Deep within the Soul Hunting Forest.
Du Busi led Lu Xiao and Xiao Wu deep into the forest, bypassing low-tier Soul Beasts, and stopped in front of a hidden cave.
The entrance was hidden behind dense ancient vines, wide and pitch-black, extending downward at a thirty-degree angle into a bottomless depth.
The rock walls at the entrance were rough and mottled, covered with claw marks and scratches of varying depths, crisscrossing old and new in dense numbers, enough to prove that the Soul Beasts inhabiting this place were extremely ferocious.
Lu Xiao raised his eyes to look at the pitch-black cave bottom, his expression steady and completely devoid of fear.
“This is the trial ground I found for you both.”
Du Busi stood with his hands behind his back, a trace of a smile flashing in the depths of his eyes as the two stared intently at the cave and let their guards down.
Before his voice fell, his arms suddenly exerted force, and his majestic Soul Power erupted violently, enveloping the two figures and hurling them forward fiercely!
The two light bodies instantly left the ground, uncontrollably plummeting rapidly toward the dark and deep cave entrance.
“Old man Du!
I—”
Before Lu Xiao could finish speaking, his body had already plunged into the darkness.
Xiao Wu couldn’t help letting out a soft cry, instinctively wanting to grab the vines on the rock wall, but the downward force was too fierce, and her fingertips only brushed against the rough, cold stone wall, providing no leverage at all.
The endless darkness instantly swallowed the figures of the two, leaving only the whistling wind in their ears, along with the rustling sound of falling gravel from the rock walls.
Lu Xiao instinctively tensed his body, wanting to stabilize his unbalanced form, but Du Busi’s majestic Soul Power was far too formidable, something he could not contend with at his current stage.
Vision was completely reduced to zero in the darkness, making it impossible to distinguish up, down, left, or right; he could only rely on instinct to perceive everything around him.
The next second, a soft and warm body suddenly crashed into his arms, and Xiao Wu’s unbalanced form slammed hard into Lu Xiao’s face.
The sudden touch made both of them stiffen simultaneously, and the panic of falling was instantly replaced by a wave of intense shyness.
Xiao Wu’s whole body tightened, her long eyelashes trembled violently, and upon smelling that faint fragrance, her body instantly went limp by more than half.
“I…”
A soft, tender exclamation stuck in her throat, unable to be uttered anymore.
Lu Xiao’s pupils shrank slightly, and his mind went blank in an instant.
The darkness isolated his vision, but infinitely amplified his senses.
The soft touch of the young girl was clearly transmitted, carrying a trace of a faint, sweet breath that dispelled the cold and dampness of the cave.
He instinctively wanted to raise his hand to steady Xiao Wu, but the inertia of the rapid fall kept their bodies tightly pressed against each other, leaving no way to adjust their posture.
“I… I’m sorry!
Lu Xiao!” Xiao Wu’s voice carried panic and embarrassment.
Lu Xiao forced himself to calm down, “Don’t move around!
Hold on tight to me!”
Taking advantage of the falling momentum, he decisively extended his arms, steadily wrapping them around Xiao Wu’s waist, protecting her firmly in front of him, and using his own back to fend off the protruding rock walls constantly brushing past on both sides.
The rough rock walls continuously scraped against his skin, yet not even a trace was left behind!
The two hugged each other tightly, continuing to slide rapidly down the inclined cave passage as the darkness enveloped them like a tide.
Not knowing how long they had been falling, the sound of the wind in their ears suddenly diminished!
“We’re about to land!
Brace yourselves!”
Two figures landed heavily upon the soft layer of humus soil, the muffled sound of landing echoing through the empty cave bottom.
Lu Xiao used the landing momentum to dissipate the impact, holding Xiao Wu as they rolled twice on the ground and steadily came to a stop.
The bottom of the cave was very spacious, and the surrounding rock walls were embedded with Ores capable of emitting fluorescence, barely illuminating a small area around them.
Xiao Wu hastily propped her body up from Lu Xiao, not daring to look up at Lu Xiao, and whispered, “Just now… I’m so embarrassed.”
Lu Xiao slowly got up, patted the dust off his clothes, and chuckled upon hearing this, “It’s fine, it was just a situation like this, don’t take it to heart.”
“Compared to that, we need to be careful now.”
Deep in the darkness, pairs of eerie green beastly pupils slowly lit up, locking dead onto the two youths who had intruded into their territory!
Suddenly, with a roar, a figure darted out from the darkness.
Lu Xiao’s eyes instantly lit up with golden light, and everything in the darkness clearly appeared within his mind.
The Golden Dragon Martial Soul linked with his Bloodline.
After completely Awakening the Golden Dragon Martial Soul, Lu Xiao also acquired some innate skills!
Among them, the most important one was Golden Perception!
This innate skill provided Lu Xiao with a three-dimensional sensory ability, allowing him to perceive things that others could not feel, and deepening his understanding of these perceived things!
That was a wolf-type Soul Beast, about 1.6 meters in body length, entirely iron-gray in color, and that eerie green light was precisely their eyes.
Lu Xiao did not dare to be careless, throwing a punch toward the waist of the Nether Wolf!
Since ancient times, there has been the saying “copper head, iron bones, tofu waist”; for wolf-type Soul Beasts, the waist is undoubtedly the most vulnerable part!
The wind of the fist was biting, carrying a thick and condensed Physical Body strength, and even the air was made to crackle slightly by this strike.
With the help of Golden Perception, this punch accurately and unmistakably struck the waist and abdomen of the Nether Wolf.
“Bang!”
A muffled, heavy collision sound exploded with a boom.
The iron-gray wolf fur instantly bristled, and the Nether Wolf let out a miserable, shrill howl.
Its huge body suddenly curled up, and it was violently thrown away like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against the cold rock wall!
Fresh blood spurted from its waist, and that Nether Wolf let out a mournful howl, dying instantly!
To the wolf pack, a companion’s blood was undoubtedly a fuse.
In the surrounding darkness, low wolf howls sounded one after another, rising and falling in succession!
Pairs of eerie green pupils lit up one after another, densely packed, slowly emerging from the dark depths on all sides, completely surrounding the two of them.
Lu Xiao’s brow suddenly furrowed tightly, Golden Perception operating at full power, and the three-dimensional sensory network instantly covered the entire cave bottom.
He clearly perceived that there were more than a dozen Nether Wolves lurking and surrounding them all around, among which there were even two or three Nether Wolves with a century of cultivation.
Just as Lu Xiao and Xiao Wu were waiting in strict readiness, the wolf pack all around suddenly reined in their low growls together.
All dozen or so Nether Wolves lowered their bodies completely.
Xiao Wu’s figure was tense, her petite body standing steadily by Lu Xiao’s side without the slightest retreat: “Lu Xiao, a big guy is coming out from inside.”
Before her voice fell, out of the deep darkness slowly stepped a tall and majestic wolf shadow.
Unlike the iron-gray fur of ordinary Nether Wolves, this giant wolf was pitch-black as ink all over.
Its shoulder height was a full three meters and more, its body length close to seven meters, its posture vigorous and slender, and its muscle lines smooth and explosive!
Most terrifying were its eyes; they were not the eerie green of ordinary Nether Wolves, but a pair of dark purple pupils as deep as a cold abyss!
Right in the center of its forehead, a ferocious blood-colored vertical mark ran through its brow, resembling a crown of congealed bloodstains!
Millennium Nether Wolf King!
The rich smell of blood from the companion previously killed by Lu Xiao’s punch had completely enraged this Millennium Nether Wolf King.
The Nether Wolf King slowly raised its head, its dark purple pupils locking dead onto the two of them.
The next instant, the pitch-black wolf fur all over the Wolf King’s body suddenly stood on end!
Without any extra probing, the Millennium Nether Wolf King’s figure flickered, instantly vanishing on the spot!
Leaving behind only a pitch-black afterimage, with the harsh, sharp sound of breaking air echoing through the space.
Golden light surged violently in the depths of Lu Xiao’s eyes, Golden Perception operating at its limit, a faint glow lighting up at his spine, and the next second, dark cyan dragon scales covered his arms!
At the same time, a pitch-black afterimage of sharp claws appeared above Lu Xiao’s head!
Lu Xiao gave a deep shout, moving as soon as the sound fell.
Facing the Wolf King’s fatal claw strike head-on, Lu Xiao leaped into the air, his fists overlapping as he fiercely blasted them out with all his might!
“Boom—!”
The sound of the collision burst open, and a violent Soul Power shockwave swept across the entire cave centered around where the two clashed.
Lu Xiao’s body shook violently, his arms going numb!
The Millennium Nether Wolf King also let out a muffled grunt accordingly, its huge body pausing slightly as a trace of a crack appeared upon its pitch-black sharp claws.
The murderous intent within the Nether Wolf King’s dark purple pupils grew increasingly intense.
Deep within its throat rolled a low roar once again, and all the surrounding Nether Wolves instantly stood up, slowly closing in and tightening the encirclement, completely sealing off the two’s retreat route.
“Xiao Wu, leave the wolf pack to you!”
Lu Xiao advanced instead of retreating, violently kicking off the ground with his feet, his figure sweeping through the air like a Golden Dragon, suddenly shortening the distance between him and the Wolf King.
On the other side, the encirclement tightened completely, and over a dozen Nether Wolves fiercely lunged and slaughtered forward, their cold fangs and sharp claws flashing with a chilling, icy light as they locked onto Xiao Wu.
“Leave it to me!”
Xiao Wu’s expression was resolute, without the slightest panic.
Enveloped by a faint red light, her eyes began to turn red, and a pair of pinkish-white long ears stood up from among her hair.
A century-old Soul Ring rose from the soles of her feet.
Her figure seemed to have grown a bit taller, and a soft Soul Power aura fluctuated around her body.
Facing a wolf pack several times her own number, she did not dodge or evade, her figure suddenly soaring into the air.
Xiao Wu’s posture was as nimble as a butterfly, twisting and shifting, accurately dodging the lunges of two Nether Wolves.
Her soft waist twisted sharply, and her arms wrapped around the body of one of the century-old Nether Wolves like spiritual snakes.
Her Soul Power tightened instantly, like the toughest shackles, locking tightly onto the wolf’s body.
That century-old Nether Wolf struggled frantically, its sharp wolf claws tearing wildly, yet it couldn’t touch Xiao Wu in the slightest.
“First Soul skills!
Waist Bow!”
The century-old Soul Ring lit up, and Xiao Wu gave a soft shout, exerting force from her waist and abdomen, and throwing it down fiercely with borrowed leverage!
The heavy wolf body was forcibly swung up, smashing hard into the other two Nether Wolves lunging head-on.
Three muffled collision sounds rang out in succession, and the three Nether Wolves instantly rolled into a ball.
The sound of breaking muscles and bones came through clearly, and the howls rose and fell one after another.
Taking advantage of the gap where the wolf pack’s formation was in great chaos, Xiao Wu landed and retreated immediately, her movement technique erratic as she wandered between the gaps of the wolf pack.
Within a mere few breaths, the surrounding wolf pack was tightly held in check by Xiao Wu alone, unable to advance an inch, completely unable to spare themselves to support the Wolf King.