Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 28 Unexpected Situations

However, as the chosen one of the Douluo Continent, the transmigrator also inherited the destiny and fortune that were originally attached to Huo Yuhao.

For those chosen by destiny, the so-called smooth sailing is non-existent; for them, the most unexpected thing is often that nothing unexpected happens.

According to the original plan, Huo Yuhao had already led the Soul Hunting Team to the territory that should have been occupied by the Big-Headed Spirit Apes.

What Huo Yuhao was targeting on this trip was the soul ring of the leader of this big-headed spirit ape, a big-headed spirit ape whose cultivation had just broken through a thousand years.

With Huo Yuhao's current physical condition, although it's somewhat of a stretch, with the help of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm and his current physical strength, absorbing a thousand-year soul ring is more than enough.

However, after the jungle and the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm had previously covered and probed it with their mental power, the information shared with Huo Yuhao had undergone some subtle changes.

At this moment, the jungle was unusually quiet, and it was difficult to find any trace of other soul beasts. Only Huo Yuhao was able to keenly perceive those concealed tracks through his Eye of Truth.

"What's going on? Although the Big-Headed Spirit Ape is considered one of the more intelligent soul beasts, concealing its movements within its own territory shouldn't be in their nature."

"Has something else changed?" While thinking this, Huo Yuhao also made a cautious, wary gesture to the others.

At this moment, Lie Yong narrowed his eyes and said, "Something's not right. We've probably entered the territory of some kind of soul beast, and it seems to be a rather troublesome one. Be careful."

Then, the Soul Saint's soul power surged, and the oppressive force, like a raging fire, spread to the surroundings. Even though Huo Yuhao and the others were not targeted by Lie Yong, they still felt a sense of suffocation due to the huge difference in soul power.

As Lie Yong's soul power spread outwards, the once quiet dense forest began to stir. Some weaker soul beasts from afar fled the area, while more powerful soul beasts from even further away revealed their auras to clash with Lie Yong's soul power.

However, due to the territoriality of the soul beasts, even the more ancient soul beasts, though they had begun to stir, did not easily cross their territories to confront Lie Yong.

Huo Yuhao and the others also entered the state of Martial Soul Possession, vigilantly observing their surroundings. Under the pressure of the fierce and powerful soul power, the soul beasts that were originally hidden in this territory revealed their auras.

"Squeak squeak squeak!" On the treetops, monkeys let out high-pitched cries, and at the same time, the surrounding trees began to move without wind, the commotion gradually approaching Huo Yuhao and the others.

Then, in the dark forest, countless glowing eyes stared intently at Huo Yuhao and his companions.

Among them were several with powerful auras and heads that were far larger than the other big-headed spirit apes. They were clearly close to, or had just reached, the thousand-year level of big-headed spirit apes.

Lie Yong's face was somewhat grim. He had now entered the state of Martial Soul Possession, and his entire body had transformed into a humanoid lion. His hair, which resembled flames, had turned into a long mane that spread out and burned behind him.

At the same time, he was covered with armor that resembled molten flames, which was the complete form of his martial soul, the Molten Lion.

Through the tree canopy, large-headed spirit apes with strength around a hundred years old were observing Huo Yuhao and his group from the treetops.

There were about thirty of these soul beasts. For Lie Yong, a Soul Saint from Shrek Academy, this was nothing. But it should be noted that besides himself, there were four other students in the team who were not very strong.

The attacks of spirit-attribute soul beasts are known for being unpredictable, undefendable, and treacherous.

Although the Big-Headed Spirit Ape is considered a support-type beast spirit by soul masters, this is not the case in the natural environment.

Due to their gregarious nature, the Big-Headed Apes are naturally able to temporarily bestow a portion of their spiritual power upon other members of their clan, or amplify the spiritual power of other members.

Combined with the Big-Headed Spirit Ape's exceptionally strong innate spiritual power, and with the help of the entire species, the Big-Headed Spirit Ape can often defeat enemies whose individual strength far exceeds the average strength of the species.

The Big-Headed Spirit Ape is a herbivore and will not attack other spirit beasts unless provoked. Therefore, most spirit beasts below the ten-thousand-year level would not choose to come to the Big-Headed Spirit Ape and invite trouble.

The natural enemies of the Big-Headed Spirit Apes are mostly other spirit beasts of the same spiritual attribute, because apart from some leader-type spirit beasts that have mutated and been born in some groups, spirit-attribute spirit beasts generally act alone.

The brains of the Big-Headed Spirit Ape can replenish the lost spiritual power of solitary spirit-attribute soul beasts, and even increase their spiritual power reserves, which is of great benefit to spirit-attribute soul beasts.

Therefore, some powerful spirit-attribute spirit beasts will deliberately harass the Big-Headed Spirit Ape population by sneaking around. Before the Big-Headed Spirit Apes can react and enter full combat mode, the beasts will abduct lone Big-Headed Spirit Apes to hunt them.

Therefore, while possessing the ability to protect itself, it is also a highly sought-after creature among solitary spirit-attribute spirit beasts. This is why, despite having a certain population size, there are very few particularly powerful individuals or groups of this kind of spirit beast.

However, this group of big-headed spirit apes seemed to be different. In Huo Yuhao's eyes, hidden deep in the shadows of the jungle, the soul power structure and spiritual power of one of the soul beasts were quite different from the other big-headed spirit apes, and much stronger.

Its soul power level is probably around a thousand years, but its spiritual power far surpasses that of ordinary thousand-year soul beasts, and it can even contend with some ten-thousand-year soul beasts that are not good at spiritual power.

"Huh? A three-eyed demonic ape? That's strange. I didn't detect any of these creatures on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest when I used my mental energy to probe them."

"Besides, normally the Three-Eyed Demon Ape clan and the Big-Headed Spirit Ape clan aren't even the same. Why is this guy here?"

The voice of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm echoed in Huo Yuhao's sea of ​​consciousness. When he sensed that something was wrong, Huo Yuhao used mental sharing to awaken the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, which had been dormant.

"Could it be that it was attracted by your previous mental energy fluctuations?" Huo Yuhao asked Tianmeng Ice Silkworm through mental sharing.

"Hmm, that's possible. No, this three-eyed demonic ape isn't an ordinary three-eyed demonic ape. It might be some kind of mutated soul beast, which is why it was banished from the mixed zone."

"The Three-Eyed Demon Ape is adept at creating fear and mental control. I can sense that its mental energy frequency is very different from that of a typical Three-Eyed Ape; its mutation likely indicates an enhancement of its dominance-type mental abilities."

"Furthermore, I can sense that compared to ordinary three-eyed demonic apes, this guy's aura is much colder and darker, suggesting it has mutated towards becoming an evil soul beast."

"This is probably why the large-headed ape tribe, which originally numbered around sixty, now only has about thirty left."

"It's no wonder it became the leader of this group of big-headed spirit apes. After all, the three-eyed demon ape's bloodline level, combined with the added benefit of being a mutated individual, makes it far stronger than ordinary big-headed spirit apes."

"Tsk tsk tsk, looks like you're in big trouble this time. The mutated three-eyed demonic ape, plus this group of thirty big-headed spirit apes, won't be easy to deal with."

Because the mutated three-eyed demon ape had already shielded its aura with its mental power, Lie Yong, whose attention was focused on the large-headed spirit apes around him, did not notice where the other party was hiding.

At this moment, his eyes were filled with deep fear. Soul beasts that live in groups are already difficult to deal with, let alone spirit-attribute soul beasts.

Originally, they only used their Soul Saint strength to temporarily force back the Soul Beast clans in this area, but they didn't expect these big-headed spirit apes to dare to attack them. Are they courting death?

However, Lie Yong glanced at Huo Yuhao beside him and asked, "Big-Headed Spirit Ape, how do you feel about this kind of soul beast? Would it be suitable as your second soul ring?"

Huo Yuhao nodded: "Yes, it is indeed one of my target soul beasts. However, I can sense that the few big-headed spirit apes that have appeared now do not seem to be the true leaders of the big-headed spirit apes."

Then Huo Yuhao turned his gaze to an inconspicuous patch of grass in the distance: "I can sense that there seems to be a very subtle spiritual fluctuation in that place, but it is not very noticeable among the spiritual power emitted by the big-headed spirit apes."

Upon hearing this, Lie Yong raised an eyebrow. Although he was also a Soul Saint, he was not proficient in the use of mental power. It was only because of his strength that his soul power and the increased mental power made him less susceptible to the influence of mental attribute soul skills.

However, amidst the interference of the mental energy frequencies emitted by numerous large-headed spirit apes, he was unable to discern the presence of the three-eyed demonic ape. At that moment, Lie Yong roared and transformed into his Martial Soul True Body form, followed by the gleaming of his sixth spirit ring.

From behind him, a crimson lion, covered in molten armor and made of soul power, attacked the direction Huo Yuhao was looking.

Along with this came the light of Lie Yong's fifth soul skill. A crimson sound wave, under Lie Yong's conscious control, struck the strongest of the big-headed spirit apes.

The large-headed apes had no time to dodge or resist. After being hit by the sonic wave, they fell off the tree, seriously injured and unconscious.

Seeing this, the group of big-headed spirit apes squeaked anxiously. Then, several hundred-year-old big-headed spirit apes, their eyes filled with terror, rushed towards the molten lion formed by Lie Yong's sixth soul skill.

However, how could the Great-Headed Spirit Ape, with a century of cultivation, possibly rely on its already weak physical strength to hinder the sixth soul skill of a Soul Saint who had activated the Martial Soul True Body amplification?

Even though these big-headed spirit apes used their own soul power and spiritual power to create a protective shield before being hit by the soul skill, the shield was like a burst bubble and did not provide any resistance.

This can be described as attacking where the enemy must defend and capturing the leader first. Although Lie Yong was restrained by the presence of the students, he immediately chose to trust that these students could protect him.

Then they prepared to deal with the leader of these big-headed apes as quickly as possible, because although the big-headed apes were organized and disciplined.

However, this also exposes their greatest weakness. As mentioned before, although the Big-Headed Spirit Ape is a highly intelligent soul beast, it is still ultimately a soul beast.

They could not possibly achieve such strict discipline and unified behavior on their own; there must be other spirit beasts directing and controlling them from behind.

However, this kind of rule also has its drawbacks. Although it can maximize the power of the big-headed spirit apes, once the ruler himself is threatened, the big-headed spirit apes under his control will definitely prioritize the ruler.

Given this, Lie Yong made the quickest decision: to use a diversionary tactic, forcing the Big-Headed Spirit Apes to abandon their attack on the weaker students and instead go to protect their leader.

In this way, the rhythm of the battle can be regained. Although there are many big-headed spirit apes, killing or repelling them is not a difficult task for an elite soul saint.

Under Lie Yong's deliberate control, he slowed down the Lava Lion's offensive, giving the mastermind behind it ample time to react, and took this opportunity to reduce the number of Big-Headed Spirit Apes as much as possible.

With just one strike, more than a dozen big-headed spirit apes were either killed or injured. However, at the same time, the power of Lie Yong's sixth soul skill was greatly reduced, and then it was shattered by a purple dark soul power from the shadows.

Then, Huo Yuhao felt a slight ripple appear in his sea of ​​consciousness, followed by a cold snort from Tianmeng Ice Silkworm.

"Hmph, little monkey, you dare to mess with my people? Yuhao is the one. Although its lifespan is only about 1100 years, it should be perfect for you. With me here, you can confidently absorb its spirit rings."

"As for the missing age of its spirit rings, I'll use my spiritual energy to help you upgrade them later. I guarantee that all your spirit rings will be at the 100,000-year level!"

Huo Yuhao replied, "Yes, but that's not the most important thing right now." He then moved with lightning speed, sending dozens of silver needles flying out and piercing the acupoints on the bodies of the other three students.

Before the trainees could react, they collapsed to the ground, muttering something incoherently and their eyes becoming lifeless.

Clearly, their limbs were no longer obeying their brains' commands. Huo Yuhao then said, "Teacher Lie, that guy hiding is trying to influence us with his mental power. I can't hold out for long either. Please finish this quickly."

Huo Yuhao then activated the pre-prepared Level 3 Soul Power Circuit - Refraction. The surrounding big-headed spirit apes screamed when they saw that their leader's mental control methods had failed, and for a moment they had no other effective means of attack.

(End of this chapter)