Douluo Continent: From Internal Martial Arts to the Law of Heaven and Earth

……

Inside Ning Fengzhi's study at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.

"Father, that's how it is."

Ning Guang stood by the desk and recounted to Ning Fengzhi the entire process of Tang Shan's challenge against Xu Siyue.

Ning Fengzhi held a baby girl in his arms and gently rocked her.

Only after a servant came in and took the baby girl from his arms did he raise his head, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

"To challenge and defeat a Soul Master as a Great Soul Master is truly terrifying. It's a pity I missed it when I went to Star City last time."

Thinking of this, Ning Fengzhi couldn't help but shake his head again.

"Father, Tang Shan asked us to help find a Soul Master in advance. Should we do it?"

Ning Guang asked tentatively.

"Let's help him find him. I'm also curious about what's so special about his original martial soul that could give birth to such an outrageous genius like him."

As for the secret techniques, we can still obtain them by passing them on to our original Soul Masters. What I'm more curious about is his true purpose in being willing to help us cultivate original Soul Masters for free.

Ning Fengzhi closed his eyes slightly, lost in thought. After a long while, he spoke up to remind him: "Remember to get closer to Tang Shan so as to build a good relationship with him. It's a pity that Rongrong is still too young. When Rongrong grows up, the age gap between them will be too big. Otherwise, wouldn't it be an opportunity for our sect to rise if we could marry such a prodigy?"

Ning Guang's lips twitched slightly. His younger sister had just been born and was almost arranged to leave by his father. However, he could understand: since she was born into a large family, she had to bear some responsibilities.

"Alright, you can go back to school now. Oh, and remember to visit your mother. It's been a long time since you've seen her, and she misses you a lot."

"Good father."

Ning Guang bowed and withdrew.

Ning Fengzhi stood up and walked to the window. His study was located at the highest point in the core of the sect, from which he could overlook the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Looking up at the surging sea of ​​clouds in the distance, Ning Fengzhi's eyes grew even deeper: "I have a feeling that the situation on the mainland has been a bit off in recent years. I hope I'm not just overthinking it."

……

In the dense forest, a long, winding gray snake darted through the trees. It was no more than ten meters long, and its scales were a deathly leaden gray, devoid of any luster, as if carved from rotten rock. Most eerie of all, its head had no eyes, nose, or cheeks, only a gaping maw that stretched down to its lower jaw, filled with sharp, menacing teeth—a truly bizarre and chilling sight.

Wherever it went, it caused no ripples. If it weren't for the drops of dark red blood and the snake trail it left behind, the hunters behind it would never have been able to continue the chase.

"This faceless snake is incredibly fast. If it weren't for its elder protecting it, it would have been slapped to death long ago."

Wearing a gray robe, with his messy, dark green hair hanging loosely, Dugu Bo stood on a tree branch, his face somewhat dark.

"Grandpa, why don't you put me down and go after them yourself? That might be faster."

Dugu Yan was placed on a tree branch by Dugu Bo, looking somewhat helpless.

Apart from her trip to the Heavenly Dou Royal Academy last time, Dugu Yan has devoted herself entirely to cultivation during this period.

Finally, she successfully broke through to level 20 yesterday. Her grandfather plans to take her to explore the Sunset Forest first to see if there are any suitable snake-type or dragon-blooded soul beasts. If not, then they can go to the Star Dou Great Forest.

Fortunately, they found a suitable soul beast not long after entering the area: a faceless snake that was nine hundred years old.

The Faceless Serpent is a special snake-attribute soul beast with very strange abilities. Fortunately, it does not have poison attributes, making it very suitable for Dugu Yan to absorb.

The two finally caught up with the snake, only to realize they had chased the wrong target. A faceless snake, which was three thousand years old, lured them away, allowing the smaller faceless snake, which was probably its offspring, to escape.

The main reason why a thousand-year-old soul beast could deceive Dugu Bo is related to the abilities of the Faceless Serpent.

The faceless snake has average physical abilities and does not carry any venom. All its hunting abilities rely on its natural talent: faceless invisibility.

The so-called faceless invisibility is not invisibility in the traditional sense, but rather makes you subconsciously ignore its existence. Even if you see it, you will just treat it as an ordinary sight.

This ability seems incredible, like a psychological effect of invisibility or diminishing one's presence. In reality, it's very easy to break. This invisibility ability can only hide oneself; it cannot spread out to interfere with the environment. It can only make one unobservable, not directly distort one's consciousness or make it disappear from one's memory.

Therefore, as long as you discover it at the beginning, follow its trail and release a group attack where the trail disappears, you can easily force it out.

This is also the origin of the faceless snake, not only because it has no face except for its mouth, but also because ordinary people really cannot see its true form.

Relying on his "Faceless Invisibility" ability, Dugu Bo finally managed to catch his opponent, only to discover after launching the attack, "Oh! Something seems wrong with the time limit."

As a result, the faceless serpent had become a puddle of pus, completely blending into the entire Sunset Forest.

After that, Dugu Bo had no choice but to turn back and follow the clues of the other faceless snake's escape.

"No, Sunset Forest is a large gathering place for soul beasts. I'm not comfortable leaving you here alone."

Dugu Bo refused without hesitation.

"What about Grandpa? Why don't we just get a different soul beast?"

Dugu Yan proposed another idea.

"We may not have another chance to encounter a soul beast of this quality. You know, the Faceless Serpent is classified as a top-tier soul beast simply because of its ability to hide without a face. If it were to excel in other aspects, it might be considered a super soul beast. If we miss this opportunity, where will we find such a suitable target?"

Dugu Bo refused again.

"Alright, it's a bit of a hassle, Yan Yan, come up here."

As soon as he finished speaking, nine terrifying spirit rings suddenly rose from beneath Dugu Bo's feet. Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black—the nine rings alternated, radiating a suffocating pressure. In an instant, a dazzling emerald light shot into the sky, and the terrifying aura spread like a tidal wave. Wherever it passed, spirit beasts within a radius of several miles let out mournful howls, fleeing for their lives. Those who couldn't escape collapsed to the ground, as if terrified of being detected by this emperor of poison.

The emerald light gradually faded, revealing a colossal serpent hundreds of feet long. Its body was thick, and its scales were a deep emerald green, reflecting an eerie luster. A pair of golden, vertical pupils emitted a chilling, eerie light. The horny protrusion on its head resembled a ferocious crown, and its forked tongue flickered with a deadly venom that sent shivers down the spines of all who heard of it.

"Yanyan, come up here."

The giant serpent spoke in a human voice, its sound like rolling thunder, and it was Dugu Bo's voice that came from within.

Facing the giant serpent that Dugu Bo had transformed into, Dugu Yan was not only not afraid, but also a little curious. To be honest, this was the first time she had seen her grandfather use his Martial Soul True Body, and also the first time she had seen the appearance of the Azure Scale Serpent King.

Their family naturally keeps Jade Scale Snakes, but the Jade Scale Snake King is so rare that it's practically unseen on ordinary days.

Leaping down from the tree branch, Dugu Bo raised his snake head and easily caught his granddaughter. Then, his snake body twisted, bringing with it a foul gust of wind, and he chased after the traces left by the faceless snake at an astonishing speed.

Wherever the snake passed, vegetation withered and the land dried up.

After activating his Martial Soul True Form, relying on his instinctive body control, his speed in the forest increased dramatically. In less than a quarter of an hour, he arrived at an open space where all traces had vanished.

Seeing this, Dugu Bo didn't hesitate. He opened his snake's mouth wide, and a stream of dark green poisonous mist spewed out like a waterfall. *Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!*

Wherever the poisonous fog passed, the air emitted a piercing corrosive sound, and billowing black smoke rose from the ground.

However, something strange happened.

The poisonous fog had enveloped the entire open space, yet nothing could be seen struggling, while the sound of flesh being corroded was clearly audible.

Dugu Bo's snake eyes widened, his golden vertical pupils suddenly contracting as his snake body writhed and twisted, scanning his surroundings. He could clearly sense that his prey was in this area, but no matter how he looked, all he could see was a patch of land corroded and pitted by the poisonous fog; he couldn't find a single snake in sight.

The feeling was extremely strange, as if his vision was being distorted and stripped away by an invisible hand, and the target was right in front of him, yet it was forcibly erased from his perception.

"Damn, this is so troublesome. If I wasn't afraid of poisoning it to death, I wouldn't have bothered with all this effort."

"Yan Yan, get your dagger ready. I reckon it'll appear when its soul power is exhausted, and it'll likely be close to death anyway. We don't want it to be poisoned."

"Okay, Grandpa."

Dugu Yan obediently took out a long, serpentine dagger from her soul tool and waited intently.

Just then, Dugu Bo's pupils suddenly contracted—he saw it!

The appearance of the faceless serpent was like a hole being torn open in space, or like a huge error being forcibly corrected in human vision—absurd, distorted, and chilling to the bone.

"I found it! How come it was on that tree? I didn't notice it at all before."

It was a very strange feeling that Dugu Bo couldn't describe at all. It was like the disorienting feeling of having been searching for something and then suddenly discovering that you had been holding onto it all along. It gave people a twisted and uncomfortable feeling.

P.S.: Thank you so much for the generous donation, Lingmeng Laike! I'm incredibly grateful. That's about it. Normal update today, no rest. Extra chapter tomorrow.

Chapter 148 Three Years Later, Tang San's Ambition

The enormous Azure Scale Serpent King's true form shot out like lightning, stirring up clouds of dust.

The serpent's body, hundreds of feet long, carried a chilling wind pressure, like a dark green lightning bolt, almost instantly coiling around the trees where the faceless serpent was hiding. The scales rubbed against the tree trunks, producing a piercing creaking sound, and each tightening coil carried an inescapable force.

"Hey, let's see where you run now."

The faceless serpent let out a silent hiss, its hideous, blood-red maw opening wide, its sharp teeth gleaming coldly.

However, no matter how ferocious and terrifying it was, or how bizarre its appearance, it was only ten meters long. Compared to the true form of the Serpent King, which was hundreds of feet long, it seemed so small and insignificant.

"Alright, let's not waste any more time, lest things get complicated."

A muffled sound came from the mouth of the giant snake that Dugu Bo had transformed into. With a coil of his huge tail, he firmly imprisoned the soul beast in front of him. His body twisted again, and the entire snake was completely locked up, with no possibility of resistance or escape.

"Yan Yan, come and make your move. The Faceless Serpent as a spirit ring is extremely rare in the entire Douluo Continent."

"it is good."

Dugu Yan agreed and approached the head of the faceless snake. However, after taking only a few steps, her eyes flickered and the entire snake disappeared again.

"Grandpa, I can't see it anymore."

Dugu Bo also felt that he had lost the ability to observe this soul beast, but fortunately he was prepared in advance.

Click!

The thick snake body twisted, and a crisp sound of bones breaking rang out. The severely injured faceless snake could no longer maintain its faceless invisibility ability and was forced to reveal itself.

At this moment, its entire body was covered in broken gray scales, and a large amount of blood was gushing from its wide-open mouth. The snake was convulsing and spasming involuntarily, clearly indicating that it was exhaling more than inhaling.

"Hurry up, this guy's about to die."

Dugu Bo quickly reminded him.

This time, there were no further complications; the sharp dagger was plunged into the snake's head, piercing straight through its brain.

Perhaps already severely injured, the Faceless Serpent only twitched symbolically before completely losing its life.

Points of light converged on the snake's body, eventually transforming into a deep yellow spirit ring, with a faint hint of purple within the yellow ring.

……

Dugu Bo, who had transformed back into human form, watched his granddaughter sitting cross-legged absorbing the soul ring and nodded slightly. Overall, the soul hunt went fairly smoothly. If there was anything regrettable, it was that his granddaughter's physical condition hadn't kept up, and she ultimately failed to achieve the second soul ring after a thousand years. However, a second soul ring after nine hundred years was already quite good, not to mention that it was from a top-tier soul beast like the Faceless Serpent.

Turning my head, I looked back at the entire sunset forest.

At this moment, it was dusk. The red sun that had illuminated the continent had softened its scorching heat and hung in the sky, casting a soft golden-red halo over the entire Sunset Forest.

The leaves on the treetops were dyed half gold and half red, and when the wind blew, tiny specks of light fell down, merging with the crimson clouds in the sky.

This is the origin of the name Sunset Forest.

……

Time neither stops nor speeds up for anyone. Morning dew condenses and disperses, forest leaves turn green and then yellow, and three years slip away quietly between dawn and dusk.