Ferocious Beasts Gather, the Martial Soul Revealed

Mu En looked away from Xuan Zi.

He turned to Yan Shaozhe on the other side and said, "For now, don't spread word of this. There are precious few records of the Mystic Bird in ancient texts, and ordinary Soul Masters wouldn't recognize one."

"Lin Mo disappeared in the Great Star Dou Forest. It's quite possible that the Auspicious Beast of the Great Star Dou Forest sensed its presence."

Yan Shaozhe was taken aback. Then he said, "Teacher, do you mean... the Emperor Auspicious Beast?"

"But although the Emperor Auspicious Beast is mentioned in ancient texts, no one has ever actually seen it. It exists only in legend-"

"The Mystic Bird once existed only in legend too."

Mu En interrupted him. "And now, hasn't one appeared in the flesh?"

Yan Shaozhe was speechless.

"The Emperor Auspicious Beast and the Heavenly Mandate Mystic Bird are both auspicious beasts, born of heaven and raised by earth. Their bloodlines are linked, and they can sense one another."

"That's why I suspect the Emperor Auspicious Beast sensed the Heavenly Mandate Mystic Bird's appearance and abducted that child Lin Mo."

"And a Ferocious Beast definitely had a hand in this."

Mu En paused, then said gravely, "Otherwise, with Xuan Zi's Level 98 cultivation, he couldn't possibly have failed to find him."

"Teacher, what do we do, then?!"

Yan Shaozhe instantly grew worried, his brows knotting.

"Don't worry." Mu En waved a hand. "Lin Mo's life won't be in danger. Anyone who dares try to kill a Mystic Bird will surely suffer heaven's punishment, and Soul Beasts are no exception."

"Even if Lin Mo really has been abducted by a Ferocious Beast and taken to the core region of the Great Star Dou Forest, his life will definitely be safe."

Hearing Mu En say that, Yan Shaozhe finally breathed a small sigh of relief.

But Mu En's expression did not relax. What truly troubled him was how to get Lin Mo back from those Ferocious Beasts.

Each of those Ferocious Beasts had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, and they could only know more about the Mystic Bird.

The mere existence of an Emperor Auspicious Beast could double the cultivation speed of the entire Soul Beast Clan. If they also gained the Heavenly Mandate Mystic Bird's approval and made heaven and earth favor the Soul Beast Clan...

Then the consequences would be enormous.

It could even affect humanity's dominance over the entire continent to a certain extent!

So negotiations alone could never persuade those Ferocious Beasts to let him go.

But if he resorted to force...

Mu En could not help giving a bitter laugh.

His origin had declined, and his body was crippled. He even had to rely on the Golden Tree's life energy to slow the loss of his vitality. He simply could not fight for long.

As for the ten great Ferocious Beasts of the Great Star Dou Forest, aside from the Evil Emperor, who lived in the Evil Demon Forest, and the Ice Empress and Snow Empress, who lived in the Far North, the remaining seven were all in the core region of the Great Star Dou Forest.

And every one of them had at least three hundred thousand years of cultivation!

A Soul Beast with three hundred thousand years of cultivation was equivalent to a human Level 97 Super Douluo.

In other words, there were seven powerhouses at or above the Super Douluo level in the core region of the Great Star Dou Forest right now!

Among them, Beast God Di Tian's strength was unfathomable.

He might even be above a Limit Douluo.

(P.S.: In Douluo Dalu 2, Di Tian possesses the bug-level divine weapon "Dragon God Claw." With the divine weapon's boost, his cultivation is equivalent to a Quasi-God's.)

Mu En slowly closed his eyes for a moment.

This time, bringing the Mystic Bird back would likely be harder than ascending to heaven.

Meanwhile, Lin Mo, the subject of the three men's conversation, was trembling as he clung to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion and refused to let go.

Before him, Beast God Di Tian and five other Ferocious Beasts stood in a row not far away, all gazing at him with burning intensity.

Those looks were like the ones aunts by the dozen gave their single nieces and nephews during the New Year.

Lin Mo's legs were so weak that he was a hair away from dropping to his knees.

He had never seen a scene this grand in either of his two lives combined!

"Kid, why are you such a coward-ow!"

The hot-tempered Xiong Jun hated these drawn-out scenes most of all and was the first to step forward. But before he could finish speaking, Di Tian landed a heavy slap on the back of his head.

Di Tian shot him a cold glance.

Xiong Jun clutched the back of his head and retreated, looking aggrieved.

Lin Mo was speechless.

Come on, if any normal person saw this many Ferocious Beasts standing in front of them, it'd be a miracle if they weren't scared!

Di Tian turned to Bi Ji beside him and said mildly, "Bi Ji, you go."

Bi Ji nodded.

Her true form was an Emerald Swan. She specialized in healing and had the gentlest temperament, making her the least beastly of the ten great Ferocious Beasts.

Right now, she was the best choice to calm the frightened Lin Mo.

Bi Ji approached slowly, a gentle smile on her face. Her voice was soft. "Child, don't be afraid..."

Yet to Lin Mo, that gentle voice sounded no different from a demonic tune calling him to his death. Having spent time in the Holy Spirit Church, he knew one thing well: the more harmless someone looked on the surface, the crueler they were.

As Bi Ji drew closer bit by bit, Lin Mo abruptly took a step back. A blue-gold light burst from his body. Martial Soul Possession!

A pair of dark cyan wings spread open with a whoosh.

Cyan flames curled around Lin Mo as he immediately assumed a defensive stance.

Seeing his reaction, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion almost instinctively stepped in front of him, the golden fur on its body bristling slightly. It said to Bi Ji across from it:

"Sister Bi Ji, you scared him!"

Seeing this, Bi Ji stopped at once and slowly raised both hands. "I'm sorry, but I really don't mean any harm. Neither do Di Tian and the others," she said softly.

Di Tian immediately nodded solemnly, his face earnest. "Yes, we absolutely won't hurt you."

The Ferocious Beasts beside him hurriedly nodded along.

Lin Mo carefully studied the subtle expressions on the faces of the Ferocious Beasts before him. During the years he had spent in the Holy Spirit Church and the Sun Moon Empire in his previous life, he had honed his ability to read people to the bone.

It was just that, back at Shrek Academy, he couldn't be bothered to rack his brains over Huo Yuhao and the others. He hadn't liked them much to begin with, so he had simply played blind.

After all, if he hadn't played blind, he would have found himself in a galgame plot in no time.

He would rather be a scumbag playing dumb than become a hopeless lovesick fool who thought of nothing but romance all day.

Only after confirming that the Ferocious Beasts weren't lying did Lin Mo slowly withdraw his Martial Soul. The blue-gold flames receded into his body, and his dark cyan wings dissolved into specks of light.

Even so, he remained a little wary.

"If you mean no harm," Lin Mo said, striving to keep his voice steady, "then why did you seniors abduct me and bring me here?"

Bi Ji smiled.

"Because you are a Mystic Bird, an auspicious omen."

Lin Mo frowned. He didn't understand what she meant.

Bi Ji seemed to see his confusion, but she was in no hurry.

"Let me introduce us first." Her voice was as gentle as ever. "My name is Bi Ji. The ones behind me are Di Tian, Xiong Jun, Chi Wang, Myriad Demon King, and Zi Ji."

After the introductions, Bi Ji abruptly changed the subject and asked him, "Child, do you know what your Martial Soul is?"

Lin Mo was taken aback.

Then he slowly shook his head.

Zhou Yi spoke in riddles, and he hadn't been able to find anything in the outer court library. He had no idea what his Martial Soul actually was.

Bi Ji looked at him and enunciated each word.

"It is a Mystic Bird."

"The Heavenly Mandate's Auspicious Omen, the Mystic Bird."