"Arctic Wind White Tiger!"
When Yu Chen saw the approaching beast's appearance and noticed the faint yellow and green patterns on its white fur, he immediately recognized what kind of soul beast it was.
The Arctic Wind White Tiger, a soul beast that possessed the attributes of Earth, Wind, and Metal, with Wind being its dominant attribute.
Although it didn't possess the top-tier bloodline, it was far from a common beast.
If the top-tier bloodline soul beasts, like the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, Titan Great Ape, and the Sky Blue Bull Python, were akin to human soul master's super-class martial spirits, the Earth Fire Dragon and Wind Striding Dragon, with their certain top-tier bloodlines, would be classified as elite martial spirits. The Arctic Wind White Tiger, on the other hand, would be a high-grade martial spirit, and among those, it was in the upper ranks.
Moreover, from the patterns on its body and its size, this was a five-thousand-year-old Arctic Wind White Tiger, which meant it was comparable to a Soul Saint in terms of combat strength.
Unless he used the Soul Command technique or deployed some special trump cards, Yu Chen knew he would not be able to easily defeat it in a short period.
The key issue was, he didn't want to waste too much soul power and mental energy in the event of encountering the Wind Striding Dragon anytime soon.
However, sometimes the option that seemed to cause the greatest loss was, in fact, the one that minimized the actual damage.
As the saying goes, "He who hesitates is lost," and people often suffer losses when they get caught up in weighing and calculating potential damages.
And Yu Chen was someone who could make decisive calls in critical moments!
"Soul Command!" Yu Chen thought to himself.
Two black suns rose in the Arctic Wind White Tiger's eyes. In that instant, it deeply regretted attacking such a monster...
*Phew.*
Yu Chen's hands transformed into dragon claws, and like thunder, they pierced through the Arctic Wind White Tiger's chest. With a single strike of the "Wind Flow Claw," this five-thousand-year-old Soul Beast, with Soul Saint-level strength, was killed instantly.
This wasn't surprising.
After absorbing the second and third soul rings from his second incarnation, Yu Chen's soul power had reached level 70, which was why he had come to hunt for the seventh soul ring.
After his second incarnation's first three soul rings were completed, there was no longer any worry about the stability of his martial spirit. Yu Chen directly equipped the right leg bone of the Ten-thousand-year-old Blue Silver Emperor and the right arm bone of the Seven-thousand-year-old Ancestor Bird.
To be precise, the latter was also at the Ten-thousand-year level.
Although the enhancement to his martial spirit from soul bones wasn't as significant as that from soul rings, this was a crucial matter, and Yu Chen always calculated carefully. With two Ten-thousand-year soul bones, he could easily increase all body parts to the Ten-thousand-year level using the Soul Bone Age Increase Cards.
Given the enhancement of soul power, martial spirit, and the two Ten-thousand-year soul bones, along with Yu Chen's basic physical strength...
Even basic skills like the Wind Strike Fist or Wind Flow Claw were enough to instantly kill a Soul Saint-level opponent without resistance.
Speaking of soul bones, one couldn't forget the soul bone abilities.
Perhaps because the original soul bone was at the thousand-year level and only had one ability, when upgraded to Ten-thousand-year level, it still retained just one ability, but its effect became far stronger than the average Ten-thousand-year soul bone abilities.
Yu Chen's Ten-thousand-year Ancestor Bird right arm bone had a unique soul bone ability called "Air Compression." This ability had two modes: one was a control ability where it compressed the air in a selected area to the extreme, causing the target to experience a state akin to oxygen poisoning, similar to the Yasuo wind wall, though with far stronger binding power and additional effects.
This ability could also be used as a boosting skill, greatly enhancing the wind-based abilities that followed. Additionally, because of the matching soul rings and soul bones, it enhanced the power of Yu Chen's Air Blade to nearly the strength of a Ten-thousand-year soul skill!
However... the soul power consumption of such skills was significantly high, and with Yu Chen's current soul power, he couldn't use them more than a few times.
Now, back to the main story.
Looking at the fallen Arctic Wind White Tiger, which had collapsed like a small mountain, Yu Chen furrowed his brows.
'Though I can't figure out exactly what's going on, it seems that the Soul Command technique doesn't work well here?'
The Arctic Wind White Tiger wasn't one to specialize in detection or have any particularly strong mental power, its capabilities in this area were merely average.
If it could discover Yu Chen's presence and launch a sneak attack, then it meant that the soul beasts in this area likely possessed similar abilities.
Indeed, when Yu Chen was passing by the outer zone earlier, he had noticed that some soul beasts seemed to vaguely sense his presence. This was no coincidence!
After thinking for a moment, Yu Chen decided to temporarily stop using the Soul Command technique. Instead, he would resort to more mundane stealth techniques to move around here.
While Yu Chen couldn't figure out the exact cause of the issue, his decision to switch tactics was the right one.
The Arctic Wind White Tiger couldn't detect Yu Chen because of its advanced sensory abilities, but because of something simpler—familiarity.
Soul beasts that live in such harsh environments as the core zone of the Disaster Mountain Range are used to the area and know it like the back of their hands.
The natural energy in this area was extremely high and chaotic. When Yu Chen used the Soul Command technique, his aura, although concealed, caused disruptions in the chaotic energy around him, leading to his presence being revealed.
If Yu Chen had mastered the Soul Command technique to perfection, he would have merged perfectly with the energy field and avoided such issues.
However, his Soul Command was still far from perfected.
Realizing his mistake, Yu Chen swiftly adjusted his tactics and began using entry-level stealth methods that were far less mystical.
Soon, Yu Chen was no longer detected by the soul beasts before him.
Still, using only basic stealth techniques, which were easily detected by soul beasts that lived in the wild, Yu Chen was forced to dodge several powerful soul beasts, running through the mountains.
After gathering some experience, Yu Chen decided to retreat to the outer zone to further hone his disguise and stealth skills.
Though his Soul Command technique couldn't be used perfectly here, it did contain many tips for disguising and concealing one's presence.
Yu Chen compared his skills and practiced further. With time, he became more adept at using these abilities.
Over the next half month, Yu Chen gathered most of the information on the soul beasts in the core zone.
The number of soul beasts here was limited, likely no more than a few dozen, with the weakest being comparable to a Soul Emperor, surviving due to their strong adaptability to the environment.
Most of the soul beasts were of Soul Saint level, with only a few at the Soul Douluo level.
Considering the numbers, Yu Chen thought he could replicate his method in Soul Beast City and eliminate some of the beasts to reduce interference when hunting the Wind Striding Dragon.
However, the task was much more difficult here.
First, the special energy field of the Disaster Mountain Range made it much harder to remain undetected.
Second, the rocky terrain of the mountains was far less accommodating than Soul Beast City, where Yu Chen could easily hide. The soul beasts also weren't concerned about the consequences of harming their kin.
Lastly, excessive hunting could lead to the soul beasts uniting and possibly causing an uproar, which would put the surrounding human populations in danger.
In conclusion, aside from the Wind Striding Dragon, all other soul beasts were irrelevant to Yu Chen's goal. Any hunt would be ineffective. Yu Chen's aim was to find the perfect opportunity to use the Barrett sniper rifle to shoot at the Wind Striding Dragon, rather than waste time on unnecessary tasks.
The Wind Striding Dragon, with its terrifying speed, was a perfect target for the sniper rifle. The first shot was crucial, and considering the rifle's cooldown, Yu Chen couldn't afford to waste his chances.
Thus, Yu Chen decided to take his time, waiting for the perfect shot.
Thankfully, after a long period of waiting, his patience finally paid off.
...
'That's it, the Wind Striding Dragon...'
Yu Chen crouched down in the shadow of a jagged rock formation, observing from afar.
The giant dragon, with a black chest and back, greenish-blue wings and limbs, was resting, its body covered in feathers that seemed like a stormy armor, vibrating in sync with its breath, generating an invisible cyclone around it.
This beast, with its distinctive characteristics, was Yu Chen's target—the Wind Striding Dragon!
Its resting place was not exactly a cave but more of an open-air altar, surrounded by towering, twisted stone pillars, forming what looked like a giant hand reaching toward the sky. The Wind Striding Dragon rested in the palm of this "hand."
The area was naturally filled with highly chaotic and intense energy, even more so than the rest of the core zone.
Without his training in the God Elephant Suppression technique and the two Ten-thousand-year soul bones, Yu Chen would have found it hard to tolerate this environment.
However, despite the tough conditions, Yu Chen wasn't here to fight but to observe and wait for the right moment to strike.
He observed the Wind Striding Dragon carefully and noticed that it was currently in a state of rest, not actively hunting.
'It seems to be storing fat reserves from its recent meals. Judging by its energy signature, it should be at ease for now...'
Yu Chen then noticed another set of incoming auras, both from the sky and the ground.
"Chi~!" A sharp cry echoed.
"Roar!!" A deep growl followed.
A giant eagle with a dragon's head, its dark purple feathers crackling with lightning, and a massive, muscular ape with strange black patterns on its face, both advanced toward the Wind Striding Dragon.
'The Thunderclap Dragonhawk and the Purple Thunder Magic Ape! Are they planning to challenge the Wind Striding Dragon's position?'
These two creatures, also possessing elite bloodlines, were close to the Wind Striding Dragon's ecological niche.
Yu Chen had already observed the Purple Thunder Magic Ape before, and now, seeing the Thunderclap Dragonhawk for the first time, he analyzed their strength.
'The Thunderclap Dragonhawk, 75,000 years old!'
Both of these soul beasts, while not on par with the Wind Striding Dragon, were incredibly powerful and had the strength to fight for dominance in this area.
Yu Chen knew that the Wind Striding Dragon was not the only powerful creature in this region, and now, it seemed that the battle for supremacy was about to begin.
'This is my chance!'
Yu Chen's eyes sparkled with excitement.
In the midst of this battle between beasts, there was a perfect opportunity for him to strike!
-