Douluo: The Unrivaled Demon Lord

Chapter 104 Sun and Moon Soul Master, Snow Empress's Crisis ②
Time flies swiftly on this eternally frozen land; in the blink of an eye, nearly a month and a half has passed.

During this month, Shu Yan consolidated his cultivation while familiarizing himself with his second martial soul. As a 400,000-year-old Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, Bing Di had reached the pinnacle in the realm of ice. Her teachings were extremely useful to Shu Yan, especially given his extraordinary comprehension. In just one and a half months, Shu Yan had reached a level in applying the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion martial soul that even impressed Bing Di.

It is worth mentioning that after merging with Shu Yan, with the help of the enormous life energy within Shu Yan's spiritual sea, Ice Emperor broke through the 400,000-year barrier in one fell swoop. Now, Ice Emperor is definitely a 400,000-year-old ferocious beast.

Tianmeng spends her days happily watching Bingdi teach Shu Yan the various mysteries of the Ice Path within the Sea of ​​Spirit, occasionally trying to make her presence known. Although she always gets blasted away by Bingdi, Tianmeng has no idea what restraint is; her main strength is her thick skin and ability to take a beating.

Looking at Hyotei's appearance, Xie Ji suddenly felt a pang of regret.

With her spiritual power that was almost transforming into divine consciousness, she could naturally see how deep the connection between Ice Emperor and Shu Yan was after Ice Emperor became the second martial soul, and what this represented.

It's actually quite simple: once Shu Yan becomes a god, the deeper the connection between him and the person, the greater the benefits they will receive.

It's fair to say that after becoming a god, Hyotei's strength will surpass that of Evil Princess, to the point that Evil Princess won't even be able to smell the exhaust fumes.

Xie Ji expressed regret, saying that she should have found a way to become Shu Yan's martial soul in the first place. Although the Soul Devouring Spider King was a bit ugly, a bit evil, and a bit disgusting and hateful, you still have to admit that the Soul Devouring Spider King was a good martial soul!
Xie Ji didn't care at all about whether a Soul Master was evil or not. She would wait until Shu Yan grew to be invincible, and then a great scholar would debate his doctrines!

There's a saying that goes, "There are only evil Soul Masters, not evil Martial Souls!"
If you ask who said this, well, it was Xie Ji who adapted it from a classic quote by a certain master.

……

After the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul possessed him, Shu Yan's short black hair turned into a cold white, and his originally calm and profound temperament also became cold.

It was a chilling coldness that could freeze people's hearts, and one could vaguely sense a murderous aura lingering around Shu Yan's body.

Yes, Shu Yan discovered that the killing intent cultivated by the Yazi Martial Soul and the extreme cold aura of the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul could be perfectly fused together. The fused extreme cold killing intent was at least three times stronger than the original. In the face of this extreme cold killing intent, even Soul Masters below level 30 would find it extremely difficult to get close to him.

……

On the vast, boundless snowfield, a white-haired youth was battling a gigantic tiger-like spirit beast. His arms were now covered in a layer of diamond-like particles, each one the size of a mung bean, hexagonal in shape, and dazzlingly bright from a distance.

Beneath Shu Yan's feet, only a blood-red spirit ring rose up, proving that he was using his second spirit, the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, instead of his usual first spirit, the Yazi.

His opponent was a White-Eyed Demon Tiger King with 80,000 years of cultivation. This powerful soul beast possessed both darkness and ice attributes. Its status among tiger-type soul beasts was equivalent to that of the Flame Lion King among lion-type soul beasts. It was one of the most powerful tiger-type soul beasts in the far north.

Normally, the Ice Emperor wouldn't want Shu Yan to indiscriminately kill powerful soul beasts in the far north, but this clueless demon tiger king in front of him is an exception.

The reason is simple: this ignorant demon tiger king has fallen and become an evil soul beast.

Its original dark attribute has been transformed into an evil attribute through continuous killing and devouring. Its pure white body emits a faint, eerie red light, and its eyes are extremely bloodthirsty, flashing with a chilling red light.

As the saying goes, "Darkness makes one ten times stronger, while whiteness makes one three times weaker." After the 80,000-year-old White-Blind Demon Tiger King fell into the form of an Evil Soul Beast, its combat power increased dramatically. Now, its combat power is at least equivalent to a human Title Douluo of level 91 or 92. If it were to unleash its full potential, even a Title Douluo like Dugu Bo, a mere floor tile, would be no match for it.

But faced with Shu Yan's offensive, the white-eyed demon tiger king was repeatedly defeated. The Ice Emperor's Claw left several huge wounds on its body, and the blood stained its white fur red, also staining the nearby snow red, making it particularly conspicuous in the vast expanse.

Shu Yan stopped when he had cornered the White-Eyed Demon Tiger King against a cliff.

During this time, following Tianmeng's guidance, he traveled westward along the far north coastline. Now he was in the far north of the real continent, and not far in front of him was the truly boundless frozen sea.

"This big guy is really tough. Ah Yan, let's not waste time, let's just finish it off in one go!"

Tianmeng's voice echoed in the Sea of ​​Spirit, carrying a hint of passion. During the battle, it secretly mixed in a portion of its own spiritual power. The exhilarating feeling of each punch landing was something Tianmeng had never experienced in its hundreds of thousands of years of life... There was no other way; it probably would never be able to participate in such a tense and exciting melee in its lifetime, so it could only use this method to experience it.

Both Hyotei and Evil Princess looked disgusted, expressing their incomprehension and contempt at Tianmeng's actions.

A beam of emerald green light suddenly burst forth from Shu Yan's body, spreading rapidly in all directions. Everything in its path seemed to be paused, and even the enormous body of the White-Eyed Demon Tiger King was strangely frozen in place.

The Domain of Eternal Freeze was one of the Ice Emperor's most powerful soul skills when he dominated the far north. As a domain-type soul skill, the Ice Emperor could freeze thousands of miles in an instant when using the Domain of Eternal Freeze. However, Shu Yan's strength was far inferior to that of the Ice Emperor. Although the Domain of Eternal Freeze he released was terrifying, it was still far inferior to the Ice Emperor's true form.

After using the Eternal Freeze Domain to suppress the White-Eyed Demon Tiger King, the emerald green light on Shu Yan's body not only did not decrease but increased. In the next instant, a beam of emerald green light, only as thick as an adult's arm, suddenly shot out from his chest. Wherever the emerald light passed, everything became somewhat illusory and blurry. After the emerald light hit the White-Eyed Demon Tiger King, the White-Eyed Demon Tiger King did not even let out a wail before losing its life force under this extremely powerful attack.

A ten-thousand-year soul ring carrying a trace of evil aura slowly rose up. Urged by Xie Ji, Shu Yan activated the Soul Devouring Secret Technique, devouring the eighty-thousand-year soul ring and the remaining soul of the White-Eyed Demon Tiger King.

After doing all this, Tianmeng suddenly spoke up again:
"Ayan, take a look at this guy's right leg."

Shu Yan used the Ice Emperor's Claw to tear open the White-Eyed Demon Tiger King's body, and then indeed took out a right leg bone that exuded a ferocious aura from its right leg.

"Tsk tsk, Ayan, you truly are a human with great fortune. Your luck is almost comparable to mine."

Tianmeng chuckled, her narcissistic appearance causing Bingdi and Xieji to clench their fists simultaneously. The next moment, Tianmeng's heart-wrenching screams echoed within the sea of ​​consciousness, so horrific that Shuyan couldn't help but frown slightly.

Neither Hyotei nor Evil Princess are good-natured, and they show no mercy when they fight. It's safe to say that Tianmeng's days in the Sea of ​​Spirit are not easy!
After all, its current status in the Sea of ​​Spirit is not even comparable to that of a roadside tree; it can be said to be as insignificant as dust.

Shu Yan stored the soul bone in his storage soul tool. The 80,000-year-old top-grade soul bone was worth more than 15 million gold soul coins, which was equivalent to him getting a small city for free. It was like a pie falling from the sky.

After taking all the usable items from the White-Eyed Demon Tiger King, Shu Yan continued westward along the coastline.

His speed was extremely fast, and coupled with his Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul, the low temperature here had no effect on him. In fact, it was even beneficial to his soul power recovery. With all these enhancements, Shu Yan traversed the entire far north in less than three days and arrived at the western region of the far north.

This is both a trial and a plea from Hyotei.

If we were to say where a Soul Master from the Sun Moon Empire would most likely enter the Far North, it would definitely be the far western region of the Far North.

In recent years, the Sun Moon Empire's soul guidance technology has developed rapidly, and the number of soul masters has also surged. Although the proportion of ice attribute soul masters within the Sun Moon Empire is not very large, given the huge population base, it is no longer realistic for these ice attribute soul masters to rely solely on ice attribute soul beasts within the Sun Moon Empire to obtain soul rings. In contrast, the far north is teeming with ice attribute soul beasts, and their sheer number is unparalleled in the world, naturally making it the perfect place for those soul masters to obtain soul rings.

As one of the overlords of the far north, Hyotei usually stays within its core area, but it still has a relatively good understanding of the overall situation of the far north.

That's why she asked Shu Yan to take her to see the western region of the far north.

Just as Hyotei thought, there were indeed many Soul Masters from the Sun and Moon who came here to hunt Souls in the western region of the far north and the nearby icy sea.

Shu Yan happened to encounter a team of Soul Masters from the Sun Moon Empire, but with Tianmeng's spiritual power protecting him, the group did not discover his whereabouts.

After observing for a while, Shu Yan discovered that the weakest among these people was at the Soul Emperor level, and the strongest among them had reached the Soul Douluo level in terms of soul power. Judging from the direction they were heading, they were heading deep into the far north.

"This group is a bit strange. Would a normal Soul Hunting team be this cautious, even going so far as to completely erase any traces they leave behind?"

Tianmeng asked with some curiosity.

It had seen many human soul-hunting teams, but it had never seen one as cautious and careful as this one. You have to understand, this is only the outermost area of ​​the far north, and hundred-year-old soul beasts are extremely rare. For a team of all level six soul masters to be so careful here is simply inexplicable by common sense.

"Follow them, these guys are definitely up to no good."

Ice Empress said coldly. Considering the strange behavior of this group of people, she reasonably suspected that these guys were the accomplices of the ninth-level soul masters from the core circle of the far north, whom Shu Yan had mentioned, who came to capture ferocious beasts.

Shu Yan lurked about a hundred meters behind this group of people, following them deep into the far north.

Upon entering the mixed zone, they activated a highly specialized shielding soul tool, completely sealing off everyone's aura. Even when they encountered soul beasts along the way, they simply avoided them cautiously. No matter how weak the soul beasts they encountered were, these guys never considered making a move.

After entering the depths of the mixed circle, the group took out several boxes from their storage soul tools, and then installed a soul tool that resembled an antenna on top of them. After a faint red light flashed, a stream of light quickly came from the distant snowstorm and then stopped in front of the group.

With the help of Tianmeng's powerful mental energy, Shu Yan could clearly hear the conversation of those people through the wind and snow.

"Boss, this is the supplies for the past two weeks, including the latest cold-resistant soul tool I got from China. It's nearly 20% more effective than the previous one." The person addressed as "boss" by the eighth-level soul master was a middle-aged man with a somewhat gloomy face. Judging from the aura emanating from him, his cultivation level had reached the Title Douluo level, but his cultivation level was only at most level ninety-one or ninety-two.

This is a common problem among the Soul Masters of the Sun Moon Empire. In order to increase their cultivation speed, they take a lot of drugs to stimulate themselves during the cultivation process. Although these drugs accelerate their cultivation breakthrough process, they also seriously damage their own potential, and in severe cases, even their lifespan is greatly affected.

In this environment, the entire Sun Moon Empire could hardly find any Super Douluo or Title Douluo who broke through to the next level without the aid of medicine. Of course, the Holy Spirit Cult was an exception.

Amidst the howling wind and snow, the man known as the boss spoke in a deep voice:

"Well, you did a great job."

"We've been lying in wait here for half a year, and we've put in so much effort and hard work. The damn snow and low temperatures in the inner circle almost drove Lao Mo and me to our deaths. After paying such a high price, it's finally almost time to close the net."

The eighth-level Soul Master became visibly more excited upon hearing this, and spoke with a hint of anticipation:

"Boss, how much benefit and profit do you think this 100,000-year-old soul beast can bring us?"

The man referred to as the boss chuckled softly, then said:

"Don't worry, this soul beast is enough for our brothers to change their identities and become top nobles in the Star Luo Empire after betraying the country. Weren't you in charge of contacting the Star Luo Empire's secret agents before? What was their response to you?"

Upon hearing this, the level eight soul master hesitated for a moment before speaking:
"Xingluo's attitude is very vague. They only said they would help us resolve the previous troubles after seeing the documents... However, I bribed one of their leaders. That guy said that Xingluo's higher-ups seem to be very interested in this matter, so there shouldn't be any problem with us becoming Xingluo citizens."

As soon as the words fell, a crisp slap rang out, and the eighth-level soul master was slapped to the ground by the ninth-level soul master.

"Fool! Don't agree to anything from them without a clear stance. The people of the original Douluo Three Kingdoms are the most cunning, and their behavior is often two-faced. You're harming us."

As he spoke, the level nine soul master delivered several more kicks, causing a trickle of blood to seep from the corner of the mouth of the level eight soul master.

After venting his emotions, the ninth-level soul master pondered for a moment before continuing:
"Here's what we'll do. When you get back, continue communicating with them. Make sure you get a definite guarantee from them, preferably one from one of their higher-ups who can vouch for you. That's the key. We can't afford retaliation from the Empire. Only by joining the Star Luo Empire and getting their protection can we have a chance to survive."

“When I traveled across the continent in the past, I had a brief encounter with the Shattered Star Douluo of the Star Luo Empire when we were young. You should go to Star Luo City in person and deliver this letter to the Shattered Star Douluo to prove our sincerity.”

"The soul guidance technology of the original Douluo Three Kingdoms was backward. The most powerful soul guide masters were only at the eighth level, and there were almost no ninth-level soul guides. Lao Mo and I are both ninth-level soul guide masters. If we can successfully join the Star Luo Empire, the soul guidance technology of the Star Luo Empire will definitely experience explosive growth. This is our last hope. If we fail again, we will probably only be able to choose a suitable burial place for ourselves... Do you understand this?"

The ninth-level Soul Master spoke in a low voice, and a trace of the pressure belonging to a Title Douluo spread out, almost causing the people to kneel on the spot.

The level eight soul master also got up from the ground, lowered his head and continued:
"The boss is right. I will go back and continue to negotiate with them. I will definitely not let the boss's efforts go to waste."

The level-nine soul tool collected all the supplies on the ground, gave a soft "hmm," and then, with a flash of light, disappeared back towards the core circle.

What he didn't notice was that after he left, the level eight soul master slowly raised his head. His face was now extremely ferocious, and his eyes were bloodshot, clearly showing an extremely venomous expression.

"Tsk tsk, interesting. Such strong malice. Is this guy planning to bite back at his master? I love a dog-eat-dog show..."

Xie Ji sensed the extremely strong negative emotions emanating from that person, and then said with a chuckle.

"Dogs fighting each other is not the point."

Tenmu noticed Hyotei's increasingly gloomy expression and then spoke:
“By the way, I remember you, Evil Princess, have quite a few wicked tricks up your sleeve. I think now is the time to put them to use.”

Xie Ji raised an eyebrow, seemingly understanding Tian Meng's meaning:
"What's wrong? I remember you were quite opposed to me teaching Shu Yan these things before. Why are you bringing it up again now..."

Tianmeng chuckled and then said:

"I've been thinking about this lately. As long as it makes Ayan stronger, what's the harm in using any means? Let it be a little wicked, I don't care about right or wrong anymore. I only side with my own people. These guys may not be very strong, but they're enough to be cannon fodder sometimes. Besides, aren't there two level nine soul masters in the core circle... hehehe..."

The Evil Princess smiled with amusement, then said wickedly:

"That's called double standards, you big bug... How come I never noticed before that you had the potential to become an evil spirit beast?"

"Well, human nature is never just about truth, goodness, and beauty. Character traits like double standards and greed are also an inseparable part of human nature. No one is perfect, and I am sometimes like that too."

Shu Yan spoke up at the opportune moment.

Everyone says Tang San is hypocritical, but when you're in Tang San's position, how many people could do better than him?
Social class and environment can subtly change a person's thoughts and beliefs. People from different perspectives and levels will say different things, and the rights and wrongs involved are hard to distinguish.

Shu Yan never actively sought to become a certain type of person; following his heart was his only requirement for himself. Of course, this required certain prerequisites, and having lived two lives, Shu Yan had the right and confidence to do so.

Tianmeng nodded in agreement, then looked at Bingdi with a fawning expression and whispered:

"Bingbing, do you think what Ayan and I said was right?"

Upon hearing this, Hyotei merely glanced at Tenmu indifferently, then said in a clear voice:
"I don't care about the intricacies of the human world. To me, strength is paramount, and the strong are supreme. That is the truth of this world."

Tianmeng nodded repeatedly without hesitation, and then said:
"Bingbing is right. Right and wrong should be judged by the strong. What I hate most is getting involved in all that underhanded stuff with those people."

Xie Ji glanced sideways at Tian Meng, clearly having gained a new understanding of Tian Meng's sycophantic nature.

Meanwhile, outside, Shu Yan stood in the howling snow and watched the group of people pack up and walk towards the outer perimeter. Then, a flash of silver light appeared on his body, and his figure disappeared from the spot.

The group was walking peacefully through the snow, but soon the eighth-level Soul Master leading the way suddenly stopped. One of the people behind him didn't react in time and almost bumped into him.

After regaining his footing, the seventh-level Soul Master asked, somewhat puzzled:

"Old Fang, what are you doing? Let's go! We're close to the core area. If we encounter a powerful soul beast, we're doomed..."

But no matter how much he shouted, the level eight soul master known as Lao Fang did not move an inch.

The remaining people looked at each other in bewilderment, but before they could think of anything, a dark green spiritual wave enveloped them, and the next moment, they all collapsed onto the snow.

Shu Yan emerged from the wind and snow, a strange spider totem now appearing between his brows. A thick, dark green mist spread out, slowly condensing and then seeping into the brains of the group of people.

The painful screams drifted away on the wind, and soon the group of people stood up with strange, stiff movements, and then knelt down in unison before Shu Yan.

"Master x5"

Shu Yan slowly withdrew his hand, and the dark green mist behind him gradually dissipated. Xie Ji chuckled softly, then said:

"Alright, they're all your spirit slaves now, hehehe... I just went through their memories, these guys are really bold, Shu Yan, guess what those two betrayed their country for?"

Shu Yan shrugged and casually asked:
"what?"

The Evil Princess gave a strange smile, then said softly:

"..."

……

(End of this chapter)