Level 20 Soul Power

The fourth share, the fifth, the sixth...

Only when six whole shares of mixed and impure "Level 10 Soul Power" had been squeezed into viscous, pure dark-gold Soul Power did the invisible barrier before Level 20 finally shatter with a crisp crack!

Boom!

A shockwave several times more powerful than before exploded from Dongfang Hao's body, pulverizing every dead branch and fallen leaf on the ground!

Level 20. A clean sweep!

Yet the medicinal power and its conversion had not stopped.

Dongfang Hao still had one last share of Level 10 Soul Power.

After reaching Level 20, the experience required to advance doubled wildly again. To climb from Level 20 to Level 30 would take the equivalent of twelve of those earlier shares of Level 10 Soul Power!

Once that final remnant had been fully refined and absorbed, it stirred only a faint ripple in Dongfang Hao's Qi Sea, now stable at Level 20.

His cultivation ultimately settled at a rather unusual point—

Somewhere between Level 20.5 and Level 20.6!

Though he had not surged straight to a higher level, the dark-gold Soul Power coursing through his meridians was so concentrated that even some Soul Elders would blanch at it!

"Whew..."

A stream of white vapor tinged with golden light flowed from Dongfang Hao's nose and mouth. It shot several feet through the air like a sword before dissipating.

He rose, straight as a spear. Light flashed in his Golden Eyes, and as he felt the explosive power filling him almost to the point of pain, he could not help smiling with satisfaction.

"Ultimate Soul Power at Level 20, plus Golden Eyes comparable to a god's..."

"With a foundation like this, across the entire Douluo Continent, I'm afraid no one at my level can match me!"

This was the foundation of true invincibility!

Compared with Huo Yuhao, who had nearly died at the hands of a Wind Baboon and had only scraped out a reversal thanks to a Soul Tool, Dongfang Hao was like a god high above the clouds.

Whoosh!

Dongfang Hao turned his head. His golden gaze pierced the dense layers of forest toward a spot on the outermost edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, and his smile grew deeper and colder.

"If I've got the timing right, that fellow... should have run into the Wind Baboon by now, shouldn't he?"

"And if I remember correctly, Huo Yuhao's First Soul Ring comes from the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, which lived for a full million years and has both mental and ice attributes..."

At the thought of that million-year Soul Beast practically delivering himself to Huo Yuhao's door, complete with four supreme divine abilities and a Second Martial Soul, Dongfang Hao's heart could not help pounding.

Huo Yuhao would obtain a million-year Soul Beast...

Then, by the system's tenfold critical-reward rule...

What heaven-defying, peerless opportunity would I receive?!

At the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, in a clearing shrouded by cold tree shadows.

Hiss!

A foul-smelling white sphere of light shot from the depths of the forest like lightning, hurtling toward a pale, slight boy.

That boy was Huo Yuhao. Faced with the sudden lethal attack, he instinctively snatched the only weapon from his clothes—the White Tiger Dagger—and held it across his chest.

Hum!

The white sphere struck the dagger hard, but no violent boom followed. Instead, the seemingly ordinary famed dagger trembled and swallowed all the Soul Power within the sphere. A sharp blade of light a foot long then burst from it, carving a tricky arc through the air and tearing open the throat of the ten-year Wind Baboon as it lunged!

Blood sprayed, and the Wind Baboon crashed to the ground.

Huo Yuhao collapsed onto the muddy leaves, panting hard. Cold sweat poured off him like rain, and his heart nearly leaped into his throat.

But before he could recover from the terror of narrowly escaping death, the ground beneath his feet began to shake violently. Bitter cold surged forth, and a plump white behemoth several meters long burst from the earth like a dragon. It turned into a dazzling streak of golden light and charged straight into the space between his brows without giving him any say in the matter!

Then a pitch-black fissure split the sky. A gray sphere of light filled with desolation and death clung to him like a parasite and forced its way into his Sea of Consciousness...

Meanwhile, dozens of miles away.

Dongfang Hao stood with his hands behind his back. A dark-gold glow shifted within his Golden Eyes, and every stir of wind and grass across the landscape was reflected deep in his mind.

"Ding! Detected: Huo Yuhao, child of fortune, has used the White Tiger Dagger to slay a ten-year Wind Baboon and survive a life-or-death crisis."

"The system feedback mechanism has activated. Tenfold critical reward being issued..."

"Detected: the item held by the child of fortune is the 'Level 5 close-combat Soul Tool, White Tiger Dagger.' Host, would you like ten times the quantity or a tenfold increase in quality?"

"Tenfold quality!"

Dongfang Hao made the choice in his mind without the slightest hesitation.

Ten trashy Level 5 Soul Tools? They'd be too uncomfortable even to use as stepping stones. Only crushing superiority in quality was the true path to invincibility!

Hum!

Light surged in his palm, and a terrifyingly heavy blade aura, powerful enough to make the earth cave in, swept outward!

When the radiance faded, an exquisite dark-gold dagger hovered quietly above Dongfang Hao's palm, as though forged from the spine of an ancient, vicious demon tiger.

Countless intricate, profoundly mysterious three-dimensional Core Arrays were engraved on its blade. A chilling, murderous aura spread from it, slicing countless visible white fissures through the surrounding air!

"A Level 8 close-combat Soul Tool... the Dark Gold Heaven-Splitting Dagger!"

Sensing the vast power emanating from within the dagger, Dongfang Hao could not help licking his lips. A fervent gleam crossed his eyes.

A Level 8 Soul Tool!

In a place like Shrek, this would have been a prized asset. At one of those vast underground auction houses, anyone without a million—or even several million—Gold Soul Coins would not have qualified to so much as look at it!

Yet now it had landed in his hands with such ease!

Before Dongfang Hao could put away the deadly weapon, however, the system's voice suddenly rang through his mind, sharp and immense as a divine bell. Even his soul trembled faintly!

"Ding! Detected: Huo Yuhao, child of fortune, has officially merged with the 'million-year mental-type Soul Beast, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm'!"

"Tenfold critical reward triggered!"

"Congratulations, host! You have received the complete-form sacrifice of a ten-million-year supreme divine beast—the 'Divine Dream Ice Silkworm'!"