I Return From Hell

"Hmmph~"

The Librarian stood with his hands tucked into his sleeves, a hint of craftiness in his eyes, staring blankly at Tang Heng.

It seemed he wanted to initiate a trade.

Tang Heng glanced at the villager before him and realized it was the infamous Librarian.

Trading with him offered a chance to obtain various enchanted books, the most useful of which was the versatile Mending. It could be said that as long as one didn't encounter disgusting monsters like the Parasite Pillar that shattered armor instantly, any gear equipped with Mending would never break.

"Let me see... what the hell, sixty-four pieces of paper for one emerald?!"

"Hmmph!"

Tang Heng didn't want to deal with this profiteer; villagers like this deserved to be hung from a streetlamp like a teru teru bozu doll.

The Librarian grunted a few more times, and seeing that he couldn't squeeze any profit out of Tang Heng, he rolled his eyes with a human-like expression before huffing and walking away.

Are you kidding me, buddy? Did I just get looked down on by a villager?

Tang Heng suddenly had the urge to pull an iron sword from his inventory and skewer the guy.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided against it and instead took some cooked steak and pork chops out of the furnace.

Today, Tang Heng's goal was to head to the Soul Beast Forest and attempt to attach a soul ring to his MC martial soul.

That's right, his MC plane was somewhat similar to Electrolux, the Scourge of the Undead and teacher of Huo Yuhao in Peerless Tang Sect; it could be considered his third martial soul.

The difference was that his MC martial soul had growth potential, unlike Huo Yuhao's undead martial soul, which only possessed a single soul ring.

He was very eager to see what kind of changes would be brought to this plane after attaching a soul ring to his MC martial soul.

Moreover, after breaking through his soul power limit, he would be able to continue cultivating, simultaneously strengthening his physique and raising the upper limit of his Silver Dragon King martial soul rings.

Tang Heng opened the quest book at the top left of his perspective, found the [Map] tab, and initiated a search.

[Overworld]: Randomly refreshes soul beasts of different ages.

[Spirit Ascension Platform]: Can increase soul ring age.

[Star Dou Great Forest Outskirts]: Soul beasts ranging from ten to a thousand years; chance of ten-thousand-year soul beasts.

[Star Dou Great Forest Mixed Zone]: Soul beasts over ten thousand years; chance of hundred-thousand-year soul beasts.

[Star Dou Great Forest Core Zone]: Soul beasts are guaranteed to be hundred-thousand-year; chance of million-year soul beasts.

[Sunset Forest]: Soul beasts...

Then there were other soul beast gathering areas like the Twilight Rain Forest, the Far North, and the Ocean Danger Zone.

From this perspective, there were benefits to the plane becoming reality; at least there wouldn't be a situation where a million-year soul beast spawned in the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest and slapped him to death.

As for areas like the God Realm, they hadn't been unlocked yet, and with his current strength, going there would only result in a trip back to the spawn point.

Tang Heng finally selected the [Star Dou Great Forest Outskirts].

Upon arriving at the Star Dou Great Forest, he immediately began observing his surroundings.

Compared to the Overworld, the trees here were taller and more lush, with layers of canopy blocking out most of the sunlight, forcing Tang Heng to pull out a torch to serve as a mobile light source.

"Sigh, if only I could toggle night-vision shaders."

Tang Heng sighed slightly, then gathered his focus to search for a soul beast of suitable age nearby.

Although attaching a soul ring to his MC martial soul was just to observe the changes it would bring to the plane, he still had to care about quality; he couldn't just pick any random ten-year soul beast.

Otherwise, why would he go through the trouble of coming to the Star Dou Great Forest? He could have just turned left out his door and slaughtered that ten-year profiteer Librarian.

"Ten-year Lone Bamboo? That's a soul ring exclusive to Gangzi, no way, no way."

"Ten-year Soft Bone Rabbit, I wonder if it drops a rabbit head if I kill it?"

"Ninety-nine-year Blue Silver Grass? Even a hundred-year one is a trash soul beast."

Tang Heng looked left and right; most of the soul beasts had very low cultivation, under a hundred years.

Soul beasts over a hundred years were also rare, and even if they existed, they were too weak to catch his eye.

Suddenly, a beastly roar echoed from the dense forest not far away.

"That roar has some power! Let me see what kind of sacred being this is."

Tang Heng followed the direction of the roar and soon arrived at a clearing surrounded by broken trees.

Several thousand-year Wind Demon Wolves were ganging up on a soul beast that looked like a cross between a lion and a dog, covered in golden fur with a black ghost-face pattern on its head.

From a distance, Tang Heng could clearly see what this soul beast was.

[Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, Cultivation: 1,500 years]

As expected of My World; soul beasts that were already extinct in the Douluo Continent could still be found here if one was lucky enough.

The three Wind Demon Wolves bared their fangs and glared at the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff trapped in the center. Because of the "realization" of the world, the AI of these soul beasts had improved, becoming increasingly similar to real-life creatures.

It was as if an advanced realism mod had been installed; even the villagers earlier would often display human-like expressions.

Like that Librarian from just a moment ago.

These Wind Demon Wolves all had high cultivation, with the leader approaching ten thousand years.

Yet, the combined health of all three wolves did not even equal that of a single Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff.

Soon, the Wind Demon Wolves perished miserably under the sharp claws of the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, transforming into individual spirit rings.

It truly lived up to its reputation as the "lucky charm" of the spirit beast world, a creature whose stats were clearly balanced by someone using their feet; it was the perfect choice for his first spirit ring.

"I choose you!"

Descending from the heavens, furious and ferocious!

With his Gold Dragon King Martial Soul Possession active, Tang Heng leaped high from the tree and swung a Gold Dragon Claw, slamming it into his opponent.

It only chipped a bit of health; the attack power was even worse than the three wolves from before.

The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff turned to counterattack, snapping its jaws shut and performing a vanishing act on Tang Heng's health bar, causing him to dissolve into particles of light on the spot.

Just as the beast thought its enemy had been eliminated, the Tang Heng who had just been bitten to death suddenly reappeared in the same spot, landing a solid punch on the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's chin.

"I have returned from hell!"

There was not a shred of fear in Tang Heng's eyes, only a craving for the spirit ring.

Because instant death brought no pain at all.

Furthermore, death-point respawning was simply too useful.

Time ticked away, and the health bar of the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff gradually thinned under the cycle of Tang Heng punching, dying, respawning, and punching again.

"Steve is bullying people again. Look, that big golden dog looks like it's about to cry."

A Zombie couldn't help but complain to the Skeleton beside it.

"Brother, it seems you've never seen a technical Steve? They have never known the meaning of mercy."

The Skeleton put down its bow and arrow, sitting down with the Zombie to watch this battle between man and beast.

The Enderman nearby had fetched potatoes from somewhere, which carried the scent of rotting corpses, though the Skeleton and Zombie didn't mind, as they were undead themselves.

"I bet on Steve winning."

"Me too, I'll wager a music disc."

"Hey brother, so you've been harboring ill intentions toward me all along?"

A Creeper arrived with a Spider, joining them to watch this 'duel'.

[Death]

[Respawn]

[Death]

Finally, as the sun rose on the second day, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, now flickering like a candle in the wind, collapsed.

Tang Heng sat cross-legged on the ground to absorb the spirit ring, even though this ring exceeded the age limit he could bear, carrying the risk of his body exploding instantly.

But it didn't matter; he would just restart and continue absorbing if he failed.

Perhaps his efforts throughout the night moved the heavens, as he succeeded on the very first try despite only a three percent chance. A purple spirit ring came into view, and his spirit power broke through the bottleneck, surging directly to level thirteen.

[Obtained auxiliary spirit skill: Dominator Domain]

[Unlocked new mod: SlashBlade]

"Can attaching a spirit ring actually unlock a new mod?"

Seeing the prompt in the bottom left corner, Tang Heng remarked.