Liu Erlong cursed as she climbed off the mattress, then casually kicked the crumpled blanket aside,
and hurriedly straightened her clothes under Jiang Ce's urging.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Quit rushing me—let's get to work."
Over the next few days, Liu Erlong went into full-on hunting mode.
The moment she sensed a fluctuation in soul power, she pounced without hesitation, catching her target off guard and killing it in one blow. Then Jiang Ce devoured and absorbed it.
Fire-attribute dragons and sound-wave Soul Beasts ranging from two to six thousand years old fell one after another in every corner of the forest.
Jiang Ce's age steadily increased.
At a ten percent conversion rate, each one added anywhere from two hundred years for the younger ones to six hundred for the older ones. No rush, no fuss—steady progress.
The moment Jiang Ce's age finally broke through ten thousand years, a change occurred.
The Black Latex Suit on Liu Erlong's body began roiling violently without warning.
"Finally evolved." Jiang Ce's voice carried a trace of barely restrained excitement. "All my basic abilities have improved across the board. My passive boost is now fivefold."
"My conversion rate has increased from ten percent to twenty percent."
"From now on, if I eat a fifteen-hundred-year-old Soul Beast, I can convert three hundred years of age and feed you thirty years' worth—equivalent to half a month of hard cultivation."
Liu Erlong looked down at her fist and clenched it instinctively.
The air around her knuckles gave a muffled pop.
It wasn't her imagination. Her entire body's attributes had genuinely been boosted fivefold.
The corners of her mouth slowly curled into an extremely satisfied smile—
Now she'd need to kill only half as many Soul Beasts to gain a level.
After evolving, the hunt went even faster.
With the fivefold passive boost stacked on top of her Dragon Wings and Soul Skills, Liu Erlong practically bulldozed her way through the forest.
Jiang Ce also made a point of having her look for Soul Beasts with disguising abilities—Phantom Beasts, Color-Changing Lizards, Mist-Hidden Pythons. Anything that could conceal its aura or mimic fluctuations in soul power was fair game.
His reasoning was simple: his level wasn't particularly high yet, but sooner or later, he'd have to enter places teeming with Titled Douluos. A Symbiote's aura couldn't fool the senses of a true powerhouse, so they had to prepare for the future.
Over the next several days, Liu Erlong hunted from dawn to dusk.
After evolving, each feast gave her twice as much soul power as before. The feeling of swapping a little ladle for a big one when drawing water from a cistern made her more excited with every kill.
A thunderous roar rang out from deep in the forest.
A figure larger than any Red Fire Earth Dragon they'd encountered before burst through the trees—
A nine-thousand-year-old Explosive Flame Earth Dragon, its scales dark red and its whole body wrapped in a visible blaze of scorching heat.
Liu Erlong didn't wait for it to open its mouth.
Her Dragon Wings beat once as she plunged forward, her right fist empowered by Dragon Arm and wreathed in flames as she smashed it straight in the chest.
The Explosive Flame Earth Dragon's protective flames were useless against her fivefold boost. Her punch pierced straight through.
Jiang Ce's black tendrils surged over it and began devouring it.
A moment later, he had converted eighteen hundred years of age. His true form had now broken through twenty thousand years.
Skill—Explosive Flame Impact: compresses explosive flames in front of the user and charges forward at high speed, knocking a single target back on impact.
Unfortunately, this time it didn't trigger another evolution. It seemed the next threshold was still a ways off.
But the instant Liu Erlong felt the soul power he'd fed back to her surge into her body—
The huge cistern she'd been filling ladle by ladle for days finally overflowed—level forty!
Her Fire Dragon Martial Soul appeared automatically behind her, unleashing a dragon's roar unlike any it had let out before.
The Martial Soul had grown a full size larger, and the edges of every scale shimmered with dazzling gold.
The flames on her body were no longer blue. A molten-gold core blazed within them, so bright and fierce that the air around her shimmered and warped into roiling waves of heat.
Liu Erlong looked down at the dark golden flames dancing over her fist and let out a long breath.
For the past few days, she'd spent her days frantically hunting Soul Beasts and her nights being worked over by Jiang Ce.
It had been exhausting, but it was absolutely worth it.
She drew back her fist, steadying her breathing as she casually asked, "Are your fire and sound-wave resistances maxed out? If not, we can keep grinding."
"My fire resistance is maxed," Jiang Ce replied. "My sound-wave resistance still needs a little work. My disguise ability does too—
"At its current level, it can fool a Titled Douluo below level ninety-five, but that's not enough."
"Isn't fooling anyone below level ninety-five good enough?" Liu Erlong asked, puzzled.
Jiang Ce had told her before that after a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast took human form, it could fool most Soul Masters,
but a Titled Douluo could still spot something amiss at close range, and even a Soul Douluo might notice something unusual.
Now his aura was layered beneath the Symbiote's cover, with his disguise ability providing additional help.
It should be more than enough to fool a Super Douluo below level ninety-five. Why wasn't that enough?
"You don't understand." Jiang Ce's tone was unusually serious, all traces of joking gone.
"Even though the Divine Realm has rules forbidding gods from directly interfering with the mortal world, there are always a few old schemers secretly keeping an eye on Douluo Continent."
"But there's no need to rush the disguise ability. We can work on it gradually. Right now, the most important thing is your fourth Soul Ring."
Liu Erlong's eyes lit up.
Her fire resistance was maxed out, and she'd reached the required level. From the moment she'd picked herself up at the bottom of the cliff to now, she'd finally reached the threshold of a Soul Ancestor. She just needed a Soul Ring.
"A ten-thousand-year Soul Ring."
"A ten-thousand-year Soul Ring," Liu Erlong repeated.
"Let's find a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast that fits the bill. I'll pick the best one for you."
Liu Erlong's heart stirred.
In all their time together, she'd learned that Ling Xiao possessed a wealth of theoretical knowledge.
As long as she followed the route he'd laid out for her,
she'd be able to climb all the way to the summit.
Of course, besides knowing all that theory about Soul Masters, he also had plenty of tricks up his sleeve. Every time, he worked her until she was half-dead.
"Oh, you big-breasted dragon, want me to work you until you're half-dead again?"
"Perfect. I'll give you another good workout."
"Wait, assistant."
Liu Erlong's voice suddenly pitched higher.
"We still have to get a Soul Ring."
"What's the rush? I need to give you a buff before we set out. After all that grit you showed charging ahead and crying 'Daddy' these past few nights, I've got to reward you properly."
Liu Erlong gritted her teeth and cursed:
"Get serious, damn it! We're going after a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast. Keep your hands to yourself, you bastard!"
Jiang Ce let out a cackling laugh:
"That's exactly why I need to give you an extra hour. What if your legs go weak and you end up in a dragon's arms? Wouldn't that be awkward?"
"You're the one whose legs will go weak! I'm as fit as ever!"
Liu Erlong flushed red as she strode forward, but she couldn't help remembering the past few nights, when this guy had pounded her so hard she'd gone blank and could only cry, "Daddy Jiang, spare me!"
Just as she angrily pushed aside a patch of brush, several agonized screams suddenly came from the stream in the distance.
Liu Erlong's attention was immediately drawn to them.
Before you continue