"Moo-!"
Hearing the thunderous bellow, Gao Ren hurriedly turned to look and saw that Xuan Zi had activated his martial soul, entering his beast martial soul possession state.
He addressed Xuan Zi, whose head had sprouted horns. "Teacher, why did you suddenly activate your martial soul...?"
Halfway through his sentence, Gao Ren's voice cut off abruptly.
He had discovered that the soul rings beneath Xuan Zi's feet were undergoing a drastic transformation!
Among that familiar arrangement of two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red, the black of the eighth ring-a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring-was slowly fading, replaced by a streak of scarlet!
The scarlet of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!
Two yellow, two purple, three black, and two red.
That configuration of soul rings was taking shape!
At the sight, the Scarlet King looked as though he had seen a ghost.
"What's going on?! Why has Pavilion Master Xuan's Eighth Soul Ring become a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring too?! I remember that when Pavilion Master Xuan last brought Gao Ren to visit our Star Dou Great Forest, he only had one Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring..."
Mu En answered on behalf of Xuan Zi, who was still evolving his soul ring.
"I don't know exactly what's going on either," Mu En replied vaguely. "If I had to say, this should have something to do with A-Ren's Self Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Xuan Zi just ate almost an entire vat."
Hearing this, the Scarlet King, whose true form had three heads and who considered himself the Zhuge Liang of soul beasts, immediately understood: Gao Ren's new chicken drumsticks could increase the age of human soul masters' soul rings!
The Auspicious Beast also caught on and could not help asking, "Then what happens when soul beasts eat them?"
"You're the first soul beasts to eat these things, so I don't know exactly what will happen either... Just wait a little longer. After a while, we'll find out what effect they have on soul beasts."
Seeing that Gao Ren did not know the answer either, the Auspicious Beast could only leave it at that and watch Xuan Zi's soul ring transform alongside everyone else.
Before long, that scarlet hue finally covered the entire soul ring, turning Xuan Zi's Eighth Soul Ring-which had already been close to a hundred thousand years old-into a genuine Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.
Two yellow, two purple, three black, and two red!
Seeing Xuan Zi open his eyes, Gao Ren hurried forward and asked, "Teacher, how do you feel?"
Xuan Zi glanced at his soul rings, then burst into laughter. "Couldn't be better, of course!
"I feel like I could fight my old self plus a Scarlet King!"
The Scarlet King: Damn it! Could you stop using me as a unit of combat strength?!
Xuan Zi looked at the now-empty vat of chicken drumsticks, then at his nine soul rings, seemingly lost in his own world.
"A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring is something beyond the reach of so many people. To think I'd gain another one because of A-Ren's Self Martial Soul Fusion Skill... As long as A-Ren is around, even nine Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings will no longer be a dream! Haha!"
Unlike Xuan Zi, who had first considered things from a personal perspective, Mu En, as the supreme pavilion master of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, was now pondering a question.
What changes would Gao Ren's Self Martial Soul Fusion Skill bring to Shrek Academy?
Without a doubt, it would bring an enormous boost to Shrek Academy's high-level combat strength.
Just imagine every Titled Douluo at Shrek Academy possessing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. What a sight would that be?
They could overpower opponents at the same level, fight those above their level to a draw, and utterly crush those with lower cultivation!
Even if the Star Dou Great Forest suddenly turned hostile and launched a beast tide, victory might not be guaranteed, but holding out until reinforcements from the human side arrived would still be easier than before.
While Mu En pondered this, the Scarlet King's body also began to respond.
"These new-flavored chicken drumsticks... increased my cultivation by two years!
"I just ate two drumsticks, so that works out to one year of cultivation per drumstick!"
He then analyzed the situation from the soul beasts' perspective:
"Gao Ren, if you could produce these drumsticks in large quantities, you humans wouldn't need to come to our Star Dou Great Forest to hunt highly cultivated soul beasts anymore.
"Just 'force-ripen' some younger soul beasts, or eat your drumsticks directly to increase your soul rings' ages, and you humans could get the soul rings you wanted."
Faced with the Scarlet King's somewhat naive idea, Gao Ren shook his head with a wry smile.
"Senior Scarlet King, do you think my Self Martial Soul Fusion Skill is as common as cabbages?
"I feel like I'll need at least a week before I can use my Self Martial Soul Fusion Skill again.
"Perhaps as my soul power level rises, I'll be able to produce more, and each drumstick will increase soul ring age or soul beast cultivation by a greater amount.
"But supplying every human soul master all by myself is probably a little unrealistic... I feel that even if I became a Limit Douluo, I could only meet our Shrek Academy's needs at most."
"Only your Shrek Academy's needs? That works too. In future, beast tides can leave you alone and attack oth- ahem, pretend I never said that." Under Mu En and Xuan Zi's simultaneous stares, the Scarlet King felt a mountain of pressure bearing down on him. He had grown too close to Shrek Academy and too relaxed lately, to the point that he had begun thinking this was soul beast territory.
Seeing the Scarlet King wilt under Mu En and Xuan Zi's pressure, Gao Ren and the Auspicious Beast found it rather amusing. The poor big dog was being put under pressure in the Sea God Pavilion again.
The Scarlet King gave voice to Venerable Shennong's plea: Help me, help me.
"All right, Pavilion Masters, stop bullying Uncle Scarlet King." The Auspicious Beast wandered over beside Xuan Zi and Mu En. "He should know he was wrong by now.
"Uncle Scarlet King, if the Star Dou Great Forest wanted to launch a beast tide, you'd be the first to object, right?"
"Yes! Yes!" the Scarlet King hastily agreed. "With Gao Ren around, how could I possibly support launching another beast tide...?"
Before the Scarlet King finished speaking, everyone noticed a pained expression suddenly appear on the Auspicious Beast's face.
"Auspicious Beast?!" ×4
The next instant, an intensely powerful golden light erupted without warning!
The dazzling light forced everyone except Mu En to close their eyes.
By the time Gao Ren could see again, the Auspicious Beast had vanished, replaced by a giant golden cocoon!
An aura that made their hearts tremble radiated from the golden cocoon.
Mu En and Xuan Zi's expressions grew grave. They discovered that their martial souls were being severely suppressed.
For them, with their exceptionally high-quality martial souls, this was a first.
"Auspicious Beast!" In his panic, the Scarlet King reverted to his true form!
"Scarlet King, be reasonable. The Auspicious Beast is fine."
"Reasonable?! How do you expect me to be reasonable?!" The Scarlet King, who had somewhat lost his reason, roared at Mu En.
"If Mu En says she's fine, she's fine! Stop running your damn mouth!"
One slap from Xuan Zi cleared the Scarlet King's eyes considerably.
"Great-Granduncle, what's happening to the Auspicious Beast?" Gao Ren's face was filled with worry.
Before you continue