Douluo, my clone Groudon

Chapter 391 Powerful Soul Skill After Evolution
The first round of the Soul Emperor stage ended without any major incidents, but a small incident sparked new controversy.

A Soul Emperor from the Federation team broke through under pressure during a fierce battle with his opponent, successfully advancing to level 70. His soul spirit condensed its seventh soul ring on the spot, making him a Soul Saint!
The Federation immediately pointed out that the contestant had already registered for the Soul Emperor group and should continue to complete the subsequent competition as a Soul Emperor.

Other factions expressed their opposition, believing that this was a blatant exploitation of loopholes in the rules, and that it was extremely unfair to the other contestants for a Soul Saint, even one who had just broken through, to participate in a Soul Emperor-level competition.

After some unpleasant wrangling, all parties finally reached a compromise: the contestant could continue to participate, but was strictly prohibited from using the seventh soul skill—Martial Soul True Body.

In this way, although newly awakened Soul Saints have an advantage in the quality and quantity of Soul Power, they have not yet achieved a qualitative leap, and the gap is controlled within a relatively "reasonable" range.

Although the federal government was somewhat reluctant, it had no choice but to accept this compromise.

The third day was a contest between Soul Saint level fighters. At this level of combat, a Martial Soul True Body was practically standard equipment.

On the arena, various enormous, ferocious, sacred, or eerie martial spirit true forms appeared one after another. Every collision caused the earth to shake and the light effects of the soul skills blotted out the sky. The destructive power and visual effects were far superior to those of the previous two days, making it particularly spectacular.

Gula sat in the audience, looking at the towering Martial Soul True Forms, lost in thought.

"Groudon's Martial Soul True Form... will surely be able to greatly develop its potential. It's time to prepare a third Soul Spirit for it. Although the Sun Angel is strong, its age is a major weakness, and it has not yet broken through 100,000 years. This third Soul Spirit should ideally have an age close to one million years."

This thought made him shake his head slightly. The two known million-year-old soul beasts, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King and the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, were of the water and ice attributes respectively, both of which were incompatible with his earth and fire attributes.

"Perhaps... I'll travel back to the era before the Dragon God's death? Back then, there were many god-level soul beasts..."

But he quickly rejected this idea. The Dragon God's own strength surpassed that of ordinary God-Kings, and that era was too dangerous and full of uncertainties.

He decided to settle for second best and search for a sufficiently powerful fire or light attribute ferocious beast that was born on the Douluo Continent after the death of the Dragon God in history.

He turned to Gu Yue beside him and asked in a low voice.

Gu Yue glanced at him, seemingly guessing his intentions, and replied in a cool tone, "I fell to Douluo Star hundreds of thousands of years ago, and spent most of that time sleeping and healing. I don't know much about the specific powerful soul beasts that have been born on the continent."

Gula then contacted Di Tian, ​​who was still in the Star Dou Great Forest, through a special means. He had Di Tian's contact number, but had never made contact before.

Soon, a list provided by Di Tian, ​​containing records of famous fire and earth-attribute ferocious beasts from history, came into his hands.

Gula quickly scanned the list, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

The soul beasts on the list provided by Di Tian had indeed dominated their respective regions, but in Gula's view, they all had various flaws—either insufficient potential or impure attributes.

More importantly, before Di Tian created the Soul Core Cultivation Method, many ancient ferocious beasts were simply unable to adapt to the increasingly fierce Heavenly Tribulation after the dramatic changes in the rules of heaven and earth, and many powerful bloodlines had already been severed.

“None of them are to my liking.” Gula tossed the list aside in disappointment. “Oh well, I can just use Celebi’s spirit to break through first. When I’m strong enough in the future, I can go to other planes or timelines and find a real ancient dragon or elemental spirit as my soul spirit.”

The Soul Saint level match ended quickly.

The Soul Saints sent by the Spirit Pagoda have long been in a relatively comfortable and privileged environment, lacking the tempering of life and death. In terms of fighting spirit and combat resilience, they are clearly inferior to the strongmen who fought their way out of the War God Temple in blood and fire, and also inferior to the monsters carefully cultivated by Shrek Academy. Their results are not ideal.

However, Gula did not come away empty-handed. He carefully observed the martial souls of all the contestants, and one female soul master named Ning Xi caught his attention.

Her martial soul is the Star Orbit Compass, which allows her to predict her opponent's attack intentions and soul skill combos to a certain extent during battle.

In Gula's view, this martial soul might also be able to share this kind of prediction with teammates, which is equivalent to a weakened version of Huo Yuhao's mental detection sharing, but at the same time it seems to enhance the ability to sense one's own crisis, which is quite peculiar.

On the fourth day, the pace of the race suddenly accelerated.

With the engineering troops, mining equipment, and miners dispatched by the North Sea Fleet already in place, the Federation is eager to settle things as soon as possible and begin resource extraction.

Therefore, it was decided that the three stages of the competition—Soul King, Soul Emperor, and Soul Saint—would be held simultaneously.

Tang Wulin frowned slightly as he looked at the group of miners, mostly ordinary young men, who were beginning to set up temporary work sheds. He whispered to Gula beside him:

"Although the destructive energy on Devil's Island has dissipated, the residual aura is still harmful to the human body. These ordinary people have been mining here for a long time, and I'm afraid..."

Gula glanced at the bustling scene in the distance and said calmly, "There's nothing we can do. The energy field and magnetic field here have evolved over thousands of years and are very special. It's difficult to completely purify them with soul guidance technology in a short time, and it causes great damage to the precision soul guidance mining equipment."

"Initially, we can only rely on manpower, supplemented by some heavy machinery with strong resistance to interference. Aren't there areas with abundant life energy? We can rotate the miners regularly, so there shouldn't be any major problems."

He was very confident in the efficiency with which he and Bai Yuan had absorbed energy, believing that the residue was no longer a concern.

However, he overlooked one point—those rare metal ores buried deep underground, transformed by destruction and the radiation of life energy over thousands of years, may themselves carry special radiation that is not easily detected.

However, these matters are naturally the responsibility of the federal government.

In the following days, Devil's Island, once a forbidden zone, became completely bustling with activity.

The booming sound of explosions replaced the roar of the soul skills and became the main theme.

Under the protection of Soul Masters, the massive mining machinery drove onto the island, drilling deep holes in the highest peaks and filling them with explosive Soul Guidance Devices.

With a deafening roar and billowing dust, the mountain was forcibly blasted open, revealing colorful mineral veins beneath, which contained unique energy fluctuations.

Humanity has once again demonstrated its power to conquer nature.

The competition continued amidst the noise of construction. Tang Wulin encountered a series of formidable opponents.

He fell for Gu Yue.

From the very start of the battle, Gu Yue showed no intention of holding back.

Spatial teleportation made her appear like a ghost, easily dodging Tang Wulin's golden dragon's earth-shattering attack. Elemental fusion bombardment, wind fueling the fire and earth smothering the flames, attacked from all sorts of incredible angles, covering the entire field.

Even though Tang Wulin used his fifth soul skill, Child of Nature, which greatly enhanced his perception of the environment and the speed of soul power recovery, he was still unable to capture Gu Yue's true form. Instead, he was bombarded by a series of powerful composite soul skills, leaving him covered in dust and his blood churning.

He possessed immense power but had nowhere to use it, ultimately forced to admit defeat. Gu Yue's control over the elements and her combat wisdom completely overwhelmed him.

Immediately afterwards, he faced Qing Liuli. In this battle, Tang Wulin was even more disheveled.

Qing Liuli's spiritual power cultivation might only be slightly higher than Tang Wulin's when he first entered the Spirit Abyss Realm, but her unique mind-based martial soul was a devastating blow to Tang Wulin, who was pure-hearted, emotionally rich, and had many concerns.

The safety of her parents, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue, the whereabouts of her sister Na'er, her budding feelings for her senior, Mu Xi, the bonds with her companions, the Shrek Seven Devils, her respect for her teachers, Zhuo Shi, Feng Wuyu, and Yun Ming, and her sense of responsibility towards Shrek Academy... all of these became the cracks in Qing Liuli's heart that she could easily pry open.

However, Qing Liuli was worried about Tang San's divine sense interfering, so she did not directly use these emotions to torment Tang Wulin.

Instead, it dragged his consciousness into a vast, desolate desert with only scorching white sand and an eternal blazing sun.

There is no sound, no life, no reference point for the passage of time, only endless emptiness and loneliness.

This is the purest form of spiritual inquiry—a confrontation with nihilism.

What moved Qing Liuli slightly was that Tang Wulin's willpower was far stronger than she had imagined. In this desert of consciousness, he persevered for more than a month, and although he was exhausted, anxious, and longed for communication, he showed no signs of mental breakdown.

"He's got some skills after all, no wonder he's the protagonist." Qing Liuli's lips curled slightly as she subtly increased her mental output, incorporating more bizarre and outlandish "brainstorming" torments from her past life's memories.

For example, it can conjure up a mirage-like oasis that vanishes upon being touched; it can make the desert bitterly cold at night; it can create a delirious murmur that seems to come from the depths of one's heart, indistinguishable from reality...

In the end, Tang Wulin's soul power was completely exhausted in resisting this endless mental erosion, and his spirit was also extremely tired, so he had no choice but to admit defeat.

Although he lost, the resilience and potential he displayed in these two battles left a very deep impression on all the spectators.

Qing Liuli nodded secretly, acknowledging the character of this "protagonist".

When it was Gula's turn to play, he remained leisurely seated in the audience, even taking out a glass of juice from somewhere and slowly sipping it.

Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, the emerald green sixth spirit ring beneath his feet flickered slightly. His shadow, as if alive, writhed and lengthened, eventually detaching from the ground, standing up, and quickly solidifying into a clone identical to Gula's original body.

This is precisely the ability brought by the evolved spirit of the ancient tree of life—the combined use of the fourth spirit skill, Forest Avatar, and the sixth spirit skill, Forest Ancestor.

Not only can it generate clones using plants, but it can also directly manipulate plants as a carrier to condense physical clones with half the combat power of the original. As long as the soul power is not exhausted, the clones can exist indefinitely, and multiple clones can exist at the same time.

The clone, Gura, stepped onto the arena without any expression.

His opponent was Gao Zhen, the Soul Emperor from the Temple of War. Gao Zhen was as muscular as an iron tower, with bronze skin and sharp, battle-ready eyes. His martial soul was the Zhenyue Rhinoceros, a top-tier beast martial soul renowned for its terrifying power and shockwave attacks.

His three purple and three black spirit rings revealed his profound foundation. A set of earth-yellow two-word battle armor, "Mountain," covered his entire body, further enhancing his heavy and steady aura.

"What do you mean? You only sent a clone? You're underestimating us!" Gao Zhen's voice boomed, carrying a hint of anger at being looked down upon.

"Defeat me, or be defeated by me."

The clone Gura calmly replied, simply making a "please" gesture.

"The match begins!" the referee announced after confirming that Gula had no intention of playing.

Gao Zhen roared and struck first.

The first spirit ring lit up, and the earth shook!
He stomped his foot on the ground and charged forward with the ferocity of a raging rhinoceros.

With each step he took, the arena trembled violently, and terrifying shockwaves spread forward like tangible ripples from him, causing the arena floor to crack inch by inch.

This shockwave not only causes physical damage, but it can also penetrate ordinary soul power protection, essentially possessing built-in defensive penetration, directly shaking the opponent's internal organs.

Faced with this unstoppable charge, the clone Gula remained calm. He slowly raised his hands and pressed them forward, unleashing his first evolved soul skill.

The boundless realm of forests and seas unfolds!

hum!
Centered on him, emerald green light spread across the entire arena like a tidal wave.

Wherever the light passed, the hard ground of the arena seemed to turn into the most fertile soil, and countless strange plants burst out of the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye, instantly turning the arena into a primeval jungle.

There are mirror trees with leaves as hard as diamonds that can reflect energy; there are energy-devouring vines with vines like giant pythons that are good at wrapping around and absorbing impact; there are sleeping datura flowers that constantly spray pollen that paralyzes people; and there are rock-solid banyan trees with roots that are deeply embedded in the ground, frantically stabilizing the earth and dispersing the force of shock.

These plants are all transformed from the seeds of strange plants from all over the continent that the ancient tree of life absorbed during its evolution. Now, they are perfectly reproduced and nurtured by the domain.

Rumble!
Gao Zhen's ferocious charge crashed violently into the suddenly appearing forest.

The terrifying shockwave he carried was instantly weakened, dispersed, and absorbed by the roots, vines, and leaves of countless plants.

The impact, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, seemed to have been thrown into an endless pile of cotton, its power greatly diminished.

He felt as if he had crashed into a huge, elastic network, and his speed involuntarily slowed down.

"What the hell!"

Gao Zhen was startled, but with his rich combat experience, he immediately changed his tactics.

The third spirit ring lit up, and the air vibrated.

He swung his fists forward repeatedly, not directly attacking the plants, but creating high-frequency vibrations in the air.

An invisible shockwave, like ripples on water, traveled through the gaps in the dense vegetation towards the clone, Gura.

This move is slightly weaker, but it has extremely strong penetrating power and is impossible to defend against!
The clone Gula moved slightly, rising up like a weightless leaf, with a thick Azure Dragon Wood vine rising from beneath his feet to support his body.

At the same time, several Moonlight Grasses emitting a soft white light swayed gently around him, releasing a force field that neutralized the fluctuations and smoothed out the energy, quietly dissolving the invisible air vibrations.

"impossible!"

Gao Zhen was furious. He knew that the Dao in front of him was just a mere clone!

The fourth spirit ring erupted, and mountains gave way!
His body swelled up again, his muscles bulged, and his strength and attack power increased dramatically.

His battle armor, "Mountain," shone brightly, perfectly combining with his martial soul power. He crossed his arms to protect himself, like a real mountain rhinoceros, and launched a second, even more ferocious charge forward.

This time, he ignored the entangled plants and used absolute power and the extreme vibrational force to crush all obstacles in his path.

Wherever it passed, robust plants were pulverized, and deep furrows were plowed into the ground.

However, the clone Gura simply watched him silently. This boundless forest realm was far more than this.

With a light tap of his finger, the clone Gula activated his second soul skill – Myriad Manifestations (one percent of its power).

Gao Zhen suddenly felt the surrounding scenery blur slightly, the movement of the plants seemed to become more unpredictable and strange, and the sense of time also became slightly disordered, making him even more agitated and unable to concentrate.

Gura did not use its evolved, time-distorting abilities, finding that too boring and too much of a bully.

At the same time, the clone Gula is connected to the main body and the third soul skill deep within the soul of the Ancient Tree of Life, the demiplane formed by the Forest Sea.

That demiplane now nourishes countless plants, continuously providing pure life energy, which not only enhances the ancient tree of life itself, but also slowly nurtures and increases the age of all the spirit rings of Gula's second martial soul.

At this moment, the plants within this domain are frantically absorbing energy. The immense energy is being channeled through the domain to support the consumption and regeneration of this forest, and to transfer excess energy to the demiplane for storage.

The plants that had been shattered by the high-intensity earthquake instantly regenerated from the field's light, becoming even more resilient and more resistant to the shockwave energy.

The mirror tree adjusted its angle to reflect the shockwave, while the energy-devouring vines coiled around him like a greedy giant python, frantically absorbing his soul power and impact. The roots of the giant banyan tree, like the veins of the earth, dispersed the transmitted shockwave throughout the arena and even underground...

Gao Zhen felt as if he were fighting against the entire forest, against a boundless, ever-regenerating domain that could absorb his power.

His charge was once again abruptly halted, each step forward incredibly difficult, while his soul power was being consumed frantically.

The clone Gura felt that the testing was almost complete.

He raised his right hand, his palm aimed at Gao Zhen, who was trapped in the jungle, roaring but unable to move an inch.

The energy of countless plants instantly converged into his palm.

call out!call out!call out!
In an instant, hundreds of emerald green wooden spikes, containing the ultimate life energy yet incredibly sharp, shot out like a storm, covering all of Gao Zhen's escape routes.

Gao Zhen roared and amplified the vibrational power to its maximum, wildly swinging his fists in an attempt to shatter the wooden splinters.

Most of the wooden splinters were indeed shattered, but a few still managed to penetrate his defenses.

Puff puff!
The wooden spikes did not win through sheer penetrating power, but rather, upon contact with his battle armor, they suddenly erupted, transforming into countless tough green light threads that rapidly coiled and bound him as if they possessed a life of their own.

Gao Zhen felt his body tighten as a powerful binding force came over him. He struggled fiercely, and the shockwave broke many of the light threads, but more light threads sprouted from all parts of the domain and wrapped around him one after another.

In the blink of an eye, he was wrapped in a huge emerald green cocoon of light, with only his head sticking out, unable to move.

His soul power was also being rapidly absorbed and calmed by these light threads.

Struggling, in vain.

On the arena, the forest quietly receded, transforming back into an ordinary arena, as if everything that had just happened was a dream.

Only Gao Zhen, wrapped up like a rice dumpling, proved the authenticity of the battle just now.

The clone Gula glanced indifferently at the immobilized Gao Zhen, its form gradually fading until it returned to being a shadow, merging back into the audience seats at Gula's feet, as if it had never existed.

The referee paused for a few seconds before loudly announcing, "Gula wins at the Spirit Pagoda!"

There was silence.

Many people looked at Gura's true form, who was still leisurely drinking juice, with a hint of fear in their eyes.

A mere clone, barely moving, effortlessly defeated the powerful Soul Emperor of the War God Temple, renowned for his strength and defense? This method of summoning and controlling the forest is simply unheard of.

Gula ignored the stares around him, but was quite satisfied: "Hmm, the combination of the boundless forest and the leisurely forest's demiplane energy, along with the properties of various strange plants, is quite effective. From now on, I won't need to personally deal with opponents of this level."

Celebi's martial spirit has evolved towards an unprecedented top-tier summoning and control type, which is exactly what he wanted.

(End of this chapter)