"Alright, if you know what you're doing, then let's head straight into the Mixed Zone. There are more ten thousand year soul beasts there."
"Okay."
Thus, their group began to traverse the outer perimeter, advancing toward the Mixed Zone. This journey could be described as calm and uneventful; from start to finish, the surroundings were extremely quiet, and no soul beasts came to disturb them. After all, Lang Lei did not need soul beasts under ten thousand years, so Snow Empress and Ice Empress only appropriately leaked a bit of their presence, which was enough to scare away any soul beasts attempting to approach.
Snow Empress and Ice Empress were soul beasts in essence, and without being provoked, they naturally would not slaughter other soul beasts indiscriminately. Therefore, upon entering the Mixed Zone, Snow Empress and Ice Empress reined in their aura once more, entering a state of concealment.
However, the moment Lang Lei's group stepped into the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest, a deer-like soul beast suddenly appeared in front of Lang Lei as if sensing something. The instant this deer-like soul beast saw Lang Lei's group, it seemed to sense a huge threat, immediately turning tail and running without a shred of hesitation. Its speed was as fast as lightning.
"Swift-Treading Spirit Deer! Sister Xue!" Lang Lei's eyes suddenly lit up, a surge of excitement involuntarily welling up in his heart. His studies at the academy these past days had not been in vain; he instantly recognized the species of this soul beast that had appeared before them.
The appearance of this soul beast was not much different from an ordinary deer, but its speed was as fast as lightning, as if it could tread upon the clouds and travel. Lang Lei rejoiced inwardly; this soul beast happened to match his requirements perfectly, and since that was the case, he naturally could not miss this rare opportunity.
"Good." Snow Empress's reply was concise and crisp, without a trace of hesitation. Her figure flashed, acting like Gui Mei, and she sped straight toward the direction the Swift-Treading Spirit Deer had fled.
The deer lived up to its name, and the speed of this Swift-Treading Spirit Deer could be called peerless. It galloped through the jungle like a nimble swallow, shuttling between the trees, and its speed was breathtaking. Generally speaking, the running speed of terrestrial creatures was hard to compare with flying birds in the sky, but this Swift-Treading Spirit Deer broke that convention; its speed was not even inferior to a swallow flying through the air, and it was precisely because of this that it earned the name "Swift-Treading Spirit Deer".
Perhaps in the world of soul beasts, this spirit deer had other different names, but in human cognition, people often named soul beasts based on their characteristics. After all, communication between humans and soul beasts was extremely limited, and there were rarely opportunities to sit down and properly discuss such matters.
However, even though the speed of the Swift-Treading Spirit Deer was already this astonishing, Snow Empress's speed was even a notch higher. After all, the gap in strength between the two was right there, as difficult to cross as a natural chasm. No matter how desperately the Swift-Treading Spirit Deer ran, it could not escape Snow Empress's pursuit.
Before long, the Swift-Treading Spirit Deer was tossed in front of Lang Lei by Snow Empress.
When that spirit deer was thrown in front of Lang Lei like a discarded ragdoll, it widened its eyes, its gaze revealing a pitiful appearance as if recounting its own innocence and helplessness. At this moment, Lang Lei suddenly felt as though he were a heinous villain, cruelly treating this little animal that had no ability to resist at all.
Lang Lei, the rules of this world are really a bit distorted... Elysia's voice rang softly in Lang Lei's mind, seemingly lamenting the injustice and cruelty of this world. Lang Lei furrowed his brows slightly; he knew Elysia was right, and the rules of this world sometimes truly made one feel helpless.
"Maybe so, but we really don't have any other better way to change it right now, we can only leave it at that for now." Lang Lei sighed helplessly, knowing that in any world, the law of the jungle was unavoidable. Although he didn't want to become a villain, sometimes for the sake of survival and progress, he wouldn't choose to be a saintly do-gooder either.
"Mm, alright." Elysia's voice was very calm; she understood Lang Lei's plight and also knew that he was not a cruel person.
However, Lang Lei was not a cold-blooded and ruthless person, so he would try his best to make this spirit deer suffer as little pain as possible during the process of its death.
"Lang Lei, the age of this soul beast has already reached thirty thousand years. Are you really certain you can successfully absorb it?" Just as Lang Lei prepared to make a move, Snow Empress suddenly spoke up with a warning. After a careful inspection, a trace of obvious worry leaked into Snow Empress's tone.
After all, the age of this soul beast far exceeded the one-thousand-year upper limit of ordinary soul beasts, and the power contained within it could be imagined. For a quasi-Soul Elder to absorb the soul ring of such a powerful soul beast into his own body was undoubtedly an extremely challenging task, and a moment of carelessness could lead to a backlash or even endanger his life.
Yet facing Snow Empress's questioning, Lang Lei appeared unusually calm. The corners of his mouth hooked up slightly, revealing a confident smile as he nodded without hesitation and replied, "No problem."
Before his words faded, he walked straight up to the Swift-Treading Spirit Deer, and amidst the astonished gazes of Snow Empress and Ice Empress, he sat down with a thud.
Immediately following that, Lang Lei reached out and gently stroked the neck of the Swift-Treading Spirit Deer. Surprisingly, the Swift-Treading Spirit Deer, which had been somewhat restless, actually gradually calmed down under Lang Lei's strokes. Its breathing grew steady, and its eyes slowly closed, as if entering a peaceful state of sleep.
Right under everyone's gaze, the next instant, a soul ring radiating dazzling light slowly drifted out from the body of the Swift-Treading Spirit Deer.
Even though Lang Lei was not particularly concerned about whether soul beasts lived or died, when he began to absorb this soul ring, the words Elysia had spoken earlier lingered in his mind like a ghost, planting a seed of doubt in his heart.
Was the bottleneck that existed every ten ranks for soul masters truly a primordial rule? Why must it come at the cost of a soul ring to break through? Why did soul beasts happen to give birth to soul rings upon death?
This series of questions hovered in Lang Lei's mind, seemingly taking some shape.
He had possessed twenty ranks the moment he woke up; according to what Snow Empress and Ice Empress said, these ten ranks were god-bestowed ranks. That meant the rules established by deities were greater than the rules of Douluo Continent itself, and furthermore, deities themselves could rewrite the rules of Douluo Continent...
Yet Lang Lei did not continue to dwell on it; after all, all of this was still somewhat far off for him. At this stage, he just needed to manage himself well, and afterward he could also slightly protect the Extreme North for Snow Empress and Ice Empress, but those were matters for the future. At least for now, Lang Lei in his normal state still needed the protection of Snow Empress and Ice Empress.
The absorption of the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring did not encounter any accidents; everything felt as natural as water flowing into a canal. When the black soul ring completely settled around Lang Lei, even in the eyes of Snow Empress and Ice Empress, excitement was difficult to conceal.
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