World Situation

"So, Dad, this really isn't a problem?"

"What's the big deal? No matter what you evolve into, Iyuda, you're still my daughter. That will never change. Look at your big brother. He married the second daughter of an old friend of mine. Did I throw him out of the family? Of course not."

Rus Wang was very lenient with his children. Though he was the king of the Elves and Soul Beasts, at heart he was still an ordinary human soul—a dragon who wanted a peaceful, uneventful life, with the occasional bit of excitement.

There were two reasons he had chosen to become king. The first was the Silver Dragon King's machinations during Legend of the Dragon King. On top of that, Di Tian and the other Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts kept getting swindled. They'd even agree to bets with weaklings, despite being so much stronger. It was painful to watch.

The second reason was that in his previous life, he'd been an ordinary office worker who'd achieved nothing because he knew he wasn't capable of more. In this life, he had such a good foundation as Rus Wang, a Seer Elf and True Dragon of the Dragon Race, as well as the Elves, a race he'd had the system create. The system had given him so many advantages. If he still didn't step forward and become king of the Zheer Continent, he'd be letting both himself and the system down.

"Besides, among your siblings, you're the one who reached an eighty-thousand-year cultivation level at just over two hundred years old. I'm the one who should be proud, daughter."

Rus Wang pointed at Iyuda.

"Now that you've passed fifty thousand years, it's time to fulfill my promise and take you across the strait to the world on the other side of the Ice and Snow Continent. We won't fly there this time. We'll go another way. But first, let me catch my breath. I need to go back and rest for a while."

"Mhm!"

Iyuda nodded.

Dragon Valley Continent—Star Luo Empire Occupied Territory, Ao'en City, capital of the frontier region.

"What! You're designating that forest as unclaimed territory? Do you even know what you're saying?"

Duke Libai grabbed the imperial general by the collar and roared at him, his voice full of incomprehensible fury. The general only met his gaze with icy indifference.

"Duke Libai, don't let your personal feelings interfere with strategic decisions that concern the fate of the Empire. I know Prince Jinhu has shown us both favor, but that doesn't give you the right to come here as a duke and privately send the Empire's Twelfth Army into that forest to die."

"His Majesty's brother, Prince Jinhu Dai Zuoheng, died at the hands of Soul Beasts. Is he really so indifferent?"

Duke Libai's voice was verging on hysterical.

"Duke Libai! You must not question His Majesty's decisions. Let me put it this way: what matters more, keeping our people away from the iron heel of the Sun Moon Empire, or killing a Soul Beast that could only be challenged if a level-ninety-nine Peerless Douluo showed up? Do you think His Majesty isn't furious? But the Empire's fate is hanging by a thread. We can't afford any more devastating losses. The Soul Hunting Squad has already made this mistake once. Don't make it again."

The imperial general pried Duke Libai's hands off his collar, his voice carrying a trace of anger at the duke's actions.

More than a thousand members of the Soul Hunting Squad had been involved. The sudden appearance of a six-hundred-thousand-year-old water-type dragon had already claimed the life of a prince. Some Soul Douluos had suffered brain damage that would stay with them for life, while most of the Soul Saints had been left brain-dead. Only the Titled Douluos were unharmed. Many of those thousand people could have become pillars of the Star Luo Empire. Instead, they'd died because a six-hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beast had appeared during this Soul Hunting Operation conducted in cooperation with the Spirit Pagoda.

The relationship between humans and Soul Beasts had never changed. Any Soul Hunting Squad that ventured deep into Soul Beast territory had to be prepared to die. What's more, the prince had helped the Empire maintain good relations with the Spirit Pagoda. Every year, more than ten thousand Soul Beasts were taken without restraint from all over the Star Luo Continent and brought back to the Douluo Continent to be auctioned off. The powerful Soul Beasts on this continent should have been provoked long ago.

Lingbing Douluo had wanted humans and Soul Beasts to coexist peacefully. More than three hundred years after she had ascended to the Divine Realm, the Spirit Pagoda had also maintained friendly relations with the higher-ups, partly out of deference to Di Tian and the other Soul Beasts over five hundred thousand years old. It had also imposed quotas on the hunting of Soul Rings and the acquisition of Soul Spirits from the Soul Beasts of the Star Dou Forest.

But even if Soul Masters were selected from a population of hundreds of millions, there would still be at least a million of them. How could they possibly limit the numbers just by setting quotas?

"Now, calm down. The Empire's goal is to occupy all the areas inhabited by humans on the Star Luo Continent—not to completely antagonize the Soul Beast forces on this continent just yet!"

"Libai Douluo."

Suddenly, the imperial general's command room was violently thrown open again, and several people dressed in black barged in.

"You're suspected of undermining the Empire's military forces. Come with us."

As the emperor's men escorted Libai Douluo away, the operation to destroy Dragon Valley Forest came to an abrupt end. The Thunder Profound Dragon Beast, which had been lying in wait on the outskirts of Dragon Valley Forest, saw the private army that had been camped there withdraw. It let out a breath and spoke into the Soul Communication Device. "Monkey, the humans have pulled out."

"Roger. Canceling the launch of the Fixed Soul Cannon Shells."

The death of a prince had stirred up a brief commotion among the Star Luo Empire's upper ranks. The news also reached the senior officials of Shrek Academy and the Spirit Pagoda.

"A six-hundred-thousand-year-old water-type dragon Soul Beast?"

A councilor stationed in the Dou Ling Empire, who had graduated from Shrek Academy, looked surprised as he read the report.

When the Spirit Pagoda was first established, the Soul Beasts and humans held negotiations. Under the agreement, the Spirit Masters the Spirit Pagoda trained in the future would be called Spirit Transmitters, while the three great empires would each send representatives from different sects and academies to serve on the Spirit Pagoda's Council. Each country had to send at least nine Soul Masters whose cultivation levels were at least Soul Douluo, and ensure that at least three councilors remained stationed at the Spirit Pagoda's Council in Shrek City.

Besides these twenty-seven councilors, Shrek Academy sent nine of its own to serve on the Council. In effect, it participated in the Spirit Pagoda's development as if it were a country. All thirty-six councilors would oversee the Spirit Pagoda's operations and development, and its headquarters would remain in Shrek City. (Huo Yuhao, founder of Soul Spirits, was nominated as the thirty-seventh councilor and also a lifetime councilor, but unfortunately, he was gone.)

"Yes."

"That's strange. The strongest Soul Beast on the Tianhun Continent is only three hundred and eighty thousand years old, and the strongest in the Star Dou Forest is a four-hundred-and-twenty-thousand-year-old ape. It's been like this for nearly three hundred years. How did such a powerful Soul Beast suddenly appear?"

The councilor sent by Shrek Academy was also puzzled.

"Should we send someone to ask the Star Dou Forest?"

"No. If those Ferocious Beasts that like to lurk in the forest learn there are so many other places where Soul Beasts live, won't they claim all those forests for themselves? Keep this quiet."

The leader of Shrek Academy's nine representatives vetoed the idea.

"Also, there's no way this dragon just appeared out of nowhere. Soul Tools can now detect Di Tian's energy signature, so in theory, they should have been able to find it. This suggests there may be another continent. We've already confirmed the existence of two continents to the east of the Douluo Continent. And since the Sun Moon Continent collided with the old Douluo Continent to form today's Douluo Continent, there may be another unknown continent to the west. The Sun Moon Empire hasn't made a peep in the past few years. They're definitely up to something."

"Yes."