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**
As the soul beasts best suited to serve as land transportation in the soul master world, the Scaled Horse's endurance and speed ranked near the very top among all equine soul beasts.
A fine steed in the secular world could travel a thousand miles a day, but to a Scaled Horse, that was child's play; it was not difficult for a fully grown Scaled Horse to cover ten thousand miles in a single day.
Although soul masters on the Douluo Continent needed to hunt soul beasts to acquire soul rings, this did not mean that soul beasts only served that single purpose for humanity.
Setting aside the fact that the carcasses of high-level soul beasts could be used to refine medicines and forge soul weapons after their soul rings were absorbed...
The demand for soul beast meat among soul masters in the cultivation world, and even some nobles in the secular world, was far from small.
Consequently, many factions would breed weak soul beasts with high reproductive capabilities to serve as livestock, such as the Soft-Boned Rabbit and the Fire-Feathered Chicken among low-level soul beasts.
Aside from that, except for soul masters with flying-type Martial Souls, those below the Soul King rank could not fly in the air. While soul masters at the Soul King realm did gain the ability to fly, they mostly utilized it for combat and could not maintain long-distance flight.
Only upon reaching the Soul Emperor realm could a cultivator truly transform flight into a fundamental capability, allowing them to travel at extreme speeds over long periods.
Therefore, several grand factions on the continent would domesticate soul beasts suited for transportation to serve as mounts, most of which were equine soul beasts.
For instance, Spirit Hall's White Dragon Scaled Horse was an exceptionally high-grade mount. Not only were its speed and endurance astonishing, but its appearance was also incredibly beautiful and majestic, giving it excellent aesthetic value.
It was highly suited for low-to-mid-level soul masters.
Many low-to-mid-level soul masters traveling across the continent hoped to acquire a Scaled Horse or some other low-level soul beast to use as a mount, as it would vastly accelerate their journeys.
However, because the cultivation of soul masters required hunting soul beasts to absorb their soul rings, soul beasts generally harbored extreme hatred toward humans.
Leaving aside those with inherently violent and ferocious temperaments, even the gentler soul beasts possessed no goodwill toward humanity. Thus, taming a soul beast was by no means an easy task.
Currently, the various major factions—including the two great empires—had spent at least several decades, spanning multiple generations, to successfully domesticate their respective soul beasts.
As for the Scaled Horses bred by Spirit Hall, the time and financial resources expended were even greater.
Furthermore, because the Douluo Continent was incredibly vast, land mounts like the Scaled Horse fell short if one had to cover a medium distance in a rush.
Therefore, organizations with a continent-wide presence like Spirit Hall and the two great empires would also domesticate low-level flying soul beasts for use.
However, taming these large flying soul beasts was vastly more difficult. After all, killing a low-level soul beast and taming it were two entirely different matters.
This was especially true because the sky was unlike the land; if a flying soul beast suddenly disobeyed the beast tamer mid-flight, any soul master lacking the ability to fly would be in terrible trouble.
Consequently, thoroughly domesticated flying soul beasts were of immense value and were basically never sold directly to individuals for personal use.
The various Spirit Hall branch halls scattered across the continent would keep a permanent stock of successfully domesticated flying soul beasts to use as mounts, making it convenient to communicate with other branches and the Pope Hall in Spirit City.
At the same time, much like the two great empires, they would use extra flying soul beasts to establish flying transport lines, providing convenience to travelers while earning revenue.
At this moment, beneath the mountain peak where the Pope Hall stood in the center of Spirit City, besides the luxurious carriages in the middle of the convoy being pulled by Scaled Horses, a massive number of soul masters belonging to Spirit Hall surrounded the carriages.
They were likewise riding Scaled Horses, numbering roughly five hundred.
Among them, aside from a small portion of elite soul masters from the Judgment Hall, the majority hailed from the Battle Spirit Hall.
As the backbone of Spirit Hall, the Battle Spirit Hall possessed an immense number of battle soul masters, and members of the Judgment Hall were frequently selected from its ranks.
The weakest among these soul masters had already reached the Soul Ancestor cultivation level. There was an absolute abundance of Soul Kings, quite a few Soul Emperors, and even several powerhouses at the Soul Saint rank.
Given their cultivation levels, they had absolutely no practical need to ride Scaled Horses, as their own flying speeds were already faster. However, it was highly obvious that they were not the main characters of this mission.
They merely served as guards while amplifying the grandeur and momentum of this journey. The focus this time was not on speed, but rather on projecting an absolute, overwhelming majesty along the way.
Otherwise, simply having a Titled Douluo fly ahead with a few people would have been much faster. Furthermore, the manpower Bibi Dong had provided for Ling Xiao's challenge tour did not stop there.
Outer to these five hundred soul masters were several hundred knights clad in silver armor, giving the convoy an immensely imposing presence. Looking from afar, it resembled a magnificent, prestigious army.
These knights were not actually soul masters; they had originally joined Spirit Hall as ordinary humans to serve as grassroots forces, acting somewhat like a facade. After all, it was impossible to have soul masters fill every single guard position.
Moreover, these silver-armored knights were naturally tall and robust.
Paired with their gorgeous silver armor, they looked exceptionally martial and created a tremendous aura when drawing up in formation. Conversely, many styles within the soul master cultivation system were unsuited for wearing heavy armor.
Now that everyone had arrived, a voice echoed from one of the carriages at the center of the convoy: "Set out."
The tone was quite feminine and soft, yet under the current circumstances, it carried an exceptionally powerful aura. The moment the words fell, the entire convoy instantly put itself into motion.
The procession of over a thousand people began advancing toward the city gates.
Ling Xiao and Yan each rode upon a Scaled Horse.
As they advanced, looking at the massive crowd of soul masters surrounding them and the martial knights in the distance, while feeling the powerful soul power aura radiating from the convoy as a whole, they couldn't help but marvel at the sheer scale and overwhelming majesty of this journey.
To arrange such a massive procession of soul masters just for a challenge between members of the younger generation was truly astonishing.
Even without counting Elder Chrysanthemum sitting inside the carriage, this gathering of soul master strength was already comparable to a medium-sized sect in the soul master world.
Even a large-scale sect would not be able to look down on it. However, Ling Xiao knew that although this current force seemed grand in scale and fierce in aura, it was nothing compared to the true strength of Spirit Hall.
It fell far short of what he knew from his past life regarding the forces Spirit Hall had mobilized to annihilate the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Compared to this expedition, the power Spirit Hall unleashed during that event had thoroughly shocked the continent's numerous factions.
After all, over the years, though Spirit Hall had always been dedicated to cracking down on soul masters who relied on their own strength to commit evil deeds across the continent, large-scale mobilizations of power to wipe out entire soul master factions belonged to the very distant past.
For the longest time, although the continent had not enjoyed a truly everlasting peace, no massive upheavals had occurred either. It had remained in a relatively stable state.
To be honest, ever since arriving on the Douluo Continent, although Ling Xiao had studied diligently and cultivated bitterly, he remained completely clueless about state governance.
In his view, even if Tang San hadn't been in the picture, a unified continent under a newly established Spirit Empire wouldn't necessarily have been better off than the current situation.
At the end of the day, Spirit Hall still operated with soul masters as its main body and the cultivation world as its core. Stepping into the secular realm to govern the world wouldn't necessarily yield better results than the two current empires.
He still preferred the current state of affairs: the two great empires confronting one another from the north and south, while the soul master world was jointly managed by the Seven Great Sects and Spirit Hall.
This allowed both the soul master world and the entire continent to maintain a stable, peaceful state of development. While such thinking might be somewhat conservative, Ling Xiao was no genius when it came to these matters.
Aside from his higher Martial Soul talent, he wasn't any different from an ordinary person. He believed that the vast majority of soul masters within Spirit Hall thought the same way.
Although establishing an empire to unify the continent sounded grander, a single careless mistake could lead to utter ruin and a total loss. Remaining the undisputed overlord of the soul master world just like this—wasn't that also exceptionally wonderful?
**
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