Take a Chance, Turn a Bicycle into a Motorcycle

Outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Three Soul Beasts wreathed in black mist, as though clad in armor, moved continuously. Every thousand-year Soul Beast in their path was mercilessly slain. Cheng Xiao rode on the Ghost Tiger's back, watching the Man Faced Demon Spider and Fang hunt those thousand-year Soul Beasts, his placid eyes devoid of emotion.

Cheng Xiao's current Soul Power was only level thirty-two. After the nine-thousand-year Ghost Tiger became a Shadow Soldier, its strength had actually been suppressed to around four thousand years, less than half of its cultivation from when it was alive.

Cheng Xiao was quite helpless about this. The level of Shadow Soldiers could not exceed that of the Sovereign. No matter how strong they had been in life, once they became Shadow Soldiers, their strength would rise along with the Sovereign's level.

In other words, Cheng Xiao was currently too weak, so his Shadow Soldiers were also weak. However, once Cheng Xiao's level rose, the originally weak Shadow Soldiers would likewise become stronger.

At present, the Ghost Leopard was the strongest among the Shadow Soldiers. Fang was currently at around a thousand years, since it had only been more than nine hundred years old in life. As for the Man Faced Demon Spider, its strength was also around four thousand years, given that it had possessed five thousand years of cultivation in life.

Several hours later, after the Shadow Soldiers expanded their ranks on a massive scale, the thousand-year Soul Beasts lying before Cheng Xiao had reached fifteen. He had originally planned to hunt twenty, but after thinking it over, he decided to leave five slots open so that if he encountered suitable Soul Beasts, he could immediately bring them under his command.

"This trip to the Star Dou Great Forest wasn't wasted. The gains were pretty good." Cheng Xiao looked at the Shadow Soldiers surrounding him and could not help but reveal a faint smile. With a wave of his hand, all the Shadow Soldiers present turned into black mist and merged into his shadow.

Lowering his head to look at his shadow, Cheng Xiao found that with the addition of more than a dozen Shadow Soldiers, it seemed to have grown quite a bit larger.

He shook his head. Just as Cheng Xiao was preparing to rise and leave, an unusual presence rapidly approached him.

"This aura... it's at least a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast." Cheng Xiao's expression shifted slightly. Immediately afterward, the Shadow Power within him spread out rapidly. If he could turn a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast into a Shadow Soldier, the combat strength of his Shadow Soldiers would rise once again!

"I just don't know whether the Shadow Power I have left is enough to condense it into a Shadow Soldier." Cheng Xiao muttered as he sensed the remaining Shadow Power within his body.

As he spoke, a black ape more than two meters tall slowly appeared within the detection range of Cheng Xiao's Shadow Power. Its opponents seemed to be two top-tier experts. Besides them, there was also a handsome young man seated atop a bluish stone, seemingly with no intention of intervening.

"This Soul Beast... seems to be a Three-Eyed Demon Ape." From the feedback sent back by his Shadow Power, Cheng Xiao had already recognized this powerful Soul Beast.

Unlike ordinary ape-type Soul Beasts, the Three-Eyed Demon Ape excelled in the dual attributes of darkness and spiritual power. Its true strength lay in its spiritual attribute. Not only could spiritual power attack, but more importantly, it granted it intelligence beyond that of Soul Beasts of the same level. Moreover, unlike ordinary Soul Beasts, the Three-Eyed Demon Ape possessed formidable abilities on the spiritual level.

The Three-Eyed Demon Ape was indeed powerful, but the reason it had not been instantly killed while facing two top-tier experts was also due to its formidable spiritual attribute.

"Let's go take a look. If there's an opportunity, turning this Three-Eyed Demon Ape into a Shadow Soldier would be a good choice." Purple light flashed through Cheng Xiao's eyes. He then summoned the Ghost Tiger and raced toward another direction in the forest.

Outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

A man in golden armor, standing atop an enormous Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum and wearing heavy makeup, was continuously searching the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

This man was Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, who had come from Spirit City. By the Pope's orders, he had entered the Star Dou Great Forest, intending to recruit those two geniuses with Innate Full Soul Power into Spirit Hall.

"Honestly, where did those two children run off to? Could two level-thirty Soul Elders really have gone into the inner region of the Star Dou Great Forest?" Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan wondered.

Just then, because Cheng Xiao had used Shadow Power, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, floating in the sky, suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation of Soul Power. After hesitating for a moment, he decisively flew in that direction.

He still had not found the two of them, but with even a hint of a clue, perhaps he would find them.

Meanwhile, within a dense forest in the mixed region of the forest.

A golden-haired man looked at the Three-Eyed Demon Ape before him, which had only one breath left. His golden eyes held no emotion. With a light clench of his hand, a golden longsword condensed from Soul Power appeared in his grasp.

"Young Master, are you sure you want to absorb a Soul Beast with the darkness attribute?" the thin, stick-like old man who had accompanied him could not help asking.

"It doesn't matter." The golden-haired man did not even look at the old man. "I only need its spiritual attribute. The darkness attribute cannot affect me."

Upon hearing this, the thin old man said nothing more. He merely gripped his golden spear and, together with another ugly old man, vigilantly surveyed their surroundings to prevent anyone from disturbing the golden-haired man as he absorbed the Soul Ring.

Splurt—

The golden-haired man swiftly killed the Three-Eyed Demon Ape, then immediately sat cross-legged on the ground and began absorbing its Soul Ring. Two yellow, two purple, and two black Soul Rings slowly emerged from his body. He was shockingly a Soul King-level expert!

And the Soul Ring of the Three-Eyed Demon Ape before him was the sixth Soul Ring he was absorbing!

Not long after the golden-haired man began absorbing the Soul Ring, a pair of eyes resembling black holes looked over from within the dense forest. Their profound gaze fell upon the Three-Eyed Demon Ape in front of the golden-haired man, then shifted to the two old men guarding his side before slowly withdrawing.

Within the woods, Cheng Xiao sighed softly. From the information sent back by the Ghost Leopard, those two old men were actually Titled Douluo. The golden-haired youth absorbing the Soul Ring was also not low-level. Once he finished absorbing this Soul Ring, his strength would reach the Soul Emperor level. With such strength, they were likely people from Spirit Hall.

"Damn it. I came over hoping to see if I could pick up a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast and make it into a Shadow Soldier. Now I can only wait until they finish absorbing the Soul Ring and leave before summoning a Shadow Soldier." Cheng Xiao sat down with his back against a large tree and said with a bitter smile.

He had already formed a vague guess. Accompanied by two Titled Douluo, one thin and one stout, while the Soul Master absorbing the Soul Ring was golden-haired—she was most likely Qian Renxue, who had infiltrated the Heaven Dou Empire.

Time passed bit by bit. Cheng Xiao could not help poking his head out to look. After so long, she should have finished absorbing it by now, right?

His gaze passed through the obstruction of the tree trunks and landed on the golden-haired man. A sixth black Soul Ring faintly appeared around his body. It looked as though he was about to finish.

At that very moment, a sharp gaze suddenly swept over. Cheng Xiao's body stiffened, and then a piercing whistling sound abruptly rang out as a golden streak shot toward him.

"Who's there!"