Pursued by a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast

Dugu Feng immediately activated Martial Soul Possession. Because he had fused with the Nether Ghost Frog's Soul Ring, his Martial Soul had undergone a transformation, and even the appearance of his possession had become completely different.

Black mist emanated from his entire body, obscuring his features and leaving only a pair of eyes flickering with blue and red light.

His whole appearance was exceedingly eerie.

Most notably, his shadow had taken the form of the Ice Fire Nether Toad Emperor.

His fifth soul skill was called Nether Domain. Within this domain, he could devour Soul Power.

His Martial Soul also possessed a special ability: it could devour ownerless Soul Rings and absorb the Soul Power within them.

This could be used to strengthen the cultivation of his own Soul Rings.

It was somewhat similar to the Spirit Pagoda from Soul Land III. As long as one defeated the soul spirits within, one could increase the age of one's Soul Rings.

His Ice Fire Nether Toad Emperor possessed a similar ability.

The Nether Ghost Frog had originally possessed just over seventy thousand years of cultivation, but after consuming some of the medicinal power of an Immortal Herb, it had forcibly raised its cultivation to over eighty thousand years.

Then, during the fusion process, it had absorbed the cultivation contained in the Soul Rings of the soul beasts originally killed by the Poison Fiend Wyvern.

This raised the Soul Ring, which had originally been just over eighty thousand years old, to over ninety thousand years.

After understanding the benefits brought by the evolution of his Martial Soul,

Dugu Feng spent the next half year specifically searching for dead, ownerless soul beasts.

He absorbed their Soul Rings to increase the age of his own Soul Rings.

Within the Star Dou Great Forest, humans did not merely kill soul beasts; soul beasts also slaughtered one another.

In his view, whether soul beasts ate humans or humans killed soul beasts, it all came down to one phrase: the weak were prey to the strong. That was how society worked, an eternal law that had never changed.

Whoever had greater strength and the bigger fist was the boss.

As long as you were strong enough, you could rule everything. If you could not rule everything, it was only because you were not strong enough.

Just like the Spirit Pagoda: when it had been weak, it had flown the banner of coexistence with soul beasts.

Once it became powerful, that so-called coexistence turned into one-sided plunder.

Huo Yuhao's original intention in creating the Spirit Pagoda had been good. He had wanted soul beasts and humans to coexist in a different way, but unfortunately, Huo Yuhao had overlooked humanity's greedy nature.

As someone had once said in a famous quote, human desire was like a boulder rolling down a mountain. Once it began, it would never stop until it shattered into pieces.

Once greedy humans discovered the benefits of soul spirits, they would no longer be satisfied with allowing soul beasts to willingly sign so-called contracts.

They would even capture soul beasts on a massive scale, forcibly refine them into soul spirits, and store them in the Spirit Pagoda, nearly driving soul beasts to extinction.

In the end, all of this was merely natural selection.

It was just that, in a certain sense, Huo Yuhao had accelerated the process.

Dugu Feng still retained a sliver of principle. He had not chosen to use poison to slaughter soul beasts over a wide area in order to obtain Soul Rings.

Otherwise, with the toxins currently nurtured in his dantian, any soul beast under thirty thousand years that touched them would die within a few breaths.

He could specifically add special beast-luring powder to induce nearby soul beasts to eat the corpses of poisonous soul beasts.

That would allow him to harvest them on a large scale, sparing him from spending half a year slowly gathering ownerless Soul Rings in the Star Dou Great Forest.

But such behavior would be no different from that of an Evil Soul Master. As the saying went, a gentleman loved wealth but acquired it through proper means.

A person needed to have their own bottom line. If they kept crossing it, sooner or later, they would become a puppet of profit.

"Currently, my first Soul Ring has reached three thousand years and hit its bottleneck, so it cannot be increased further. My second Soul Ring has reached eight thousand years and also hit its bottleneck."

"My third Soul Ring reached twenty thousand years before reaching its bottleneck. My fourth Soul Ring has reached forty thousand years, while my fifth Soul Ring had already reached its limit of ninety thousand years."

Dugu Feng released his Soul Rings: two purple and three black.

Such a Soul Ring configuration was exceedingly rare even across the entire Soul Land series.

He felt that it was probably due to his own cultivation that he could no longer increase the age of his Soul Rings.

Over the past half year, absorbing Soul Rings had also raised his Soul Power Level to level sixty.

"It is time to head to the Extreme North and hunt an Ice Jade Scorpion for my sixth Soul Ring."

Dugu Feng immediately rose to his feet. Just as he was preparing to leave,

a tiger's roar came from the distance.

"Miss, run! I'll hold it back!"

"You killed my child, and you still want to run!"

A voice filled with fury and hatred rang out from the forest.

"A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast!"

Dugu Feng stared at the Thunder Tiger King in the distance, its entire body crackling with lightning, and a trace of shock flashed across his face.

"Those two are truly reckless. With so many soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest, they had to target the offspring of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast. Were they not courting death?"

Dugu Feng immediately prepared to turn around and leave, but a figure suddenly rushed before him.

It was a middle-aged man covered in blood.

"My name is Lei Peng, an offering of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. This is my young mistress. She accidentally hunted a Thunder Tiger."

"It happened to be the cub of this Thunder Tiger King, which is why it has pursued us. The two guardian Douluo of our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect are already on their way."

"I ask that you take my young mistress away. Once this is over, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will not forget your kindness."

Dugu Feng looked at Ning Rongrong, who was trembling in Lei Peng's arms. She no longer possessed her usual arrogance.

There was only fear in her eyes.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had originally arranged for Lei Peng, a Soul Douluo, and four Soul Saints to accompany her in hunting a Soul Ring. It should have been completely safe.

Who would have expected that, through a strange twist of fate, they would hunt the descendant of the Thunder Tiger King?

As a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast, it was extremely difficult for it to produce offspring.

After finally giving birth to a child, it had merely wandered from the mixed zone into the outer region in playfulness, only to be hunted by humans.

This drove the Thunder Tiger King completely mad. It swore to kill these humans and avenge its child. The four Soul Saints had already been killed by the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast, the Thunder Tiger King, while trying to stop it.

Lei Peng had only barely held on until now by relying on his Martial Soul, the Nine Heavens Thunder Roc.

Whether in speed, strength, or defense, the Thunder Tiger King was among the very best of all soul beasts.

Its strength was already close to that of a human Super Douluo.

"Miss is in your care. As long as you can escape, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will certainly repay your kindness."

Lei Peng could only grasp at straws now. He knew that if he continued fleeing with Ning Rongrong, they would eventually be caught.

Then both he and Ning Rongrong would die.

He could only hold back the Thunder Tiger King and let the youth before him take Ning Rongrong away.

"Alright."

After speaking, Dugu Feng took the trembling Ning Rongrong from Lei Peng's arms.

This deal was not a loss for him. Ning Rongrong would definitely be fine; she would surely escape this danger.

Otherwise, she could not possibly have appeared later to join Shrek.

That meant Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo were likely already on their way.

All he needed to do was delay for a little while.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was enormously wealthy. Making them owe him a favor was not a bad deal.

Holding Ning Rongrong in his arms, Dugu Feng activated A Thousand Li in a Flash.

His body turned into an afterimage and rapidly vanished.