Heaven Dou City

Given the current level of intimacy, the conditions for forming a Martial Soul Resonance have actually been met. When faced with a critical stimulus once more, a Martial Soul Resonance should occur between them, allowing them to enter the state of Semi-Martial Soul Possession experienced yesterday.

Under the long-term influence of Martial Soul Resonance, it might truly be possible to refine the Self Martial Soul Fusion Skill that was conceived half a year ago.

Recovering from his thoughts, Ye Chen noticed Combusken pulling back the carriage curtain, gazing at the scenery outside with a look of curiosity.

As an External Martial Soul, although Combusken possesses a certain degree of self-awareness, it falls into a deep slumber once retracted into the Martial Soul Origin, remaining completely oblivious to the outside world.

Unless summoned by its host, it cannot actively emerge from the Martial Soul Origin.

Every time Combusken is summoned, it is either to cultivate together or to fight together. It has never experienced daily life, so sitting in the carriage and admiring the scenery outside at this moment inevitably filled it with a sense of novelty.

Watching Combusken murmur to itself while admiring the view, Ye Chen's eyes lit up. Cultivating and fighting together can increase their intimacy, but would experiencing daily life together be even more beneficial for deepening that bond?

In any case, soul power is only consumed when summoning or retracting Combusken; once it is released outside the body, it does not consume his soul power unless it uses a skill.

Therefore, summoning it frequently to travel across the continent and grow together seems like a good idea.

Thinking of this, a fatherly smile appeared on Ye Chen's face. Setting aside thoughts related to Combusken, he began to plan his future life.

After ending his life at Nuoding Academy, he would no longer have an academic life ahead of him.

Because under all equal conditions, Soul Beasts are always more powerful than Soul Masters.

Rather than hiding in some academy to fight other Soul Masters, it would be better to live in seclusion in a Soul Beast habitat, relying on hunting Soul Beasts to gain more combat experience and feedback, which would allow his soul power to increase at a faster rate.

Furthermore, living in seclusion in a Soul Beast habitat would eliminate the worry of his unique traits being discovered.

With his level thirty soul power strengthening his Body Martial Soul, combined with fighting side-by-side with Combusken, he is capable of surviving in the Outer Zone of any Soul Beast habitat, while also possessing the strength to hunt Soul Beasts alone.

As for which Soul Beast habitat to choose for his seclusion, Ye Chen analyzed his situation against the original story and finally set his target on the Sunset Forest outside Heaven Dou City.

According to the original story, there are many types of Soul Beasts in the Sunset Forest, but ten-thousand-year cultivation Soul Beasts are rare.

Only the Core Zone of the Sunset Forest is a gathering place for ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts.

From this, it is clear that if he lives in seclusion in the Outer Zone of the Sunset Forest, his safety is guaranteed.

Coincidentally, most of the immortal herb opportunities mentioned in the original story grow near the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well is hidden in the Core Zone of the Sunset Forest.

This way, once he is familiar with the environment of the Outer Zone and his strength is sufficient to enter the Core Zone, he can consider how to obtain those immortal herb opportunities.

Most importantly, Dugu Bo currently monopolizes the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and the immortal herb opportunities, and this man has a granddaughter named Dugu Yan.

If Dugu Yan needs to obtain a Soul Ring to advance, Dugu Bo will certainly bring her to the Sunset Forest to search for Soul Beasts.

By then, because he frequently searches for Soul Beasts in the Sunset Forest to grind levels, he will be very familiar with the distribution of Soul Beasts there, and might be able to use this to interact with the grandfather and granddaughter, Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan.

Once a good relationship is established, obtaining the immortal herb opportunities will become much simpler.

Even if he doesn't rely on Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan to obtain the immortal herbs, his frequent presence in the Sunset Forest will allow him to find opportunities to steal them.

If Dugu Bo suspects him of stealing the herbs, he only needs to use the rhetoric and methods of Tang San from the original story to help Dugu Bo solve his snake venom backlash, which should ensure he isn't killed.

And the Herb Transcript obtained from Tang San contains quite a bit of knowledge about immortal herbs, enough for him to pick and consume the ones he desires.

While pondering, Ye Chen took the Herb Transcript out of his bag and began to flip through it with interest.

Combusken was still pulling back the carriage curtain, admiring the scenery outside.

Traveling west along the main road for ten days, the carriage finally entered the territory of Heaven Dou City.

At night, the bright moon hung overhead.

The destination had finally been reached.

Ye Chen and Combusken pulled back the carriage curtain together and poked their heads out to look.

Just a hundred meters ahead, there was a city wall with flags fluttering, and the words "Heaven Dou City" were written in large gold characters above the gate.

As the imperial capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City is grand in scale. The city wall alone is a hundred meters high, constructed entirely from the hardest granite.

On and off the wall, the patrolling soldiers were all clad in full armor and holding long spears; the murderous aura emanating from them showed their elite nature.

After undergoing inspection by the soldiers at the gate, the carriage followed the crowd into the city.

Although it was already dark, Heaven Dou City seemed as if it had just awakened. The streets were bustling with crowds, shops of all kinds stood along the roads, and peddlers and travelers moved back and forth. The city was incredibly lively, displaying the posture of a prosperous golden age.

Suddenly, countless colorful lights tore through the night sky with sharp whistling sounds, shooting straight into the clouds before bursting into brilliant, dazzling fireworks.

Pedestrians on the street looked up at the sight and couldn't help but exclaim.

After enjoying the street view and the fireworks, Ye Chen let down the carriage curtain and began to meditate.

Combusken continued to admire the scenery through the window. The variety of people and the prosperity of the big city opened up a new world for it, its eyes filled with shock and excitement.

At Ye Chen's request, the coachman drove the carriage toward the Great Soul Arena in the center of Heaven Dou City.

According to the original story, the Great Soul Arena is a place where Soul Masters compete with their Martial Souls.

Fighting in the Great Soul Arena can earn one fame and fortune; among those there, the most common are Soul Masters who become famous overnight, or commoners who strike it rich overnight.

However, once a commoner Soul Master with outstanding talent shows their mettle in the Great Soul Arena, they will inevitably attract the attention of various factions.

Currently, his strength is too weak, and Ye Chen does not want to deal with various factions yet. He only wants to get to the Sunset Forest quickly to lay low and develop, waiting until his soul power reaches level seventy before coming out to venture into the world.

The purpose of this trip to the Great Soul Arena was not to participate in soul duels, but to gamble.

In truth, the Great Soul Arena was not only a place for soul masters to clash with their martial souls, but also a platform that provided gambling opportunities for the audience.

According to the carriage driver, in the gambling activities derived from each soul duel at the Great Soul Arena, each person could only place a bet once. Once a bet was placed on one side to win, one could not simultaneously bet on the other, which meant that everyone would inevitably face a result of either winning or losing.

However, having Combusken made things different.

Currently, he only had ten Gold Soul Coins on him. When he went to gamble at the Great Soul Arena later, he could use five Gold Soul Coins to bet on one side to win, and then have Combusken use the other five Gold Soul Coins to bet on the opposing side.

This way, regardless of whether he lost or Combusken lost, one side would always be winning money.

Since the gambling at the Great Soul Arena was calculated based on odds, as long as one won, they could not only recover their principal and the money lost on the other side, but also earn additional profit.

By then, he could split the winnings into two equal parts, have himself and Combusken place bets on both sides again, and repeat this process; it wouldn't take long before he could make a fortune.

The only thing Ye Chen found tricky was that if Combusken followed the crowd to line up and place a bet, even if it were his martial soul, the staff might forbid it from participating in the gambling.

Therefore, before going to the Great Soul Arena to gamble, he had to find a piece of clothing to cover Combusken's appearance and figure. Once it was dressed up as a human, as long as it had money to bet, he assumed the staff wouldn't meddle in his business.

As for why he was so fixated on making money through gambling, it was naturally to have the funds to purchase Whale Rubber.

Once he consumed a few pieces of Whale Rubber to strengthen his physical constitution, he would then head to the Sunset Forest to hunt a Soul Beast, which would give him more confidence in absorbing a thousand-year second Soul Ring.