Several days later, after a long trek, Zeng Tian finally entered the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Why are the paths in this Star Dou Great Forest so hard to travel?"
He shook the mud off his feet. Recalling everything he had encountered over the past few days left Zeng Tian feeling irritated.
With his speed, reaching the mixed zone should never have taken so long.
But wetlands, swamps, great rivers, and ambushes from all kinds of soul beasts had given him no respite.
Putting those miserable memories aside, Zeng Tian looked into the distance, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "Could that be a volcano?"
Indeed, there were volcanoes in the Star Dou Great Forest, and they were gathering places for many fire-attribute soul beasts.
After walking for nearly another two hours, Zeng Tian finally reached the foot of the volcano.
"As expected of a volcano! The concentration of fire-attribute energy here really is something else."
At the foot of the volcano, Zeng Tian sensed the dense fire-attribute energy around him and nodded in approval.
As a Fire-type Pokémon, Charmander did not dislike environments such as forests, but they fell far short of places like volcanoes, where fire-attribute energy abounded.
"Boo-hoo, what a miserable life I used to lead."
This was only the foot of the mountain, yet the fire-attribute energy was already so dense. How concentrated would it be at the summit, or beside the magma?
Without a doubt, this was a sacred cultivation ground for him as a Charmander.
He even had the feeling that if he used a Fire-type move now, its power would increase.
Once he sensed what the volcano could do for him, Zeng Tian quickly headed toward its summit.
But he had not gone far before the ground began to tremble, and a huge soul beast blocked his path. It had a savage face, fiery-red scales covering its body, and looked like a cross between a mouse and a crocodile.
This soul beast was called a Fire Crocodile, and ranked among the upper-middle tier of soul beasts. This particular Fire Crocodile was a full fourteen meters long, proving that it was a four-thousand-year Fire Mouse Beast.
Generally speaking, defeating a Fire Mouse Beast of this age required at least one Soul King or several Soul Ancestors. It was already a formidable presence in the mixed zone.
"Roar!!!"
The Fire Crocodile lowered its head. Its body loomed like a small mountain, casting Zeng Tian into shadow as its enormous eyes looked down at him and it let out a warning cry.
Zeng Tian understood its warning: he was to leave. This territory was not his to lay a finger on.
"I'm not worthy?"
Zeng Tian's gaze shifted slightly. The next instant, a torrent of surging orange-red flames erupted from his mouth, hurtling straight toward the Fire Crocodile before him.
Faced with the Fire Crocodile's threat, Zeng Tian used his strongest current move without the slightest hesitation: Flamethrower!
Among soul beasts, strength reigned supreme. The better the territory, the stronger the soul beast occupying it.
A four-thousand-year Fire Crocodile was not qualified to claim a treasure ground like this volcano in the mixed zone, which meant its territory most likely covered only this patch at the mountain's foot.
Zeng Tian's sights were set far beyond the mere foot of the volcano. With absolute strength, he would announce to the soul beasts of this volcano that he had arrived!
Boom-
The orange-red pillar of fire struck the Fire Crocodile head-on. The tremendous impact flipped it over and blasted it more than ten meters away, leaving it sprawled on the ground, barely alive.
The parts of the Fire Crocodile struck by Flamethrower had already turned to black charcoal. In fact, if it had not been a fire-attribute soul beast, that single Flamethrower would have been enough to kill it.
After defeating the Fire Crocodile, Zeng Tian did not spare it another glance and headed straight farther up the volcano.
Even as Zeng Tian approached the summit, no other soul beast came out to stop him.
Clearly, his instant defeat of the Fire Crocodile had left these soul beasts deeply wary-even terrified!
Upon reaching the summit, Zeng Tian gazed at the churning magma below and felt the incredibly dense fire-attribute energy. It was as though he were bathing in a hot spring, his body more comfortable than it had ever been.
The next instant, dazzling white light suddenly burst from Zeng Tian's body. Then his body began to change: a hornlike protrusion grew from the back of his head, and his height shot up from sixty centimeters to one meter thirty.
Several breaths later, the light faded. Zeng Tian had evolved from Charmander into Charmeleon.
"Roooaaar!!!"
Feeling the power within him, so much greater than before, Zeng Tian could not help letting out an excited roar.
Past the dark willows, bright flowers revealed another village. He had already resigned himself to not evolving anytime soon, yet simply changing his surroundings and feeling at ease had allowed him to evolve naturally.
Pokémon truly were creatures governed by the heart.
"Huh? The color of my flame changed."
Zeng Tian noticed that the flame on his tail had changed from orange-red to mostly red, with small traces of orange and cyan.
The flames on the tails of Charmander's evolutionary line reflected their condition. Now that the color had changed-and during his evolution, no less-it undoubtedly meant that the quality of his flame had improved.
And an improvement in flame quality meant that every fire-attribute move he used from now on would receive a corresponding increase in power.
This discovery made Zeng Tian even happier. "Excellent. Even if I face a ten-thousand-year soul beast head-on now, I won't be afraid."
Previously, defeating a ten-thousand-year soul beast would have been a stretch for him. After evolving into Charmeleon, however, although he was still level 17, he no longer feared most ordinary ten-thousand-year soul beasts.
"And it seems my inherited memories have given me a few more good things."
With that, Zeng Tian took a deep breath, circulated the energy within him, and blew out forcefully.
The next instant, great streams of scorching air poured from Zeng Tian's mouth. The air within a hundred meters around him began to change color as a searing wind rose.
This was the move Zeng Tian had learned after evolving into Charmeleon: Heat Wave.
Not only was Heat Wave more powerful than Flamethrower, but it also covered a wider area, making it better suited to use as an area attack.
Its only drawback was that it consumed more energy than Flamethrower, making it unsuitable for regular use at present.
But as Zeng Tian's level rose, his energy reserves grew, and his proficiency with the move increased, that problem would surely be resolved.
"Not bad."
Watching Heat Wave envelop the hundred meters around him, satisfaction flashed in Zeng Tian's eyes.
If that four-thousand-year Fire Mouse Beast from earlier entered the range of this Heat Wave, it would probably be reduced to dust in moments. Even a ten-thousand-year soul beast without fire resistance would suffer badly after taking this attack.
Zeng Tian withdrew Heat Wave, his heart brimming with confidence.
After all, less than two months had passed since he transmigrated to the Douluo Continent, yet he had already grown strong enough to contend with ten-thousand-year soul beasts.
Given a few more years, he would definitely become a being no weaker than a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.