After scattering all of the Nightflame Monkeys, a faint smile appeared on Tang Wulin"s face. This was what the Great Star Dou Forest was supposed to be like; a place that was filled with soul beasts and vitality.
Judging from the current situation, he seemed to be in the outer circle of the Great Star Dou Forest. Most of those Nightflame Monkeys seemed to be hundred-year-old soul beasts, perhaps with a few thousand-year-old ones among them, so they didn"t pose much of a threat to him.
Instead of making an effort to decide on a certain direction to progress toward, Tang Wulin merely continued onward in a random direction. Right at this moment, he heard a loud roar that belonged to a human rather than a soul beast.
Around 100 meters up ahead, a large tree was felled amid a resounding boom, following which a burly figure sprang up into the air. The figure had dazzling crimson flames burning all over his body, and he was swinging a ma.s.sive ax down from above.
In the instant that the large tree was felled, a giant brown ape was sent flying before cras.h.i.+ng down onto the ground. The huge fiery ax was aimed directly at the ape, and there was no way for it to evade the attack.
Tang Wulin"s brows furrowed slightly, and he instantly covered the distance of around 100 meters, arriving directly in front of the giant ape.
"Clang!"
The fiery ax was stopped cold in its tracks by a large hand that was flas.h.i.+ng with electricity.
The ax was burning with scorching flame and imbued with enormous momentum, as well as the tremendous strength of its wielder, but the hand stood in its way like an immovable fortress.
At this point, Tang Wulin had already identified the wielder of the ax to be a Soul Douluo with a soul ring configuration of two yellows, three purples, and three blacks. The man appeared be around 40 years of age, and both of his arms were bared, revealing cords of bulging muscle.
A hint of surprise appeared on his face upon having his attack thwarted by Tang Wulin, but that was soon replaced by fury. "Are you insane? p.i.s.s off!"
Tang Wulin asked in a cold voice, "It"s already lost the ability to resist; why do you insist on killing it?"
The burly man countered, "What kind of question is that? It"s a soul beast, and it ambushed me, so of course I"m going to kill it! Did you forget to take your pills? This is the Myriad Beast Plane; these soul beasts are nothing more than bodies of energy that were made to be killed by us!"
Tang Wulin continued in a cold voice, "These soul beasts have already gone extinct in the real world, and this is nothing more than an examination. You already know that they"re just bodies of energy, so why do you still feel the need to kill them?"
"I don"t have time to talk to a madman like you! p.i.s.s off!" The burly man attempted to wrench his ax out of Tang Wulin"s hand as he spoke, but found himself unable to move the ax even a single inch.
His expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and his sixth soul ring lit up as bursts of flames erupted from his body like a series of giant dragons. The flame poured into the ma.s.sive ax in a frenzy, instantly turning it a scorching white color, and the incredible heat emanating from the ax was making the surrounding air s.h.i.+mmer and warp violently.
A cold look flashed through Tang Wulin"s eyes as he murmured to himself, "I was just curious about how the Myriad Beast Plane would protect the Soul Masters in it."
Bluish-purple light erupted from his body as he spoke alongside a thunderous dragon"s roar, and thick scales began to appear over his hand, while sharp claws extended out of his fingertips.
A bluish-golden halo radiated out of his body, and in that instant, the burly man felt as if he had been struck by a burst of irresistible force. He felt as if he had lost the ability to think, and that a wall of iron and steel were bulldozing directly toward him. His fiery battle-ax was instantly destroyed, and the terrifying force began to crush his body.
This was an attack that Tang Wulin had invented by referencing the battle style of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He had named it Dragon Lightning Storm, and it was the product of a culmination of his dragon"s repulse, Infernal Lightning Vine, and spiritual power.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom..." The burly man felt as if one thunderclap after another were erupting within his body, and his soul was on the brink of being blown apart. His soul power had already been completely scattered, and his entire body was numb and immobilized.
What was even more terrifying was that he couldn"t even feel any pain due to the numbness, but he could clearly feel the lightning seeping into his body. On top of that, there was a burst of powerful suction force emanating from Tang Wulin"s hand, so he couldn"t even get away; he could only look on helplessly as his own body was gradually devoured by lightning.
Right at this moment, the entire surrounding s.p.a.ce tremored slightly, and a beam of green light descended from the heavens, s.h.i.+ning down upon the burly man"s body. All of the electricity was instantly kept out, and in the next instant, the burly man had vanished into thin air.
Tang Wulin"s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and the lightning coursing over his body slowly subsided. That beam of green light seemed to be imbued with the power of laws, and it kept out his power before forcibly teleporting the burly man away.
However, the light most likely wouldn"t have been able to heal his injuries, and that was the difference between this place and the Spirit Ascension Plane.
If his attack had been more aggressive and he had instantly killed the man, then the power of laws within this s.p.a.ce most likely wouldn"t have been able to protect him.
As expected, it wasn"t impossible to die here; this was a small world, not a simulated s.p.a.ce.
Dragon Lightning Storm was indeed very powerful, but unbeknownst to the burly man, physical contact had to be established for the attack to unleash its full power. If he had kept some distance between himself and Tang Wulin, then the potency of the attack would"ve been significantly lessened.
By the time Tang Wulin turned toward the spot where the giant ape had landed, he discovered that it had already fled the scene.
......
The burly man reappeared at the entrance to the eighth examination amid a flash of light. His entire body was giving off a charred scent, and smoke was billowing out of his mouth and nostrils with every breath he took. His entire body was completely numb, and he instantly collapsed onto the ground, where he was immediately attended to by healing system Soul Masters.
Tang Wulin had actually held back by not unleas.h.i.+ng the power of his Dragon Lightning Storm all at once. Otherwise, the burly man would most likely already be dead.
As he slowly returned to his senses, a hint of fear appeared in the burly man"s eyes. Who was that young man that he had just faced? Surely this level of power was comparable to that of a Limit Douluo! He had only attained his eighth soul ring not long ago, but he was still a Soul Douluo, yet he had just been stomped like an ant; this was simply incredible!
Of course, he was completely unaware of the fact that he had just faced the Tang Sect Master and Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion Master.
Even Tang Wulin himself had almost fallen to the powers of the Infernal Lightning Vine during their first encounter, and now that the Infernal Lightning Vine had undergone multiple evolutions, its lightning power was so fearsome that even Tang Wulin was forced to exercise caution when using it.
It could be said that the Dragon Lightning Storm that Tang Wulin had invented was no less powerful than his eighth soul skill, and it was equivalent in power to a full-force strike unleashed while in his martial soul true body form.
The burly man could only lament his ill-fortune for becoming Tang Wulin"s experimental guinea pig.
......
Lan Fuozi strolled through the forest with intrigue and amazement in his eyes. It was the first time he had ever been to such a lush forest, and he was basking in the rich life force energy here.
"What a fantastic place! It doesn"t really suit me, but this really is a beautiful environment. I wonder if the land soul beasts of the past inhabited such a place. The rich life force energy here is striking me with the urge to cultivate! I wonder where that guy was teleported to; maybe I can run into him at some point. Hmm? Why is it so dark up ahead? Whoa, what a ma.s.sive vine!"
As Lan Fuozi continued onward, he suddenly discovered a ma.s.s of gigantic vines up ahead. At the top of each vine was a huge flower bud that was dark green in color with traces of bright red peeking out of their tops, looking as if they were ready to bloom at any moment.
If such a ma.s.sive flower bud were to bloom, the flower"s diameter would most likely exceed five meters!
The vines were over 15 meters tall, and the ma.s.sive flower buds were swaying gently in the wind, creating a very intriguing sight to behold.