Hunting Star Dou, Crusading Against the Holy Spirit, Wiping Out the Evil Eye Lineage, Shaking the Deep Sea Icefield

"How many levels? Around sixty or seventy, I guess." The Flame Emperor Manifestation, dozens of meters tall in the sky, returned to Xiao Yan's body. He slowly opened his eyes, and a crimson-gold gleam flashed through them before vanishing.

His entire aura was several times more solid than before.

Clenching his hand, Xiao Yan felt his control over the path of fire within him and beamed with delight.

He had caught a ride on the version's benefits, too.

His martial soul had been formed from the sublimation of his Natal Flame and Dharma Body, representing everything he possessed in the path of fire. After being elevated into a martial soul, with the reinforcement of Douluo Continent's planar laws, the path of fire had become something akin to an innate ability of his.

It was like opening a progress bar that converted his originally acquired Dharma Body into an innate one.

Xiao Yan had a realization. This time, his great opportunity had arrived. He could use this chance to transform the path of fire into something tangible.

Looking inward at his Sea of Bitterness, he saw a crimson-gold flame burning at its center, occasionally transforming into Xiao Yan's manifestation.

This flame now had physical form.

The vessel of the Wheel Sea Secret Realm!

Sea of Bitterness, Life Spring, Divine Bridge to the Other Shore.

[Tsk, tsk. I am about to reach the Other Shore. The next step will be to sever excess and seek emptiness.]

Thinking of that again, Xiao Yan smiled slightly and looked cheerfully at the utterly dumbfounded Ma Xiaotao.

The essence of soul power was no different from Dou Qi; it was merely a form of energy. The flames within him, known as Dou Qi, could be converted into the nature of soul power without any difficulty.

"Sister Xiaotao, can you tell roughly what level my soul power is?"

Xiao Yan grinned and reached out, pressing his hand against the crystal ball in front of Ma Xiaotao.

He had made it himself.

Very quickly, amid the glow of crimson light, a dazzling golden 10 appeared.

Yet neither of them took that 10 seriously.

Coming back to her senses, Ma Xiaotao grabbed Xiao Yan's wrist and injected her soul power, sensing the vast soul power within his body.

When Xiao Yan had no martial soul, the restrictions imposed upon soul masters naturally did not bind him much. At that time, he had been more like a soul beast.

But now it was different. He was stuck at a bottleneck and could only unlock further progress after absorbing soul rings.

Of course, Xiao Yan's actual strength was not restricted.

The Dharma Body was his martial soul. With martial soul Possession, the three treasures united as one, and essence, energy, and spirit synchronously transformed, he naturally would not be constrained by any rules.

"The quality of your soul power...!" Ma Xiaotao's eyes widened. She now genuinely suspected that Xiao Yan was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that had naturally taken human form. She had never seen soul power on such an immense scale.

She had never seen soul power existing in the form of flames, either. What circulated within Xiao Yan's body was actually fire!

Xiao Yan's soul power was even the weakest among his three paths of essence, energy, and spirit. It could not compare to his physical body or soul.

His spiritual power, physical strength, and soul power could all be converted back and forth. It was simply cheating!

Compared to Xiao Yan, Ma Xiaotao felt that she could not even be called a genius.

The complacency she had felt over her martial soul evolving into Ultimate Fire and her soul power reaching Rank 67 was instantly swept away.

In its place came the deep frustration of being compared to someone else.

Still, it was not all bad. Cultivating alongside Xiao Yan was countless times faster than cultivating by herself. Before long, Ma Xiaotao would be able to start saying she did not eat beef.

"Sister Xiaotao, what are your plans from here on?" After carefully sensing the benefits brought by his martial soul, Xiao Yan raised a brow.

He planned to start causing trouble.

At those words, Ma Xiaotao froze briefly before shaking her head.

"Do you have any plans?"

She had originally wanted to take Xiao Yan to Shrek for a look, but after giving it some thought, she decided to follow Xiao Yan's wishes instead.

She had only just managed to sneak out, and she did not want to return so soon. Besides, she was no longer troubled by evil fire now... No, more precisely, she was not troubled by evil fire when she was at Xiao Yan's side.

She could use that excuse to sneak out and have some fun.

"Not too many plans." Rubbing his chin, Xiao Yan raised three fingers.

"First, I need to obtain some soul rings. Sister Xiaotao, you should know that I can refine and elevate the energy of heavenly treasures, turning soul beasts to my own use." As he spoke, Xiao Yan paused, and a wisp of Myriad Beast Spirit Flame ignited in his palm.

He needed to study soul rings carefully. Xiao Yan was rather curious about how exactly soul rings condensed. Could he make one himself?

And could he create some absurd percentage-based soul skill and turn it into an innate divine ability of his Dharma Body?

"Hiss—" Ma Xiaotao blinked. She had seen Xiao Yan's abilities before. So Xiao Yan really did not have any soul rings?

Eh? No, that was not right. She had heard that there was actually a method in this world for cutting off soul rings. Someone had apparently severed their soul rings ten thousand years ago. Could Xiao Yan know such a method too?

Before she could figure it out, Xiao Yan continued.

"I plan to study how to condense soul rings. If that doesn't work, killing a few Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts to experiment with will do."

Ma Xiaotao: "..."

She looked at herself, then at Xiao Yan, and pointed at them with a slender jade finger. "The two of us are going to kill Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts?"

Xiao Yan nodded as if it were only natural. "Of course. Sister Xiaotao, aren't you almost a Soul Sage too? Don't you need a hundred-thousand-year seventh ring?"

Ma Xiaotao's lips twitched. She had a complaint she could not voice, so she could only nod helplessly.

She was quite confident in her strength as well. If the two of them worked together, even if they could not kill one, they could still escape.

They just had to make sure not to recklessly roam around Star Dou.

"What about your second thing?" Ma Xiaotao looked at Xiao Yan's other two fingers curiously.

"I want to try wiping out the Holy Spirit Cult." Xiao Yan's eyes shone brightly.

Since he would have to destroy the Soul Hall eventually anyway, he might as well start by eliminating a cult here for practice.

He definitely could not defeat Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui, but he might not necessarily lose to the Evil Soul Masters beneath them.

After learning about the abilities of a Dou Zong from Yao Lao, Xiao Yan had gained a rough estimate of the level of those two Limit Douluo.

He definitely could not beat a Dou Zong. No amount of explosive power-ups would change that.

"..." Ma Xiaotao opened her mouth.

She had just wanted to remind Xiao Yan to be a little more careful when refining soul beasts.

Although Xiao Yan's actions seemed grand and righteous, the entire continent currently held the attitude that excessive measures were necessary when dealing with Evil Soul Masters.

Of course, with a direct Shrek disciple like her here, Xiao Yan's innocence would have some assurance.

But Xiao Yan's determination to go head-to-head with the Holy Spirit Cult...

"I'm in!" Ma Xiaotao nodded forcefully.

Recalling the revolting sight she had seen in that mountain village earlier, her pretty face filled with disgust.

It was exactly what she wished for!

There was no rush to return to Shrek. They should cause some trouble first!

"As for the third matter, I plan to take a look over in Sun Moon." Xiao Yan gazed toward the other side of the Ming Dou Mountains, his tone unhurried.

If he remembered correctly, there was an Evil Demon Forest over there.

After breaking through to Dou Master, aside from his cooldown becoming shorter and his stay becoming longer, there was one more kind of thing he could bring back.

That Evil Eye Tyrant Tribe that had migrated from the Holy Demon Continent had caught his eye.

Villains, foreign races, spiritual attribute.

Wasn't that nature's gift to Xiao Yan?

That old man's recovery could be greatly accelerated as well.

"Could it be that you're going to cause trouble in the soul beast forest over there?" Meeting Xiao Yan's gaze, Ma Xiaotao's mouth twitched.

She seemed to have caught on to Xiao Yan's train of thought.

"Heh heh heh, that's right. Besides that, I also want to have a chat with the Body Sect, then take you to explore a treasure site from ten thousand years ago. If we get the chance, we'll make a trip to the Far North and the Deep Sea Icefield too." Xiao Yan smiled brightly.

"What do you think, Sister Xiaotao? Want to come cause some trouble with me?

"But there's no rush. You can think it over. I've gained some insights, and I can sort them out before we set off.

"There's plenty of time anyway. We won't be able to finish everything in one trip. We can go later."

"Hiss—" Ma Xiaotao's eyes widened, seeming to sparkle with starlight.

Her personality had always been lively and reckless, but because of her evil fire, she had been forced to suppress herself for many years.

And now, she could roam freely with Xiao Yan...

She immediately grabbed Xiao Yan and energetically tried to drag him outside.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?" Xiao Yan was stunned.

"Time is tight and the task is heavy. An inch of time is worth an inch of gold, so stop dawdling and come with me.

"Ten thousand years is too long. Seize every moment!"

Xiao Yan: ...Had she mixed up all those phrases?

Why did it feel like Ma Xiaotao's thought process was becoming abstract too?

Eh? Why had he said "too"?

Star Dou Great Forest, beside the Lake of Life.

"Achoo!" Di Tian sneezed. He had a vague feeling that something bad was about to happen.