Iron-back Centipede

A few days later, the group arrived at the Star Dou Great Forest.

Gazing at the primeval sea of trees before them, which blotted out the sky and stretched into the infinite, even these candidates for Red Cardinal—who had visited this place before for various reasons—could not help but fall into deep contemplation.

This was the cradle of Soul Beasts and the sacred ground where powerful Soul Masters obtained their Soul Rings.

It was also the slaughterhouse where the most Soul Masters across the entire Douluo Continent met their tragic ends.

Zhuqing stared at the familiar silhouette of the forest.

Even though this was not the entrance where she had fled years ago, her mind uncontrollably flashed back to the day she first met Gu Chensha.

And to the words he had once spoken with a coldness that seemed to see through everything.

"The world calls the Star Dou Great Forest vast and boundless, but to the Soul Beasts, it is nothing more than a crowded cage."

"Qing'er, do you know?"

"This complex land, encompassing wetlands, swamps, and the Lake of Life, is only equivalent in size to the Bala Kingdom, yet it must supply the Soul Ring needs for over ninety percent of the 20th-level Soul Grand Masters on the entire continent."

"Can you imagine the cruel slaughter Soul Beasts must endure to survive in such a cramped space?"

"I was once naive."

"When I achieved the Human-faced Spider Emperor form after sixty thousand years of cultivation, I let go of the blood feud from being besieged by my own kind. I went alone to the heart of the forest and proposed to that sovereign that all Soul Beasts should set aside their grievances and unite against the hunting of humans."

"I thought the grand cause of racial survival would always outweigh individual selfish desires."

Gu Chensha's voice carried a self-mocking sneer, like a blade tempered in ice, slicing through the fog of memory.

"But what did I get in return? Ridicule, suspicion, and being cursed as a freak tainted by human intellect."

"They said that the law of the jungle is the law of heaven and earth, and that the weak are meant to be devoured by the strong, even if the devourer is human."

"They would rather slaughter each other than join forces against a common enemy."

"At that moment, I finally understood: they don't not know that humans are hunting them; they simply do not care."

"To a powerful Soul Beast, the death of a hundred weak kin is of no consequence!"

"On the contrary, it reduces competition and allows them to obtain more resources for survival."

"Human hunting is merely helping them cull the waste."

"The so-called grand cause of race has always been nothing more than a shackle used by the strong to coerce the weak."

"Whether human or Soul Beast, there has never been any such thing as a collective."

"The strong are always harvesting the weak, and the weak are always trampling upon one another."

"All the strife, morality, and emotion in this world, when stripped of their ornate cloaks, are essentially just exchanges of survival and profit."

"If that is the case, what does the extinction of Soul Beasts have to do with me? And what does the rise or fall of humanity have to do with me?"

"I once nearly threw away sixty thousand years of cultivation for a hollow, illusory racial cause."

"From this day forward, I live only for myself."

"Remember, Qing'er."

"There is no one in this world worth entrusting your life to, and no emotion can withstand the temptation of profit."

"In this life, only you are your own reliance, and only power is the eternal truth."

"Trust no one but yourself, and rely on no one else!"

When she snapped back to reality, Zhuqing had already followed the group into the dense forest on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The team was led by Lei Xiang, with Li Moyue in the center, and the agility-type Zhuqing bringing up the rear.

Lang Taihui trailed far behind the group.

His figure was hidden within the mottled shadows of the trees, like a silent specter.

This was his habitual teaching method, and also the teaching method of the Martial Soul Hall.

The growth of a Soul Master never comes from preaching, but from tempering in blood and fire.

He kept his aura restrained so perfectly that he would neither scare away nearby Soul Beasts nor fail to detect lethal danger the moment it appeared.

For a Soul Saint like him, hunting a thousand-year Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent would be a trivial task; if not to hone these three disciples, he would never have set foot in this outer woodland.

Yet at this moment, his murky eyes flickered with an imperceptible gloom, locked firmly onto the slender back of the young girl at the end of the line.

The forest was deathly quiet, save for the rustling of feet on fallen leaves and the occasional roar of a Soul Beast in the distance.

According to the reconnaissance intelligence of the Martial Soul Hall, not far ahead lay the fixed activity area of the thousand-year Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.

As the top Soul Master organization on the continent, the Martial Soul Hall knew the distribution and habits of the Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest like the back of their hand.

Soul Beasts of high value, like the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, were specifically marked by scouts to be used for training newcomers.

"Snap!"

A crisp sound exploded in the silent forest, startling several birds into flight.

Zhuqing's thoughts were violently pulled back; she instantly turned to the side, assuming a defensive stance as her soul power surged.

But when she looked up, she saw that Lei Xiang, walking in front, had suddenly stumbled, snapping a dead branch as thick as a bowl.

His entire body stiffened, his face turning deathly pale in an instant.

Zhu Zhuqing frowned slightly.

Given his current state of distraction, unable to even keep his footing steady, could he truly shoulder the responsibilities of an assault-type soul master?

She had never been able to understand it; Lei Xiang's martial soul and soul skills were clearly on the standard path of an assault-type, yet he stubbornly insisted that he was an agility-type.

Back then, because of him, she had even mistakenly assumed Li Moyue was an agility-type as well, never expecting her to be a support-type soul master.

Just then, a foul, fishy wind lunged fiercely from the bushes on the left!

Lei Xiang, standing at the very front, showed no reaction at all.

"Watch out!"

Li Moyue shrieked, a yellow soul ring lighting up around her body.

Her martial soul was released in an instant.

Several dark green ghost vines erupted from the soil, their surfaces covered in dense, fine barbs.

"First Soul Skill, Ghost Vine Entanglement!"

Unlike conventional entanglement attacks, these ghost vines did not lunge at the enemy; instead, they wove together rapidly in front of Lei Xiang, instantly forming a wall of vines half a person's height.

The black shadow slammed heavily into the vine wall, held back for a mere instant.

And it was only an instant!

The tough ghost vines snapped upon impact, and the black shadow broke through the obstruction, lunging straight for Lei Xiang's face.

Only then did Lei Xiang belatedly lift his head, yet he remained frozen in place, as if stunned into stupidity.

A giant centipede, pitch-black all over with three layers of hard armor on its back, lunged out.

A soul power fluctuation of at least eight hundred years of cultivation rippled outward, its sickle-like front legs, gleaming with a cold light, slashing directly toward Lei Xiang's head!

At the critical moment, a black shadow swept past like a ghost.

Zhu Zhuqing rushed out almost entirely on instinct; the results of her days spent running with weighted gear were displayed to the fullest in this moment.

Using her momentum, she dodged the centipede's front legs, tapped her toes lightly against its hard carapace, and flipped through the air.

"Hell Spirit Cat, possess!"

A yellow soul ring lit up beneath her feet, and her second soul ring suddenly flared.

"Second Soul Skill, Hell Hundred Claws!"