Douluo Continent: The Eternal Dawn

Chapter 17 Light is the origin of shadow, and shadow is the destination of light.

The Mingdou Great Forest is located almost at the southernmost part of the entire continent.

Although it is early spring, there is no chill in the air at night, and the temperature is much higher than in Shrek City.

Ye Xixuan and Zhang Lexuan sat facing each other, meditating and cultivating in a place overgrown with weeds, trying to recover their condition.

The Mingdou Great Forest was once just one of the wild soul beast habitats within the Star Luo Empire, smaller in scale than even the Sunset Forest near Heaven Dou City. However, with the collision between the Sun Moon Continent and the original Douluo Continent, the Mingdou Great Forest happened to border several mineral veins containing strange energy on the Sun Moon Empire's side, thus giving rise to many highly aggressive mutated soul beasts.

Over thousands of years, those mutated soul beasts have multiplied and grown, expanding their range several times over, including the mines of the Sun Moon Empire and a part of the Mingdou Mountains.

The Mingdou Great Forest has now reached half the size of the Xingdou Great Forest, and its abundant mutated soul beasts often perfectly meet the needs of certain special martial soul masters. However, the Mingdou Great Forest ultimately lacks some of its foundation, and the number of high-level soul beasts is nowhere near that of the Xingdou Great Forest.

The night sky in southern China is exceptionally clear, dotted with countless stars that seem both close at hand and impossibly far away.

Zhang Lexuan's body shone with a layer of shimmering white light, while Ye Xixuan's body was surrounded by a flowing black halo, the two colors complementing each other.

Drawn by the flow of energy, the two opened their eyes at the same time and their gazes met.

The moonlight poured down from the night sky, like a thin silver veil enveloping Zhang Lexuan's delicate body, adding a touch of ethereal and aloof beauty to her. Seeing Ye Xixuan's slightly dazed expression, a gentle smile played on her lips.

"what happened?"

"Sister Lexuan, you're so beautiful." Ye Xixuan was stunned for a moment, then praised her sincerely. It's human nature to like beautiful things, and even though he's still young, he's still attracted to certain things.

This youthful flutter will undoubtedly be unforgettable for him, and may even directly influence his future inclinations regarding relationships with men and women.

Zhang Lexuan's gaze towards Ye Xixuan softened further, but she didn't forget to remind Ye Xixuan of the precautions to take when entering the Mingdou Great Forest.

“While our martial souls can unleash greater power at night, this characteristic isn’t unique to soul masters like us; some soul beasts can do the same. This is your first time entering a wild soul beast habitat, so remember to stay close to me and prioritize your own safety. Xi Xuan, do you understand?”

"Yes, Sister Lexuan." Ye Xixuan nodded solemnly. Just as Zhang Lexuan said, their martial spirits and abilities would not be affected by the nighttime environment; on the contrary, they would be amplified. Therefore, they planned to try their luck in the Mingdou Great Forest tonight.

Zhang Lexuan considerately handed Ye Xixuan some dry food and water.

"Eat something first, then rest for a bit and get yourself into the best shape."

Fifteen minutes later, the two officially entered the Mingdou Great Forest.

As Ye Xixuan approached the outer edge of the Mingdou Great Forest, he was immediately hit by a strong, putrid stench, and a sweltering, humid atmosphere enveloped him. The thick, dense canopies of the massive trees blocked out the starlight, plunging the surroundings into complete darkness. Perhaps only during the day could visibility be considered at all.

This is the biggest difference between the Southern Soul Beast Forest and other soul beast habitats. With its consistently high temperatures and abundant rainfall, the environment is extremely harsh. After plants and soul beast corpses decompose, miasma can permeate the entire area.

"Xi Xuan, stay close to me," Zhang Lexuan instructed in a deep voice as she released her martial spirit. Suddenly, a bright crescent moon appeared behind her, hanging in the air as if suspended from a treetop. Its appearance immediately illuminated everything around them.

Under the moonlight, Zhang Lexuan's skin appeared crystal clear and fair, giving her an ethereal and otherworldly appearance.

Releasing one's martial soul without revealing its spirit rings requires extremely strong control over one's own martial soul, something only highly talented spirit masters can achieve.

Ye Xixuan followed closely beside Zhang Lexuan, also releasing only his martial soul. The shadow beneath his feet was not his own shadow, but rather an irregular shape with a faint tendency to expand outwards, eerie and deathly silent, as if leading to another world.

This is the original form of his Martial Soul, Heart Demon Shadow. His first Soul Skill, Condensed Shadow, is the materialized projection of this illusory shadow in the real world.

Bathed in the moonlight of Zhang Lexuan's Silver Moon Martial Soul, Ye Xixuan's aura noticeably improved. It was as if an invisible force was continuously flowing into his body, and the shadow beneath him slowly extended outward, covering a larger area. This added a touch of eeriness to the Silver Moon Martial Soul above Zhang Lexuan's head, and the moonlight emanating from it became even brighter and clearer.

The synergistic effect of the two martial souls has been verified countless times, after all, the moon only exists in darkness.

Their relationship is like that of inseparable light and shadow; light is the origin of shadow, and shadow is the destination of light.

Currently, Ye Xixuan's main problem is the significant gap in soul power cultivation between him and Zhang Lexuan. However, once he truly matures and the two cooperate in battle, they may possess a terrifying power that, while not a soul fusion technique, surpasses it.

After venturing deep into the Mingdou Great Forest for a long time, Ye Xixuan and Zhang Lexuan suddenly stopped in their tracks.

A figure strode straight into the area shrouded in moonlight.

It was a gigantic soul beast resembling a crocodile, not particularly large in size, but over three meters long, with four eyes on its head and thick limbs like water buckets. Its most distinctive feature was that its entire body was covered with a layer of black plate armor, each piece the size of a palm, which looked extremely tough.

Zhang Lexuan calmly introduced to Ye Xixuan: "This is a Scaled Armor Beast, which should have a thousand years of cultivation. Scaled Armor Beasts are incredibly strong and are best at close combat. With their amazing defense, they can almost ignore the soul skill attacks of most soul beasts at the same cultivation level."

Of course, this scaled beast posed no threat to them.

What truly surprised Ye Xixuan was that there seemed to be very few weak soul beasts on the outskirts of the Mingdou Great Forest; every one he encountered was a thousand-year-old soul beast. He wondered if this was due to the harsh environment within the Mingdou Great Forest or the intense competition.

At that moment, Zhang Lexuan pulled Ye Xixuan into her arms without warning.

Following Zhang Lexuan's gaze, they saw the scaled beast suddenly stop in its tracks. Despite its frantic struggle, its body seemed frozen in place, unable to move an inch, before being dragged into the darkness by an invisible force.

Two yellow, two purple, and three black—seven perfectly matched spirit rings emerged from beneath Zhang Lexuan's feet, flashing one by one. Immediately afterward, a faint silver mist rose. Her beautiful eyes shone brightly, and her spirit power and aura were increasing at an astonishing rate. The crescent moon above her head gradually grew larger, moving towards a full moon.

Under the cover of this faint silver mist, Ye Xixuan was shocked to discover that this space was actually interwoven with countless dense silver threads.

"This is……"

(End of this chapter)