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**
Seeing the axe radiant cleaved from the Profound Sky Axe flying his way and sensing the razor-sharp edge contained within, Huyan Li's pupils shrank as his mind sounded an alarm.
He immediately threw himself into full defense.
While executing the Mammoth Whip Strike, he channeled the Diamond Force to coat his trunk. The massive trunk, now shimmering with a crystalline diamond brilliance even greater than before, lashed out once more.
Erected high, the long trunk swung down violently with fierce, indomitable force.
The crescent-shaped axe radiant streaking through the air collided with the lashing trunk.
When the two clashed, a sound akin to metal slamming against metal erupted, echoing like the clear, resonant chiming of swords, sharp and deafening. However, Huyan Li's gleaming, massive trunk failed to achieve its purpose this time, as it could not shatter the axe radiant.
In mid-air, the two forces actually locked in a stalemate for several breaths.
The single lash of the trunk temporarily blocked the axe radiant chopped by Ling Xiao but failed to disperse it.
Seeing this, a glint flashed in Huyan Li's eyes.
He stimulated his martial soul, subtly shifting his control. Under his guidance, the massive trunk in mid-air suddenly coiled, directly wrapping around the axe radiant that was radiating intense, razor-sharp edge, like a giant hand gripping it tight.
The crescent axe radiant, glowing with a dark red energy light, leveraged this to force its way forward a bit more. However, as Huyan Li channeled even more soul power to stimulate his Diamond Mammoth martial soul, the strength of his trunk grew increasingly immense.
With a sudden, explosive bang, the several-meters-long axe radiant was violently snapped and crushed by the trunk of his martial soul form. Instantly, a massive shower of dark red energy crystalline shards burst into the air like fireworks, before slowly dissolving away.
Yet, although Huyan Li had snapped the axe radiant with his trunk, he was far from unharmed.
Despite his trunk being coated with the Diamond Force, the intense struggle against the axe radiant during the coiling and crushing process inevitably worsened the existing wounds on it.
The defense of his diamond power was breached, leaving a series of shocking, gruesome wounds across the thick trunk. It would likely be difficult to exert its previous might again anytime soon.
Although this axe strike had been violently stopped by Huyan Li, his trunk was temporarily rendered useless.
Seeing this, a smile curved on Ling Xiao's lips.
Looking at Huyan Li, he said in a clear, resonant voice, "Huyan Li, is this all you've got? Since you want to clash with me head-on, then bring out your strongest capabilities and let me see them."
Hearing this, Huyan Li, who had already intended to risk everything on a single throw, widened his eyes. Without a shred of hesitation left, he retracted his trunk, squared his stance, and clenched his fists tightly.
With a roaring shout, a powerful surge of soul power fluctuations erupted from his body, far stronger than before. At the same time, along with the manifestation of this energetic aura, a yellow soul ring released from within his body, slowly rotating around him.
This was exactly Huyan Li's second soul ring, originating from a Diamond Mammoth with a cultivation level of over eight hundred years, nearly reaching nine hundred years of soul power.
Generally speaking, when a Beast Martial Soul Master absorbs a soul ring—if they are not looking to use the fusion and evolution process to force their martial soul to mutate, or to fuse a portion of another soul beast's attributes—
Then choosing a soul beast of the exact same species as their own martial soul is the absolute best choice. The process of absorbing the soul ring represents the most flawless devouring evolution.
His second soul skill, Mammoth Strength, might seem like a common strength amplification skill on the surface. However, a strength amplification soul skill derived from a soul beast like the Diamond Mammoth was far from what an ordinary strength amplification soul skill could compare to.
Furthermore, Huyan Li's martial soul itself was a Diamond Mammoth, which allowed the power of the soul ring and the martial soul source to fuse with higher efficiency, yielding a much stronger effect.
Thanks to the accumulated experience of generations of ancestors from the Huyan Clan, this specific soul ring and its corresponding soul skill could be considered the absolute best fit for the Huyan Clan's Diamond Mammoth martial soul.
Outstanding disciples of successive generations in the Huyan Clan would choose this kind of soul ring for their second ring, making it a standard configuration. At this moment, after Huyan Li unleashed his second soul skill, his aura reached its peak and his strength multiplied drastically.
Combining this with Huyan Li's already tyrannical innate strength, purely in terms of raw power, he—as a high-level Soul Elder—was already capable of rivaling some Soul Ancestors with power-system martial souls.
Of course, this referred to those ordinary soul masters who lacked fortuitous encounters or heritages, had not undergone extra physical conditioning, and had never consumed various body-tempering medicinal pills.
If compared against other sect disciples who also hailed from major factions, possessed various heritages, and lacked no cultivation resources, that would be a different story. But even so, it was already quite astonishing.
At this moment, though Huyan Li was still only at the Soul Elder realm, killing a rogue Soul Ancestor master like Bu Le would be as easy as turning over his hand.
"Not bad. You've finally used a soul ring."
Ling Xiao said with a faint smile.
Huyan Li already possessed a remarkable physical body, and the Diamond Mammoth martial soul was renowned for its tyrannical strength.
Combined with the strength amplification from his soul ring, the raw power Huyan Li was displaying at this moment was something even Ling Xiao would not look down upon.
However, Ling Xiao did not unleash his own second soul skill, Dragon-Elephant Colossal Strength, to boost his power with his second soul ring. After all, his current cultivation had already reached the Soul Ancestor realm, and his physical body's cultivation was already outstanding.
Even if he used his second soul skill, it would not increase his strength by much anymore. His second soul ring originated from a Dragon-Horned Elephant with a cultivation level of nearly a thousand years, which equated to the peak cultivation of a soul master's second ring.
In terms of strength, it was not inferior to a Diamond Mammoth of the same cultivation. However, a soul ring ultimately only retains about one-third of a soul beast's source power, not its entire strength.
While this had been an immense help to him back when he was a two-ring Soul Master—allowing his strength to multiply drastically—and had still yielded a decent effect during his time as a Soul Elder, the amplification from this power was now negligible to his current self.
Yet, even without using a strength-amplifying soul skill, Ling Xiao remained confident that he could suppress the current Huyan Li in terms of pure, raw strength. Furthermore, when paired with the Profound Sky Axe, his power would only become more tyrannical.
"Come!"
With a swift sweep of the Profound Sky Axe that flashed a cold light, Ling Xiao looked at Huyan Li and called out softly.
Boom!
The response Ling Xiao received was a violent, shattering explosion.
In the distance, Huyan Li did not launch a direct, sweeping charge. Instead, he lifted his right foot and stomped down fiercely. As his soul power circulated, the right leg of his martial soul form seemed to grow thicker, looking like a pillar, as if it were truly the leg of a giant elephant.
When Huyan Li slammed his foot down from afar, the ground instantly suffered a massive tremor under his tyrannical force. However, this was far from a simple, clumsy release of stray energy. Under Huyan Li's precise control, this force was directed straight toward Ling Xiao's position.
The boundless power churned and surged beneath the surface like rolling ocean waves.
The entire section of the plaza extending from before Huyan Li all the way to Ling Xiao immediately fractured and disintegrated on a massive scale.
Cyan stones shattered into pieces as cracks spread relentlessly.
Under the rising and falling waves of force, the ground shook violently, resembling a localized yet incredibly intense earthquake that left one unable to stand firmly or find a footing.
**
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