[Note: In the Folded Ear Continent provided by the system, the Nanshan Rainforest had no vessel for the power of fate like the Star Dou Forest did. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion had been tricked away by Huo Yuhao, and Elves themselves had no need to hunt Soul Beasts to advance. They didn't need to consume their own resources to produce Soul Beasts like Life Lake did, so the concentration of heaven and earth energy was several orders of magnitude higher.]
"Do we really need to bring this much stuff?"
Watching Rus Wang keep equipping her transformed self with Soul Tools, until he was practically about to put a human-powered exoskeleton on her, Ximing couldn't help asking her husband.
"You don't understand, Ximing. You were unconscious when Yanjin rescued you and brought you to the Folded Ear Continent, so you have no idea what that icy fog is like. Without any preparation, or the sheer willpower to fly straight through without stopping or falling asleep, it's very easy to get lost in there."
After Ximing had decided to return to the Old Continent, Yanjin had repeatedly told Rus Wang that she'd found Ximing—who was unconscious and had a cultivation of fifty thousand years—while crossing that ice field plagued by mental interference. At the time, Yanjin had a cultivation of over eighty thousand years. She'd just eaten the carcass of a Sea Soul Beast that had run aground and died because its magnetic field was disrupted. Yet she hadn't eaten Ximing too. Instead, she'd wrapped the unconscious Ximing in her Soul Power and made her way through that strange ice field and icy fog.
Only after that had Ximing woken up. She and Yanjin had lived among the sea's drifting ice, where prey—ordinary whales, not Sea Soul Beasts—was plentiful. Then, during an unexpected hunt, they'd sensed that the farther south they flew, the denser the heaven and earth energy became, and eventually reached the Folded Ear Continent.
"Ravenna is the only place where we can get Soul Tools. And that coniferous forest farther south is our last chance to restock and recover before leaving the continent. After that, we'll need to be ready to fly in a straight line for thousands of kilometers at high intensity, twenty-four hours a day, for a whole month."
Rus Wang told Ximing about his experience crossing the icy fog and the ice field plagued by mental interference the previous year. As thousands of Soul Beasts followed him through the region, several hundred of them eventually couldn't take it and quietly left the group.
Rus Wang hadn't noticed at the time. It wasn't until they passed a giant dragon's skeleton and found several hundred fresh Soul Beast carcasses nearby that he realized how serious the situation was. They stopped the herd in front of the strange dragon skeleton in the icy fog and counted the Soul Beasts. Then he packed all the hundred- and thousand-year Soul Beasts into his storage Soul Tools and continued onward with the dozen or so Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.
"So that icy fog can kill Soul Beasts without a sound, then gather up their corpses too? That's terrifying."
After hearing about Rus Wang's journey back with that group of Soul Beasts, Ximing—who had only heard Yanjin and the others talk about how strange the icy fog was—suddenly felt that bringing a few extra Soul Tools wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"All right, we've got everything we need. Let's go. We'll take a short break in the coniferous forest where our daughter Iyuda lives, then cross the sea and head to the Dragon Valley Continent—which isn't called the Star Luo Continent yet. We can talk along the way."
"Okay."
When Rus Wang and Thalassa's five siblings were still thousand-year Soul Beasts, they had indeed seized a territory in the Nanshan Rainforest and lived there together. But once they reached ten thousand years, they entered an awkward stage: they couldn't compete with the established Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. At the time, there were fewer than three hundred Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in the Nanshan Rainforest, but after a century of nourishment from the abundant heaven and earth energy there, every one of them had a cultivation of over thirty thousand years. Not a single one had less than that. On top of that, the Folded Ear Continent was full of precious natural treasures, so there was no need to fight over the Nanshan Rainforest. Barus and his siblings agreed that staying in their territory wasn't worthwhile, and decided to split up and search for treasures beyond the rainforest to strengthen themselves as quickly as possible.
Barus searched for precious natural treasures with Elena on the Central Plateau, while the other four explored in the four cardinal directions. Iyuda headed south in search of treasures.
She'd done well for herself. Of the five siblings, she was the first to reach a cultivation of over thirty thousand years at just over two hundred years old. The southern coniferous forest was usually a fallback area for Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts that couldn't compete with the established rulers of the Nanshan Rainforest's Mixed Circle. But Iyuda had carved out a territory for herself in the heart of the coniferous forest purely through her own strength. She was a ruler in her own right.
When Rus Wang and Ximing flew to Iyuda's territory for a brief rest, Iyuda quickly sensed the presence of her father and Aunt Ximing.
"Father? Aunt Ximing? You've got Brachiosaurus cargo gear and Soul Tools strapped all over you. Are you heading for that icy fog farther south?"
Iyuda hurried over. One look at the absurd amount of gear on her father and Aunt Ximing, and she immediately guessed what they were planning.
"Hm?"
As her father, Rus Wang knew exactly what Iyuda's question implied. His expression turned serious.
"What is it, daughter? Did you go into that icy fog while searching for treasures?"
"I went once, but I only went a few kilometers in. Something felt wrong, so I turned back."
Iyuda didn't hide anything from her father. She told him what had happened.
"That's good. Just remember this, Iyuda: that icy fog stretches for hundreds of kilometers. Don't go deep into it unless your cultivation is at least sixty thousand years."
"Is it dangerous there?"
Iyuda asked.
"Of course. If you really want to experience it, I might consider taking you across it myself once you reach sixty thousand years."
"Then don't go back on your word, Father."
"I won't."
Rus Wang promised with complete confidence. That only strengthened Iyuda's resolve to absorb the hundred-thousand-year Ice Silkworm she'd caught right away.
"Just you wait, Father. I'll definitely surprise you."
As Iyuda thought this, she couldn't help marveling at how incredible the Ice Silkworm was as a nourishing insect. It had eaten so much Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice in the southernmost part of the Folded Ear Continent to reach the hundred-thousand-year level, yet it couldn't even beat a young Soul Beast like her, with a cultivation of just thirty thousand years and an age of barely two hundred. What a disgrace to Soul Beasts.
After the two dragons, one large and one small, rested briefly in Iyuda's territory, they continued on their way. This stretch of the journey was the last chance to close their eyes and doze off before reaching the icy fog.
"How are you feeling?"
Rus Wang and Ximing landed on a drifting ice floe. The vast, continuous ice field lay ahead; beyond it was the icy fog.
"I'm all right. I'm a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast now, after all. I'm not as weak as I was back then."
Ximing took a thick steel cable out of her Soul Tool and tied her right foreleg to Rus Wang's left foreleg.
Soul Tools would mysteriously fail inside the icy fog. To avoid losing Rus Wang in the mere one-meter visibility, an old-fashioned rope was undoubtedly the most practical solution.
"All right, let's go."
Once the cable was tied to their claws, Rus Wang spread his wings and carried Ximing into the month-long, sleepless flight ahead.
"Monkey, those humans are hunting young Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts again."
In the heart of Dragon Valley Forest, a group of transformed Dragons and plants had gathered around a transformed ape for a meeting. Judging from their conversation, morale was low.
"Damn humans. They fight each other, and then they turn around and shear us Soul Beasts like sheep."
The transformed Giant Mountain Golden Ape tried to stand, but a sharp wave of pain stopped him. He looked at the deep wounds on both hands, bone showing, and had to suppress his fury.
The Indigenous People of the Dragon Valley Continent were now fighting fiercely over territory with the Star Luo People who had come from overseas. The Star Luo People had the advantage of Soul Tools and were crushing the Indigenous People's armies, which still relied on Soul Masters. This had driven the Indigenous People to desperately increase their cultivation and hunt high-year Soul Beasts for Soul Rings. And the overseas Star Luo People were no better. They slaughtered Soul Beasts even more frantically than the Indigenous People. It wasn't a matter of hunting a few anymore; they measured their take in the number of storage Soul Tools they'd filled.
"If only one of our eldest three brothers were still here, we wouldn't have fallen this far."
The Giant Mountain Golden Ape was the strongest Soul Beast in Dragon Valley Forest during the time Thalassa and the others fled the Old Continent. He'd been surprised himself to become the strongest Soul Beast on this continent. With Dragon Valley's small world and all its spatial rifts hidden here, the Dragon Race should have been the leaders of the Soul Beasts in Dragon Valley Forest. He was only their follower, after all. He ranked fourth, with three Dragons ahead of him, each with a cultivation of five or six hundred thousand years. Surely he'd only take their place after the Heavenly Tribulation killed them or humans did.
Then, one day over four hundred years ago, while he was lounging around the heart of the forest, he went to find the Turquoise Dragon, who ranked fifth, so they could steal some flowers and fruit produced by the Sun-Passing Ginkgo, who ranked sixth. That was when the Lightning Tyrannosaurus, ranked seventh, came flying over in a panic to tell him that the Heavenly Tribulation had suddenly arrived early for their eldest three brothers, somehow—and killed them.
If Rus Wang had been there, he would have insisted that Three Candies had secretly done the "good deed." After all, Three Candies had been behind one major event after another in Douluo I. The fact that all three Dragons had died at once had to be his doing too.
But the Giant Mountain Golden Ape was just a follower. How could he know anything about the Divine Realm? Besides, the eldest three had never told him anything, and as an ape, he couldn't enter Dragon Valley's small world to ask the Dragon Souls for knowledge.
The sky had fallen, but there was no taller one to hold it up. Somehow, the burden had fallen on him, and he'd become the tall one holding up the sky. Who could he even complain to?
So the Giant Mountain Golden Ape, who had no experience at all, and his weaker followers had been forced to hold things together as the continent's leading group. They led the Soul Beasts against the local humans, whose hunts were growing ever more indiscriminate, and another wave of humans from overseas, who reaped Soul Beasts like wheat.
But how could someone with a cultivation of over four hundred thousand years stand against several Super Douluo at levels 97 and 98? He could only keep retreating. During that time, many Soul Beasts fled south to escape the human slaughter. The Giant Mountain Golden Ape and the other Ferocious Beasts were eventually driven into the Mixed Circle of Dragon Valley Forest. The territory of the core area and the spatial rifts of Dragon Valley were right behind them. They couldn't retreat any farther, so they fought the humans with everything they had. After four hundred years, they'd accumulated a heap of serious injuries, some of which even the Sun-Passing Ginkgo could no longer heal.
"Have we confirmed the report about the sixty-thousand-year Soul Beast attack in the Extreme South? Is it real?"
The Giant Mountain Golden Ape looked at the Turquoise Dragon. He was clinging to the vague information they'd received recently, one of the last things he had left to hold on to.
"Not yet. But we completely wiped out the overseas humans' outpost there. And we found traces of quite a few Soul Beasts, of all different ages, crowded together. We can confirm that a Soul Beast with a cultivation of at least a hundred thousand years is leading them."
The Turquoise Dragon had brought back an ambiguous report. But for the Giant Mountain Golden Ape, it wasn't bad news. At least there was still hope.
"If there really is another continent beyond that icy fog, I hope our fellow Soul Beasts there can come and help us."
Looking at his injured comrades around him, the Giant Mountain Golden Ape spoke in a hoarse voice.
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