Golden Ancient Tree on the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's Back

Zhou Qing continued flipping through the diary.

...And so, Mother told me of her origins. After giving me the Seed of Nature and the egg of the Light Goddess Butterfly, she passed away.

The reason my mother had come to Douluo Continent was that the "goddess" had heard her wish to go somewhere safe. She used a method like Cosmic Shift to transfer Mother from the war-torn Sun Moon Continent, where nations constantly fought one another, to the peaceful Douluo Continent.

Although Douluo Continent had the Two Great Empires, Spirit Hall, and countless major sects, it was indeed far more stable overall than the Sun Moon Continent Mother described, where nations warred year after year. Moreover, Mother had lived in Rice Village, a simple and honest place on an unimportant border between the Two Great Empires. There, she would not suffer the ravages of bandits or war...

And I, too, had a new goal!

While becoming a powerful Soul Master, I would explore that lake where the goddess dwelled and see with my own eyes the homeland I had never known!

Douluo Calendar March 6, 1910

Ten years had passed since I last wrote in this diary. I was thirty-two years old, and I had reached the rank of Soul King.

Over these years, I met many people and came to understand the cruelty of the Soul Master World—

Soul Masters who hunted Soul Beasts together would turn on one another over a single Soul Bone. Even blood brothers would fight to the death over an unfair division of the spoils... Mm, I joined in too, and I emerged victorious. I slaughtered them all and obtained that Soul Bone.

My girlfriend of seven years ultimately threw herself into the arms of a noble Soul Master because I had not saved up much money... All I could do was wish her happiness before silently leaving... It was a sad affair, so after much painful reflection, I anonymously sold that Soul Bone for money... Though I had money now, my girlfriend was already pregnant... I would never believe in love again!

All in all, to summarize these ten years with the lyrics of a Bard: Death was like the wind, ever at my side; loneliness was like a shadow, neither near nor far.

By this point, the Cultivation Diary was nearly at its end. The entries that followed described the people and events this Soul Saint encountered during his travels.

Though it was called a Cultivation Diary, Zhou Qing and Tang San both felt it was more like a biography. After all, there was almost nothing in it related to cultivation, aside from a brief mention of the age limits of the Soul Rings he had obtained.

This information clearly meant little to Zhou Qing and Tang San.

Thus,

Zhou Qing took out the final diary, "Soul Douluo: The End." When he opened it, there was only a single entry.

Douluo Calendar March 6, 1920

The End

If I am writing this diary entry, then my life is nearing its end. Should anyone find it afterward, you may take all my possessions... I only hope you are a Soul Master who came from Holy Soul Village—

At forty-two, I had already become a Soul Saint.

Such an achievement marked me as exceptionally gifted even in the entire Soul Master World. Breaking through to become a Titled Douluo would merely have been a matter of time.

But they did not know that this was the effect of the Seed of Nature. I discovered how to use the Life Energy it emitted to increase my soul power, which was why my cultivation speed could rival those with innate soul power at rank nine, or even Innate Full Soul Power.

But fate was unkind.

While exploring some Ancient Ruins, I obtained a precious Soul Tool capable of storing living creatures. Because of it, I was besieged by disciples of a major sect. I was gravely wounded, and the pathways through which my soul power circulated were severed. The only reason I survived was the Life Aura emitted by the Seed of Nature...

Afterward, my strength could no longer improve... In my despair, I recalled the lake Mother had once mentioned. I planned to travel to another continent, hoping to pass that goddess's trial and recover from my injuries.

But setting out to sea was exceedingly dangerous. Aside from the Sea Soul Beasts in the ocean, an even greater problem lay before me: I had no idea where exactly the so-called Sun Moon Continent was.

Southwest of Douluo Continent?

But at what angle in the southwest? With only such a vague direction, it was impossible to find it.

Yet the goddess of fortune favored me.

Inside the Storage Soul Tool I found in the ruins, there was actually a Soul Guidance Crystal, along with an instruction sheet. This Soul Guidance Crystal was the core needed to activate a Teleportation Array. Once activated, it could conduct spatial teleportation and travel to another continent.

I was overjoyed!

The answer had been right beside me all along!

I could only hope that the Teleportation Array deep within the ruins where I found this Storage Soul Tool led to the Sun Moon Continent.

Those ruins were near Tianming City on the southwestern coast of the Star Luo Empire on Douluo Continent!

I could only gamble everything on this one chance.

But just as I finished packing, my trail was discovered... A battle... I survived by luck, but my injuries worsened. I realized that there was no saving me now.

In the end, I chose to return to Rice Village and report my rank to the local Spirit Hall, thereby having Rice Village renamed Holy Soul Village.

Spirit Hall invited me to join them and promised they could deal with the enemies pursuing me.

Though I understood that a great power like Spirit Hall valued me, a Soul Saint, more than the Soul Tool capable of storing living creatures and the items within it, I still refused.

Because I was already close to death. There was no need to trouble anyone else...

After finishing the entire Soul Douluo: The End, Zhou Qing let out a long sigh.

After arriving at this natural cave, the Soul Saint had gone into seclusion, hoping to suppress his injuries by breaking through to a higher Soul Master rank.

He had also found two newborn Spirit Rhyme Turtles—

He had never intended to plant the Seed of Nature on a Spirit Rhyme Turtle's shell. He simply found it boring to be alone and wanted to raise a few relatively gentle pets to pass his final days.

Unlike the other items stored in that gray Storage Soul Tool pouch, however, the Seed of Nature had always been carried on the Soul Saint's person to suppress his injuries.

But in the end, the Soul Saint still died. Before his death, though, his soul power had likely been forcibly raised to Level 80, making him a quasi-Soul Douluo.

Afterward, the Seed of Nature was carried away by the two-hundred-year-old Spirit Rhyme Turtle whose shell had been cracked by a villager from another village after it greedily ate corn. The turtle planted it in the crack on its shell to save its life.

"So the plant on the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's back sprouted from the Seed of Nature. Shouldn't it be called the Tree of Nature?" Tang San asked curiously after learning this.

"There's no information, so we can't be sure." Zhou Qing naturally knew it was the Golden Ancient Tree, or perhaps the Golden Tree, but he should not have known that at this point. He merely continued, "Still, this plant must be extremely valuable. We cannot let anyone else know about it in the future."

"Mm."

Tang San understood the importance of secrecy. A plant that could gather Heaven and Earth Energy and accelerate his cultivation of internal energy—wasn't that a treasure? Once the Spirit Rhyme Turtle grew up and the Tree of Nature matured, it would surely greatly accelerate their cultivation speed.

The only issue was that the Spirit Rhyme Turtle grew rather slowly.

But Zhou Qing did not consider that much of a problem. After all, this was a Spirit Rhyme Turtle with a Golden Tree planted on its back. Its injuries had nearly healed by now. Once the Golden Tree grew for a few more years—that was, once a few more leaves appeared on its crown—it would likely accelerate the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's cultivation, allowing it to escape the condition in which a turtle-type Soul Beast's cultivation was equivalent to its years of age...