Soul Ancestor, Gengjin Bear

When Dugu Bo learned that Jiang Mingyang had reached level 40 in Soul Power before turning thirteen, he could not help marveling at him.

Jiang Mingyang considered his next move. This trip to Sunset Forest had given him combat experience and the Immortal Herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. It was time to return home in glory.

After some thought, Jiang Mingyang asked Dugu Bo if he could leave.

Dugu Bo nodded. "All right. You're the only youngster I've found interesting in all these years, and you helped me solve a problem that's plagued me for so long. If you run into trouble someday, come find me. I'll help if I can."

Seeing that Jiang Mingyang had nothing to prepare, he summoned his Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar, and prepared to take him out of Sunset Forest.

Jiang Mingyang hurriedly said, "I was fortunate enough to break through to level 40 just now.

"I'm afraid hunting a Soul Beast alone would be beyond me, while asking someone else to come would take time. Senior Dugu, could you help me hunt a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast on the way?"

Dugu Bo hesitated. "Youngster, are you sure you want a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? You do know absorbing one brings Spiritual Shock, don't you?"

Jiang Mingyang looked at him with a hint of pride. "Senior, you may not know this, but I previously took an Immortal Medicine called Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.

"It greatly strengthened my mental power, so a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's Spiritual Shock shouldn't pose much of a problem."

Dugu Bo nodded and said casually, "Fine. It's on the way."

Delighted, Jiang Mingyang quickly added, "Senior Dugu, a Gengjin Bear around ten thousand years old would be best."

To determine what sort of Soul Beast Jiang Mingyang should hunt, Jiang Tian had specifically consulted the Theoretical Grandmasters who studied theory in the Heaven Dou Empire's Imperial Palace.

They said that someone with a top-tier Martial Soul like Jiang Mingyang's should pursue the utmost attack power, just as Sword Douluo Chen Xin had.

The best defense was offense. Defensive Soul Skills were not worth considering among his first few skills; at the highest levels, they would be useless.

He could consider one for his Fifth or Sixth Soul Skill.

After extensive research, the Theoretical Grandmasters had also drawn up a list of suitable Soul Beasts for Jiang Mingyang. The Gengjin Bear ranked near the top.

The Gengjin Bear was a famously peculiar bear-type Soul Beast.

Generally speaking, bear-type Soul Beasts had both offense and defense. They could dish out blows and take them.

The Gengjin Bear was different. Unlike other bear-type Soul Beasts, its growth had three stages.

In the first stage, while it was still young, both its attack and defense were weak. A seven- or eight-hundred-year-old Gengjin Bear could even be killed by an ordinary four- or five-hundred-year-old bear-type Soul Beast with stronger attack and defense.

Of course, "weak" was relative to other bear-type Soul Beasts. Bears generally stood at the top of the Soul Beast world.

The second stage began when it reached a thousand years. At that point, the Gengjin Bear developed its attack power to the fullest. A three-thousand-year-old Gengjin Bear could even pummel a top-tier bear-type Soul Beast seven or eight thousand years old.

With its extreme attack power, a Gengjin Bear at this stage could just about be called a top-tier Soul Beast.

The third stage began at ten thousand years.

At that age, the Gengjin Bear changed the direction of its evolution and no longer focused on attack. Its attack power still improved considerably from its thousand-year stage, but its defense improved even more.

It thus became an indisputably top-tier bear-type Soul Beast with both offense and defense. A ten-thousand-year-old Gengjin Bear could even pummel an ordinary bear-type Soul Beast thirty or forty thousand years old. It was absurd.

What made Gengjin Bears even more remarkable was the reason for their name: wherever a hundred-thousand-year-old Gengjin Bear lived, there was unrefined Gengjin Ore.

Gengjin was a top-tier material sought by every Artifact Refiner on Douluo Continent. Its value went without saying.

The Tianya Sword was a top-tier sword-type attack Martial Soul with level-nine Innate Soul Power. Jiang Tian had long since sent people to investigate which Soul Beasts Jiang Mingyang should hunt next and where to find them.

This ten-thousand-year-old Gengjin Bear in Sunset Forest had been one of the candidates for Jiang Mingyang's fifth Soul Ring. Using it for his fourth instead was an excellent choice.

With a Titled Douluo like Dugu Bo at his side, Jiang Mingyang naturally had to seize the opportunity.

Dugu Bo might have been called the "weakest Titled Douluo," but that was also an advantage when helping Jiang Mingyang hunt a Soul Beast. Capturing one alive and killing it were two different things.

He could not kill the Soul Beast before Jiang Mingyang did. Unlike the explosive Soul Skills of other Soul Masters, poison was unlikely to kill the Gengjin Bear by accident in an instant. That was the advantage of having a poison-type Soul Master help with the hunt.

Dugu Bo nodded. His Martial Soul Avatar appeared in an instant, and he swiftly carried Jiang Mingyang to the bank of a river nearly ten meters wide.

Across the river stood an enormous cave. A hulking creature slept soundly inside, unaware that Dugu Bo and Jiang Mingyang had arrived.

Jiang Mingyang could not help feeling startled. So this was the fundamental difference between a Titled Douluo and a Soul Douluo! If a Titled Douluo wished to hide, even a top Soul Douluo would struggle to detect him.

After all, a Titled Douluo had reached another level of existence. Those who had not reached it simply had not.

Jiang Mingyang peered farther into the Gengjin Bear's cave. To his disappointment, there was no Gengjin Ore around it.

Dugu Bo then quietly guided the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor to the Gengjin Bear's side. It delivered a swift bite and retreated.

The Gengjin Bear woke at once and charged at Dugu Bo and Jiang Mingyang. Dugu Bo carried Jiang Mingyang into the air to evade it. The bear sprang after them, leaping and swiping, but could not catch them.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, the Gengjin Bear's body began to blacken and its fur started falling out.

Dugu Bo called, "Youngster, it's time!"

Jiang Mingyang hurriedly summoned his Martial Soul and stepped backward into the Seven-Star Steps. "Nine Heavens Profound Fiend, become Divine Thunder! With heaven's blazing might, I draw you forth with my sword!"

Thunder descended from the nine heavens, bringing the Gengjin Bear's life to an end.

A black Soul Ring floated up. Jiang Mingyang quickly sat cross-legged beside the Gengjin Bear's corpse and began absorbing it.

During the absorption, blood sometimes flowed from Jiang Mingyang's nose and mouth. Dugu Bo watched without letting down his guard, though it reassured him that the bleeding went no further.

An hour later, Jiang Mingyang slowly woke and took out the Soul Power Testing Device. Hmm... level 44. Not bad.

His rapid rise came partly from the remaining energy of the Immortal Herbs and partly from absorbing a Soul Ring beyond his usual age limit.

Jiang Mingyang took a deep breath. The heavens and earth seemed boundless, and everything felt better.

Once Jiang Mingyang had finished absorbing the ring, Dugu Bo used his Martial Soul Avatar to take him out of Sunset Forest.

Jiang Mingyang jumped down from the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor and turned to wave. "Thank you so much! Goodbye, Senior Dugu!" Then he strode away.

He was returning to the Imperial Capital for things he had to do—and for someone he wanted to see...

Jiang Mingyang was in no hurry, though. He had come out to gain experience. He had arrived by carriage, but this time he would walk back, taking in the sights and happenings he had unwittingly missed along the way.

Comrade Jiang Mingyang's absorption of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as his fourth Soul Ring marked the beginning of a change in Douluo Continent's history and heralded a new era.

History of Douluo Continent, Ninth Grade, Volume One