What Exactly Is Your Martial Soul?

They hadn't made it out.

Ling Shuang had only just steadied herself when the Heavenly Net Immortal Vine rooted deep in the soil let out a shrill wail and crazily retracted into her body.

She wasn't recalling it.

The vine itself was fleeing for its life.

Su Chen's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

To the north.

An indescribable will bore down upon them.

It wasn't wind, nor sound, much less any force on the physical level.

It was the absolute sovereign might of a higher life form, the primal source of fear carved into the deepest part of one's genes.

Buzz!

Su Chen's mind felt as though it had been struck by an invisible sledgehammer, and his entire spiritual sea shattered on the spot.

This wasn't defeat after resistance.

An ant's thoughts simply had no right to touch the domain of a god.

The Soul Beast army under his command collapsed at the same instant.

Every strand of golden fur on the Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bears stood on end. Iron Wall, their leader, let out a mournful cry as his massive body was forcibly pressed flat against the ground, his huge bear head buried deep in the mud.

Little Gold shook like a sieve, curled up by Su Chen's feet, even holding his breath.

The Nether Shadow Leopards' concealment abilities were forcibly ripped apart. Ten agile hunters fell out of the shadows, exposed to the air, sprawled on the ground and unable to move.

The Purple Lightning Thunder Eagles fell from the sky. They had not been shot down; their wings had completely slipped from their control. Like kites with severed strings, they smashed through the canopy, digging their claws tightly into the trunks and not daring to make the slightest mournful cry.

The thirty Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts Su Chen had painstakingly summoned were stripped of the dignity of the strong at that moment.

They had reverted to their most primitive state as beasts.

Before a natural predator, they retained only the right to tremble.

"Everyone, stay still."

Su Chen's voice was as soft as a whisper. He wasn't giving an order; he was issuing a warning.

"Lock down your soul power. Don't let even a trace leak out."

The Nine Netherworld Phoenix flames that had just ignited at Mo Qianye's fingertips were glared back by Su Chen and instantly extinguished.

Jiang Tieyi's knuckles had turned white. The bloodline of the Savage Ancient Ape roared within him, wanting to fight, wanting to tear apart the source of that fear.

But he forcibly suppressed the impulse.

Su Chen had said not to move.

Chu Yao tightened the cap on her last poison bottle, moving so gently that she made no sound at all.

Yan Wuji's hand was still plunged into the ice. He didn't dare pull it out, afraid of disturbing that being.

Ye Linglong closed her eyes. If her Annihilation Demon Eyes met that will, there would be only one outcome—her soul would be burned to ash.

Ling Shuang stood barefoot where she was, her toes digging deeply into the soil, her body stiff as stone.

Seven people and thirty Soul Beasts seemed to have become sculptures of the forest at that moment.

That sovereign pressure was drawing closer.

There were no footsteps, no sound of branches snapping.

Everything was deathly silent.

Yet every living creature could "see" it—an invisible emperor was inspecting his territory with an indifferent gaze.

Yu Xiaogang's theory flashed through Su Chen's mind.

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

An existence capable of rivaling a human Titled Douluo.

Perhaps even stronger.

Because their bodies themselves were the most insurmountable weapons.

The thirty Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in his possession were merely thirty slightly sturdier bugs before such a being.

The pressure stopped.

It hung above their heads, no longer pressing down, yet not retreating either.

Then, a "tentacle" formed from spiritual power reached down.

It carried no hostility. It was more like a finger counting its possessions.

It first touched the Fearclaw Bears on the outskirts.

Iron Wall shuddered violently.

Then came the Shadow Leopards.

The leader of the Shadow Leopards fainted on the spot.

Not a single Thunder Eagle was overlooked.

It was counting.

Cold sweat instantly soaked Su Chen's back.

After counting the Soul Beasts, that "finger" began to "count" the people.

Mo Qianye, Chu Yao, Yan Wuji...

The instant that finger touched Su Chen, it came into contact with the Void Throne called the "Supreme Summoner" deep within his soul.

A sudden change occurred!

The sovereign pressure that blanketed the entire forest and made every beast submit—

Trembled violently!

It wasn't fear, nor was it anger.

It was... bewilderment.

Like a battle-hardened emperor suddenly seeing, on a slave, the mark of another god who was more ancient and more supreme.

The spiritual tentacle did not withdraw. Instead, like a startled snake, it cautiously circled Su Chen's martial soul core three full times.

It moved extremely slowly and carefully, as though confirming some forbidden object.

Su Chen felt as if his soul were being peeled open inch by inch and placed under a microscope for inspection.

Ten breaths later.

The pressure receded like a tide.

It had come with incomparable dominance and departed with clean decisiveness.

But it was headed in the wrong direction—it did not return north, instead turning toward the deepest reaches of the Star Dou Great Forest, the true core forbidden zone.

The chirping of insects and birds in the forest did not dare resume until a full two minutes had passed.

"What... the hell was that thing?"

Jiang Tieyi was the first to speak. His voice was hoarse, and he coughed up a mouthful of bloody phlegm.

The pressure alone had ruptured the capillaries in his throat.

Iron Wall shakily got to his feet and gently rubbed his enormous head against Su Chen's hand.

Little Gold directly hid behind Su Chen and refused to come out no matter what.

"Enough." Su Chen patted Little Gold's head. "That's embarrassing."

Little Gold let out an aggrieved whimper. Embarrassing or not, he wasn't coming out.

"It let us go?" Chu Yao rose to her feet, her face still pale.

"It didn't let us go."

Su Chen pulled Little Gold out from behind him and looked toward the dark north.

"It reacted to my martial soul."

"What kind of reaction?" Mo Qianye pressed.

Su Chen fell silent for a moment.

"Have you ever seen how a wild wolf reacts when it encounters the bones of a true dragon?"

Everyone fell silent.

"That isn't fear, nor is it submission." Su Chen's gaze became incomparably profound. "It's recognition etched into the origin of its bloodline. It recognizes what my martial soul represents."

Yan Wuji sucked in a breath. "You mean your martial soul is a higher existence than it is within the Soul Beast hierarchy?"

"I'm not sure. But it went in the wrong direction." Su Chen pointed northeast. "It came from the north, yet headed toward the core region."

"Going to report this?" Jiang Tieyi scratched his scalp. "Report it to whom?"

"To the other two." Ye Linglong opened her eyes, her scarlet pupils webbed with blood vessels. "The Titan Giant Ape is only one of the three great emperors of this forest."

"It's going to tell the other two old monsters," Chu Yao summarized with her usual precision, "that a human brat carrying a godly martial soul has entered."

The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point.

Su Chen crouched down and drew three lines on the ground with a branch, representing the outer, middle, and core regions of the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Two pieces of news."

He tossed aside the branch and stood.

"The bad news is that the forest's highest rulers have their eyes on us."

"The good news is—it didn't attack."

"How is that good news?" Jiang Tieyi muttered.

Su Chen shot him a glance. "Would you rather hear that 'it's coming back right now to crush us to death'?"

Jiang Tieyi immediately shut up.

Su Chen gave that silent, lifeless forest one last look.

"Remember how this felt today."

His voice was not loud, but it branded itself clearly into everyone's hearts.

"This is absolute power. Everything we have today isn't even enough to make it raise a hand."

No one argued.

It was the truth.

"But it's waiting." Su Chen turned around, his back to the deep darkness. "Waiting for me to become stronger."

Ling Shuang looked at his back, scratched open by thorns, and suddenly spoke. "How do you know it's waiting?"

"Because if it truly wanted to kill us, it wouldn't need to stretch out a finger and touch us one by one."

The logic was simple.

An elephant that wanted to crush an ant would not first prod it with its trunk.

Unless that ant carried something even the elephant found worthy of reverence.

"Let's go." Su Chen recalled all the Soul Beasts. "Don't give it a chance to change its mind."

The Abyss Seven Generals withdrew from this troublesome place at three times the speed they had arrived.

In the night, Su Chen spread open his palm.

The cold sweat in his palm had dried, but the helplessness of being crushed remained branded into his nerves.

Deep within his soul, the martial soul core of the Supreme Summoner was faintly heating up.

It was a stress response after being swept by the Titan Giant Ape's spiritual power.

On the Void Throne, the fourth empty Spirit Ring slot flashed with an almost imperceptible glimmer.