Chapter 58: Spirit Hunting 2.0 (Part One)

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A week later, Dugu Bo and Flender led Li Luochen, Li Yusong, and Dugu Yan to the Great Star Forest for spirit hunting.

The quality of the spirit beasts they needed this time was extremely high. Li Luochen required a Golden Earth Dragon King—a powerful sub-dragon species possessing both light attributes and golden strength.

Dugu Yan needed a ten-thousand-year earth-attribute sub-dragon. If they encountered a Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear or a Titan Giant Ape, she could absorb their essence as well. As for dragon transformation issues, there was no problem at present.

Due to Dugu Yan absorbing the head soul bone of the Sea Dragon King, her right arm and head had already undergone dragon transformation.

Her progress in dragon transformation was comparable to that of a Soul King from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Family, giving her more options for her fourth soul ring.

The palm bones of the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear were highly suitable for Dugu Yan. With her dual-arm dragon transformation combined with the strongest palm bones of the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear, the resulting power would be truly terrifying.

Li Yusong needed a sub-dragon species with golden bloodlines, such as a Golden Python, Golden-Horned Dragon, or Golden-Scaled Lizard King.

The whale jelly that Dugu Bo brought back this time greatly strengthened Shrek Academy. Initially, after absorbing his soul bones, Flender was only at the mid-level of eighty-two. After more than half a year of cultivation, he barely reached the late stage.

Now, having consumed two fifty-thousand-year whale jellies, the medicinal effects helped accelerate the fusion and absorption of the residual energy from the Wind Chanting Eagle Beak Flower within Flender's body, propelling him to level eighty-four—a full one-and-a-half-level increase.

However, Flender had absorbed quite a bit during this period: the divine-grade Wind Chanting Eagle Beak Flower, two soul bones, and two fifty-thousand-year whale jellies. His body was brimming with energy, and now the whale jelly directly helped Flender quickly integrate these energies.

This allowed him to reach level eighty-four. Flender was no longer considered a beginner among Soul Douluos; he was now regarded as a top-tier Soul Douluo. The three teaching committee members of the Tendo Imperial Academy didn't have optimal soul ring configurations like Flender did—he possessed the best possible configuration.

All the teachers of Shrek Academy received two whale jellies each. Zhao Wuji advanced from level seventy-eight to the peak of level seventy-nine and was expected to break through to become a Soul Douluo soon.

Shao Xin rose from level seventy-three to seventy-five, while Lu Qibin went from level sixty-eight to the peak of sixty-nine. Lu Qibin was older than Li Yusong, so breaking through to level seventy would be a significant challenge for him.

Zhao Wuji and Lu Qibin should break through within about a year, at which point Flender would lead them to obtain their soul rings.

As for Oscar and Ma Hongjun, they were left with two eighty-thousand-year whale jellies, but they weren't in a rush to consume them. They would wait until they were ready for spirit battles.

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Back in the Great Star Forest

Since the trio required rare soul rings and specific types of spirit beasts, they headed straight to the mixed zone of the Great Star Forest.

The mixed zone was where the core area and inner region of the forest intersected. This area was teeming with a wide variety of spirit beasts, including the possibility of encountering hundred-thousand-year spirit beasts.

Finding spirit beasts here was convenient, and with Dugu Bo ensuring their safety, the group felt relatively secure.

Currently, the overt hundred-thousand-year spirit beasts in the Great Star Forest were the Azure Sky Ox Python and the Titan Giant Ape, known as the Forest Emperor and Forest King, respectively. They generally didn't appear randomly in the mixed zone.

As for other powerful spirit beasts, such as the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger and the Thousand-Pound Ant Emperor, they wouldn't show up here—they had been driven out and were likely lurking deeper inside. If they appeared in the mixed zone, they would likely get beaten up by the Titan Giant Ape or the Azure Sky Ox Python.

The five of them searched for spirit beasts in the mixed zone. Along the way, they encountered numerous thousand-year spirit beasts, but Dugu Bo scared them all away. Thousand-year spirit beasts were intelligent and would flee rather than foolishly fight when faced with overwhelming humans.

*Roar—*

A massive bear covered in dark golden fur stood over five meters tall. Its eyes showed no emotion, only coldness and cruelty.

Its entire body was covered in dark golden fur, with particularly thick arms and broad shoulders resembling a fortress. At the ends of its two robust arms were razor-sharp dark golden claws, each over a meter long.

When it spread its mighty arms, the sharp claws slicing through the air emitted faint "hissing" sounds.

"A Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear! Five meters tall! Exactly ten thousand years old—Yanzi, your soul ring has arrived!" Li Luochen exclaimed excitedly upon seeing the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear.

This was a Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear. If he hadn't chosen such an unconventional path, it would have been one of the most suitable spirit beasts for him. It possessed immense strength, and its ultimate metal attribute was unparalleled.

Adult Dark Golden Terror Claw Bears had no natural predators. Even true dragons might struggle against them. Among all top-tier spirit beasts, it consistently ranked among the best. This was a terrifying spirit beast capable of rivaling true dragons!

The Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear's most formidable attack lay in its pair of terror claws. Once it reached ten thousand years of cultivation, it became an almost monstrous terror. Even Title Douluos found it difficult to resist easily.

Fortunately, Dugu Bo was a Super Douluo and could handle this newly ten-thousand-year-old Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear.

A ten-thousand-year Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear was equivalent to a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast. It was the perfect choice for Dugu Yan's fourth soul ring, likely granting her a powerful augmenting soul skill.

Dugu Bo instantly appeared before the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear and delivered a venomous punch, causing the bear to roar in pain and lash out wildly in a frenzy.

Even in its frenzied state, it couldn't change its fate. Dugu Bo continuously suppressed it, deepening its poisoning and gradually draining its stamina.

Before long, its massive body collapsed. Though it still had faint breaths, it was on the verge of death.

"Yanyan, finish it," Dugu Bo said, clapping his hands after effortlessly subduing this super spirit beast, known as the 'Earth Terror.'

Dugu Yan unleashed a dragon claw from her right hand, swiftly ending the life of the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear.

A black soul ring emerged, and Dugu Yan sat cross-legged to absorb the ten-thousand-year soul ring. She was the second person, after Li Luochen, to absorb a ten-thousand-year fourth soul ring. Whether such a feat had occurred before was unknown, but it certainly hadn't happened in the past century.

Meanwhile, Li Luochen approached the corpse of the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear. There was no need to inspect other parts of its body; he only focused on its right arm—the bear's most powerful feature was its claws. He wondered if it would drop an external soul bone.

Li Luochen began examining the right arm of the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear, but found nothing. The right terror claw was stronger than the left, but alas, there was no soul bone.

Li Luochen then checked the left arm and discovered a faint dark golden glow emanating from the palm bone. Indeed, spirit beasts were versatile, and dropping soul bones was always beneficial.

"Hmm? An external soul bone?" Dugu Bo noticed and looked over. In Li Luochen's hand was a dark golden palm bone.

"Yes, and it's the most precious palm bone of the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear—the Dark Golden Terror Claw. Yanzi's close-combat abilities are about to skyrocket," Li Luochen said with a smile, watching Dugu Yan absorb the soul ring.

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