Soul Beast Civil War?

A First Spirit Ring, as the first skill possessed by Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent, often faced the problem of insufficient power once a Soul Master reached higher realms.

Although theoretically, the strength of any soul skill would grow alongside the Martial Soul and the Soul Master, the age limit of the First Spirit Ring meant that it could never produce particularly powerful effects in the later stages of a Soul Master's cultivation.

Of course, all of that applied to offensive or defensive soul skills.

Tang Yin's first soul skill was no longer that meaningless Blue Silver Entanglement. Instead, it had become a status-type soul skill that increased the Blue Silver Grass's base attributes. It was already worthy of being called the ideal First Spirit Ring.

Lin Yue naturally hoped for the same. Compared to ordinary soul skills, percentage-based status enhancement skills had a wider range of applications throughout a Soul Master's career. Even a Titled Douluo could still use them in the future.

But for his Martial Soul... what kind of Soul Beast should he hunt for a Spirit Ring?

Looking at the scarlet blood energy around his left arm, Lin Yue scratched his head, genuinely at a loss.

In a sense, did his Ghost Hand count as an unconventional Body Martial Soul? Or was the Martial Soul itself not his left hand, but the scarlet power lingering around it, symbolizing Destruction Demon God Kazan?

Noticing that even Yu Xiaogang, who usually loved teaching others, had fallen into an odd silence, Lin Yue looked over curiously. Yet Yu Xiaogang's face darkened, and he merely snorted coldly, keeping his mouth tightly shut.

Whether he had been hit too hard today or simply did not want to offer Lin Yue any advice about his future development, Yu Xiaogang had unusually settled down.

"Actually, I'm not too demanding about my First Spirit Ring. There's no need to push it to seven hundred years like Ah Yin did. I'll be satisfied with five or six hundred years."

"If the Soul Beast itself is excellent, around four hundred years would work too."

With all those enhancement agents and strengthening agents available in the Point Shop, Lin Yue truly did not need to worry about the age of the Spirit Ring itself.

Others might only be able to improve the quality of their Spirit Rings through Divine Examinations, but for him, as long as he wanted to spend some points, he could increase a Spirit Ring's age anytime.

Though there was something else in his possession that was in more urgent need of strengthening and enhancement, so it might not be convenient to adjust his Spirit Ring for the time being.

Lin Yue touched the hard object hidden inside his sleeve. His gaze swept over the others traveling with him, and only relaxed slightly after confirming that none of them had noticed.

"Five or six hundred years is enough? Four hundred years will do? Kid, don't talk about breaking through your limit so casually. Do you even know how many Soul Masters cannot even meet the optimal configuration of a hundred-year Spirit Ring... and can only make do with a ten-year Spirit Ring?"

Seeing this boy treat defying common sense as something perfectly natural, Su Yan let out a long sigh. He suddenly felt some regret.

Had he known these two children's First Spirit Rings would be so terrifying, he really should have brought the headmaster along. With only himself now, hunting a Soul Beast over six hundred years old would truly be rather troublesome.

"Oh, right. If we're talking about what kind of Soul Beast I need, it would be best if it had something to do with blood energy control."

As they walked through Soul Hunting Forest toward the central region, Lin Yue recalled the Berserker's many abilities and said with a smile:

"A Soul Beast that can enter a frenzy, or one that can trade injury for injury, might be even better."

Blood energy control, frenzy?

Su Yan gave Lin Yue's left arm a grave look. Though he nodded, he secretly groaned inwardly.

Those abilities did not sound like something an ordinary Soul Beast could possess at all.

There was probably no Soul Beast so exceptional and powerful in Soul Hunting Forest.

Still, since the boy did not seem to care that much about age, they could try looking. Perhaps they might find a bear-type Soul Beast with compatible attributes, one that could grant the status-enhancing soul skill he wanted, such as frenzy.

But to prevent the child's expectations from becoming too high, Su Yan added one more sentence.

"Let me tell you first: high-age Soul Beasts are truly rare in Soul Hunting Forest. That seven-hundred-year Jade Bamboo Grove just now was difficult for ordinary people to discover, and it had survived hidden until now only because it was not very aggressive. Generally speaking, Soul Hunting Forest won't have such high-age powerful Soul—"

"Wait, there seems to be something nearby!"

Before Su Yan could finish, Ah Yin, who was on alert, cut him off coldly.

Purple light flickered in her eyes as she stared fixedly ahead. She had clearly already discovered traces of a Soul Beast.

"It seems to be a six-hundred-year Cave Demon Spider."

"What? A six-hundred-year Cave Demon Spider?"

Su Yan's expression fell. He had not expected that just after saying the Soul Beasts in Soul Hunting Forest were not very old, they would immediately encounter one of this level.

"Although Cave Demon Spiders are not particularly powerful themselves, their webs are exceptionally tough. They are especially skilled at ambushes and hiding. Xiao San, be extremely careful."

Yu Xiaogang, who had held it in for so long, finally spoke. He summoned Luo Sanpao and subtly moved closer to Su Yan.

Su Yan carefully parted the bushes before him. Sure enough, he saw a Cave Demon Spider searching for something on the ground, looking around from side to side.

"Alright, I see it too. Lin Yue, what do you think of this one?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Su Yan suddenly found them absurd.

He had never imagined that one day, he would recommend a six-hundred-year Spirit Ring to a Soul Scholar student who had just reached level ten.

Yet after witnessing Little Tang's many feats, and seeing this boy's equally calm expression, Su Yan actually believed that he, too, could accomplish the absurd feat of absorbing a Spirit Ring beyond his limit.

"No. This Soul Beast doesn't suit me."

Lin Yue shook his head and lowered his body. His gaze passed through the dense leaves and landed on the enormous Cave Demon Spider sixty meters away.

It was a giant spider with legs over one meter long.

Its body stood only as high as an adult man's upper thigh. It was entirely gray, its leg tips incomparably sharp, yet it had no venomous fangs. Beneath its abdomen clung a small yellow silk sac that appeared to contain a great amount of spider silk.

"Strange. Why has this Cave Demon Spider come to the surface? Shouldn't it be lying in its burrow, using spider silk to set traps and capture prey?"

Seeing the Cave Demon Spider's strange behavior, Yu Xiaogang furrowed his brow, feeling deeply puzzled.

Unlike terrifying spider-type Soul Beasts such as the Man Faced Demon Spider, which possessed formidable combat strength, Cave Demon Spiders had their own specialty. They mainly relied on their trap-master-like web-weaving ability to construct an underground kingdom of their own, waiting for prey to step inside.

For a Cave Demon Spider like this to actively emerge aboveground, something must have gone wrong.

"Forget it. Let's choose another target. Since there's a Cave Demon Spider here, we should take a slight detour. There's no need to create unnecessary trouble."

This sort of spider was better suited for control-type Soul Masters. After all, its webs were indeed quite distinctive.

Just as Su Yan was about to quietly lead the group back, the Cave Demon Spider suddenly seemed to sense something, and its several legs began flailing wildly.

Within only a few breaths, the enormous creature dug out a huge pit and burrowed its entire body underground.

"Oh no, did it notice us?"

In an instant, a chill ran down Su Yan's spine, and cold sweat broke out across his body.

Cave Demon Spiders were not good at direct attacks. It was highly possible that it would move underground and launch an ambush, or burrow beneath the earth to weave even more traps.

However, before Su Yan could pull his companions back, a shrill, eagle-like screech erupted from deep underground!

The next instant, the ground began shaking violently. Two enormous creatures leaped out one after another from the hole dug by the Cave Demon Spider, and a thick scent of blood filled the air!

The first thing everyone saw was a giant lizard standing one meter tall and nearly three meters long.

Its entire body was covered in crimson scales. Two bloody wounds on its broad back were gushing blood—it had clearly been injured by the Cave Demon Spider!

Yet as its blood flowed through the forest, its violent aura rose frantically, becoming ever more terrifying!

It was as though those two bloody holes, enough to heavily injure it, did not exist at all!

"That's... a seven-hundred-year Crimson-Scaled Blood Lizard!"

Yu Xiaogang instinctively shouted the Soul Beast's name. His pupils suddenly contracted as his eyes locked onto the two bulges on the giant lizard's back. It was as if he had sensed something familiar yet unfamiliar, and he muttered almost inaudibly:

"No... that Crimson-Scaled Blood Lizard..."