Chapter Twenty-One: Beneath the Setting Sun, Youth Begins to Roar!
“Hoo—”
Tilting his head back, Ning Wuque slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. He opened his eyes and turned his gaze toward the elders’ stand in the distance.
Compared to earlier, three figures had appeared there: the Sect Leader, Wufeng’s father, and... an unfamiliar old man.
Ning Wuque withdrew his gaze and looked at the poised Wufeng and the quietly waiting Ning Tian across the arena.
“I told you that today I would reveal everything to you, to make you understand how unfortunate it is to be my friend.”
With these words, he did not toss off his clothes as before but instead unbuttoned them naturally, revealing the soul-guidance training device he wore underneath.
He extended his left hand, pressed it against the bracer on his right wrist, and gently twisted to unlock it, tossing it to the ground. As he slowly removed the rest of the training gear, his voice echoed through the silent arena.
The spectators had fallen into silence, their conversations stilled by his words. They all sensed a monumental revelation was about to unfold! Everyone quieted down, listening as Ning Wuque’s voice resonated in their ears:
“From the moment I awakened my martial soul, I knew my life was destined to be ordinary. But sometimes, true ordinariness is just a surrender to mediocrity. Since that day, I have racked my brains to become stronger, unwilling to accept my weakness and plainness.
I succeeded. I found a path to the summit. But... it came at a price—a price I must pay with everything I have, a price that could kill me at any moment.”
As Ning Wuque spoke, the training devices on his limbs were fully removed.
He placed his hands flat at his sides, and under the surge of his soul energy, the chest armor disengaged and fell backward with a loud clang.
“Spring rain strikes me, yet I do not falter; I train through the scorching summer, my body like iron.
The autumn wind passes, yet my shadow remains straight; I temper my soul through the harsh winter’s chill.”
Softly reciting the hardships he endured over the past three years, a circle of purple soul rings slowly rose from beneath his feet.
Martial Soul Manifestation!
A roar echoed—
The stands were stunned; none of the unaware could believe their eyes. What was that? A thousand-year first ring!
Ning Wuque possessed such a terrifying thousand-year first ring! It was... unheard of!
How had he done it? Why was he able to achieve this?
This was a privilege even true geniuses had never attained. The thousand-year second ring was still within the realm of understanding, but a thousand-year first ring... it astonished the entire world!
Ahead, Ning Tian’s pupils contracted. Though she had long known about Ning Wuque’s thousand-year first ring, seeing it with her own eyes was still almost unbelievable.
At the same time, Ning Wuque’s recited verses echoed in her ears, and the memories of his relentless daily training played repeatedly in her mind.
“Ho—How is this possible!”
Wufeng shouted in disbelief. She had consumed the millennia-old whale gel prepared by her father, yet her first soul ring was only a little over five hundred years.
Granted, it was a high-level fire-attribute sub-dragon soul ring, but still... she was unwilling to accept it!
Why did Ning Wuque shine so brilliantly?
“I have given my all, exhausted every ounce of strength to prepare for this! I have spent all my time training, cultivating, repeatedly breaking down my body and then healing it through pain, feeling every step clearly.”
As Ning Wuque spoke, a sudden surge of aura burst forth from his body, accompanied by an unmatched gale as he mobilized his soul power, radiating in all directions.
Even Ning Tian, standing more than ten meters away, felt the wave of energy brush against her face.
“This is the first time I’m using this soul skill. Watch carefully, Ning Tian—its power, and... the price it demands!”
The soul ring flickered brightly.
Hmph!
Then came a muffled grunt. Ning Wuque’s pupils contracted sharply as the purple soul ring beneath his feet exploded like dazzling fireworks!
Pong—
A wail of the soul! The explosion rang clearly in everyone’s ears. Dazed, the crowd watched as Ning Wuque shattered his own soul ring.
“Nine Layers of the King of Hell’s Gates! First Gate: Blood Surge Gate—Open for me!!!”
Roaring fiercely, Ning Wuque harnessed the massive tidal wave of soul power unleashed by the ring’s destruction, surging through his body like a wolf king leading its pack, guiding the soul energy along the blood vessels he had simulated countless times before.
The colossal soul energy coursed through every vein and limb, expanding the meridians and blood vessels, breaking the first shackles of his body—the Blood Surge!
In an instant, Ning Wuque’s body swelled, shooting up to a height of 1.6 meters. His skin turned a deep crimson from the hyper-enhanced blood flow.
Soul force infused his entire bloodstream, radiating outward to activate all his blood. The surging blood instantly boosted his vitality by a staggering three hundred percent.
His speed, strength, and self-healing abilities soared to the peak limits of his body!
His defenses and overall physical quality rose by fifty percent under the baptism of the exploded ring!
But it was not over.
What happened next stunned everyone, including Ning Wuque himself.
A dazzling blood-golden light radiated from him in all directions. Bathed in the sunset’s glow, it looked like a golden dragon rising from a pool of blood.
It was a soul ring—the Blood-Vitality Soul Ring, a blood-golden vitality soul ring!
“What... what is that?”
On the elders’ stand, Ning Fengxiao’s eyes narrowed in confusion. This was utterly beyond his comprehension.
That soul ring, a blood-golden soul ring—what on earth was it!?
...
“A Vitality Soul Ring?”
Ning Wuque furrowed his brow, staring unbelievingly at the newly re-formed soul ring beneath his feet. Yet he felt no soul skill emanating from it.
He only sensed that it was connected to his bloodline, as if it were a switch—a particularly large switch!
But before he could ponder further, the price of the Nine Layers of the King of Hell’s Gates interrupted his thoughts.
Pain! His entire body ached!
He had turned his martial soul into an aid, using his body to bear the majority of the soul power that should have been absorbed by the soul itself.
The price was that he needed immense willpower just to move his body at this moment! He had it—but no mental energy to spare for anything else.
He looked fiercely at the two opponents ahead, roaring with the ferocity of a lion!
“Come, give it your all! Feel how I struggle against fate—!”
The referee was stunned.
But when he saw Ning Tian unleash her martial soul and still call out diligently:
“The match begins!”
Boom—
Stone bricks shattered. Ning Wuque crushed a jade stone tile beneath his foot, his whole body like a bullet flying forward, fists raining down toward Ning Tian and Wufeng.
Covering over ten meters in less than two seconds, he appeared instantly before them.
His ferocious expression and overwhelming aura pressed heavily on Wufeng.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!—
With a fierce first punch, Ning Wuque stopped barely twenty centimeters from Wufeng and unleashed a relentless barrage of punches.
Ten punches! Thirty punches! Seventy punches! A hundred punches in the blink of an eye! His fists formed a wall that filled Wufeng’s entire field of vision!
The wind from his fists even formed air currents, striking Wufeng with the force of spirit-infused blows, knocking her down without the slightest chance to fight back, collapsing into Ning Tian’s arms.
Thud—
The two fell to the ground together, but Ning Wuque’s fists continued to cast afterimages, pressing down relentlessly before their eyes, sapping all their strength and leaving them immobile!
Under the sunset, the youth’s fury roared on!