Soul hunting in Sunset Forest was a little less dangerous than in Star Dou Great Forest. But the reason Lu Yang and the two girls felt so at ease, with Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling even linking arms as though they were taking a stroll through the woods, was that Dugu Bo, a Titled Douluo, was guarding them.
Dugu Bo was nothing like Flender and the others from Shrek Academy. Dugu Yan was his only remaining relative, so he naturally put his heart into protecting her. Besides, Ye Lingling had come along this time, too. She was the inheritor of the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul whose help he would be seeking later. If anything happened to her, how could he possibly approach Ye Qingling?
As for Lu Yang, Dugu Bo merely regarded him as Ye Lingling's tagalong. Although Lu Yang was also here to hunt for a soul ring, Dugu Bo really had not paid him much attention at first.
That lasted until Dugu Yan remarked while chatting with Ye Lingling, "Little Yang is only eight, yet he's already a Soul Elder. I'll have to work harder at my cultivation from now on, or he'll leave me far behind."
Only then did Dugu Bo look at Lu Yang. "You're only eight this year, kid?"
"Yes, Your Eminence Poison Douluo," Lu Yang replied.
Dugu Bo drew in a sharp breath. "That talent of yours is unlike anything I've seen in my life. Given time, you might become a Titled Douluo like me. By the way, what is your martial soul?"
"Your Eminence, my martial soul is a ball of light," Lu Yang answered.
"A ball of light? That really is a rare martial soul," Dugu Bo said.
As a Titled Douluo, Dugu Bo's knowledge far surpassed that of the likes of Yu Xiaogang. In the original story, it was Dugu Bo who, based on his understanding of the conditions under which twin martial souls were born, determined that Tang San's Blue Silver Grass martial soul was extraordinary in quality and by no means ordinary blue silver grass. He had helped Tang San out of the slump he fell into after Shui Bing'er defeated him.
Still, this was Dugu Bo's first time hearing of a ball-of-light martial soul. He did not press for details, merely asking about Lu Yang's soul-hunting plans. "Tell me, kid. What kind of soul beast do you want?"
"Your Eminence, I previously hunted for soul rings in Star Dou Great Forest, so I'm not very familiar with the soul beasts that live in Sunset Forest. My targets are the Blazing Spirit Kite, the Blazing Light Feathered Falcon, or the Sunflare Golden-Winged Sparrow. Do any of those soul beasts live here?" Lu Yang asked in return.
Sunset Forest covered a vast area, but the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was located here. Since Dugu Bo occupied that treasure trove, his knowledge of Sunset Forest was naturally quite extensive.
After considering it for a moment, he gave his answer. "Forget about the Blazing Spirit Kite and the Blazing Light Feathered Falcon. One lives near the Calamity Mountains, and the other in the Lava Rift Valley. Both are top-tier fire-attribute flying soul beasts. You rarely find any trace of them in soul beast forests like Star Dou Great Forest or Sunset Forest."
"Sunflare Golden-Winged Sparrows do live here in Sunset Forest, though. But those soul beasts are quite powerful, and the ones living here are no youngsters. Are you sure you want to choose one?" Dugu Bo asked.
Although Dugu Bo scoffed at those blasted ten theories Yu Xiaogang had published, the soul ring absorption age limits he had compiled were drawn from generations of experience accumulated by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and Spirit Hall. They still held some value as a reference.
But Lu Yang had absorbed a thousand-year soul ring as his very first soul ring. Now that he was absorbing his third, how could he possibly settle for one around seventeen hundred years old?
Still, since he was hunting with Dugu Bo this time, that eccentric old man might not agree to let him try unless he offered something convincing. Besides, revealing some of his abilities now would help lay the groundwork for what he intended to do later. With a thought, Lu Yang summoned his martial soul.
As two purple soul rings rose from beneath his feet, Dugu Bo, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling all froze.
"Your first and second soul rings are both purple thousand-year soul rings!?" Dugu Yan cried out in shock.
Ye Lingling covered her red lips with a hand, looking just as astonished.
A flicker of surprise passed through Dugu Bo's eyes, but he quickly concealed it.
Eight years old, rank thirty soul power, and his first two rings are both thousand-year soul rings. If I could bring someone like him into the Dugu Family, having him grow up alongside Yanzi would be quite good. I just don't know what this boy's background is. I'll have to ask the head of the Ye Family later, Dugu Bo thought.
"Your Eminence, my martial soul is very special. It greatly enhances my physique, so I've always absorbed soul rings beyond the usual age limits. For my third soul ring, I'm aiming for eight to nine thousand years," Lu Yang said.
"Heh, you really are a frightening little brat. To think you want to challenge an eight- or nine-thousand-year soul ring for your third ring." Dugu Bo gave a snort of laughter.
He was no kindly soul. Before he had accepted Lu Yang, even asking a few questions was already more than could easily be expected of him. As for trying to talk him out of it, that was hardly something he cared to do.
Hearing Lu Yang's words, Ye Lingling reached over and grabbed his sleeve. "Are you sure you can do it?"
To Ye Lingling, Lu Yang was a friend she had finally managed to make after much difficulty. Naturally, she did not want anything to happen to him.
"Don't worry. I'm absolutely certain. You know I've been researching ways to improve my physique all along. Lately, I've hardly stopped using medicinal baths, whale rubber, and things like that. With my current physique, I'm definitely much stronger than an ordinary Soul Ancestor!" Lu Yang said.
Even that was Lu Yang holding something back. Before setting out, he had asked She Long to examine him. His current physique could even brush the threshold of a Soul King's. That an eight-year-old child could possess such a physique had surprised even She Long.
"That's good, then." Only after hearing Lu Yang say that did Ye Lingling release his sleeve.
But the next moment, Dugu Yan threw herself into Ye Lingling's arms.
"Lingling, I just heard him mention whale rubber. That stuff is... don't tell me you two are in that kind of relationship? You've gone bad!" Dugu Yan teased.
Dugu Bo, standing nearby, also began looking Lu Yang and Ye Lingling over with a more appraising gaze. To him, however, this was hardly difficult to understand.
Support-type martial souls inherently lacked combat capabilities. Thus, most support-type soul masters would seek out a battle soul master as a partner alongside their cultivation. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was the foremost example. As the sect possessing the continent's greatest support-type martial soul, it had a rule that the partners of its direct descendants had to be battle soul masters.
This was no secret among the upper echelons of the Soul Master World, and Dugu Bo naturally knew it well. He therefore instinctively took Lu Yang to be a guardian Ye Qingling had found for Ye Lingling, which left him somewhat uncertain about his idea of recruiting the boy.
Dugu Yan's words left Ye Lingling terribly embarrassed. To clear up her misunderstanding, she explained that whale rubber could improve one's physique.
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