The Choice of the Second Soul Ring

Outside Heaven Dou City.

Du Busi, Chen Ming, and Vina joined up with the main group.

There had originally been ten people on this soul hunt. With Chen Ming and Du Busi added, there were now twelve in total.

Six of them needed to obtain soul rings. Chen Ming and Vina both needed their second rings, while among the other four, one needed a second ring, two needed third rings, and one needed a fourth ring.

Apart from Du Busi, those accompanying Vina and the others on the soul hunt were soul masters from the Heavenly Soul Royal Family. One of them was a middle-aged man named Mo Feiyun, a rank sixty-nine Soul Emperor and the guide for this expedition. The other four were also Soul Emperors.

With a peak Soul Emperor leading the group and four Soul Emperors assisting, it was more than enough to help five juniors whose soul rings would at most be thousand-year rings obtain their rings.

Moreover, their destination was not the Star Dou Great Forest, but the Sunset Forest.

The Sunset Forest was not lacking in high-year soul beasts, and there were quite a few ten-thousand-year soul beasts as well. Still, there were ultimately fewer than in the Star Dou Great Forest, and it was rare for high-year soul beasts to wander into lower-year regions as often happened in the Star Dou Great Forest.

The Star Dou Great Forest was like a vibrant arena of competition, where the fittest survived. The strong drew close to the core region, while the weak survived on the outskirts. Even within the core region, competition was everywhere. Some who lost those struggles would drift outward or hunt beyond their territories.

The Sunset Forest was different. It was more like a strictly ordered nation, where high-year soul beasts each possessed their own territory and rarely encroached upon one another.

Of course, rarely did not mean never.

"Because of the vast poisonous miasma in its core region, the Sunset Forest is divided into four areas. That also helped stabilize the order within the forest."

Mo Feiyun explained the distribution of soul beasts in the Sunset Forest to the group before turning to Du Busi.

"Senior, which area should we search?"

With Du Busi accompanying them this time, they could run rampant so long as they did not venture deep into that poisonous miasma.

"We'll search the nearest eastern area."

Eastern Sunset Forest.

They moved without restraint.

That was the attitude of this twelve-man group.

Hunting soul beasts through the Sunset Forest in such a manner, it took only half a month for Vina and the other four soul masters to find the soul rings they needed, almost entirely in the process of heading deeper into the forest.

"Senior, should we continue deeper?" Upon entering the region inhabited by ten-thousand-year soul beasts, Mo Feiyun inexplicably felt nervous.

It was an instinct born of his own strength.

"Your task is already complete. I suggest taking those children back first. The age of the soul ring Little Ming needs must be strictly controlled. We'll have to deal with at least a dozen ten-thousand-year soul beasts," Du Busi said.

Mo Feiyun weighed the pros and cons.

This was crucial to building a relationship between Princess Vina and this young junior brother.

The emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire had said as much when he learned that Du Busi would be bringing Chen Ming along with this soul-hunting party. They were to help Vina and Chen Ming establish a good relationship whenever possible.

But circumstances had now changed.

Chen Ming's required soul ring age was simply too high.

With too many people, Du Busi might not be able to protect everyone properly.

If they truly encountered an unreasonable, frenzied ten-thousand-year soul beast, the first people he would protect would only be Chen Ming and Vina. Everyone else could only fend for themselves.

"Mo Tian, take the four of them back first. Her Highness and I will continue accompanying them on the soul hunt."

In the end, he could only grit his teeth and make this decision.

Du Busi showed no dissatisfaction over it.

With eight of the twelve people leaving, he would no longer need to divide his attention so much and could focus more fully on finding a suitable soul ring for Chen Ming.

For his second soul ring, Chen Ming did not intend to seek an Ice attribute soul ring.

Although he had Ice Fire Body Tempering and had begun delving into the Yin Yang attribute through ice and fire, Chen Ming was still unable to reconcile completely opposing attributes.

After the Fire attribute of his first soul ring, he needed to lay some groundwork with his second soul ring.

As for how to reconcile ice and fire, Chen Ming's idea was to introduce a third element.

This third element needed to be compatible with both ice and fire while also being capable of suppressing them both. That would give Chen Ming an opportunity to balance ice and fire, as well as buy him time to find that point of balance.

But did such an attribute exist?

Unless he took the path of Five Elements transformation.

However, the theory of the Five Elements was not particularly well-developed on Douluo Continent. Chen Ming himself was not skilled in that area either. Moreover, the Five Elements involved at least the Metal and Earth attributes, and he would also need to consider the conversion between water and ice. It was far too troublesome.

Thus, after thinking it over repeatedly, Chen Ming's final answer was to use a higher-level power.

Since ice and fire were meant to temper the body, among higher-level powers such as time and space, life and death, creation and destruction, the Life attribute was the most compatible.

Furthermore, the Crimson Phoenix Nirvana Golden Lotus of Chen Ming's first soul ring was already related to life.

"For this second ring, I need a Life attribute soul ring related to both ice and fire. Then, for my third soul ring, I'll obtain an Ice attribute soul ring related to the Life attribute."

With those three soul ring slots, he could achieve harmony between ice and fire. Later, he could even use that foundation to circulate Yin and Yang. It was not a loss at all.

However, soul beasts with a Life attribute that was simultaneously compatible with both ice and fire were rare, considered an uncommon species across the entire continent.

It was uncertain whether a target that also matched the age Chen Ming could absorb even existed.

Du Busi had brought Chen Ming to the Sunset Forest because he had once seen a Star Spirit Deer here that roughly met the requirements. This type of soul beast drew upon the power of the stars and transformed it into Life Force. Its bloodline could also mutate in many different directions. According to existing records, Star Spirit Deer had produced both Fire attribute and Ice attribute variants.

"Back then, the Star Spirit Deer I saw had three ten-thousand-year soul beasts accompanying it. And since I was only a Soul Douluo at the time, I didn't want to stir up trouble, so I didn't observe it closely. Now, I can only hope that Star Spirit Deer is less than twenty thousand years old."

Chen Ming nodded silently, his gaze sweeping the surroundings as his Spiritual Power spread outward.

Among the many immortal herbs within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes at the heart of Sunset Forest, there were surely some that were compatible with both ice and fire attributes and could suppress ordinary ice and fire attributes.

But that place was an area under the Sea God's close watch.

The four of them searched the depths of Sunset Forest for two months.

During that time, they encountered ten-thousand-year soul beasts more than twenty times, and even faced seventy-thousand-year soul beasts on several occasions. In the end, Mo Feiyun could no longer hold on.

After discussing matters with Du Busi, he left ahead of them with Vina.

Chen Ming and Du Busi continued searching within Sunset Forest.

"Teacher, we've been circling this poisonous miasma the whole time. Haven't you noticed anything unusual about this miasma-covered area?"

A flicker passed through Du Busi's eyes.

He looked at Chen Ming and asked, "What's unusual about it?"

Seeing Du Busi's expression, Chen Ming knew that it was impossible for him not to have noticed. He simply did not dare believe it.

"This poisonous miasma is practically arranged by someone's hand," Chen Ming said softly.

"Yes, it really does seem man-made." Du Busi sighed, then gave a bitter smile. "But how many people could possibly accomplish something like this?"

He was no fool.

This patch of poisonous miasma had existed in Sunset Forest for ten thousand years. As a frequent visitor to this miasma-covered region, how could he have failed to notice it? And how could he have failed to uncover at least some clues?