deep gash.
Yang Pingan struck like a bolt of lightning, piercing the scorpion's body and leaving a fresh wound. Yang Tianyue's trident clashed with the scorpion's tail, and with a massive force, she managed to knock it aside. Dugu Yan and Niu Mang, however, found themselves struggling to pierce the creature's defense, only leaving shallow marks on its body. This beast's 200,000-year level toughness was undeniable.
Despite its powerful claws and thick armor, the Golden Scorpion King found itself overpowered by attacks from all directions. Yang Potian didn't relent, aiming his spear directly at the scorpion's head to force it to defend with its pincers.
In under ten minutes, the scorpion's body was battered and bleeding. Its tail was severed by the power of Yang Tianyue's trident, and one of its mighty pincers had been cut off by Yang Potian's spear. The scorpion let out a thunderous, frustrated roar, seemingly crying out for help. However, Yang Potian ignored its pleas, unleashing his eighth soul skill, Behemoth Break. A massive Breaksoul Spear formed and flew directly toward the creature, impaling it and pinning it to the ground.
The Golden Scorpion King was near death, yet it growled defiantly, "Humans, you will pay the price for this." Summoning all its remaining strength to utter these final words, it was abruptly silenced as Yang Potian punched through its skull, putting an end to the mighty beast. A gigantic red soul ring emerged, larger than any he had ever seen, and marked with two golden streaks—proof that this soul ring had surpassed 200,000 years and reached the level of a true beast.
After resting briefly, Yang Potian began absorbing the soul ring, with Yang Tianyue maintaining the Sea God's protective barrier to shield them. The violent energy within the 200,000-year Golden Scorpion King took ten days to fully absorb, far longer than any other soul ring Yang Potian had encountered. Even so, with his level 96 soul power, the challenge was manageable.
After absorbing the soul ring, Yang Potian examined the scorpion's corpse and found a gold-colored left arm soul bone. The bone emanated incredible power with a razor-sharp energy, a fitting testament to the ferocity of a beast-class soul bone and its golden elemental origins. This Golden Scorpion King marked the fourth gold-class soul beast Yang Potian had claimed, joining the ranks of the Golden Crocodile King, Golden Lion King, and Golden Behemoth.
Yang Potian took three more days to fully absorb the 200,000-year soul bone. When the process was complete, his soul power reached the peak of level 97, nearing level 98—a milestone he felt he could soon reach through training alone.
Now, Yang Potian set his sights on finding a water-attribute soul beast and a fire-attribute soul beast, with the hope of discovering a spiritual-type soul beast as well. All three types were exceedingly rare, particularly high-level ones in the Star Dou Forest. As for lightning- and time-attribute soul beasts, they were even rarer. Yang Pingan's Thunder Dragon was the strongest lightning-type soul beast he had ever seen. As for the Azure Bull Python, though it possessed lightning powers, it seemed to be a blend of water and lightning, its lightning prowess slightly less refined than that of the Thunder Dragon.
Spiritual-type soul beasts of any significant level were especially hard to find; in fact, he'd barely encountered any high-level ones at all. Now that he had absorbed so many soul rings, Yang Potian realized that his innate martial soul's greatest advantage lay in its versatility. He could absorb nearly any type of soul ring without issue, achieving a level of harmony between them that was impossible for most.
If he could gather soul rings across the five core elements—gold, wood, water, fire, and earth—the potential combinations and synergy would be endless.
(Chapter End)
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