"Mm-hmm~"
The villager stood right in front of Tang Heng, hands tucked into his sleeves, a sly glint in his eyes.
He looked like he wanted to trade with him.
Tang Heng glanced at the villager before him and realized he was none other than the famous Librarian.
Trading with him could yield all sorts of Enchanted Books. The most useful by far was the all-purpose Mending. Unless you ran into a nasty monster like a Parasite Pillar that could shatter your armor in one hit, Enchanting your armor with Mending meant it would never break.
"Let's see... What the hell? Sixty-four sheets of paper for one emerald?!"
"Mm-hmm!"
Tang Heng didn't want to deal with this crooked merchant. Villagers like him deserved to be strung up on a lamppost and dressed up as scarecrows.
The Librarian grunted a few more times. When he realized he couldn't squeeze a profit out of Tang Heng, he actually rolled his eyes like a person, then grumbled as he walked away.
Wait, bro? Had he just been looked down on by a villager?
Tang Heng suddenly felt an urge to pull the Iron Sword from his inventory and run the guy through.
After hesitating for a while, he ultimately decided against it. Then he took the cooked steak and pork chops out of the furnace.
Today, Tang Heng's goal was to visit the Soul Beast Forest and try adding a Soul Ring to his Minecraft Martial Soul.
That's right. His Minecraft Plane was somewhat similar to the Martial Soul of Electrolux, the teacher of Huo Yuhao in Peerless Tang Sect, who was known as the Scourge of the Undead. It could be considered his third Martial Soul.
The difference was that his Minecraft Martial Soul could grow, unlike Huo Yuhao's Undead Martial Soul, which had only one Soul Ring.
He really wanted to see what kind of changes adding a Soul Ring to his Minecraft Martial Soul would bring to the plane.
Besides, once he broke through his Soul Power limit, he could keep cultivating, improve his physical constitution, and raise the limit on the Soul Rings of his Gold and Silver Dragon King Martial Souls.
Tang Heng opened the quest book in the upper-left corner of his view, found the [Map] tab, and started searching.
[Overworld]: Randomly refreshes Soul Beasts of different ages.
[Spirit Ascension Platform]: Can increase the age of a Soul Ring.
[Star Dou Great Forest Outer Region]: Soul Beasts ranging from ten to a thousand years may appear. Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts may appear by chance.
[Star Dou Great Forest Mixed Region]: Soul Beasts over ten thousand years old may appear. Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts may appear by chance.
[Star Dou Great Forest Core Region]: Soul Beasts are guaranteed to be a hundred thousand years old. Million-Year Soul Beasts may appear by chance.
[Sunset Forest]: Soul Beasts may appear...
After that came other areas where Soul Beasts gathered, such as the Twilight Rain Forest, Far North, and Ocean Danger Zone.
From this, it seemed that there were benefits to the plane becoming real. At least he wouldn't have a Million-Year Soul Beast spawn in the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest, come charging over, and slap him to death.
As for areas like the Divine Realm, they hadn't been unlocked yet. With his current strength, going there would only send him straight back to his spawn point.
Tang Heng finally selected [Star Dou Great Forest Outer Region].
As soon as he arrived in the Star Dou Great Forest, he immediately studied his surroundings.
Compared to the Overworld, the trees here were taller and more luxuriant. Layer upon layer of canopy blocked out most of the sunlight, so Tang Heng had to pull out a torch to use as a mobile light source.
"Ah, if only I could switch to a night-vision shader."
Tang Heng sighed, then focused and started searching for nearby Soul Beasts of a suitable age.
He was only adding a Soul Ring to his Minecraft Martial Soul to see what changes it would bring to the plane, but quality still mattered. He couldn't just pick some random Ten-Year Soul Beast, could he?
Otherwise, why bother going all the way to the Star Dou Great Forest? He could just turn left out the door and kill that Ten-Year Soul Beast merchant, the Librarian.
"Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo? Gangzi's exclusive Soul Ring. No thanks."
"Ten-Year Soft Bone Rabbit. Wonder if it drops a rabbit head when you kill it?"
"Ninety-nine-year Blue Silver Grass? A hundred-year Soul Beast would be trash anyway."
Tang Heng looked around, but most Soul Beasts had very low cultivation, under a hundred years.
Soul Beasts over a hundred years old were rare, too. Even when he found one, it was so weak that it didn't catch his interest.
Soon, a beast's roar rang out from the nearby woods.
"That's a powerful roar! Let's see what kind of mighty creature made it."
Tang Heng followed the sound and soon reached an open area surrounded by trees that had been broken and battered.
Several thousand-year Wind Demon Wolf Soul Beasts were ganging up on a Soul Beast that looked part lion and part dog. Its whole body was covered in golden fur, and a black, ghostly mask pattern marked its head.
Even from far away, Tang Heng could make out its name.
[Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, Age: 1,500 years]
As expected of My World. Even a Soul Beast that had gone extinct on Douluo Continent could still turn up here if you were lucky.
Three Wind Demon Wolves bared their teeth at the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, which they had cornered. Because the world had become real, the Soul Beasts' AI had improved, making them more and more like real creatures.
It was as if some far-too-advanced realism mod had been installed. The villagers, for example, often made humanlike expressions.
Like that Librarian just now.
These Wind Demon Wolves had high cultivation. The leader was close to ten thousand years old.
But all three wolves together had less health than a single Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff.
Soon, the Wind Demon Wolves died beneath the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's claws, turning into Soul Rings.
No wonder it was known as the big winner of the Soul Beast Realm, with stats filled in by someone's feet. It really was the perfect choice for his first Soul Ring.
"I choose you!"
The king descended from the heavens, fury blazing!
With his Gold Dragon King Martial Soul Possessed, Tang Heng leapt high from a tree and slammed a Gold Dragon Claw into his opponent.
It barely took off a sliver of health. His attack was even a little weaker than those three wolves' had been.
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff wheeled around and counterattacked, snapping its jaws at him. Tang Heng's health bar vanished in an instant, and his whole body disappeared in a burst of light.
Just as it thought the enemy had been eliminated, Tang Heng, who had just been bitten to death, suddenly reappeared in the same spot and planted a solid punch on the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's jaw.
"I've returned from the Nether!"
There was not a trace of fear in Tang Heng's eyes, only a burning desire for a Soul Ring.
After all, dying instantly didn't hurt at all.
Besides, teleporting to your death point was incredibly useful.
Time trickled by. Under Tang Heng's endless cycle of punching, dying, respawning, and punching again, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's health bar gradually dwindled to a sliver.
"Steve's bullying someone again. Look, that big golden dog's about to cry."
A Zombie couldn't help complaining to the Xiao Bai beside him.
"Bro, looks like you've never seen a redstone Steve. They've never known the meaning of mercy."
Xiao Bai lowered her bow and sat down beside the Zombie to watch the battle between man and beast.
The Enderman beside them had somehow gotten hold of some potatoes. They smelled like corpses, but Xiao Bai and the Zombie didn't mind. They were undead themselves, after all.
"I bet on Steve."
"Me too. I'm betting one music disc."
"Hey, bro, so you've been holding a grudge against me this whole time?"
A Creeper came over with a Spider, and they joined the others to watch the "duel."
[Death]
[Respawn]
[Death]
Finally, as the sun rose the next day, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, now flickering like a candle in the wind, collapsed.
Tang Heng sat cross-legged on the ground and absorbed the Soul Ring. It had already surpassed the maximum age his body could bear, so there was a chance he would explode on the spot.
But it didn't matter. He could just start over and keep absorbing it.
Perhaps his hard work through the night had moved the heavens. Despite only having a three-percent chance, he succeeded on his first try. A purple Soul Ring appeared before his eyes, and his Soul Power broke through its bottleneck, shooting straight to level thirteen.
[Obtained Attached Soul Skill: Domination Domain]
[Unlocked New Mod: SlashBlade]
"Adding a Soul Ring can actually unlock a new mod?"
Tang Heng said this after seeing the notification in the lower-left corner.
Before you continue