He carefully leafed through the records of the past!
Li Mingzhu could not help marveling. Beyond the story of the original protagonist, the real Douluo Continent held plenty of fascinating events too.
Take void netherstone, for instance. A thousand years ago, when the Heaven Dou Empire had only been established for a few years, something earth-shattering had happened.
Nuoding City had not existed then. The Soul Hunting Forest had stretched across what were now Nuoding City, Rockheart City, and Suo Feng City.
The Soul Hunting Forest back then had far surpassed its present state in the variety of soul beasts it held. There had even been hundred-thousand-year beast kings, though the details could not be verified.
To discuss void netherstone, he first had to understand its effects.
Through his research, Li Mingzhu discovered that void netherstone was an unusual treasure nurtured by heaven and earth. Spatial marrow formed within the stone, radiating a spatial magnetic field into its surroundings.
Spatial-attribute soul masters could achieve twice the results with half the effort by cultivating within this field. Even ordinary soul masters who remained within it for a long time could imbue their martial souls with a spatial attribute.
Some high-ranking spatial-attribute soul masters and those with high-grade spatial martial souls could even directly absorb the spatial marrow within the stone.
A thousand years ago, Marquis Kongwen of the Heaven Dou Empire had hunted down a seventy-thousand-year Thorn Dragon in the Soul Hunting Forest for his Eighth Soul Ring. It had also dropped a seventy-thousand-year left leg soul bone.
After successfully absorbing the soul ring, he had followed the pull of his martial soul, the spatial-attribute Kongwen Flute, and unexpectedly discovered a strange stone as large as a small hill at the heart of the Soul Hunting Forest.
Sensing his martial soul's excitement, he had found an abandoned cave and begun meditating.
Marquis Kongwen was both bold and meticulous. Using his martial soul's abilities and comparing his cultivation over several days, he had conducted his investigation.
He discovered that the strange stone released an unusual energy into its surroundings that could improve a soul master's cultivation efficiency.
Thus, he relied on a concealment soul skill to approach the strange stone.
The closer he drew, the more alarmed he became. He discovered many high-year spatial soul beasts around the stone, predominantly a clan of Thorn Dragons.
Under Marquis Kongwen's gaze, powerful spatial ripples spread out around the strange stone, and a hair-raising sight suddenly appeared!
Two enormous beasts emerged from the ripples. Their heads were draconic, spatial soul power covered their massive bodies, and their oppressive presence was overwhelming. They were two hundred-thousand-year beast kings.
Upon seeing their kings appear, the surrounding Thorn Dragons all lowered their heads.
Marquis Kongwen was just about to use a soul skill to leave when he discovered two gazes fixed upon him. The air around him seemed to freeze, every last trace of his soul power was utterly suppressed, and nothing remained in his heart but bone-chilling terror.
Two attacks came crashing down immediately afterward!
Sensing the threat, Marquis Kongwen did not hesitate and immediately unleashed his newly acquired soul bone skill!
"Spatial Shift!"
At the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest, Marquis Kongwen darted out of a spatial rift.
Leaning against an ancient tree, he felt his heart pounding like a drum inside his chest, so violently that even his ears went numb. Cold sweat soaked the clothes on his back, making them cling to his skin. The perilous scene replayed in his mind over and over, and a wave of lingering fear climbed his spine. His legs still would not stop trembling, leaving him no choice but to lean against the tree and take great, ragged breaths to steady himself.
"Fuck, how are there still hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest? And two of them with dragon bloodlines!"
He had already fled before those two attacks landed, yet they had still followed him through space, shattered his soul power shield, and left him with considerable injuries.
He had escaped from two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts.
He truly did not know whether to call himself lucky or unlucky.
He calmed his mind and adjusted his condition. After meeting up with the Soul Hunting Helpers on the outskirts, he hurried back to Marquis Kongwen's Estate.
It took half a month for his injuries to heal and his strength to stabilize. He was now a rank eighty-three Soul Douluo. (He had absorbed the soul ring and soul bone, along with the influence of the void netherstone's magnetic field.)
He spent another half month investigating the origins of the strange stone in the Soul Hunting Forest.
Unfortunately, his investigation yielded little.
All he discovered was that, in ancient times, a meteorite seemed to have fallen toward the heart of the Soul Hunting Forest.
Recalling what he had seen, Marquis Kongwen realized that the strange stone lay within a large crater. Combining this with the information about the meteorite, he concluded that the strange stone was almost certainly that meteorite.
Marquis Kongwen was also a man of considerable wisdom. Not only had he discovered the strange stone's effects, but he had also determined its origins.
He knew that the hill-sized strange stone, guarded by hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, was beyond his reach.
But when the meteorite struck the Soul Hunting Forest, a large swath of fragments must have scattered around it. With this conjecture in mind, he could not resist the temptation and returned to the Soul Hunting Forest!
Relying on the faint sensations from his martial soul, he quietly searched from the outskirts inward. He actually did discover fragments of the strange stone, though groups of hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts possessed them.
His Kongwen Flute was particularly effective against groups. He first targeted a hundred-year clan. A melody swept over them, and the heads of every soul beast in the clan instantly exploded.
He approached the fragment of the strange stone and stored it in a Space Soul Tool. For safety's sake, he returned to Marquis Kongwen's Estate again.
In a secret chamber at his estate, he cultivated beside the fragment. Perhaps because it was small, its effects were noticeable but weak, far inferior to those of the stone at the heart of the Soul Hunting Forest.
Moreover, he could vaguely sense a spatial power contained within the fragment.
He tried hacking it with a blade, chopping it with an axe, and burning it, but none of these could break it. He could only use the sound waves of the Kongwen Flute to shatter it from within.
A sharp crack rang out, and broken pieces of stone scattered everywhere.
The center of the stone was not empty like ordinary mountain rock. A lustrous, translucent crystal rested quietly within its core. That was spirit marrow.
The piece of spirit marrow was roughly the size of a fist, pale jade-green throughout. Soft light slowly flowed within it, without the slightest impurity, and it felt cool and smooth to the touch. Rich, pure spatial energy continually drifted out of the crystal, making the surrounding air ripple. A faint green mist visibly curled around the spirit marrow's surface.
The crystal seemed to contain a pool of still water. A gentle shake sent flowing light gliding through it. It held pure, mild energy, and merely drawing near made the soul power within his body circulate steadily of its own accord.
He knew that this piece of spirit marrow was the source of his martial soul's attraction. Holding it in his hand, he tried various methods of absorbing it.
Marquis Kongwen really was a talented man. Like those who would eat whale rubber in the future, he soon discovered how to use this treasure.
He was unlike Dugu Bo in the future. With immortal herbs at his disposal in such a treasure trove, even if becoming a god or a revered ancestor was out of the question, surely he could at least have increased his strength!
Yet he remained plagued by snake venom. His own suffering was one thing, but his son and daughter-in-law both died from the poison as well.
After discovering the method, Marquis Kongwen named the strange stone and its spirit marrow: void netherstone and void marrow.
First, when held in the hand, the void marrow emitted a magnetic energy field with a stronger effect than when it remained inside the void netherstone.
Absorbing only the magnetic energy field it emitted allowed the void marrow to last longer and made more efficient use of it.
To absorb it faster, he could also refine it with his martial soul. This would cause some of the energy to dissipate, but the short-term increase in soul power was extremely noticeable.
Before long, Marquis Kongwen had completely absorbed the fist-sized piece of void marrow. He felt a marked increase in his soul power and believed that, with another month of consolidation, he could break through to rank eighty-four!
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