Douluo Continent: Azure Dragon Slays Evil, Qilin Suppresses the World

Xuanqing woke up from his nap at noon that day, pushed open the door and went out. He stretched and felt refreshed.

Hearing the noise, Zi Ji came out and said, "You're awake."

Xuan Qing nodded: "You've had a hard time these past few days. What about Old Poison Master and the others?"

The door to the next room was pushed open, and Dugu Bo walked out with a grin.

"You're finally awake! I thought you were going to hibernate."

Xuan Qing rolled her eyes.

"Can't you wish me well for once? Hibernation? Alright, enough chit-chat, let's go get something to eat, I'm hungry."

Dugu Bo turned and called out to another room, "Yanyan, come out and eat."

The four of them went downstairs together, arrived at the hotel lobby, and found a place to sit down.

Xuanqing was really hungry, having not eaten for three days, so he ordered a table full of dishes, including chicken, duck, fish, and meat.

Then they began to devour their food, eating like starving ghosts reincarnated.

While they were eating, Ning Fengzhi and his group of four arrived again. When they saw that Xuan was awake, Ning Fengzhi's eyes lit up, and he went up to greet him.

"Young friend Xuanqing, did you sleep well?"

Xuanqing's mouth was stuffed with food, and his voice was muffled.

"I'm alright, just a little groggy from sleeping. Have you eaten? If not, we'll order a few more dishes."

Ning Fengzhi seized the opportunity and said, "Waiter, add a few more of our signature dishes, it's on my tab."

He pulled Gu Rong, Xue Qinghe, and Ning Rongrong to sit down.

Xuan Qing put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, looked at Ning Fengzhi, and got straight to the point.

"Sect Leader Ning, there's a saying that goes, 'No one visits the Three Treasures Hall without a reason.' You've come more than ten times in the past few days. What exactly do you want?"

Ning Fengzhi smiled and directly used Ning Rongrong as an excuse.

"Isn't it because Rongrong is interested in you and wants to get to know you?"

"Cough! Hi hi."

Xuan Qing nearly choked to death on the soup. He put down the bowl, his face full of speechlessness.

"Sect Leader Ning, stop joking, okay? Even if Soul Masters grow up quickly, they're considered adults at twelve or thirteen, but I'm still three months away from being ten."

"Are you planning to let her 'eat young grass' like an old cow, or do you want me, the young grass, to be devoured by an old cow?"

The hall fell silent instantly upon hearing this.

The waiter, holding the dishes, stood frozen in place.

Other guests also looked over, their eyes filled with strange expressions.

Ning Fengzhi's smile froze, while Gu Rong's lips twitched uncontrollably; he wanted to laugh but dared not.

Ning Rongrong just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

Although she was only twelve or thirteen years old, compared to Xuan Qing... well, she was really an old cow.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Xue Qinghe quickly changed the subject: "Brother Xuanqing, I've heard Chief Meng Shenji say that your soul power is incredibly profound, but I've never seen your cultivation method before. Could you explain it to me?"

Xuanqing took a sip of soup to catch his breath, then put down the bowl and began to explain.

"Cultivating soul power to an advanced level is actually a process of transforming it from a gaseous state to a liquid state, or even a solid state. The titled Douluos present here all have experience with this."

Both Gu Rong and Dugu Bo nodded.

Indeed, before their titles were sealed, their soul power was like a stream of air; now it's like a pond.

Because Dugu Bo has a soul core, he can now be described as a small river.

"There are pros and cons to doing this. The downside is that the initial accumulation is slow, but the upside is that there will be no bottlenecks, and the training will be faster as you progress."

"At the same level, my solid soul power is several times greater than my liquid soul power."

This isn't just Xuan Qing talking nonsense; at least from level 31 to now, he hasn't felt any bottleneck at all.

Currently, the soul power within his body is in a non-Newtonian fluid state.

Xue Qinghe pressed on, "Solidified soul power? How do you cultivate it?"

"Just compress it yourself. When you break through a level, suppress it as much as possible. As long as you can withstand it, suppress it as much as possible. The more you suppress it, the better the effect."

"The space inside the human body is limited. Once you accumulate a certain amount of soul power, you will encounter a bottleneck. For example, once you accumulate 100 points, you can break through from level 37 to level 38."

"And I need two hundred or even three hundred points or more. The result of doing this from the beginning is that my current soul power reserves are at least six times that of other soul masters of the same level."

Although the Azure Dragon Martial Soul is an ultimate attribute, and the Qilin's Chaos attribute is higher than ordinary ultimate attributes, it does not prevent him from actively compressing his soul power.

Xue Qinghe gasped in shock. More than six times! This soul power was truly terrifying.

Ning Fengzhi hesitated for a moment but couldn't help asking.

"Could you tell us the method for absorbing spirit rings beyond the limit?"

Xuan Qing glanced at him and shook his head: "What method is there? It's just a matter of physique and mental strength, isn't it?"

"The reason why Soul Masters cannot absorb ten-thousand-year Soul Rings in front of Soul Kings is partly due to their physical constitution, but also because of their mental strength. Ten-thousand-year Soul Rings cause soul vibrations, and if one's mental strength is insufficient, one will become an idiot."

Gu Rong frowned: "Mental power? What do you mean?"

It's not their fault. Their perception used to be amplified as their cultivation level increased.

They hadn't really thought about the fact that mental strength required deliberate cultivation.

Xuan Qing patiently explained, "This thing is a bit abstract. The perception of danger and the control of one's own soul power are both part of spiritual power."

"Douluo Continent does not emphasize this aspect of cultivation. It is all about soul power driving the growth of spiritual power. Many Soul Douluos who are stuck at level 89 are just lacking that little bit of spiritual power."

"The most direct way to enhance mental strength is through a high-quality head spirit bone, but spirit bones are extremely rare."

Xue Qinghe's eyes lit up: "Is there a cultivation method that doesn't require a soul bone?"

Xuan Qing nodded: "Yes! Simply put, it's about teetering on the brink of life and death. To put it more directly, you'll never know your potential until you push yourself."

"There are also treasures that can enhance mental strength, such as mermaid tears, which are the most effective."

Ning Fengzhi pressed further, "Mermaid tears? Where can I buy them?"

Xuan Qing laughed: "The only way to deal with that thing is to go to the ocean and find a 100,000-year-old mermaid, and beat her to tears. But the difficulty is..."

He paused, then thought of a realistic explanation: "Mermaids are spirit-attribute soul beasts, and they can take advantage of the ocean to reach level 98 without any problem. This doesn't even take into account the fact that soul masters need to resist the high-pressure environment of the deep sea."

"In terms of environment alone, the Starry Sky Forest is about the same size as an infant compared to the ocean."

"In conclusion: Even if a peerless Douluo goes, he might just end up adding another dish to someone else's plate."

Ning Fengzhi's expression changed completely, but he was still unwilling to give up.

Are there any other spiritual treasures on the continent?

Xuan Qing thought for a moment: "They're practically in the hands of those 100,000-year-old soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest. They've lived long enough, they must have collected a lot of treasures."

Gu Rong tentatively asked, "The Azure Bull Python and the Titan Ape? They possess such treasures?"

Xuan Qing shook his head.

"Those two aren't qualified. You don't actually think that the Star Dou Great Forest only has those two 100,000-year-old soul beasts, do you?"

Ning Fengzhi was stunned.

"What do you mean? Aren't they the king and emperor of the forest?"

Xuanqing then asked them a question in return.

"The Star Dou Great Forest, as the largest gathering place for soul beasts besides the ocean, has existed for so many years, how could it only have two 100,000-year-old soul beasts?"

"This doesn't even compare to the number of human Title Douluos. Don't you see something's wrong?"

Everyone looked at each other, stunned.

They had never thought about this issue before, but now that Xuanqing had pointed it out, something was definitely wrong.

Xuanqing continued, "I actually have a bold guess, which is that a huge disaster that we can hardly imagine must have occurred in the past tens of thousands of years."

"Otherwise, why have almost all of these ancient, exotic species disappeared?"

Dugu Bo suddenly remembered something: "For example, the Tyrannosaurus Rex that the other person mentioned? I specifically looked up the information, and although it was very vague, it did exist."

Xuan Qing nodded: "Not just Tyrannosaurus Rex, don't forget the True Dragon and True Phoenix, two representative soul beasts. Everyone knows they really existed, and the records are very certain."

"But has anyone actually seen it? No one has. What does that mean?"

Everyone shook their heads, feeling a chill run down their spines.

What Xuanqing said touched on their blind spots in knowledge.

Xuan Qing concluded, "This can only mean that an irresistible natural disaster occurred in ancient times, with continental plates shifting, mountains and rivers turning upside down, volcanic eruptions, and seawater overflowing."

"Faced with such a natural disaster, no matter how strong the soul beast is, it has no power to fight back, so it suddenly disappeared."

Everyone, including Dugu Bo, was shocked by Xuan Qing's guess.

Zi Ji nodded. She had lived long enough to know what Xuan Qing was talking about.

When she was young, at least the Behemoth and saber-toothed tiger, these giant beasts, were not extinct. They were not ubiquitous, but there were definitely quite a few of them.