Cat-headed Dog

"Hiss!"

Such a sound came from afar. A massive snake flicked its tongue as it fled in one direction, knocking down quite a few trees along the way.

Chen Huang saw it clearly. It was an earth snake. Its formal name in Douluo was the Earth Shuttle Snake. It could move freely through the ground and was incredibly fast.

There were quite a few Earth Shuttle Snakes, but they were extremely difficult to catch. Thanks to their ability to burrow, even if they were captured, they could easily escape. Once they drilled underground, there was no stopping them.

But this snake was truly stupid. Why didn't it burrow into the ground? At this rate, it would be caught sooner or later. Unless one of the Soul Masters pursuing it was an Earth Attribute Soul Master. Still, that made sense. They were chasing this snake for the high-quality Earth Attribute soul skill it could provide.

Tang Hao also glanced at those Soul Masters from afar and said, "Just a few Soul Elders and some Soul Grand Masters. They're quite bold."

The age of an Earth Shuttle Snake depended entirely on its size. This one was around a thousand years old and was likely the Spirit Ring one of those Soul Grand Masters needed.

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Those people did not have the ability to stop an Earth Shuttle Snake. At the very least, it would take a Soul Emperor to stop it easily. Otherwise, they needed an Earth Attribute Soul King.

The Earth Shuttle Snake was not as stupid as Chen Huang had imagined. It was deliberately causing such a huge commotion.

Chen Huang pondered Tang Hao's words. They were truly bold? What exactly did that mean? For one thing, the Earth Shuttle Snake might escape, but those Soul Masters would not suffer any serious losses.

Then, when he looked at the direction it was fleeing, Chen Huang understood everything.

This Earth Shuttle Snake was quite clever. It was not trying to escape—it was trying to kill those Soul Masters, using another's hand to do the deed. It was fleeing deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest. Perhaps a few high-aged Soul Beasts would attack later and help it kill those Soul Masters.

Relations between ordinary Soul Beasts were not friendly either. The weak were prey to the strong; only the fittest survived. But the Earth Shuttle Snake was not afraid. For one, it did not taste good. For another, it could run.

Tang Hao added, "Let's take a detour and stay farther away from them. I don't want to face several Soul Beasts that are thousands of years old later."

Once Soul Beasts reached several thousand years in age, some became highly aggressive and powerful attackers. Those with special abilities could even launch attacks right in front of a Titled Douluo. For example, if a mental-type Soul Beast directly attacked Chen Huang and Xiao Shan, Tang Hao would not be able to stop it. So, any unnecessary trouble was best avoided.

"What will happen to those Soul Masters, Dad?" Xiao Shan asked.

Tang Hao sighed. "When traveling outside, one can never be too careful. But these people have no idea that they are gradually approaching danger. They are courting death themselves—what can anyone do? If they turn back in time, that would naturally be fortunate. But isn't it obvious that they have no intention of letting this snake go?"

Chen Huang nodded, deeply agreeing. He had a fairly kind nature and was willing to help others. But did he have to save people who were seeking death themselves? That would not be appropriate. Besides, he could not even defeat Soul Beasts that were thousands of years old. Save yourself before saving others. If he could not even protect himself, how could he talk about saving anyone else? The soul skills provided by Soul Beasts might be good, but one still needed to be alive to claim them.

Even though they had taken a detour, they still heard several loud beast cries not long afterward. After a thunderous crash, everything fell silent. The battle had most likely already ended.

Chen Huang and Xiao Shan silently remembered what had happened today. If they were ever careless in the future, they might also fall into another Soul Beast's trap. These Soul Beasts were not stupid.

After seeing that Earth Shuttle Snake, Chen Huang suddenly had an idea.

Animal-type Soul Beasts... it seemed he had never truly considered them. Before, he had only thought that if Tang San's Blue Silver Grass absorbed animal-type Soul Beasts, it would be a waste of its potential.

Xiao Shan's Martial Soul was the same. The Spirit Rings she chose for it were all plant-type, which was best. In a sense, her Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul was very similar to a Mythical Pokémon bloodline Martial Soul.

But what about himself? He was only a Weed. How could a Weed evolve? How could it undergo a second awakening?

Perhaps he had been thinking too idealistically.

His Weed might have to walk a path that had never existed before. It seemed he had always taken that awakening too much for granted.

After Tang Hao had formally accepted him as a disciple, Tang Hao had pointed out many of their problems. He also frequently guided their cultivation. One of those lessons had made Chen Huang realize that his Martial Soul now possessed a kind of vitality. So drinking the water from the Fountain of Immortality had not caused no changes at all—he simply had not noticed them.

Looking at it this way, focusing on the vitality attribute seemed quite good. It was then that he began to have this idea. Later, however, he had added constraints to it, limiting himself to plant-type Soul Beasts. Didn't he only need something with vigorous vitality and astonishing recovery abilities?

That would greatly expand his options.

Not long after Chen Huang's mind opened up, he found a suitable Soul Beast: a Cat-headed Dog.

The Cat-headed Dog had a cat's head and a dog's body. Its paw pads could be used like a cat's, and it possessed a cat's flexibility. It had a dog's keen sense of smell, as well as a dog's tail and a body covered in long fur.

The Cat-headed Dog was somewhat similar to the Nine-lived Cat. The Nine-lived Cat had nine lives, but the Cat-headed Dog only had two: one cat life and one dog life. Its lives could slowly recover. If it lost one of them, it would be unable to use one category of its abilities. For example, if it lost its cat life, it could no longer use its body's flexibility or paw pads. If it lost its dog life, it would lose its dog nose as well.

Someone had studied the Cat-headed Dog and discovered that it did not literally possess multiple lives. That was not how it worked. Some Soul Masters had sought out Cat-headed Dogs and Nine-lived Cats in hopes of gaining life-extending soul skills, but they only obtained recovery-type soul skills.

Its principle lay in using its own vitality to preserve its life. If it was on the verge of death, it would directly consume a great deal of its own vitality to recover from its injuries. It was only because of that enormous consumption of vitality that it became unable to use certain abilities.

A thousand-year Cat-headed Dog could have legs up to one meter long; a two-thousand-year one would naturally have legs two meters long. This Cat-headed Dog's legs were one and a half meters long, making its age just right.

"Teacher, I want this Cat-headed Dog for my first soul skill," Chen Huang said.

Tang Hao looked at Chen Huang in confusion. "Xiao Huang, didn't you say before that you wanted a plant-type Soul Beast, and one that could increase your vitality attribute?"

Chen Huang smiled. "I changed my mind. Anything that can increase my vitality attribute will do. Besides, this Cat-headed Dog is fifteen hundred years old, and it will definitely provide a recovery-type soul skill. It suits me very well. Since we happened to encounter it, I don't want to miss this chance."

Tang Hao nodded. "All right, then it's settled. I'll catch it for you."

Tang Hao flashed forward and appeared in front of the Cat-headed Dog, then grabbed it in one hand. No matter how the Cat-headed Dog struggled, it could not break free.

"Meow-woof!" The Cat-headed Dog bared its teeth, its fur standing on end. Tang Hao released the slightest bit of his aura, and it immediately wilted.

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Rocket Raccoon looked back at Thor and said, "So your brother died? That's pretty rough."

As he spoke, he operated the spaceship. After finishing, he turned back to look at the dejected Thor and added, "I heard you also had a sister and a father?"

Thor was now missing one eye. He lowered his head, his face covered in beard, and gently shook his head. "They're all dead."

Overwhelmed by grief, his voice seemed to carry a trace of hoarseness, like the throat of someone with a cold.

"Then at least you still have a mother, right?" Rocket Raccoon wanted to comfort the dejected Thor, to tell him, hey, you still have family. Pull yourself together. As Asgard's new king, he could not be so dispirited.

"She was killed by the Dark Elves," Thor said with a sob. He missed his mother. He wanted to throw himself into her arms and cry his heart out.

"What about your best friend?"

"A blade through the heart," Thor answered without hesitation. Those scenes kept flashing through his mind, vivid and clear.

"What if you were wrong?"

Tears filled Thor's eyes. "If I was wrong... then what else would I have left to lose?"

Tears spilled from his eyes, and he wiped them away with one hand.