Hunting Soul Beasts, Second Ring, Dawn Dream Tapir

Hunting Soul Beasts, Second Ring, Dawn Dream Tapir

Qing Luan Douluo transformed into a rather large Azure Luan Divine Bird.

Radiant Feather Douluo grabbed Little Shiyue and, familiar with the routine, brought her onto Qing Luan's back.

The Azure Luan Divine Bird let out a cry and shot into the night sky.

"You two seem really close!" Shi Yueyi shouted from Qing Luan Douluo's back.

The rushing wind around them was a little too loud.

Qing Luan Douluo raised another Soul Power barrier around them. Originally, he had intended for the high-speed flight to put a little pressure on Little Shiyue and test whether her physical constitution was up to standard, but now he blocked out the wind as well.

"Actually, Qing Luan and I have known each other since we were young, though back then we spent more time competing against each other," Radiant Feather Douluo said.

"I get it, I get it!" Shi Yueyi waggled her eyebrows. "No friendship without a fight, right?"

The Azure Luan Divine Bird trembled slightly.

"It wasn't exactly that. He and I never really blasted each other from afar with soul skills." Radiant Feather Douluo casually smoothed out the Soul Power fluctuations around him. "It's just that we're both long-range soul masters, so it was inevitable that we'd compete over things like whose attacks were more ingenious."

"What happened after that?" Shi Yueyi asked curiously.

"After that, he became my support," Radiant Feather Douluo said with a smile.

"Little Shiyue, don't listen to his nonsense." The Azure Luan Divine Bird snorted coldly. "There are seven brothers among us. Qing Luan and I are both at the peak of Rank 96 now, but I rank third while he ranks fifth. Who is stronger and who is weaker is obvious at a glance!"

"That ranking doesn't prove everything. As far as I'm concerned, both grandpas are equally amazing." Shi Yueyi smiled as well.

"There is still a gap." This time, Radiant Feather Douluo did not argue. "Qing Luan is only one step away from Rank 97, while I'm still a little ways off."

"That's because you love having fun too much, brother," Qing Luan Douluo said. "The place where we usually cultivate in seclusion should, by all rights, benefit you."

With a flap of its wings, the Azure Luan Divine Bird sped into the distance.

Their destination was the Star Dou Great Forest.

The Azure Luan Divine Bird was incredibly swift, and they reached their destination before dawn had fully broken.

They landed in the central region of the Star Dou Great Forest, the place that would be called the Mixed Zone ten thousand years later.

In this era, the soul beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest had not yet multiplied to the point where they nearly spilled out of the forest as they would in later generations.

Thus, after arriving in this Mixed Zone, they set their sights on a type of soul beast known as the Dawn Dream Tapir.

Back when Qian Renxue had obtained her soul ring, she had also considered this soul beast. However, the ability it granted was more closely related to illusions. Qian Renxue preferred violent frontal assaults, so her sixth soul ring skill became Angel's Roar.

It was also during that soul hunt that the worshippers had carefully studied suitable spiritual-type soul beasts within Star Dou, which was why Qing Luan Douluo had immediately thought of this species not long ago.

Legend had it that this soul beast had another, more common name—the Dream-Eating Beast.

This type of dream tapir fed on Spiritual Power. Unlike beasts that directly ate brains, it truly possessed the ability to "kill in dreams."

If Angel's Roar was like blowing an enemy's head apart with a single shout, then this ability would silently kill an enemy in their dreams. It could even let them die peacefully in their sleep, appearing after death as though they had suffered cultivation deviation.

After the soul beast was introduced to Shi Yueyi, the little girl's eyes immediately lit up. "Yes, yes, this one's good!"

"Oh? Tell me, what's so good about it?" Radiant Feather Douluo could not help teasing her.

"It's stealthy and impossible to guard against." Whenever Shi Yueyi spoke about assassination techniques, she became very serious and stopped making casual jokes.

"Besides, if my second ring can reach over five thousand years, then it will undoubtedly benefit the development of my Spiritual Sea... though my Spiritual Sea can only be considered a somewhat larger lake right now."

"Your Spiritual Sea has already begun to take shape?" Radiant Feather Douluo raised an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, I only reached that stage around the time I became a Soul King... and it was at Soul Sage that I truly began to pull away from ordinary soul masters."

"Since our Spiritual Power was fairly good to begin with, it was only after we entered the nine-ring stage for some time that our Spiritual Seas became deeper, like an ocean that no longer expanded outward but instead explored greater depths. Still, Spiritual Power is generally weaker than one's own cultivation." Qing Luan Douluo took over.

It was only around twenty thousand years later that Douluo Continent developed a relatively clear classification for the levels of Spiritual Power.

What Radiant Feather Douluo described was roughly reaching the Spirit Sea Realm at the Soul King stage and fully entering it at the Soul Sage stage—the dividing line between exceptional Spiritual Power and ordinary Spiritual Power.

After attaining a title, one would enter the Spirit Abyss Realm. That was why Qing Luan described it as becoming like an ocean abyss, unfathomably deep.

Yet Shi Yueyi seemed to be on the verge of touching the Spirit Sea Realm at Level 20. At present, it was a large lake.

This was not strange. After discovering during her previous soul hunt that her Spiritual Power had initially awakened, she had continuously tempered it through repeated cultivation, working in tandem with her true Body Martial Soul.

Soul masters could use cultivation in place of rest and sleep. This was something practically every soul master knew.

During this process, the tension of the mind would consume Spiritual Power, causing it to become depleted. Cultivating Spiritual Power again at such times would allow it to grow.

Of course, this piece of common knowledge among soul masters had also been taken by a certain Grandmaster and turned into one of his theories. Based on it, he proposed that during soul hunts, one was forbidden from cultivating at night and could only sleep.

Very soon, they arrived at the soul beasts' "camp," which they had learned of beforehand. Shi Yueyi focused her eyes and saw around a dozen strange-looking soul beasts wandering about.

She had not visited the Star Dou Great Forest many times, even in her previous life.

After observing them for a moment, Shi Yueyi's gaze locked directly onto one of them.

"Leave it to—"

But before she could finish speaking, Qing Luan Douluo sent out a signal. Shi Yueyi sensed it—it was a spiritual transmission, yet it felt more like tacit understanding.

Because in the very next instant, Radiant Feather Douluo fired an arrow that pierced directly and accurately through that Dawn Dream Tapir!

The two grandpas had not even communicated, nor had they transmitted their voices. With a single thought, they knew what the other intended!

Then Qing Luan Douluo flashed forward, streaking past like an afterimage, and directly snatched that soul beast away from the camp!

The world spun around her, and Shi Yueyi was yanked up by Radiant Feather Douluo before they vanished in a flash.

By the time she came to her senses, the three of them had already arrived at a cave far away...

"Ugh..." Shi Yueyi shook her head.

What was going on?

She had originally wanted to show the two grandpas her assassination skills, so how had they just stepped in and completed the mission for her?

Slap—

Qing Luan Douluo casually tossed the Dream Tapir in front of Shi Yueyi. "Radiant Feather's arrow was just strong enough. It didn't kill it, so finish it off yourself."

A brief explanation of Spiritual Power ranks—the setting from Soul Land 3:

When humans were born, their Spiritual Power was at the Spirit Origin Realm. This was the most fundamental difference between humans and soul beasts, and it was the key to human intelligence.

Spirit Comprehension could be simply regarded as the dividing line between ordinary humans and Soul Masters;

Spirit Sea was the boundary between exceptional and ordinary Spiritual Power;

Spirit Abyss was roughly the Spiritual Power realm possessed by ordinary Titled Douluo;

As for the Spirit Domain, that was the Spiritual Power level of a level 99 Limit Douluo.

To thank everyone for your support, and to celebrate entering the second round of PK, there should be an extra chapter later today. Please continue following along~