Soul Beasts Cannot Be Extinct

"You all did well last night!"

"A team needs good coordination to bring out its greatest strength!"

The next day, as they continued on their way to the Star Dou Great Forest, Zhao Wuji praised Su Mo and the others highly for their performance the night before.

Clearly, although Zhao Wuji had not shown himself last night, he must have been watching in secret when Su Mo and the others clashed with Canghui Academy.

After the conflict broke out between the two sides last night, all the students from Canghui Academy had been dealt with easily by Xiao Wu alone.

Then their leading teacher, Ye Zhiqiu, had stepped forward to stand up for his students. Unfortunately, in the end, he too had been defeated by Su Mo and the others working together, and had slunk away in disgrace.

In the original work, when the Shrek Seven Devils faced Ye Zhiqiu, who was at the Soul King level, the other side specialized in defense and had extremely thick protection. In the end, Tang San and the others still had not broken through Ye Zhiqiu's defense.

In the end, it had been Zhao Wuji who appeared in time to stand up for Tang San and the others.

But last night was different, after Su Mo joined in.

At first, Su Mo's Soul Hunting Spear in the state of Soul Tool Fusion had also been unable to break through Ye Zhiqiu's defense. Later, after Ning Rongrong added support effects to everyone, Tang San and the others attacked first, and Su Mo struck last, finally breaking through Ye Zhiqiu's defense.

"Su Mo was still the amazing one. Without Su Mo's final strike, we definitely wouldn't have broken through that bastard turtle's shell!"

Ning Rongrong giggled. Even now, Ning Rongrong was still very excited. She had helped defeat a Soul King!

"It was also because Tang San commanded well!"

Dai Mubai praised Tang San instead, believing that Tang San had played the greatest role.

"Mm-hmm, Third Brother's command was great!"

Xiao Wu was naturally firmly on Tang San's side.

Ma Hongjun and Oscar did not say anything. They did not really mind either way.

Only Zhu Zhuqing remained somewhat cold. Su Mo's level was clearly lower than hers, yet the combat power he displayed was so much stronger than hers, making her increasingly dissatisfied with her own strength.

The group continued on their way.

"Unless you encounter a spirit beast over a thousand years old, I won't make a move. Everything will depend on yourselves. This is also training for you!"

"Start entering now. Dai Mubai and Tang San will lead and clear the way. The others stay in the middle. I'll cover the rear!"

After entering the Star Dou Great Forest, Zhao Wuji had Tang San and Dai Mubai open the way in front.

Although Zhao Wuji knew that Su Mo's combat power was also quite good, that was under the condition that Su Mo used Soul Tool Fusion. In terms of inherent strength, he still believed Dai Mubai and Tang San were the strongest.

Moreover, Su Mo had Soul Tool Fusion, but Tang San also had his Hidden Weapons. In his view, Tang San's Hidden Weapons were stronger.

If Tang San had used the kind of Hidden Weapon that had struck him inside his body before last night, there would have been no need to fight so hard.

Su Mo naturally had no objection to Zhao Wuji's arrangement. He was happy to take it easy.

Looking at Xiao Wu bouncing along in the group, appearing extremely happy, Su Mo also recalled the encounters that were about to happen.

The Titan Giant Ape deep within the Star Dou Great Forest should already have smelled Xiao Wu's aura, and would appear to take Xiao Wu away.

And while Tang San was chasing after Xiao Wu, he would also be stopped by a Man Faced Demon Spider, thereby obtaining Tang San's first treasure: the External Soul Bone dropped from the Man Faced Demon Spider, the Eight Spider Lances.

That was a treasure whose value was comparable to a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.

"Those Eight Spider Lances are also very suitable for me!"

"Bibi Dong is now my spirit. Rakshasa God Bibi Dong can still use the abilities of the Death Spider Emperor and the Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor. If I awaken the Rakshasa God Spirit in the future, I should be able to use their abilities too!"

"In that case, the Eight Spider Lances suit me very well!"

Su Mo's heart stirred. He had already decided to intercept the Eight Spider Lances from Tang San.

After all, those Eight Spider Lances did not belong to Tang San yet.

If Tang San had already obtained them, Su Mo would not snatch them from him. But since they did not belong to Tang San yet, Su Mo would not be polite.

"Boss Dai, wait..."

A few hours later, when they passed through a low thicket, Tang San suddenly called out to Dai Mubai.

"What is it?"

Dai Mubai did not understand, but he still stopped.

Only then did everyone learn that under a leaf in front of Dai Mubai, there was a small spirit beast resembling a squirrel, trembling there.

If Tang San had not called Dai Mubai to a stop just now, Dai Mubai, who was clearing the way with tiger claws under Martial Soul Possession, might have accidentally injured this little spirit beast.

Seeing this, Xiao Wu hurried forward, hugged Little Squirrel, and comforted it for a while before letting it go.

"There are quite a lot of low-level spirit beasts in this area. Let's go around!"

"Spirit beasts grow slowly. If we can avoid them, we should try to."

"If we accidentally injure or kill them, in just a few years, there won't be any spirit beasts left in this forest!"

"There's another reason too. If a fight breaks out, the sound will attract powerful spirit beasts. If we can be careful, then we should be careful!"

Tang San then spoke up with his suggestion.

"Then let's go around!"

"You kid, you really know your stuff!"

Dai Mubai couldn't stop praising Tang San.

"My teacher taught me everything!" Tang San said modestly.

After everyone changed direction and continued on their way, it wasn't long before something happened.

Once everyone was on guard, Zhu Zhuqing climbed to a higher spot to observe.

"It's a flying snake!"

When he heard Zhu Zhuqing's words, Su Mo knew they had still run into the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent that appeared in the original work.

After a battle, Su Mo and the others finally succeeded in taking down the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, leaving it lying on the ground, barely alive.

However, just as Oscar was about to kill the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, Snake Woman Chao Tianxiang appeared with her granddaughter, Meng Yiran.

Everything was just like in the original work, without much change because of Su Mo.

After all, Su Mo was not the one leading the team. Tang San and Dai Mubai were still leading them, and it was still this moment after Oscar had broken through to level 30, so it was only normal for everything to happen as usual.

Although there was a minor incident with Meng Yiran in the middle, Oscar still got his wish in the end and obtained his third Soul Ring.

"Teacher Zhao, I just broke through to level 30!"

Just as Zhao Wuji was preparing to lead everyone back, Tang San suddenly revealed that he had broken through to level 30.

With that, everyone could only continue staying in the Star Dou Great Forest and keep helping Tang San search for a suitable soul beast.

Unfortunately, after searching for a while, they still hadn't found one by nightfall.

Everyone could only find a safe place to rest inside the Star Dou Great Forest, spend the night there, and continue tomorrow.

"Sigh, in the past, even on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, there were many thousand-year-level soul beasts!"

"Now... sigh, I don't know whether they've all run into the depths of the forest, or if there's some other reason."

As everyone sat resting, Zhao Wuji suddenly let out a sigh.

He just felt that finding soul beasts now was harder than it used to be!

"Whatever the reason, we humans caused it ourselves!"

"Soul beasts may be fierce, but we humans are even fiercer than they are!"

"Teacher once said that although the number of soul masters is small, it only takes a few decades for a soul master to begin cultivating and grow into an expert. And over those few decades, a powerful soul master needs at least six Soul Rings. In other words, they have to hunt and kill more than six soul beasts. Among them, there will be hundred-year, thousand-year, and even ten-thousand-year levels. Cultivating is far harder for soul beasts than for us humans. Otherwise, their strength wouldn't be divided by age. Even though they are numerous, if this slaughter continues, the number of soul beasts will only keep decreasing. Powerful soul beasts in particular are one fewer with every one killed. Many years from now, I'm afraid it will become difficult to see any existence over a thousand years old."

"What has an even greater impact is aimless indiscriminate killing. A soul master only needs nine soul beasts at most in their lifetime, but how many soul beasts does a soul master actually hunt and kill over a lifetime? Setting aside others, even on this trip of ours, when we encountered some ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts that attacked us first, we still couldn't help but make a move. And for those who make a living by hunting soul beasts, the number killed increases by several multiples. If this continues in the long term, I'm afraid the profession of soul master will one day reach the point where there are no rings left to use."

After hearing Zhao Wuji's lament, Tang San, who had learned about this knowledge from Yu Xiaogang, said everything he knew.

Hearing Tang San's words, Zhao Wuji, Dai Mubai, Ning Rongrong, and the others all fell silent, as if mourning for the future.

Xiao Wu clenched her hands even tighter. Hearing Tang San's words made her even more upset than the others, and she felt despair for the future of soul beasts.

"That's impossible. No matter how many years pass, soul masters will never reach the point where there are no rings left to use!"

Seeing everyone so dispirited, Su Mo smiled faintly and refuted Tang San's words.

"Oh? Why?"

"Didn't Tang San already explain it very clearly just now?"

When Zhao Wuji heard Su Mo's words, he immediately looked at him in surprise.

Tang San and the others did the same, all turning to look at Su Mo, not knowing why he would say that.

"I admit that most of what Tang San said is right. It's just this last point that I can't agree with. In my view, soul beasts can't possibly go extinct, and soul masters won't fall to the point where there are no rings left to use!"

"It's just that soul masters in the future may only have low-level Soul Rings available!"

"For example, Blue Silver Grass. On Douluo Continent, there is no telling how much Blue Silver Grass there is. It can't be counted at all!"

"Soul beasts like Blue Silver Grass will never go extinct!"

"If those soul beasts with high cultivation are slaughtered indiscriminately, and their Soul Rings aren't absorbed by anyone, they won't be wasted either. Instead, they will dissipate between heaven and earth and return to nature!"

"The same goes for when soul masters die. The Soul Power in their bodies will also return to nature!"

"After this Soul Power returns to nature, more soul beasts will naturally be born, and those animals that originally had no Soul Power will also find it easier to become soul beasts!"

"If the number of high-cultivation soul beasts decreases greatly in the future, then low-level soul beasts will surge in number. Even if there is a period when soul beasts become scarce because there are too many Human Experts, it will be fine once those Human Experts die!"

"That's why I said soul masters in the future can't possibly have no rings to use. At most, there will be no high-quality Soul Rings left!"

"But if no one has them, then it all balances out!"

"In the future, there may be large numbers of White Ring Soul Masters, with every Soul Ring on their bodies being white!"

"And then they'll be extremely envious of predecessors like us!"

Su Mo quickly voiced his own view. When he spoke of future soul masters having nothing but white Soul Rings, even Su Mo himself couldn't help laughing.

"Haha, all white Soul Rings!"

"That would be way too funny!"

Ma Hongjun and the others also burst out laughing when they heard this.