Da Ming and Er Ming

Liu Hao turned toward the voice. A massive blue-black Soul Beast with a bull's head and a serpent's body had emerged from the Lake of Life. Its enormous eyes, each like a small lake, watched him warily.

"The Sky Azure Bull Python? Da Ming?"

"..."

Hearing the human before him reveal his identity in a single breath-and even knowing his nickname-sent shock surging through the Sky Azure Bull Python's heart. For a moment, he did not know what to do.

Just then, the ground suddenly began to shake.

Moments later, a mountainlike figure appeared.

His entire body was covered in long, pitch-black hair like steel needles, his muscles knotted and extraordinarily powerful. His eyes, like two yellow lanterns, flashed with a fierce, savage light.

"Human? You dare trespass on our territory? Have you grown tired of living?"

The Ferocious Beast snorted a plume of white vapor, his voice rumbling like thunder.

"The Titan Giant Ape? Er Ming?" Liu Hao spoke again. Though he phrased it as a question, his tone was utterly confident.

"Huh?! Human, who are you? How do you know my name?" The Titan Giant Ape was equally shocked.

"Do you know Xiao Wu?! What happened to her? Is she in trouble?"

Suddenly, the Sky Azure Bull Python spoke again.

Clearly, after his brief shock, he had already used his considerable intelligence to arrive at a possibility.

Sister Xiao Wu had entered human society. Only she could have told other humans his and Er Ming's names.

Yet Xiao Wu had not come herself. Instead, a human who might know her had appeared alone. It was hard not to suspect that she was in danger and had sent a trustworthy human to seek help.

"Heh... You certainly are clever, Da Ming. I do know Xiao Wu, but she's doing well. She isn't in any danger, so don't worry." Seeing this, Liu Hao smoothly played along with a smile, though inwardly he was thinking that he should visit Shrek Academy as soon as possible.

After all, Tang San and Xiao Wu had entered Shrek Academy when they were a little over twelve.

Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing.

How could he pass up the stunning beauties in the original story's main cast?

He had long since figured it out: since some supreme being had chosen him as a pawn,

he would use this opportunity to enjoy himself thoroughly.

And naturally, what he wanted most included the dream he had cherished in his previous life as a lowly beast of burden: beauties by his side, a woman in each arm, and a whole bevy of wives and concubines.

With both desire and a system to help him, he certainly would not pass up the original story's famous beauties.

His guiding principle was doing whatever he pleased-no, the unity of knowledge and action.

The so-called unity of knowledge and action meant that once he knew where the beauties were, he had to act.

"If Xiao Wu is fine, what are you doing here? And what exactly is your relationship with her? Why would she tell you about us brothers?"

Da Ming did not believe him so easily. Instead, he immediately fired off several questions, pressing him closely in an attempt to find a flaw.

His words made Liu Hao inwardly admire him. This fellow really was quite clever.

But rather than explain further, he directly summoned his god-king-level Martial Soul-the Heaven-Reaching Ambrosial Arbor Wooden Stick.

In an instant, a terrifying divine might spread outward.

Now, the shaft of Liu Hao's Martial Soul no longer shimmered with brilliant colors. Instead, it had turned a deep, fathomless blue, like an abyss, giving off a chill that made one shudder.

At the same time, nine Soul Rings-two purple, three black, and four red-lit up beneath his feet in succession and circled around him.

"A Titled Douluo?!"

Da Ming and Er Ming cried out in shock together, then immediately took wary battle stances, as though facing a formidable enemy.

"Human! What have you done to Sister Xiao Wu?! Tell us now, or even if our bodies are smashed to pieces, we'll take you down with us!"

The simple-minded Er Ming was the first to lose his composure and roar in fury.

Though Da Ming could still barely remain calm, his heart was in turmoil. For the moment, he could not work out what had happened between this powerful human and Xiao Wu.

"Come on, you two. Why are you getting so worked up? I didn't release my Martial Soul to fight you."

The corner of Liu Hao's mouth twitched as he pointed to the Soul Rings beneath his feet. "Haven't you noticed anything different about my Soul Rings compared with those of other Soul Masters?"

"What's different? Don't think we're afraid of you just because you have four Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings!" Er Ming snorted white vapor through his nostrils, blustering fiercely despite his inner unease.

Liu Hao ignored the idiot and instead smiled at the Sky Azure Bull Python, gesturing for him to examine them carefully.

"Hm?"

Da Ming's grave expression suddenly turned uncertain. "This... Why don't your Soul Rings contain even a trace of resentment from dead Soul Beasts?"

Finally, he noticed. The corners of Liu Hao's lips curled slightly.

His Soul Rings had all come from little trees without any intelligence. How could they possibly contain resentment?

"Do you believe I mean no harm now?"

"What exactly do you want?"

The absence of Soul Beast resentment in the Soul Rings meant that the man before him had not obtained them by hunting Soul Beasts, which eased much of Da Ming's wariness. Still, he did not relax completely. There were simply too many suspicious things about this man.

"I just want to chop down a few bigger trees. That's all."

"Chop down trees? What for?"

"To eat."

"What? You eat trees? Are your teeth that good?" Hearing a topic that interested him, Er Ming could not help asking curiously.

"My Martial Soul needs to eat them." Speechless, Liu Hao showed them the Heaven-Reaching Ambrosial Arbor Wooden Stick in his hand.

Its terrifying pressure left both beasts trembling inwardly, instinctively afraid.

"What kind of Martial Soul is that? Why is it so powerful?" Da Ming asked curiously.

Liu Hao did not hide it. "This is the Heaven-Reaching Ambrosial Arbor Wooden Stick, a god-king-level Martial Soul, one tier above a god-level Martial Soul!"

"God King-level..."

Da Ming and Er Ming looked blank. Clearly, this was their first time hearing the term.

But both had heard of gods and knew about god-level Martial Souls. So although they did not quite understand what "God King-level" meant, knowing it was stronger than god-level was enough to inspire awe in them.

"All right, Da Ming, Er Ming. I'm just going to see whether there are any trees here that my Martial Soul wants. You two needn't concern yourselves."

Liu Hao had deliberately deactivated his aura-concealing technique and released his aura for so long, yet the Silver Dragon King and the Ferocious Beasts under her command had shown no reaction at all. They were still sleeping, which left him rather disappointed.

He also had a suspicion: they were probably afraid of his god-king-level Martial Soul's aura and feared that he had ties to the Asura God and the others. Thus, Liu Hao stopped wasting time.

"Oh... All right."

Though the two beasts still had plenty of questions, feeling Liu Hao's powerful aura, they did not dare ask any more and obediently stayed to one side.

Besides, he was only chopping down a few trees. To the entire Star Dou Great Forest, that was merely a hair off nine oxen, a harmless matter. There was naturally no need to anger such a powerful being over it.

After its evolution, his Martial Soul had also nourished Liu Hao's body and soul in return.

His spiritual power was now stronger than before by an untold amount. With a single thought, it enveloped more than ten thousand trees.

To Liu Hao's disappointment, not one of those ten thousand-plus trees had a Life Value above 100,000. All of them had only a few tens of thousands, with the highest barely over 70,000-and that one was not even a Soul Beast.

Among the tree Soul Beasts, the highest Life Value was only a little over 60,000, as though they had hit a bottleneck.

Refusing to believe it, Liu Hao continued wandering around and investigating.

With his aura-concealing technique activated again, he avoided every Soul Beast without wasting any time.

An hour later...

"This is strange. How can there not be even one?" Liu Hao was baffled.

"System, are there any trees in the Star Dou Great Forest with a Life Value of 100,000? Why can't I find a single one?"

"You damned host, trees naturally grow extremely slowly, and they rarely develop intelligence, making it difficult for them to become tree Soul Beasts. While growing, they are also easily gnawed on and damaged by other animals.

"Even if they become Soul Beasts, they are easily hunted by humans for Soul Rings, so it is very difficult for any tree to grow to maturity without mishap.

"However, there is indeed one tree Soul Beast in the Star Dou Great Forest with a Life Value of 100,000: the Demon-Eyed Tree-the Myriad Demon King, one of the Ferocious Beasts serving the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena. He is currently sleeping in the depths of the Lake of Life."

"What? Just one? Then doesn't that mean my Martial Soul can't evolve anymore?"