Chapter 42: Heading to the Star Dou Great Forest

In the blink of an eye, several days have already passed.

After Oscar's breakthrough last time, the very next day, Zhao Wuji led everyone to the Star Dou Great Forest to attach a Soul Ring. Of course, he was beaten up as expected, though it was much lighter than in the original work; perhaps Tang Hao also felt he was rather unlucky.

Whether it was because his temper had been suppressed by Zhou Yi, or because he hadn't been provoked by Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong, Dai Mubai didn't even provoke anyone when they passed by Canghui Academy. Seeing this, Zhou Yi found it quite interesting—is this karma?

Ever since Zhou Yi began practicing the Dao Scripture, he also started to have insights into these mysterious and profound things, gaining new understandings of some of the plot events in the original work.

Take, for example, the fate of A Yin and the fate of Bibi Dong. A Yin is a very interesting person; she was a hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor who cultivated and transformed into a human. It is not easy for a Soul Beast to cultivate, let alone a plant-type Soul Beast.

Unlike individual animal-type Soul Beasts that can rely on devouring their own kind to improve their cultivation, plant-type Soul Beasts can only rely on absorbing the essence of the sun and moon to improve their cultivation. In particular, Blue Silver Grass is equivalent to a producer in the natural system, so it is even more difficult to safely cultivate to one hundred thousand years.

Think carefully, besides A Yin, what other hundred-thousand-year plant-type Soul Beast is there? It could be said that A Yin perhaps carried the destiny that all plant-type living beings longed to evolve.

A Yin, who carried the destiny of wood spirits, was also promising. After transforming into a human form, she followed her own kind nature and continued to do good deeds everywhere to accumulate merit. Just like that, she smoothly reached level 60 and completely transformed into a human body. In her subsequent travels, she met the Tang brothers who were out gaining experience and upholding justice, and Tang Hao and Tang Xiao were both attracted by her kindness.

It can be said that if things had gone so smoothly, A Yin would eventually have become a hundred-level existence among plant-type Soul Beasts.

Unfortunately, Qian Xunji destroyed all of this. A Yin was already over level 80 when she sacrificed herself; she had long since completely transformed into a human body and was filled with merit. With Qian Xunji doing this, it can be said that the hard work of all the plant spirits in the entire Douluo World was in vain. This belongs to cutting off someone's fortune and destroying their Dao fruit.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before Qian Xunji suffered the backlash of the destiny of the plant spirits, and not long after returning to the Spirit Hall, he was devoured by Bibi Dong.

Speaking of Bibi Dong, originally, after ending the karma between herself and Qian Xunji, her good fortune gradually revealed itself. Relying on finding the inheritance of the Rakshasa God, if she could overcome the subsequent tribulations, she would have completely become a god and achieved a positive result.

Unfortunately, she did not overcome her own inner demons. The matters of Qian Xunji and Yu Xiaogang made her heart go mad, and she later created countless slaughters, destroying this opportunity to attain the Dao. Her own killing sins led to her subsequent death.

Then there is Qian Renxue. Zhou Yi even suspected whether Qian Xunji had been backlashed by the wood spirit destiny so severely that the entire Angel Family became tainted with karmic obstacles.

It seems that when it comes to destiny, every drink and every peck is determined by fate.

……

Returning to the present,

Zhao Wuji has already led Zhou Yi and the others into the Star Dou Great Forest for several days. During this period, even Ning Rongrong reached level 30.

After entering the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiao Wu hopped and skipped along the way, visibly happy, which made Zhao Wuji frown and left Zhou Yi speechless.

Silly child, be more careful. This sweet, naive girl basically hasn't used her brain for anything since she fell in love, thinking only of relying on Tang San for everything.

Ma Hongjun, on the other hand, complained because of the constant traveling.

"Oscar, are there any more sausages? My stamina is almost gone."

"Do you think I'm not tired? Wait until I recover some soul power."

After hearing this, Zhao Wuji glanced at the two of them and then scanned the others, discovering that, sure enough, everyone except Zhou Yi was a bit tired, so he said,

"Hold on a little longer, this place is not suitable for camping."

Seeing this, Zhou Yi said,

"Why don't I give everyone a boost."

As he spoke, he flew at a low altitude amidst the Cloud Mist while taking out a musical instrument. Before long, a nimble and jumping melody rang out.

The music he played was "Cloud Palace Quick Tune," which can boost the willpower of allies, increasing stamina by 100%, energy by 100%, and endurance by 100%, though it does have a side effect.

Once this tune played, the people traveling were instantly full of spirit, and even their speed increased quite a bit.

Ma Hongjun immediately said with great joy, "Wow, Brother Yi, as expected of you, I feel like my whole body is full of strength."

Oscar also took this opportunity to make a string of sausages to keep in reserve.

The others also swept away their fatigue and became joyful.

However, it wasn't long before they couldn't laugh anymore.

Tang San, who had been observing the surroundings, suddenly became alert, hurriedly pulling back Dai Mubai who was clearing the path in front, while simultaneously telling everyone to stop.

Zhao Wuji also took this opportunity to sense the area, but his expression immediately turned serious,

"Not good! It's a thousand-year Soul Beast, and it's a group of them. Everyone, be on alert!"

He wasn't afraid of thousand-year Soul Beasts, but protecting these children among a group of thousand-year Soul Beasts was quite difficult. Fortunately, there was Zhou Yi to help.

Tang San, however, frowned, feeling it was unbelievable,

"That's not right. The area we are traveling through is basically the activity range of ten-year Soul Beasts; even hundred-year Soul Beasts basically don't come here. Why are there so many thousand-year Soul Beasts today?"

Everyone also felt strange. There was no danger at all on this journey, so how did it suddenly become like this?

"Oh, I forgot to mention, the tune just now has a side effect; it increases the tribulations encountered during the journey."

Seeing everyone's confusion, Zhou Yi kindly explained to them.

"……" ×n

Everyone except Zhu Zhuqing was speechless.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Zhou Yi found it somewhat funny,

"Is it really necessary to be so miserable? It's just a group of thousand-year Soul Beasts."

As he spoke, he released mist in front of everyone and cast Mirage. Before long, the sound of Soul Beasts attacking each other rang out ahead.

This is no wonder; in their eyes, they had all turned into another appearance.

"Alright, done. Later, Rongrong and Oscar can go in and pick a Soul Beast."

Zhu Zhuqing was already used to this, but the others were very surprised. The matter was actually resolved just like that?

However, Oscar and Ning Rongrong immediately looked forward to their Third Soul Skill.

Just like that, Zhou Yi led everyone to swagger into the battlefield of thousand-year Soul Beasts in front, and the Soul Beasts also continued to fight each other as if they couldn't notice them at all.

Soon, Ning Rongrong chose a Cry Spirit Beast. She planned for her Third Soul Skill to be a soul power recovery skill, and this 1,600-year-old Cry Spirit Beast was just right for her.

It is worth mentioning that on Oscar's side, unexpectedly, there was a 1,500-year-old Phoenix-Tail Cockscomb Snake here. Once Zhao Wuji saw it, he decided on the spot to let him absorb this one.

Good fellow, Zhou Yi observed carefully, and sure enough, there were already man-made scars on its abdomen.

I didn't expect it to really be the one from the original work. If that's the case, the Snake Granny and Meng Yiran will also be attracted by the movement of the thousand-year Soul Beasts fighting here later.

After Zhao Wuji made his move, the two ended the lives of the two beasts and began to sit down to absorb the Soul Rings.

Zhou Yi collected the corpse of the Cry Spirit Beast, leaving only the Phoenix-Tail Cockscomb Snake, and then controlled the Mirage to guide the other Soul Beasts away from this place.

Xiao Wu stood beside Tang San with her head lowered, her large eyes filled with unbearable pity, "Must we hunt Soul Beasts?"

Tang San sighed softly and said, "The weak are prey to the strong; that is the law of survival. If this snake were more powerful than us, do you think it would let the food at its mouth go?"

Xiao Wu did not speak again, but she kept her head lowered, her complexion still somewhat pale.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi found it somewhat amusing and deliberately said to Jin Ling on his shoulder,

"Jin Ling, time to eat~"

Then he lit a campfire and began to roast the snake meat; beside him, Jin Ling was also watching and drooling.

With this, the slight guilt the people around felt about killing the Soul Beast was also rendered non-existent by Zhou Yi and Jin Ling.

Seeing this, Xiao Wu glared directly at Zhou Yi; Tang San felt very helpless seeing Zhou Yi's actions and hurriedly comforted Xiao Wu again.

Zhou Yi did not care, instead chuckling, then took a small piece of roasted snake meat and fed it to the small Jin Ling on his shoulder.

"Xiao Wu, actually I don't think you need to be so sentimental. We aren't killing indiscriminately. Whether the act of hunting Soul Beasts is right or wrong is better asked of the Soul Beasts themselves, right? Jin Ling."

"Ying~"

"Oh, it says it's delicious.

It seems you don't need to worry, Xiao Wu; the Soul Beast has no objections to this either."

"You! You... how could you be like this? You're bullying people too much!"

"Hahahaha."

In truth, Zhou Yi was only teasing Xiao Wu. Only herbivorous Soul Beasts like Xiao Wu would feel unbearable about such things; those carnivorous ten-thousand-year and hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts eat more Soul Beasts in a lifetime than ten Spirit Masters combined could hunt in their entire lives.

Therefore, there is no need to scrutinize this matter at all. If one must blame something, blame the rules of this world: first, that Soul Beasts cannot cultivate to higher realms; second, their low reproductive efficiency; and third, the rules for Spirit Master advancement.

However, Xiao Wu is not wrong either. If they are not protected now, once the human population explodes and the number of Spirit Masters rises exponentially after ten thousand years, it will indeed drive Soul Beasts to the brink of extinction, but that is still too far off for Zhou Yi and the others right now.

If one truly wants to change the plight of Soul Beasts, one must at least reach a certain height of personal strength to have the ability and qualifications to consider this matter.

Moreover, although Zhou Yi and Jin Ling usually like to eat Soul Beasts, they have principles. They do not kill young Soul Beasts, and they will not hunt Soul Beasts over ten thousand years old that possess basic intelligence, unless it is necessary to absorb a Soul Ring.

This is even more true for those over 100,000 years old. Even if his strength reaches the point where he needs to absorb a Soul Ring in the future, Zhou Yi will not seek a 100,000-year Soul Ring. In his view, a 100,000-year Soul Beast has already fully developed intelligence and is no different from a human. Killing a 100,000-year Soul Beast is the same as killing a person. He cannot kill people at will just to increase his strength; if he were to kill, he would only kill those full of sin. Otherwise, this is not even a question of a bottom line; doing so would pollute his Dao heart.

Ning Rongrong and Oscar were still absorbing their Soul Rings, while over here Zhou Yi was still roasting meat and Xiao Wu was still sad. The others couldn't help but take a few skewers of roasted meat to eat; there was no helping it, it was simply too fragrant.

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from afar.

"You... you people!"

Two figures were seen darting out from the direction the Cockscomb Serpent had flown from earlier, appearing before everyone.

These two people were one old and one young, both female. The older one looked to be sixty or seventy years old, her white hair combed extremely neatly. Although she was not young, her spirit was extremely vigorous, and despite the many wrinkles on her face, it was as ruddy as an infant's. A sharp light flickered in her eyes. Her right hand gripped a three-meter-long snake-headed cane, and six Soul Rings pulsed up and down on her body.

Her body had not changed, but the Soul Rings indicated she had already used her martial soul. There was no need to ask; the cane in her hand must be her martial soul.

Following the old woman was a beautiful young girl with short hair reaching her ears, looking to be sixteen or seventeen years old. She wore a neat, tight-fitting outfit that hugged her well-developed figure, and her large, dark brown eyes were fixed firmly on the roasted meat in Zhou Yi's hand. She also held a snake-headed cane in her hand, though it was shorter than the old woman's, only two meters long, and the Soul Rings on her body were only two hundred-year ones.

Looking at the scene before them, the Snake Grandmother and Meng Yiran were somewhat devastated, their eyes wide with shock. The Cockscomb Serpent they had chased for so long was just gone like that!?

And not only was its Soul Ring absorbed by someone, but its body was even being roasted and eaten!

"Yo~ Grandma, young lady, do you want to eat too? It's freshly roasted~"