"Xiao Wu, do you know of any bear- or dragon-type spirit beasts with an earth attribute that have cultivated for over ninety thousand years?"
Having entered the inner region of the Star Dou Great Forest, Ye Yu turned and asked Xiao Wu.
"...There is one," Xiao Wu replied softly, her beautiful face showing a trace of hesitation. After a brief silence, she nodded. "There's a Titan Magma Bear that's over ninety thousand years old."
"Then lead the way."
Under Xiao Wu's guidance, the group began making their way deeper into the inner regions of the forest.
On the way, Zhao Wuji couldn't help but ask Ye Yu in confusion, "My lord, how would Xiao Wu know where a Titan Magma Bear with over ninety thousand years of cultivation is hiding in the Star Dou Great Forest?"
"What do you think?" Ye Yu replied with a faint smile.
"Could it be that the Grandmaster told Tang San, and Tang San told her?" Zhao Wuji guessed, frowning thoughtfully.
"Yu Xiaogang? That guy?" Ye Yu laughed and shook his head. "No way he'd know."
"All right," he said mysteriously, "I'll keep that a secret for now. You'll understand one day."
Ye Yu wasn't particularly opposed to telling Zhao Wuji about Xiao Wu's real identity—but with Xiao Wu present, it wasn't appropriate. Once Zhao Wuji advanced to the Spirit Douluo realm, he'd be able to see through it on his own.
Soon enough, under Xiao Wu's lead, the group arrived at a hilly, mountainous area within the inner forest. In a deep valley, they discovered their target.
A massive bear-type spirit beast, over twenty meters tall, lay resting in the valley. Its entire body was grayish-brown, clad in what looked like natural stone armor, with golden-red magma patterns flowing across its body. It was immense and imposing.
This was the goal of their trip—Titan Magma Bear!
In the world of Douluo Continent, there were many powerful bear-type spirit beasts. The strongest, undoubtedly, was the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear, a metal-attributed beast said to carry the bloodline of the ancient mythical Behemoth.
Just beneath it in strength was this Titan Magma Bear, carrying the Titan bloodline, with dual attributes of earth and fire. Its body size far surpassed other spirit beasts of the same level.
"Grandpa, let me handle this one," Ye Yu said to Dugu Bo, seeing the enormous bear resting ahead like a mountain.
Against the Titan Magma Bear, most of Dugu Bo's normal attacks wouldn't deal significant damage. His eighth spirit ability, Time Freeze, was too destructive for this. Ye Yu was the better option for this battle.
"Blue Silver Jade Tree—Emerge!"
With a thought, Ye Yu summoned his Blue Silver Jade Tree Martial Soul.
This time, he did not disguise his aura with the Blue Silver Domain. Instantly, two purple, four black, and one red spirit rings—seven in total—rose from beneath his feet and hovered around him.
"What?!"
Zhao Wuji was stunned the moment he saw Ye Yu's true spirit ring configuration. His pupils contracted sharply, and waves of shock surged through his heart.
"My lord… wasn't he only a Spirit King?"
"How does he already have seven spirit rings?!"
"And what is that spirit ring combo?! According to that so-called 'Grandmaster' Yu Xiaogang, the optimal configuration for a Spirit Sage should be two yellow, two purple, and three black rings!"
Seventh Spirit Ability: Blue Silver Jade Tree True Body!
Sixth Spirit Ability: Parasitic Devour!
Upon summoning his Martial Soul, Ye Yu directly activated both his Seventh Spirit Ability: Martial Soul True Body, and Sixth Spirit Ability: Parasitic Devour.
With a surge of powerful Spirit Power, the seventh and sixth spirit rings lit up one after the other. In a flash of radiant blue-silver light, the Blue Silver Jade Tree Martial Soul rapidly expanded.
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a towering tree with a trunk over ten meters wide and more than 300 meters tall. Its lush canopy stretched across the sky like an enormous umbrella. Its blue crystal-like branches and leaves sparkled with starlight, crescent moons, and miniature suns—like a magnificent starry sky.
Xiao Wu, witnessing this dreamlike spectacle, was completely awestruck.
In this True Body form, the Blue Silver Jade Tree rapidly extended its crystalline branches—each over three meters wide—multiplying and writhing like massive blue serpents.
These branched vines, resembling giant blue crystal pythons, lashed out toward the Titan Magma Bear.
The bear, now fully awake, let out a furious roar and stood tall. The golden-red magma veins on its body flared with scorching heat, distorting the very air around it.
With an earth-shaking stomp, massive stone walls erupted from the ground around the valley. At the same time, geysers of molten lava shot upward from behind the stone barriers, forming a circular wall of flowing magma.
But Ye Yu was unphased.
The Blue Silver Jade Tree's crystalline branches rapidly hardened, intertwining and forming massive, spear-like lances of blue crystal.
Thanks to its fire immunity, the Blue Silver Jade Tree's weapons pierced through the scorching magma without harm.
With a loud bang, the crystal spears tore through the solid stone wall and, just before striking the Titan Magma Bear, softened and merged into a group of Blue Silver Wood Dragons—wrapping tightly around the bear's body.
These dragons, formed from the fused tree branches under the Martial Soul True Body, had diameters over ten meters. No matter how much the Titan Magma Bear struggled or roared in rage, it couldn't break free.
Under the effect of Parasitic Devour, the Blue Silver Wood Dragons began draining the bear's Spirit Power and vitality.
In no time, the colossal Titan Magma Bear collapsed to the ground with a heavy crash—completely exhausted and unable to resist further.
"Teacher Zhao, you can handle the cleanup."
Ye Yu turned to Zhao Wuji and smiled.
Even knowing Ye Yu was strong, Zhao Wuji hadn't expected him to subdue a 90,000-year-old Titan Magma Bear so easily—even as a Spirit Sage.
His shock quickly turned into joy.
The stronger Ye Yu was, the more it confirmed that Zhao Wuji had made the right choice—leaving Shrek Academy and pledging allegiance to this prodigy.
"Yes, my lord!"
Suppressing his excitement, Zhao Wuji activated his Vigorous Vajra Bear Martial Soul and approached the fallen bear.
After unleashing his Seventh Spirit Ability: Vigorous Vajra Bear True Body, he roared and followed up with Second Spirit Ability: Vigorous Vajra Palm, slamming both clawed hands—covered in dark golden dragon scales—onto the Titan Magma Bear's head again and again.
After seven or eight heavy strikes, blood oozed from all its orifices, and the beast finally perished.
A flood of dark red Spirit Power light particles dispersed from the bear's corpse—and at the same time, a gray-brown orb of light dropped beside it.