Chapter 139 Xuanzi's defenses are breached? His 100,000-year soul ring was absorbed by Liu Yuan? That's impossible!
The cold wind from the core area of the Starry Sky Forest swept through the empty valley, stirring up a cloud of scorched dust.
After hearing Wang Dong's explanation about the cultivation level markers of space beasts, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao, who had been tense, felt a surge of intense curiosity.
The two exchanged a glance, then simultaneously bent down, approached the massive corpse that still emitted a faint purple light even in lifelessness, and began to count carefully.
"One, two, three..."
Xiao Xiao stretched out her slender finger and, from a distance, touched the dense star-shaped markings on the back of the space beast.
"There are more here, and quite a few are also distributed under the armpits and at the tail."
Huo Yuhao activated his Spirit Eyes, and the markings in his vision were clearer than those he could see with his naked eye.
"There are just too many of them. If each of these markings represents a thousand years, then the age of this soul beast is simply unimaginable."
However, Xuanzi was still a senior elder of the Sea God Pavilion and a level 98 Super Douluo.
Although he was unreliable at this time due to his personality, his insight and knowledge as a top expert were still there.
He didn't count the tiny marks one by one like the children did. He simply stood in front of the corpse for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the beast's jaw, and then he made up his mind.
"Stop counting, this is a space beast that's been around for 100,000 years."
Xuanzi's voice was deep and hoarse, sounding exceptionally clear in the silent valley.
He pointed to a dark red spiral mark on the space beast's jaw and explained to the three children:
"Look here. As long as this closed-loop spiral mark appears on the lower jaw of the space beast, it means that its cultivation has broken through the bottleneck of 99,999 years and officially entered the threshold of 100,000 years."
"This mark is proof of the qualitative change in the bloodline of a soul beast, and it cannot be faked."
Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao, Xiao Xiao, and Wang Dong all showed expressions of sudden realization.
However, after confirming that it was indeed the remains of a 100,000-year-old soul beast, the shock in the three people's eyes did not subside, but instead became even more intense.
For them now, a 100,000-year-old soul beast is still a terrifying existence that exists only in legends and is capable of destroying the world.
"So, who did this?" Xiao Xiao couldn't help but shrink her neck, looking around at the devastated battlefield. "To be able to hunt a 100,000-year-old soul beast here and beat it up like this, just how strong must that person be?"
Xuanzi slowly shook his head, his expression uncertain: "I don't know."
He walked to the edge of the pit, looked at the dented fist marks on the space beast, and analyzed in a solemn tone: "At present, we can only tell that the person who made the move is extremely powerful."
"Look at the spine on the back of this space beast and the ribs on its chest. They've all been dented and shattered by pure brute force. Judging from this fighting style, the opponent must be a Soul Master of extreme strength, and with an extremely high Soul Power level."
"However…" Xuanzi frowned, then walked to the other side, feeling the lingering effects in the air.
"What I find somewhat strange is that, in addition to that domineering aura of power, there are also many peculiar and extremely condensed spiritual energy auras remaining in this area."
"This also means that the person who hunted this soul beast, or rather, the person who participated in the hunt, also had extremely strong mental power."
Because Huo Yuhao possesses the Spirit Eye Martial Soul, he is a spirit-type Soul Master, making him several times more sensitive to fluctuations in mental power than ordinary people.
In particular, he had an almost instinctive memory of Liu Yuan's spiritual energy.
After all, during the Soul Master Competition not long ago, he had used his Spirit Eyes countless times to observe and try to analyze Liu Yuan's abilities, and that unfathomable spiritual fluctuation had long been engraved in his subconscious.
After listening to Xuanzi's analysis, Huo Yuhao subconsciously closed his eyes, mobilized the remaining spiritual power in his sea of consciousness, and carefully sensed the residual warmth in this area.
Instantly, a strong sense of familiarity rushed to my head.
"This feeling of spiritual power... seems somewhat familiar." Huo Yuhao suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils contracting sharply.
"Familiar? Yuhao, what did you discover?" Wang Dong leaned closer and asked.
Huo Yuhao stared blankly at the corpse on the ground, various fragments flashing through his mind. Suddenly, a thought that he himself found absurd popped into his head: "The frequency of this aura... seems to be... Liu Yuan!"
Huo Yuhao suddenly remembered that when the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament in Xingluo City ended, Liu Yuan's cultivation had already reached the peak of level 49, almost reaching level 50, right?
According to the normal cultivation progress, Liu Yuan returned to the Body Sect and went into seclusion to break through to level 50, and then came to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for his fifth soul ring. From the timeline, it seems to make perfect sense.
Huo Yuhao couldn't help but voice his guess: "Elder Xuan, do you think this could really be Liu Yuan's doing? Judging from the timeline, he should indeed be searching for his fifth soul ring right now."
Xuanzi, who had already suffered a great loss at Liu Yuan's hands, now had a strong stress reaction whenever he heard the name "Liu Yuan".
He reacted as if his tail had been stepped on, nearly jumping up from the spot. His face instantly turned from pale to red, and he shouted:
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Xuanzi was on the verge of a breakdown. He stared intently at Huo Yuhao, his tone filled with denial and anxiety:
"It's impossible for him to have reached level 50 so quickly, and it's even more impossible for him to appear here so soon!"
"Besides, even if he really did break through here, how do you explain this 100,000-year soul ring?" Xuanzi pointed at the dissipating soul power fluctuations above the space beast's corpse and roared almost uncontrollably.
"We can't exactly say that he absorbed this 100,000-year-old red spirit ring, can we? Absorbing a 100,000-year-old spirit ring for the fifth time? That's practically a fantasy in the history of spirit masters! Whose body could withstand that kind of impact?"
Wang Dong shook his head as well. Although he admitted that Liu Yuan was very strong, his reason told him that it was unrealistic: "A fifth spirit ring takes 100,000 years? That's really too much of a joke."
"Yuhao, you're overthinking it. No matter how monstrous Liu Yuan is, he couldn't possibly defy the common sense of the Martial Soul world to this extent."
Xiao Xiao gently tugged at Huo Yuhao's sleeve and nodded in agreement with Elder Xuan's opinion: "Yes, Yuhao. There is a time limit for absorbing a soul ring. At level 50, absorbing one for 100,000 years is just courting death. You probably sensed something wrong."
As Huo Yuhao listened to the rebuttals from the crowd, his wavering heart gradually calmed down.
Indeed, he also felt that his idea was too outlandish.
The fifth spirit ring is a 100,000-year red ring, which is beyond the comprehension of human spirit masters.
"It seems I really was overthinking things." Huo Yuhao shook his head with a wry smile and sighed self-deprecatingly.
Xuanzi breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Huo Yuhao was no longer insisting. However, because Huo Yuhao had just mentioned Liu Yuan, he still felt a lingering gloom in his heart as he looked at the corpse of the 100,000-year-old soul beast.
He didn't want to stay here any longer.
"Alright, stop wasting time here." Xuanzi turned around and waved to the three children.
"Let's go, we need to get down to business. Yuhao, your third spirit ring is of utmost importance. I must find you a satisfactory target before the next wave of turmoil in the core area."
However, just as Xuanzi was about to lead everyone away from this place of trouble, a sickening, metallic rumbling sound suddenly came from the depths of the forest, which had been silent.
"roar--!"
A roar of extreme rage suddenly erupted, causing the entire valley to tremble violently.
The already dilapidated trees around them crumbled under the impact of this roar!
(End of chapter)