King of Soul Beasts, Bear Lord's Might

Morning light filtered through the clouds, casting gentle rays across the vast, boundless forest.

Towering ancient trees stood densely packed, their branches and leaves intertwining to form a green canopy that blotted out the sky, with only scattered beams of light slipping through the gaps, swaying like fragments of gold on the muddy ground.

This was the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Beneath the shade, two figures—one large, one small—walked side by side.

The man wore a gray robe, his features handsome, his demeanor refined and easygoing. The child beside him was clad in black, his expression cold and stern.

They were none other than Si Yuan Ye and his disciple, Lu Lin.

Si Yuan Ye had brought Lu Lin, who had just absorbed the Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber, to the Star Dou Great Forest, naturally to help his disciple obtain his First Soul Ring.

This era was only a thousand years removed from the Absolute Tang Dynasty.

According to the Douluo Continent's exceedingly slow pattern of evolution, aside from a few cutting-edge Soul Tools, this age was already quite similar to Huo Gua's era a thousand years later.

At the very least, the Ten Great Beasts were already well-known to the world.

Thus, the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest was a forbidden zone in the hearts of all Soul Masters, harboring immense terror.

Even the Mixed Zone was not to be tread upon lightly without the guidance of a powerful Soul Master.

Ordinary Soul Masters dared only to move within the outer region, where numerous ten-year and hundred-year Soul Beasts dwelled.

"Rustle, rustle..."

At that moment, an unusual scraping sound suddenly came from the thicket ahead.

Lu Lin felt his vision blur, and the next moment, he saw several swift figures burst forth, blocking the path between him and Si Yuan Ye.

They were three giant wolves, their bodies covered in gray coarse fur, their eyes blood-red.

The wolves' front paws bore sharp claws that glinted coldly, bared fangs and brandished claws, as if eager to tear into flesh, radiating fierce aggression.

"Oh, three century-old Flame Devouring Wolves."

Si Yuan Ye merely glanced at them indifferently, speaking in a calm, unruffled tone.

He seemed to have no intention of intervening.

"Here we go again!"

Lu Lin could only sigh in resignation.

The next moment, a massive bear's phantom, woven from dark red and pitch-black hues, coalesced around him.

At the same time, an extremely savage and ferocious aura erupted from his body, making him seem like a humanoid beast incarnate.

As Lu Lin released his first Martial Soul, the three Flame Devouring Wolves, which had been baring their fangs, suddenly froze, then collapsed to the ground one after another.

This was an instinctive fear rooted deep in their bloodline.

"Woo-ow!"

Driven by extreme terror and pressure, all they could do was submit, suppressed utterly, not daring to harbor even a shred of aggression.

Was it his imagination? Lu Lin thought he could detect a hint of grievance in their howls.

As a king among Soul Beasts, even a century-old Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear would make ordinary ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts give it a wide berth.

A thousand-year Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear could easily slay a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast.

And Lu Lin's Martial Soul was a variant of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, belonging to the same tier, so it naturally exerted the same suppressive effect on these mere century-level Flame Devouring Wolves.

The three Flame Devouring Wolves lay limp on the ground.

Lu Lin casually withdrew his Martial Soul, brushed off his clothes, and followed Si Yuan Ye as they continued forward.

From start to finish, Lu Lin barely spared the three unlucky wolves a glance.

"Teacher, is that the Mixed Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest ahead?"

A faint smile tugged at Si Yuan Ye's lips as he said calmly, "Yes. There should be a suitable Soul Ring for you up ahead."

The Mixed Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest was also known as the core transition belt.

Unlike the outer region, the Mixed Zone was home to a large number of thousand-year Soul Beasts, with even ten-thousand-year ones occasionally appearing.

Lu Lin's target was a Soul Beast around three thousand years old.

Yes, that was right—the limit for his First Soul Ring would be a staggering three thousand years.

To put it in perspective, a normal Soul Master could only consider a thousand-year ring for their third, and a ring over three thousand years would only be possible for their fourth.

But for this Avatar Unit 1, Ji Ming, it was not impossible.

Originally, after enduring a month of excruciating secret technique tempering, combined with the physical enhancement from the top-tier beast Martial Soul, the Dark Demon Dreadclaw Bear, Ji Ming's upper limit for absorbing his First Soul Ring had been raised to around sixteen hundred years.

The effect of the Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber was to increase that limit by a thousand years.

Because Lu Lin still had remnants of various heavenly treasures from the secret technique that hadn't been fully absorbed, he managed to push the Whale Rubber's effect even further.

This brought the limit his body could withstand to nearly two thousand nine hundred years.

This was a fact confirmed repeatedly by Origin Douluo Si Yuan Ye, and it was not mistaken.

"I wonder if we'll run into a suitable Soul Beast."

Lu Lin muttered to himself.

The suitable soul beast Lu Lin had in mind was actually a subspecies of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear—the Dark Gold Bear.

As for a real Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, he wouldn't even dare to dream of it. Not that Lu Lin wasn't tempted, but this creature was an absolute rarity; there probably weren't even a few in the entire Star Dou Great Forest.

And that was before factoring in the need for the right age.

Even in his wildest dreams, Lu Lin wouldn't dare to think that far.

After all, he wasn't some true child of fortune like Huo Yuhao.

Once they truly stepped into the Mixed Zone, the soul beasts appearing before the master and disciple duo became noticeably more numerous.

Nether Wolves of the thousand-year level, Mountain Shaking Bears, Mandala Snakes, and more appeared one after another in a dazzling variety, truly opening Lu Lin's eyes.

The danger level of the Star Dou Great Forest was also plain to see.

The soul beasts living in the Mixed Zone were all at the thousand-year level or above, and at this grade, they had already developed some intelligence. Unlike those three unlucky wolves, these soul beasts keenly sensed that the human beside the little black-clad figure was terrifyingly powerful, and they refused to come anywhere near the two of them.

The more intelligent the soul beast, the more this held true.

One could say that following Si Yuan Ye, Lu Lin strolling through the Star Dou Great Forest was no different from wandering the back courtyard of his own Body Sect.

Of course, there were also those without good judgment. Occasionally, some thousand-year soul beasts would approach menacingly, baring their fangs to attack Lu Lin, only to be either casually swatted away with a single palm strike from Si Yuan Ye or pinned to the ground by his terrifying spiritual pressure.

Si Yuan Ye didn't even manifest his soul rings, as relaxed and effortless as drinking water.

But what surprised Lu Lin was that, for these soul beasts that tried to attack them, Si Yuan Ye at most knocked them away or injured them, never going so far as to kill.

This discovery left Lu Lin thoughtful, but he didn't ask.

The two continued deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest, when suddenly Si Yuan Ye stopped in his tracks, a faint smile appearing on his face. "Your luck really isn't bad."

"Hm? Teacher, did you spot a Dark Gold Bear?"

Hearing this, Lu Lin asked instinctively.

But he hadn't heard any Dark Gold Bear roar—just how far ahead could Si Yuan Ye see?

Si Yuan Ye didn't answer. Instead, he continued leading Lu Lin forward at an unhurried pace.

Ten minutes or so later.

The two entered a low, dense forest.

"Ah!!"

Just then, a scream reached Lu Lin's ears. He focused his gaze and saw a man in his thirties, unremarkable in appearance, fleeing for his life.

The man's clothes were torn, stained with blood, and he looked as miserable as could be.

And the ferocious soul beast hot on his heels was none other than the Dark Gold Bear Lu Lin had been desperately seeking.

"Save me... save me!"

When the man spotted Lu Lin and the others, his eyes lit up as if he'd found a lifeline, and he frantically ran toward the direction where Lu Lin and Si Yuan Ye stood.

Lu Lin frowned.

He could sense that this man was at most a Soul Elder. The Dark Gold Bear was clearly toying with him, like a cat with a mouse; otherwise, the guy would have been dead long ago, never making it until Lu Lin and Si Yuan Ye arrived.

"Save me..."

The man kept muttering, his steps swift, and his figure drew closer and closer to the master and disciple pair.

But neither of them reacted, as if they hadn't seen him at all.

The man didn't mind. When he was only a few dozen meters away, he suddenly shifted his footing, slightly changing direction to aim straight at Lu Lin. At the same time, a wolf-shaped beast soul manifested on his body, and three soul rings—one white and two yellow—appeared around him. His fingers curled like claws, clearly intending to ambush Lu Lin.

Obviously, this guy had a brain. He planned to throw Lu Lin to the Dark Gold Bear to buy himself a chance to escape.

Unfortunately, the idea was good, but reality was brutally harsh.

Before he could even get close to Lu Lin, Si Yuan Ye had already moved. With the force of a thunderbolt, he kicked this reckless fool flying.

"A clown putting on a show."

Si Yuan Ye snorted coldly, his face dark with anger.

This soul master had taken the full force of the Body Sect Master's kick—the outcome went without saying.

If he could still survive this, Lu Lin might consider kowtowing to him.

The Dark Gold Bear watched this scene unfold, its expression one of sheer terror.

Wait, where had its big prey gone?

Not good. Something was wrong.

But by the time it realized this, it was already too late.