Chapter 5: The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well
"Congratulations, Young Master!"
Qian Jun and Jiang Mo stared at Qian Xunji in awe. A top-tier Radiant soul beast that had lived for seventy-five thousand years—yet Qian Xunji, merely rank 80 without his eighth soul ring, had managed to kill it. Even for them, never mind a Soul Douluo, but even at their current rank, defeating it one-on-one wouldn't be easy.
The Angel Martial Soul truly lived up to its name as the most powerful martial soul on the continent!
Once Qian Xunji absorbed his eighth ring, he might become even stronger than these two brothers.
After regulating his breathing a bit, Qian Xunji said, "Elders, please stand guard for me."
"As you command!" they both answered.
Qian Xunji sat down cross-legged. Through a mental pull, the Two-Winged Radiant White Tiger's soul ring settled around him. In a flash, a surge of incomparably pure, boundless soul power flooded his body and rampaged through his meridians. Meanwhile, in his spiritual world, the tiger's resentful will took shape and stormed through his mental sea, seemingly trying to destroy his mind and turn him into a fool.
But thanks to the Angel Martial Soul's advantage of having the same attribute and an inherently higher rank, Qian Xunji was able to withstand the ring's pressure. In his spiritual sea, turbulence abounded, yet he'd acquired a head soul bone with spirit-concentrating powers from a sixty-five-thousand-year soul beast beforehand, greatly increasing his spiritual power. He successfully endured the assault of the tiger's wrath.
Indeed, the knowledge compiled by past generations at the cost of their lives was solid gold. After all, for soul masters without any kind of special cheat, pushing this boundary really was the limit.
It took more than half a day for Qian Xunji to finally finish absorbing the soul ring, which in one stroke propelled his soul power to rank 83. Under normal conditions, absorbing a seventy-five-thousand-year ring at his stage would have only brought him close to rank 82. However, he had already absorbed that head soul bone, which also boosted his cultivation. Once he obtained the eighth soul ring, that effect fully manifested.
A flash of light came from Qian Xunji's soul tool as he stored the Two-Winged Radiant White Tiger's corpse. The remains of a seventy-five-thousand-year soul beast still contained a vast reserve of soul power. Prepared as cuisine, its blood and flesh wouldn't just be a delicacy but also a top-quality cultivation resource—no point in wasting that.
"Elders, let's head to the Sunset Forest."
Noticing Qian Jun and Jiang Mo's puzzled expressions, Qian Xunji explained, "Before coming here to hunt a soul ring, I happened upon an ancient text that mentioned a place in the Sunset Forest rivaling the Star Dou Great Forest in value. The Star Dou Great Forest is too dangerous; the Sunset Forest should be far less so. With your strength, I believe we can move about freely there."
"You flatter us, Young Master. With your present abilities, you're practically on par with my brother and me," Qian Jun replied.
After some idle compliments, the three set out for the Sunset Forest in search of their target. But after three days and nights, they came up empty-handed.
"Is this information really reliable, Young Master?" Qian Jun Douluo asked. "We've circled the entire Sunset Forest once already."
Qian Xunji's brow furrowed. It made no sense that they hadn't found Dugu Bo's poisonous miasma. Oh—that's right. He suddenly remembered the timeline. They were still more than thirty years away from the events of the series.
In fact, Dugu Bo's cultivation at this time was probably only around Soul King or Soul Emperor. He was doubtless roaming the continent in search of a remedy for the Jade Phosphor Snake inherited by his family and hadn't yet discovered the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Otherwise, he wouldn't have appeared later with no one in his life except his granddaughter.
Also, at this point in the timeline, Tang Chen was still the head of the Clear Sky Clan! Qian Xunji had not yet ascended to the Papal throne and launched an attack on Sea God Island, nor had Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen traveled together to Sea God Island, where they encountered Seagod Douluo Bo Saixi—none of that had started yet.
Finally, Qian Xunji pieced everything together, forming a complete logical chain. He realized that once he became Pope, if he didn't suppress the Clear Sky Clan, why would he bother targeting the newly discovered Sea God Island? And why had Qian Daoliu retired so early, making remarks that hurt his pride and telling him simply to look after the foundation of the Wuhun Hall? Why had Qian Xunji become so aggressive after ascending the Papal throne?
Qian Daoliu's thinking was straightforward: be patient. After all, under the Divine Ancestor's blessing, reaching rank 99 was basically guaranteed. Eventually, Qian Xunji would outlast Tang Chen, and the Wuhun Hall would remain the undisputed overlord of the continent.
Yet Qian Xunji, stung by Qian Daoliu's words, resolved to make a great name for himself upon becoming Pope. That was why he attacked Sea God Island, boasted of breaking through to Titled Douluo by fifty, and became renowned as a once-in-a-generation genius of the Wuhun Hall.
Understanding all this, Qian Xunji could only feel speechless—thoroughly so. It was as if the only father–son duo in the previous era had chosen the sole "moronic" route in the Wuhun Hall's entire history, while the next era brought forth three love-struck personalities in the Hall, each to be lamented in its own way.
"Elders, we've already covered the main areas of the Sunset Forest. Let's now focus on searching among the valleys."
With those words, Qian Xunji activated two yellow, two purple, and four black soul rings—eight in total. He flapped his wings and soared upward to survey from above. If they weren't looking for poisonous miasma, they could at least seek out the appropriate mountain.
They soon spotted a lush and flourishing forest, in the midst of which rose a hill about five hundred meters tall—quite conspicuous. As Qian Xunji, Qian Jun, and Jiang Mo approached it, a gap on one side of the hill suddenly lit up with two faint white beams. Immediately afterward, two beams of whitish soul power shot forth at tremendous speed.
"Be careful, Young Master!"
Qian Jun and Jiang Mo, each holding a Coiling Dragon Staff, attacked at once. When their staves collided with the white soulpower rays, there was no dramatic sound or light, but they suddenly found the soul power around their staves turning into stone flakes and falling away.
"What is that?!"
Sweeping out with his spiritual sense, Qian Jun Douluo saw an eight-meter-long being with the upper body of a human and the tail of a python. Its face was strikingly seductive, and it possessed dark green pupils. The two rays of white light had come from its eyes. Most chilling was its hair: each strand was a tiny serpent, horrifying to behold.
"It's a fifty-thousand-year Medusa Queen, looking for trouble!"
Qian Jun Douluo showed no mercy at all. He realized it must have attacked because it believed they were invading its territory and wanted to strike first. But so what? In the world of soul masters, weakness is a sin. In the face of the strong, the weak have no voice; they can only grovel and await fate.
If the opponent were human, Qian Jun Douluo might at least act like a decent senior, but in his eyes, soul beasts were nothing more than animals. Sparing them was only a matter of ensuring a steady source of soul rings. Since this one had basically chosen death, they might as well finish it.
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