Just as human joys and sorrows were not shared, Di Tian was still agonizing over whether he should send a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast disguised as a Star Luo person to travel with their ships to the world beyond Douluo Continent and search for the surviving True Dragon species. He had been arguing with himself for another ten years. (At this time: 350 years after Lingbing Douluo ascended to godhood; 270 years after Levant.)
Meanwhile, the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts on Zheer Continent were holding a party to celebrate Sun-Passing Ginkgo Yin Ji successfully giving birth to offspring. Nineteen years ago, the relocation plan Rus Wang had carried out had successfully transplanted Yin Ji's body to the core area of Nanshan Rainforest on Zheer Continent.
Nourished by the fertile soil in the core area of Nanshan Rainforest, Yin Ji quickly began cultivating at a tremendous pace, just as Thalassa and the others had when they first arrived on Folded Ear Continent. In the first decade or so, her cultivation skyrocketed, and with Rus Wang's help, she survived the Heavenly Tribulation and broke through to four hundred thousand years.
After the tribulation, Yin Ji scattered ten ginkgo seeds that had germinated on her body into the ground a hundred meters around her. After five full years of careful tending, two of them successfully became plant Soul Beasts this year: one Xiongxin and one Cixin.
For Yin Ji, who had lost her thousand-year-old fellow Sun-Passing Ginkgo Xiongxin, this was the greatest surprise. From now on, she would no longer be the only one of her kind in Dragon Valley Forest. Her species could finally multiply and spread! As a plant Soul Beast, her most primal desire—to reproduce—had finally been fulfilled this year, after ten thousand years of torment.
At Rus Wang's suburban manor in Ravenna, the new city of the Elf Kingdom, a party was underway. Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts from all across Dragon Valley Forest and Nanshan Rainforest had gathered and taken human form. Brachiosaurus meat was served in abundance, and spices of every kind were used without restraint. The vegetarian dishes were just as extravagant. The Soul Beasts didn't dare gather herbs from the core area of Nanshan Rainforest, but the nourishing medicinal herbs they were eating this time were common in the Mixed Circle. No matter how you compared them, they were still better than what Dragon Valley Forest had to offer, and the Soul Beasts devoured them enthusiastically.
"Zheer Continent really knows how to treat us."
Since he still had to guard Dragon Valley Rainforest, Giant Mountain Golden Ape didn't live here permanently. But now, taking advantage of the party for Yin Ji's children, he had followed the spatial teleportation array Rus Wang activated and made a rare trip to Zheer Continent.
He held banana wine brewed from Nanshan Rainforest bananas and ate Brachiosaurus meat, stuffing his face and swigging wine without a care for appearances. It was only after arriving on Zheer Continent that he realized how wonderful this elven continent was. What kind of miserable life had they been living in Dragon Valley Forest? They had to watch out for humans, and they could only stare longingly at the few nourishing herbs in the forest—they couldn't even eat them.
"Your child?"
At the center of the party, Yin Ji was holding a young dragon as she spoke with Ximing.
"Yes, godmother. This is my third litter. Unfortunately, unlike the first two, this time she doesn't resemble her father, Rus, at all. I suppose his genes won't show until she evolves."
Rus Wang silently sneezed.
"A crystallization of Light and Ultimate Water. This child has inherited both perfectly. Her future is boundless."
Yin Ji watched as the young dragon in her arms suddenly began kicking and squirming, then looked in a certain direction. The guests at Yin Ji's children's birthday party weren't only Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts; the Elf Soul Douluos had also been invited. (At present, only Elena among the Elves was a Titled Douluo. Most Elves felt they had lived long enough after three hundred years and generally chose not to pursue further breakthroughs. Rus Wang wasn't forcing the Elves to become Titled Douluos either. They were preparing for the system barrier's disappearance in 1730 years.)
Several elven children were looking at the young dragon in Yin Ji's arms.
"Her friends?"
"Yes. They grew up together. She's the child of Rus and one of our nine sisters. Like the Elves, her intelligence began to develop at the age of six."
"It's hard to imagine that a Soul Beast could develop intelligence so quickly. But this is a good thing. Growing up alongside elven children will strengthen the bond between Soul Beasts and Elves."
Yin Ji set the young dragon down and said to her, "Go play with your friends, child."
While the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were gathered on Zheer Continent for their party, a carefully planned operation to isolate and capture one of them had to be called off because the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts of Dragon Valley Forest were all absent.
"Where have all the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts gone?"
After nearly nineteen years of instruction and training from the Nation-Protecting Douluo, the 149-year-old Count Libai had reached level 98. His senior sister, Dai Ruoheng, who was 39, had also cultivated at a terrifying pace and reached level 93.
But Dai Ruoheng had now hit an obstacle that was holding back her cultivation. The Soul Ring provided by her third Soul Spirit was a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, not a hundred-thousand-year one. Although she had spent the past few years killing Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts to raise her Soul Spirit's age to ninety thousand years, the gap between the Soul Ring's age and her cultivation was still hindering her progress.
On top of that, the life force provided by Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts was far from ideal, and Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Spirits and Soul Rings were rare to begin with. Even though Dai Ruoheng's father was Zhang Cheng, a Limit Douluo of the Star Luo Empire, the empire didn't have enough Soul Beast resources to help her Soul Spirit increase its age.
That made killing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast—or one close to a hundred thousand years—an urgent priority. Of course, if they could, the former was undoubtedly the better choice.
However, there was a six-hundred-thousand-year-old dragon guarding the Star Luo Great Forest. As someone who had experienced it firsthand, Count Libai didn't dare venture too deep. Instead, he planned to try another approach: catching one alone.
But who could have guessed that once Kallen and the Imperial Grandson's Twelfth Army had set up an ambush on the outskirts of Dragon Valley Forest, waiting for Count Libai to lure out a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast for Dai Ruoheng to kill, the core area of Dragon Valley Forest would remain completely silent? There wasn't the slightest sign of movement.
The Star Luo Empire could no longer afford to lose a level-98 candidate who might break through to become a level-99 Limit Douluo. Count Libai couldn't sense any Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts and didn't dare take any chances, so he grabbed an eighty-thousand-year-old lizard he had been observing for months and charged out of Dragon Valley Forest.
"Were there no Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts?"
Kallen asked his old friend.
"Don't even ask. There wasn't even a Sub-Dragon. No idea where they've gone. I couldn't go any deeper, so I caught this lizard and came back."
In those nineteen years, Rus Wang had obviously done more than just move Sun-Passing Ginkgo to Zheer Continent. The Soul Power consumed by the spatial teleportation was indeed enormous for Rus Wang, but fortunately, none of the groups in Dragon Valley Forest—the Sub-Dragons or the True Dragons—numbered more than three hundred. (In the wild, the minimum population needed for a species to reproduce is fifty.)
So long ago, Rus Wang had already relocated the True Dragon and Sub-Dragon populations of Dragon Valley Forest, as well as every group that had ever produced a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, to the Nanshan Rainforest and coniferous forests of Zheer Continent. They were now living the good life.
After Dai Ruoheng unleashed her eighth Soul Skill, White Tiger Destruction Kill, the ambush site filled with the thick stench of blood.
As Dai Ruoheng sat on the ground, the eighth and ninth of the nine Soul Rings that appeared behind her changed the most dramatically after she killed the eighty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast. The rings, originally black with a hint of red, gradually shifted from mostly black to red.
As a Soul Power fluctuation that shook the earth spread out, Dai Ruoheng's Soul Ring Configuration changed from three purple and six black rings to three purple, four black, and two red. Her future as a Limit Douluo was now practically there for all to see.
"Congratulations, Senior Sister. You have two hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings now. The empire will be counting on you to hold up its strength in the future."
"What are you talking about, junior brother? I still want a few more years to enjoy myself."
Dai Ruoheng held the right-leg Spirit Bone from the eighty-thousand-year-old lizard and handed it to the Imperial Grandson beside her. Then she shot an annoyed look at Count Libai and General Kallen, who was grinning nearby.
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