When Cao Jinxuan came out of the Golden Tree, his entire person was as if he had experienced a nightmare.
After the washing of the Sea God's power within Tang Wutong, Cao Jinxuan's soul had been planted with a life brand by Ah Yin. This also meant that he would completely be reduced to a loyal dog of the Tang family. This brand would also become stronger with the improvement of his cultivation.
As the so-called saying goes, when you are trying to destroy the originally destined trajectory of fate, if you do not have enough ability to bear the backlash of karma, you will surely be bound by fate.
The only thing that made Cao Jinxuan feel fortunate was that the Tang God-King had not personally probed his memory. He still had a chance to find a way to melt away the life brand in his soul. Of course, the hope was very slim.
When he saw Mu En again, he couldn't help but be startled. For no other reason than that the latter at this time was as if he had been rejuvenated. The originally old and dying person had all faded away. He had changed his previous old and stooped image. His entire person looked to be only in his sixties or seventies. His head of white hair had actually once again become dark and glossy.
The rejuvenated Mu En's figure was extremely tall and burly. His black hair was draped over his shoulders, and he had even grown a pair of long horns like a horned dragon. He had a mustache like a dragon's whiskers on his mouth, and a dragon scale tattoo on his left arm. The upper half of his body was naked, with an X-shaped scar on his lower abdomen. A purple upper garment hung on his waist, and two gold chains hung from the hem of the upper garment. The lower half of his body was wearing wide, dark green pants. A rope-like belt was tied around his waist. He was wearing a purple fur cloak, like a "demon dragon" in the world.
"Elder Mu, you..." Cao Jinxuan opened his mouth, his brain suddenly a little unable to turn.
"In your prediction, this old one should have already reached the age of his heavenly mandate, right? Perhaps in less than a year and a half, I would have let go and completely fallen," Mu En smiled with a kind face and kind eyes, but a trace of a cold light flashed in his shrewd old eyes. "I heard that at that time in the Ming Dou Mountain Range, the Body Sect behind you had timely made a move to save the participating team, but had not helped Xuan Zi to escape. I suppose that was also your instruction."
"You were waiting for me to completely pass away, so that the Sea God Pavilion would not have a Limit Douluo to support it for decades, so that the Body Sect behind you could intervene, right?"
Having his thoughts pointed out by this shrewd old man, Cao Jinxuan's face suddenly became twisted. "No, it's not like that! You can't have recovered to this state!"
"Wulololo! That's because you are ignorant," Mu En laughed loudly. He was satisfied to the extreme with his current physical state. The higher-level life force that Ah Yin had bestowed upon him had not only healed his old ailment but had also caused his martial soul to complete a return to its ancestors to a certain extent.
He was originally a descendant of a generation's Grandwet from ten thousand years ago. His bloodline had mutated from the Golden Saint Dragon to the Radiant Saint Dragon generation by generation. But the Grandwet was originally a descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon family, so Mu En's martial soul had also completely changed back to the pure Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
In terms of bloodline level, perhaps the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon was still not as high-level as his previous Radiant Saint Dragon. But the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon was originally an existence known as the number one beast martial soul under heaven ten thousand years ago. Mu En's originally declining physical functions were precisely in need of the support of the even more physically powerful Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul.
Elder Mu looked at Cao Jinxuan and suddenly smiled. "Boy, you tell me, what level is the first soul ring of your Time Elapsing Clock martial soul?"
"This..." Cao Jinxuan's heart tightened. He discovered that when facing the Elder Mu before him, he actually couldn't weave a lie to deceive him.
"A hundred-thousand-year soul ring, right?" This one sentence from Elder Mu was like a level-nine soul tool cannon shell suddenly exploding in Cao Jinxuan's heart, blasting him until his mind was greatly shaken.
Elder Mu said, "Actually, you have already concealed it very well. Especially under the self-change of your companion martial soul, the substitute, you have well hidden your first martial soul's first soul ring. It is very difficult for others to see through it. But I am different. Do you know why?"
Cao Jinxuan did not make a sound. At this very moment, his heart was only filled with nervousness. His first soul skill, which could be called invincible, was the biggest and most important secret on his body! At this very moment, his heart was really filled with fear.
Elder Mu continued as if talking to himself, "Because the domain-type soul skill you have shown before has exposed the ability of this Time Elapsing Clock's first soul ring. This old one also possesses a domain-type soul skill. And this kind of soul skill, besides a rare special case, must be one hundred thousand years!"
Cao Jinxuan suddenly regretted his high profile. The vast knowledge of the old man before him completely matched the image of him from the original world line. That's right. His first soul ring, the Time Stop domain, was precisely what he had obtained when he was in the Body Sect, by spending two years' time to deceive a transformed hundred-thousand-year soul beast, and then having the sect's elders conceal their identities to besiege the hundred-thousand-year soul beast, and in the end, having no choice but to have it sacrifice itself to him.
Until the very end of her life, the hundred-thousand-year soul beast that had transformed into a human girl had still been infatuated with him. It could be seen that his grasp of a girl's temperament was quite in place. That pitiful hundred-thousand-year soul beast was like this, and the previous Zhu Lu was also like this.
"This old one will not ask you, because from now on, you can also be considered one of us. The more secrets on your body, the more it proves that you are unfathomable. In the future, we will still need you to deal with that Huo Yuhao, who also has many secrets on his body," Mu En patted his shoulder. With Ah Yin's life brand, he was not at all worried that Cao Jinxuan could stir up any waves.
"Xiao Xiao has broken through to level thirty. It is time to obtain her third soul ring. You will go with Wutong. I will have Shaozhe accompany you. I believe your ability can help in some way."
Hearing Mu En's words, Cao Jinxuan's thoughts spun rapidly. He suddenly remembered that in the Star Dou Great Forest, there was the only existence that might have a way to crack the fate that concerned him—
The Imperial Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion!
In this life, the Tang Wutong with a complete divine sense had appeared ahead of time, which also meant that Wang Qiu'er would no longer appear. The Auspicious Beast's mind was simple. It could even more so produce a destiny skull that was immune to spiritual attacks.
Thinking of this, on Cao Jinxuan's lowered face, a look of determination madly surged up...
Huo Yuhao, you seized my opportunity and caused me to be put on the shackles of fate. Then I will destroy your beloved!
Thinking of this, Cao Jinxuan no longer hesitated. He immediately sent a signal to the Body Sect guards who were lurking in Shrek City, to have them start preparing to hunt the Imperial Auspicious Beast.
---
"Thunderflame Purgatory Vine?"
Xiong Jun opened his mouth. For a moment, he couldn't react to the term that had come out of Huo Yuhao's mouth.
"You need that thing?" Di Tian frowned and looked at the Huo Yuhao sitting on the ground.
The Thunderflame Purgatory Vine was an existence that was at the top of the plant-system soul beasts from the moment it was born. It was innately intelligent. When it had just grown out, it was like a bamboo shoot, with only a small section. The place where it grew was surely a place filled with lightning. Only when it was raining and thundering could it develop. After every lightning strike, it itself would become a little stronger. A hundred lightning strikes was equivalent to an ordinary soul beast cultivating for a year.
Thunder was one of the most violent of all natural forces. It was under the test of thunder that the Thunderflame Purgatory Vine continuously grew. At the very beginning, its growth was very slow and difficult, because it needed to completely wait for natural lightning to descend on itself to be able to develop.
So, for other soul beasts to cultivate for a year, it might take it ten years to gather a hundred lightning strikes. It was more than ten times slower than an ordinary soul beast's cultivation.
However, as time went by, once the Thunderflame Purgatory Vine could cultivate to the hundred-year realm, then the situation would undergo a heaven-and-earth-shaking change.
A hundred-year-cultivation Thunderflame Purgatory Vine could, during a thunderstorm, proactively attract lightning and have the lightning strike itself. Often in one night, it could get a hundred lightning strikes. Although at that time, for it to improve its cultivation was no longer just a hundred lightning strikes for a year, its cultivation speed would be greatly increased.
Because of its own characteristics, once the Thunderflame Purgatory Vine had cultivated to a certain extent, its destructive power would be very terrifying. It would often cause a spectacular scene of a thunder pool appearing in a region. And this thunder pool would continuously expand with the strengthening of the Thunderflame Purgatory Vine itself, until it had swallowed everything around it.
A ten-thousand-year-cultivation Thunderflame Purgatory Vine was enough to change the celestial phenomena, to have thunder descend upon the human world, and to control the power of thunder to destroy everything in the outside world.
Therefore, once a Thunderflame Purgatory Vine of this cultivation appeared, it would surely cause a disaster in a corner of the land. Only a super expert had the possibility of destroying it. But the Thunderflame Purgatory Vine also had a drawback. Precisely because it itself relied on continuously absorbing thunder to improve itself, after it had reached a certain extent, the destructive thunder, after being compressed, its destructive power would be simply too strong, making it have the possibility of self-destruction at any time.
The vast majority of Thunderflame Purgatory Vines appeared in the deep mountains and old forests, developing in a place where there was no trace of human life. But in the end, they would be destroyed in their own growth process. According to the different growth experiences of different Thunderflame Purgatory Vines, the time they would generally self-destruct was between twenty thousand and fifty thousand years. There were few Thunderflame Purgatory Vines that could cultivate for more than fifty thousand years.
And in the subsequent series of the original novel, only Tang Wulin, as the Son of Life, could smoothly let this kind of soul beast advance to the hundred-thousand-year level. And Huo Yuhao, as the Son of Fortune, could, with the assistance of the Gold of Life and the ability of the Immortal Spirit Wood, withstand its heavenly tribulation for the Thunderflame Purgatory Vine.
The Thunderflame Purgatory Vine was undoubtedly the most suitable next soul ring for Huo Yuhao's second martial soul. Thunder was originally the most violent power in the world. And Huo Yuhao had always lacked a long-range, fast-attack means. And the Thunderflame Purgatory Vine could also absorb the heavenly tribulation. Whether it was this group of ferocious beasts or the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena, he could fulfill his promise and withstand the heavenly tribulation for them.
The Crimson King thought for a moment and said, "That thing might be in the place where we used to undergo our tribulations. After all, that species is too terrifying. We, who are approaching our great limit, already can't avoid the heavenly tribulation. It, on the other hand, does the opposite."
"I know this species, but the vast majority of them have been slapped to death by that fellow Xiong Jun!" Bi Ji suddenly thought of something and shot Xiong Jun an annoyed glance.
"Ah... are you talking about that detestable vine that emits electricity all over?" Xiong Jun finally remembered. His pair of small eyes immediately widened a lot. He had struck out fiercely and had not thought of leaving any of those things alive at all. He didn't know how many of them were still alive in the Star Dou today.
"Ahem ahem," Huo Yuhao coughed speechlessly. "Xiong Jun, you think carefully where else this thing is. It doesn't have to be ten thousand years. A thousand years is fine. With it, I guarantee that the next time your great limit comes, you will be safe and sound."
Xiong Jun, hearing the words of the various beasts and Huo Yuhao, immediately regretted it so much he beat his chest and stomped his feet. This thing was actually linked to his own life. If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have been so ruthless back then.
"Yuhao, you come with me! Old Xiong will, even if he has to turn over the entire Star Dou Great Forest, find that thing for you!" Xiong Jun impatiently pulled Huo Yuhao and left. He was afraid that if he went late, another one would be struck to death by lightning, and then it would be even harder to find.
The Crimson King hurriedly followed. "Big stupid bear, perhaps the Auspicious Beast will know the specific location where this plant grows. Why don't we take Yuhao to find her first?"