Joining Spirit Hall

Ye Xunhuan was somewhat disappointed that he had not awakened innate soul power above level 10.

But after giving it some thought, he came to terms with it.

Now that the human God Kings ruled the Douluo God Realm, it would be strange if they allowed beast martial souls to break through the limit of innate soul power.

After all, the God Realm could not withstand the destruction of another Dragon God.

Pulling his thoughts back, Ye Xunhuan looked up and met Ling Yuan's burning gaze.

The two stood very close together. Affected by his martial soul, Ye Xunhuan was only six years old, yet he was not much shorter than Ling Yuan.

With Ling Yuan leaning down, her warm breath brushed against his face, and Ye Xunhuan's vision went hazy.

A soul in his twenties lived inside this six-year-old body. How could he withstand such a blood-stirring sight?

Ye Xunhuan subtly drew back his neck and coughed twice. Only then did Ling Yuan come back to herself. She awkwardly scratched her head and spoke with rapid breaths.

"Xunhuan, would you like to join Spirit Hall? Spirit Hall has the best cultivation resources on the entire continent. Big Sister will tell you a secret—the Tang Hao incident and Spirit Hall..."

"I'll join!"

Seeing Ling Yuan looking like the leader of a pyramid scheme trying to swindle a child, Ye Xunhuan could not help laughing and immediately agreed to join Spirit Hall.

As an elder of Spirit Hall, she had to remain stern on most occasions. This lively, carefree side was her true nature.

"Eh? Great!"

The next morning.

"This, this, and this!"

Inside the wooden cabin, Ye Xunhuan held his little face in his hands, smiling with his eyes as he watched Ling Yuan fuss over him like an old mother.

"This is Spirit Hall's level-three token. The three patterns on it are the Seven Kill Sword, representing Sword Douluo, the guardian Douluo of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect; the Clear Sky Hammer, the world's number-one tool martial soul, representing that revolting Clear Sky Sect; and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, the world's number-one beast martial soul, representing the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect. With this token, you can freely enter soul beast forests and mobilize Soul Masters from Spirit Hall's branch halls and sub-halls."

Ye Xunhuan accepted it and turned it over in his hand. It was forged from dark refined black iron. In the original work, Yu Xiaogang had carried a level-three token early on, before later replacing it with the level-six token Tang Hao gave him.

"This is your Soul Master certificate. Once you obtain your first Spirit Ring and reach the Soul Master realm, you can collect a monthly allowance of five Gold Soul Coins. Since Big Sister is taking you to obtain a Spirit Ring soon anyway, you might as well keep it now."

The two had established their sibling relationship the previous night. From then on, they were siblings born of different fathers and mothers.

Ye Xunhuan reached out and accepted it, his fair little fingers rubbing over the Soul Master certificate made from special fabric.

"And lastly, this is the Martial Soul Encyclopedia." Ling Yuan patted the thick, dusty book and scratched her head somewhat sheepishly. "Big Sister is pretty good at fighting, but I do not know that much about martial souls and Spirit Rings. Study this carefully once we get in the carriage and think about your first Spirit Ring."

Ye Xunhuan's brows curved as his lips formed a charming smile. He gently pulled Ling Yuan, who was sitting by the bed, into his arms and said softly, "Got it, Sister Yuan. You spent all night organizing these things. You should get some proper rest."

Seemingly startled by Ye Xunhuan's intimate gesture, Ling Yuan's cheeks reddened at a visible rate.

It was not entirely her fault.

Ye Xunhuan's body had been transformed by the Behemoth Spirit, and not only had he shot up to nearly 1.6 meters tall.

His entire body radiated a strong masculine hormonal aura, along with an ancient scent that made female beast martial souls unable to resist drawing closer. It was subtly affecting her as well.

Moreover, she had grown up in Spirit Hall. Though she was already over sixty, she had never experienced the ways of the world, which was why she had developed such a shy and bashful personality.

"H-here, take this Soul Tool. It has nine square meters of storage space and can only hold inanimate objects. I'm going to rest now. Tomorrow, we'll set out for the Star Dou Forest to hunt soul beasts!"

Ye Xunhuan watched her retreating figure and laughed soundlessly.

The next day.

Ling Yuan took Ye Xunhuan to the Star Dou Forest.

Ling Yuan did not choose to fly, instead opting for a carriage.

For one thing, soul beast forests were fraught with danger, and Sky Star City was far too distant from the Star Dou Forest. Setting aside whether Ye Xunhuan could adapt to rushing there through flight fueled by soul power, much of her soul power would already have been consumed by the time they arrived.

Although they were only hunting soul beasts in the outer region, they still needed to minimize the risks.

And secondly, since it was rare for her to leave Martial Soul City, she naturally had to enjoy herself along the way.

Thus, it took the two of them a full three days to reach the Star Dou Forest.

"Ding! Detected that the host has arrived at the soul beast holy land—the Star Dou Forest. Would you like to sign in?"

Sign in.

Ye Xunhuan silently said in his heart.

"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Bronze Behemoth Bloodline x1. It has been placed in the system space."

Ye Xunhuan's pupils contracted slightly. Others might not know, but he understood perfectly well.

The bloodline of Behemoths was divided into four grades.

They were ordinary—bronze—silver—gold—violet-gold.

An ordinary Behemoth Bloodline would more or less reach its limit at Ultimate Douluo.

A Bronze Behemoth Bloodline, cultivated to its peak, could roughly touch the threshold of a God Official, a third-class god.

After becoming gods, Silver Behemoths were approximately at the level of second-class gods. In Soul Land IV, Qian Lei could use his sixth soul skill to evolve the Behemoth army into Silver Behemoths, while the Silver Behemoth King was an existence comparable to a first-class god.

The Golden Behemoth Bloodline represented a tremendous leap. If one could cultivate into a Golden Behemoth King among their kind, they would have barely entered the God King level.

At its peak, the Violet-Gold Behemoth Bloodline came close to the pinnacle of God Kings. It was an ultimate existence capable of fighting the Dragon God without falling behind.

Now that he possessed the Bronze Behemoth Bloodline, becoming a God Official would be as natural as water flowing downstream, so long as he did not perish.

He secretly clenched his fists. He was one step closer to revenge!

The area outside soul beast forests was always exceptionally lively. There were merchants of every sort, taverns, inns, spontaneously formed soul-hunting parties, and mercenaries.

The cries of hawking and shouting rose and fell, creating the bustling air of a marketplace.

Ling Yuan clasped Ye Xunhuan's little hand and said seriously, "The Star Dou Forest spans two great empires and is unquestionably the number-one soul beast forest. Precisely because of that, it is full of dangers. Once we enter, you must stay by my side at all times. You must never leave my protection."

Ye Xunhuan nodded heavily. "Sister, I understand. Let's go in."

Seeing this, Ling Yuan said nothing further. After presenting her Spirit Hall token, the two walked straight inside.

The moment he stepped into the Star Dou Forest, Ye Xunhuan felt dense life energy envelop him. Even the world before his eyes seemed much clearer.

They were in the outer region of the Star Dou Forest, where towering ancient trees and weak soul beasts could be seen everywhere.

Over the past three days, Ling Yuan had explained the Star Dou Forest's different layers to him.

They were the buffer zone, outer region, mixed region, core region, and the Soul Master forbidden zone.

Their target was also the overlord of the outer region—a hundred-year soul beast.

The two proceeded deeper along a narrow trail trampled out by those who had come before them. Ling Yuan did not rush to seek a suitable hunting target.

She slowed her pace, her gaze sweeping over the weak ten-year soul beasts hidden within the roadside bushes, like a patient teacher instructing her student.

"Xunhuan, look at that thing coiled beneath the tree roots."

Ye Xunhuan looked in the direction she pointed and saw a thumb-thick little green snake curled around the base of a dead tree root. Its entire body glimmered with a faint emerald light, and weak soul power fluctuations could vaguely be sensed as its tongue flickered.

"This is a Verdant Spirit Snake, around ten years old—a snake-type soul beast." Ling Yuan explained in detail. "It is not very aggressive. It mainly relies on constriction and poisonous mist to defend itself. After absorbing its Spirit Ring, a Soul Master can gain a binding skill with poison properties. It is a fairly middling control-type soul skill."

"Interesting." Ye Xunhuan was intrigued.

"It would not be very useful for a strength-type Soul Master like you."

"Blue Silver Grass, also around ten years old, a plant-type soul beast." Ling Yuan crouched down and pointed at a blade of grass commonly seen throughout the continent. "It has almost no offensive power, but it is tough. The soul skill it grants should also be control-type."

"The one beside it is a ten-year Lone Bamboo. Its defining trait is also toughness. Absorbing it should grant a defensive soul skill." Ling Yuan casually kicked aside a stalk of bamboo beside the Blue Silver Grass, then held it in her hand as a walking stick to probe the path ahead.

A white Spirit Ring floated up from the broken bamboo stalk.

Seeing this, Ye Xunhuan's expression could not help turning strange. Sister had just snuffed out Tang God King's most promising soul skill, Bluesilver Pole Vault, in the cradle.