Chapter 59: The Three-Eyed Golden Lion: This Man Is Quite Pleasant After All

Cyclopses are an exceptionally unique existence among soul beasts. Except for their single eye, they are basically indistinguishable from humans in every other aspect, save for being much taller and larger. They even use branches and vines to weave clothing to cover their bodies.

A newborn cyclops is already two meters tall. When its cultivation reaches a century, its height can exceed five meters, which marks a fully grown adult cyclops. After reaching a millennium of cultivation, the rate of their height growth slows down considerably, and only cyclopses with ten thousand years of cultivation can exceed fifteen meters in height.

Another unique aspect of cyclopses is that their original attribute is the rare chaos, meaning their affinity is undefined. Only after breaking through ten thousand years of cultivation do their attributes undergo a fundamental transformation.

The transformation splits into two branches: the radiant cyclops and the dark cyclops, as well as the twin cyclops, which mutates by simultaneously fusing the characteristics of both.

The twin cyclops is a combination of light and darkness, and its strength is formidable enough to place it among top-tier soul beasts.

In the original plot, the Emperor Beast, the Three-Eyed Jade Lion, was pursuing a ten-thousand-year-old twin cyclops. Now, treating this ten-thousand-year-old radiant cyclops as food, it certainly seems to have a particular fondness for this species.

The radiant cyclops cast a panicked glance backward at the relentlessly pursuing Three-Eyed Jade Lion, and its sprinting speed suddenly accelerated even further, crossing fifty meters in a single stride.

The distance between Ye Xixuan and Tang Ya and this radiant cyclops was only about a hundred meters, leaving them no time to react otherwise.

"It's too late." Ye Xixuan's heart sank. He decisively unleashed his martial soul without hesitation, and the aura of the ultimate darkness attribute swept outward without reservation. A pair of heavenly spider claws emerged from his body, similarly transforming into the dark-attribute form. The slender and sharp index finger of his right hand pointed straight at the oncoming radiant cyclops.

"Get lost!"

Under Ye Xixuan's low shout, the radiant cyclops's momentum visibly stalled for a split second.

Although a certain gap existed between their cultivation levels, the impact of absolute attribute suppression was not so easily overcome.

Caught in extreme panic, the radiant cyclops had no time to overthink. After briefly weighing the pros and cons, it gritted its teeth and charged forward regardless.

Ye Xixuan had actually anticipated this reaction from the radiant cyclops. Releasing the ultimate darkness aura of his martial soul was merely to buy himself a sliver of reaction time.

Ye Xixuan crossed his hands and pulled sharply downward. Black threads rained down from the sky, forming a massive birdcage that sheltered both him and Tang Ya within it.

The white light erupting from within the radiant cyclops grew increasingly intense, crashing directly and forcefully into the pitch-black birdcage.

Ye Xixuan shielded Tang Ya in front of him. Taking the brunt of such a violent impact, he could not help sliding backward. His third and first soul rings flashed in succession, and the wings of the fallen unfurled behind him, blocking the subsequent wave of shockwaves for Tang Ya.

Simultaneously, a dark magic sword materialized in his hands. Gripping the slender hilt tightly with both hands, he drove it almost entirely into the ground to increase resistance.

Meanwhile, blood burst forth all over the radiant cyclops's body, staining its white fur crimson as it let out a shrill roar. These vertical black threads did not dissolve under its light-attribute energy as it had anticipated; instead, they carved deeply into its flesh and blood, leaving behind wounds deep enough to expose the bone.

From the perspective of the Three-Eyed Jade Lion, this radiant cyclops appeared to have deliberately inflicted heavy injuries upon itself. It instinctively halted its momentum and stayed in place, tilting its large golden head in confusion.

Tang Ya snapped back to her senses at that moment. Driven by her concern for Ye Xixuan and losing emotional control, she almost subconsciously triggered the evil aura within her martial soul. Her pair of eyes had somehow been dyed an eerie purplish-red. Her purple third soul ring flashed as it floated up to her chest level, and she let out a sharp shriek.

"Third soul skill, Thorns of Blood!"

Dark purple Blue Silver Grass vines surged into the sky behind Tang Ya, the thorns upon them appearing to transform into the same purplish-red as her eyes. A torrential storm of purplish-red light shot out instantly, enveloping the colossal body of the radiant cyclops.

This was precisely the area-of-effect third soul skill bestowed upon her by that millennium-old Ghost King Vine. This soul skill possessed extreme penetrating power and specialized in shattering protective soul skills, especially after merging with the devour characteristic of her current Dark Blue Silver Grass martial soul.

Having already suffered severe injuries, the radiant cyclops could only manage to protect itself with its thick, bulky arms, but the purple light rain left countless bloody holes across its body.

The parasite effect of Tang Ya's second soul skill activated in tandem, and dense, thorn-covered Blue Silver Grass instantly covered the entire body of the radiant cyclops.

That millennium-old Ghost King Vine not only granted her the powerful third soul skill, Thorns of Blood, but also enhanced the effectiveness of her second soul skill, Parasite, to a certain extent.

This precisely highlighted the advantage of soul masters hunting soul beasts of similar types to obtain soul rings.

Ye Xixuan glanced sideways at Tang Ya behind him out of the corner of his eye. Before he could say anything, he noticed that the originally robust body of the radiant cyclops was beginning to wither at a visible rate; its soul power, blood Qi, and even vitality were rapidly draining away.

Meanwhile, the dark purple Blue Silver Grass vines upon its body continued to grow endlessly, nourished by the drain.

As one grew while the other withered, such a powerful ten-thousand-year soul beast was continuously worn down and weakened by Tang Ya, a mere three-ringed soul elder.

Ye Xixuan made a prompt decision. While pulling the dark magic sword out of the ground, he instantly activated his second soul skill, Shadow Domain. Chains of darkness embedded with sharp wedges pierced through the radiant cyclops's body from all directions, and the ultimate darkness attribute aura on the chains frantically suppressed the light-attribute soul power within its body.

The next instant, holding the dark magic sword, Ye Xixuan ascended into the air. The wings of the fallen behind him beat, propelling his figure into a black afterimage as he dove toward the giant single eye on the cyclops's forehead.

Struggling in desperation, the radiant cyclops shot a dazzling beam of white light from its single eye. As thick as a water vat, it pierced right through Ye Xixuan's body. To its utter horror, however, Ye Xixuan was completely unaffected by its attack, and the dark magic sword, crackling with black-and-purple electrical arcs, pierced straight through its single eye at that very moment.

Ye Xixuan gripped the hilt with both hands and thoroughly pulverized the radiant cyclops's brain. Yet, his entire body emanated a pure aura of light, making even his skin appear translucent and crystalline—magnificent and sacred.

The colossal body of the radiant cyclops crashed heavily to the ground, and amidst a strange humming sound, a black soul ring quietly emerged.

Ye Xixuan descended from the sky and landed beside the radiant cyclops, while Tang Ya hurried forward, hugging him with a look of deep concern.

"Xixuan, are you alright?!"

"Sister Xiaoya, I'm fine." Judging from Tang Ya's previous performance, Ye Xixuan understood that her martial soul had indeed mutated into the devour-capable Dark Blue Silver Grass. Seeing the seductive purplish-red in Tang Ya's eyes gradually fade back to their original color, he finally relaxed slightly.

The Three-Eyed Jade Lion, which had stopped to watch from a distance, looked at Ye Xixuan, a nameless implication seemingly dawning within its golden eyes.

To this Emperor Beast, Ye Xixuan's Son of Light constitution acted essentially like a succubus, possessing an irresistible attraction. With a light tap of its toes, its figure leaped gracefully in front of the cyclops.

The arrival of the Three-Eyed Jade Lion naturally drew the attention of Ye Xixuan and Tang Ya once again.

Unlike the highly vigilant Tang Ya, Ye Xixuan felt no excessive panic in his heart because he knew the Emperor Beast, the Three-Eyed Jade Lion, would not attack human soul beasts without reason. He maintained a calm expression as he locked gazes with the Three-Eyed Jade Lion, then straightforwardly pointed his finger at the radiant cyclops's head.

The intelligence of the Three-Eyed Jade Lion was by no means inferior to that of humans, and it instantly grasped Ye Xixuan's intention.

Thinking to itself, this human is actually quite nice, inviting me to eat the brain matter of a cyclops.