After a moment of surprise, Bei Bei shook his head. "No. There are so many kinds of Soul Beasts that even we wouldn't dare claim to know them all. But since this orange, fire-breathing Soul Beast can contend with a thousand-year Mandala Snake, it must be at least a thousand-year Soul Beast itself, and a high-quality one at that."
"I see."
Huo Yuhao felt a little disappointed, then asked Tian Meng in his Sea of Consciousness, "Brother Sky Dream, do you recognize this Soul Beast?"
"How strange. I've lived for so many years and encountered even the rarest Soul Beasts, yet nowhere in my vast memories is there a trace of this one."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was astonished as well. After thinking for a moment, he continued, "My guess is that this Soul Beast mutated from some kind of fire-attribute lizard Soul Beast. It might be the only one of its kind on the entire Douluo Continent."
"A mutated Soul Beast?"
"Yes, exactly. Mutated Soul Beasts usually struggle to survive, but those that do are extraordinarily powerful. From what I can see, this Mandala Snake is probably going to lose."
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the fireball struck the Mandala Snake, blasting its charred scales in every direction. The intense pain snapped it out of its hate-fueled frenzy, and it began to think of retreating.
At that moment, however, a hand reached out, seized the Mandala Snake's tail, and pinned it firmly to the ground.
Watching the Mandala Snake struggle before him, desperate to escape his hold, Zeng Tian smiled slightly. "Perfect. I'll use you to test my new move."
The next instant, one of Zeng Tian's claws suddenly lengthened, turning into white light. Then roaring flames wrapped around it, burning fiercely.
This was the finishing move Zeng Tian had created by combining Scratch and Fire Fang-Fire Claw!
He had gone to the trouble of creating this move because he felt that, outside close-quarters combat, biting an opponent was too easy to dodge. It wasn't particularly dignified, either.
"This is bad!"
The instant he saw Zeng Tian unleash Fire Claw, Bei Bei's pupils contracted as he watched from hiding. This is bad, he thought.
But before Bei Bei could intervene, Zeng Tian's Fire Claw had already landed on the Mandala Snake.
Before Fire Claw, the Mandala Snake's hard scales were like butter meeting a hot knife. They melted away instantly, and its body was severed in two.
"Gulp..."
At the sight, Bei Bei couldn't help swallowing. This unfamiliar Soul Beast was far stronger than he had expected.
Although he could defeat a thousand-year Mandala Snake, it would take some effort. He couldn't possibly kill one this easily.
And the power of that claw strike was clearly beyond anything he could withstand.
"Graaah!!!"
After its body was severed, the Mandala Snake let out a piercing cry. Its head sprang up with the remains of its body, jaws opening to bite at Zeng Tian.
But before it had even completed its leap, a flaming claw pierced its head and drove it into the ground.
After a brief struggle, the light gradually faded from the Mandala Snake's eyes. Purple motes drifted out of its body, gathering into a pale purple Soul Ring.
The long flaming claw vanished. Zeng Tian pulled his hand out of the Mandala Snake and glanced toward the hiding place of Huo Yuhao and his two companions.
"This is bad. It spotted us."
Startled, Bei Bei's footwork became a blur. Pulling Huo Yuhao and Tang Ya along, he streaked away.
"Humans?"
Zeng Tian paused in surprise. It had been a month since he transmigrated into this world, and this was his first encounter with humans.
Perhaps I can learn something from them about the current state of the Douluo Continent.
With that thought, Zeng Tian hurried after them.
At the very least, he needed to know where he was and what time period he was in.
Was it Douluo I, Douluo II, Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, or a time period outside the novels altogether?
Douluo I or any period before it would naturally be the most comfortable. Soul Beasts were still relatively powerful then, and a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast could fight a Peak Douluo.
Starting from Douluo II, although the Soul Beasts had produced a Dragon God, their overall strength was actually declining.
Aside from the most ordinary Titled Douluos who had only just broken through, virtually all of them could fight hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts. Even the three-hundred-thousand-year Scarlet King was suppressed so thoroughly by the level 98 Xuan Zi that he couldn't lift his head.
Humans had thus begun to gain the upper hand, and the territories where Soul Beasts could survive had shrunk drastically.
Most importantly, by Douluo II, Tang San had already become a god. Given his tendency to treat the Douluo Continent as his private property, who knew what he would do once he discovered an unpredictable factor like Zeng Tian?
After all, Tang San was perfectly capable of using children as leverage. If he considered Zeng Tian a threat to his ten-thousand-year plan, it wasn't impossible that he would descend to the mortal world to take him out himself.
Meanwhile, after fleeing a dozen or so li, Huo Yuhao and the others finally stopped.
"Bei Bei, why did you run? And why didn't you stop it from killing the Mandala Snake? That was a thousand-year Mandala Snake! It would've been a great match for me."
Once they stopped, Tang Ya began to complain.
Hearing her complaints, Bei Bei smiled wryly. "It was my fault. I misjudged that Soul Beast's strength. I didn't expect it to be so powerful."
At his words, Tang Ya's expression grew serious as well. "Bei Bei, you're a level thirty-nine Soul Elder, and your Martial Soul is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, a top-tier Beast Martial Soul. Are you saying even you aren't a match for that unfamiliar Soul Beast?"
Ten thousand years ago, multiple Soul Elders often had to join forces to deal with a thousand-year Soul Beast. An ordinary Soul Master needed Soul Ancestor cultivation to be assured of victory against one.
But after ten thousand years of development, with cultivation systems and combat techniques having matured, even an ordinary combat-oriented Soul Elder could now usually defeat a typical thousand-year Soul Beast.
And for someone like Bei Bei, who possessed a top-tier Martial Soul and was only one step away from becoming a Soul Ancestor, never mind a thousand-year Soul Beast-even an ordinary three-thousand-year Soul Beast might not be his match.
It was precisely because Tang Ya knew Bei Bei's strength that she had been so fearless. In the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, Soul Beasts a little over a thousand years old were the limit. There was virtually no chance of encountering a Soul Beast that even Bei Bei couldn't handle.
"I wouldn't necessarily lose in an actual fight. It's just that with you and Yuhao there, I couldn't guarantee your safety."
Bei Bei rubbed his temples and sighed.
Huo Yuhao was only a One-Ring Soul Master and had little combat ability.
And Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was unquestionably at a disadvantage against a fire-attribute Soul Beast. Of the three of them, he was the only one with any real fighting strength.
"All right, then. I'll forgive you this time."
Tang Ya patted Bei Bei's shoulder, then leaned down toward Huo Yuhao and kneaded his cheeks. "Little Yuhao, you weren't scared just now, were you?"
"Sister Xiaoya, I just thought that Soul Beast was really strong. It even forced our eldest senior brother to retreat."
Huo Yuhao freed himself from Tang Ya's pinching and took a step back as he spoke.
Tang Ya smiled. "It's only a thousand-year Soul Beast. Nothing special. Once you become a Soul King, you'll be able to crush a Soul Beast like that with a single finger.
"All right, let's keep looking for my third Soul Ring. This time, we have to find something even better than that Mandala Snake."