Douluo Continent: The Eternal Order of the Azure Sky

Chapter 255 Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear Cub

"Very clever." Kong Tianxu smiled, without denying it.

Xu Tianzhen's mouth opened slightly. She thought of Xu Guoyi, who was always on guard against the merger of the Holy Spirit Cult and the Temple of Worship, and Xu Tianran, who was quite pleased with the Holy Spirit Cult being gradually and deeply bound to the war chariot of the Sun and Moon Empire.

And if Kong Tianxu were to represent the Holy Spirit Cult in battle, the implications would be—

She had a vague premonition that the place Kong Tianxu was taking her this time might force her to make some choices.

But she realized what was most important to her many years ago, didn't she?

Thinking of this, Xu Tianzhen stopped talking and simply pressed her soft body closer to Kong Tianxu's embrace, as if she wanted to draw more courage and determination from this embrace.

"Let's visit Grandpa first, and then—we'll go see someone." Noticing Xu Tianzhen's subtle change in emotion, Kong Tianxu's tone also became slightly heavy.

"Grandpa Kong? I haven't visited him in ages." Xu Tianzhen nodded immediately. As for "visiting a person"...

Although she was curious, she obediently did not ask any further questions.

With a slight flutter of the Starry Wings, they reached a speed that ordinary flying soul tools could hardly match. The purple-gold light streaked across the sky, and about a quarter of an hour later, the two landed in a seemingly ordinary mountain forest on the outskirts of Mingdu.

Ancient trees tower all around, vines entwine, and it is a place rarely visited by people.

"Where is this?!" Xu Tianzhen looked around but didn't see any buildings.

Kong Tianxu offered no explanation, but instead led her by the hand to a moss-covered rock wall. He extended his finger, a wisp of extremely fine purple-gold soul power seeping from its tip, and quickly touched several seemingly naturally formed uneven textures on the rock wall.

"Crackling sound—"

A low, rumbling sound of machinery turning filled the air, and the thick rock wall silently slid open, revealing a deep, downward-sloping passageway.

The lights came on one by one, and the walls on both sides of the passage were as smooth as a mirror. They were made entirely of rare metals, with intricate soul-guiding core magic array patterns flowing within them.

"This is the Hall of Offerings," Kong Tianxu explained casually, then added after a moment's thought, "the one known as the Royal Research Institute."

Xu Tianzhen suddenly realized what was happening, glanced at Kong Tianxu in surprise, and obediently followed him inside.

In the Sun Moon Empire, high-ranking Soul Masters who have reached the seventh ring or above, if they are formally trained and have an eighth or even ninth-level Soul Master lineage, will mostly know that although Mingde Hall is known as the heart of the empire and its research on Soul Guidance technology often brings about considerable technological changes, there are some core secrets about the empire's most cutting-edge Soul Guidance device research that are not handled by Mingde Hall, but by the Hall of Worship.

To draw an analogy, the difference between the two is that Mingdetang's research often focuses on star topics such as soul-guided bionics, sealed baby bottles, and large humanoid soul-guided devices, with the ultimate goal of promoting their widespread civilian use across the country.

The Hall of Offerings, on the other hand, is responsible for cutting-edge military research.

One of the Sun Moon Empire's greatest trump cards today, the Linked Soul Tool, was born in the Hall of Worship.

In the hands of a Soul Master Corps, the linked Soul Tools are enough to create offensive and defensive capabilities at the level of a Limit Douluo, only with poor mobility.

The topic being researched by the Hall of Offerings is called the High-Energy Compressed Soul Guidance Array Soul Guidance Device. One such array can store soul power equivalent to the total soul power of one hundred Title Douluos, which is an energy accumulation that touches the realm of demigods.

Therefore, the Royal Palace has always been referred to as the Royal Research Institute. Almost all the level nine Soul Masters of the Sun Moon Empire are members of this institute, and only those who have reached level nine are qualified to join it.

This statement is not wrong; in fact, there is indeed a Royal Research Institute, but it is not located in the same place as the temples within the Imperial City.

To be precise, the ancestral halls in the imperial city are merely one node in the true royal research institute, remarkably similar to the unassuming secret base before us.

The tunnel's internal structure was extremely complex, with many twists and turns and numerous branching paths, yet Kong Tianxu navigated it with ease.

Along the way, the two talked in hushed tones, recounting the bits and pieces of the past three years since they parted ways.

Xu Tianzhen told Kong Tianxu that her sixth soul ring came from the ten-headed Fiery Sun Serpent she killed in Hell Road.

After absorbing the inner core of this ancient beast, she not only gained the powerful Heavenly Sun Soaring Domain as her sixth soul skill, but her martial soul also seemed to undergo a strange evolution, able to briefly manifest six sun martial souls, though the consumption was enormous.

The effects of the Sun and Moon Soul-Nourishing Pill are also incredibly miraculous, helping her steadily improve her strength. Now her soul power has reached level sixty-eight, and the pill's power continues to flow endlessly.

Kong Tianxu smiled slightly. The wonder of the Sun and Moon Soul-Nourishing Pill lies in its powerful aftereffects. While the Qiankun Creation Pill might provide a more noticeable boost to soul power in the short term, there is a significant difference between the two in terms of both the total amount and the quality of the boost.

As for Tianzhen's martial soul evolution and domain soul skill, it is quite similar to that of Ma Hongjun, the Evil Fire Phoenix among the Shrek Seven Devils ten thousand years ago.

Ma Hongjun combined the seventh soul ring, the Fire Phoenix, with the ten-headed Fiery Sun Serpent, two ancient divine beasts, to create the Nine-Headed Fire Phoenix. Although it did not reach the level of the ultimate fire, its martial soul quality was extremely high, completely comparable to the ultimate martial soul.

Will the naive Sun Martial Soul, combined with the inner core of the Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent, continue to evolve in the future, resulting in Seven-Sun, Eight-Sun, or...

Nine suns, or even reaching the realm of ten suns soaring through the sky?

"However, Sister Cain is even faster," Xu Tianzhen said with a hint of admiration and a touch of resentment. "The last time we met, she said she was almost at the Soul Saint level."

"Her," Kong Tianxu said, patting Xu Tianzhen's head, "is already a Soul Saint. She just broke through not long ago."

Xu Tianzhen stuck out her tongue and muttered under her breath, "You two are monsters—"

As the two spoke, they passed through several hidden mechanisms and portals, finally arriving at a heavy door covered with a thin layer of frost.

At the entrance, three sharp-looking elderly men, all identical in appearance and attire, stood solemnly.

The three men appeared to be at least seven thousand years old, extremely thin, with faces covered in wrinkles. Their gray hair was simply disheveled, and their eyes, though dull and cloudy, now shone with a sharp, piercing light.

Their most striking feature is that they all have a nose that curves like an eagle's beak and lips as thin as a blade.

The three old men were all dressed in gray robes, each holding a long, jet-black cane, about ten feet long. At the top of each cane was a gray gem the size of a human head, faintly emitting powerful energy fluctuations characteristic of an eighth-level soul tool.

The three brothers, all extremely rare Soul Masters among evil Soul Masters, are none other than the three brothers Zhongli Tian, ​​Zhongli Di, and Zhongli Ren, who possess the Netherworld Serpent Martial Soul.

"Greetings, Holy Emperor." Upon seeing Kong Tianxu, the three Zhongli brothers all showed a hint of respect in their eyes and bowed. However, their voices were extremely hoarse, like broken bellows.

As evil spirit masters, their presence in the highly confidential Imperial Research Institute speaks volumes about their inclinations within the Holy Spirit Cult.

Despite being Zhongli Wu's servants, these three brothers were actually loyal to the Supreme Master Ye Xishui. After Ye Xishui made it clear that he supported Kong Tianxu, they naturally switched sides to support this young Holy Emperor.

As one of the Holy Spirit Cult Leader's most trusted people, they possessed considerable knowledge, and often, the list of evil spirit masters that Cain secretly dealt with was provided by them.

Ironically, Zhongli Wu repeatedly flew into a rage over this matter, berating his subordinate elders mercilessly. Little did he know that it is difficult to guard against a traitor within one's own ranks.

Kong Tianxu nodded in acknowledgment, without offering any further explanation. He hoped to elevate Tianzhen to that position in the future, and she only needed to understand the darker aspects of the situation; she didn't need to know too much.

Xu Tianzhen nodded to the three Zhongli brothers, her vigorous blood and soul power wafting around her, which surprised them.

She herself felt that the soul power fluctuations of each of the three Zhongli brothers were in no way inferior to those of Rong Momo, and she also gained a more intuitive understanding of the title of Holy Emperor and Kong Tianxu's control over the Holy Spirit Sect.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Zhongli Tian stepped forward and triggered the mechanism.

The heavy door slid open silently, and a chilling aura surged out instantly, causing even Xu Tianzhen, whose cultivation was already close to the pinnacle of fire, to shiver.

Only then did she realize that the door was made of wood, a meter thick, yet even so, a layer of frost had formed on the outside, showing just how low the temperature was inside the secret room.

The terrifyingly low temperature only surprised Xu Tianzhen for a moment; however, the scene in the center of the sealed room made her hold her breath—

This is a rather spacious, secluded room, simply furnished, yet possessing an almost hallucinatory, strange beauty.

The walls and dome are inlaid with a deep blue crystal, crystal clear, varying in size and scattered. Under the soft, soul-guiding light of the room, these crystals refract a dreamlike, shimmering glow.

A massive snowball, over three meters in diameter, hovered silently in the center of the sealed chamber. Its entire body was crystal clear, as if compressed and condensed from the purest, millennia-old ice, emitting a visible white mist of cold air. It seemed to be continuously absorbing the terrifyingly low temperature of the entire room.

"This is—" Xu Tianzhen subconsciously gripped Kong Tianxu's hand tightly.

Kong Tianxu's gaze fell on the snowball, his eyes softening with concern. He asked softly, "Grandpa, how is the Snow Emperor?"

After releasing Yan Shaozhe that day, Kong Tianxu had Ye Xishui take Xue Di back to the secret base of the Sun Moon Empire first, and specially used a large amount of Ice Extreme Divine Crystals to decorate this secret room for Xue Di to recuperate.

"Since returning, she has remained in this deep slumber. Her breathing is steady and long, and her life force is abundant, even stronger than before, but there is no sign of her waking up. The room has been set up with the highest purity ice crystal array as you requested, simulating the environment of the ten-thousand-year-old Xuanbing Cave, but it seems—the effect is not good."

Kong Deming emerged from the shadows on one side of the secret room and smiled gently at Xu Tianzhen. Xu Tianzhen also greeted him politely, clearly indicating that the two were already familiar with each other.

Kong Tianxu walked to the huge ice crystal snowball, reached out and gently touched its cold, icy surface, feeling the steady yet profound soul power fluctuations within.

He nodded, his expression showing little surprise, as if he had expected it.

This state should be the transformation of Xue Di's innate skills.

The Ice Extreme Divine Crystal is effective, but it's still too slow for someone of Snow Empress's cultivation level.

After the competition, he will take Xue Di to the Ten Thousand Year Ice Cave below the Earth Dragon Gate. Xue Di will then naturally awaken.

"Tianzhen," Kong Tianxu said after a moment's thought, turning his head to look at Xu Tianzhen with a frank gaze. "This is Xue'er. She once saved my life."

Xu Tianzhen's heart skipped a beat. She looked up at Kong Tianxu's unreserved purple-gold eyes, then at the mysterious and powerful ice crystal snowball.

She vaguely sensed that the veil of mystery that had been shrouding Kong Tianxu since their first meeting was finally about to be slowly lifted for her.

She nodded vigorously and replied just as earnestly, "Yes, I remember, Xue'er."

Kong Deming looked at the two of them, a hint of relief flashing in his eyes, but he didn't say anything more.

After meeting the Snow Emperor, the two left the secret chamber. Outside the door, the three Zhongli brothers were still standing side by side, their faces bearing a mysterious expression, as if they had been waiting for a long time.

Zhongli Tian didn't keep them in suspense. Instead, he stepped forward, took out a specially made constant-temperature soul-guided storage box, and carefully opened it.

"Your Majesty, a few days ago, my two brothers and I were searching for beast souls in the Star Dou Great Forest when we accidentally discovered and captured a pair of male and female ten-thousand-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears in their mating season. After killing them, we obtained an arm soul bone of excellent quality, which we have already presented to Her Highness Cain, the Holy Maiden, to make a soul tool."

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of boasting: "Besides that, inside the lair of those two Dark Gold Devilclaw Bears, we also discovered this—"

Even Kong Tianxu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly when he saw what was inside the storage box.

The box was lined with a soft blanket. In the corner, two chubby, puppy-like creatures were curled up with their eyes closed, occasionally wriggling slightly, looking incredibly adorable. They were clearly only recently born, their eyes still closed, occasionally sticking out their pink tongues to lick their lips.

Wow, what a fat dog!

Before Zhong Litian could finish speaking, Xu Tianzhen excitedly picked up one of the lighter-colored ones, which had a fatter belly.

"This isn't a dog." Kong Tianxu sighed and rubbed his forehead, but he was also quite pleasantly surprised.

Yes, they are definitely not dogs. Even though they are clearly still in their infancy, they are already nearly a meter tall, and their little paws unconsciously open and close slightly, flashing with a faint, dark golden light.

"Your Majesty has discerning eyes," Zhong Litian immediately spurred his horse. "These are two Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear cubs that my subordinates captured, specially presented to Your Majesty and this young lady."

A Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear?!

Not to mention Xu Tianzhen, even Kong Deming standing to the side was somewhat surprised.

Who doesn't know the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, such a famous soul beast? Earth Ripper, Forest War Maniac, one of the most powerful and ultimate races among soul beasts, and yet its cubs, two of them, were captured by humans?

It's no wonder even Kong Deming was surprised. While the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear is indeed incredibly powerful, its difficulty in reproducing is well-known in the world of soul beasts.

These spirit beasts have extremely low fertility. After reaching adulthood, they often roam the vast spirit beast world alone, with a solitary and eccentric personality. Even when a male and female meet, they need to be compatible before they can mate, being extremely picky about their partners, resulting in a pitifully low success rate.

If only one party forces a mate, it often leads to a fierce battle.

Although female bears are often no match for male bears, they still possess extremely strong resistance capabilities. Even if the male bear is fast, the result is usually a lose-lose situation.

Moreover, even if the male bear succeeds, the female bear has a very strong ability to reject the male bear's genetic material, making it virtually impossible for them to give birth to offspring.

What's even more frustrating is that the mating season for the Dark Gold Devilclaw Bear lasts only once every ten years—and it can only give birth to one or two cubs per litter.

Therefore, a male Dark Gold Devilclaw Bear may never possess its own bloodline in its entire life. This is the great tragedy behind their power.

Meanwhile, it is rumored that cubs of the Dark Gold Devilclaw Bear can be domesticated.

Imagine the terrifying power that would be if such a powerful super soul beast could be tamed and made useful. Therefore, not only human soul masters, but also some other powerful soul beasts with high intelligence coveted the cubs of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.

The pride of the Dark Gold Devilclaw Bears leads them to prefer killing their cubs with their own hands rather than letting them fall into enemy hands when faced with an insurmountable foe. This further exacerbates the survival crisis of their species.

It can be said that the success of the Zhongli brothers was due to a combination of favorable timing, location, and human factors, which also fits their names.

"So you're a little bear," Xu Tianzhen's eyes widened even more after hearing Zhong Litian's explanation. She held the heavy, dark gold denial bear cub up to her eyes, looking it over from left to right. "How come it doesn't look fierce like a bear at all?"

Despite the adult Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's immense power, all soul beast cubs are equally vulnerable at birth. With Xu Tianzhen's physical strength far exceeding that of a typical Soul Emperor, this Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear cub had no chance to resist.

Suddenly lifted into the air, the little chubby bear seemed startled and started to cry out. The cry was shrill and piercing, like the heart-wrenching wail of a baby.

Hearing the howl of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, another cub slowly woke up from its sleep, first stretching lazily, and then—pooped up on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, it joined the howling, and for a moment, the secret passage was filled with a sharp and piercing duet of bear cubs.

"Uh, this————"

Zhong Litian was immediately covered in sweat. He even tried to release the aura of the Netherworld Serpents on his body, but it had little effect and only made them howl even more fiercely.

It seems these two Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear cubs are hungry, but what will they eat? After obtaining their treasure from the Star Dou Great Forest, they rushed back day and night to present it, and haven't been fed yet.

For a moment, everyone in the room froze. No matter how extensive Kong Deming's knowledge of soul guidance was, he had no idea what to feed such a rare and precious creature as the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear cub, which was a once-in-a-millennium occurrence.

Could it be that you're looking for a breastfeeding method?

"Shut up."

Just as the symphony of weeping was getting louder, a soft shout rang out.

With that soft shout, a phantom tiger's roar seemed to reverberate through the soul.

The two dark gold dinosaur cubs, who were howling merrily, suddenly fell silent.

They curled up in Xu Tianzhen's arms and in the storage box, their small bodies seemed to tremble slightly, and then they became completely quiet.

Two pairs of eyes, still closed, stared blankly in Kong Tianxu's direction, their pink noses twitching slightly, as if trying to identify something.