Solution

It was well known that after the Soul Beast Clan broke through to the hundred-thousand-year level, they had to undergo a heavenly tribulation. Only by surviving it could they continue cultivating toward greater realms.

However, this so-called Soul Beast Heavenly Tribulation was only called a heavenly tribulation. If it were to be defined precisely, it should be called Heavenly Punishment.

It differed from the heavenly tribulations of other worlds. Though those tribulations looked terrifying, they were actually tests, and overcoming them brought tremendous benefits.

But the Soul Beast Heavenly Tribulation was not a test at all. It had been designed solely to strike Soul Beasts dead.

The reason was simple: the Soul Beast Heavenly Tribulation was a death trap established by the Douluo God Realm for the Soul Beast Clan.

After the Dragon God War, the Five Great God Kings of the Douluo God Realm, seeking to prevent the beast race from growing powerful again and taking revenge on the God Realm, used the God Realm Hub to alter the laws of heaven and earth on Douluo Planet, adding the heavenly tribulation mechanism for the Soul Beast Clan.

This so-called heavenly tribulation possessed terrifying power and could easily kill any Soul Beast undergoing it.

The first hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation alone had claimed countless Soul Beasts, leaving those who remained too frightened to even contemplate it.

Not to mention the two-hundred-thousand-year tribulation, the three-hundred-thousand-year tribulation, and so on. Each was more outrageous than the last, and the further one went, the harder they became to survive.

Existences such as Di Tian and the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King were already inconceivable.

Yet even they could not survive the tenth heavenly tribulation—the million-year heavenly tribulation. No Soul Beast could possibly overcome it.

Therefore, it was impossible for Soul Beasts to become gods. Their path was a dead end.

Worse still, even if Soul Beasts chose not to cultivate and merely wished to survive in obscurity, humans would not spare them.

Humans required Spirit Rings to break through, and Soul Masters could not condense Spirit Rings themselves. They could only obtain them by hunting Soul Beasts.

Thus, the Soul Beasts' predicament was this: cultivation meant facing heavenly tribulations, while refusing to cultivate left them weak, and weakness made them even more likely to be hunted by Soul Masters.

The fact that Soul Masters had to hunt Soul Beasts to break through was likewise caused by the Five Great God Kings altering the laws of heaven and earth through the God Realm Hub.

Yet although this alteration appeared to target only the Soul Beast Clan, Soul Masters had also been affected.

The reason was that this was a real world. The Soul Beasts of Douluo Planet were not game monsters that could respawn after being killed. Once dead, they were truly dead.

Moreover, Soul Beasts generally grew very slowly, taking centuries, millennia, or even tens of thousands of years. Although a Soul Beast's so-called age was not the time it had truly lived, it still revealed something.

By comparison, human Soul Masters needed only a few decades to grow from ordinary people incapable of even trussing a chicken into Title Douluo whom even Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts dared not provoke.

But for Soul Masters to grow, they needed to hunt Soul Beasts. For one Soul Master to reach the Title Douluo level, they had to kill at least nine Soul Beasts, not to mention special cases such as Twin Martial Souls and things like Spirit Bones.

At this rate, the Soul Beast Clan would sooner or later be hunted to extinction by Soul Masters. Once Soul Beasts were gone, Soul Masters would also completely vanish into the river of history, and humanity would return to being ordinary.

Di Tian and Gu Yuena understood these matters very clearly, because both dragons had originally come from the God Realm.

Di Tian was the son of the Dark Dragon King, one of the Nine Sons of the Dragon God, while Gu Yuena was half of the Dragon God's body. Their perspectives had long surpassed those of ordinary Soul Beasts and Soul Masters.

Gu Yuena's breathing quickened as she said, "Dragon Venerable, do you truly have a way to ensure my clan no longer suffers from natural disasters and human calamities?"

The natural disaster was the Soul Beast Heavenly Tribulation, while the human calamity was the hunting of human Soul Masters.

For hundreds of thousands of years, Gu Yuena had also been searching for a way to lead her people out of their plight, but she had never found a method to break this deadlock.

Ao Zhan nodded. "Naturally, no such method can be found on Douluo Planet as it is now. Therefore, we must seek a way beyond this world—a way to negate this world. For example, this—Alien Energy!"

A stream of Alien Energy appeared in his hand, and the peculiar power made Gu Yuena turn her gaze toward it.

"The origin of Alien Energy lies in my former world. The people there all grew stronger through Alien Energy, and cultivating it requires neither heavenly treasures nor spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nor things such as Innate Soul Power or natural aptitude. It depends on only one thing: conviction!"

"The stronger one's conviction, the stronger one's Alien Energy can become! It could be said that cultivating Alien Energy is cultivating the heart. No one lacks conviction, which means everyone can cultivate Alien Energy. Soul Masters would not even need Spirit Rings to break through; they would only need to temper their convictions, because others besides me have accomplished this."

Ao Zhan's words made Golden Crocodile and the others look toward Qian Renxue, because Qian Renxue no longer needed Spirit Rings to break through realms either. In other words, if Alien Energy could be widely promoted, Soul Beasts would no longer be something humans had to hunt.

"Wait, Xiao Zhan. Your idea is good, but there is still a problem."

After calmly considering it for a moment, Golden Crocodile immediately said, "Spirit Bones! If Alien Energy becomes widespread, Soul Masters indeed will not need Spirit Rings to break through, but they can still enhance their combat strength by attaching Spirit Bones. Soul Masters will not stop hunting Soul Beasts."

As he spoke, Golden Crocodile looked at his hands and legs.

As the Second Worship of Spirit Hall and a level ninety-eight Title Douluo, Golden Crocodile naturally possessed Spirit Bones.

Setting aside anything else, his ninth Spirit Ring was a hundred-thousand-year one, meaning he possessed at least one hundred-thousand-year Spirit Bone.

He naturally knew how great a boost Spirit Bones could give Soul Masters. Because of this, he could better imagine that even if Soul Masters no longer needed Soul Beast Spirit Rings to break through, their greed for Spirit Bones would never stop them from hunting Soul Beasts.

Golden Crocodile's words were like a basin of cold water poured over the excited Gu Yuena and Di Tian.

That was right. As long as this damned Spirit Bone mechanism remained, Soul Masters would still hunt Soul Beasts.

Ao Zhan smiled faintly. "Grandpa Golden Crocodile, your concern is not without reason. Indeed, Soul Masters who cultivate Alien Energy can still attach Spirit Bones, but do not forget the true nature of Spirit Bones."

"Other than Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, which are guaranteed to produce Spirit Bones, Soul Beasts at the thousand-year and ten-thousand-year levels can only produce Spirit Bones if they harbor immense resentment before death. In other words, Spirit Bones are, at their core, solid energy condensed from a Soul Beast's resentment."

"Alien Energy can be cultivated not only by humans, but by Soul Beasts as well, because every living creature possesses conviction. The conviction to survive, the conviction to seek revenge—both will do."

"But this raises a question. When a Soul Beast that cultivated Alien Energy dies, and its immense resentment condenses into a Spirit Bone that is then absorbed into a Soul Master's body, what will happen?"

Golden Crocodile and the others were no fools. Their expressions all changed.

"Could it be...?"

"That's right." Mockery flickered in Ao Zhan's eyes. "Once it is absorbed, it will no longer be assistance. It will be deadweight—and a ticking time bomb!"