The Star Dou Great Forest.
Toji had come here from the Heaven Dou Empire, fully prepared.
This was his first time in this Soul Beast forest.
He had not hunted Soul Beasts on any of the previous three occasions.
Toji took a deep breath. Du Busi had told him that this trip was also meant to improve his cultivation, so he would have to find and hunt a Soul Beast entirely on his own.
Du Busi would not help him during the process. Only after he had finished the hunt would Du Busi come out and teach him how to absorb a Soul Ring without Soul Power.
Toji knew that Du Busi was trying everything he could to help him quickly improve his cultivation.
"The path of body cultivation is truly difficult." Toji sighed. No wonder, in all the history of the Douluo Continent, not a single person had taken the path of body cultivation.
He could be said to be the first person to set foot on this path.
Others only had to compete fiercely at meditation, and that was that.
He had to compete fiercely in battle, over and over.
Tatakai, keep on tatakai!
As he entered the Star Dou Great Forest, Toji recalled what he knew about the place.
The Star Dou Great Forest covered a vast area. The Soul Beasts on its outskirts were the poorest in quality, with most ranging from ten to a thousand years old.
Farther in was the mixed zone, where ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts had already been known to appear.
"I'll go straight to the mixed zone and take a look. If there's nothing there, I'll go deeper." On this point, he was very confident in his strength.
Even the Body Sect's level sixty-one Soul Emperor was no longer a match for him. In a one-on-one fight against a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast, his chances of winning were also high.
So Toji headed straight into the Star Dou Great Forest at top speed, releasing his presence in full. His extremely violent killing intent frightened the ten-year and hundred-year Soul Beasts along the way, sending them fleeing far from him in terror.
Even some of the weaker thousand-year Soul Beasts looked at Toji warily.
In their eyes, Toji was only a human, yet the presence he gave off was far more frightening than that of some ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts. He was practically a Soul Beast in human form.
So almost all of them chose to give him a wide berth, not daring to provoke him.
"Huh? Am I that scary?" Toji raised an eyebrow when he saw that none of the Soul Beasts dared to cross him.
He had wanted to test just how strong he was in battle now that he was level forty.
After entering the mixed zone,
The atmosphere around him grew heavy in an instant. The mixed zone was home to a wide variety of Soul Beasts, and they were powerful and more intelligent than ordinary Soul Beasts.
Toji therefore took out his Soul Tool. No longer charging ahead at full speed as he had before, he advanced cautiously, on guard against a Soul Beast ambush.
Since Toji could only rely on his senses to determine where Soul Beasts were, he moved forward very slowly.
Eventually, he crept through the grass until he was right in front of a Soul Beast.
When Toji parted the grass, he saw a massive Soul Beast crouching on all fours, its rear pointed toward the ground as it took a dump.
Then it heard the grass rustling nearby and whipped its head around, meeting Toji's eyes.
Toji watched it take a dump, and it watched Toji without moving.
For a moment, both man and beast could see the other's embarrassment.
"Uh, carry on. Just pretend I was never here." Black lines appeared on Toji's forehead. From what he had just seen, this Soul Beast was only a thousand-year Scarlet Flame Lion King,
Its body was covered in scarlet fur, and flames burned in its eyes. It gave off a powerful pressure, and even the air around it had grown scorching hot, burning Toji's lungs as he breathed.
Clearly, a thousand-year Soul Beast like this was not Toji's target.
He turned and walked away.
But the moment he turned, the Scarlet Flame Lion King flew into a rage.
He had peeked at someone using the toilet, and a simple "I was never here" was supposed to make it all right?
It let out a roar that seemed full of humiliation and fury, whipped up a violent blaze, and pounced at Toji.
With his back to it, Toji had already anticipated this. He dodged swiftly, his figure vanishing from the spot like a ghost. The next moment, he appeared at the Scarlet Flame Lion King's side, the broadsword in his hand chopping straight at its waist.
However, the Scarlet Flame Lion King reacted extremely quickly. It spun around and swiped a claw at Toji. He stepped back and avoided the blow, but the lion's fiery breath still left him feeling a wave of heat.
"A Scarlet Flame Lion King around eight thousand years old?"
That was somewhat troublesome. An ordinary Soul King would not dare claim they could beat it for certain. Lion-type Soul Beasts were always much stronger.
Seeing Toji move so quickly and vanish from its sight in an instant, the Scarlet Flame Lion King felt a surge of unease.
Its beastly instincts told it that Toji had not left. Instead, he was using the surrounding grass, taller than a person, as cover, circling it at great speed and searching for an opening.
The Scarlet Flame Lion King roared, and flames instantly soared from its body. Fire elements gathered around it, turning into countless fireballs that bombarded every direction, leaving no blind spots.
The scorching flames reduced the surrounding grass to ash in an instant, and the smell of burning filled the air.
But just as the Scarlet Flame Lion King thought this would force Toji out, he suddenly appeared behind it. He seized its tail and gave a mighty heave, swinging the enormous Soul Beast into the air and slamming it hard into the ground.
"Boom!"
The Scarlet Flame Lion King was left dizzy and disoriented by the over-the-shoulder throw, its head buzzing.
It hurriedly struggled to its feet, only to find Toji already standing before it, violent killing intent pouring from his body like a god of slaughter who had walked out of hell.
Toji looked at the Scarlet Flame Lion King and fully unleashed his icy killing intent:
"Get lost."
The Scarlet Flame Lion King was completely cowed by Toji's presence. Its body trembled involuntarily, and a flicker of fear passed through its eyes. It dared not entertain another thought of resistance, nor even let out a roar. It could only tuck its tail between its legs and quickly slink away.
Toji watched the Scarlet Flame Lion King flee in sorry shape and put away his broadsword.
He had no intention of chasing down the Soul Beast. Its Soul Ring did not meet his needs, after all.
Besides, Toji did not want to waste too much stamina on such an inconsequential fight.
He took the opportunity to put out the surrounding fires, since a fire could easily spread through the forest.
Toji continued feeling his way forward.
This time, he realized a serious problem.
As long as he kept quiet and did not swagger into view, Soul Beasts, just like people, could not sense his presence at all.
Otherwise, he would never have stumbled across the awkward sight of a Soul Beast using the toilet.
This time, Toji went a long while without finding a Soul Beast he liked, and the sky gradually darkened.
"It's been almost a whole day..."
After giving it some thought, Toji decided to find somewhere to get a proper rest.
Just then, a piercing cry shattered the silence.
It immediately drew Toji's attention.
A terrifying mantis, emerald green all over and a good five or six meters in size, suddenly appeared hanging upside down in front of Toji. Its enormous sickle-like forelimbs glinted coldly as they slashed straight at him.
Toji's expression changed slightly. The Soul Tool in his hand flashed, and a powerful Soul Power barrier instantly spread out in front of him.
The mantis's attack struck the barrier of energy with a thunderous bang. Cracks instantly appeared in the Soul Power barrier, but it did not shatter completely.
More importantly, those sickles passed straight through the Soul Power barrier, leaving two deep wounds on Toji's body.
Blood sprayed everywhere. Toji clutched his wounds and backed away, shocked.
"It ignored the defensive barrier. What kind of ability is that?"
He could feel that this mantis was extremely powerful, definitely no ordinary Soul Beast.
By his initial estimate, it was at least ten thousand years old.
Otherwise, it could not have broken through his defense.
"I've finally found a suitable one."
Toji was overjoyed. If he could obtain this mantis's ability to ignore defense, his methods of attack would become even more varied.