After meeting up with Maple Leaf City's lord, Jiang Yue saw the satisfied expression on his face and realized that the lord certainly hadn't gone far earlier. He had probably been watching him from the shadows all along.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have looked so pleased.
In the lord's eyes, Jiang Yue was guaranteed to become a Shrek student, and one who would very likely enter the Inner Court. That alone was enough to add a brilliant achievement to his record in office.
Once they confirmed that everything needed for soul hunting was ready, the lord took Jiang Yue out of Shrek City and headed toward Star Dou Forest.
It wasn't that the Heaven Dou Empire had no soul hunting forests, nor that those forests lacked mental-attribute soul beasts suitable for Jiang Yue's soul ring.
Rather, the lord believed that someone as gifted as Jiang Yue had to choose every soul ring with care. Given the rarity of mental-attribute soul beasts, no gathering place suited them better than Star Dou Forest—unless they went to Evil Forest to hunt members of the Evil Eye Clan.
Over a year had passed since Jiang Yue's first visit to Star Dou Forest. This time, he wasn't nearly as relaxed as he had been when he came with that mysterious old man, owing to the difference in strength between the old man and Maple Leaf City's lord.
Under the old man's protection, visiting Star Dou Forest had felt like coming home. As long as he stayed within a certain range, Jiang Yue could wander wherever he pleased.
This time, however, the lord repeatedly warned Jiang Yue not to stray more than five meters from him. After all, they were searching for a thousand-year mental-attribute soul beast, and they had to venture deeper into Star Dou Forest to improve their chances of finding one.
The lord took out the soul beast intelligence he had paid for and consulted it alongside a map of Star Dou Forest to plan their route.
Star Dou Forest was extremely dangerous. Even with his cultivation as a Soul Sage, the lord had to tread carefully. The Outer Zone was manageable; the hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts scattered as soon as they sensed the pressure he radiated.
Only after they entered the Mixed Zone did the lord slow down.
Conditions in the Mixed Zone were complicated. They could easily encounter a ten-thousand-year soul beast with a powerful bloodline, and such a creature was beyond what an ordinary Soul Sage like the lord could handle alone.
To safeguard himself and Jiang Yue, and to ensure their hunt went smoothly, the lord remained alert to their surroundings as he led Jiang Yue toward their target's habitat.
As they approached a particular area, the lord seemed to spot signs of their target, and his tense shoulders finally relaxed a little.
Then he smiled and stepped aside, making enough room for Jiang Yue to come forward and look at the soul beast that would soon become his second soul ring.
Through the overlapping leaves, Jiang Yue could just make out a pinkish-purple soul beast lying on the ground. It looked much like an elephant, but was considerably smaller. Its eyes were narrowed to slits; without a careful look, someone might mistake the gaudy markings around them for its actual eyes.
This soul beast was called a nightmare demon, a rare creature with a pure mental attribute. It was also recorded in the illustrated guide the old man had given Jiang Yue.
"There are only two rings of markings around its neck. One is dark, while the other has only just appeared and is barely visible unless you look closely. That means this nightmare demon is around eleven hundred years old. Just right for you."
"Wait here. There aren't any other soul beasts nearby. It's only a thousand-year soul beast—I'll bring it back for you in five breaths."
Although Maple Leaf City's lord was only an ordinary Soul Sage, handling a soul beast that had barely passed a thousand years, without an absurd bloodline like a darkgold dreadclaw bear's, was naturally effortless.
Was everyone really as irresponsible as Xuan Zi? If a Soul Sage could still botch the hunt for a thousand-year soul beast, replacing Maple Leaf City's lord as soon as possible would be the safer choice.
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the lord moved. Jiang Yue couldn't even make out his figure, despite the lord not having summoned his martial soul. He only felt a fierce gust surge beside him, kicking up a cloud of dust and leaves. Jiang Yue had to cover his mouth and nose while waving away the dust.
When Jiang Yue recovered and looked ahead, the lord had already knocked the nightmare demon unconscious. He sat on its body and beckoned Jiang Yue over.
At the sight, Jiang Yue nodded.
Now that's the presence a Soul Sage should have. Becoming a Soul Sage meant absorbing more than one ten thousand year soul ring and enduring the soul shock unique to those rings. Even against a purely mental-attribute soul beast, an overwhelming advantage in Mental Power was only to be expected.
At that thought, Jiang Yue inwardly criticized a certain Super Douluo once again.
Emerging from the bushes, Jiang Yue was about to bow and thank the lord when a strand of soul power held him upright. After withdrawing it, the lord motioned for him to dispense with the empty formalities and get on with killing the nightmare demon.
Jiang Yue extended his left hand and summoned the Passionate Sword. A lone yellow soul ring hovered beside him, but it would soon welcome a new companion.
The nightmare demon's eyes were simply too small. Even at the thousand-year level, its eye sockets weren't large enough for the Passionate Sword to stab through and destroy its brain.
Seeing this, Jiang Yue flicked his wrist, twirled his sword, then pushed off with both feet and leaped high. Putting all his strength into the blow, he swung at the nightmare demon's neck.
Before the Passionate Sword, the soul beast's physical toughness meant nothing.
The instant the blade sank into flesh, a sharp swish rang out. Sword light passed through its body, severing the nightmare demon's head from its neck.
There was neither sound nor blood as its neck was severed. Unsupported, its head rolled forward twice. The cut was as smooth as a mirror—at a glance, it could almost have served as one.
The next second, blood burst from the head like air from a balloon punctured by a needle. The severed neck became a fountain, spraying blood without pause. For a moment, blood seemed to rain across a ten-meter radius.
The instant the nightmare demon's life ended, strands of soul power gathered above its body, forming a magnificent purple thousand-year soul ring.
Ignoring the blood on his face and body, Jiang Yue immediately sat cross-legged and guided the soul ring onto the Passionate Sword.
The soul power contained in a thousand-year soul ring was qualitatively different from that of a hundred-year soul ring. Jiang Yue's meridians began to ache and swell almost as soon as he started absorbing it. However, the lord had previously simulated the impact of a thousand-year soul ring's power for him, giving him some experience. He merged the ring's soul power with his own quite easily.
Then Jiang Yue's soul power carried the power contained within the ring through his meridians in a slow circulation. Progress was gradual, but steady.
Beneath a certain part of Star Dou Forest, the absence of sunlight should have left the underground space pitch-black. Instead, golden-white light illuminated it brilliantly.
Anyone or any soul beast sensitive to temperature would have noticed that this area was slightly colder than the surrounding places.
A faint, fresh fragrance lingered in the air.
"Tsk, another human burst, but I've finally figured it out! I'm going to become the first Wisdom Soul Ring in history!"
"My god-making plan finally has a foundation! With the power I have left, even if that person is utterly useless, I can turn them into the greatest genius in history!"
"You bastards who treated me like food! Just you wait! I'll make you pay!"
The voice came from the source of the underground light: a silkworm baby one meter in diameter and over seven meters long.
This silkworm baby was plump, its entire body the color of white jade. Even underground, its jade-colored skin remained spotless. Its translucent skin gleamed with light flowing beneath it, and its overall texture closely resembled that of exceptionally rare Heavenly Treasures.
Most remarkably, starting half a meter behind its head, luxurious-looking golden bands encircled its body at regular intervals. There were ten in all, stretching from head to tail.
This silkworm baby was none other than the Douluo Plane's first true million-year soul beast, the greatest opportunity in Unrivaled Tang Sect—the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!
Over the past ten thousand years, so many hundred-thousand-year soul beasts had appeared in Star Dou Forest. Aside from the auspicious protection of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the greatest contributor was this very Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
Unlike other soul beasts, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had built his cultivation entirely upon enormous quantities of ten-thousand-year mystic ice marrow. Apart from his highly nourishing ice- and mental-attribute origin soul power, everything else within him was pure heaven and earth vital energy.
How pure was this heaven and earth vital energy? So pure that, once forced out of him, other soul beasts could absorb it perfectly to increase their own cultivation.
One could say that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm no longer qualified as a soul beast. He was simply a walking million-year natural treasure.
A Tian Meng-brand bug power bank—everyone who used him gave glowing reviews.
One important reason the ferocious beasts of Star Dou Forest had been so little known ten thousand years ago was that they had all been busy absorbing heaven and earth vital energy from the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
After successfully becoming a million-year soul beast, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had finally escaped before the last of his ice- and mental-attribute origin soul power could be drained dry.
Faced with the threat of the million-year tribulation, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm knew he couldn't survive it in his condition. Having personally witnessed Sea God Tang San and the others become gods and ascend ten thousand years earlier, he had conceived a bold idea: create a god!
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had just finished his final experiment in becoming a human's Wisdom Soul Ring. Now that he had finally worked out the method, he needed to find a human with a mental attribute who could also accommodate his remaining origin soul power.
The need to accommodate the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's remaining origin soul power meant that this human couldn't be too high-level. That was why the Quasi-Titled Douluo he had initially chosen had burst. The main reason was that a high-level human's body had no room left to contain his immense origin power.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm knew he had little time left to choose. In less than ten years at most, his million-year tribulation would descend. He had to find a suitable host before then.
But mental-attribute soul masters were already rare, and he needed one at a low level, too. Few soul masters met both conditions, and he still had to happen upon one. His odds were worse than winning the lottery.
At least the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was certain he wouldn't find one in the Mixed Zone where he currently resided. He was already preparing to sneak into the Outer Zone and wait for someone destined to meet him.
His host didn't need exceptional talent. After all, they would have him, an unprecedented million-year soul beast. Poor talent wouldn't matter. With him there, everything would work out.
Just as the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm celebrated finally discovering how to become a Wisdom Soul Ring and keep living, his tiny black-dot nose twitched, as though he had smelled something wonderful. His beady eyes shone with unprecedented brilliance!
Within the range of his Mental Detection, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm sensed the presence of a mental-attribute soul master—and a young one at that!
"Could today be my lucky day? I've actually run into a young mental-attribute soul master in the Mixed Zone!"
Regardless, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm decided to go take a look. His time was nearly up. If he didn't start his plan soon, he might die as his life force faded.
The Ice Silkworm Clan had almost no fighting ability. Even in the Extreme North, they were among the species at the very bottom of the food chain.
However, members of the Ice Silkworm Clan were Ice Attribute and mental-attribute soul beasts, and their mastery of the notorious Simulation Soul Skill was extraordinary. This was the key to the clan's survival, as well as the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's escape from Di Tian and the others.
As a million-year ice silkworm, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Simulation stood at the pinnacle of his clan. As he moved through Star Dou Forest, it was as though he didn't exist in this world at all. As long as he wished it, no living creature could seek him out.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm might have been lacking in other areas, but when it came to Mental Power, even the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler couldn't match him in certain respects.
Arriving near the area he had detected, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm extended his Mental Power to investigate. Naturally, his primary focus was examining the mental-attribute soul master he had found.
"Hmm... a little over seven, almost eight. Definitely a mental-attribute soul master. Heavens! He's already a Soul Grandmaster at this age? Is he absorbing his second soul ring? And it's a thousand-year second soul ring?!"
"Heavens! You've finally opened your eyes! You've blessed me once again! This has to be fate guiding me! A genius like him is my perfect host! Thank you for this gift of fate!"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had initially retained some caution, but once he confirmed Jiang Yue's age, attribute, and cultivation, he could no longer stay calm!
Over his years of experiments, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had gained some understanding of humans. Naturally, he knew what it meant for someone not yet eight to be a Soul Grandmaster, especially one with a thousand-year second soul ring.
To put it bluntly, Jiang Yue was an absolute genius among humans—the complete opposite of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
"No, I still have to wait. He's absorbing a soul ring right now. I can't disturb him."
Absorbing a soul ring was an extremely important matter. A soul master was at their most vulnerable during the process and absolutely couldn't be disturbed by any outside force.
Having already regarded Jiang Yue as his ideal host, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm naturally wouldn't interrupt him now.
Calming his excitement, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm decided to wait until Jiang Yue successfully absorbed the soul ring before proceeding.
Beside Jiang Yue, Maple Leaf City's lord naturally lacked the cultivation to detect the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm while he deliberately concealed himself. By now, the lord had completely disposed of the nightmare demon's corpse and even wiped every trace of blood from Jiang Yue's skin.
The scent of blood could attract powerful creatures in Star Dou Forest. Caution was essential.
Under the lord's protection, Jiang Yue's breathing gradually steadied. The soul ring above his head vanished, and the Soul Power Fluctuation around his body slowly settled.
Jiang Yue had finally subdued all the violent soul power within the ring, completing its absorption. He had just opened his eyes and was about to examine his thousand-year soul ring when a voice abruptly sounded in his mind.
"I've finally found a suitable human! Too bad I can't cry, or my face would be covered in tears!"
Before you continue