A few days later.
In the heart of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The trees here were noticeably taller than those on the outskirts.
Each stood dozens of meters high, some nearly a hundred, with lush crowns that blotted out the sky.
The air smelled of damp earth.
Low beast growls sounded now and then, bringing an invisible sense of pressure.
And now,
a fierce battle was raging up ahead.
A man and a woman were fighting a Scale Armor Beast that had lived for more than fifteen hundred years.
They worked together seamlessly.
Both were Five-Ring Soul Kings, with five Soul Rings in the standard arrangement of white, yellow, purple, purple, and black circling their bodies.
The man's Martial Soul was the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor.
With Martial Soul Possession active, he kept releasing green poisonous mist, trying to eat through the Scale Armor Beast's defenses.
The woman's Martial Soul was a Tool Martial Soul: the Longbow.
From a distance, she fired arrows imbued with Soul Power, striking precisely at the beast's eyes and joints.
The Scale Armor Beast might not have been particularly old,
at only around fifteen hundred years,
but its formidable defenses made it a dangerous opponent.
The man and woman could not kill it quickly.
Roar!
The Scale Armor Beast suddenly bellowed
and charged the man through the thick poisonous mist and barrage of arrows.
He dodged at once, his fourth Soul Ring blazing.
In an instant,
the phantom of an enormous jade-green serpent appeared and coiled around the charging beast.
At last, its charge was stopped.
The serpent held it fast.
At the same time, the woman seized her chance to unleash her fifth Soul Skill.
Buzz!
A massive arrow of light formed and shot forward.
It exploded against the Scale Armor Beast's back,