Two and a half years later...
The Star Constellation Great Forest, at the boundary between the Outer Area and the Mixed Zone.
A violent rumbling echoed through the air; the entire forest seemed to be rocking and swaying.
In mid-air, streaks of earthy yellow and dark red light constantly collided. The lowing of a bull and the roar of another Soul Beast rang out simultaneously, as massive spatial rifts fanned out from the center of their impact.
After one final, fierce clash, the two streaks of light separated, each occupying half of the horizon in a tense standoff.
As the halos gradually dissipated, their true forms were revealed.
The earthy yellow figure was a massive bull, while the dark red one was a dog with three heads.
Needless to say, these two were the "Great Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult's Shrek Office," the Gluttony Douluo Xuan Zi, and the "Weakest Ferocious Beast of the Forest," the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound, Scarlet King.
Logically, as the eighth of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, Scarlet King's cultivation should have been inferior to the Level 98 Super Douluo Xuan Zi. However, judging by the exchange just now, he was not significantly weaker than Xuan Zi.
The Gluttony Divine Bull that Xuan Zi had transformed into looked at Scarlet King in disbelief: "This is impossible! You... you actually cultivated Ultimate Fire! This shouldn't be... and there's no way your cultivation should be on par with mine!"
Scarlet King's terrifying canine teeth emitted a scarlet-gold luster. All three heads let out a simultaneous roar. He had no obligation to answer Xuan Zi's questions. Instead, he immediately shifted the blame: "Gluttony, does your Shrek Academy wish to go to war with my Star Constellation?!"
Hearing this made Xuan Zi explode with rage. He roared with a mix of grief and indignation: "A Soul Beast from your forest murdered disciples of my Shrek Academy without provocation! Shouldn't you give us an explanation for this?!"
Scarlet King sneered, sparks of fierce flame flickering from his teeth: "Without provocation? How laughable! What is there to say between us beasts and you humans? Is it only allowed for you Soul Masters to kill us, but not for us to kill you?"
At that moment, a pillar of gold and red light abruptly shot up from the ground, aiming straight for the Gluttony Divine Bull.
Xuan Zi turned pale with fright and quickly activated a Soul Skill. An earthy yellow light formed a barrier in front of him. The moment it touched the gold-red pillar, a shockwave containing Ultimate Light and Ultimate Fire swept through the surroundings.
This attack actually contained two Ultimate Attributes!
Even with a cultivation of Level 98, Xuan Zi failed to fully defend against the move. He reverted to human form and plummeted from the sky, crashing into the ground.
Xuan Zi's old face was a mess; his beard and messy white hair were scorched black. An unnatural flush rose on his soot-covered face. As he spat out a mouthful of blood, his expression was one of pure horror.
As a Gluttony Divine Bull martial soul user of the Earth attribute, defense was supposed to be his forte. Even if he had been drained by the previous fight, his guard shouldn't have been shattered so easily!
This proved only one thing: the opponent's strength was far above his own. Combined with a Scarlet King who was no weaker than him, escaping today was going to be difficult.
A cold, melodious female voice then rang in Xuan Zi's ear: "Human, take your people and get out of the Star Constellation Great Forest now."
Xuan Zi wiped the blood from his mouth. Though he was indignant, as a man over 200 years old, he knew better than to pick a fight he couldn't win. He knew when to tuck tail and run.
Besides, Lexuan couldn't wait any longer...
"...I will remember this grudge! Next time, I will surely return to the forest to seek another 'lesson' from you!" After throwing out a parting threat, he didn't dare linger. He rushed toward a woman in a white dress lying on the ground nearby.
Ignoring any propriety regarding gender, his grimy hand grabbed the woman's wrist, and he began pouring his Soul Power into her body.
Her nearly withered body received a boost. The woman struggled to open her eyes. Seeing Xuan Zi, she fell into a daze, followed by an inexpressible sadness and rage. Tears instantly surged forth.
"Lexuan, Lexuan, are you alright?"
"..."
The woman turned her head away and closed her eyes, seemingly unwilling to look at Xuan Zi.
"..." Xuan Zi pursed his lips in shame. "We can't stay here. We must leave!" He scooped up Zhang Lexuan and turned into a streak of light, flying toward Shrek City at maximum speed.
Congratulations to Great Elder Xuan Zi for once again dealing a heavy blow to Shrek Academy. Of the twelve geniuses sent, only one survived. He had once again broken his own record.
Scarlet King lowered his heads respectfully to the golden Soul Beast that had appeared beside him: "Auspicious Beast, are we just going to let him go?"
The Auspicious Beast glanced indifferently at the departing figures. She turned to leave. "If we killed that old fogey, it would be a true declaration of war with Shrek Academy. We still need to continue accumulating strength. Don't forget that our Lord's current condition is unstable. Giving them a lesson is enough."
Hearing the Auspicious Beast's words, Scarlet King bowed his heads even lower. "Yes."
Four years ago, for reasons unknown, the Soul Beasts of the entire forest had rioted collectively. Then, the clouds above the forest had turned into a nine-colored gold, and a golden rain had fallen, scattering evenly across every corner of the forest.
The spectacle was so grand that nearly half the continent had seen it.
But on that day, every Soul Master who had entered the forest to hunt for Soul Rings had, without exception, perished in the mouths of beasts.
With so many deaths, the Soul Master world naturally needed to find out what had happened. Led by Shrek Academy—the "friendly" neighbor of the forest—a joint task force was formed with the Heavenly Soul Empire and Star Net Empire to investigate.
Upon entering the fringe areas, the task force was shocked to find that within their line of sight, almost no Soul Beast had a cultivation lower than a thousand years! Even the most common and annoying Wind Baboons were the same.
If the fringe areas were like this, what about the Mixed Zone, which was more suitable for high-level hunting?
The task force consisted largely of high-ranking Soul Masters, including Soul Douluos and Titled Douluos. After a quick discussion, they decided to head into the Mixed Zone to investigate.
The moment they entered, they were met with fierce attacks. More terrifyingly, there were almost no beasts below the fifty-thousand-year level in the Mixed Zone, and several Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts even joined the ambush!
After a bloody battle, the task force finally broke out of the forest. Though they suffered losses, the Soul Master world received incredible news.
For some reason, the cultivation of the beasts in the Star Constellation Great Forest had exploded! High-level beasts were everywhere!
Following this, a group of Shrek Inner Court disciples, led by Xuan Zi, excitedly headed to the Mixed Zone to hunt.
Upon arrival, they immediately began their hunt. Several Inner Court disciples near the Soul Saint level quickly filled their seventh Soul Ring slots, and not a single one was below the forty-thousand-year mark. This made Xuan Zi overjoyed. Then, feeling that "victory was assured," Xuan Zi displayed his signature move: he left the students to their own devices while he found a spot to grill meat, drink wine, and even take a nap...
As a result... Zhang Lexuan, already at the Soul Douluo level, successfully acquired a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring! Though it came at the cost of the lives of eight Inner Court disciples.
While the students couldn't find Xuan Zi, Scarlet King, who had been patrolling the Mixed Zone, discovered that Shrek Academy had once again come to slaughter their kin. Enraged, Scarlet King attacked the remaining disciples.
By the time the earth-shattering noise finally woke the old man up, he realized that of the twelve-man team, only Zhang Lexuan remained alive...