Douluo Military Base!

After the initial outbreak of the trust crisis, an eerie atmosphere instantly settled over the entire Douluo Plane Research Institute.

"Xiao Huo, you have to pull yourself together. We never meant to deceive you; we truly had no choice. No matter what happens, when danger comes, we'll put your life first."

"Pioneer, I know this is incredibly difficult, and that it could even cost you your life. I also know that world is beyond our control. But no matter what, the country won't abandon you, and neither will the organization. We'll always be your backing!"

"Sir, open the door. Weiguo promises you that he won't let anyone hurt you!"

For ten hours after learning there was no novel called Douluo Continent, Huo Si locked himself away.

During those ten hours, Elder Long, Elder Ke, Elder Gong, and even Long Weiguo and Chu Youwei had all tried to talk him around.

But no one dared force him, and no one had said a single harsh word. All they had offered was encouragement and support.

Bam!!!

Ten hours later, Huo Si's eyes were bloodshot. He kicked open the door, a huge bundle of documents in his hands.

"Elder Ke, gather all the data on what happens after a Soul Master breakthrough immediately!"

"Elder Gong, Think Tank, take the Douluo plot I put together and find me the safest path with the greatest returns!"

"Long Weiguo, Chu Youwei, prepare for Martial Soul Awakening at once. Ten people for the first batch!"

The dispirited research institute seemed to spring to life the moment Huo Si appeared and issued one order after another.

The research institute, which had been utterly listless, was suddenly filled with energy.

The researchers collected data on Huo Si's body after his breakthrough to Soul Master.

As a deep-yellow Soul Ring rose, a white object over a meter long appeared in an instant.

Huo Si stood naked inside a special instrument.

"Preliminary measurements show Soul Power at level eighteen, with a strength... three times that of a level-ten Soul Master."

"After gaining the boost from his First Soul Ring, his physical strength increased roughly fivefold. His muscles are clearly stronger."

"After receiving the boost from his First Soul Ring, his Martial Soul completed its first evolution. Its body length exceeded one meter, and the ring's boost increased its power by nearly three hundred times!"

The Think Tank

"I never expected the Douluo World's plot to be like this. Tang San actually came from another world, though he came from ancient times."

"Like Tang San, our Pioneer came from another world, and he has a pretty impressive talent too. But Tang San's soul crossed over into another body. It's as if Heaven itself kept shoving food into his mouth; he didn't miss out on a single benefit."

"Tang San and Tang Hao: status undecided. Don't kill them unless necessary. If we disrupt the later plot, we can take the chance to snatch the path to godhood, but we still have to be on guard.

"Xiao Wu is still young, so we can approach her carefully. Even if we can't trick her into sacrificing herself, we can forcibly intercept her sacrifice later on. Sky Azure Bull Python: must kill..."

"Focus on building our power around Nuoding City. The Jin Family, which runs the pawnshop in Nuoding City, must be completely dealt with... To start, we can use commercial influence and money to win over the City Lord's Mansion and ally with the local Spirit Hall Branch. Later, we'll build up our Soul Master forces, make a name for ourselves, and become a local powerhouse. We'll support Qian Renxue, the Spirit Hall young master currently undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire..."

Martial Soul Plane Research Institute

Spirit Research Lab

Under the watchful eyes of the researchers, Huo Si took out the Awakening Stone and set up the Six-Pointed Star Array.

"Long Weiguo!"

Whoosh!

Long Weiguo immediately stood up from among the group of children.

"Present!"

Huo Si had kept his promise. As soon as he obtained a Soul Ring and became a Soul Master, he awakened Martial Souls for Long Weiguo and Chu Youwei.

The moment Long Weiguo stepped into the Six-Pointed Star Array, Huo Si released his Martial Soul and Soul Ring, activating the formation.

A vast surge of Soul Power immediately poured in from every direction, completely beyond anyone's control.

Roar!!!

A dragon's roar rang through the entire research lab.

"This... how is this possible? A dragon!"

"Purple dragon scales have appeared on Long Weiguo's body, accompanied by lightning. His physical abilities have more than doubled!"

Lightning? A dragon? Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon???

Huo Si's mouth twitched violently, but it was still a top-tier Martial Soul.

"Test his Soul Power."

Hum!

As dazzling blue light filled the Awakening Room, nine stars lit up on the Spirit Power Testing Crystal Ball.

"Innate Soul Power, level nine. That's quite good. Once you break through to level ten, I'll take you to hunt a Soul Beast."

Huo Si patted Long Weiguo and looked over at Chu Youwei.

Chu Youwei clenched her fists, nervous. As warm Soul Power lifted her off the ground, a sudden heat spread through her body, as if a flame inside her were burning wildly.

"Ugh—!!!"

Cluck, cluck, cluck... screee!

With a piercing cry, the chicken Martial Soul blazed with dazzling golden light. Golden flames flared wildly, and a terrifying wave of heat swept through the entire research lab.

Huo Si's expression changed drastically. A positive Martial Soul Mutation—and a Bright Phoenix at that. Wasn't this the kind of Martial Soul that only one family in Douluo II was supposed to have?

Thinking back to the three people who had awakened their Martial Souls at the Dragon Kingdom's Spirit Hall—himself, Long Weiguo, and Chu Youwei—Huo Si realized his Martial Soul was a snake, Long Weiguo's was a dragon, and Chu Youwei's had originally been a chicken before mutating into a Bright Phoenix.

Huo Si was born in the Year of the Snake. He looked over Long Weiguo and Chu Youwei's records and gritted his teeth, feeling as though he had stumbled onto something enormous.

Chu Youwei had awakened with Innate Full Soul Power. Since she was younger than both Huo Si and Long Weiguo and still under twenty, she was immediately marked for special training and taken away to be fitted with a Soul Ring.

After awakening the Martial Souls of the next eight six-year-old children, Huo Si saw that most of them had the same types of Martial Souls, while the rest had mutated ones. At last, he confirmed one thing.

"Most Martial Souls in the Dragon Kingdom are probably based on a person's zodiac animal, or on a mutation of that zodiac animal."

Those words sent the entire research institute into a shocked frenzy.

"We still have too little data to be certain, but... but there's nothing impossible about the Pioneer's theory."

"As everyone knows, the stronger and higher-quality a Martial Soul is, the higher a person's Innate Soul Power will be. So could we awaken the Martial Souls with stronger attack power and higher Soul Power quality first, based on people's birth years—the dragon, tiger, ox, and so on?"

"The Pioneer said only most of them follow the zodiac animals, not all. I saw two that weren't zodiac Martial Souls, but Tool Martial Souls. And Chu Youwei's zodiac animal is the chicken. According to the information from Spirit Hall, that kind of Martial Soul generally isn't very high quality, yet hers mutated into a phoenix. There's a certain chance of a mutation producing a top-quality Martial Soul."

The rest of the Martial Soul research had nothing to do with Huo Si.

He promptly returned to the Douluo World with Long Weiguo, this time carrying an absolute weapon of mass destruction.

Inside the Storage Soul Tool was a one-meter-long missile that had been modified to detonate easily, leaving nothing but bones within a hundred-meter radius.

Chu Youwei had been assigned to special training, so she didn't come with them this time. She was preparing to absorb the Soul Beast Soul Ring Huo Si had brought back and, after breaking through to Soul Master, awaken Martial Souls for another batch of people.

Soul Hunting Forest

Dawn was just breaking.

"Pant, pant, pant, pant!!!"

Yu Xiaogang gasped for breath.

"Th-this... where are we?"

Tang San hurriedly helped Yu Xiaogang up.

"Teacher, we're in the Soul Hunting Forest."

Hearing Tang San's words, Yu Xiaogang immediately felt around his left leg, the one bitten by the Datura Snake.

"Pant, pant... good, it's still here, still here."

"Heh, I had a dream. A man in his twenties with level-ten Soul Power pretended to have Innate Full Soul Power, and somehow he really got better. How could that be? How could a thumb-sized snake Martial Soul grow to over a meter after absorbing its First Soul Ring?"

"I even dreamed we ran into a Datura Snake and it bit me. Huo Si's friend kindly offered to cut off my leg to save me. Ridiculous. The Datura Snake uses mental poison. As long as you treat it properly within the time limit, it isn't fatal. Good thing my leg's still here."

After listening to Yu Xiaogang, Tang San's mouth twitched furiously. He wanted to say something, but held back.

"Xiao San, help me up. I'll take you to find your Soul—"

"Ah!!! My right leg!!!"

"Which bastard cut off my right leg!!!"

Tang Hao searched all over the Soul Hunting Forest. When he realized that all the Soul Beasts within the right age range for his son's First Soul Ring had somehow vanished, his mouth twitched violently.

Luckily, the First Martial Soul was never one Tang Hao cared about. He promptly chose a snake over two hundred years old and drove it toward them.

By then, Huo Si had already returned to Nuoding City with Long Weiguo.

The instant he stepped into Nuoding City, Huo Si sensed that a group of people had spotted him and begun following him.

Following the route laid out by the Think Tank, Huo Si sought out the City Lord and made connections with the Xiao Family of Nuoding City.

He used large quantities of Gold Soul Coins counterfeited in the Dragon Kingdom to win them over—bribe them—and leave the impression that he was wealthy.

He also went to the Spirit Hall Branch and told Su Yuntao briefly that he might have gotten himself into trouble.

Lured by a large number of Gold Soul Coins, Su Yuntao introduced him to five Soul Grandmaster colleagues.

Trouble soon followed.

That night, in the hotel, an old man in a golden robe arrived with three Soul Elders and a large number of city guards.

"Huo Si, hand over my son!"

The old man wore a golden robe and clearly meant trouble. The moment he found Huo Si, he promptly released his Martial Soul and Soul Rings.

White, yellow, yellow, purple—he was clearly a Soul Ancestor of level forty or higher.

His Martial Soul was a Money Turtle, exactly the same as the young Soul Elder Huo Si had killed outside Nuoding Junior Spirit Master Academy that day.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Huo Si smiled and gave Long Weiguo a look. Long Weiguo nodded and quietly slipped out of the hotel.

Huo Si offered no resistance and obediently followed them to the City Lord's Mansion to await an investigation.

Meanwhile, Long Weiguo went straight to the Spirit Hall Branch to find Su Yuntao.

With the Spirit Hall Branch backing him and City Lord Xiao bribed, there was no way the murder case could be pinned on Huo Si.

"According to our investigation, two days ago Huo Si entered the Soul Hunting Forest with two companions to obtain Soul Rings. He had no contact or conflict with Jin Chengwu, the Jin Family's eldest son, and had no reason to attack him."

Seeing the ten thousand Gold Soul Coins Huo Si had given him that day, City Lord Xiao promptly delivered his final ruling.

"Impossible!"

"That's absolutely impossible! My son, dozens of family guards, and our steward have all disappeared. Huo Si must have something to do with it!"

"City Lord Xiao, are you really going to protect this outsider?"

City Lord Xiao clenched his fists, staring coldly at the Jin Family Head below the stand.

Five Soul Rings—white, yellow, yellow, purple, purple—flickered into view. A wolf slowly appeared behind him.

"I am the City Lord of Nuoding City!"

"If the Jin Family Head insists that Huo Si was involved in your son's disappearance, then show us actual proof. Otherwise, you're making a false accusation!"

The Spirit Hall Branch's head, an old man, stepped forward with a grim expression.

"Huo Si went to hunt for a Soul Ring with five of our branch's deacons, led by Su Yuntao. The Soul Hunting Forest guards saw our Spirit Hall Branch deacon tokens. Are you questioning the authority of Spirit Hall?"

Backed by the two most powerful official forces in Nuoding City, Huo Si was acquitted on the spot.

"Huo Si, just you wait!"

Though the Jin Family Head was unwilling in a hundred different ways, in the end, he could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger.

A cold smile slowly curled across Huo Si's lips.

"You won't get the chance!"

That night, Huo Si opened the Plane Star Gate and connected it to the Dragon Kingdom.

A squad of plane guards was urgently summoned to the Douluo World.

They installed a missile launcher.

At two thirty in the morning, a dazzling missile streaked into the sky. The instant it hit the Jin Family's estate, every building was razed to the ground.

A sea of flames and a shock wave erupted... shaking all of Nuoding City!

City Lord Xiao and the Spirit Hall Branch were jolted awake in the middle of the night. What awaited them was a series of chests of Gold Soul Coins delivered by squads of special forces soldiers in crisp, uniform outfits.

For a moment, City Lord Xiao's scalp prickled. He knew that a powerful dragon had crossed the river and that the Jin Family had provoked a terrifying Soul Master clan. In a single night, the entire Jin Family had been wiped out.

At Huo Si's indication, City Lord Xiao, Su Yuntao, and even the Spirit Hall Branch head all received enormous sums of Gold Soul Coins—more than they could have earned in their entire lives.

With money, manpower, influence, and the strength to wipe out a century-old family that had entrenched itself in Nuoding City overnight, everyone understood that Huo Si was no simple man. No one dared act rashly. No one knew how much power he had behind him.

Seven days later, deep in the mountains dozens of kilometers outside Nuoding City, large numbers of people from another world appeared. They began building, constructing a village...

A military base appeared, heavily guarded and outfitted with various missile launchers. Its guards wore special military uniforms and carried advanced firearms.

Following the Think Tank's advice, Huo Si went to see the Nuoding City Lord again. Lured by Gold Soul Coins, the City Lord brought an undiscovered village under Nuoding City's administration, and everyone in the village received legal status in the Heaven Dou Empire.

Huo Si promised to invest a million Gold Soul Coins in Nuoding City. Soon, shops and roads sprang up throughout the city. The City Lord's performance record soared, and fiscal revenue rose three hundred percent year over year.

Huo Family Village supplied the Spirit Hall Branch with many six-year-old prodigies who had Innate Soul Power of level seven or eight. The village also proposed funding the establishment of Nuoding Spirit Academy, with Spirit Hall providing the teachers and Huo Family Village covering all living expenses and salaries.

From then on, all children whose talents met Spirit Hall's requirements would be given priority to join Spirit Hall.

The heads of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch and the City Lord of Nuoding City saw their performance records soar. With everyone benefiting, Nuoding City came to be ruled by three powers. Within this tiny patch of land, their hold became as solid as a fortress!