"Hahaha, we're rich!"
"We've really struck it rich this time!"
After wiping out over a thousand Wolf Bandits, Meng Zhongqi and Nangong Wan'er ran all over the mountains, constantly looting corpses for treasure!
After quite a bit of effort, Meng Zhongqi finally scored another right arm bone, twenty thousand years old, from this pack of Wolf Bandits for free.
Killing over a thousand Wolf Bandits had yielded just one Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone. That alone showed how abysmally low the drop rate for Soul Bones was!
"This Ten Thousand Year Gale Phantom Right Arm Bone can unleash a Blade of Gale and render its user incorporeal!"
"While incorporeal, a Soul Master can ignore physical attacks. This ten-thousand-year right arm bone is quite a little gem."
Meng Zhongqi kept praising it. Having gained two Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones out of nowhere, he had truly received a windfall from the heavens.
After this minor setback, the three finally arrived safely at Vast Sea City and rested there for a few hours.
"We'll rest here for half a day and set out as soon as we've finished resupplying. Our destination this time-Dune City!"
Meng Zhongqi took out a map and pointed to a spot as he spoke.
Endless yellow sands, a lone plume of smoke in the vast desert!
They walked over desolate dunes beneath a blazing sun high in the sky. It cast down boundless radiance, and the temperature was frighteningly high.
"Keep it up, everyone."
"Dune City is just ahead!"
"Stay close to the camel caravan. We'll reach our destination soon."
To hunt the ten-thousand-year Wind Fire Demon Dragon, Meng Zhongqi had hired a desert camel caravan in Vast Sea City, using locals as guides.
"Everyone, you must be careful when traveling away from home."
"Dune City hasn't been peaceful lately."
"I hear demon dragons have been appearing in the desert recently, often devouring passing travelers. Be extra careful on your journeys."
The caravan's guide was an elderly Four-Ring Soul Ancestor. He had lived here for decades and was well informed about certain matters.
Before he had finished speaking, another disturbance suddenly arose!
"Roar!"
Wind and fire surged through the sky. Accompanied by a dragon's roar, several Wind Fire Demon Dragons appeared on the horizon, repeatedly throwing back their heads and roaring.
"This is bad! Wind Fire Demon Dragons!"
"Everyone, form up quickly! Defend against the Soul Beasts' charge!"
Several Soul Masters immediately stepped forward and formed a Soul Formation. Soul Rings flashed beneath their feet as they revealed their Martial Souls.
"Soul Power resonating, Qi channels linking!"
"Is this the Soul Formation passed down from ancient times?"
Meng Qianqiu watched from the sidelines. During the great battle at Jialing Pass, when the Spirit Hall Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire went to war, many Soul Formations had appeared.
In essence, a Soul Formation was actually a kind of military formation!
Even Yu Xiaogang's Trinity Martial Soul Fusion Skill essentially used a Soul Formation to let three people share the origin power of their Martial Souls.
"Martial Souls, Soul Rings, Soul Formations."
"Martial Soul Fusion Skills are included among them, too."
"There may be further mysteries hidden in the rules of this world!"
A vague conjecture arose in Meng Qianqiu's mind. These three should be interconnected, with Soul Power allowing conversion between them.
But all this belonged to the study of Martial Soul Theory and might touch upon the fundamental attributes of this world. He did not dare delve into it now.
"Form up! Meet the enemy!"
A horn sounded, its notes lingering and desolate. More than a dozen Soul Masters formed up in sequence, their figures seeming incomparably tall at that moment.
"Even against ten million, I would march forth!"
"Humans and Soul Beasts have slaughtered one another for countless years. The two have long since forged an irreconcilable blood feud, deep as a sea."
"At this moment, I finally understand why humans are so hostile toward Soul Beasts. Those not of our kind must harbor different hearts!"
Meng Qianqiu was deeply moved. The grudges between humanity and the Soul Beast Clan had developed through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
This was a blood feud as deep as a sea, and, beyond that, a matter of duty to one's family and race!
The union of humans and Soul Beasts was inherently intolerable to heavenly law!
Could these two long-hostile forces really shake hands and make peace so easily, just because of some little mixed-blood bastard?
Clearly, that reasoning was far too strained!
Reality was cruel, and this did not quite hold water either.
Slaughter, war!
Plague, and riots!
These had been the dominant themes of the Douluo Continent for hundreds of millions of years. In this world, only one side-humans or Soul Beasts-could survive.
Harmonious coexistence was utterly impossible!
Here, the iron law of natural selection and survival of the fittest prevailed, much like the law of the dark forest in the universe!
Here, whoever had the bigger fist was right!
On the Douluo Continent, humans and the Soul Beast Clan waged war almost every day. There had never been a single day of true peace!
"Three thousand li of arduous travel, half a month sitting in vain."
"I've longed for the stars and longed for the moon, and at last, I've longed you into coming."
Meng Zhongqi walked out of the caravan, his robes snapping behind him. Wind rose over the vast desert, filling the sky with yellow sand, yet it could not obscure the excitement in his eyes.
"It's dangerous! Come back!"
"Old man, do you have a death wish?"
The dozen or so Soul Masters had formed their Soul Formation and were already braced as though facing a formidable enemy. Seeing Meng Zhongqi walk out, one of them immediately rebuked him.
"With sun and moon in hand, I pluck the stars; none in this world is like me.
Sword in hand, I roam the world's ends and stir wind and cloud; with towering spirit, I shatter the mortal dust."
"Do not panic. This old man will be back in a moment!"
Meng Zhongqi spoke at once. Having recited a scene-setting verse, his figure flickered slowly. With a single step, he was already in midair.
"A Titled Douluo, traversing the void!"
The Soul Master who had just spoken looked up at Meng Zhongqi. His throat caught for a long while before he finally uttered those words.
"So this is a Titled Douluo?"
A living, breathing Titled Douluo had appeared before their very eyes. To ordinary Soul Masters, this was undoubtedly a tremendous shock.
Titled Douluos on the Douluo Continent were even rarer than Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. Powerhouses like these existed almost exclusively in legends.
"Wind Fire Demon Dragons, do not run wild here!"
Meng Zhongqi shouted. A Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad slowly materialized behind him, and one Soul Ring after another appeared beneath his feet.
Two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red!
When the final blood-red Soul Ring appeared, everyone present erupted. This was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, a rarity seldom seen anywhere in the world.
"Ice Toad Douluo!"
"This elder is the fifth elder of Spirit Hall!"
"I've seen this design on Spirit Hall's tokens. I'm certain I haven't mistaken it. This is him."
After advancing to Titled Douluo, Meng Zhongqi had joined Spirit Hall. Spirit Hall had also gone to considerable lengths to commend him.
Spirit Hall's Elder Tokens consisted of seven major elements, engraved with the Martial Souls of the seven great elders as well as an angel design.
As an elder of Spirit Hall, Meng Zhongqi naturally possessed an Elder Token as well. Through this token, he could freely mobilize Spirit Hall.
Boom!
Nine Soul Rings revolved freely in the sky. Terrifying fluctuations of Soul Power instantly spread outward, and a vast domain appeared.
Innate Domain-Ice Prison Poison Swamp!
A vast poison swamp domain appeared in the sky. The formerly scorching temperature plummeted in an instant, and ice crystals appeared in the air.
"What a terrifying Innate Domain!"
"We're deep in the desert! This elder is so powerful that he actually changed the weather single-handedly."
Ice crystals appeared in the sky, turning into snowflakes that drifted down.
At that moment, everyone raised their heads and discovered just how tremendous the power possessed by the old man before them truly was.
"Seventh Soul Skill-Ice Toad True Body!"
Meng Zhongqi's voice resounded through the heavens. An enormous ice-blue frog appeared in the sky, its eyes like fire and its bearing filled with imposing majesty.
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