Douluo, my clone Groudon

Chapter 295 A Stage for Strength and Wisdom
The ancient trees grew wildly tall, their trunks becoming as hard as steel, and their gnarled roots bursting out of the soil like giant pythons!

The resilient vines, like living venomous snakes, instantly grew several times their original size, entangling everything nearby.

The weeds on the ground transformed into sharp serrations, spreading wildly. Flowers released pollen spores containing hallucinogenic or highly poisonous substances.

The entire forest came to life in an instant, filled with a violent and aggressive aura.

This sudden and dramatic change completely shattered the balance of the Ascension Platform.

Roar—! Screech—! Hiss—!
Countless ancient and millennia-old spirit beasts that inhabited and lurked in this area were alarmed. They sensed a deadly threat.

Territorial instincts, predatory instincts, and the oppressive feeling of territory instantly plunged them into extreme frenzy and chaos.

The earth trembled, giant trees collapsed, and raging soul beasts surged towards the area where Gula was from all directions like a flood bursting its banks.

Flames, frost, lightning, venom, wind blades... all sorts of soul skills flashed and collided wildly in the forest.

Hordes of thousand-year-old soul beasts charged forward with roars, while ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts roared. An unprecedented soul beast uprising erupted fiercely in Gula's boundless forest domain.

Gula's figure remained unmoved, like a reef in a storm.

He pressed his hands down, his mental energy acting like an invisible conductor's baton, precisely controlling the raging army of plants within his domain.

Countless resilient vines coiled around the charging soul beasts like nooses, sharp blades of grass slashed at their armor, poisonous spores eroded their senses, and massive trees swung their branches like battering rams...

He didn't attack indiscriminately. His mental power acted like the finest sieve, locking onto those soul beasts with pure soul power and compatible attributes amidst the chaotic beast tide, leaving them for Qing Liuli to study.

Those soul beasts with wood attributes, plant-type attributes, or strong defense and vitality, with thick skin and tough flesh, are his main targets for "elimination".

boom!
A massive, rock-carved "Earth-Splitting Demon Bear" was tightly entangled by several thick ironwood roots, and then swallowed by a huge man-eating flower phantom, turning into pure spiritual energy points that were quietly absorbed by Gula to enhance his own soul's age, especially his Sun Angel soul, which was only 20,000 years old.

Chi Chi Chi!
A pack of incredibly fast "Wind Wolves" were slashed and wounded by the rampant sawgrass on the ground, then enveloped by a swarm of poisonous spores, howling as they collapsed and were also turned into energy.

Even a powerful, millennia-old "Ghost Vine Tree Spirit," under the suppression of the Boundless Forest Domain, was devoured, entangled, and ultimately assimilated and absorbed by the domain by countless similar vines controlled by Gula.

Like a ruthless reaper, Gula efficiently "hunted" soul beast projections by utilizing the rules of the Spirit Ascension Platform and the absolute advantage of his own domain, turning them into nutrients to increase the age of his own soul rings.

Throughout the entire area, the war between plants and soul beasts was incredibly fierce, with the light of colliding energy and the roars of soul beasts never ceasing.

Outside, in the Ascension Platform monitoring room.

On the enormous light screen, the terrifying scene within the intermediate-level Ascension Platform was clearly displayed. Energy readings were skyrocketing, and alarms were blaring incessantly.

"Warning! Warning! Energy anomaly in Zone C7! Massive riot of soul beast projections! Energy intensity exceeds threshold!"

"A Soul Saint violated regulations by using battle armor? Otherwise, why would there be such a commotion!?"

"It's that Gula! The disciple that Deputy Tower Master Leng brought. Wasn't he just a Soul King? He seems even stronger than a Soul Saint who has activated his Martial Soul True Body!" "Quick! Should we intervene forcefully and stop his training?"

The spirit masters responsible for monitoring the situation were pale and flustered. This level of rioting had severely disrupted the normal operation of the Spirit Ascension Platform and might even damage the expensive simulation core.

However, Leng Yaozhu, who had been standing quietly behind the monitoring room with her arms crossed, simply watched coldly.

Her stunningly beautiful face remained completely expressionless as she watched the figure on the screen, effortlessly manipulating the endless forest amidst the raging beast tide. A barely perceptible curve even appeared on her red lips.

“No need to interfere.” Leng Yaozhu’s cold voice rang out, carrying an unquestionable authority. “Let him continue.”

“But… Deputy Tower Master, this energy fluctuation…” a senior spirit master said anxiously.

"Resources are meant for those who are qualified and capable."

Leng Yaozhu's gaze swept over the panicked spirit masters, with a hint of disdain. "As long as he doesn't dismantle the Spirit Ascension Platform, the Spirit Tower can still afford the slight energy loss. My disciple has the right to be willful."

The monitoring room fell silent instantly. The spirit mediums exchanged glances, and finally all lowered their heads.

Since Deputy Tower Master Leng has spoken, who would dare to object? They could only watch in fear as the forest battlefield on the light screen resembled a purgatory.

The edge of the riot's epicenter.

Qing Liuli was not directly affected by the riots in the Gula Domain. Her "Mind Leap" soul skill played a significant role.

Whenever a ferocious soul beast is driven away or attracted to her vicinity by her domain, or when an energy shockwave strikes her, she can always instantly teleport away like a flickering ghost by using the light seed implanted in the soul beast's or nearby plant's heart.

She can even use this teleportation to precisely appear next to some thousand-year-old soul beasts that are suppressed by the domain, in a state of chaos, or injured, and observe and record their soul energy changes in extreme states at close range.

"Have evil intentions!"

She activated her fifth soul skill again, attempting to influence a "Phantom Leopard" that was severely injured by vines and in a state of panic, guiding its fear to a certain critical point and observing the subtle reorganization of its soul energy structure as it was on the verge of collapse.

"Sure enough, in a state of fear, the 'resilience nodes' that construct the energy core of the virtual soul beast become unusually active. Is this one of the keys to why a thousand-year-old soul spirit is more stable and better able to withstand emotional shocks than a hundred-year-old one?"

A glint of wisdom flashed in Qing Liuli's eyes as she rapidly operated the recording device in her hand.

The earth-shattering riot triggered by Gura became a once-in-a-lifetime "laboratory" for Qing Liuli, who needed a large number of samples and extreme environmental data.

Protected by two millennium-old soul skills, she was like a petrel in a storm, not only unharmed, but also gradually touching upon the core difficulty of artificial millennium-old soul technology amidst the chaos—how to perfectly balance the depth of the life imprint and the stability of the energy structure?
Inside the Ascension Platform, on one side is a grand battlefield where Gula manipulates the forest sea, triggers beast tides, and ruthlessly reaps the rewards; on the other side is Qing Liuli conducting microscopic experiments using chaos, precise leaps, and dedicated research.

With Leng Yaozhu's tacit approval of her "willfulness," the intermediate spirit ascension platform of the Spirit Pagoda became a stage for the two to fully display their strength and wisdom.

(End of this chapter)