"Stop, right here!"
Judging from the distance, they were still at least a hundred li away from the Lake of Life. Mu Yang called for the Sky Azure Bull Python beneath him to halt, then leapt down from its back.
The commotion caused by a hundred-thousand-year soul beast's sacrifice was no small matter. To avoid drawing the attention of the ferocious beasts in the subspace beneath the Lake of Life, Mu Yang cautiously had the Sky Azure Bull Python move far away from the lake.
After all, the Sky Azure Bull Python was practically the gatekeeper for those beasts. Having it offer its sacrifice near the Lake of Life would be the same as applying salve to the beasts' eyes—if they were discovered, those ferocious beasts, who were hostile toward human soul masters, definitely wouldn't be polite.
"Let's begin!"
Without any soul rings yet attached, Mu Yang activated his Iceflame Saintshadow Martial Soul. He let Xiao Wu initiate the sacrifice first, followed by the Sky Azure Bull Python.
With her mind under control, Xiao Wu felt nothing amiss about sacrificing herself to Mu Yang.
"Ah—"
A scream that pierced the soul erupted from Xiao Wu's lips. That cry seemed to make the entire Star Dou Great Forest tremble in fear.
In the next moment, a blinding red light suddenly burst forth from the center of Xiao Wu's forehead, spreading out as a red ring of light.
Wherever the red light passed, everything nearby was dyed a bloody hue. All things within its range were frozen in absolute stillness.
Even those as strong as Huo Lie and the others were forcibly immobilized the moment the red light spread. The only one capable of movement was Xiao Wu, whose mind had been controlled by Mu Yang and was in the middle of her sacrifice.
At this moment, Xiao Wu's entire body turned dark red. Even her clothing turned to ash and vanished, revealing her graceful figure, her body shimmering like a crimson gemstone.
But no lifeform could appreciate this beautiful sight now, because the red light didn't just freeze movement—it also paused all consciousness within its range.
This was the power of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, and even more so, the power of one burning its own life force.
It was a force no less than divine. One that mortal strength could never hope to rival.
Soon, red flames began to burn from Xiao Wu's body—not ordinary flames, but a special type of bloodfire.
What burned was not just her blood and life, but also her cultivation as a hundred-thousand-year-old Soft-Boned Rabbit.
The bloodfire blazed more and more fiercely, gradually shifting from red to dark red. Meanwhile, Xiao Wu's body slowly faded, as if turning into an increasingly transparent red crystal.
Not long after, the expanding red ring of light began to contract, slowly drawing in toward the sacrificing Xiao Wu and the receiving Mu Yang.
After a while, Xiao Wu's body gradually faded. Then, with a sudden contraction of the surging bloodfire ring, a chain of explosive sounds burst out around Mu Yang's body.
As Xiao Wu's figure disappeared completely, the contracting ring of bloodfire erupted with a dazzling red brilliance, which then transformed into the first soul ring of the Iceflame Saintshadow Martial Soul.
At the same time, a beam of blood-red light suddenly struck Mu Yang's left leg. A flash of red bone shadow appeared and vanished.
"Moo—"
Another soul-piercing bellow rang out. A blinding red light spread from the center of the Sky Azure Bull Python Da Ming's enormous bovine forehead—the familiar red glow returned once again.
Following Xiao Wu, Da Ming the Sky Azure Bull Python also began his sacrifice.
This night was destined to be one of great harvest for Mu Yang.
While Xiao Wu was offering her sacrifice, in another location—several dozen li away in the forest—there was a temporary encampment set up.
At the perimeter of the camp, several high-level soul masters were on night watch, guarding against potential soul beast attacks.
Inside one of the tents, Bibi Dong was sitting in meditation, conserving her strength, preparing to hunt the two great hundred-thousand-year beast kings the next day.
Suddenly, a scream that seemed to pierce her very soul echoed in her ears, followed closely by an intense, unusual fluctuation of soul power from afar.
In an instant, Bibi Dong opened her eyes. Her figure flickered, and she left the tent, appearing above the camp.
Soon after, several figures rose into the sky as well. They were the seven titled Douluo who had accompanied Bibi Dong to the Star Dou Great Forest for the hunt: Chrysanthemum, Ghost, Demon Bear, Ghost Leopard, Spirit Kite, Serpent Spear, and Bloodthorn.
"Your Holiness the Pope, that was..."
After staring for a moment in the direction of the intense soul power fluctuations, Spirit Kite hesitated and asked Bibi Dong.
"Go!"
Without further hesitation, Bibi Dong unfolded her external soul bone—Six-Winged Purple Light Wings—and soared rapidly toward the source of the disturbance.
At this moment, an ominous feeling had risen in Bibi Dong's heart.
After all, judging by the scale of the disturbance, it wasn't something that just any ordinary person or soul beast could cause.
Seeing this, the seven Douluo exchanged glances before taking to the sky and following behind her.
The group of eight had flown no more than twenty li when another soul-piercing bellow rang out. And because they were much closer this time, all eight of them clearly sensed another intense soul power fluctuation rising again from the same direction—undeniably that of a soul beast.
At this moment, Bibi Dong's stunningly beautiful face turned pitch-black like the bottom of a pot.
This level of soul beast soul power fluctuation—it was definitely that of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
Though the Star Dou Great Forest was vast, hundred-thousand-year soul beasts were undoubtedly extremely rare.
In other words, the one causing this tremendous disturbance, most likely currently undergoing sacrifice, was probably one of her targets in this trip to the Star Dou Great Forest: either the hundred-thousand-year Titan Giant Ape or the hundred-thousand-year Sky Azure Bull Python.
No—it was already the second one being sacrificed.
Not long ago, the Annihilation Squad had confirmed that the only known hundred-thousand-year soul beasts were the Titan Giant Ape, the Sky Azure Bull Python, and the human-transformed Xiao Wu.
Bibi Dong secretly prayed, hoping there wouldn't be a third one sacrificed. Otherwise, even if they managed to expose and eliminate the soul master who "stole her prey," the hundred-thousand-year soul ring she needed the most would still be gone, and at best, she could only recover three hundred-thousand-year soul bones.
But for Bibi Dong, whose soul bone slots were already full, even soul bones as exceptional as those of the hundred-thousand-year level were nothing but tasteless chicken ribs.
Of course, Bibi Dong was also filled with doubt at this moment.
In the soul master world, there had been soul masters who obtained hundred-thousand-year soul rings through killing, such as the Ninth Soul Ring of Second Worshiper Golden Crocodile Douluo, or the Ninth Ring of her own Death Spider Emperor Martial Soul.
But among all soul masters, there was only one known case of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast willingly sacrificing itself—and that was Tang Hao.
And even that was because of Tang Hao's relationship with the Blue Silver Emperor. If not for that, there wouldn't have been a case of a soul beast sacrificing its ring to a soul master.
To 'win over' one hundred-thousand-year soul beast to sacrifice itself was already extraordinary. The idea of winning over two? Even if beaten to death, Bibi Dong wouldn't believe it.
What's more, receiving a hundred-thousand-year soul beast's sacrifice also had a prerequisite—one's martial soul had to have vacant soul ring slots.
Was it two different soul masters receiving the sacrifices of two soul beasts? Or could it be that there was another twin martial soul soul master in the continent, just like herself?
For additional chapters
Versatile mage {40 chapters}
Douluo Dalu:This Soul Master is to Weird {30 Chapters}
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