“Roar!!”

Long Lan had to repress a roar of pain from when the Black Dragon King bit onto his throat. He prepared himself to throw off the Black Dragon King, but then he realized, for some reason, his body was unable to move!!

That wasn’t the only peculiarity. Somehow, his energy was being forced out from his body along with his blood toward the wound on him and into the Black Dragon King!

He felt a sliver of fear shoot up his spine. Trying as hard as he might, Long Lan began to use his soulforce to stop the flow from escaping from his wound!

“He’s trying to steal my lifeblood!!”

The realization hit him like a sack of cold ice.

This bitemark wasn’t supposed to do any physical damage—the Black Dragon King was using some kind of technique to draw away Long Lan’s lifeblood!

He hadn’t anticipated such a tactic. He had neither a defense or strategy prepared for something like this, meaning he was caught in a trap without any proper defenses!

Lifeblood differed from regular blood since it was blood that was also infused with the essence of both life and soulforce. Originating from the essence originseed, lifeblood was something vital to the body of a soul cultivator like a soulgem in a soulbeast. Not only did it contain the very life of a person, but it also contained their power!

In battles, many experts would often burn up their own soul or lifeblood in exchange for power. In other words, they were sacrificing a portion of their life or training for a temporary boost. It didn’t mean they’d die, but the reprecussions would be serious. A decreased lifepsan or limited power would often dissaud many from using these power-boosting soul skills liberally.

The lifeblood of any person or soulbeast would differ much like blood types. In the case that one was related to another, such as through a familial bloodline, then the lifeblood of two individuals could be similar to one another. Cases like these were known as an inherited bloodline, but those were especially rare in the soulbeast world.

There was one method in particular where one could absorb the lifeblood of another if the compatibility was high enough. If enough of one’s lifeblood was absorbed, then they’d be able to inherit the most of that person’s bloodline and become even more powerful. In the ancient past, many powerful soulbeast clans would often place their bloodlines on a very high pedestal for this very reason.

Long Lan didn’t use any special technique to absorb the lifeblood of the Black Dragon King. It was through chance that he was able to absorb it and have his body adapt and evolve. But that was an exception to the rule.

Gui Nu’s Bloodsoul Dark Artes actually allowed him to devour the lifeblood of others. But as the name implied, the technique was an especially dark and sinister one and required a heavy price in addition to being available only to a very select few.

It’d be impossible for the Black Dragon King to ‘steal’ the lifeblood of another in most cases. However, Long Lan had his lifeblood in him, and there was, of course, no problem taking his own lifeblood back.

The Black Dragon King was more than happy to take in as much as he could. The lifeblood he was taking back was rich and filled with power! He could already feel his body start to swell with energy. If he kept this up, he’d be able to become a mid-stage class eight soulbeast!

The only problem was that he was pressed for time. He had to hurry up and escape from this place!

He was formulating a plan to escape even as he absorbed Long Lan’s lifeblood. In his mind, Long Lan was nothing but an ant to him. If the other insisted on pursuing him, then he’d be more than happy to take back all his lifeblood. How would Long Lan fight after that!?

What the Black Dragon King didn’t know was that this so-called ‘ant’ was…capable of defying the norms!

“Roar!!”

It took Long Lan just a half-second for him to figure out a countermeasure. Eyes gleaming with fury, he twisted his neck and snapped onto the backside of the Black Dragon King’s neck!

The Black Dragon King was essentially defenseless right now. It was the prime time for him to return the favor!

Whether he was driven by his instincts or he was simply replicating what he saw, Long Lan managed to draw blood and begin the process to absorb the Black Dragon King’s lifeblood. And at the same time, a strange energy began to grow from within him… 

“Bzz…”

The space around them began to flicker and twist as the two stood there. Some sort of energy was rippling and changing in wavelength every second as if two separate sources of energy were meshing with one another… 

……

On the other side, Bai Yunfei had been ready to fight Mo Ni when Gu Jimie and Shangguan Xiongyan abandoned the fight.

The battlefield was already a chaotic mess by the time Bai Yunfei managed to clear his head. 

That also when he noted Mo Ni had escaped from Li Chengfeng, but only with the help of Gui Nu.

Bai Yunfei’s eyes gleamed dangerously. Given the hatred he had for Mo Ni, it was inevitable that Bai Yunfei wanted to chase after him. Thrice he had failed to kill Mo Ni. He didn’t want a fourth failure.

He took a step forward in preparation to give chase, but then his instincts began to scream at him to watch out. Snapping his head left, Bai Yunfei took off into the air for safety!

“Die!!”

A furious roar met Bai Yunfei as a figure seemingly made from pure darkness appeared. The energy radiating from his person flowed with an especially strange pattern.

Nether!!

Bai Yunfei knew what that strange flow of energy was right away—it was the ultimate soul skill of Nether that once nearly killed him those years ago! Samsara!

His soul had once nearly been rendered apart by the hands of Nether’s avatar. If his avatar had that much power, Bai Yunfei shuddered to think how much more powerful it’d be in the hands of Nether’s actual body. The two members of the Fate School and Yang Yao would definitely be in danger if they were hit by it!

Like a bright-red bolt of lightning, Bai Yunfei shot toward Nether with sickening speed. As he flew, a near-transparent barrier covered his entire person.

+10 Additional Effect of the Soul Sealing Mandate, activated!

Create a spiritual barrier and gain immunity to all mind-based attacks for up to 5 seconds.Cooldown of 24 hours.

It was an extremely powerful ability whose only drawback was in its activation time. The soul attack of an enemy could happen any second and would only be for a second, meaning being immune for 5 seconds was slightly overkill. But for a soul skill like Nether’s Samsara, whose effects could last for an extended period of time, this additional effect was especially valuable.

Bai Yunfei felt the pressure around him lighten when he activated the Soul Sealing Mandate. In a second he was right in front of Nether, and as his opponent stared at him in confusion, he took out the Fire-tipped Spear and stabbed at his throat!

“Wha—!”

Confused that Bai Yunfei was immune to his attack, Nether was almost too late to dodge the spear thrust.

With a reaction speed befitting that of a headmaster, Nether was able to prevent the spear from thrusting into his neck, though it still managed to spear him through the right shoulder!

“Tzk!!”

“Boom!!”

The Fire-tipped Spear pierced through the elemental barrier around Nether’s person and embedded itself tightly into his right shoulder. The moment it slid into his flesh, the spear then activated its +10 additional effect and created an explosion!

“Aghhhhh!!!”

Nether shrieked with pain as the explosion blasted his right arm in one direction and the rest of him in another!

“Headmaster!!”

Someone from the Soul Refining School cried out. At once, a black-robed figure shot up to grab hold of Nether before protecting himself from an attack from Chu Yintian. It was the Late-stage Soul Emperor that managed to save him.

It filled Bai Yunfei with glee to see that he had managed to deal a severe blow onto Nether. But as if to dampen his mood, Bai Yunfei was disgruntled to feel that his soulforce was nearly gone.

He glanced at Nether first, then at the escaping Mo Ni. He hesitated.

“Roar!!”

Then the loud roar of a dragon could be heard from another direction, causing Bai Yunfei to delay his decision!

“Is that…Long Lan!?”

He murmured. That voice was by no means an ordinary one. Turning around at once, he took off in the direction of the roar!

“Chirp!!”

At the same time as he took action, Xiao Qi came swooping in. He had abandoned his previous prey so he could respond to Long Lan’s cry. Beating both wings to accelerate himself, Xiao Qi traveled with Bai Yunfei to reach the source. 

Having been prepared to use Soul Ignition to regain his soulforce, Bai Yunfei decided against it when he saw Xiao Qi arrive. When Xiao Qi flew past him, Bai Yunfei jumped onto his back and allowed himself to be carried away.

It took only a moment for Xiao Qi to bring him and Bai Yunfei to the mountain peak near where Long Lan was heard. The two of them could also see Xiao Binzi and Hu Yang nearby—the two of them had chased the Black Dragon King up to here but stopped when they saw the two dragons ‘fighting’.

“Long Lan!”

Bai Yunfei cried out and took a step forward to help when he saw the gigantic, but familiar, blue-scaled soulbeast. 

“Roar!!”

But then a growl erupted from Long Lan’s throat, stopping both Xiao Qi and Bai Yunfei in their tracks.

Not a single word was spoken, but his growl told the two of them what Long Lan was thinking. He didn’t want them interfering in this fight!

……

“N—no! This can’t be!!”

The Black Dragon King was beside himself. He could feel his own lifeblood being drained rapidly away from his body—by Long Lan!

The one who ate was now being eaten!!

Yes, what the Black Dragon King managed to do was not something unique to him. If Long Lan’s lifeblood was compatible with him, then his own lifeblood was then compatible with Long Lan. The Black Dragon King just never thought of it that way due to him believing Long Lan was of an ‘inferior’ existence. How was an inferior being supposed to absorb his lifeblood as easily as he was? There was no chance of that, or so he believed. 

The Black Dragon King had made a dreadful mistake…

What was supposed to take several moments to drain Long Lan dry before he could make an escape was now turning into the worst-case scenario for him!

But it was too late for him to change tactics!

It was with horror that the Black Dragon King realized he wasn’t a match for his opponent now. He’d run out of lifeblood if he were to stop trying to drain Long Lan of his!

And then when he heard Long Lan growl, the Black Dragon King’s heart came to a stop. The growl made him realize that Bai Yunfei and Xiao Qi were here… 

He was in dire trouble!!

There was no way he’d be able to escape, even if he managed to kill Long Lan here and now!

Despair gripped at his heart tightly for just a brief second, but that second was all Long Lan needed! A brilliant flash of light entered Long Lan’s eyes before his soulforce roared to life!

“No!!”

Fear flooded both of the Black Dragon King’s eyes. His teeth loosened around Long Lan’s skin under the pain and pressure he felt before he let out a mournful wail of despair!

“Bzzz…”

The world trembled as the giant blue dragon above Long Lan’s head swelled in size. Practically covering both him and the Black Dragon King, the blue dragon was brimming with energy now while the Black Dragon King wailed from within.

His wails gradually began to die down as his internal organs started to shut down. Soon, Bai Yunfei couldn’t even detect the Black Dragon King’s aura anymore.

“Long Lan won!!”

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