Gu Yuena Finds Tang San
The Spirit Hall Empire has pledged to strictly prohibit Soul Master from entering the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt Soul Beast and obtain Soul Ring within its sphere of influence. In return, the Soul Beast of the Star Dou Great Forest must also restrain themselves and refrain from leaving the forest to attack human towns or villages.
Next, Qian Renxue needed to find out the approximate number of Soul Beast in the Star Dou Great Forest willing to attempt to form contracts with human Soul Master.
This relates to the implementation and management of the "Contract Cultivation Method".
Furthermore, the specific form of the contract and the confirmation of equal terms ensured that it was not a master-servant enslavement arrangement.
It encompasses a wide range of aspects.
By the time the final framework document of the "Agreement on Peaceful Coexistence and Cooperative Development between the Spirit Hall Empire and the Star Dou Great Forest" was signed and confirmed by representatives of both parties, more than half a month had passed.
Soon, the contents of this agreement were rapidly transmitted throughout the entire continent via the Spirit Hall Empire's Communication Soul Tool.
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The Soul Beast Realm reacted more strongly to the cooperation between the Star Dou Great Forest and humans.
In the Extreme North Icefield
"Traitor!" A huge frost mammoth roared angrily, shaking the snow off the iceberg.
"Have those Ferocious Beast in the Star Dou Great Forest gone mad?! Have they forgotten how many of their brethren died at the hands of humans?!"
"Soul Beast will never be slaves!" a flock of Far North ice bats shrieked, expressing their contempt and defiance.
"A disgrace! This is a disgrace to the entire Soul Beast!"
Amidst a chorus of impassioned insults and condemnations, the two true overlords of the Extreme North remained unusually silent.
Chapter 287 Gu Yuena Finds Tang San
In the vast, desolate Extreme North, ruled by frigid temperatures and blizzards year-round, two kings at the top of the food chain were also moved by the news from the Spirit Hall Empire.
The Snow Empress, also known as the Heavenly Snow Woman, is the leader of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North. She was not born from flesh and blood, but rather an elemental spirit nurtured by the purest millennia-old cold air and Core Circle energy of the Extreme North.
For this reason, she is completely different from ordinary Soul Beast, possessing extremely large primordial power and almost unlimited growth potential from the moment of her birth.
But this unique gift also comes with a corresponding "price".
The tribulation she faced was far more terrifying than that of ordinary Ferocious Beast.
The "matching mechanism" of the Heavenly Tribulation is extremely simple: the higher the age, the better the talent, and the stronger the bloodline, the more exponentially the power of the tribulation lightning will increase.
As an elf born in the core of the Far North, Snow Empress's talent and bloodline are considered to be at the pinnacle of the Douluo Plane. The tribulation she faces is a true tribulation of destruction.
At this moment, the Snow Empress hovered atop the snow-covered peak. Her exquisitely beautiful face, sculpted from ice and snow, was expressionless, but a complex emotion flickered in the depths of her deep, icy eyes.
She is Heavenly Snow Woman, born of nature and raised by heaven. She has no kindred spirits and has been almost always alone throughout the long years since her birth.
Only with the Ice Empress —the king of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion clan—did they have known and accompanied each other for hundreds of thousands of years, forging a rare bond.
Besides, she didn't actually have a strong sense of belonging to the "Soul Beast Clan" as a whole. Her roots were in the Far North, in this Ice and Snow World, rather than in a broad racial concept.
Therefore, she is not too averse to cooperating with humans.
In fact, she had already clearly sensed that she probably wouldn't be able to survive her next tribulation. The aura of destruction made even someone as powerful as her feel a chill. She was even seriously considering whether to give up her hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation and risk starting over in order to fight for a slim chance of survival.
At this critical juncture, news arrived from the Spirit Hall Empire: humans and Soul Beast had signed an equal contract, growing together, and even... being able to help Soul Beast avoid heavenly tribulations?
For a moment, even someone as aloof and solitary as the Snow Empress felt a sense of disorientation, wondering if this was perhaps the will of Heaven?
Meanwhile, deep within the territory of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Clan, the Ice Empress was also deeply troubled.
As one of the Three Great Heavenly Kings of the Far North, a peerless Ferocious Beast with nearly 400,000 years of cultivation, she was proud.
Emotionally, she was resistant to the idea of lowering herself to sign an equal contract with those human Soul Master who she considered weak and short-lived.
Do you expect me to associate with those insignificant humans?
simply...
A sense of instinctive rejection rose within her; her dignity as the overlord of the Extreme North made it difficult for her to immediately accept this seemingly "condescending" approach.
However, the harsh reality couldn't be ignored. She knew the terror of heavenly tribulations firsthand, and she had a feeling that she would die in the next one...
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"Snap!"
With a crisp crack, the rough earthenware wine cup in Gu Yuena's hand was instantly crushed to pieces, and wine mixed with shards splashed down.
Her chest heaved violently, her Soul Power leaking out due to the intense emotional turmoil, and her silver hair moved without wind, revealing the raging fire within her.
How long have I been away from the Star Dou Great Forest?
Not only did those subordinates surrender so quickly, but they've also started cooperating with humans so rapidly!
In her eyes, this was utterly disgraceful to the Soul Beast! It was the most direct betrayal of her, the sovereign of the Soul Beast!
However, after the anger subsides, there is an even deeper sense of powerlessness.
Despite her anger, she ultimately forced herself to hold it in.
There's no way to beat them.
Whether it was Qian Xunji from the Spirit Hall or the silver-haired killing god outside the Star Dou Great Forest, she was far from being their match.
Right now, all she can do is writhe in impotent rage.
Just as she was in a terrible mood, a strange man wearing a wide black robe and exuding an inscrutable aura walked straight to her secluded table and sat down opposite her without any politeness.
Gu Yuena suppressed her anger and looked up in confusion. The other person's face was mostly hidden by the hood, and only a chin with cold, hard lines could be seen.
"I heard you've been inquiring about Tang San?" The man's voice was deep and steady, revealing no emotion.
Gu Yuena's heart skipped a beat, a hint of surprise flashing in her amethyst eyes, but it was quickly replaced by wariness. "So what if I do? You have a lead?"
"I have information on him," the man said succinctly, "But it's expensive."
Upon hearing that it was "expensive," Gu Yuena felt a sense of relief, even a hint of disdain.
"Tell me, what do you want?" Her tone carried a hint of condescension, already determined to leave after hearing the information, with no intention of paying any reward.
However, the man seemed to see through her thoughts and slowly shook his head. "Information, pay first. Just in case... someone reneges."
Gu Yuena's eyes turned cold, and the dragon's might belonging to the Silver Dragon King pressed down on her opponent as if it were a tangible force.
Ordinary Soul Master would have collapsed to the ground under this oppressive force, uttering nothing in return.
But the man opposite her seemed completely oblivious, not even the hem of his clothes twitching. He remained sitting there quietly, the shadow under his hood seemingly waiting silently for her reply.
Gu Yuena felt a chill run down her spine.
The series of setbacks made her much more cautious. This man, who could remain so steadfast under her imperial authority, was probably no ordinary person; he might be another cunning fellow who liked to play dumb to deceive others. She didn't want to needlessly create trouble over such a trivial matter.
"... Okay." Gu Yuena squeezed out through gritted teeth, "What do you want?"
"Soul Bone over 100,000 years old." The man's voice remained calm, yet he uttered a condition that caused Gu Yuena's pupils to shrink sharply.
"Are you dreaming?!" Gu Yuena stood up abruptly, slamming her hand on the table, shattering the solid wood into pieces. Her voice rose with anger, "You want a priceless Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone for a mere piece of information?!" She wasn't truly stupid; she knew the value of Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. How could she possibly exchange it for a piece of information? This was simply treating her like a sucker!
The man neither argued nor explained; he simply remained seated, "watching" her through the shadow of his hood.
That silence clearly meant: the transaction was voluntary, and you didn't have to exchange it.
Gu Yuena clenched and unclenched her fists repeatedly, her heart filled with inner turmoil.
Ultimately, the desire for intelligence and the psychological trauma of the recent defeat prevailed.
"...Fine!" Gu Yuena said through gritted teeth, her heart bleeding. She did indeed have a few Soul Bone, left behind by some of her subordinates who had failed their tribulations at the Lake of Life. She had originally intended to use them to absorb and comprehend the laws, but now she had to use them to exchange for a piece of information.
With great reluctance, she took out a piece of her left arm bone from her spatial storage. The Soul Bone was crystal clear, with frost flowing inside, clearly a high-quality 100,000-year-old ice-attribute Soul Bone.
She slammed the Soul Bone heavily on the table.
"Intelligence!"
The man in black robes took the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone that exuded a chilling aura, and gently ran his fingertips over it, seemingly to confirm its quality and authenticity.
After a moment, he nodded slightly, finally ceasing his suspense and revealing the information Gu Yuena was so eager to know. "The Star Luo Empire Restoration Organization."
Before he could finish speaking, the man's figure blurred like Gui Mei, vanishing without a trace right before Gu Yuena's eyes, leaving not even a trace of his presence.
"Star Luo Empire ...the Restoration Organization..." Gu Yuena repeated the keyword in a low voice, a hint of understanding flashing in her eyes.
She didn't linger, got up and left the tavern, stepping into the howling snowstorm outside.
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Gu Yuena was not familiar with the power distribution in the human world.
She spent some time and used some unconventional "methods" to finally pinpoint the location of a secret base of the Star Luo Restoration Organization, where Tang San happened to be.
Unsure of Tang San's exact position within the organization, and to avoid alerting them or getting into unnecessary conflict, she opted not to launch a direct attack or make a formal visit, but instead decided to infiltrate and gather intelligence before making a decision.
Standing in the shadows on the outskirts of the base, Gu Yuena stretched out her slender hand and gently traced a line on the seemingly indestructible rock wall in front of her.
"Sizzle--"
A thin, silvery spatial rift was forcibly torn open.
With a flash, she silently entered the spatial rift, bypassing all the visible and hidden sentries on the perimeter and entering the interior of the base.
Meanwhile, deep within the base, in a dark and damp dungeon.
Tang San collapsed onto the cold stone ground like a rag doll, his body covered with whip marks, branding wounds, and gruesome wounds left by various instruments of torture, some so deep that the bone was visible.
He ultimately couldn't withstand the relentless torture inflicted by those skilled in interrogation. Apart from his deepest secret—his identity as a transmigrator and the core cultivation techniques, such as the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record (a manual of profound knowledge) that he relied on for survival—he revealed almost everything under extreme pain.
His unfocused gaze was fixed on the guard standing like a statue outside the cell, his eyes burning with deep-seated hatred and resentment.
Not long ago, he seized a fleeting opportunity to break the chains and try to escape this hell on earth.
Unfortunately, he was soon discovered and captured by the girl A Ke.
Since then, his guard has become much tighter. Not only were his shackles replaced with stronger ones, but he was also assigned a guard to watch over him day and night.
The higher-ups of the Star Luo Restoration Organization were well aware that there were definitely more important secrets about Tang San that had not yet been uncovered.
Therefore, he now endures inhumane torture almost every day, followed by being kept alive by the healing-type Soul Master accompanying the army to ensure he doesn't die from his injuries, repeating this cycle until all of Tang San's value is squeezed out.
In the cell next to his was Tang Yuehua, who looked equally haggard.
Previously, in order to force Tang San to talk, the interrogators tortured Tang Yuehua in front of him.