The campfire soon blazed to life.
Meat sizzled on the grill as fat dripped into the flames. The rich aroma of roasting meat quickly filled the air.
Su Hui sat beside the fire and bit into a piece of meat, crisp on the outside and tender within.
As he chewed, he focused his mind and studied the changes in his Martial Souls and body.
He could say with complete certainty that he possessed Twin Martial Souls.
First Martial Soul: Anywhere Door.
Second Martial Soul: Silver Dragon King.
Besides that, he also had an embryonic divine weapon bound to his soul, one that still had room to grow: the Silver Dragon Spear.
The Silver Dragon King Martial Soul and the Silver Dragon Spear were too closely connected.
With his current Soul Power Level, he couldn't yet uncover much about them.
His attention soon turned to his First Martial Soul, the Anywhere Door.
His journey through time and space had completely transformed it.
As he focused and sensed its presence, the two core abilities of his Martial Soul became clear in his mind.
Su Hui suddenly understood. "So this is what my Anywhere Door Martial Soul can really do."
This was the first time he had truly understood his Martial Soul.
The Anywhere Door Martial Soul possessed two innate abilities.
The first ability: Time Anywhere Door.
Just as it had this time, it could travel to a point two thousand years in the future.
"The Time Anywhere Door must require specific conditions to activate."
Su Hui pondered.
The Anywhere Door seemed to have absorbed a Soul Ring in some special way, which had unlocked the Time Anywhere Door.
"Could it be connected to acquiring Soul Rings?"
It had first activated when he was absorbing a Soul Ring.
But the Hundred-Year Soul Ring absorbed by the Anywhere Door had already disappeared.
That meant the Anywhere Door probably couldn't acquire Soul Rings like a normal Martial Soul.
"Does the Anywhere Door treat Soul Rings as fuel to start up?"
That was all he could guess about the Time Anywhere Door's innate ability.
He would have to wait until the future to test it further.
Su Hui swallowed his mouthful of meat and continued sensing the second ability of his Martial Soul.
The second ability: Space Anywhere Door.
It worked exactly like the Anywhere Door he knew from Doraemon.
The moment he opened the door, all he had to do was picture his destination, and it would create a spatial passage leading there.
But for now, the ability came with a major limitation.
Its cooldown!
"Right now, every time I use the Space Anywhere Door, I have to wait a full year before I can use it again."
"That cooldown is far too long. I can't use it as a quick way to get around like Doraemon does."
It was impossible not to feel disappointed.
Who wouldn't want an Anywhere Door with no restrictions, one that could take them anywhere they wanted, just like Doraemon's?
But a scorching light still burned in Su Hui's eyes.
The limitation was significant, but it couldn't hide how powerful this innate ability was.
He already had some initial ideas about how to use it.
With his hunger and thirst sated, Su Hui used his control over fire to clear the fallen branches and weeds around him.
Then he put together a simple shelter.
Inside it, his thoughts returned to the Anywhere Door Martial Soul.
He had already sketched out a framework for using the Space Anywhere Door.
"Space Anywhere Door, one-year cooldown. I can only use it once for now."
"I have to make this one chance count and clear the widest possible path for my growth."
"There only seem to be a few places across the entire Douluo Continent worth spending this chance on."
His first choice: the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye.
The value of this treasure land was beyond question.
Even in the original Douluo Continent series, the Immortal Herbs at the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye had appeared throughout all four books.
"One of the top Immortal Herb havens on the Douluo Continent. Every Immortal Herb there can change a Soul Master's talent and fate."
"The only problem is that this place is currently the private property of Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo."
"Dugu Bo, a Titled Douluo with the title of Poison. His mastery of poison makes him a force across the continent, and every faction has to fear him."
"A Titled Douluo could crush me right now as easily as an ant."
It was a treasure land, but he needed to stay alive to take anything from it.
His second choice: Slaughter City.
It was the place one had to visit before inheriting the Asura God's legacy.
If he made it through Hell Road, he could obtain the Slaughter Domain, one of the top Domains on the Douluo Continent.
He might even catch the Asura God's eye and receive the Asura God Trial.
"But I'm not even at Soul Power Level 30 yet. If I go in, I'll just be serving myself up to the outlaws inside. I wouldn't even make it through the first round."
"This option is out."
Su Hui was eager to grow stronger, but he wasn't a fool.
His third choice: the Upper Three Sects, the imperial families of the two great empires, and the treasury of Spirit Hall."
Any one of those factions had a treasury filled with countless rare treasures, including exceptionally rare Soul Bones.
Soul Bones were priceless throughout the continent.
Even a low-age Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone could spark a desperate scramble among Soul Masters.
But those treasuries would surely be guarded by heavily armed troops.
Even if he got inside with the Anywhere Door, he'd probably be discovered.
Of course, most importantly, he didn't really need what was in those treasuries.
Su Hui shook his head. He could rule out this option, too.
His fourth choice: the Star Dou Great Forest's core, Lake of Life.
Di Tian and the other Ferocious Beasts lived there, and the Silver Dragon King slept beneath the lake.
The key was that the Gold of Life was beside the Silver Dragon King.
It was a treasure that carried the source of life.
Even a piece the size of a fingernail could reshape a body and sustain its life.
But the problem was...
"The Silver Dragon Spear and Silver Dragon King Martial Soul I have both came from the Silver Dragon King in the future."
"No one knows whether the Silver Dragon King of this era will accept this bond when she sees me, or mistake me for a thief and slap me into ash."
And with those Ferocious Beasts there, whether Su Hui could survive until the Silver Dragon King woke up was anyone's guess.
"I can't afford that risk."
His fifth choice: Sea God Island.
It was where the Sea God Inheritance lay, one of the most orthodox Godhood Inheritances on the Douluo Continent.
But to begin the Sea God Trial, he first needed to obtain the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud.
He also needed the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud to recognize him and demonstrate enough potential to become a god.
"I don't have the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, and my Soul Power Level isn't high enough. Even if I went to Sea God Island, I wouldn't get any of the core benefits."
"This option will have to wait, too."
Other than these places, nowhere else held quite so much value.
The Sun Moon Continent wasn't strong enough yet, so there was no reason to go there.
Su Hui ran through the five options in his mind, tapping his fingers lightly against the ground.
After weighing everything, the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye, despite being guarded by a Titled Douluo, seemed the most suitable.
"Dugu Bo probably isn't at the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye all the time."
Su Hui remembered that, in the original story, Dugu Bo was close to Prince Xue Xing of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Sometimes, he would appear in Heaven Dou City.
"As long as he's not there, the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye is an unguarded treasury."
"There's definitely some gambling involved, but the rewards are worth the risk."
"Even if I do run into Dugu Bo, I still have a chance to escape immediately using the Anywhere Door."
Su Hui considered it.
The Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye lay in Sunset Forest, a thousand li away from here.
"Even a Titled Douluo can't cross thousands of li to catch me, no matter how strong he is."
After weighing the pros and cons, Su Hui settled on a plan.
"I'll rest up and make every preparation. I'll set out tomorrow at noon."
"Before then, I have to thoroughly study the Compendium of Immortal Herbs and the Grand Canon of Poisonous Herb Identification from two thousand years in the future."
Immortal Herbs and poisonous plants grew side by side at the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye.
If he mistook a poisonous plant for an Immortal Herb and swallowed it, he'd die on the spot without even a chance to regret it.
Some Immortal Herbs also had to be harvested in specific ways.
Night fell over the forest.
Inside the shelter, Su Hui took books out of his Storage Soul Tool.
He studied them word by word, committing the appearance, medicinal properties, and consumption warnings of every Immortal Herb to memory, along with the traits of all the poisonous plants.
He checked and rechecked, not daring to miss a single detail.
At noon the next day, the sun blazed overhead.
Su Hui took out the coarse hemp cloth he'd prepared and wrapped himself tightly from head to toe, leaving only his eyes and nostrils exposed.
He ground up the leaves and branches of several intensely pungent plants, then spread their juices evenly across the cloth covering his body.
The plants' smell could completely mask his own scent.
Even if he ran right into Dugu Bo, the man wouldn't be able to recognize him.
At least a Titled Douluo wouldn't remember him and hunt him across the entire continent.
Once all his preparations were complete, Su Hui took a deep breath and focused his mind.
A pink Anywhere Door slowly took shape in front of him.
He gripped the cold doorknob and pictured the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye.
"Please, Dugu Bo, don't be there."
He prayed as he slowly turned the handle and pulled open the door.
"!!!"
An overpowering fragrance of medicinal herbs rushed through the crack in the door.
Su Hui's eyes widened.
The world beyond the door was like a fairyland!
Exotic flowers and rare herbs of every color grew across the land, and the spiritual energy was so dense it seemed ready to condense into mist.
Not far away, a spring split cleanly into red and blue halves.
One side burned like molten lava; the other was frozen like an endless winter. It was the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye itself.
"That's it! This is the place!"
Su Hui's heart raced with excitement.
But he stayed rational and didn't step through the doorway.
Standing where he was, he gathered Soul Power and shouted into the doorway, making his voice carry. "Dugu Bo!"
"Dugu Bo! Are you there?"
"Dugu Bo! Come out and see me!"
"Dugu Bo! You old geezer, you've flown off!"
His shouts faded.
He held his breath and kept his fingers hooked around the doorknob, ready to shut the door and escape at any moment.
Several minutes passed.
There was no reply from inside.
Nor did any Soul Power fluctuations come through.
Su Hui let out a breath of relief.
He'd already insulted and provoked Dugu Bo this much, and the man still hadn't shown himself.
"Looks like he really isn't here?"
Mustering his courage, Su Hui stepped through the Anywhere Door.
Space rippled faintly.
His figure had already entered the Ice-Fire Dual Instrument Eye.
All around him, medicinal herbs glimmered with a soft light.
The Anywhere Door's cooldown lasted a full year. Once this door closed, it would never open again.
Su Hui didn't dare close it.
He had to loot the most valuable Immortal Herbs in the shortest possible time.
Then he had to get out before Dugu Bo returned.
Put simply: loot, fight, escape!
As a penniless nobody running around with a knife, his main priority was greed!
His gaze swept over the Immortal Herbs covering the ground, and he matched them with the records in his books.
Without slowing his steps, he immediately began looting with precision.
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