Dream Soul Beast

"Yuhao, where... where did you get a thousand-year soul ring?" Bei Bei asked in disbelief. He rubbed his eyes, but even seeing it with his own eyes, he still found it hard to believe.

Hadn't they only entered the Star Dou Forest with Huo Yuhao yesterday? How could he have obtained a thousand-year soul ring after just one night's sleep?

At this moment, Huo Yuhao himself was also at a loss. He had considered that his first soul ring might be stronger than the original, but this was a jump of two whole tiers!

The most critical point was that this was his first soul ring. A first soul ring could be ten years, or it could be a hundred years, but it absolutely could not be a thousand years!

Even in his previous life, he had only been able to reasonably possess a thousand-year second soul ring after acquiring his second martial soul.

If it had only been a hundred-year soul ring, he might have been able to muddle through, but the current situation was completely beyond his control.

"Brother Tian Meng..."

"What? Isn't a thousand-year soul ring great? No need to thank your brother; it all comes down to your own body and the superior quality of your martial soul. But if you insist on thanking me, I won't refuse, you know."

"But Brother Tian Meng... the limit for a human's first soul ring is a hundred years..."

"Is that so? How come I didn't know that?"

Huo Yuhao really wanted to retort, "You're a soul beast, of course you wouldn't know," but he also knew that Brother Tian Meng was acting purely out of kindness.

He took a deep breath. Regardless, the soul ring was already on him. Even if his excuse was flimsy, Bei Bei and Wang Hong had no way to verify it, so he might as well take the gamble!

"I... I don't know either, Brother Bei Bei."

He first put on a look of great surprise, then looked at the two of them with eyes shining as if reflecting light:

"I remember having a dream last night. In the dream, I seemed to see a very strange soul beast. I don't remember what it looked like anymore... but I remember it could speak human language!"

Huo Yuhao paused for a few seconds, then continued to explain.

"Then... it seemed to take a liking to these eyes of mine, saying something about how these eyes were its hope, and then it suddenly vanished."

"After that, I was woken up by Brother Bei Bei, and my head still feels a bit fuzzy even now."

After hearing Huo Yuhao's account, Wang Hong and Bei Bei fell silent. They exchanged a glance, nodding to confirm each other's thoughts.

Watching their movements, Huo Yuhao suddenly had a premonition. Could it be that the Martial Soul Hall actually had records of a soul beast that matched his description?

"Based on your description... although there are some discrepancies, I think we already know what happened to you."

Wang Hong said, then began to explain to Huo Yuhao:

"The Soul Beast Records of the Martial Soul Hall once recorded a special type of spirit-type soul beast called the Dream Silkworm."

"In appearance, this soul beast is very similar to the ice silkworms that only live in the Far North, almost identical, but in reality, they are two completely different soul beasts."

"They spend almost their entire lives living in the sunless underground, only coming to the surface when they are about to die."

"At this time, if there are humans nearby, they will use the human's dreams to transform all their soul power into a soul ring and bestow it upon the human."

"The reason they do this is... a thousand-year-level Dream Silkworm can develop intelligence no less than that of a human. Coupled with their own powerful spiritual power, once they let a human absorb their soul power, they will seize the opportunity to use their powerful spiritual power to take over that human's soul!"

At this point, Wang Hong took a deep look at Huo Yuhao:

"But in reality, apart from that one classic, the number of recorded sightings of Dream Silkworms on the entire Douluo Continent can be counted on one hand. One could even say that whether this soul beast even exists is a complete mystery."

"But according to your description, that soul beast was most likely a Dream Silkworm. Perhaps because your martial soul is inherently spirit-type and of much higher quality than the Dream Silkworm, you were able to reap this massive windfall."

Having said this, Wang Hong stood up immediately:

"Lord Huo Yuhao, please wait a moment with Lord Bei Bei. I will go search nearby; perhaps I can find the corpse of that Dream Silkworm."

He quickly vanished into the bushes, leaving Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao staring at each other.

Bei Bei gave Huo Yuhao a firm pat on the back:

"Not bad, Yuhao. It seems you're much luckier than I am. You actually managed to run into a soul beast that only exists in records!"

Bei Bei's laughter carried no jealousy, only the purest congratulations.

"With a thousand-year first soul ring, once school officially starts, you'll be able to walk sideways through the academy, and I doubt the teachers will have any objections."

Even so, Huo Yuhao still found it hard to believe that the two of them had accepted his story so quickly, even managing to find ironclad evidence for it themselves.

However, his head was not turned by this sudden surprise; he quickly realized there were many abnormal things behind this.

"Brother Tian Meng, do you know about this soul beast Brother Wang Hong mentioned?"

"Regrettably, since most of my life was spent in the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Marrow, my experience might not even be as good as an average thousand-year soul beast."

"But since they've found a reasonable excuse for themselves, you should just go along with it. Nothing major will happen anyway."

"But Brother Tian Meng... won't your molted shell be found by Brother Wang Hong?"

"You don't need to worry about that. The most critical shell layer was absorbed into your body along with the soul power. What's left is just an empty husk with nothing in it, which will crumble at a touch."

Meanwhile, Wang Hong had already found the molted shell left behind by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

The body alone was as tall as a person, and at first glance, it looked extremely similar to the ice silkworms that lived in the Far North.

But Wang Hong saw the golden horn-crown on its head. According to the records, both the Dream Silkworm and the ice silkworm were spirit-type soul beasts. The biggest difference between them was the horn-crown on their heads; the ice silkworm's horn-crown was usually very small and silver.

But the one before him not only had a huge horn-crown, but its entire body also displayed a luxurious gold color.

It completely matched the characteristics unique to the Dream Silkworm as recorded in the soul beast classic compiled by Pope Chen Mo.

Wang Hong could be certain that this soul beast's molted shell undoubtedly belonged to the Dream Silkworm that had been "plucked" by Huo Yuhao.

"I truly never imagined that one day I would be able to see this legendary soul beast with my own eyes." However, he did not intend to linger here for too long; he could not leave Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao alone in the Star Dou Forest for an extended period.

He approached the remains, preparing to store them in his storage soul tool to bring back to Martial Soul Hall; whether it was the Pope or the Soul Beast Research Institute of Martial Soul Hall, they would certainly be very interested in it.

If he could exchange this for some benefits, that would be even better.

Furthermore, if all went as expected, as long as they could return to Martial Soul Hall safely, Huo Yuhao would become the greatest genius in Martial Soul Hall, second only to Bei Bei.

Just as he was thinking this, the moment his hand touched the remains, cracks began to spread from the corner where his fingers made contact, instantly covering the entire husk.

In the blink of an eye, it had turned into a pile of ash, dissipating into the air.

Wang Hong stared at the scene before him, first in astonishment, then looked at his own hands, blinking in bewilderment.