A powerful aura erupted from the bottom of the Lake of Life, abruptly forcing the Sky Azure Bull Python out.
The enormous python lay sprawled on the lakeshore.
His eyes were filled with disbelief as he stared at the Lake of Life.
There stood an exquisitely beautiful swan, emerald green all over, with a strangely shaped ancient tree beside her.
"Bi Ji, Myriad Demon King!"
Lin Xiao recognized them both.
The two beasts slowly assumed human form.
They approached Lin Xiao.
"Greetings, honored Child of Nature. I am Bi Ji, and he is the Myriad Demon King. May I ask what brings you to the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest?"
Bi Ji bowed slightly and asked in a gentle voice.
Besides her and the Myriad Demon King, the other ferocious beasts in the Great Ferocious Land had also sensed him. But to them, however exalted the Child of Nature might be, absorbing the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's essence, strengthening themselves, and protecting their lord took precedence.
She and the Myriad Demon King were different.
For plant-type soul beasts, the identity of the Child of Nature stood above everything else.
Just as sea soul beasts worshipped the Sea God, the Myriad Demon King, a native plant-type soul beast, respected the Child of Nature no less than he did the Silver Dragon King.
Bi Ji had come because powerful life forces attracted one another. For an Emerald Swan, this immense vitality inspired a profound sense of affinity.
And so the task of diplomacy had naturally fallen to her and the Myriad Demon King.
"Senior Bi Ji, my name is Lin Xiao. I came here to obtain my first soul ring."
Lin Xiao smiled.
"My martial soul is called Gungnir. For my soul ring, I'm primarily looking for plant-type and power attack system soul beasts."
The system-enhanced Child of Nature: an existence bearing the power of the entire Douluo planet's fortune, possessing a passive ability that doubled soul beasts' affinity toward him, able to command the forces of nature, and certain to become a god even through ordinary cultivation.
That was also why Lin Xiao had the confidence to ask Bi Ji for a soul beast outright.
At his words, Bi Ji and the Myriad Demon King both frowned and exchanged a glance.
"Honored Child of Nature! I am the Myriad Demon King, ruler of all the plant-type soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest. Please wait a moment. I'll summon someone at once!"
The Myriad Demon King bowed, his eyes brimming with irrepressible excitement.
With that, he swiftly took off.
He left behind a certain silly goose who was still rather bewildered.
Bi Ji gritted her teeth. She had never expected the Myriad Demon King to be so shrewd.
She spoke up to vie for the opportunity as well.
"Lin Xiao, our Emerald Swan clan possesses exceptionally powerful healing abilities. Perhaps your martial soul could also try merging with a soul ring from our clan. It might produce an unexpected effect."
As she spoke, she leaned forward, drawing closer to Lin Xiao.
A faint fragrance wafted toward him.
Although Lin Xiao had requested a power attack system soul beast, the immensely powerful life force within him still made Bi Ji unwilling to give up.
Lin Xiao was only obtaining his first soul ring. Even if she and the Myriad Demon King wished to sacrifice themselves to him, they could not do so yet.
The Star Dou Great Forest still needed them, and so did their lord.
But if one of their clansmen could follow Lin Xiao, what awaited them was a chance at godhood-a chance at eternal life!
And in gratitude for their kindness, Lin Xiao would also grant them his protection.
Lin Xiao shook his head.
"Thank you for your kindness, Senior Bi Ji, but your clansmen's soul rings don't quite meet my current requirements. Perhaps there will be an opportunity later."
Just then, the Myriad Demon King returned.
Beside him followed an enormous bamboo, over ten meters tall by a rough estimate.
"Lin Xiao! This is the Hundred Thousand Year Emerald Sword Bamboo I found for you. If you think he's suitable, I'll have him sacrifice himself to you right now."
The Emerald Sword Bamboo looked at Lin Xiao, his eyes practically shining.
This was the Child of Nature! Lord Myriad Demon King, what loyalty!
Lin Xiao stepped forward, touched the bamboo's body, and nodded.
"Thank you. He'll do."
The instant Lin Xiao finished speaking, the Emerald Sword Bamboo began his sacrifice without hesitation, red light blanketing the sky.
A hundred-thousand-year sacrifice could disregard any shortcomings of the soul master, allowing direct absorption.
A left arm bone separated from the Emerald Sword Bamboo's body.
Lin Xiao still declined to absorb it.
Instead, he took out Ah Yin's Right Leg Bone.
These ferocious beast clans surely had collections of numerous ten thousand year soul bones, and even hundred thousand year soul bones.
Naturally, he could afford to be selective. But Ah Yin's leg bone was different.
It contained the Blue Silver Emperor's essence, along with two exceptionally powerful skills.
Once he absorbed it, Tang San's connection to Blue Silver Grass would be greatly diminished.
After obtaining his first soul ring, he would go to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and plant the Blue Silver Emperor there.
He would wait for Ah Yin to awaken, then either kill her or find a way to teach her to abandon her wicked ways and return to the right path.
Tang San's Blue Silver Grass would lose any possibility of advancing further.
It might even cause his soul power to regress.
The soul ring had already been successfully absorbed, and under Lin Xiao's guidance, the soul bone slowly merged into his right leg.
The Douluo Continent was hardly a high-tier plane.
Condensing his soul power was necessary, but not all that necessary.
So, after his soul power broke through to level twenty in one go, Lin Xiao simply condensed the excess.
A blood-red soul ring appeared beneath his feet.
Lin Xiao nodded in satisfaction.
The Myriad Demon King froze when he sensed that Lin Xiao had broken through to level twenty in one go, then grew even more delighted.
Such speed truly lived up to the name of the Child of Nature. His clansmen had hope of becoming gods!
"Lin Xiao, do you need a second soul ring? If you do, I can find plenty more for you!"
Even the Myriad Demon King's voice grew a little softer.
Lin Xiao declined.
"No, Senior Myriad Demon King. I already have a clear target for my second soul ring."
"Oh, all right."
The Myriad Demon King sighed and said nothing more.
Bi Ji smiled at Lin Xiao.
"We'll head back, then. You will always be welcome in the Star Dou Great Forest!"
With Bi Ji and the Myriad Demon King's departure.
Peace returned to the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Xiao Wu and the Sky Azure Bull Python were dumbstruck.
They knew that more powerful soul beasts dwelled in the depths of the Lake of Life.
But only upon seeing them today did they realize how vast the gulf between them truly was.
Since Lin Xiao was the Child of Nature, they had few questions about why those two treated him with such respect.
Lin Xiao looked at Xiao Wu and slowly spoke.
"I've finished obtaining my first soul ring. I'll be leaving for a while now. During that time, stay in the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest and cultivate diligently. Wait for me to come back and get you."
With that, Xuan Zi lifted Lin Xiao and flew away.
The Titan Giant Ape had also awakened by then and slowly made his way into the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.
He saw that Xiao Wu and Da Ming were safe and sound.
"Sister Xiao Wu, it's wonderful that you're all right!"
He spoke with a guileless air.
What greeted him, however, were death glares from Xiao Wu and the Sky Azure Bull Python.
No one knew what happened. The soul masters hunting on the outskirts only heard tremendous screams coming from deep within the forest, one after another.
No one dared venture deeper to investigate.
By then, Lin Xiao and Xuan Zi had reached the outskirts of the Sunset Forest.
"Xuan Zi, let's test my soul skill."
It was still early, and there was no hurry to search for the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
So Lin Xiao decided to try out his soul skill.
Perhaps because of his martial soul, the hundred thousand year soul ring had only granted him one soul skill.
But as compensation.
Gungnir could finally be unsealed.
And the soul skill's effect would be exceptionally powerful!
The wooden stick before him took on an entirely new appearance, revealing a branch of the World Tree.
It still did not look particularly flashy, but the aura it emitted gave even Xuan Zi a faint sense of danger.
"Gungnir, answer my call! First soul skill, Pierce!"
As a divine artifact, Gungnir possessed a passive ability that ensured it never missed.
Lin Xiao gathered his strength and hurled it. Its power appeared no different from an ordinary soul master's soul skill.
But the instant Xuan Zi came into contact with the spear, it punched a gap through the soul power shield he had formed using thirty percent of his level-ninety-eight strength, striking his palm.
The disparity in soul power remained, however. After striking him, Gungnir slid down a little before dissipating in the air and returning to Lin Xiao's hand.
An attack from a would-be Soul Grandmaster had injured Xuan Zi, a level-ninety-eight Super Douluo. It was only a minor injury, a shallow scratch that could heal in an instant.
But it still demonstrated Gungnir's power and how impossible it was to counter.
Xuan Zi spoke in disbelief.
"As expected of the young master! Had an ordinary Soul Ancestor faced that strike, they would have been pierced through in an instant!"
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