Angel Martial Soul—Why Not Join My Academy?

Shen Zhou did not pursue the topic. Just as he was about to continue onward, his brows suddenly furrowed.

The ground beneath his feet was trembling.

It was extremely faint, but with his senses, even the slightest vibration could not escape his notice.

The tremors came from deep within the forest, drawing closer and becoming increasingly distinct.

"Beast tide."

Shen Zhou uttered two words.

"What?"

Bei Bei's expression changed.

"A small beast tide. It is not large in scale, but it is heading this way."

Shen Zhou closed his eyes and sensed for a moment before opening them. "They are not coming for us. Someone ahead is being besieged by soul beasts, and the smell of blood has drawn in even more of them."

"Someone is under siege?"

Tang Ya gripped the short sword at her waist. "Which direction?"

"Northeast, around two li away."

Shen Zhou had already started walking in that direction. "Let's take a look."

Er Ha dropped the snake from its mouth and followed.

Though it was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, it could not afford to let its guard down in the face of a beast tide.

After all, what it excelled at most was not fighting, but running.

Two li was no distance at all for Soul Masters.

When Shen Zhou passed through the last stretch of woods, the sight before him made his brows crease slightly.

On an open riverbank, seven or eight young people were being besieged by several dozen soul beasts.

The soul beasts were a motley group: Gale Wolves, Ironback Bears, Crimson Flame Foxes, and even several enormous Rhino Armor Beasts.

Most were ten-year or hundred-year level, but two or three thousand-year soul beasts were mixed among them.

Even their teacher was entangled with a forty-thousand-year soul beast. Forget offering support—he could not even protect himself.

The group under siege was in an extremely dire situation.

At the center of the riverbank, several young students around twenty years old had formed a circle around an unconscious, seriously injured companion.

They were all wounded, their faces pale and their Soul Power fluctuations weak. They had clearly been fighting bitterly for a long time.

Their clothing bore matching insignia, so they were likely students from some advanced Soul Master Academy.

At the very edge of the circle, a woman was alone, fending off the fiercest attacks.

She appeared to be around twenty-four or twenty-five. Her long golden hair was soaked with sweat and clung to her pale cheeks.

Her Martial Soul had already been released.

A pair of wings spread from her back, white as snow, their feathers gleaming faintly beneath the setting sun.

Two-Winged Angel Martial Soul.

The Two-Winged Angel was the most basic angel form, far inferior to the majesty of Qian Daoliu's Six-Winged Angel.

Yet in this era, Angel Martial Souls were already exceptionally rare.

Her Soul Ring configuration was decent—two yellow, two purple. Four rings, putting her at the threshold of a Soul King.

But she had wounds all over her body. Her right arm hung limply at her side, while blood continued to pour from her left leg.

She gripped a longsword in her left hand, barely holding back the assault of a Thousand-Year Gale Wolf.

"Sister Meng Di!"

A female student behind her cried out in alarm.

The Thousand-Year Gale Wolf evaded the woman's blade and lunged at her from the side, jaws wide as it bit straight for her throat.

Yu Mengdi's pupils constricted sharply. She tried to dodge, but the injuries to her right arm and left leg made her half a beat too slow.

She clenched her teeth and swung her sword across with her left hand to block, but she knew full well that this strike would not stop it.

Just as the Gale Wolf's fangs came within three feet of her, a silver-white figure shot out like lightning.

Bang!

The Thousand-Year Gale Wolf seemed to have collided with a mountain. Its entire body was sent flying sideways, smashing through three trees before hitting the ground, already lifeless.

Its neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, clearly snapped by a single bite.

Er Ha shook its head, spat out the wolf fur in its mouth, and wore a look of disgust.

"Thousand-year wolf meat is tough as firewood.

It is not even as good as that snake."

Yu Mengdi froze.

The students behind her froze as well.

A soul beast approaching ten thousand years had been bitten to death by a dog... in one bite?

"Who goes there?!"

A male student shouted tremblingly.

Shen Zhou emerged from the woods, followed by Huo Yuhao, Tang Ya, and Bei Bei.

He said nothing. He merely raised his right hand, and the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear appeared out of thin air in his palm as nine Soul Rings lit up at once.

One yellow, two purple, four black, and two red.

The light of the two red Soul Rings dyed the entire riverbank blood-red.

The soul beasts attacking the students all froze at the same time.

It was not fear, but instinctive terror from deep within their bloodlines.

To these low-level soul beasts, the pressure of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings was like the arrival of a natural predator.

Shen Zhou gave them no chance to react.

With a turn of his wrist, the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear swept horizontally. A fierce spear glow spread forward in a fan-shaped arc.

Wherever the spear glow passed, the bodies of the soul beasts were torn apart as easily as paper.

One strike.

Several dozen soul beasts, from ten-year to thousand-year level, and even that forty-thousand-year soul beast, were driven away in an instant.

The riverbank fell silent, leaving only the wind and the stench of blood.

Yu Mengdi slowly lowered the left hand holding her sword, staring at the young man before her in disbelief.

Her lips trembled slightly. She wanted to say something, yet found that she could not make a sound.

Two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings.

A Titled Douluo.

This young man, who looked even younger than she did, was a Titled Douluo.

And that silver-white Slender Dog that had bitten a Thousand-Year Gale Wolf to death in one bite was actually his companion soul beast?

"Sister Meng Di... are we... saved?"

The voice of a female student behind her carried a sob.

Yu Mengdi came back to herself, recalled her longsword into her Martial Soul space, then turned to check on her companions' injuries.

The teacher leading them had already fallen unconscious.

Two severely injured students had been placed in the middle, three lightly injured ones surrounded them on the outside, and another was still standing, though covered in blood.

Fortunately, though their injuries were serious, none were in mortal danger.

She took a deep breath, turned to face Shen Zhou, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Senior, for saving our lives."

"Yu Mengdi, advanced student of Zhengtian Academy."

"These are all my classmates."

"We came to the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain Soul Rings. I broke through Rank 40 not long ago and need my fifth Soul Ring."

"We intended to hunt a suitable thousand-year soul beast, but accidentally entered the territory of a forty-thousand-year soul beast and were besieged."

"The smell of blood drew in more soul beasts. If Senior had not intervened..."

She did not continue, but the meaning was already clear.

Shen Zhou put away the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear, his gaze falling on Yu Mengdi.

What caught his attention was not her injuries, but her Martial Soul.

Two-Winged Angel.

The Angel Martial Soul was Qian Daoliu's bloodline inheritance.

Ten thousand years ago, the Angel God had bestowed its inheritance upon the Qian Family. The descendants of the Qian Family should all possess Angel Martial Souls.

But in Douluo Continent II, ten thousand years later, Angel Martial Souls had nearly vanished.

The woman before him was not yet twenty, at the peak of four rings, only one step away from becoming a Soul King.

She called herself an "advanced student" of Zhengtian Academy rather than a teacher.

In this era, students of advanced Soul Master Academies could be around twenty-five years old, so that was normal enough.

"Zhengtian Academy?"

Bei Bei's voice came from beside him. "One of the top three advanced Soul Master Academies in the Heaven Dou Empire."

"Yu Mengdi... I think I have heard that name before. A reserve contestant in the previous Heavenly Soul Empire Youth Soul Master Tournament."

Yu Mengdi nodded faintly without saying much.

Her attention remained on Shen Zhou.

"Senior, might I ask..."

"Your injuries are serious."