A second martial soul?

Sixth soul skill: [Staff Stabilizes Body and Soul] gave the martial soul's attacks the ability to target both body and soul at once.

Seventh soul skill: [Tool Soul Avatar] greatly enhanced the effects of all soul skills and doubled the martial soul's own strength.

Both were hundred-thousand-year soul rings with only a single soul skill. Their power spoke for itself.

"Let's see how you withstand this! Sky-Piercing Strike!"

The corners of Liu Hao's mouth curled upward as he became a blur and charged toward Gui Mei.

The Azure Nether Staff in his hand shimmered with a strange purple light. This was the special energy granted by his sixth soul skill, which could directly attack an enemy's soul.

Seeing this astonishing display of power, alarm bells rang in Gui Mei's mind. He no longer dared to take the attack head-on and hurriedly activated his acceleration soul skill, putting everything into dodging.

Credit where credit was due: as an agility attack-type Titled Douluo, he was fast enough that even Liu Hao, a level 99 power attack-type Limit Douluo, could not catch him right away.

Still, Gui Mei did not dare actually flee. He only darted around nearby, maneuvering against Liu Hao.

After all, this was a spar, not a fight to the death.

If he ran away outright and enraged such a young Limit Douluo, he dared not imagine how dark his future would become.

Boom, boom, boom...

Liu Hao's attacks kept falling, but most only smashed into the ground. Not a single one hit Gui Mei.

"Well, well. You're quite a slippery one."

Liu Hao sighed in admiration, then activated his fifth soul skill, [Thousand Staff Shadows].

Although this was only a seventy-thousand-year soul ring, its effect was powerful. It was also the only area attack among his nine soul skills.

Hum!

Dazzling azure light erupted from the entire Azure Nether Staff, which swiftly split off over a thousand energy staff shadows!

These staff shadows all possessed half the strength and half the attack power of the martial soul itself. They were under its perfect control and could even be used in combination with other soul skills.

"Time to end this, wouldn't you say?"

A cold gleam flashed through Liu Hao's eyes. Wielding the Azure Nether Staff, he commanded over a thousand staff shadows to attack Gui Mei in unison, enveloping him and sealing off every escape route.

Of course, he did not strike to kill. He used only about thirty percent of his strength. The man was his little brother's teacher, after all, so he had to show him some consideration.

Bang!

Over a thousand staff shadows crashed down. Vegetation within several hundred meters was instantly pulverized, sending dust billowing into the sky.

This time, Gui Mei unquestionably failed to dodge. An energy staff shadow struck him and sent him flying backward, slamming heavily into the ground.

Although Liu Hao had already held back considerably, the terrifying force was still more than Gui Mei could comfortably bear. His chest churned, his blood surged, and a trace of crimson seeped from the corner of his mouth as pain covered his face.

Fortunately, Liu Hao stopped immediately upon seeing this. Otherwise, Gui Mei really would have fled outright. This was only a spar, after all, and he had no desire to stake his life on it.

"Your Eminence Liu Hao, have you vented your anger now?"

Gui Mei spoke with a bitter smile, looking utterly pitiful.

"Enough. What are you putting on an act for? I used less than thirty percent of my strength. It couldn't have been that bad. Besides, we agreed to spar, so why didn't you attack me? You just kept dodging. Don't tell me you were afraid of hurting me?"

Gui Mei was startled at first. Thirty percent? Then his expression darkened with exasperation. "You were swinging that staff so fiercely and moving so fast. How could I dare get close? Besides, after testing you with a few exchanges at the start, I thought your attacks weren't very effective against me. I was just about to counterattack when you activated a soul skill that threatened my soul. All I could do was keep dodging."

"Ahem... so that's how it was. All right."

Liu Hao felt somewhat embarrassed, but he now had a clearer understanding of his own strength. He swiftly changed the subject. "Let's wipe the slate clean on what happened before. We'll be colleagues from now on, so let's look out for each other. By the way, you won't secretly take revenge on my little brother, will you?"

Under Liu Hao's threatening gaze, Gui Mei shuddered and hastily waved his hands. "Of course not. I'm not that kind of person."

"Mm."

"Your Eminence Liu Hao, if there's nothing else, may I leave?"

"Go ahead."

With permission granted, Gui Mei felt as though a great weight had lifted from his shoulders. He immediately turned into a black shadow and vanished from the spot.

Even Liu Hao envied that speed.

Huh? Could I use the system to obtain another martial soul? One that could make up for my current shortcomings, such as speed? That would definitely give my strength an enormous boost.

He acted as soon as the idea struck him.

"System, I want to obtain a second martial soul, one that can make up for my current shortcomings. Simplify it for me!"

Ding! Host request received. Obtaining a suitable second martial soul. Simplification in progress...

One simplification opportunity consumed. Remaining opportunities: 57. Simplification complete. Methods of obtaining a second martial soul, including reincarnation, a million-year soul beast's sacrifice to open a martial soul slot + sacrifice of the soul beast's soul essence, and a deity's bestowal, have been simplified to: devouring.

The host need only devour more than 50% of the desired soul beast's body to awaken that soul beast as a second martial soul.

"Huh? Devouring? Doesn't that mean I can only awaken a beast martial soul? After all, tool martial souls and body martial souls can't be devoured."

"You sure can, brother! You can! As long as you can swallow it, this system can help you awaken any tool martial soul. In fact, if you can swallow 50% of your own body, this system can directly awaken a body martial soul for you! What do you think? Tempted, host? Heehee~"

"..."

Sometimes, Liu Hao really wanted to call the cops. Why was this damned system so unserious?

Swallowing a tool martial soul was one thing. After all, he had seen sword-swallowing in his previous life.

But what the hell was swallowing himself supposed to mean? Wasn't that a little too twisted?

Forget it, forget it. I'll pretend I didn't hear that and think about what beast martial soul I should get instead.

As Liu Hao pondered, he continued flying southeast through the air, toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

Originally, he had planned to go to the Star Dou Great Forest after sparring with Ghost Douluo, absorb large trees whose life values met the requirement, and continue evolving the Azure Nether Staff.

He would officially join Spirit Hall in a few days, and he would certainly have to demonstrate his strength. After all, the Worship Hall, where Qian Daoliu and several other worship elders resided, was not far from the Papal Palace.

When his investiture ceremony took place, how could they possibly fail to hear about it?

Qian Daoliu was not merely a level 99 Limit Douluo. His soul ring configuration was a terrifying eight black rings and one red, and his Six-Winged Angel martial soul was a God-Level Martial Soul. Most importantly, he could also control a portion of divine power!

That was what left Liu Hao somewhat unsure of himself. His martial soul was merely top-tier, after all, and he had no divine power.

Thus, he had originally decided to visit the Star Dou Great Forest and evolve his martial soul as far as possible, bringing it to the level of a God-Level Martial Soul or even higher.

That would give him greater confidence when facing Qian Daoliu.

Now that he had thought of obtaining a second martial soul, he could conveniently acquire it in the Star Dou Great Forest as well.

There was no need to demand an exceptionally powerful martial soul right away, either. He could use the system to evolve it anyway.

When I have two God-Level Martial Souls, if I then use the system to let me wield both at once, or even perform a martial soul fusion skill with them... hehehe...

In less than an hour, Liu Hao arrived at the Star Dou Great Forest.

By then, he had decided what to choose for his second martial soul: a speed-type avian soul beast.

Not only would it be fast, it would also greatly enhance his ability to fight in the air.

Perhaps he could even snatch the title of number one in aerial combat from Qian Daoliu.

Before that, however, he would continue evolving the Azure Nether Staff.

Finding a suitable speed-type avian soul beast was similar to an ordinary soul master hunting a suitable soul beast: it required a certain amount of luck. He might as well complete the martial soul evolution available right in front of him and strengthen himself first.

Looking at the towering trees all around him, Liu Hao's eyes shone with excitement.

As expected of the largest primeval forest on the Douluo Continent, even a random tree was countless times larger than those near Qingshi Village.

"How much life value does this tree have? System, scan it."