Chapter 16: First Steps into Star Dou Great Forest
With his mind made up, his anxiety over making money vanished, and Xiong Shaoqing's mood brightened again.
The economic base determined the superstructure. Tomorrow, he would go to Star Dou Great Forest to get his Soul Ring, then launch his cultural enterprise when he returned.
With a slight stir of his thoughts, a dark-gold diary slowly opened in his Sea of Consciousness.
Reinforcing his persona before bed was a required course for a crafty old schemer.
Recalling how Tang San had picked a fight tonight and Xiao Wu had stepped forward, he took a deep breath. He perfectly blended the frustration of "a dragon in shallow waters being mocked by shrimp" with his heartache for Xiao Wu, then began to write:
[It is late. The wind and snow outside seem to have grown stronger.]
[Whenever I recall what happened at the barbecue stall tonight, my heart cannot settle for a long time.]
[That hypocrite Tang San actually caught up so quickly, haunting us like a lingering ghost. And I, a God King who could once have reduced him to ashes with a flick of my fingers, could only watch helplessly as Xiao Wu stood in front of me and bore all the danger in my stead.]
[This helplessness is truly damnable.]
[This broken body, not yet recovered, has become my greatest shackle. But I will never allow myself to keep hiding behind a girl.]
[Fortunately, tonight's emotional turmoil allowed me to shatter my current barrier completely. My Soul Power has reached its bottleneck.]
[Early tomorrow morning, we will set out for Star Dou Great Forest to find my first Soul Ring. Xiao Wu, once I reclaim the power that belongs to me, no one under heaven will ever make you suffer even the slightest injustice again.]
Xiong Shaoqing had calibrated this diary entry precisely.
There were no excessively saccharine Mary Sue vows, only a fallen hero's frustration and the resolve to fight back from the brink.
After finishing, he rolled over in satisfaction and fell peacefully asleep.
Yet those few short passages stirred entirely different ripples across Douluo Continent late that night.
In the room next door.
Xiao Wu had already been drifting toward sleep when the golden words that suddenly lit up in her mind jolted her awake.
Reading the line "This helplessness is truly damnable," Xiao Wu felt her heart tremble sharply, and her eyes immediately reddened.
She understood all too well the pain of having one's pride ground to dust.
Big Brother was a lofty deity in his previous life. Being provoked by a petty villain like Tang San today must have hurt him so much.
Big Brother wasn't useless at all. He had clearly lost his Divine Power to save her, so protecting him was only right.
Xiao Wu clenched her little fists beneath the covers, her face full of heartache. Tomorrow, they would go to Star Dou Great Forest. She was its overlord, and she would definitely find Big Brother the most powerful Soul Ring.
At that moment, Bibi Dong abruptly stopped as she traveled through the night sky.
She hovered in midair, the diary's contents reflected in her purple eyes as a cold curve slowly formed at the corners of her lips.
Star Dou Great Forest. Heh. She had worn out iron shoes searching in vain, only to find it without the slightest effort.
Bibi Dong swiftly calculated the distance in her mind.
Star Dou Great Forest was not particularly far from Suotuo City. At her current top speed, she could easily reach its outskirts and spread an inescapable net before Xiong Shaoqing and Xiao Wu ventured deep inside.
A transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast actually dared to swagger back into Star Dou Great Forest. She was simply courting death.
Xiong Shaoqing, I will wait for my quarry in Star Dou Great Forest and take a good look at your might as a God King.
Bibi Dong sneered. The Six-Winged Purple Light Wings on her back suddenly blazed with brilliant light, drawing a dazzling purple trail across the night sky as she changed course and shot toward Star Dou Great Forest.
At the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
Qian Renxue read the diary while reclining lazily on an opulent couch, her slender fingers toying with a gold coin.
Star Dou Great Forest. A God King who had only just reached the level-ten bottleneck, paired with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast...
The cold light of a spectator flickered in Qian Renxue's golden eyes.
She was very curious about Xiong Shaoqing, this greatest variable.
She wanted to see what tricks Xiong Shaoqing, a tiger stripped of its fangs, could pull off tomorrow in Star Dou Great Forest, where danger lurked on every side.
He had better not become a Soul Beast's meal before even obtaining his first ring.
On the Snowbound Ancient Road.
Zhu Zhuqing gritted her teeth as she struggled through knee-deep snow.
Seeing Xiong Shaoqing's desire for strength and his plan to visit Star Dou Great Forest in the diary, a flicker of emotion crossed her cool eyes.
He was going to Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for a Soul Ring?
Zhu Zhuqing silently calculated the time. At her current pace, traveling without sleep or rest, she would need roughly two more days to reach Suotuo City.
If they weren't in Suotuo City two days from now, they would definitely be in Star Dou Great Forest.
Since Xiong Shaoqing kept insisting that Dai Mubai was at the Rose Hotel, she would go there first and uncover the truth.
If Dai Mubai truly had betrayed her...
A bone-deep chill surged through Zhu Zhuqing's eyes. Then she would not only sever all ties with Dai Mubai, but also go to Star Dou Great Forest to find Xiong Shaoqing.
She wanted to see just who this unfathomably mysterious Xiong Shaoqing really was.
Biting winds threaded through the towering treetops, whipping snow across the sky.
The outskirts of Star Dou Great Forest lay cloaked in silver and white.
Two figures trudged through the thick snow, their uneven footsteps carrying them into the oldest and most dangerous Soul Beast habitat on the entire continent.
Xiao Wu walked beside Xiong Shaoqing. The moment she entered the forest, the trace of wariness she had carried in the human city vanished completely, replaced by the ease of returning to her own back garden.
As a hundred-thousand-year overlord of Star Dou Great Forest who had taken human form, this was her absolute home ground.
Those two blockheads, Da Ming and Er Ming, were right at the heart of the forest. If she wanted any exceptional Soul Ring, she needed only say the word.
"Big Brother, what kind of Soul Ring do you want?" With her hands behind her back, Xiao Wu stepped lightly through the snow, looking at Xiong Shaoqing with sparkling eyes. "Release your Martial Soul and let me see."
"I'm a 'Soul Beast know-it-all.' I guarantee I'll pick the most suitable one for you."
Xiong Shaoqing stopped and exhaled a cloud of white breath.
As a modern man who had arrived in this world in his own body, his Martial Soul had been forcibly awakened by the system upon his arrival.
With a slight stir of his thoughts, the full level-ten Soul Power within him instantly boiled.
Accompanied by a deep, ancient beast's roar, the phantom of a giant bear wreathed in dark-gold currents of chaotic Qi erupted into being behind Xiong Shaoqing.
Although the giant bear was only a rudimentary form, its terrifying ferocity, as though it could rend the heavens and suppress all ages, instantly pulverized the snow within a dozen meters.
A top-tier Power Attack System Martial Soul: the Archaic Heaven-Shaking Bear.
Feeling that terrifying pressure, Xiao Wu could not help exclaiming, "Wow, what an overbearing Martial Soul. This is definitely a top-tier Power Attack System Martial Soul. Big Brother, you need a powerful Soul Beast that purely enhances strength, explosive power, or defense."
Chapter 17: The Law of the Jungle, the Strong Devour the Weak
Xiong Shaoqing withdrew his Martial Soul and nodded calmly, but his gaze turned toward the depths of the forest, lashed by wind and snow.
Looking at this forest filled with primal wildness, he suddenly felt a sharp disconnect between his mindset as a modern man in his previous life and this cruel Douluo World.
To advance, Soul Masters had to hunt and kill Soul Beasts.
To survive, Soul Beasts also attacked humans.
This struggle, which would not end until one side died, was the most fundamental law of the jungle in this world.
The strong devoured the weak. It was only natural.
Xiong Shaoqing lowered his eyes slightly. In truth, he had little desire to kill.
Why should Soul Beasts that had never taken the initiative to provoke humans be treated from birth as penned livestock and materials?
Although he was a crafty old schemer who wanted to live off women, indiscriminately killing the innocent still sat somewhat poorly with him.
Xiong Shaoqing sighed inwardly.
Then his thoughts shifted. Wasn't this ready-made insight the perfect material for fleshing out his "compassionate God King" persona?
He immediately summoned the Destiny Diary in his Sea of Consciousness, inspiration pouring forth:
[I have finally stepped into Star Dou Great Forest. The wind and snow remain, but what chills me more deeply than this cold wind is the cruel law that pervades this forest.]
[I released my Archaic Heaven-Shaking Bear Martial Soul just now, and that girl Xiao Wu excitedly offered to find the most powerful Soul Beast for me. Yet looking at her innocent smile, an indescribable sorrow rose in my heart.]
[Soul Masters and Soul Beasts are born mortal enemies. To break through their bottlenecks, humans raise their butcher's blades again and again; to survive, Soul Beasts resist amid terror and hatred.]
[What have those Soul Beasts that keep to themselves and have never harmed anyone done wrong? They endure hundreds or thousands of years of arduous cultivation, only for their ultimate fate to be a Soul Ring beneath a human's feet or a Soul Bone.]
[The law of the jungle. The strong devour the weak. How cruel this heavenly order is.]
[If I can one day ascend the supreme divine throne again, I truly hope to find a way to resolve this blood-deep hatred. To let Soul Masters gain strength without relying on one-sided slaughter. To let Soul Beasts possess dignity and a chance to live on this continent as well.]
The moment this diary entry appeared, it triggered a magnitude-twelve earthquake in the Seas of Consciousness of the various heroines.
The eyes of Xiao Wu, the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast walking beside him, instantly reddened.
She bit down hard on her red lip, tears swirling wildly in her eyes.
Having undergone Soul Beast Transformation, she knew all too well the despair and suffering Soul Beasts faced.
Her mother had been driven to her death by Spirit Hall.
Human Soul Masters had always treated Soul Beasts as worthless weeds and resources. Yet this man before her, who desperately needed a Soul Ring to break through, was grieving over the fate of Soul Beasts at this very moment.
Big Brother looked so cold, yet his heart held the gentlest light in the world.
Xiao Wu choked up silently inside. As she watched Xiong Shaoqing's back, her gaze turned entirely to fanatical, unwavering devotion.
Big Brother truly was that deity willing to abandon his divine position for her.
Meanwhile, hundreds of li away.
Skimming over the sea of trees, Bibi Dong read those words, and deep mockery flashed in her eyes.
Compassion for Soul Beasts? Utterly laughable.
Bibi Dong scoffed. The law of the jungle was the sole truth of this world. Those who weren't strong enough deserved to become stepping stones.
A mighty God King, yet so sentimental and softhearted.
With such a weak disposition, Xiong Shaoqing had probably been trampled underfoot even in the Divine Realm.
Qian Renxue, at the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, held a glass of red wine, intense curiosity flickering in her golden eyes.
Interesting.
She had encountered countless people, but she had truly never seen a Soul Master pity Soul Beasts before hunting for a Soul Ring.
An intrigued smile curved Qian Renxue's lips. This seemingly naive yet grand compassion really did fit the manner of those hypocritical deities.
Was Xiong Shaoqing genuinely compassionate, or merely moved by his own sentimentality?
On the Snowbound Ancient Road.
As Zhu Zhuqing read the words in her mind, her previously icy heart unexpectedly trembled beyond her control.
In the cold imperial family of the Star Luo Empire, where kin slaughtered one another and could cast aside all humanity for the throne, she had seen the purest evil all too often.
Yet this man she had never met was pitying Soul Beasts he did not know, creatures even destined to stand against him.
Was he actually someone with such a tender heart?
Some of the chill in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes melted. Such rare gentleness actually existed in a man.
In breadth of heart and vision, Dai Mubai probably couldn't compare to a single hair on Xiong Shaoqing's head.
Inside Star Dou Great Forest.
Outwardly, Xiong Shaoqing stood with his hands behind his back, looking like a compassionate sage beyond worldly affairs, while frantically calling for the system in his mind.
System, can you produce the Spirit Pagoda and Soul Spirit mechanics from the third Douluo installment?
The kind where Soul Beasts sacrifice their souls but retain their consciousness, sign peaceful contracts, and can later become gods alongside their Soul Masters.
He knew very well that merely promising castles in the air in his diary was useless. He needed something real to firmly bind major figures from the Soul Beast camp like Xiao Wu, including Ah Yin, Ice Empress, Snow Empress, and others in the future, to his chariot.
The system's cold mechanical voice quickly responded:
[Ding! Insufficient host authorization.]
[Once the host's Soul Power breaks through level forty, the system shop will unlock. The shop contains the complete set of related technologies, including the First-Generation Spirit Transmission Contract Array and Soul Spirit Conversion Fluid.]
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