Hunting Souls in Star Dou, a Millennium Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon!

Meng Chen watched Ye Cixin's carriage disappear into the distance, then returned to his own.

Seeing that Star Dou Great Forest was indeed quite far from Keer City on the map, he pondered for a while before ultimately choosing Star Dou Great Forest.

There was no other reason. Sunset Forest simply could not compare to Star Dou in terms of soul beast resources. He would rather travel a little farther than waste time searching aimlessly through Sunset Forest.

As for the Icefire Yin Yang Well, that thing did not have legs. It was not going anywhere.

Meng Chen drove his carriage toward Star Dou Great Forest.

At noon the next day, the blazing sunlight left the travelers on the official road unbearably hot and drenched in sweat.

A carriage moved slowly along the road. Even the black horse pulling it was so hot that its tongue hung out, making it question its life as a horse.

The black horse could not understand it. Why did its fur have to be black? Could it not have been some other color?

Did no one know that black absorbed heat?!

Spotting a cool, shaded grove not far away, the black horse stopped caring and left the official road, running into the woods to cool off.

Meng Chen stepped out of the carriage and saw that the black horse had gone on strike. He merely shook his head with a smile and did not blame it.

After checking the map, he saw that Star Dou Great Forest was only forty or fifty li away. Meng Chen did not insist on making the black horse keep working.

He took fodder and water from the Bone Dragon Ring, prepared food for the horse, and then removed its restraints.

Meng Chen patted the horse's face and smiled. "I'll walk the rest of the way myself. You've worked hard, so rest here. Once you're done eating, go wherever you want. Just don't let anyone catch you and make you pull a carriage again."

The black horse stared at Meng Chen, who had set it free, then looked at the fodder and water he had prepared for it. It stood there in a daze.

It did not recover its senses until Meng Chen had vanished from view. Then it lowered its head, though it kept glancing in the direction Meng Chen had disappeared...

More than half an hour later, the outline of a forest appeared before Meng Chen.

Star Dou Great Forest was enormous, spanning both the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires. Its interior contained many complex terrains, forming diverse landscapes such as volcanoes, wetlands, and grasslands, nurturing countless heavenly treasures.

Not long after entering, Meng Chen encountered a small pack of Netherwolves, numbering seventeen or eighteen.

Their cultivation was not high, with the leader only around a hundred years old, but an ordinary one-ring Soul Master surrounded by them would still be in grave danger.

Facing the eager Netherwolf pack that intended to rely on their numbers to surround and kill him, Meng Chen raised his soul tool pistol and grinned.

"Soul beasts, the times have changed!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang...

Gunshots rang out one after another. The Netherwolves did not even have a chance to react before all of them fell beneath the muzzle.

After dealing with the Netherwolf pack, Meng Chen continued onward...

As time passed, the sky gradually darkened, and dusk descended with the setting sun.

Soul beasts flickered in and out of sight among the trees, lingering without leaving, yet not daring to advance, like the most cunning hunters waiting for their prey to lower its guard.

Bang!!

A gunshot suddenly rang through the forest, startling birds into flight.

As the view drew closer, a spotted cat could be seen with its head pierced by a bullet, dead beside the bushes.

A white soul ring rose from its corpse and drifted toward Meng Chen.

Like a cowboy from the Wild West, Meng Chen lightly blew at the nonexistent smoke from the barrel, then waved his hand and dispersed the spotted cat's soul ring.

As he ventured deeper, the soul beasts Meng Chen encountered grew stronger as well.

Hundred-year and millennium soul beasts were everywhere. He even accidentally entered the territory of a ten-thousand-year soul beast.

Had Ye Xishui not warned and stopped him, Meng Chen would have nearly walked straight into a bear's jaws.

Lightning-attributed soul beasts were naturally rare. Meng Chen searched for most of the day before finding several, but none met his expectations.

In secret, Ye Xishui also swept the forest with her spiritual power, helping Meng Chen search for a suitable soul beast.

Seeing that night was drawing near, Meng Chen found a stream and sat down to rest. He then took out a flatbread from the Bone Dragon Ring and began eating.

"Little one, follow this stream downstream. A little over five li from here, there is an Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon. It should suit your Thunder Hell Vine martial soul."

Just a few bites into the flatbread, Ye Xishui's voice suddenly rang out. Meng Chen froze, sharply turned his head toward the downstream end of the creek, and his eyes lit up with delight.

"An Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon? How old is it?"

"It is over ten meters long, so its cultivation has already surpassed a thousand years."

A millennium Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon!

Meng Chen was overjoyed. A millennium soul beast was exactly what he wanted.

The ones he had encountered before either lacked sufficient quality or were not old enough. He had finally found a soul beast that met his requirements!

Meng Chen immediately put away the half-eaten flatbread and sprinted downstream along the creek.

After racing five li, the distance gradually closed, and the Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon became clearer and clearer in Meng Chen's sight.

A ten-meter-long Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon entered his view.

The method of determining an Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon's cultivation was simple.

For every hundred years of cultivation it gained, its body grew one meter longer. However, after breaking through a thousand years, its body no longer changed much.

For every additional hundred years of cultivation after reaching a thousand years, an Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon would gain another purple mark on its abdomen. Upon reaching ten thousand years, it would transform into a Purple-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon.

The Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon Meng Chen saw had already exceeded ten meters in length. Its abdomen bore five purple marks, four dark and one light. Its cultivation was clearly close to fifteen hundred years!

"An Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon close to fifteen hundred years old... That's a bit too high."

A trace of gravity flashed through Meng Chen's eyes.

Although he had consumed ten-thousand-year whale glue and his physical constitution had improved greatly, he was still only a child who had just awakened his martial soul.

Meng Chen's ideal age for his first soul ring was around a thousand years, yet this Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon exceeded his expectations by four hundred years.

Should he give up and look for another soul beast? Or should he take the risk and try?

It really was a difficult choice!

Facing an Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon around fifteen hundred years old, Meng Chen was not entirely confident either.

After thinking it over, Meng Chen gritted his teeth.

"Let's do it! The bold starve no more, while the timid go hungry! It's only fifteen hundred years. What's there to be afraid of? If I keep cowering, how can I talk about becoming stronger!"

Meng Chen stopped hesitating and instructed Ye Xishui, "Aunt Ye, I'll have to trouble you."

"It's only a millennium soul beast. What's there to trouble me about?"

By the stream, the Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon, which was gnawing on a Rockhorn Deer, also sensed Meng Chen's approach.

It slowly raised its head. Its vertical pupils looked upstream, and Meng Chen appeared within them.

A human cub?

It looked at the Rockhorn Deer, then recalled the taste of humans. They were far more delicious than Rockhorn Deer, and they could even increase its cultivation.

The Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon immediately abandoned the half-eaten Rockhorn Deer. Its fanged jaws, reeking of blood, opened wide as it charged fiercely toward Meng Chen, as though it intended to swallow this delicious human cub in a single bite!

"Perfect!"

Seeing that the Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon had not fled and had instead charged at him, Meng Chen immediately had Ye Xishui make her move.

Ye Xishui merely released a trace of pressure.

In an instant, the Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon felt a mountain-like pressure crushing down upon it. With a thud, its entire body was pressed flat against the ground, unable to move.

Seizing the opportunity, Meng Chen raised his soul tool pistol and fired several shots directly into the Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon's eye socket, instantly blasting through its head.

The Azure-Scaled Thunder Flood Dragon twitched a few times before quickly losing all signs of life.

The next moment, a soul ring gleaming with purple radiance rose from the thunder flood dragon's corpse, emitting dense waves of soul power.

Meng Chen walked over to the thunder flood dragon's body and released his soul power, drawing its soul ring before him.

Ye Xishui said, "Absorb the soul ring without worry. I'll stand guard for you."

Meng Chen nodded, sat cross-legged, summoned his Thunder Hell Vine martial soul, and began absorbing the soul ring.

The instant the thunder flood dragon's soul ring entered his body, a surge of violent energy erupted within Meng Chen, charging recklessly through him like a wild bull and causing him considerable pain.

A trace of agony appeared on Meng Chen's face. Even his body, strengthened by ten-thousand-year whale glue, could barely withstand the soul ring energy of nearly fifteen hundred years.

His body turned an abnormal crimson, veins bulged across his skin, and his body swelled by an entire size. He felt as if he were about to burst apart!

"Damn it! I refuse to believe it. Refine it for me!"

Meng Chen let out a low roar. His teeth clenched tightly as he endured the stabbing pain within his body and mobilized all his soul power to refine the soul ring energy!

Under Meng Chen's forceful refinement, the originally violent and overbearing soul ring energy gradually weakened and was no longer so immense.

More than three hours passed before Meng Chen finally absorbed the thunder flood dragon's soul ring...