Douluo: Poisonous Tongue, Loves Telling the Truth

"Then take care of yourself, don't push too hard... If it really comes down to it, we can just hire a soul hunting team."

"It's fine! You don't need to worry. Focus on your cultivation, and when I return, I'll take you to hunt your fourth soul ring."

The girl's purple eyes were filled with reluctance, making Xia Ran hesitate for a moment.

But for now, they had to part ways. He estimated that this trip wouldn't be as simple as just obtaining a fifth soul ring; with the awakening of his second martial soul and two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones, his soul power might even reach level 60.

Moreover, soul rings suitable for the Mysterious Cat martial soul were not exactly common. Bringing the girls along would definitely be dangerous, so it was better for them to relax in the city for a while.

As long as Xiao Wu and her group didn't run into those old monsters, there shouldn't be any major issues.

Thinking of this, Xia Ran gave a final instruction.

"Xiao Wu's identity is a bit special. Try to avoid letting her come into contact with powerhouses above the Soul Douluo level. Tell Ning Rongrong about this too, and don't let those old guys from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect come to see you whenever they please."

There were only a few known powerhouses in Heaven Dou City: the imperial guest Dugu Bo, the Snake Lance and Pufferfish by Xue Qinghe's side, Marshal Ge Long by Xue Ye's side, and those three old fellows from the Heaven Dou Academy.

These people generally didn't wander around the city. Besides, in the original story, Dugu Bo didn't recognize Xiao Wu's identity the first time he saw her, which meant that aside from the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, she must have other ways to hide her aura.

Facing Xia Ran's instructions, although Zhu Zhuqing didn't fully understand, she still nodded obediently.

With everything settled, Xia Ran pulled Zhu Zhuqing into a tight embrace.

"Wait for me here obediently!"

The voice rang in the girl's ear, and she couldn't help but hug him tighter. Only when she felt a sense of security did her furrowed brows relax slightly.

"It's only a month or two, I'll be back soon."

"Cultivate well while I'm gone. Alright, I really have to go now."

As he spoke, Xia Ran kissed Zhu Zhuqing on the cheek, drawing a chorus of sighs from the two people nearby.

Ignoring the two third wheels, he gave the girl a doting look before transforming into a black shadow and vanishing from everyone's sight.

Left behind, the girl's reluctant expression made her look somewhat lonely.

However, the two girls behind her soon ran over like sparrows, surrounding Zhu Zhuqing.

"Zhuqing! Zhuqing! Tell me quickly, what was Xia Ran's reaction when he first saw you yesterday..."

"You have no idea, Xiao Wu and I didn't sleep at all last night..."

The sadness of their recent parting was quickly replaced by shyness, and Zhu Zhuqing's delicate face turned bright red in an instant.

Seeing her bashful appearance, Ning Rongrong urged her impatiently.

"Oh! Tell us already, please! I'm begging you!"

The two girls crowded around Zhu Zhuqing, pushing her back into the hotel room...

The Sunset Forest was not too far from Heaven Dou City. Xia Ran rented a carriage and successfully arrived at the forest's outskirts two days later.

Stepping into the forest, a damp, earthy scent filled his nostrils.

Unlike the primitive forests one might expect, this place felt more like a tropical rainforest.

The humidity in the air was extremely high, and the vegetation consisted mostly of vines and shrubs, giving off a sense of being surrounded by hidden dangers.

Xia Ran recalled that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes seemed to be located in a basin, with the perimeter planted full of Jade Phosphorus Seven Absolute Flowers by Dugu Bo.

If he followed this characteristic, it should be easy to find.

Having made up his mind, he tried to stand on high ground to plan his route.

During this time, the Black Blade remained in Xia Ran's hand, and to deal with any crises, he maintained his Martial Soul Avatar state the entire time.

On this day, Xia Ran climbed onto a relatively tall tree trunk nearby to adjust his direction once more.

Suddenly, a sharp aura came from behind. Although his spiritual power hadn't detected anything unusual, he instinctively activated his [Third Soul Skill: Void].

The moment the skill took effect, three feather-shaped arrows appeared before Xia Ran's eyes. Accompanied by a thick, dark aura, the tree trunk began to hiss as it was corroded.

"What's going on?"

Xia Ran whipped his head around, but found nothing.

The three arrows seemed to have appeared out of thin air. The surroundings were deathly silent, and even the fallen leaves on the ground showed no signs of disturbance.

But with the danger right in front of him, his Mysterious Cat martial soul, which had a keen sense for peril, filled him with a bad premonition...

[Void Domain]

With Xia Ran as the center, a circular shadow rapidly expanded, shrouding the entire area.

Before he could investigate carefully, a strange energy fluctuation rippled through the sky, and several more arrows struck.

Their speed was so fast that the naked eye couldn't track them. If not for Xia Ran's mastery of the extreme darkness attribute, he would have surely died on the spot.

Using [Shadow Escape] to dodge the attack once more, Xia Ran thought he might have a moment to catch his breath, but to his surprise, a tide of arrows followed.

Black streaks of light flashed rapidly across the sky, all converging toward the figure below.

Chapter 54: The Soul Beast That Can Turn Invisible

[Soul Bone Skill: Dark Potential]

With his [Void] skill on cooldown, Xia Ran had no choice but to maintain high-speed movement to evade the attacks.

With the 300% speed boost from his soul bone skill, Xia Ran moved through the obstacles like a lingering shadow.

At this moment, the Void Domain had expanded to a hundred-meter radius. Standing within it, Xia Ran could clearly sense two figures constantly darting about.

Two soul beasts?

Stealth skills? Interesting!

Fortunately, the Void Domain could detect the fluctuations of their soul power; otherwise, in this battle, Xia Ran wouldn't even be able to see the shadows of his enemies.

Two soul beasts attacking simultaneously with stealth skills—if it were any ordinary soul master, they would have already lost their life the moment the battle began.

"Since you struck first, don't blame me for claiming your soul rings!"

Judging by the nature of their attacks, they were undoubtedly dark-attribute soul beasts.

There are tens of thousands of soul beasts in this forest, and finding specifically dark-attribute ones is usually quite difficult. Xia Ran never expected to encounter two at once!

The rain of black arrows continued, and Xia Ran dodged incessantly while pondering a countermeasure in his mind.

Currently, the enemy was hidden while he was exposed. Within the range of his domain, he could only detect their general direction, and the fact that the enemies were in the air put him at a significant disadvantage.

However, it was clear that as long as he maintained high-speed movement, their attacks would not hit him.

Do I really have to wait until their soul power is exhausted? But there are two of them; can I really outlast them?

While he was deep in thought, the arrow rain struck again. This time, the arrows pierced directly through the tree trunks, slamming toward Xia Ran with undiminished momentum.

[Void]

What is going on? The power is so great!

He clearly remembered that the initial arrows had only embedded themselves into the bark...

Looking up at the sky again, Xia Ran realized that not all the arrows were the same size.

A small portion of the arrows had a significantly denser dark aura; these were the ones that had just pierced through the trees.

In contrast, the rain of arrows that kept falling consisted of smaller projectiles that dissipated shortly after piercing the wood, and their accuracy was abysmal.

"So that's it! Out of these two soul beasts, only one can actually pose a threat!"

"Trying to use me as a target for your trial?"

The combat experience honed over years in the Soul Fighting arena quickly gave Xia Ran a plan.

He would exploit the information gap regarding his own abilities...

[First Soul Skill: Shadow Armor]

Black armor formed instantly, encasing Xia Ran's entire body.

The Shadow Armor not only provided defense against certain attacks but also granted a boost to strength and speed, so Xia Ran's speed increased by another ten percent.

Seeing this, the two soul beasts grew impatient. The prolonged assault had drained a significant amount of their soul power, and if they couldn't finish off the enemy before them, they would have no choice but to flee.

Just then, the figure below suddenly faltered, and several smaller arrows struck him directly in the back.

In an instant, the arrows transformed into dark energy and invaded Xia Ran's body. He could clearly feel this power destroying his existing soul power.

"What a sinister ability!"

Only after truly experiencing the power of the arrows did Xia Ran realize how terrifying they were.

Seeing that the attack had landed, the soul beasts in the sky increased the density of the arrow rain, even deactivating their stealth state to do so.

After all, maintaining stealth consumed more soul power than launching the arrow rain.

Only then did Xia Ran see the appearance of the two soul beasts. The ones launching such a terrifying offensive were merely two palm-sized black sparrows.

One was darker in color with two plumes on its head, while the other had clearly not yet fully evolved into black, its head looking quite ordinary.

"Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow!"

Xia Ran had once pored over many books on dark-attribute soul beasts. Among them, the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow was a predator at the top of the food chain.

Other soul beasts grew larger as they evolved, which brought with it an increase in strength.

But the Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow was different. They would remain the size of an adult's palm for their entire lives. Each increase in cultivation didn't bring a boost in raw strength, but rather extreme speed and a purer dark attribute.

In his memory, this soul beast was the closest to the ultimate dark attribute, and due to its size and abilities, it had almost no natural predators.

The two before him were clearly one large and one small; the larger one seemed to have just passed twenty thousand years, while the smaller one was only at a thousand-year cultivation level.

Dark-attribute energy surged around Xia Ran as he set up a Clone within his shadow. If all went as expected, once they saw him injured, they would immediately launch their final strike.

After all, with such a long period of dense arrow rain, if they couldn't end the battle now, their soul power would be exhausted before his.

Sure enough, the moment he finished setting up the Clone, the ten-thousand-year-old Dark Magic Cloud Sparrow dove straight down, unleashing its [Innate Skill: Shadow Demon Cloud Slash].

Its petite body was like a black streak of light, moving so fast it looked like a straight line.

If this strike landed, Xia Ran would undoubtedly die!

"Hmph! Just in time!"