A sophisticated mental network, like the roots of a tree, spread across a radius of 1500 meters, ensuring that no movement escaped Huo Yuhao's perception.
To avoid encountering and fighting soul beasts along the way, Huo Yuhao subtly simulated a trace of the Crimson King's aura within his mental detection.
They advanced for three hours without encountering a single soul beast. Most were too frightened to move, cowering on the ground until the aura faded, at which point they hastily fled.
Finally, Qian Duoduo and Huo Yuhao stopped atop a tree a hundred meters tall, standing on branches as thick as water vats, gazing into the distance.
Numerous flying soul beasts could be seen soaring through the sky, and occasionally, powerful roars echoed from the deep forest.
It was already afternoon, and the sunlight brought a wave of heat and a hazy atmosphere.
Upon entering the core of the Demon Forest, the fluctuations in soul power and the intensity of life elements in the air had increased dramatically.
"The quality of the soul beasts in this Demon Forest is in no way inferior to that of the Star Dou Great Forest, it's just that the soul beasts over 100,000 years old are a bit lacking," Qian Duoduo sighed slightly.
"I'm afraid most of them are 100,000-year-old soul beasts of the Evil Eye Clan. Soul beasts from other clans who want to become 100,000-year-old will most likely become vassals of the Evil Emperor." Huo Yuhao had already withdrawn the simulated aura from his mental detection.
"The Demon Forest and the Far North are the soul beast gathering places that our Shrek Academy has had the least contact with. Next, Yuhao, remember to go all out with your mental detection, try to find suitable soul beasts to hunt and kill as quickly as possible, and then we'll retreat after absorbing them quickly," Qian Duoduo instructed.
"I understand," Huo Yuhao nodded.
"Let's go." Qian Duoduo didn't delay any longer and landed on the ground, and Huo Yuhao quickly followed.
"Time fluctuation, interesting." Just after Huo Yuhao followed Qian Duoduo and stepped onto the soft grass, Ilex's voice suddenly rang out, seemingly attracted by something.
"Time fluctuations?" Huo Yuhao asked curiously as he ran, "Teacher, did you sense anything?"
"Hmm," Electrolux said calmly, "Did you see the occasional transparent blood around you?"
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao noticed the strange, viscous liquid clinging to the roadside weeds and branches as he passed by. It was actually blood.
"These bloods contain the attribute of time. If the time is sufficient, I suggest you abandon the search for the Evil Eye and find it instead," Ilex said in a deep voice. "Space is king, time is supreme. Although that's an exaggeration, it still proves their power. Moreover, these two attributes are closely related to the spiritual attribute. If you master the power of time, the improvement to your spiritual power will be astonishing."
Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered slightly. He was a man who listened to advice. "I'll listen to you, teacher. I'll find this unknown time-attribute soul beast first."
Ilex smiled and said, "Touch the blood, then use your spiritual power to inject it. I'll find the general direction for you."
"Yes," Huo Yuhao thought to himself, then stopped and transmitted his voice, "Dean Qian, wait a moment."
He called out to Qian Duoduo, who was cautiously searching the surroundings. The former turned around and transmitted his voice through his soul power, "Have you found anything?"
"I've found something, come and take a look." Huo Yuhao said, walking to a tree branch with a pool of transparent blood hanging on it. He injected a wisp of spiritual energy into it, and suddenly, a strange, distorted light emerged from the blood.
This scene instantly attracted Qian Duoduo, who walked over curiously, frowning and saying, "I think I've encountered this aura on that kid Shi Xing before."
Shi Xing was the city lord of Shrek City, whose martial soul was the Time Compass, possessing both time and space attributes. Despite such incredibly powerful attributes, he was a minor character, not even present in the early stages of Douluo Continent II: The Unrivaled Tang Sect, and was added later to complete the character's backstory.
As the light bloomed, Ilex quickly pinpointed the approximate location of the soul beast. "Keep heading northwest."
Huo Yuhao nodded secretly, then said to Qian Duoduo, "Dean Qian, let's head northwest."
"Okay." Qian Duoduo didn't ask any questions; he trusted Huo Yuhao's choice.
The two immediately quickened their pace, traversing the dense forest. Whether it was because the people of the Sun Moon Empire dared not hunt soul beasts deep within the Demon Forest, or for some other reason, soul beasts with cultivation ages exceeding 50,000 years were encountered almost every so often, their numbers astonishing.
These soul beasts' territories were not large, but conveniently, they seemed to be restrained by something.
Powerful soul beasts possessed considerable sensitivity to spatial fluctuations, so Huo Yuhao could only narrow his mental detection range while increasing its intensity to avoid alerting them.
After traveling northwest for half an hour, the world before them suddenly changed.
What they saw was a vast, undulating valley, its terrain intricate and complex, its vegetation lush, resembling a maze. A winding river meandered through it, bringing billowing moisture. Surprisingly, the concentration of life energy here was only slightly lower than that of the extremely dangerous Star Dou Great Forest.
No wonder the Evil Emperor was able to break through seven Heavenly Tribulations. Deep within the Demon Forest, there must be hidden Life Gold. However, without the auspicious aura of the mythical beast and the nourishment from Brother Tianmeng, the Evil Emperor is destined to fail to break through the eighth Heavenly Tribulation.
"There's a fluctuation of time attribute there, almost identical to the aura I sensed in the dense forest just now, but it seems somewhat faint." Just as Huo Yuhao was sensing the elements in the air, Qian Duoduo turned his gaze to a certain spot. "Should we go take a look?"
Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow. "Let's see." He was very curious about what kind of soul beast could pique his teacher's interest.
Without further ado, the two quickly headed towards the area where the fluctuation was spreading. Ahead of them was a wide expanse of wetland, with tender grass growing no deeper than ankle-deep. The clear water reflected a faint light, though it was obscured by trees and not very clear.
"Chirp~"
Just as the two were about to step into the wetland, a clear, melodious sound, like an electric scooter's alarm bell, rang out, sounding exactly like the call of a tailorbird.
The two stopped in their tracks, exchanged a glance, and decided to observe discreetly from their hiding places.
Finding a higher, more distant spot, they peered through gaps in the vegetation and were simultaneously stunned.
In a patch of damp grass lay a spirit beast resembling a deer. Its body was entirely silvery-white, as clear as the purest gemstone, occasionally shimmering with starlight-like rays.
The only flaw was a large, gaping wound on its back, from which a clear, viscous liquid seeped. It was
making painful "squeak" sounds.
"What kind of spirit beast is this?" Even Qian Duoduo, let alone Huo Yuhao, was puzzled. Although he was the vice-dean of the Spirit Guidance Department, it didn't mean he was completely ignorant of spirit beasts. However, having lived for nearly a century, this was the first time he had ever seen such a creature.
"Is it some kind of deer-like spirit beast?" Qian Duoduo exclaimed in surprise, "And a rare one with the time attribute at that."
This was definitely a belated discovery. While Shi Xing was powerful, he couldn't find time-space type spirit rings in his early days and had to choose other alternatives. Even though he's only in his forties and has already become a Title Douluo, it's highly unlikely he'll ever break through to Super Douluo.
Everyone says spirit-attribute spirit beasts are hard to find, but compared to time-space attribute spirit beasts, they're child's play. Finding even one out of millions of spirit beasts is considered incredibly lucky.
But soon, a strange scene appeared. A silver-white light suddenly shone from the mysterious deer-like spirit beast, followed by a bizarre distortion around it. Time seemed to flow backward, and the original wounds on the deer-like spirit beast's body healed by nearly two-thirds as the distortion dissipated.
However, the spirit beast's spirit power fluctuations also weakened considerably, clearly indicating that using this move had consumed a lot of its strength.
"What the hell is this?" Qian Duoduo cursed directly, but only in his mind.
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened, but just then, something triggered within their mental detection range, and both Huo Yuhao and Qian Duoduo simultaneously concealed their auras.
A strangely shaped creature hovered in mid-air, slowly approaching within a hundred meters of the mysterious deer-like soul beast.
Why strange? Because this soul beast was essentially a combination of eyeballs and tentacles.
"Twelve silver-white tentacles, a single-attribute evil eye, around 80,000 years old," Qian Duoduo recognized it at a glance, but quickly frowned. This evil eye was far too old; he wasn't sure if Huo Yuhao could absorb it all. His ninth soul ring was only approaching 90,000 years old.
Faced with the evil eye appearing before it, the Time Deer Soul Beast immediately became alert. Its injuries were caused by the evil eye's attack.
Of course, it was a sneak attack.
Even against a 100,000-year-old soul beast, it was confident it could escape unscathed, but it couldn't withstand the sixth brother.
The Evil Eye's pupils darted about, as if assessing the most delicious part of the Time Deer, locking onto the steps to be enjoyed later. Within the Evil Eye, strange silver-white light patterns flickered, and the surrounding air immediately churned.
A powerful mental pressure descended; wherever the silver-white light covered, any creature with mental strength weaker than the Evil Eye was suppressed. This was the unique innate soul skill of the Evil Eye clan: a mental force field!
Those suppressed would experience dizziness, sluggishness, fatigue, despondency, and weakness.
This was practically a top-tier advanced version of a weakening soul skill.
But the Time Deer was no weakling. As the silver-white light swept over, a rhombus-shaped crystal light suddenly shone from between its brows, and terrifying time soul power spread out. Everything around it seemed as if time itself had frozen and was reversing.
The mental force field soul skill, which should have been awe-inspiring, was affected by time. It spread and then receded as if it had been pushed back, completely dissipating.
After releasing this move, the Time Deer's aura visibly weakened.
However, its power also momentarily surprised the Evil Eye. Having lived for approximately 30,000 years, this was the first time it had encountered an enemy capable of perfectly dispelling its innate soul skill.
Despite its surprise, the attack did not halt. With a sharp shriek, the Evil Eye suddenly split into ten: nine spiritual clones and one main body.
They formed a circle, surrounding the Time Deer at the center.
"This Time Deer soul beast is in danger," Huo Yuhao observed. As a fellow being of the mental attribute, he could sense that the Evil Eye was brewing some incredibly powerful soul skill.
As expected, the instant Huo Yuhao transmitted his voice to Qian Duoduo, the pupils of the ten evil eyes suddenly shone with a silver-white light. Layers upon layers of spiritual energy fluctuations swept out like a mountain pressing down, seemingly about to completely crush the Time Deer.
This was a powerful attack soul skill, capable of both group and single-target attacks.
All the vegetation in the grass couldn't withstand the impact of the spiritual blast and instantly exploded. The ground itself rippled violently, like a bomb exploding, and everything was torn apart.
The Time Deer, at the center, naturally felt the deathly aura, but it showed no fear. Looking closely, it noticed that numerous temporal rifts had appeared within half a meter of its body. These rifts were so minute that even the evil eyes seemed unaware of them.
When the tidal wave of spiritual blasts rushed in, they all fell into the temporal rifts, producing muffled sounds, but without harming the Time Deer in the slightest.
"It's here."
Just as Qian Duoduo was marveling at the Time Deer's abilities, Huo Yuhao frowned. The danger he referred to when he said the Time Deer was dangerous wasn't the previous mental explosion, but rather this current attack.
The Evil Eye was clearly deliberately depleting the Time Deer's soul power.
The next moment, the nine clones of the Evil Eye vanished, leaving only the main body. Its twelve tentacles, which had been buried in the ground, burst forth from the earth as the mental explosion attack was intercepted, completely locking down the Time Deer's movements like a fence.
The Time Deer was startled and tried to escape.
But it was too late. Strands of spiritual power spread from the tentacles, forming a spiritual power blockade network that continuously squeezed inward. Once it touched the Time Deer, it would immediately devour its soul.
Sensing all this, the Time Deer inexplicably calmed down, its body shimmering with a silvery-white light, and did something unknown.
On the Evil Eye's main body, terrifying power gathered, the surrounding space visibly trembled, and silvery-white radiance spread, staining the sky.
The fact that the Evil Emperor could challenge Di Tian demonstrates the terror of this race.
The Evil Eye, with its single spiritual attribute, possesses a considerable number of innate soul skills, and the one about to erupt is the Evil Eye Gaze soul skill, a combination of Soul Impact and Mental Blast, capable of destroying any living being.
Even a true 100,000-year-old soul beast wouldn't dare to take it head-on.
Taking advantage of the brief pause after using Mental Blast, the Evil Eye completed the charging time for the Evil Eye Gaze soul skill.
With a thunderous roar, a terrifying silver light, three meters in diameter, shot out from the Evil Eye's pupil. Within a radius of several hundred meters, all sound ceased, and space distorted wherever the silver light passed.
"Whoosh." Just as the silver light burst down, the Time Deer moved; its body became ethereal, then transformed into wisps of light and shadow, vanishing from its spot.
The instant it vanished, the Evil Eye's gaze fell fiercely, obliterating all life in its wake and leaving behind a mental chasm hundreds of meters long. Any creature that stepped into it would be attacked by the residual mental energy.
The disappearance of the Time Deer completely shocked the Evil Eye. He hadn't expected that even with everything sealed off, and a near-certain success rate, he would still fail. Moreover, the Time Deer's disappearance left only a slight ripple.
A thousand meters away from the grassland, the Time Deer's body re-formed, its aura extremely weak. The soul skill it had just used was called Time Reversal.
Any place it had been within an hour could be retraced back using this technique, the distance depending on its remaining soul and mental energy—of course, it was controllable, not fixed.
Unfortunately, the previous ambush had severely injured it, and the constant healing had consumed too much of its energy. Combined with defending against the Evil Eye's attack, its soul and mental energy were already ninety percent depleted. Using this technique, it only managed to escape a distance of less than a thousand meters.
Without delay, the Time Deer hurriedly fled into the distance. If the Evil Eye were to pursue it again, it would be almost powerless to resist.
A piercing shriek echoed through the grassland as the Evil Eye furiously destroyed everything with its tentacles. Then, it unleashed its full mental power, searching for any remaining trace of its aura on the Time Deer.
Soon, the Evil Eye's eyes flashed, and its twelve tentacles carried it swiftly into the distance.
Hidden in the valley, Qian Duoduo and Huo Yuhao witnessed everything, both marveling at the spectacular display of attack and defense.
"Let's go, let's follow them. Maybe we can snag some loot," Qian Duoduo said
, not intending to let this opportunity slip by. The two quickly followed.
"Yuhao, you can absorb this Evil Eye with your Spirit Eye Martial Soul, and you can absorb that deer that has mastered the time attribute with your Ice Scorpion Martial Soul,"
Ilex's voice suddenly rang out, surprising Huo Yuhao.
"Let the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul absorb a time-attribute Soul Ring?" Ice Emperor, who was recuperating, suddenly opened her eyes upon hearing this, her gaze filled with skepticism.
Even Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm's eyes widened in disbelief. "Old man, you're not messing around, are you? How can an ice-attribute Martial Soul absorb a time-attribute Soul Ring?"
"Heh." Faced with the skepticism, Ilex simply smiled faintly. "Arguing is pointless. Let's wait until Yuhao obtains the Soul Ring before discussing it further."
"Yuhao, this..." Bingdi and Tianmeng Ice Silkworm immediately shifted their focus.
"I'll listen to my teacher." Huo Yuhao smiled slightly. "Bingdi, Tianmeng-ge, please trust our teacher."
Hearing this, Bingdi and Tianmeng Ice Silkworm paused, ultimately choosing to concede.
But this matter wasn't completely over. If he failed to absorb the spirit ring, they would have to properly persuade Yuhao.
They admired Ilex's strength, but this was Douluo Continent, not Saint Demon Continent.
The cultivation systems were completely different.
...
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