Martial Soul Anomaly

The Star Dou Great Forest stretched endlessly beneath a canopy of lush, verdant trees, their flourishing branches and leaves brimming with life.

But the forest was different today. A thick scent of blood drifted everywhere through the woods.

Birds in the sky had been startled from their nests and flew away in flocks. On the ground, soul beasts fled in terror, while greedy vultures pecked at the corpses scattered everywhere.

One soul beast failed to escape in time and was pierced through by a black shadow, collapsing to the ground. A yellow Spirit Ring then slowly rose from its body.

Sharp spider spears grew from the young man's back and pierced the soul beast's body, while a shadow condensed in his hand and swept toward the Spirit Ring.

Xiang Muzhe had shed his usual calm demeanor. Blood-red light flickered in his eyes, filled with endless greed. His aura was cold and sinister, as though the intense killing intent around him could influence the environment itself.

A small blade of grass trembled in his hand, but in the end, it still spoke to persuade him.

"Muzhe, stop. If this continues, you'll only harm yourself."

Ah Yin's usually gentle voice was now filled with anxiety, with what seemed to be a trace of fear mixed in.

Over the past few days, she had lost count of how many times she had said those words, yet Xiang Muzhe always used some sophistry to refute her.

After arriving at the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiang Muzhe had not merely come to obtain his third Spirit Ring. He had come for endless slaughter.

Every soul beast they encountered along the way was cruelly killed and devoured by him. His second Soul Skill devoured Spirit Rings, while his spirit bone devoured the Soul Power remaining in the flesh of soul beasts. It was practically the behavior of a demon.

For some inexplicable reason, she had begun to feel that Xiang Muzhe was no longer quite the same as before.

She still remembered the Xiang Muzhe of the past. When they had first met in the cave, he had gently coaxed her. When she wrapped herself around his hand, he would often play with her.

But now...

"Ah Yin, you seem to really resent me hunting soul beasts?"

Xiang Muzhe glanced at Ah Yin in his hand. A flash of disdain actually passed through his blood-red eyes. What an overflowing saint complex.

"Do soul beasts not kill each other? Soul beasts possess low intelligence, so their slaughter is only more severe!"

"And in my view, humans are merely a different kind of soul beast. After death, they don't even produce Spirit Rings, yet they use Martial Souls to devour the abilities of other soul beasts."

"Doesn't your Blue Silver Grass clan have such an existence as well? The Dark Blue Silver Emperor?"

Ah Yin fell silent for a moment, rendered nearly speechless by Xiang Muzhe's sophistry.

She was a Blue Silver Emperor with healing and control attributes, but she knew of the Dark Blue Silver Emperor as well.

It possessed terrifying devouring abilities. Moreover, because Blue Silver Grass had powerful compatibility and filtering abilities, it could devour soul beasts without any impediment, allowing it to grow at an astonishing speed.

But Xiang Muzhe's current condition was extremely similar to that of the Dark Blue Silver Emperor. After devouring too many soul beasts, one would gradually lose one's mind—or rather, undergo a drastic change in temperament.

Ah Yin hardened her heart. The tip of her vine transformed into a sharp needle and viciously stabbed at Xiang Muzhe's wrist.

But how could her vine possibly break through Xiang Muzhe's wrist? Even so, she continued stabbing with all her strength until a thread of blue-gold blood seeped from her vine.

She could foresee that if she did not stop Xiang Muzhe now, the young man who had once treated her gently might never return. In the end, he would become a monster that knew only slaughter and devouring.

Hiss!

Xiang Muzhe was about to continue speaking when a faint pain suddenly came from his wrist. His brows furrowed slightly, and an inexplicable surge of anger rose in his heart. No one had ever dared treat him like this.

"What are you doing..."

He raised his wrist, but the next moment, he froze. Ah Yin's vine was stabbing at his wrist, yet his wrist had not even been scratched. Instead, Ah Yin's vine had been injured.

But why did she not stop even after getting hurt?

For some inexplicable reason, a jumble of emotions surged within Xiang Muzhe—anger, heartache, confusion...

I... fuck!

Xiang Muzhe was suddenly startled by his own emotions. Were these really emotions he could have? And so many conflicting emotions had risen all at once.

"Turn around and look! How many innocent soul beasts have you killed just to increase your Soul Power?"

"Look at yourself now. Do you still resemble who you once were?"

Xiang Muzhe was stunned again when he heard that. He had not expected Ah Yin, who had always been gentle and mild, to get angry.

Ah Yin truly was angry, though not because of the deaths of those soul beasts. She could still distinguish between those close to her and those distant from her.

It was simply that Xiang Muzhe's appearance, covered in killing intent and lost in his own mind, reminded her of that disgusting man—covered in killing intent and slaughtering innocents indiscriminately. How pathetic that she had once been fascinated by that appearance.

Most importantly, if Xiang Muzhe truly became like Tang Hao, then the only light in her heart would be gone. There would be no meaning left in her living, either.

A trace of unease flashed through Xiang Muzhe's heart. He slowly turned around, and the blood-red light in his eyes receded slightly.

In the silent forest, soul beast corpses covered the ground. Blood had dyed the earth red, as though countless resentful spirits were wandering about. He raised his hand and looked at it, as if it too were covered in blood.

I... fuck!

I killed all this? Uh, it seemed I really did. But even if I wanted to kill something, I wouldn't pick soul beasts this weak. If I'm going to devour them, I should choose soul beasts with more Soul Power.

For a moment, Xiang Muzhe thought he might be sick. He recalled how he had forgotten everything while devouring Soul Power, the obsessed expression he had worn. It had been somewhat irrational.

And the things he had just said to Ah Yin—arrogant, self-assured, contemptuous of everyone...

But he knew that was what he had truly been thinking at the time. It was also a side of him that could emerge.

The difference was that he could imagine himself only displaying that attitude after obtaining absolutely overwhelming power.

Hiss! This is so embarrassing!

He knew exactly how much Soul Power he had within him, yet for some inexplicable reason, he would occasionally slip into that arrogant state.

Then his heart trembled slightly, and a flash of alarm surged through Mu Zhe.

Could it be a problem with his Martial Soul, or with his soul skills?

Only then did he realize that this change had appeared after he unlocked his second soul skill, after he began devouring soul beasts.

Uh, that did not seem right either. It seemed he had become abnormally confident even before he started devouring soul beasts.

So it was not a problem with his soul skills, but with his Martial Soul?

Mu Zhe immediately immersed his mind in his Martial Soul and examined it carefully. After a while, his brows furrowed slightly.

Hmm, he could not sense anything at all...

The only abnormality was that it was abnormally powerful, far surpassing every Martial Soul on Douluo Continent.

After all, the moment his Martial Soul awakened, it came with a powerful skill—Void State—and the soul skills he unlocked afterward had each been stronger than the last.

Even the Third Soul Skill involved the creation of space...

Could it be that his Martial Soul had some formidable origin, or that another entity was hidden within it and was inexplicably influencing his thoughts?

In the end, Mu Zhe could only suppress the unease in his heart and silently commit the matter to memory. If it was a blessing, it was no disaster; if it was a disaster, he could not avoid it.

No matter what, his heart was his Martial Soul and one of the most important parts of his physical body. He could not possibly abandon it.

Having sorted through his thoughts, Mu Zhe looked at Ah Yin on his wrist, apology in his eyes. His attitude earlier had indeed been somewhat disrespectful toward her.

"Sorry for making you worry."

Seeing Mu Zhe come back to himself, Ah Yin could not help letting out a sigh of relief, warmth rising in her heart as well.

It could not have been better that Mu Zhe had recovered. Otherwise, she truly did not know how she would have faced the darkened version of him.

"If you keep devouring so recklessly, you'll lose your mind."

Ah Yin's gentle voice was full of concern. At this moment, she merely believed that Mu Zhe's strange behavior was a side effect of that evil cultivation method.

"Mm. I'll use my skills more cautiously from now on."

Mu Zhe nodded lightly. Aside from the arrogant disposition brought on by his Martial Soul, he had indeed sensed some side effects from devouring.

The soul beasts he had devoured were too varied, their Soul Power and souls mixed into a chaotic mass. If he could not refine them completely, it would be easy for him to lose his mind.

However, this problem was not especially obvious for him.

The only issue was that his entire body exuded killing intent, and even his Soul Power and shadow had been stained with a trace of blood-red.

Mu Zhe gently placed his left hand on Ah Yin's true body. A stream of emerald-green Soul Power slowly flowed into her body, and in the next moment, her damaged vines began to recover.

If Ah Yin had not stabbed him this time, he might have remained trapped in that arrogant state and the side effects of devouring, endlessly devouring forever.

"Are there still more injuries?"

Mu Zhe's gentle voice reached her, warming Ah Yin's heart. At the same time, that Soul Power made her entire body feel comfortable.

"It's fine. It was never much of an injury to begin with. Even on my own, I would have recovered after a while."

But in the end, she still reassured Mu Zhe, afraid that he would feel guilty.

"Mm. Then I'll take you to see Tang San now."

At last, Mu Zhe turned and walked out of the forest.

The purpose of his trip had already been accomplished. He had obtained his third Spirit Ring and even advanced his first Spirit Ring to the thousand-year level.

His current Soul Power was level thirty-four. Though he had devoured a great many soul beasts and his Soul Power was somewhat impure, it was exceptionally abundant.

Most importantly, he had also prepared a secret weapon capable of contending against Tang Hao.

In Suotuo City, a youth walked along the streets with a strange little grass wrapped around his wrist. The two of them were currently searching for a carriage headed to Fasno Province.

Having returned to a place where humans gathered, Mu Zhe's state of mind calmed considerably.

Suddenly, a familiar figure entered his field of vision—golden hair and double pupils. It was Dai Mubai.

Pfft!

Seeing Dai Mubai's current appearance, Mu Zhe raised a brow and could not help laughing aloud.

"What exactly has Dai Mubai gone through these past few months?"

The Dai Mubai before him had just emerged from a luxurious residence. His face was pale, and numerous lipstick marks and bruises could be seen on his neck and arms. His once-muscular body now looked extremely thin.

If not for that iconic golden hair and double pupils, Mu Zhe would barely have recognized him.

Dai Mubai's face darkened as he cast a complicated glance at the mature woman who had come out behind him. Her arms were thicker than his, and her round waist was as wide as a barrel.

"What kind of expression and look is that? I haven't even blamed you yet, and you dare make that face at me? What a useless piece of trash!"

Seeing the hostility in Dai Mubai's gaze, the brawny mature woman cursed at him.

"You..."

But she was his patron after all, so Dai Mubai ultimately did not dare say anything. He could only curse Shrek Academy inwardly for being so unscrupulous.

Shrek Academy's environment and teaching conditions were clearly nothing special, yet the registration fee was actually ten Gold Soul Coins. If not for the high-level teachers there, he would never have wanted to go.

Once, he would have considered ten Gold Soul Coins too little even as a handout for beggars.

Now, just to scrape together the ten Gold Soul Coins for enrollment, he had taken on several wealthy women's business at once, rushing from one appointment to the next.

With his handsome face, he had originally been quite popular among those rich women.

But perhaps because of what had happened at the Rose Hotel, he was horrified to discover that his body was getting weaker by the day. The wealthy women who had initially been fairly satisfied with him had now begun calling him useless.

"It's all those two damned women's fault. They didn't even leave a single drop for me."

Whenever he thought of the torment he had suffered at the Rose Hotel, Dai Mubai gritted his teeth in hatred.

After waking up that day, he had frantically begged for mercy, but those two women had ignored him completely and continued doing whatever they pleased.

He had thought of resisting too, but after being beaten by those shadowy figures and then tormented by the two women, he could not summon even a trace of strength from his entire body.

Later, he had gone to settle the score with the Rose Hotel, only to find that Soul Masters were backing it. They beat him up all over again.

How could Dai Mubai have known that a room at the Rose Hotel cost ten Gold Soul Coins a day and primarily served Soul Masters? Without powerful Soul Masters backing it, how could it possibly stay open?

"Wasn't it your doing? Do you know how much harm that kind of thing does to a boy?"

Ah Yin could not help smiling as well, though her tone carried a hint of reproach.

She had seen what Mu Zhe did that day. He was truly too wicked—not only had he robbed Dai Mubai of all his money, he had not even spared his future descendants.

"Harm? I was only thinking of what was best for him, hoping he would spend more time cultivating. I never expected it to backfire."

Mu Zhe wore a solemn expression, but Ah Yin could not help scoffing inwardly. If I believed that nonsense, I'd be a complete fool!