Sunset Forest

Just as Lin Yuan was calculating where he might have gone wrong, the God of Destruction awoke.

"This method won't work." After receiving the intelligence Lin Yuan had gathered during this period, the God of Destruction shook his head in denial.

"Although your martial soul is considered a very low-ranking dragon lineage, its attributes have already reached the status of a top-tier martial soul."

"With such a high-grade martial soul, it is difficult to awaken it through such simple stimulation. Furthermore, the intensity is too low."

"This is still too low?" Lin Yuan's expression was one of utter astonishment.

One had to know that he had experienced several near-death encounters over the past few days.

He had seen his parents from this life beckoning to him from the other side of the river more than once.

Just how much higher did he need to push the intensity to achieve the second awakening of his martial soul?

"Regardless, before you reach a certain level of strength, don't even think about playing these fancy tricks." The God of Destruction waved his hand helplessly.

"Compared to this, do you have any leads on your second spirit ring? Which spirit beast do you intend to start with?"

"I've been prepared for a long time. When I was at level twenty-nine, I had a Spirit Saint from the sect test it for me. Anything under 2,800 years is perfectly safe, and the ideal absorption range is between 3,500 and 3,800 years. Since the spirit beast I'm absorbing is an Earth Cave Demon Dragon with an exceptionally strong dragon lineage, I've rounded it down to 3,200 years."

The God of Destruction nodded, affirming, "It's a bit low, but it will suffice."

This selected Earth Cave Demon Dragon was a spirit beast chosen after comprehensive consideration.

Within the range of 3,000 to 5,000-year-old spirit beasts, those with stronger dragon lineages didn't have its age, and those with higher ages didn't have its lineage strength.

To avoid a repeat of the situation where Nan Qiuqiu had her spirit ring snatched, the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had long since arranged for specialists to guard the location.

After Lin Yuan's consciousness returned to reality, the preparations for his departure had already been completed.

Lan Fozi floated on the surface of the water, staring at Lin Yuan's group, looking somewhat forlorn.

"Lan Fozi, we're leaving now. We'll come find you to play again when we have the chance." Wu Feng stood on the beach, bidding farewell to Lan Fozi with reluctance.

"Mm, I will wait for you at that bay when the time comes." A look of reluctance also filled Lan Fozi's large face.

She truly could not bear to see Lin Yuan and his group leave.

In this vast ocean, most of the spirit beasts that had not broken through the 100,000-year threshold had not yet gained sentience.

Those that had broken through the 100,000-year threshold were mostly in no mood to play with this giant whale, whose mental age was only that of a four or five-year-old child.

Moreover, human emotions were incredibly rich; through the past few days of interaction, Lan Fozi had heard of many novel things in the human world from Wu Feng.

It was a pity that she was not human and could not go with them.

"It is truly, an eye-opener." Du Busi spoke with a solemn expression.

He had never imagined that one day humans and spirit beasts could get along so harmoniously; he had only ever heard of such things in legends.

"It's just a pity that our Nine Treasures Glazed Sect cannot produce positioning soul guidance devices. Even if we reach the agreed-upon location, our people from the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect would still have to search for Lan Fozi for a long time," Ning Tian said with a hint of regret.

"...Indeed." Lin Yuan nodded.

Now, one had to mention Xuan Ziwen, who was far away in the Sun Moon Empire; it would indeed be necessary to spend a great price to poach him.

This was the future father of soul-guided battle armor, even though most of the foundation had been painstakingly developed by Mingde Hall at a great cost.

However, that did not prevent the later Lao Huo—he had misspoken again.

It did not prevent the great efforts of Lao Dai or Lao Tang from attributing the credit to Xuan Ziwen.

Forcibly tying this honor to a sect of assassins—those who didn't know better would think that the Tang Sect had cultivated Xuan Ziwen from scratch and then developed the battle armor.

Setting that aside, Xuan Ziwen's technical ability was still quite impressive.

Mainly, he was the easiest to defect among the high-level soul engineers in the Sun Moon Empire that Lin Yuan knew of.

As long as the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect utilized its "money power" and Lin Yuan brought out a few technological concepts from Blue Star, Xuan Ziwen would immediately recall the Heavenly Soul bloodline within him and come over to work for them happily.

Lin Yuan truly missed the internet and the many convenient technologies of Blue Star, even though he had been here for seven years and would still occasionally strike a gaming pose to reminisce.

Although it was impossible to cobble together a game in such a short time, with high-tech soul engineering talent, he could end this era where communication basically relied on shouting.

Lin Yuan and Du Busi arrived at the Sunset Forest located within the Heaven Dou Empire; the spirit beast they were looking for was located on the outskirts of the forest.

Further inside lay that Green Scale Flower Poison Barrier.

After greeting the team of Spirit Kings responsible for monitoring the Earth Cave Demon Dragon, they pointed out the direction and departed.

"Master, I suddenly thought of a question."

Walking on the path toward the Earth Cave Demon Dragon's lair, Lin Yuan suddenly felt a flash of inspiration.

"Speak, what is the question?"

"Since your body-integrated martial soul specializes in poison techniques, Master, why don't you break through your limits by relying on the poisonous miasma within this Sunset Forest?"

Facing Lin Yuan's question, Du Busi stopped in his tracks.

He struggled between his brows for a long while before finally sighing, "Sigh, it's not as if I hadn't thought of that before."

"Twenty years ago, I came here the first time I tried to break through my limits. And I wanted to see, by the way, what was inside this Sunset Forest."

Du Busi's expression turned visibly terrified.

"When I wanted to absorb the Green Scale Seven Absolute Flower's poison from the Green Scale Poison Miasma, a terrifying sense of crisis appeared in my heart."

Just as Du Busi was immersed in his memories, Lin Yuan showed a look of "just as I expected."

So it was the Tang Buddha Ancestor who made a move, not wanting anyone to covet his backyard, and thus acted?

"You'll understand when you reach my level. Even at the peak of the world, there are still beings who can crush you. That's when I understood that this place had an owner. I never want to experience that again in this lifetime."

Lin Yuan nodded in understanding. The God of Destruction had also reminded him not to think about the situation within the poison miasma for now.

Following the markers along the way, Lin Yuan and the other found the hiding place of the Earth Cave Demon Dragon.

"I didn't expect it to be so close to the poison miasma?" Du Busi said with some surprise.

The Earth Cave Demon Dragon's lair was on a small dirt slope, and the poison miasma could be seen not far away with a slight glance.

This could help the Earth Cave Demon Dragon avoid many powerful natural enemies. The numerous beast skeletons visible within the poison miasma silently explained everything.

"Wait here, I'll be back soon."

If not for the unpredictable changes in the environment this week, Du Busi would have asked Lin Yuan to go down and face the Earth Cave Demon Dragon.

Who knew if the cave would have a secret passage to the poison miasma? Du Busi going in would be a treat, and Lin Yuan going in would also be a treat.

Just as Lin Yuan nodded, Du Busi had already stepped into the Earth Cave Demon Dragon's lair.

Not long after, a yellowish earth dragon was dragged out of the lair by its tail by Du Busi.

It was sleeping soundly, clearly having a good quality of sleep.

It was even drooling (foaming at the mouth from shock).