The 340th year since Lingbing Douluo's ascension, the 260th year of Levant
Nine years had passed since the new emperor ascended the throne after the Star Luo Empire changed its calendar. Like the previous emperor, he had inherited the throne at over a hundred years old. A Titled Douluo who had been a crown prince, he now faced the same problem as his predecessor: heirs.
None of the new emperor's children had become Titled Douluo, and most had died of old age. Fortunately, among the Imperial Grandson's generation, one was already forty-eight years old and an 88th-level Soul Douluo. With a pill, he could reach Titled Douluo strength, so he had been lucky enough to become the Imperial Grandson.
The new emperor had sent him to Star Luo Continent to handle administration in General Kater's military district. Anyone could see that the new emperor intended to pair the Imperial Grandson with General Kallen as the next generation of the empire's leadership.
One of his children, who had high Innate Soul Power, had also been assigned to the Star Luo Empire, where he could build ties with a Limit Douluo and a promising candidate to become one.
"Uh, great-grandma?"
Dai Xiuyuan, a great-grandson with level-eight Innate Soul Power who was now level forty, looked at the young woman before him. After a moment's thought, he spoke.
"That title sounds weird to me. But never mind. At least you're the first to call me that. Unlike your other brothers and sisters, who can't stop flattering me."
Dai Ruoheng, an 84th-level Soul Douluo who was one year shy of thirty, rubbed her chin, looking uncomfortable.
Dai Ruoheng had the golden hair characteristic of the Dai Family. But unlike most of its members, who were polished on the outside and rotten within, she had grown up alongside Nation-Protecting Douluo Zhang Cheng and was, in truth, a member of the Zhang Family.
If the new emperor sent her someone who was a worthless, hypocritical coward, she would kick them right back.
Besides, the emperor had restored her to the family register, making her a member of the Star Luo Imperial Family. Her seniority was on par with the new emperor's. Apart from the enemy, the new emperor, and her adoptive father, who in the country would dare talk back to her?
"Anyway, has your Soul Spirit become unable to provide you with another Soul Spirit?"
"Yes."
Dai Xiuyuan nodded. The Soul Beast he had chosen back then had been a thousand years old. Since his spiritual power was high, he had bought and killed several foreign Soul Beasts, raising its age to a thousand years.
"Good. You've also reached the Spirit Sea Realm. Let's go hunt a new thousand-year Soul Beast. I'll ask Count Libai to come along, too. With him and me protecting you, we should be safer near the edge of the Mixed Circle in Star Dou Forest."
These days, people had to report to the Soul Beasts before entering Star Dou Forest. It wasn't as convenient as it had been before Lingbing Douluo appeared, but it wasn't all that dangerous, either. Still, Dai Ruoheng didn't like it. You had to consider the Soul Beasts' feelings when choosing a Soul Spirit. How had Lingbing Douluo even come up with that? And the Soul Spirit's age still increased by killing Soul Beasts. It seemed only slightly different from the old way of killing Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings. Not much had changed; either way, Soul Beasts had to die.
When Dai Ruoheng brought Dai Xiuyuan to the Edge Zone of Star Dou Forest, they found the Spirit Pagoda building rising from the ground there. Count Libai had been waiting inside for some time.
"Junior, how are the arrangements going?"
Though Dai Ruoheng was much younger than Count Libai, she had reached Soul Douluo before thirty and had extraordinary talent. She had also been at Zhang Cheng's side since childhood, making Count Libai, her junior, someone who could only look up to her.
Count Libai and Kallen were the next generation who would carry on the empire, while Dai Ruoheng was the empire's more distant future.
"Everything's taken care of."
Count Libai spoke to his own world.
"Good. Let's take the Crown Prince's little prince to Star Dou Forest."
Dai Ruoheng nodded. Back when she'd wanted her third Soul Spirit to be an eighty-thousand-year Soul Beast, she'd spent five years arguing over it, starting when she was level seventy-five and finally settling things the year before last. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been only level eighty-two by now.
You had to hand it to the people from Shrek Academy. They loved tripping up talented people who hadn't made it at Shrek Academy.
"Mm. Hey, guide from the Spirit Pagoda over there, we're ready to go."
Zi JI was one of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts and one of the few pure-blooded True Dragons. She possessed Yin Water attributes and a powerful devouring ability. Also known as the Demon Queen, Zi JI was as renowned as the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, Di Tian, the leader of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts. Together, they were known as the two Dragon Kings of the Ferocious Beasts.
But today, as she was arranging for the Spirit Pagoda's Soul Hunting Squad to choose Soul Beasts nearing the end of their lives and turn them into Soul Spirits, a peculiar aura caught her attention.
The aura of pure-blooded True Dragons?! Zi JI was astonished. And there wasn't just one—there were so many!
"Scarlet King, keep an eye on the Spirit Pagoda's people for me. I have something important to report to Di Tian."
Before long, Count Libai, Dai Ruoheng, Dai Xiuyuan, and the Star Luo Imperial Family's guards found their path blocked by three of Star Dou Forest's Ten Great Ferocious Beasts.
Di Tian pulled Count Libai aside to inspect him. Under the gaze of Di Tian, who was 890,000 years old, Count Libai, a level-96 Titled Douluo, didn't dare make a sound. He stood rooted to the spot like a statue.
"Indeed. There's more than one True Dragon's scent."
After confirming that Zi JI had been right, Di Tian questioned Count Libai.
"Human, tell me the truth about your experiences. Don't think I don't know—you've killed hundreds of Soul Beasts, if not a thousand."
What could Count Libai do? He might as well make up a somewhat plausible story.
After hearing Count Libai's account of exploring Soul Beast forests on another continent and encountering a six-hundred-thousand-year-old Water-attribute True Dragon, whose claws had killed most of the expedition team, Di Tian fell into deep thought. Should he send a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast to make contact with the other side? But would it be inappropriate to send a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast into an unfamiliar place?
What if that hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast did too good a job and sparked their interest? What if they came here? If they discovered that he was conducting diplomacy with humans, would they think he was a traitor to the Soul Beasts and berate him for clinging to the unrealistic idea of coexistence with humanity?
But setting those possibilities aside, what if things went really well? That hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast might decide that working with them was better than maintaining superficial peace with humans and killing Soul Beasts every year to appease them. What if it chose to join their side? Wouldn't he just be handing them one of his own?
Should he tell their lord about it? But in the lord's tens of thousands of years of recovery, she had never mentioned the Dragon Race or Beast Race on other continents. Was Star Dou Forest on Douluo Continent more important, with nothing useful over there? But a six-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast had appeared there, along with more than a dozen Soul Beasts over a hundred thousand years old. Surely there had to be a place like Star Dou Forest there.
Could the lord really be all-knowing and all-powerful? No, that couldn't be right... Anyway, the information carried by these humans had sent Di Tian's whole dragon brain into a tailspin.
"Beast King?"
It was only when Bi Ji, unable to watch any longer, nudged him that Di Tian finally came back to his senses.
He looked at the five humans and waved a hand. Then, with a sigh, he said, "Go. I was only interested in certain auras on you. Now that I've confirmed what they are, you may leave."
"Beast King, what's wrong?"
"That human... Zi JI was right. There are a full twelve kinds of True Dragons, mixed in with other hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts, and they're on another continent."
Di Tian fell silent for a moment before speaking.
"Twelve kinds of True Dragons?" Bi Ji was astonished. There were so many True Dragons in the world beyond Star Dou Forest.
"Yes. Apart from the Lightning Tyrannosaurus, there are eleven unknown kinds of True Dragons. The clearly Water-attribute, six-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast may well have the bloodline of the Water Dragon King."
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