Chapter 531: Humans and Soul Beasts (6k)

Unfortunately, Tang Wulin isn't buying it.

He wordlessly twitched his mouth.

"Are you still trying this? I already told you last time—no matter what, I could never completely think from the soul beasts' side. I was born human, raised by humans. Why would you think I'd abandon humanity to help you?"

If he abandoned humanity to side with the soul beasts, what face would he have to meet the Tang Ziran couple who adopted and raised him, or Mu En who taught him countless knowledge and principles, or Huo Yutong who has always been by his side? He may feel sympathy for the soul beasts, but to stand against humanity and become a traitor—better not.

Even if the Dragon God therefore wanted to take back his power, he could never betray humanity.

Gu Yue said unwillingly, "But you should know, this is our soul beasts' revenge, our legitimate right. What gives you the right to stop us from taking revenge?"

Tang Wulin sighed.

"Gu Yue, you may have learned many words from human society, but I suggest you'd better not use them randomly."

Just as she might think nine-year-old Tang Wulin would have improper thoughts about eight-year-old Na'er, Tang Wulin realized that Gu Yue's understanding of many human concepts was actually only superficial.

He spoke solemnly:

"Even if you truly are taking revenge, the targets of your revenge don't have to meekly offer their necks for slaughter, and more importantly, is the demise of your soul beasts really due to humanity?"

Gu Yue and the other soul beasts were stunned, then she asked in a stern but weak voice, "What do you mean? The slaughter of soul beasts by humanity is plain to see, and several beast tides in history have caused countless high-level soul beasts to die—are you trying to deny that?"

Tang Wulin replied speechlessly, "As for the beast tides, aren't they started by you soul beasts? You actively come to kill us—should we just let you slaughter us? Only you may kill us, but we may not fight back? Although we humans go to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for soul rings, we don't blame all soul beasts for killing us when they strike back."

"This…"

"Furthermore."

Tang Wulin interrupted them, saying:

"When it comes to slaughtering high-level soul beasts, your own internal strife should be far worse."

Besides, the Three-Eyed Gold Ni is a powerful soul beast that likes to feast on the marrow of high-level soul beasts. According to Huo Yutong, when she first saw a Three-Eyed Gold Ni, she was in the midst of hunting a powerful ten-thousand-year soul beast.

According to her feeding habits, she basically needs to kill at least one ten-thousand-year soul beast every day. At that rate, ten thousand years would require nearly four million ten-thousand-year soul beasts—and in that same span, how many ten-thousand-year soul beasts could be bred? How resilient must these soul beasts be to sustain her daily hunting?

Even setting aside the Three-Eyed Gold Ni as an exception, Tang Wulin's knowledge shows that the vast majority of soul beasts also tend to eat higher-level soul beasts.

For example, when the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm had just emerged from the ice cave of Wanli County, it immediately encountered the Ice Emperor of the time and narrowly avoided being eaten.

When Tang Wulin once accompanied the inner courtyard students to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for soul rings, relying on Huo Yutong's Mental Detection Sharing, he saw countless scenes of soul beasts fighting each other—in just a few days, with the aid of that sharing, he witnessed several ten-thousand-year soul beasts killed by other soul beasts.

In short, humans only need to absorb a soul ring when they seek advancement; soul makers are already a small fraction of human society—perhaps one in a hundred—and most soul spenders never reach five rings in a lifetime, which amounts to only needing to hunt five soul rings over several decades.

Meanwhile, any random soul beast would need to eat thousands or even tens of thousands of its own kind in just a few decades.

Over the same period, the gap in the number of soul beasts killed between a human soul master and a soul beast numbers in the thousands or even tens of thousands—a disparity so extreme that humanity's soul‑beast killings are a mere drop in the ocean compared to the soul beasts' own mutual slaughter; why blame humanity for the extinction of soul beasts? That makes no sense.

Gu Yue and the other fierce beasts were instantly left speechless, unable to say a word for a moment.

Tang Wulin sighed and said:

"In short, let me be blunt: your soul beasts' ecosystem is fundamentally deformed. High‑level soul beasts take far too long to mature, yet they can fall in an instant. Even without humans, you would eventually doom yourselves through internal strife. Instead of taking out your anger on humanity and blaming us for everything, you'd do better to look for your own flaws."

Having said that, he said no more, propped up his chin, and waited for their reply.

The air fell into silence for a moment.

Several fierce beasts looked at each other, wanting to rebut but unable to.

Because they knew Tang Wulin was stating facts.

As the leaders of the soul beasts, they understood the soul beasts' food chain system best.

Indeed, the higher a soul beast's rank, the higher the rank of the soul beasts it eats, because for such high‑level soul beasts, low‑level ones can no longer meet their energy needs for growth.

Although these fierce beasts live near the Lake of Life and no longer need to eat much—just absorbing life energy suffices for their daily needs—still, their claws are undoubtedly stained with the blood of high‑level soul beasts.

The most typical example is tiger‑type soul beasts: since their combat power is generally not low among peers, whenever a tiger‑type soul beast breaks into the hundred‑thousand‑year level, all the fierce beasts take notice. Emperor Heaven is still tolerable, but beings like the Ten Thousand Demon King and Bear Lord would never allow such an entity to grow to two‑hundred‑thousand years and above, lest it threaten their status.

If humanity before ten thousand years ago was short‑sighted, draining the pond, then soul beasts have always been foolishly bringing about their own demise.

And once humanity acquired the Soul Spirit as a new means to obtain soul rings, that so‑called short‑sightedness vanished, yet soul beasts clung to their old, deformed ecosystem—so their fall to this state is entirely natural.

After a long while, Gu Yue finally sighed and said:

"What's the point of telling me all this now? Saying more won't help."

"Perhaps it's meaningless, but I just don't want you to pose as victims, shifting all your blame onto others."

Tang Wulin smiled and posed a question that the soul beasts led by Gu Yue could not possibly answer.

"If—I say if—suppose you someday defeat humanity and become the world's rulers, do you think that with the remaining numbers of your soul beasts and this deformed food chain, you could ever recover your former scale?"

"……"

The answer is obvious.

Not to mention returning to their former state—just keeping the soul beasts from self‑destruction would be a relief.

As the Sovereign of Soul Beasts, Gu Yue actually knows better than anyone that, barring accidents, the current number of soul beasts won't last many more years.

She gritted her teeth and said in a low voice:

"That's right—I admit what you say makes sense, and precisely for that reason I intend to assault the Divine Realm; only by becoming a god can I bring the soul beasts back to life."

Tang Wulin snorted coldly: "So how do you plan to become a god? Devour me to become the Dragon God?"

"If I could, I'd love to do that."

Gu Yue spread her hands helplessly.

"But unfortunately, I simply can't do that now."

Earlier she had sent Heavenly Emperor to attack Tang Wulin; besides the failed wager with Na'er, another crucial factor was that she sensed the Dragon God's bloodline aura from Tang Wulin's body and wanted to absorb it.

As for the result, it's already clear: even using all her power, she couldn't defeat Tang Wulin alone.

So she has temporarily abandoned that plan.

Gu Yue said dejectedly, "I admit I've been truly lost lately. Honestly, just trying to figure out how to relocate my people so they won't all be killed by you in the future has exhausted my tricks—let alone thinking of how to resist you."

Heaven seemed to be joking with her—something she had never even considered, merely a human child used as a tool to win a bet, suddenly obtained the Dragon God bloodline she had long dreamed of, and grew so strong that she had no way to deal with him; she admitted she was now completely at a loss.

So she could only ask, somewhat unwillingly, "Tang Wulin, what do you intend to do with the soul beasts?"

From Tang Wulin's recent reply, it's clear he has no fondness for soul beasts; Gu Yue can only pray in her heart that he won't take out his anger on all soul beasts just because of that attack two months ago.

If it really came to that, she would have no choice but to detonate all the little power she had left, in an attempt to drag him down to hell with her.

As a result, Tang Wulin's answer once again exceeded her expectations.

"Well... if possible, I actually want you to survive."

"... Ah?"

Biji beside her couldn't help but ask: "You just said you wouldn't help the soul beasts, right?"

Tang Wulin gave her an annoyed look and retorted: "Tell me, when did I ever say something like that?"

"Uh..."

All the fierce beasts fell into thought together, and then they suddenly realized that Tang Wulin really hadn't ever said he wouldn't help the soul beasts.

For a moment, their eyes all lit up.

If Tang Wulin, who possesses the power of the Dragon God, were willing to stand on their side, everything would become much, much easier.

Only Gu Yue did not show a happy expression; she said in a low voice: "May I ask the reason?"

Tang Wulin smiled and said:

"The answer is simple: the dragon race owes me a favor."

Although after hearing the legend of the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King from Na'er, he no longer believed that the Golden Dragon King had poured power into him just to help him, it cannot be denied that it is precisely because of the Golden Dragon King's power that his growth has been so rapid.

During his growth, he also received help from several Dragon Kings; without them, he would not be who he is today.

So from the very beginning, he has had a certain fondness for soul beasts; as long as they don't offend him, he will even take the initiative to ask them for help.

However, him proactively helping soul beasts out of gratitude is one thing, and the soul beasts morally blackmailing him into helping them is another; that's why he just gave them a dressing-down.

"You owe them?... I see."

Upon hearing Tang Wulin's answer, Gu Yue was obviously somewhat surprised, and her face instantly regained a bit of its luster.

In her heart, she had originally thought that Tang Wulin wanted to turn all the soul beasts into his slaves and squeeze out their last bit of value.

Now it seems, it's not that bad.

She asked seriously:

"What conditions and price are there?" It goes without saying that Tang Wulin couldn't possibly help them for free and without conditions.

Anyway, the soul beasts are doomed to extinction no matter what they do, so it's better to listen to what Tang Wulin has to say.

Tang Wulin thought for a moment, then said:

"Well... actually I don't have too many demands, but I need to make this clear first: if you accept my aid, I will no longer allow you to act against humans; you must tell me all your plans regarding humans, and any future actions you intend to take that would endanger humans must be reported to me in advance. If I find out you've acted against humans without my permission, I will terminate my support depending on the situation, and in serious cases I might even personally eliminate you all. Understood?"

Tang Wulin's help to the soul beasts is mostly just because he is kind enough to lend a hand to a tribe that has some connection to the dragon race; but if they therefore get arrogant and try to test his bottom line, he doesn't mind letting them know just how terrifying an angry Dragon King Douluo can be.

"That goes without saying."

The fierce beasts had long anticipated this; they could see it from Tang Wulin's attitude just now, so they all agreed without hesitation.

"As for the price..."

Tang Wulin smiled.

"When I need your help, you just need to lend a hand; don't worry, with my strength I probably won't need you to help me much."

"..."

What he said sounded easy, but Gu Yue furrowed her brows and was still somewhat hesitant.

What Tang Wulin just said is indeed correct; given his strength, he truly doesn't need to ask the soul beasts for help, but conversely, it also means that if even he needs to turn to the soul beasts for rescue, the problem they face must be extremely troublesome.

Just then, a hand was placed on Gu Yue's shoulder.

She turned around and saw that it was Di Tian.

He said to her in a low voice: "My liege, please believe in him."

Actually, Di Tian didn't have much faith in Tang Wulin; he simply understood one thing: the soul beasts have reached a point of no retreat.

If they refused Tang Wulin and he then unwilling to help them any further and just walked away, they would have nothing left to do but stare in disbelief.

They simply aren't qualified to negotiate terms with Tang Wulin.

Gu Yue and Di Tian locked eyes for a while, seeing the seriousness in each other's gaze, and finally sighed.

"I understand, we accept."

"Alright then."

Tang Wulin gave a slight smile and rose from his seat.

Seeing him stand up, all the fierce beasts instantly tensed their bodies, ready for battle at any moment.

Di Tian waved his hand at them.

"Enough, believe him; this human currently harbors no hostility toward us."

If Tang Wulin really wanted to kill them, they would all already be dead here.

Tang Wulin gave Di Tian a gentle smile.

"Not bad, truly worthy of being the Beast God who has ruled the soul beasts for so many years."

Di Tian kept a straight face, not responding to his teasing.

Gu Yue furrowed her brows and asked:

"What do you intend to do?"

Tang Wulin chuckled: "Didn't I say that? I want to help you; since that's the case, let me first give you a small favor."

Having said that, he turned his head and walked toward the deepest part of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The fierce beasts were all a bit confused, glanced at each other, and then followed behind him toward the forest's depths.

Tang Wulin went straight ahead and soon arrived at the deepest part of the Star Dou Great Forest, the former location of the Lake of Life.

This is a small lake; the water is clear to the bottom, pure like a piece of sapphire crystal, yet its water level is already far from the shore, and drought seems imminent.

The aura of life undulates in the lake water, but it is not strong; indeed, it is somewhat weak.

Looking at the nearly exhausted Lake of Life, Tang Wulin's eyes flashed with a hint of reluctance.

He had never come to the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest, but in the era ten thousand years ago, he had once used the power of the Natural Son and felt the distribution of life force in the Star Dou Great Forest.

According to his perception, the life force distribution in the Star Dou Great Forest is such that the deeper one goes, the stronger it becomes, and undoubtedly the strongest is the very core Lake of Life.

Although the strongest life force in the Star Dou Great Forest is still this Lake of Life, the life force within it is far, far weaker compared to ten thousand years ago.

Tang Wulin jumped down from the bank into the water, bent over, and placed his hand in the water.

At the same moment, a life-filled Green Gold Soul Ring rose from beside him, causing the several ferocious beasts that had followed him to feel their minds cleared and a sense of refreshment and delight.

But their eyes still showed some doubt; they did not understand what Tang Wulin intended to do.

Only the Ten Thousand Beast King, as a plant-type soul beast who had some understanding of the existence of the Natural Son, guessed at some of the content; his eyes were a bit dazed, and his mouth slightly opened.

No way, this human couldn't possibly be thinking……

The next moment, his speculation was confirmed.

A burst of intense green-gold light suddenly erupted from Tang Wulin's body, this light expanding at extreme speed, instantly enveloping the entire Star Dou Great Forest within its range.

Instantly, the alarm bells on the wall built by the Spirit Pagoda to encircle the Star Dou Great Forest rang loudly, countless powerful auras shot up into the sky, vigilantly gazing toward the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The commotion caused by Tang Wulin was truly enormous; this godlike, tremendous influence made the powerhouses from all major forces feel tremendous apprehension.

Leading them was an old man in a gray robe, who looked in disbelief at the forest dyed green-gold by the light, muttering in disbelief: 'This, this, could this be a domain? How is that possible? How could human power possibly expand a domain's range to such an enormous extent?'

Even if only the core region remained, the Star Dou Great Forest had a diameter of a full eighty kilometers; such a vast domain could be said to be something he had never seen in his lifetime.

Just then, a small hand pressed onto his shoulder.

His whole body shuddered violently, and he turned his head sharply.

"Who?!"

You must know he is a Spirit-system Super Douluo, his spiritual power comparable to that of a Limit Douluo, and there are hardly any people in the world who could approach him from behind without his noticing.

However, when he saw the appearance of the person behind him, all his inner doubts vanished like smoke.

He respectfully bowed to the other party.

"Your Highness Spirit Ice Douluo, what are your orders?"

The person behind him was a girl with blue hair and blue eyes, faint golden light flickering in her eyes, a delicate smile on her pretty face—it was Huo Yutong.

What struck the old man as strange was that her other hand was holding a little girl with silver hair and silver eyes; the two stood together like sisters, forming a beautiful scene that instantly drew the gazes of all the powerhouses present.

Recently, Huo Yutong's affairs had caused quite a stir; anyone not completely isolated from society knew of her existence, so they all recognized Huo Yutong and, imitating the old man, paid her respectful respects.

In this era, the Spirit Ice Douluo is the symbol of supreme strength and status.

Huo Yutong smiled and said, "Don't worry, this is my lover making contact with the ferocious beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest; if things go smoothly, you probably won't need to worry anymore about soul beasts attacking humans."

The old man blinked in astonishment and exclaimed in surprise:

"Really?!"

As a high-ranking official of the Spirit Pagoda, he was all too aware of how troubled Qian Gu Dong Feng had been lately with soul beast matters, and precisely because there was no way to deal with those soul beasts, he had been sent here by Qian Gu Dong Feng to stand guard, just in case.

Huo Yutong's words could practically be said to have solved their urgent problem.

Huo Yutong lightly laughed and nodded.

"Mm, I guarantee it in the name of the Spirit Ice Douluo."

"Great!"

Instantly, the surrounding powerhouses all showed expressions of joy.

They placed great trust in Huo Yutong's words.

Huo Yutong took Na'er's hand, her gaze directed at the not‑far‑off Star Dou Great Forest shimmering with green‑gold light, and a rose‑gold light flashed in her eyes.

Even Tang Wulin could not avoid consumption after using such a tremendous amount of power.

He would most likely fall into a weakened state after finishing the work.

Hope the ferocious beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest don't do something foolish.

Otherwise, she would also have to do something foolish.

Huo Yutong's face wore a warm smile, but her eyes flashed with a chilling light.

(End of chapter)