Stepping into the Star Dou Great Forest once again, the refreshing air mixed with the fragrance of plants was invigorating. While it made Yun Ming feel relaxed, it also brought a question to his mind: is the Soul Spirit Method truly better for this world than the traditional soul ring method currently used on the continent?
From an ecological perspective, the current Star Dou Great Forest is still divided into the edge zone, outer circle, mixed circle, core circle, and the Great Evil Land where the Beasts reside. However, since the Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao introduced the Soul Spirit Method ten thousand years ago—which was "claimed" to resolve the conflict between soul beasts and humans—the Star Dou Great Forest has been almost destroyed in less than ten thousand years. Only the core area remains, surrounded by fortresses of the Spirit Transfer Pagoda, and soul beasts have been nearly wiped out. If the strongest Star Dou Great Forest has ended up like this, the state of other soul beast forests goes without saying.
This has caused severe damage to the ecological diversity of Douluo Star.
From the perspective of the Soul Spirit Method itself, it does indeed have many advanced aspects compared to the traditional soul ring method currently used on the continent. High-level soul spirits can grant a Soul Master multiple soul rings and soul skills simultaneously. Furthermore, soul spirits are inheritable, can be passed down to future generations, and can assist the Soul Master in battle.
Although this method is, to a certain extent, a disguised form of enslaving soul beasts, compared to the current practice of directly killing them to absorb their soul rings, it is hard to say which is more cruel to the soul beasts—one deprives them of freedom, while the other deprives them of life.
Just as Yun Ming was contemplating the profound issue of the "pros and cons of soul spirits for Soul Masters and Douluo Star," Dugu Bo, who was beside him, spoke up.
"Yun kid, well? Have you decided which soul beast to choose?"
This time, Yun Ming did not act as he had before; he had made much more thorough preparations. Borrowing the influence of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Poison Douluo in Heaven Dou, Yun Ming had spent the previous few months carefully collecting information on space-element soul beasts over fifty thousand years old.
A tall old man standing on the other side of Yun Ming was also waiting for his choice.
This old man's face was withered, his muscles and skin were shriveled, and his eye sockets were deeply sunken. His physique was not the type of robust, bulging muscle, but his entire skeletal frame was shockingly large, as if his clothes were held up entirely by a skeleton. This person was the other Titled Douluo of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, who was as famous as the Sword Douluo—the Bone Douluo, Gu Rong.
The soul beast Yun Ming wanted to deal with this time had a high lineage, high cultivation, and possessed space attributes; one Dugu Bo was truly not enough. Therefore, Yun Ming had decisively used his second summoning right for the Sword Douluo Chen Xin. However, Gu Rong happened to be present when he extended the invitation, and out of curiosity about the top-tier genius Chen Xin had spoken of, he volunteered to go instead. Yun Ming agreed, and that was how Gu Rong ended up following him to the Star Dou Great Forest.
The Phoenix Cry Ring on Yun Ming's finger flashed, and a piece of paper recording detailed soul beast information appeared in his hand. Yun Ming handed the paper to the two men and said.
"I've chosen. The soul beast I want this time is this one."
Gu Rong took the paper and looked at the soul beast's species information, innate soul skills, and the estimated age of the specimens currently existing in the Star Dou Great Forest. He looked at Yun Ming in astonishment, his hoarse voice sounding out.
"Little Friend Yun, are you sure you want to hunt this soul beast?"
Dugu Bo took the soul beast information from Gu Rong's hand. After reading the series of abilities recorded on it, he was also somewhat shocked. He thought back to the scene when he, Yun Ming, and Yang Wutian hunted the Sky Dome Silver Peng; even that one had taken the three of them great effort to take down. Now, Yun Ming wanted to hunt a soul beast whose lineage might be even higher than the Sky Dome Silver Peng and whose cultivation was thirty thousand years stronger. Although Yang Wutian had been replaced by the stronger Gu Rong, Dugu Bo still felt it would be very difficult!
Yun Ming said earnestly.
"It has to be this one. Since I've encountered it, I only want the best."
Seeing that Boss Yun had made his decision, Gu Rong and Dugu Bo could only prepare themselves for an all-out battle.
Afterward, the three of them began to enter the mixed circle of the Star Dou Great Forest, following the limited intelligence and species characteristics they had obtained. Yun Ming and Gu Rong opened their senses, beginning to perceive the surrounding spatial fluctuations and soul beast auras with all their might.
Five days later, somewhere in the mixed circle of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Dugu Bo looked at this area, still finding no trace of the soul beast they were looking for, and asked Yun Ming.
"Yun kid, with that soul beast's strength, it should be able to enter the core circle to survive, right? Shouldn't we go in and look?"
Yun Ming shook his head upon hearing this and said sternly.
"The possibility is low. It is an enemy to the entire core circle; those powerful beasts would not let it live inside."
Dugu Bo thought about the characteristics of that soul beast and felt it made sense, so he didn't say anything more and continued the search.
A quarter of an hour later, inside Yun Ming's Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dome Silver Peng Tian Ling said.
"Master, five kilometers to your southwest, there is an aura that makes me feel palpitations, and it carries a strong evil fluctuation. It is likely the soul beast you are looking for."
Hearing Tian Ling's words, Yun Ming's eyes lit up, and he quickly called out to Gu Rong.
"Senior Gu Rong, five kilometers to the southwest, I've found a suspected target."
Upon hearing this, Gu Rong's face showed more joy. His Soul Power surged, and the space around the three of them began to twist, eventually forming a pitch-black vortex that carried them through space directly to the location Yun Ming had mentioned.
Feeling the rich space element, Yun Ming felt a bit of emotion in his heart; he would need to increase his cultivation further before he could use this kind of mid-range, point-to-point teleportation ability.
However, Yun Ming had no time to think about that now, because he had already found the target of his trip.
It was a giant tiger, pure black all over without any mottled colors. Its red eyes were filled with violent evil energy. It was over eight meters long, with bulging muscles all over its body. The Wang mark on its forehead was not like fur, but rather a more sinister, mist-like black. Most peculiar was its tail; it was much longer than that of ordinary tiger soul beasts and stood upright, composed of countless joints, with a huge, hooked barb at the very tip.
Yun Ming looked at the pitch-black giant tiger, feeling the supreme evil energy and the various other energy fluctuations on its body, and exclaimed in genuine admiration.
"What a fine Dark Demon Evil God Tiger!"
"It truly lives up to its name as a super soul beast bearing the title of a god; it is indeed powerful!"
This was the fifth soul ring Yun Ming had chosen for himself—the super soul beast known for Evil God Possession, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. This beast not only possessed the ultimate evil as its main attribute but also had five secondary attributes: wind, thunder, strength, space, and time.
It wasn't just Yun Ming who was excited; the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was also excited.
"Roar~!"
When the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger saw Yun Ming and his group, it let out a heaven-shaking roar, and its blood-red eyes suddenly lit up.
It had only snuck into the mixed circle a few days ago and had just started foraging today without finding a suitable target. Now, two big meals had suddenly delivered themselves to its doorstep. The Gu Rong, who had a blend of dragon aura and death aura, was already great, but the appearance of Yun Ming made it extremely excited. Compared to the other two Titled Douluo, Yun Ming was different in quality; it smelled something very much like a god on him.
Gu Rong and Dugu Bo felt the terrifying aura from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. The Bone Dragon and Jade Scale Serpent Emperor Martial Souls within their bodies kept sending them danger warnings, reminding them of the strength of the soul beast before them.
Under the immense pressure, Gu Rong and Dugu Bo activated their Martial Soul Avatar, and their standard nine soul rings—two yellow, two purple, and five black—appeared one by one.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was not facing human Soul Masters for the first time. Seeing the neatly colored soul rings on the two Titled Douluo opposite it, its blood-red eyes became cautious. It temporarily suppressed its covetousness for Yun Ming, its tiger body began to vibrate slightly, and the aura on its body became increasingly fierce. A great battle was on the verge of breaking out!
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: DaoistReader