Xia Ming swept his mental power across the area, easily distinguishing several auras that had reached the Soul Saint level from among the crowd.
They were in their prime, their Soul Power solid and condensed. Clearly, they were the strongest forces in this place.
Compared to the Soul Emperor Xia Ming had seen not long ago, their foundations were far more stable.
In Xia Ming's view, even without any fortunate opportunities, these people might still have some hope of becoming Soul Douluos in the future.
Yet they were still not the strongest among the human Soul Masters here.
Inside the stone house at the center of the settlement,
there was an aura that was aged yet still as immense as a dormant volcano. It belonged to an elderly Soul Douluo.
Xia Ming's thoughts stirred, and his invisible mental power instantly captured and analyzed the entire language system used by the humans here.
In less than one ten-thousandth of an instant, he had completely mastered the common language of this place, as fluently as his native tongue.
The next moment, space seemed to fold soundlessly.
Without any warning, Xia Ming appeared inside the stone house where the elderly Soul Douluo resided.
He stood directly before the stone stool where the old man usually meditated, less than three feet away.
"Who goes there?!"
The old man's half-closed eyes snapped open, and an intense gleam that did not suit his age erupted from the depths of his clouded pupils.
His gaunt body tensed instinctively, and his immense Soul Power nearly burst from his body.
Yet he forcibly restrained the instinctive urge to strike back.
The utter impossibility of what he was seeing filled him with extreme alarm.
The door had not opened, the window had not moved, and the Soul Power barrier had