A New Journey

Three years later, at the Great Soul Arena in Star Luo City.

"I hereby announce that the champion of this Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament is the Spirit Hall Academy Team!!!"

Rather than the excitement one might have expected, the announcer's words drew cheers from only a small handful of people. The tens of thousands filling the venue were otherwise almost deathly silent.

Leng Xiyue sat in the audience, watching listlessly as the Spirit Hall Academy team took the stage to receive their prizes. She really had no interest in a competition whose outcome had already been decided.

Beside her, Xiao Bai stretched, looking as though a weight had finally lifted from her shoulders. "It's finally over. Can we go exploring freely now?"

Five years had passed since she acquired her first Soul Ring. During the free time she had enjoyed on this trip to Star Luo City, Leng Xiyue had finally bought enough medicinal herbs to push herself to level twenty.

Although her psionic energy level was only twenty, her armor had been upgraded to Soul Emperor strength thanks to her frenzied purchases of high-grade metals. Together with the assortment of useful items she would need next, those expenses had left her so poor that she had only two million Gold Soul Coins remaining.

Unlike consumables, arms were mainly bought by hunters, mercenaries, and the like. Other people kept them for self-defense or followed the crowd and equipped their guards with them for appearances. With little ongoing consumption, the market had gradually become saturated after the initial frenzy. Some inferior, crudely made guns that were difficult to track down and suppress had also appeared, taking over the low-end market. Unless she introduced better models, her ability to rake in money would be greatly diminished. Leng Xiyue could only keep lowering prices before the next upgrade. A gun now sold for just fifty Gold Soul Coins; after a while, she would bring out something better and harvest another crop of buyers.

While browsing around the Star Luo Empire, however, she had discovered several entirely new minerals at extremely low prices. They were so cheap that not even a trace of them could be found in Spirit City. They were not any of the familiar varieties from her previous life either, but their properties were similar enough to help her develop an entirely new line of arms.

Before leaving, she had submitted a request to Bibi Dong to travel and gain experience. Bibi Dong had not refused; she only needed to send word back regularly.

Onstage, the Star Luo region's Platinum Bishop and the Star Luo Emperor were jointly presenting the Spirit Hall Academy team with their prizes.

Beside her, Hu Liena gazed at the glittering Soul Bone onstage, unable to hide her envy. "Ah, I'm so jealous of our seniors. When will we get to stand on that podium too?"

"Give it another five years. By then, we'll definitely give everyone in the world a surprise." Xie Yue smiled faintly.

Yan swept his gaze over the surrounding people of the Star Luo Empire, his eyes full of contempt. He had not said a word, yet it seemed he had said everything.

After five years of growth, the three were now formidable Soul Elders at levels thirty-seven or thirty-eight. Once this tournament ended, they would head to Death Canyon for training and could only return after becoming Soul Ancestors.

"Speaking of which, I heard from my teacher that you're going out to train too, Xiyue. Where are you planning to go?" Hu Liena turned to Leng Xiyue beside her and asked curiously.

Hu Liena's teacher was a powerful female elder, a level ninety-five control-type Titled Douluo deeply versed in the art of charm. She was also the one who had adopted Hu Liena and her brother. Staying under her tutelage might well be a better choice for Hu Liena than studying under Bibi Dong.

Although Leng Xiyue and Hu Liena were very close, almost like real sisters, she also understood one particular aspect of Hu Liena quite clearly: love went straight to her head.

Granted, Tang San had helped her a great deal, but surely that was no reason to betray her teacher and forsake her roots for him?

For someone with that disposition to become the Spirit Hall's Saintess would be a disaster. Thus, Leng Xiyue felt that Hu Liena's current position suited her perfectly.

"Me? I'm planning to take a look around the Far North. I consulted an ancient book a while ago and found a rather unusual place." Leng Xiyue did not conceal anything and told her outright.

When she broke through to level twenty a few days earlier, Leng Xiyue had claimed the system's quest reward. The Sensory Enhancement Module had greatly improved her reaction speed, allowing her to adapt perfectly to the enhancements provided by her armor. It was an improvement on the mental level, and situations like before, when her reactions could not keep up with the armor's bursts of speed, would never happen again.

To choose a Soul Ring with suitable attributes, her first thought had been of Tian Meng, who was still living like a shut-in in the Far North.

Without a doubt, Tian Meng was the undisputed king when it came to mental abilities. He was also the easiest Soul Beast with over a hundred thousand years of cultivation to approach. With a little luck, she might even be able to sweet-talk him into sacrificing himself.

Judging by Tian Meng's experiences, his cave should lie along a river connecting the Far North and the Star Dou Great Forest. Naturally, that river would be extremely easy to find; there was only one such river on the entire continent. Following it upstream into the Far North, she would probably find Tian Meng's location within a few days.

His current cultivation was another matter, though. A Soul Beast's years did not represent its age, but its cultivation. Generally speaking, the higher a Soul Beast's bloodline rank, the faster its cultivation accumulated relative to its age. An ordinary Soul Beast a thousand years old would have only a thousand years of cultivation, whereas those with inherited legacies could reach a hundred thousand years of cultivation when they were only a few thousand to twenty thousand years old. Most Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts lacked the deep cunning one would expect from something that had lived for a hundred thousand years.

The Ice Silkworm Clan, however, was undoubtedly at the very bottom of the ladder, with no inherited legacy to speak of. Tian Meng had reached a million years partly by clinging to life and raising his cultivation at an extremely slow pace, and partly by gnawing on crystals.

By this point, Tian Meng might already have been gnawing away for tens of thousands of years. Without the several thousand years between Douluo I and Douluo II spent gorging on cultivation aids and being captured to serve as an experience dispenser, he probably had around eight or nine hundred thousand years of cultivation now. Still, that was quite good.

She could also pack up any leftover ten-thousand-year cold marrow and take it with her. The system might be able to make use of a treasure of that caliber.

"The Far North? I've heard that place is much scarier than Death Canyon. Death Canyon just has danger lurking on every side, but the Far North has bone-piercing cold on top of all the danger. Even what you think is a field of white snow could be a resting Soul Beast. There are ambushes everywhere. I wouldn't want to go anywhere like that." Hu Liena shivered. Constant fighting was not frightening; the truly terrifying thing was having to survive in a harsh environment.

"That's true, but opportunity and risk go hand in hand." Leng Xiyue chuckled, still fairly confident about it.

The award ceremony soon ended, and everyone began leaving. Leng Xiyue did not linger either. After saying goodbye to Hu Liena and the others, she left the city alone and headed north along the Star Luo Empire's main road.