Beast God Concealment, Breaking Through the Second Ring

Hearing this,

Niu Gao raised an eyebrow and instinctively asked, "What does the First Prince need this old man's help with?"

"It's like this!"

Dai Weisi frowned.

In a low voice, he said, "Senior, you may not know this, but some time ago, Father allocated me a large sum of money and assigned me the task of reinforcing the border fortresses and the defenses of several major cities."

"I originally didn't want to trouble the Defense Clan, but this matter is very important to me, and none of the people I approached before were suitable. I had no choice but to seek your help, Senior."

"The Defense Clan is renowned across the continent for defensive construction. If you take action, you will surely meet Father's requirements..."

Hearing this,

Niu Gao immediately chuckled. "I was wondering what it was. Since the First Prince thinks so highly of the Defense Clan's craftsmanship, my clan will naturally be more than willing."

As Niu Gao finished speaking,

"Senior, you agree?" Dai Weisi's face immediately filled with delight. "That's wonderful! With the Defense Clan taking action, completing the task will definitely not be a problem."

"Senior, you've done me another great favor. Weisi truly has no way to repay you."

"How about this? If your family ever has need of Weisi in the future, just say the word. So long as I can do it, I will spare no effort."

"..."

After that,

Once they had settled some details of the project,

Niu Gao took Jin Feng and Dai Weisi's group to enjoy a lavish lunch before politely seeing them off.

As he watched Dai Weisi's party disappear from view, the smile on Niu Gao's face instantly vanished.

He turned with an amused expression and said to Jin Feng and the Four Great Elders standing beside him, "No wonder Dai Weisi waited three months before coming to visit."

"He's gathered quite thorough intelligence on our clan."

"Offering high-priced construction projects and rare ores... they're all things our clan currently needs."

Hearing this,

Jin Feng could not help complaining, "With Dai Weisi's talent, he shouldn't only have thirty-seventh-rank Soul Power at sixteen. He's probably put most of his energy into winning over factions and fighting for the throne."

"He seems not to understand that before absolute strength, all schemes and tricks are empty."

In Jin Feng's memories,

Dai Mubai would possess the strength of a thirty-seventh-rank Soul Elder at fifteen. Even then, he had achieved it only after fleeing the Star Luo Empire, lacking resources, believing he could not defeat Dai Weisi, and sinking into decadence, spending every day drinking and chasing women in Suotuo City.

As for Dai Weisi,

His Innate Soul Power was clearly not much worse than Dai Mubai's, and he had enjoyed top-tier cultivation resources from beginning to end. He had not been suppressed, nor had he given up on himself, yet when both were thirty-seventh-rank Soul Elders, he was actually a year older than Dai Mubai. What a waste of resources.

And if nothing unexpected happened,

Eight years later, at twenty-four, Dai Weisi would still be the same as in Jin Feng's memories. He would fail to break through to Soul King, and would ultimately enter the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournament at the maximum age limit with only forty-ninth-rank Soul Ancestor strength.

In response to Jin Feng's complaint,

Niu Gao waved his hand indifferently. "Princes are all like that."

"To them, as long as they sit in that position commanding millions of troops, even Titled Douluo must bow their heads before them. So it's normal for their cultivation to fall behind."

"That is also why, throughout the history of Douluo Continent, the number of emperors who broke through to the Titled Douluo realm can be counted on one hand."

At this point,

Niu Gao shook his head slightly.

"Forget about the imperial clan's affairs. So long as we achieve our goal, that's enough."

"Now that the Defense Clan is cooperating with Dai Weisi, we can be considered to have the backing of the Star Luo Imperial Clan. We can finally develop peacefully for a while."

"Let's all head back. I can't wait to cultivate the Beast Scripture and evolve my Martial Soul."

Meanwhile,

Inside the carriage at the center of the Star Luo Empire's convoy,

Dai Weisi curled his lips into a faint smile. "I was wondering why the Defense Clan had been so easy to negotiate with. So their family produced a genius with ninth-rank Innate Soul Power."

"Although Spirit Hall has eased its suppression of the Clear Sky Sect's four affiliated clans in recent years, if it learned that the Defense Clan had such a genius, it probably would not want him to remain alive."

"The Defense Clan knows it cannot protect him, so it chose to cooperate with me. It wants to borrow the Star Luo Empire's backing to keep Spirit Hall from acting rashly."

Hearing this,

Zhu Zhuyun suddenly asked from beside him, "By the way, Weisi, why did you deliberately wait so long before visiting the Defense Clan... and why did you signal for me to ask Jin Feng to summon his Martial Soul earlier?"

Facing Zhu Zhuyun's curiosity,

Dai Weisi said calmly, "Zhuyun, have you considered this? According to the timeline Niu Gao mentioned earlier, he went to the Star Dou Forest three months ago to obtain a hundred-year first Soul Ring for his grandson, Jin Feng."

"Yet the place where he saved us was within the Thousand-Year Soul Beast region... That makes no sense."

Hearing this,

Zhu Zhuyun's pupils contracted.

She could not help crying out, "So you suspected that our danger back then was orchestrated by Niu Gao?"

"No..."

"Three months ago, we didn't know that Niu Gao had gone to the Star Dou Forest to obtain his grandson's first Soul Ring. Why did you become suspicious so early?"

To this,

Dai Weisi replied calmly, "At first, I truly didn't know why Niu Gao had gone to the Star Dou Forest. I merely felt that his appearance had been too coincidental, so I had someone investigate."

"Later, I quickly discovered that he had not known we were also in the Star Dou Forest, and that he had entered the forest several days later than us..."

"That was why I waited three months before visiting the Defense Clan."

"As for why I wanted to see Jin Feng's Martial Soul and Soul Ring earlier, first, after considering Niu Gao's words and discovering that he had entered the Star Dou Forest with only Jin Feng, yet had appeared alone in the Thousand-Year Soul Beast region... an absurd, yet uncontrollable thought arose in my heart. Jin Feng's first Soul Ring might have been a thousand-year ring, something never before seen on the continent."

"Second, the moment Jin Feng entered the hall, I inexplicably sensed danger."

"You know my senses have been sharp toward danger since childhood. I've escaped several assassinations because of it. Yet Jin Feng, a six-year-old child with fourteen-rank Soul Power, gave a three-ring Soul Elder like me that feeling. Something was clearly wrong."

"So after learning that he possessed ninth-rank Innate Soul Power, a mutated Externalized Martial Soul, and that Niu Gao had appeared in the Thousand-Year Soul Beast region, I wanted to confirm what his Martial Soul and Soul Rings were."

"Fortunately, I was overthinking it..."

"Although Jin Feng's Externalized Martial Soul looked fierce and vicious, both its aura and the age of its Soul Ring were normal."

At this point,

Dai Weisi paused, seemingly recalling something. His eyes filled with anticipation as he said, "Although the Defense Clan has not submitted to me, as our cooperation continues, our relationship will become increasingly close."

"If Jin Feng, this genius with ninth-rank Innate Soul Power, can break through to Titled Douluo, then the Star Luo Empire under my rule will have a Titled Douluo as its consecrated guardian..."

After Dai Weisi's visit,

The Defense Clan soon returned to normal.

With the help of Niu Gao, Niu Ben, and the Four Great Elders, it did not take long for every clan member to switch to Beast Scripture version 5.0 and evolve their Martial Souls into Golden Horned Scaled Rhinos.

In Niu Gao's explanation to the clan members,

He did not mention Jin Feng. He only said that the cultivation method was a blessing bestowed by the gods and demanded that no one reveal a single word of it, or they would suffer divine punishment.

Regarding this,

Every member of the clan believed it without question.

After all, in their eyes, a cultivation method that could increase cultivation speed by five hundred percent could only have come from the gods.

During this period,

Niu Ben also went to the Star Dou Forest, hunted a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and advanced to sixty-second-rank Soul Emperor after absorbing its Soul Ring.

Jin Feng likewise fulfilled the promise he had made a month earlier.

He successfully weakened the secret art Myriad Transformations and created a cultivation method that could be used together with the Beast Scripture to alter the appearance of evolved Martial Souls and one's own aura. He named it Beast God Concealment.

At this point,

The Defense Clan, whose Beast Martial Spirits had all evolved, finally lifted the restrictions on clan members leaving the clan. They could now move openly outside without exposing any flaws.

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, a year had passed.

After a year of bitter cultivation, seven-and-a-half-year-old Jin Feng achieved the astonishing feat of raising his Soul Power by six ranks in a single year, breaking through from rank fourteen to become a rank-twenty Soul Grandmaster.

He was about to head to the Star Dou Forest.

To obtain his second Soul Ring.

And this time, Jin Feng's target was clearly a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.