The sky was strangely dim.
Though it was midday, the sun looked faint—almost like it didn't dare shine too brightly upon the ancient land ahead.
Six figures stood at the edge of a colossal forest.
They had left behind Cui Hua in a safe place, since the place they were about to enter, isn't something a mortal without soul power can approach.
Towering trees as thick as city walls stretched for hundreds of meters, their canopies vanishing into the swirling mists of rainbow-colored elemental energy.
Gentle wind, blazing heat, moist water vapor, and even faint gravitational pulses twisted unnaturally in the air. Yet… somehow, all of it felt strangely harmonious.
As if this place followed its own rules.
Tang San squinted forward, expression unusually grave.
"So this… is the Divine Punishment Meteor Fall Region?"
Dai Mubai nodded silently, golden eyes focused ahead. Oscar gulped beside him, while Ma Hongjun looked both nervous and excited.
Behind them were three familiar figures.
Flender, with his sharp eyes and imposing aura, exhaled deeply.
"This place doesn't make sense. I've traveled across every known land in Douluo… but I've never felt such dense elemental energy. Fire, water, lightning, wind, earth… even light and darkness. All existing together, in balance."
Zhao Wuji folded his arms, stepping forward. "The pressure here… even I feel like I'm being watched. You boys, are you sure you want to go in?"
Oscar forced a laugh. "Do we even have a choice at this point? If the God demands it, we go in, right?"
Even as a former God, Oscar felt terrified right now.
Because he could feel it.
A majestically powerful divine power coursing through this land. A level of divine power that was beyond the understanding of him — a former Second-class God.
Then—
"Tch."
A cold grunt came from Yu Xiaogang, who had been standing quietly like a stiff board.
With his hands behind his back and his face as expressionless as stone, he spoke in his usual arrogant tone.
"This forest… is obviously the result of an ancient divine being manipulating the terrain through divine elemental influence."
"Hmph. There is no such thing as a 'blessing' from a God of Contracts. That's just baseless myth."
"Anyone with real knowledge would understand that such phenomena are reproducible."
Zhao Wuji raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And you can reproduce this?"
Yu Xiaogang ignored him, pretending he didn't hear the sarcasm.
Tang San didn't say anything.
He just ignored this clown of a teacher.
But deep inside… he knew.
This place—was not normal. It wasn't a natural evolution.
It was a divine scar, left by a terrifying existence…
The God of Contracts.
Long ago, the Star Dou Empire sent an army here to 'conquer' the newly built city beyond the desert. But they had unknowingly offended the God of Contracts, who—without warning—dropped a meteor from the heavens, imbued with his Nine-Color Creation Divine Power.
That meteor strike… didn't just kill tens of thousands of troops.
It transformed the desert itself.
What was once a lifeless 120,000 square km wasteland… had become a forest of divine life.
The impact crater alone was 40 km in diameter. And the land around it had mutated—birthing a self-contained paradise for spirit beasts.
In just ten years, over two dozen 100,000-year-old soul beasts were born here.
And now, no one dared step foot inside.
Except them.
In fact, Tang San knew that there are more than just two dozen 100,000-year-old soul beasts.
Tang San turned back to the others. "We're not here to conquer. We're not here to challenge anyone. We're here to find what the God guiding us left behind."
His words contained different meaning. How his fellow regressors understood his words was different from Flender, Zhao Wuji and Yu Xiaogang.
Dai Mubai stepped forward. "Let's go."
Ma Hongjun and Oscar nodded.
Their chance to change fate was here. No matter how dangerous and infamous this blessed land is, they have no choice but to enter.
Because, a Damocles sword named Rayne — a colossal existence — was hanging over their heads, ready to fall on them any time.
Although the situation may seem hopeless, they're not going to go down without putting up resistance.
The group moved.
The moment they stepped across the tree line, the atmosphere shifted completely.
The air thickened.
The sunlight dimmed.
The trees shimmered, as if sensing intruders.
A strange pressure blanketed them all.
Tang San's Blue Silver Grass coiled tightly around his arm, twitching slightly — as if afraid.
Ma Hongjun murmured in a daze, "Even my flames feel suppressed."
He was amazed and solemn at this phenomenon.
His flames — although impure — is still Phoenix flames. There are very few existences in this world that can suppress his flames like this.
Suddenly, a gentle wind blew past them.
Tang San's body froze. His soul trembled.
Rejection.
He felt it.
The world itself… rejected him.
Not physically—but spiritually. As if the very laws of this place refused to acknowledge his presence.
[You are not recognized by the Divine Contract System.]
[No favor granted.]
Tang San's pupils shrank.
"What… was that just now?"
A voice echoed in his mind.
—You who walk the path of Asura… do not belong here.
—You are not of this harmony.
Only one word surfaced in Tang San's thoughts.
Rayne.
The God of Contracts. The one who created this place. The one who—according to rumors—was once a human of Douluo.
Tang San gritted his teeth.
"Then I'll find what doesn't belong."
He reached into his chest pocket, pulling out a dark crimson shard—a remnant of Asura God's sword.
This is something that Asura God had left on him secretly, with the intention of using it to lead him to the opportunities prepared.
The moment the shard touched the air, it trembled faintly, glowing dim red.
Tang San's lips curled upward slightly. "It wasn't just immortal herbs. So… you did leave something behind, didn't you?"
Flender narrowed his eyes. "That thing… it's reacting to something?"
Tang San nodded. "There's a hidden inheritance deep inside this forest. From the God we mentioned. The one chance we might have to change our fate of being toyed with by him."
Oscar frowned. "You really think we stand a chance against a being who can drop meteors from the Divine Realm like he's tossing pebbles?"
Dai Mubai exhaled, raising a glowing fist. "If we run away now, then what was the point of becoming stronger?"
"Not to mention, we don't have much choice here. There is almost no chance of reconciliation with that guy. Knowing him, even if we surrender, he'll just kill us faster by saying that he's bored or something."
Of course, this conversation was carried out via sound transmission among the four regressors.
More importantly, Tang San was very much worried about the origin of the voice that warned him.
Unlike others, Tang San is aware of much more about Divine Punishment Meteor Fall Region.
In his past life, he had come up with a plan called 10,000 year grand plan.
This plan starts with the new child of destiny that was supposed to be born ten thousand years later.
Tang San had prophesied that this child of destiny might inherit the Divine position of God of Contracts.
The God of Contracts' inheritance is deeply tied to the interests of Soul Beast race.
So, it was rather evident that this child of destiny might do some things that will change the rules established by the Divine Realm.
The Divine Authority of God of Contracts allowed this possibility.
And the things he'll do eventually were not in Tang San's best interests.
So, he had come up with quite a few strategies to 'train' this child of destiny to become his trusted ally.
Not only will his Tang family get a child of destiny with massive luck concentrated on him.
But also get the God position of a Supreme God King level being like God of Contracts in their ranks.
With this addition, Tang San's status and prestige in Divine Realm would have been elevated to a much higher level.
Unfortunately, before his plans could be carried out, he and his allies were killed by the Gods of Void Dragon Divine Realm.
Anyway, because he had such plans, Tang San can be said to have scouted this place from high above in Divine Realm.
So, he is much more aware of what this place actually is, compared to anyone else.
There are dangerous beings in this land that can even kill a weaker Second-class God.
If the source of that female voice was one of those dangerous beings, then things might get a bit tricky, even with Asura God's hidden aid.
Tang San's gaze turned firm. "Let's move. Quickly. This place may look peaceful, but the number of 100,000-year soul beasts here could rival the Great Star Dou Forest, and possibly even surpass it."
"And don't forget…"
His voice lowered.
"If not for the God of Contracts' rules restricting them from leaving this region—human civilization might have already collapsed."
Zhao Wuji clicked his tongue. "Wonderful. I'm getting goosebumps already."
A mysterious power from the Asura God fragment enveloped them all, masking their presence.
The group advanced, stepping deeper into the shimmering, unnatural forest.
Following Tang San, everyone were tense and nervous.
Yu Xiaogang was practically trembling in fright, the whole time. He held onto Flender as they walked forward.
Seeing this, Flender decided to take it into his hands to lighten the mood and make these boys less nervous.
"Boys, what kind of soul rings do you want for your new replacement? Have you made plans for it?"
Tang San and Dai Mubai originally didn't want to respond, but Ma Hongjun replied since the one who asked him is his teacher.
Oscar also replied, since he also respected Flender very much, as the latter is basically his adopted father.
"Teacher, I want bird type soul rings of fire attribute. Possibly those with Phoenix bloodline or higher fire attribute purity. As for the age, it's unsure yet. We'll see after we get the opportunity left by God."
Ma Hongjun replied, with a calm smile.
Oscar also responded.
"Dean, I'll also absorb the soul rings of soul beasts that are likely to give me good auxiliary skills."
Flender nodded approvingly.
But Yu Xiaogang secretly shook his head in disdain after hearing Ma Hongjun's choice of soul rings.
'This fat man has no sense of creativity and originality at all. A martial soul like Evil Fire Phoenix — it's flames are already very corrosive. If it is added with poison attribute as well... Too strong.'
'I won't say anything. If I help this fat man, what if he becomes stronger than my Xiao San? My wisdom is only for my beloved disciple Xiao San.'
There was a small smug smile tugged at Yu Xiaogang's lips.
Flender looked to Tang San and Dai Mubai.
Dai Mubai also replied that he intended to follow the soul beast and soul skill configuration — with higher age this time, that his ancestors have come up with after many trials and errors.
Flender nodded understandably.
The families and forces with inherited martial souls have their own legacy and optimal soul skills suitable for them, researched.
When it was Tang San's turn, he just said, "I'll have pure life attribute plant soul rings."
"What?!" Yu Xiaogang was shocked and even furious.
But Tang San cut off any objection by saying,
"Teacher, this is the instruction from God. He told me that Blue Silver Grass is worth training carefully, instead of just using it as stepping stone for my Clear Sky Hammer."
Even so, Yu Xiaogang made a fuss about it. His great achievement, the 'discovery' that plant martial souls can absorb beast soul rings!
His carefully thought out path for Blue Silver Grass, using poison soul rings for a life attribute martial soul like Blue Silver Grass.
If Tang San doesn't follow his inventive theories in his path of cultivation, then what contributions would he have made in the growth of his disciple, when he has become a powerful Titled Douluo and more.
If so, doesn't that mean that he has almost no contributions? After all, with his strength, he isn't even qualified to get soul rings for Tang San.
Yu Xiaogang couldn't accept that he is about to become a passerby in Tang San's journey of cultivation.
Tang San, with his twin martial souls, will definitely be a famous strong person in the future. And he is also Yu Xiaogang's hope for fame and glory.
But this time, he couldn't convince anyone at all, even with his slick tongue.
The term 'God' had more weight than a mere Yu Xiaogang.
Could it be that Yu Xiaogang has more wisdom than a legendary God?
This is also why Tang San cleverly used God as an excuse.
'Gangzi, I don't have the time or patience to accompany you for your unrealistic experiments. With Blue Silver Empress bloodline gone, I have no choice but to refill the origin of my Blue Silver Grass with life attribute soul rings.'
'Gangzi, if you know how to behave yourself, I don't mind leaving a ninth grade medicinal herb for you. But if you continue to make trouble for me, this blessed land created by Rayne, will be your death place.'
....
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