The Class 2 fixed-installation shell-loaded Soul Cannon passed its test perfectly!
Long Aoyu took the four finished products and headed toward the Main Hall.
Du Busi was sitting and drinking tea, with the latest batch of intelligence delivered that day spread out beside him.
Seeing Long Aoyu push the door open and enter, he swept his gaze over the objects in his hands, set down his teacup, and raised an eyebrow. "You made them?"
"I did, Master."
Long Aoyu was not only the Body Sect's Young Sect Master, but also Du Busi's personal disciple.
"How many times have I told you? Address me by my position when we're working!"
Du Busi put on a stern expression.
The corner of Long Aoyu's mouth twitched as he played along with his master's peculiar amusement. "Yes, Sect Master."
Then Long Aoyu placed three objects on the table one by one. "A Soul Guidance Ray Gun, a Storage Soul Tool, and a Detector."
"There's also a Class 2 shell-loaded Soul Cannon. It's already passed testing."
Du Busi rose and walked over to the table. He picked up the Soul Guidance Ray Gun and examined it for a while, then injected a trace of Soul Power to feel its internal structure. His eyebrows slowly rose.
He picked up the Detector and examined it as well, then put it down. His gaze settled on the Storage Soul Tool, and he turned it over twice.
"Good."
Du Busi nodded. "From now on, Liu Mo and the other seven will focus exclusively on manufacturing Soul Tools. Each Soul Tool they make will earn them a corresponding number of points, following the same points system as the Mission Hall."
The Body Sect already had an internal points system.
Disciples could earn points by completing sect missions, achieving results in secret-realm trials, or making outstanding contributions to the sect, and exchange them for various cultivation resources.
"All right, then I'll thank you on their behalf, Sect Master."
Long Aoyu smiled and winked.
"You brat."
Du Busi pointed at him, then his expression turned serious again. "You've made them, but that isn't your most pressing concern right now."
"You're at rank fifty, and you still haven't secured your fifth Soul Ring."
Du Busi walked to the window with his hands behind his back. "You're twelve years old, a rank-fifty Quasi-Soul King. You're in the golden period for your cultivation to soar. The sooner you obtain your fifth Soul Ring, the better."
Long Aoyu fell silent for a moment, knowing that Du Busi was right.
System missions were important, but Soul Rings were what gave him real strength.
Long Aoyu nodded. "Understood."
"Pack your things. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning." Du Busi turned around. "We're going to the Star Dou Great Forest. I'll pick out a suitable Soul Beast for you."
"You're going personally?"
"Yes."
Du Busi nodded. "We've only just arrived ten thousand years in the past. We still don't know what the Star Dou Great Forest is like. How could I rest easy without going myself?"
"That's true."
Long Aoyu nodded. Although he knew the situation in the Star Dou Great Forest, it would be difficult to explain.
In the Star Dou Great Forest of this era, Ferocious Beasts such as Di Tian and Xiong Jun, along with many hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts, were not active outside.
There were only the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, those two hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts, so there was essentially no danger.
"Sect Master, I just remembered something."
"What is it?"
Long Aoyu considered his wording. "There was a passage in the sect's records saying that ten thousand years ago, the Shrek Seven Devils consumed Heaven and Earth Immortal Treasures to break through in cultivation and improve their aptitude."
"Now that I think about it, we're in that very era. Could those things still be around?"
Du Busi froze for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and searched his memory.
Although he had read many of the records in the Body Sect's Library Pavilion, most accounts of that period ten thousand years ago were mere scattered fragments.
But now that Long Aoyu mentioned it, he did remember-
An insert in one of the sect's ancient books had mentioned, "The Shrek Seven Devils encountered Immortal Treasures and were reborn, their very bones transformed."
Immortal Treasures!
In other words, Immortal Herbs. At this point in time, there was a good chance no one had taken them yet.
Du Busi's eyes suddenly lit up.
"You really do have a good memory, brat! Tang San is still unknown, and the Shrek Seven Devils haven't even taken shape. Those Immortal Herbs are most likely still there!"
Du Busi paced a couple of steps through the hall with his hands behind his back. The more he considered it, the more promising it seemed.
"If we can get a few Immortal Herbs for you, Aotian, Vina, and the other disciples to consume, both your talent and cultivation could leap forward."
"No, treasures like these must fall into our Body Sect's hands!"
Only one thought remained in Du Busi's mind.
Snatch them first.
We must snatch the Immortal Herbs first!
Seeing this, Long Aoyu felt reassured. This was all he could say. If he directly pointed out that the Immortal Herbs were in Sunset Forest, he would have no way to explain it.
Besides, there was still a year before Tang San and the others consumed the Immortal Herbs. They had plenty of time.
Half an hour later.
Du Busi had sent out the vast majority of the sect's members to search for Immortal Herbs, leaving only Liu Mo and the others, along with one elder, to guard their home.
They split up and headed toward the major forests within the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire...
They would not overlook a single possible location.
Du Busi had issued an absolute order: they had to find the Immortal Herbs!
The next day.
Long Aoyu and Du Busi also left the sect, heading straight for the Star Dou Great Forest.
The two sped out of the Canyon and traveled south.
Half a day later, an endless sea of deep-green forest appeared on the horizon ahead, its canopy blotting out the sky and sun.
The Star Dou Great Forest.
The Star Dou Great Forest of ten thousand years ago.
Standing within the forest, Long Aoyu took a deep breath, filled with anticipation.
Du Busi, however, frowned. He walked into the woods, then stopped after traveling some distance and listened, sensing his surroundings for a moment. His frown deepened.
"Something's wrong."
"What is it?"
"There are almost no traces of hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts, and the number of ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts is far lower than expected." Du Busi gazed into the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Where are Di Tian, Xiong Jun, and the other Ferocious Beasts?"
"Where are those hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts and their clans?"
"There are only two hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast auras coming from the Core Area. That's far too few!"
Du Busi could not make sense of it at all.
Even the youngest Ferocious Beasts among Di Tian, Xiong Jun, and the others were over three hundred thousand years old. They must have long since established themselves deep within the Star Dou Great Forest.
Yet now, he could not sense the auras of those powerful beings at all!
The number of hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts was pitifully small, too. Compared with the Star Dou Great Forest of later ages, where powerful Soul Beasts were everywhere, it was practically a different place.
Seeing this, Long Aoyu said nothing.
He knew perfectly well that Di Tian, the other Ferocious Beasts, and their clans were all currently in the Small World beneath the Lake of Life.
Du Busi shook his head, suppressed his doubts, and turned to Long Aoyu. "This is too strange. Be more careful from here on."
"All right!"
Long Aoyu followed behind Du Busi as they ventured deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest.
As they walked, Du Busi said, "Your Soul Ring Configuration is yellow, purple, black, black. Your third Soul Ring was already a ten-thousand-year one. You're far stronger than I was back then."
"In my opinion, absorbing a sixty-thousand-year fifth Soul Ring should be no problem for you!"
"Once we return and carry out your Martial Soul Second Awakening, you'll reach Silver Rank at the very least. Your body and Martial Soul will grow stronger still. When you reach rank sixty, you might even be able to attempt a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring."
Body Martial Souls.
The more of the body a Martial Soul covered, and the more fundamental the origin of its body part, the higher its innate grade!
Long Aoyu's and Du Busi's Martial Souls were both top-tier, whole-body Body Martial Souls, and the former's focused purely on strengthening his physical body.
That was what had made Long Aoyu's astonishing Soul Ring Configuration possible.
The two continued deeper.
After walking for about two hours, Du Busi suddenly stopped and raised a hand, signaling Long Aoyu to halt.
"Strange... This is the first time I've ever encountered a Soul Beast like this. That aura up ahead is like... an Evil Soul Master among Soul Beasts!"
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