Soul Hunting

Perhaps because he was too young, he did not feel much desire.

A quarter of an hour later, once the impurities had been expelled from his body, the effects of the whale rubber finally began to fade.

Li Mingzhu realized he was still far from his limit, so he pressed on in one burst and swallowed the remaining two pieces of whale rubber.

Sure enough, you got what you paid for. The effects of hundred-year and thousand-year whale rubber were worlds apart.

Eating hundred-year whale rubber put no strain on him whatsoever, but two pieces of thousand-year whale rubber gave him a bitter taste of suffering.

Li Mingzhu gritted his teeth hard, letting the whale rubber's medicinal power scour his meridians and bones with brute force, continuously cleansing and tempering them. Every bone in his body crackled, and tearing waves of aching pain spread through him.

He nearly ground his teeth to pieces before the pain finally subsided.

Once he relaxed, Li Mingzhu stripped off his sweat-soaked clothes and lay straight down on the floor.

Remembering the agony he had just endured, he could not help letting loose one curse after another.

In the six years since he had transmigrated to Douluo, this was the first time he had experienced such pain.

His negative emotions came quickly and left just as quickly. Thinking it over, Li Mingzhu recalled Xiao Yan's suffering when devouring heavenly flames, and Little Scumbag's agony while cultivating the Ice and Fire Golden Body in the original story.

"We're all transmigrators. Even if I can't measure up to Xiao Yan, I can't fall short of Little Scumbag!"

Li Mingzhu waited until the surging blood and energy throughout his body had settled before slowly rising from the floor. He casually stretched his limbs, feeling light all over yet filled with explosive power.

This enhancement had been tremendous. Li Mingzhu could clearly feel how much stronger his body had become, and even his mind had been tempered by the pain.

If not for his lack of a soul ring, he was certain his soul power could have surged to at least level twelve or so.

Now Li Mingzhu looked forward to his first soul ring more and more.

A new day arrived.

After saying goodbye to Li Mu, Li Mingzhu boarded the village's ox cart and set off for the Soul Hunting Forest.

He traveled east the whole way, only reaching the market outside the Soul Hunting Forest around noon.

Cries rang out across the market. Some people sold soul beast pelts, others recruited teammates, and some even sold soul beast cubs, though most of the people were middle-aged men in their thirties or forties.

The market was crowded, with many young soul masters also preparing to hunt for soul rings.

Vendors and soul hunting teams everywhere sized up those seeking soul rings with ill intent.

They seemed to be gauging whether these people were wealthy enough.

Li Mingzhu felt those appraising gazes as well, but they soon disappeared.

Li Mingzhu looked down at his clothes and thought for a moment.

Could it be that I look like a commoner, so they think there's no fat to skim off me?

Among such people, there were always those blinded by greed who amassed wealth through murder. After all, killing soul beasts was nowhere near as easy as killing people.

Bound by Spirit Hall's rules, no one dared attack soul hunters in the market outside, but once they entered the Soul Hunting Forest, those rules could no longer reach them.

Li Mingzhu wore ordinary clothes and did not look like he came from a wealthy family.

These people who murdered for money generally could not be bothered to target someone like Li Mingzhu.

It would be thankless work, with no fat to skim.

Their targets were at least minor landowners, or even minor nobles. Only those people had enough wealth to plunder while lacking powerful backers.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Li Mingzhu could not be bothered with these people who licked blood off their blades.

He headed toward the entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest and handed the soul hunting permit he had previously applied for to Spirit Hall's Enforcement Corps. Only then was he allowed inside. (This was mentioned in the original story.)

Once he passed through the iron fence and entered the forest, all the clamor seemed to vanish. The fresh air left him feeling refreshed in body and mind.

Li Mingzhu surveyed his surroundings, looking at the towering trees. He thought that, if not for the dangers hidden in the forest, staying here all the time would not be bad.

He took out the information he had consulted earlier and found that the Void Netherstone ruins were still deep inside. He would have to keep going.

As Li Mingzhu continued on his way, night eventually fell.

He invoked Ancient Void Dragon possession and flew straight up into an ancient tree, scattering a ring of insect-repelling powder around a horizontal branch. He had no desire for an intimate encounter with mosquitoes and bugs while resting.

He took a quilt out of the Domain Space, spread it out, and lay down securely on top. Looking up at the glittering stars, he felt as though he had never imagined he would one day have to survive in the wilderness.

In the morning, a series of low, sinister whines and growls rose through the woods, converging beneath the tree from every direction. More than thirty ten-year shadow-pattern wolves had gathered at the foot of the trunk, their blue-black fur covered in dark, dim markings. Their sharp claws kept scraping at the roots as they raised their heads and snarled relentlessly at Li Mingzhu above, taking turns gnawing madly at the trunk.

Li Mingzhu was furious at being woken so early. He looked at the shadow-pattern wolves below. More than thirty ten-year wolves surrounded the tree, while four hundred-year wolves lay in ambush farther away.

Li Mingzhu activated Martial Soul Possession, unfurled his domain, and spat a blast of Dragon Flame downward. Within the domain, the shadow-pattern wolves had collapsed to the ground in terror and could not dodge at all. They howled in agony as they burned. The four hundred-year shadow-pattern wolves farther away were outside the domain's range, but the dragon's aura still frightened them into losing control of their bowels and bladders.

He watched the ten-year wolves burn to charcoal and the hundred-year wolves flee in panic.

Li Mingzhu descended from the tree, growing increasingly pleased with his martial soul.

Judging by what had just happened, he had expected to put in some effort, yet the younger soul beasts had been so frightened they could not even lift their heads.

If its suppression of ordinary soul beasts was already this powerful, what would it do to dragon-type soul beasts? Among dragons, bloodline reigned supreme, and bloodline suppression within their own kind ran even deeper than it did with ordinary soul beasts.

Li Mingzhu felt as though he was getting ever closer to declaring, "I don't eat beef!"

Ah! I really feel sorry for my future opponents with beast martial souls.

Just imagining it, future dragon-type martial soul wielders facing Li Mingzhu had better not be so frightened that they fell straight to their knees.

Of the soul beasts currently near the Void Netherstone ruins, all except the plant soul beasts were related to the Thorn Dragon in one way or another.

Li Mingzhu thought it through carefully. The Thorn Dragon possessed dragon blood, and the other soul beasts possessed Thorn Dragon blood.

Wouldn't that mean-

Possessing dragon blood = Thorn Dragon = other soul beasts = some roadside nobody.

With the logic more or less sorted out in his head, it seemed his upcoming soul hunt would not be too difficult.

Li Mingzhu's idea was a fine one, but everything in this world was subject to constraints.

His bloodline suppression had limits, influenced by his soul power and mental power.

For instance, if he encountered a ten-thousand-year soul beast, Li Mingzhu could suppress it, but not completely.

Upon noticing him, the ten-thousand-year soul beast might show him some respect and not bother with him. But if Li Mingzhu recklessly attacked it head-on, he would still get hurt.

Put simply, it was like the four ranks in a cultivation world.

Ant, young friend, fellow Daoist, senior.

The ancient void dragon bloodline could be seen as having a senior backing him. Others would not dare provoke him, but if he pushed them too far, they would still dare to self-destruct.

Once he reached the same rank, he became a fellow Daoist. Relying on the high-tier cultivation methods and weapons bestowed by that senior-collectively known as his bloodline-his foundations far surpassed those of others in the same realm, leaving him unrivaled at his level.