When the black soul ring finally rose from the Two-Headed Golden Flame Snake's corpse, I did not approach it immediately.
Instead, I scanned the surroundings.
Three breaths later, I detected movement beneath the sand—a Sand Fox, approximately 7,600 years old, attempting to circle in from my blind spot. Opportunistic. Intelligent enough to wait for weakness.
Unacceptable.
I killed it in less than five seconds—one silent thrust, no soul skill expended. Its body never even surfaced fully before going still.
Only after fifteen full minutes of repeated perimeter checks—visual, sensory, and soul-power probing—did I return to the snake's soul ring.
A final assessment.
Age: approximately 18,090 years.
My current absorption limit: no less than 22,000 years.
Within tolerance.
Most ordinary soul masters only dared absorb a black soul ring barely over ten thousand years—and even then, only as their fifth ring. Fear limited their growth long before talent did.
I summoned my martial spirit.
The Thousand Demon Sword hovered before me as my four soul rings rose in sequence—yellow, purple, purple, black—circling with mechanical precision. Their rotations stabilized my aura and suppressed external fluctuations.
The black soul ring began to descend.
It halted above my head.
One minute passed.
Then two.
Without warning, soul power surged downward like a collapsing dam—violent, corrosive, and dense beyond anything I had previously absorbed. I tightened my control instantly, compressing the influx and forcing it through my meridians in layers rather than all at once.
Pain followed.
It felt as though razor-edged blades were carving through my internal organs—each edge soaked in venom. Every circulation tore, poisoned, and reforged my body simultaneously.
Time lost meaning.
At roughly 48% absorption, the resentment finally manifested.
A mental shock—the final curse of a soul beast above ten thousand years.
My consciousness was dragged violently into my mental sea.
The snake appeared immediately.
Whole. Uninjured. Perfectly restored to its peak state.
It attacked without hesitation.
Expected.
I summoned the Thousand Demon Sword within my mental space and shattered it into countless fragments, dispersing them across every axis. The instant the snake lunged, I switched positions through the blade network.
Its attack tore through empty space.
Wasted.
Only then did I properly observe it.
Its killing intent was no longer wild—it was condensed, hateful, deliberate. It wanted me to die slowly, dissolved by poison and regret.
I calculated rapidly.
This must end quickly. Prolonged mental combat increases external risk.
My gaze hardened further, emotion flattening to nothing as I evaded its assaults with minimal movement—never wasting distance, never wasting time.
Then I acted.
My first and third soul rings activated simultaneously.
Four sword phantoms manifested around me, their edges crackling with golden thunder. Together with my true body, we struck as one.
Five trajectories. One instant.
The snake reacted at the last moment—coiling its tail forward to shield both heads.
The thunder blades tore through it.
The tail was reduced to shredded flesh, scales vaporized, bone exposed. The snake shrieked and surged forward in a final attempt to drag me down with it.
I did not retreat.
One final exchange.
The resentment shattered.
The mental space collapsed.
I resumed absorption.
Time flowed again.
When I finally opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was presence.
Seven people stood at the edge of the battlefield, watching.
I remained seated, posture relaxed, expression calm—but internally, every calculation spun to life.
Seven. Formation loose but deliberate. No immediate killing intent. At least one soul king-level aura… possibly higher.
More importantly—
They had not reacted with shock.
Which meant they had not seen my soul ring configuration.
If they had, I would already be fighting—or dead.
I kept my breathing steady, soul power coiled and ready. Escape routes calculated in three directions. If attacked, I could disengage within two seconds.
The group shifted slightly.
A tall man stepped forward—broad-shouldered, steady aura, clearly the leader. Few soul masters dared enter this depth of the Star Dou Great Forest without reason.
His gaze settled on me.
"Little one," he said, voice measured, "where are your elders?"
I looked up at him calmly.
And said nothing yet.