Contracting a Soul Ring required a bond of mutual understanding with a Soul Beast.
Would Soul Masters really be willing to spend so much time getting along with Soul Beasts?
Wouldn't killing Soul Beasts outright to obtain their Soul Rings be more convenient?
The Sky Azure Bull Python certainly didn't believe human Soul Masters would have that patience.
"That's why I'll bring about a revolution," Chu Feng said softly.
The Sky Azure Bull Python narrowed its eyes, then burst into laughter, its voice shaking the Soul Beasts in the distant woods into a restless stir.
"Hahaha, I knew your purpose wouldn't be that simple."
As the overlord of Star Dou Great Forest, having stood at the top of the Soul Beasts for years, it had already roughly guessed what Chu Feng intended to do.
Chu Feng shrugged and spread his hands, saying unconcernedly, "There's no helping it. This world is a real mess right now."
"To realize my vision, there has to be a revolution."
According to the original plot, Douluo Star only reached modern society after tens of thousands of years of development.
He couldn't wait that long.
Nor did he want a Divine Realm hanging over his head in the future.
"Then what can we get out of it?" A surprisingly human smile appeared on the Sky Azure Bull Python's face.
Hearing this, Chu Feng inwardly relaxed.
For the Sky Azure Bull Python to say that meant it was already interested, but he needed to put suitable bargaining chips on the table.
He wasn't afraid of it wanting something; he was afraid of it wanting nothing.
"You get to stay alive!" Chu Feng said with certainty.
That was his bargaining chip.
Hearing this, the Sky Azure Bull Python burst into laughter, though a trace of anger colored its voice.
"What, are you planning to kill us if we refuse to cooperate?"
Hearing this, the Titan Giant Ape beside them also angrily pounded his chest, his lantern-sized eyes fixed on Chu Feng.
Xiao Wu's heart tightened, worried that Chu Feng really intended to attack them.
The Sky Azure Bull Python's imposing presence forced Chu Feng back a step.
"I'm not the one who wants to kill you."
"But you should know that, in the eyes of human Soul Masters, you're prized delicacies, meals on a plate."
"Sooner or later, they'll come to kill you and seize your Soul Rings."
The Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape were the bosses among Soul Beasts.
But they were also thorns in the eyes of human Soul Masters.
Hadn't Bibi Dong targeted the two Soul Beasts for hunting later in the original plot?
"Roar, roar, roar!" The Titan Giant Ape roared loudly, seemingly saying he would kill those Soul Masters one by one as they came.
The Sky Azure Bull Python said nothing, falling silent instead.
It wasn't so arrogant as to think it could handle those Titled Douluo, or it wouldn't have stayed deep inside Star Dou Great Forest all this time.
Some human Titled Douluo were extraordinarily powerful.
"I have an ability that lets me glimpse a corner of the future."
"In that future, the two of you are killed and become Soul Rings."
"Even Xiao Wu meets with misfortune," Chu Feng said, looking at Xiao Wu.
He wasn't lying; he had merely described what would happen in the future of the original plot.
Without his intervention, those events would happen sooner or later.
Looking at Chu Feng's earnest expression, the Sky Azure Bull Python grew somewhat restless and uneasy.
He couldn't tell whether Chu Feng's words were true or false.
Foreseeing the future was simply too far-fetched.
Yet Chu Feng was far too mysterious, and his methods were anything but simple.
If that future was real, he would have to consider what to do.
It didn't matter if he and Er Ming died, but nothing could happen to Sister Xiao Wu.
Silence settled over the scene as the Sky Azure Bull Python considered how to handle the matter.
Chu Feng waited for the Sky Azure Bull Python's reply, letting the Spirit-Devouring Rat and the other two beasts play nearby for a while in the meantime.
Xiao Wu kicked pebbles by the lake as she pondered the "future" Chu Feng had described.
Only the Titan Giant Ape kept pounding his chest.
After a long while, the Sky Azure Bull Python finally spoke in a low voice. "I agree to cooperate with you."
In the end, it didn't dare gamble on that one chance in ten thousand, didn't dare gamble with Xiao Wu's life.
Besides, cooperating wouldn't really affect him.
If Chu Feng did anything bad later, it would still have time to withdraw.
At worst, it could take Xiao Wu and Er Ming somewhere else to hide.
It had heard that there weren't many Soul Masters active in the Far North; it was just a little cold.
Before Chu Feng could speak, the Sky Azure Bull Python continued, "But let's make this clear beforehand. Cooperation is fine, but you can't order us around directly."
It was, after all, the Sky Azure Bull Python, an overlord in its own right. Naturally, it couldn't take orders from a human.
"Of course. Cooperation should be between equals." Chu Feng relaxed inwardly. The Sky Azure Bull Python was finally willing to cooperate.
The atmosphere eased as well.
"Boss Chu, what do you want us to do?"
Xiao Wu came to Chu Feng's side, feeling delighted, more at ease than she ever had before.
At least she wouldn't have to worry about her identity as a Soul Beast in the future.
The Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape, meanwhile, looked at Chu Feng solemnly.
They wanted to know just what Chu Feng intended to have them do.
And what that so-called "revolution" was.
"It's simple. I need you to bring all the Soul Beasts in Star Dou Great Forest under control."
"And make it Shrek Academy's Soul Beast base."
Star Dou Great Forest had the richest variety of Soul Beasts on the entire continent, yet belonged to no faction.
Simply put, whoever had the ability could claim this territory.
It had abundant resources, numerous Soul Beasts, and many excellent cultivation sites for Soul Masters.
If he wanted to develop his own faction, Star Dou Great Forest was an excellent place to do it.
"Those Soul Beasts aren't so easy to control," the Sky Azure Bull Python said, shaking its head.
It was nominally the overlord of Star Dou Great Forest, but that didn't mean it was the emperor of every Soul Beast there.
Only the stronger Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts nearby would listen to what it said.
Soul Beasts farther from the lake wouldn't submit to its authority.
Some Soul Beasts weren't even intelligent enough to understand human speech.
Expecting a stalk of ten-year Soul Bamboo to follow your orders? What a joke.
"That's right, Boss Chu. Some Soul Beasts are pretty dumb. You can't control them," Xiao Wu chimed in.
Chu Feng understood what Xiao Wu meant and chuckled inwardly, saying, "That's fine. I'm not asking you to control every Soul Beast right away."
"First, bring the area within a hundred li of this lake under control. From now on, no one except my people and Shrek Academy's people may enter."
Star Dou Great Forest was so vast that trying to control all of it at once would naturally be unreasonable.
Chu Feng took out a large map of Douluo Star and spread it on the ground.
The two beasts and two humans gathered around the map.
Chu Feng took out a stick, pointed to Star Dou Great Forest's location, then drew a circle around their current location.
"What are these two places? Why are there two more continents?" The Sky Azure Bull Python suddenly pointed its horns at two places on the map.
The moment he saw the map, he had noticed something was wrong.
Why did this map show three continents?
Wasn't there only deep ocean beyond Douluo Continent, with a few islands at most?
Where had those two enormous continents come from?
Even though it was a Soul Beast, it still knew such things.