Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

After the ancient soul was destroyed, everyone felt that Cheng Yuan was becoming more and more mysterious. The more strength he revealed, the more unfathomable he became.

Is he really just a high school graduate?

They saw in Cheng Yuan the shadow of Ji Yueheng, the legendary animal trainer from the freshman class at Shanghai University.

Chapter 178 Warrior Armor Enhancement? One Person, One Team!

The atmosphere in the hall became somewhat tense for a moment.

The Soundbird Beast on Cheng's arm turned its scarlet single eye, curiously examining the unfamiliar people and Digimon around it, emitting a low "gurgling" sound. It showed none of the bewilderment of a typical Rookie Digimon, but instead exuded a coldness and scrutiny.

“Junior Brother Cheng Yuan…you…” Zhao Gang opened his mouth, but ultimately suppressed all his questions.

Everyone has their own secrets, especially animal trainers; it's a big no-no to pry into someone's secrets.

"Can you... this sound-bird beast, perform reconnaissance? The situation ahead is unclear; we need eyes."

Cheng Yuan nodded and issued the command through the spiritual link between the Dark Warrior's Soul and the Soundbird Beast.

The bird-like beast let out a short cry, flapped its wings and took flight almost silently, quickly disappearing into the deeper darkness of the tunnel.

"It can roughly transmit the images it sees to me," Cheng Yuan explained simply, then closed his eyes and concentrated on perceiving them.

A few minutes later, Cheng Yuan opened his eyes, his brows furrowed slightly: "The Soundbird Beast has discovered the downward staircase, which looks like the entrance to the basement. There are signs of battle at the staircase entrance, and there are new scratches and energy burn marks on the walls. Moreover, two more of those ancient souls have appeared along the way, which look like... Shell Beasts and Mud Beasts. They have been attracted by the Soundbird Beast's aggro and are heading this way."

"There's more?" Lin Yu's face turned green. "This is never going to end!"

"Prepare for battle!" Zhao Gang immediately stood up. "Cheng Yuan, could you have your vocal bird lure them into the hall? It's relatively spacious here, making it easier to maneuver!"

“No problem.” Cheng Yuan thought to himself.

Soon, from the depths of the tunnel came angry, silent mental roars, as well as provocative cries of birds and beasts.

The loudspeakers inside the wings of the bird-like beast emitted a provocative, cacophonous noise.

Two translucent, distorted ancient souls: one like a giant, rotting seashell floating on the water, and the other a writhing, foul-smelling, muddy creature.

Lured skillfully by the vocal birds, they rushed into the hall.

Having learned from their previous experience, although everyone was nervous, they were no longer as panicked as they had been at the beginning.

Zhao Gang quickly gave the order: "Wind Lion Beast and Grizzly Bear Beast, defend! Hold them off! Run Beast and Mighty Angora Beast, roam and attack! Gatomon, use Holy Light to disrupt them! Baronmon, prepare White Spell!"

The battle broke out again.

These two ancient souls are almost as powerful as the previous Grollmon, only their skills are different.

The ancient soul of the Shell Beast can fire illusory water cannons, while the ancient soul of the Mud Beast throws out corrosive mud.

Cheng Yuan did not let the Soundbird Beast participate in the direct attack, but instead commanded it to circle around and harass from the side. At the same time, he took out the Dark Warrior Soul again.

Like a hungry beast smelling blood, the Dark Warrior's soul trembled with excitement once more.

As the attacks from the crowd once again shattered the two ancient souls, turning them into dissipating white smoke, the Dark Warrior's Soul unleashed an even stronger suction force!

This time, a blood-red eye lit up, greedily devouring the energy.

Soon, the blood-red eye, having absorbed enough energy, detached and transformed into the second Soundbird Beast, Armor Spirit!

Two monstrous birds circled overhead, their single eyes flashing with ferocity. Combined with the cawing noise from their wings, they sounded like harbingers of doom, making them particularly terrifying.

Everyone's eyelids twitched as they watched.

These digital gadgets are outrageous!

"Let's go to the basement!" Zhao Gang suppressed his shock and said in a deep voice.

The team set off again, this time with two sound-bird beasts taking turns scouting and luring monsters ahead, greatly improving their progress.

The staircase leading to the basement is long, and the ancient murals on the walls on both sides are denser and more complex, depicting some never-before-seen Digimon forms and strange ritual scenes.

Guan Yan took photos along the way, but unfortunately there are no conditions to study them carefully now. She needs to go back and analyze them in detail.

As the soundbirdmon's scouts indicated, various ancient spirits in different Digimon forms kept appearing on the stairs and in the passageway below—Hairymon, Hornedmon, Centaurmon… They were like tireless guards, relentlessly attacking any intruders.

Fortunately, these ancient souls are ultimately weaker than their true mature strength in life, and their skills cannot be fully replicated to their full potential.

Each defeat became sustenance for the Dark Warrior's soul.

Cheng Yuan could clearly feel streams of cool, pure data soul power from ancient times being absorbed into the armor, nourishing the dormant power source of the dark beast. The armor itself seemed to become more profound and solid, and the seven blood eyes grew brighter and brighter.

However, at the same time, waves of negative emotions originating from ancient souls also surged in.

These negative emotions attempted to erode his will and incite his desire to kill and destroy.

Fortunately, the system in my mind is like the most robust firewall, perfectly blocking all external erosion.

Despite the increasingly frequent chatter in his mind, Cheng Yuan remained clear-headed and calmly directed the Soundbird Beast and Gatomon in battle.

When the fourth Armored Spirit Bird Beast was summoned, they finally arrived at the core area of ​​the first basement level—a space even more expansive than the upper hall.

Here are more large and complex ancient instruments, most of which are broken, but traces of ancient technological civilization can still be vaguely seen.

Some huge metal components were scattered on the ground, engraved with incomprehensible runes and energy circuits.

Baronmon was somewhat excited, and gradually examined the artifacts, saying, "These are... some components of an ancient energy weapon! Although they are severely damaged and the energy cores have long since dissipated, their casting process for digital metals and energy conduction design... are extremely ingenious! It's possible... it's possible to try to repair them or reverse engineer them!"

But here, they found more traces of human activity: several empty energy supplement tubes, some compressed food packaging bags, and even a corner with obvious signs of a temporary rest and equipment preparation.

"A group of people stayed here for quite some time." Zhao Gang examined the traces, his expression growing increasingly grave. "Could it be people from those four island nations? What exactly are they looking for here?"

Here, they found the entrance to the second basement level—a thicker, darker, digital metal door covered with complex and profound ancient digital characters and runes.

Guan Yan immediately stepped forward and began to study the inscription on the door with great concentration, trying to find a way to open it.

This time it took longer than the previous one, and the encryption system on the door was clearly more complex.

"It will take some time..." Guan Yan muttered to herself, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

During the wait, Cheng Yuan controlled the four Soundbird Beasts to spread out and keep watch, while the others took the time to rest and treat the minor injuries accumulated on their Digimon. The atmosphere was oppressive and tense.

Behind the door were even steeper, downward-sloping steps, where the energy particles in the air were more active and also colder, as if they could seep into one's bones.

Finally, accompanied by a dull mechanical sound and the hum of metal friction, the heavy digital metal door slowly slid open to both sides, revealing a steeper, almost vertical metal staircase behind it.

A chilling aura, even colder than that of the upper levels and seemingly capable of penetrating to the bone, swept over them, causing everyone to involuntarily shiver.

The moment they stepped into the second basement level, before they even had a chance to get a clear look at their surroundings, a crisis suddenly struck!

Several incredibly fast afterimages suddenly burst out from the shadows on both sides!

This time, the ancient spirit is no longer in beast form, but in human form!

They maintained a vague humanoid outline, seemingly wearing some kind of tattered ancient armor, and holding semi-transparent weapons made of soul energy—knives, swords, and spears!

Their movements were coordinated, with a clear sense of tactical cooperation, like a small patrol team!

A glint flashed in Cheng Yuan's eyes, and the system scan was activated instantly.

[Wealth Points -300]

【Ancient Soul Guardian - Blade】

Ancient Soul Guardian - Sword

Ancient Soul Guardian - Spear

[Free Race - Ghost Type/Human Type]

[Maturity Stage]

[Status: Formed from the remains of an ancient humanoid Digimon warrior after death. It retains some fighting instincts and cooperative combat abilities, and its attacks have the characteristic of penetrating energy defenses.]

"Watch out! Form a battle formation!" Zhao Gang shouted.

Without his prompting, everyone had already reached a tacit understanding.

The Wind Lion Beast and the Grizzly Bear Beast roared as they stood at the forefront, their hardened fur and thick muscles bulging, ready to withstand the first wave of impact!

Clang! Clang! Thud!

Swords and blades struck the hardened and energized fur defenses, sparking blinding sparks. Although they did not cause fatal wounds, the penetrating force caused them great pain.

The Running Beast and the Mighty Angora Beast attempted to harass them from the flanks, but the Ancient Guardian Souls were extremely fast, agile, and coordinated well, easily blocking or dodging their attacks.

"Damn it! It can even cooperate! It's become sentient!" Li Yunjin was shocked and furious. The running beast was almost grazed by an energy spear that suddenly stabbed from the side.

One of the ancient guardian spirits, wielding a sword, even made a very slight, yet sarcastic expression.

When Tailmon's Holy Light Bullet and Baronmon's White Spell blasted at them, they were able to use their movement skills to block with their weapons, reducing the damage.

Cheng Yuan's two vocal birds flew above, emitting "hypnotic sound waves".

Although they were only in their growth stage, the "hypnotic sound waves" failed to truly control these ancient souls, but successfully caused them considerable disturbance, making the humanoid ancient souls' movements and coordination somewhat sluggish.

Just as the battle was beginning to ease, two sharp, hissing sounds pierced the air!

Four nearly transparent arrows, composed entirely of soul energy, shot out one after another from a hidden shadowy corner in front of the group, striking the four bird-beasts with unparalleled accuracy!

"Gah!" The four birds and beasts let out a shrill scream, their bodies instantly disintegrating and transforming back into two slightly dimmed blood-red eyes, which flew back into the Dark Warrior's Soul in Cheng Yuan's hand to be nurtured.

Cheng Yuan looked in the direction the arrow had come from and saw a hidden figure using the system to scan.

[Wealth Points -100]

Ancient Soul Guardian - Bow

[Free Race - Ghost Type/Human Type]

[Maturity Stage]

[Status: The form of an ancient humanoid Digimon archer after its death. Skilled in long-range sniping and stealth, its arrows possess the ability to penetrate souls.]

"Reinforcements have arrived! They're archers!" Cheng Yuan shouted.

"Defend the barrier!" Baron immediately protected the tamer inside the barrier.

Several more stray arrows struck the barrier, creating ripples.

"Gatomon!"

"Received, meow!"

Dilumon transformed into a white blur, its speed soaring to its limit, almost skimming the ground, using the scattered wreckage of the equipment as cover, and rushed towards that hidden corner at top speed!

Chapter 179 A Kind Older Brother? You're all looking at me wrong!

A series of rapid energy collisions, muffled thuds of fists hitting flesh, and a suppressed groan immediately came from the darkness!

Immediately afterwards, two fleeting red lights appeared in that direction—the light emitted from Gatomon's pupils when it used the "Cat Eye" skill!

After that, the corner in the distance fell completely silent.

Meanwhile, the three humanoid ancient soul guardians, having lost their ranged support, were finally scattered one after another by Zhao Gang and the others' all-out attack, temporarily turning into pure ancient soul energy wisps of smoke.

The Dark Warrior's Soul unleashed an unprecedented suction force, devouring the three powerful energies like a whale sucking in water!

Cheng Yuan clearly felt that the power of the Dark Warrior's Soul surged instantly, becoming more solid and substantial. The four blood eyes that had just been damaged and returned instantly regained their luster, and—the fifth and sixth blood eyes lit up one after another, fluctuating, and it looked like they were about to give birth to new sound-bird beasts!

The tamers quickly took out highly effective healing sprays and energy gels to treat the wounds on their Digimon caused by the soul weapons, which had a penetrating effect. Their faces were filled with lingering fear.

After absorbing the ancient soul, Cheng quickly walked towards Gatomon.

He discovered that the ancient soul controlled by Gatomon's "Cat's Eye" was actually a female archer.

This ancient spirit possessed a clear female silhouette, tall and lithe, clad in close-fitting illusory leather armor, and tightly gripping a semi-transparent energy longbow. Its body trembled slightly, clearly temporarily immobilized by Gatomon's "Cat's Eye" ability.

Several Shanghai animal trainers quickly treated the wounds and followed.

Seeing this, Guan Yan exclaimed in surprise, "Cheng Yuan, you caught one alive? That's amazing! I'll give you a bonus when we get back!"

He looked like he had finally gotten his revenge.

"I'll add some for you too," Zhao Gang's voice came through.

Gatomon's red eyes, which were glowing as it unleashed its Cat Eyes skill, looked over, and the two of them inexplicably felt a chill run down their spines.

Guan Yan & Zhao Gang: "???"

"It's asking if you'd like to add chicken legs to it too," Cheng Yuan translated.

Seeing that the female archer was about to wake up as soon as the "cat's eye" left her sight, the two nodded hurriedly.

"Add, add, add! We must have it! Double the amount!"