Douluo Continent: The Peerless Tang Sect, Angels and Rakshasa Return

Chapters 268-268269—The Hunt Begins! The Annihilation of the Shrek Surveillance Team!

"Mommy, it's okay." Qian Lingyun wiped the hot soup off her face, forced a slightly bitter smile, and stood up to walk out of the courtyard.

Bai Yuan couldn't help but chuckle, lowering her head and glancing at Qian Lingyun out of the corner of her eye. She asked, puzzled, "Holy Maiden, where are you going?!"

"Of course I'm going to take a bath..." Qian Lingyun wiped the soup off her face with her sleeve and disappeared into the night.

"You all eat first, I'll be right back." The fourth servant stood up, put down his bowl and chopsticks, and disappeared into the courtyard in a flash, leaving only a fruity scent, like that of ripe cherries, in the air...

"Hey! Mommy, what brings you here?"

In the stream, Qian Lingyun immersed most of her body in the cool water, calming her restless heart.

"I brought some food to see you," the four offerings said as they slowly emerged from the shadows, carrying a gray jar in their hands.

"Oh!" Qian Lingyun turned to the side, placing her arms on the shore to support her proud breasts.

She looked at the pottery jar in the fourth priest's hand with great interest and asked curiously, "This jar looks a bit rustic; it's not really your style!"

"Hahaha. It's normal for kitchen utensils to be a little ugly." The Fourth Offering squatted down, used two slender fingers to pry open the lid of the jar, turned the opening sideways towards Qian Lingyun, and said gently, "Try it!"

The jar was placed in an awkward position, and the contents could not be seen with the naked eye. Helpless, Qian Lingyun had no choice but to lift half of her body and reach her hand into the jar to grope around.

The contents of the jar were slippery, like jelly in olive oil—it was so strange.

"Hiss... the feel of this thing... is really weird!"

The four elders remained silent, simply watching Qian Lingyun fumble around aimlessly.

After working for a while, Qian Lingyun finally managed to pry a lump out of it with the help of her hooked fingernails. When she held the slippery thing up to her eyes, her eyes twitched slightly. Finally, she turned her gaze to the Fourth Elder and asked in a trembling voice, "What is this thing?"

"It's a soul, of course! What's wrong?" The four worshippers bent their fingers like hooks and skillfully pulled a wisp of jelly-like substance from the jar.

Bathed in moonlight, the terrified expressions of the Soul Jelly were so lifelike, it was as if they were still alive.

"Ah... open your mouth."

The fourth deity picked up the translucent soul jelly and, without a word, stuffed it into Qian Lingyun's slightly parted lips.

With a gurgling sound, the soul melted instantly upon entering her mouth, rolling into Qian Lingyun's esophagus almost without any resistance.

Of course, this thing was probably unwilling to be eaten, and it twisted slightly as it passed through Qian Lingyun's esophagus.

Subconsciously, Qian Lingyun bit the index finger of the Fourth Elder, which had not yet retracted.

A faint salty and fishy taste spread in Qian Lingyun's mouth, complementing the faint sweetness brought by the soul earlier, just like a salad with dressing.

"Xiao Yun, what did that soul taste like just now?" The Fourth Offering scooped out a clump of soul and put it into his mouth to savor it.

Gazing at the four eminent figures' slightly trembling, fiery red lips and the tiny black mole on their lower lip, Qian Lingyun tried to recall the taste before replying, "It tastes like peaches."

"The taste of peaches? That's quite a rare flavor!" The fourth priestess murmured, her gentle gaze filled with joy as she held the gray jar.

"Simply consuming their energy is extremely boring. What I enjoy is the emotion they contain, their spirit, their resistance, their fervent and pure... soul."

"When those souls with different flavors penetrate your taste buds, starting from your stomach, they gradually make your body... feel refreshed."

"I really can't help but say it~ It's hard to define with specific words, but... it's a taste that transcends everything, an ultimate enjoyment that stimulates all the senses."

The fourth offering revealed a look of intoxication, struggling to suppress her gluttonous nature. She carefully selected a large clump of intertwined, two-colored souls from the jar in her hand and fed it to Qian Lingyun, murmuring:

"Can you feel it? The hot, complex...sweet scent of this couple...it's as if all their love is blooming on their tongues, and the heat is filling every vein in their body."

As he spoke, the Fourth Elder extended a finger and gently tapped Qian Lingyun's forehead: "Isn't it delicious!?"

"..."

Gurgle—

Qian Lingyun swallowed the large mass of souls, shook her head with a slightly complicated expression, "The taste is so-so, but they don't improve my cultivation at all. I think I'll stop eating them in the future."

"What a tasteless fool! Eating isn't just about swallowing and increasing cultivation!" The Fourth Elder sadly closed the lid, offering words of comfort.

"Eating is a way to enjoy life. I saw you seemed to be under a lot of pressure, so I thought I'd let you try these delicious foods!"

"Thank you for your trouble." Qian Lingyun nodded in surprise and suggested, "Then why don't you stay and travel around the Douluo Continent with me?"

"Okay, I can make you some delicious food to help you recover. You've lost weight lately..." The Fourth Master squinted and clapped his hands, agreeing to Qian Lingyun's request.

As they were talking, the fourth priest, as if remembering something important, removed a ring from the jeweled necklace on his chest:

"This was sent to you by the Supreme Master. I don't know what's inside either; you can take it and study it yourself!"

"Given by the Supreme Master?"

After receiving the ring from the four elders, Qian Lingyun looked at the contents with suspicion, her pupils shrinking in surprise!

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Qian Lingyun's stunned expression, the Fourth Elder chuckled and blinked curiously, asking, "What's inside?"

"Inside are... the Blood Soul Technique, a container for the Blood Soul, and a Blood Soul seedling..."

As she spoke, Qian Lingyun took out a large, square black lantern from her storage soul tool.

This black lantern was made from the skeleton of an unknown creature, and it had many hidden core magic arrays on it. It was not hard to see that this thing was actually a special kind of soul tool.

In the very center of the lantern, a tiny red dot swayed wildly. Even through the soul tool, Qian Lingyun could feel the ferocity of this little thing!

"?"

As she admired the Blood Soul cub, the Fourth Elder frowned. She shifted her gaze and, together with Qian Lingyun, looked in the direction where Wu Yun and the others were, asking, "What, you've invited guests?"

"If an uninvited guest can be considered a guest... then he certainly is!" Qian Lingyun put away her blood soul and walked naked out of the stream.

In a flash of light, a loose, dark purple nightgown was already draped over her body.

boom!

A series of violent roars and enhanced soul power fluctuations came one after another, and large swathes of trees were snapped in half by the shockwaves from the clash of soul skills.

Even from more than ten miles away, Qian Lingyun and the four elders could feel the power of these soul forces.

"The soul power fluctuations are very chaotic. There are at least five soul masters with eight rings or higher fighting. Currently, it seems that Bai Yuan and her group have the upper hand." The Fourth Elder closed his eyes and sensed for a moment. He put one arm around Qian Lingyun's armpit, carried her on his shoulder, and rose into the air.

With a single sprint, he easily traversed more than ten miles, returning to the battleground that had been thoroughly ravaged by soul skills.

As expected, the title of the fastest in the Holy Spirit Cult under the limit of the Four Offerings is well-deserved.

"Mommy, actually... I can fly," Qian Lingyun struggled to jump off the four guardians and then began to observe the troublemaker.

These unfortunate creatures were all wearing a full suit of inner armor, which covered their entire bodies, including their heads, leaving only their eyes, mouths, and noses exposed.

The inner armor is very elastic, and I don't know what material it's made of, but it seems to be a very thin leather. It has a texture like skin, yet it's very tough. When viewed in the moonlight, you can vaguely see a layer of fine scales on the surface of the inner armor.

Besides their inner armor, these men also wore dark green close-fitting clothes, dark green masks, and dark green cloaks. Three signal flare-like objects hung at their waists.

"Playing tricks!" Qian Lingyun curled her lip in disdain, crossed her arms, and sneered, "You're led by a Title Douluo and a Soul Douluo, for goodness' sake! Aren't you ashamed of hiding your true identity like this?"

Indeed, among this group of masked men, there is one Title Douluo and one Soul Douluo, while the rest are at the sixth or seventh ring level, and none are lower.

The four elders just mentioned that the five combatants with combat power of eight rings or above should include these two.

"An evil soul master?!" The leading titled Douluo frowned, watching Qian Lingyun and the other person who had suddenly appeared with vigilance.

For some reason, although there was no fluctuation of soul power on these two people, she sensed a warning of death emanating from them. Her intuition told her that if she didn't run away soon, it would be too late!

"The intelligence from the inspection team is incorrect. Retreat immediately!" The leading female titled Douluo waved her right hand, signaling everyone on her side to retreat.

"Oh my gosh, you think you can just leave after causing trouble? You really don't respect us at all!" Qian Lingyun said coquettishly, swinging the four elders' arms in front of her.

"Mommy, look at them! How rude of them! Why don't you kill them for us?!"

"Alright, alright, my good daughter, since you've asked Mommy, how can Mommy stand idly by?" The Fourth Master chuckled, her wicked face softening even more. She gently patted Qian Lingyun's head with her palm, then turned to look at the masked man who was retreating with her eyes that had just been so tender.

"Tsk!" she sighed, muttering softly.

"My daughter already said you're not allowed to run away, where do you think you can run to now!"

"The Hunting Domain!"

In the darkness, it seemed as if countless red threads were pulling together the masked men and the four elders who were retreating. The masked men unleashed all sorts of soul skills in an attempt to sever this ominous red thread, but all of this was in vain.

The Hunting Domain is one of the two 100,000-year soul skills of the Fourth Elder's ninth soul ring. It is specifically used to hunt down creatures that try to escape from the Fourth Elder. People who are drawn by the Hunting Red Thread will have their soul power weaken at an extremely fast speed.

Furthermore, within the realm, wherever you go, you will be marked and pursued by the four offerings.

There are only two ways to remove this soul skill: either kill the four elders, or be killed by the four elders.

"Since she's already made her move, we just need to watch her ravage them." Bai Yuan put away her martial spirit, stood quietly in place, and even had a feeling of pity in her eyes when she looked at the masked man.

"Yes, the Fourth Elder is much stronger than you." Wu Yun hovered in mid-air, frowning as he looked at the battle zone between the two Title Douluos, and mocked, "How come you're still the weakest of the three Title Douluos even though you're wearing a Soul Bone Set? You're really pathetic."

Upon hearing this, Bai Yuan clearly panicked, and she hurriedly defended herself:

"I'm a newbie at level 93, that masked woman is at the peak of level 94, and the Four Elders are among the top tier of level 96. It's perfectly normal that I can't beat them!"

Then, Bai Yuan started spouting obscure and difficult-to-understand phrases like "Title Douluo Level 1, First Heaven," and "I'm a researcher, not good at fighting." Soon, the mocking laughter of the Wu Yun sisters echoed across the empty land.

"Stop laughing, all of you!" Qian Lingyun casually tossed a masked man to the ground, carrying him in one hand, and looked at Bai Yuan, asking softly, "By the way, what kind of martial spirit do the Four Elders possess? How can they be so fast?"

"Do you know what a shrike is?" Bai Yuan paused, seeing Qian Lingyun's surprised expression, then cleared her throat and explained:

"The shrike is a predatory bird that is fierce and cruel. It likes to hang its prey on sharp thorns to dry, and then eats it after the food has turned into jerky."

"And the nickname of the Fourth Offering is not only because of her long, smooth red hair and red dress, but also because of her title—Blood Wing."

"A title... Bloodwing?" Qian Lingyun pondered for a moment, then looked up and saw the Fourth Elder using his second 100,000-year soul skill to flash around his opponent.

With each strike, she accurately interrupted her opponent's soul skill release, and finally struck her dantian with a claw, completely rendering her unable to resist.

Capturing an ordinary Title Douluo of unknown identity in twenty rounds—that's the strength of a level 96 Super Douluo.

Even a titled Douluo couldn't last twenty rounds against the Four Elders, let alone the remaining small fry.

In the time it takes to smoke half a cigarette, Fourth Master returned to Qian Lingyun's side carrying a bunch of unfortunate victims missing limbs. She tossed them in front of Qian Lingyun, blinked her eyes, and said boastfully, "Good daughter, how was it? Wasn't Mommy great?"

"Mommy's intervention is a natural consequence; these little rascals can't escape her grasp at all!" Qian Lingyun smiled ingratiatingly, then turned to sized up the people in front of her. She kicked a man dressed like 'Yang Guo the Swordsman' with an annoyed sneer, and scoffed contemptuously:

"Hey, what are you doing here? Why are you bothering us and causing trouble?!"

"Hmph! Kill me if you want, I will not submit to..." 'Hero Yang Guo' was full of arrogance, not even bothering to look at Qian Lingyun, turning his head away with an air of smug disdain.

Unfortunately, Qian Lingyun did not believe that there were bones in the world that could not be broken.

A loud slap!

Qian Lingyun snapped off Yang Guo's other arm, then his legs, followed by a series of broken ribs and a pair of eyeballs still attached to their sockets...

"Humans are like bitter insects; they need to be beaten. Humans are like wooden sculptures; they won't tame unless they're beaten!" Qian Lingyun tore off a piece of her tongue and threw it in front of the other conscious people, soothing them with a benevolent smile.

"Don't worry or rush, I'll be there to take care of you soon!"

"I confess, we are..."

As the story goes, there's always a spineless coward among a group of brave men. He may not be afraid of death, but he is afraid of the pain of living a life worse than death. Just as he opened his mouth to answer Qian Lingyun's question, a stone blocked his mouth.

Faced with the surprise, confusion, and fear in their eyes, Qian Lingyun chuckled and explained nonchalantly:

"Don't rush me. I don't want to know the answer anymore. I just want to pull your bones out one by one so that you can turn from vertebrates into mollusks, hehehe."

After saying that, Qian Lingyun began to fiddle with the internal organs of the body in her hands. Even though the chest and abdominal cavities were empty, "Hero Yang Guo" still had a faint breath, as if he was being kept alive by something...

"Waaaaaaahhhhhhh~"

In an instant, the mournful wails of these people rose into the sky, making Qian Lingyun's eardrums ache slightly.

"Hey, why are you crying so loudly!" Qian Lingyun picked at her ear with her little finger, grabbed one of them, and impatiently questioned, "Fine, fine, enough of this noise. Just confess what you have to say! I'll give you a quick death once you've confessed."

"I...I...I'm Wang Dingzhen. We're from the Shrek Surveillance Team. We're here on a mission."

Terrified, Wang Dingzhen trembled violently. From this angle, he could see his former classmate's miserable state, unable to live or die. He couldn't even muster the desire to run away, let alone resist.

"Oh! It's a parasite from Shrek Academy! Unexpected, yet understandable." Qian Lingyun nodded, pointing to the captured Title Douluo, and said, "That Title Douluo must be a high-ranking member of your Shrek Academy, right? What's her name and position?"

"She is Cai Meier, the vice dean of the Martial Soul Department of Shrek Academy, and the wife of Dean Yan Shaozhe," Wang Dingzhen answered tremblingly, not daring to hide anything at all.

"Good heavens, it's a big fish!" Qian Lingyun exclaimed, scratching her head in astonishment.

"Members of the Sea God Pavilion, tsk tsk tsk... Does your damned inspection team always send a Title Douluo along on every mission?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Wang Ding nodded vigorously, echoing, "We usually have a Sea God Pavilion elder accompanying us on each group mission to ensure safety."

"My god, you guys always have prior intelligence for your operations, with Title Douluo in charge and Inner Academy teachers leading the teams, and yet you still manage to suffer extremely high casualties? What kind of trash are you?!"

(End of this chapter)