Reaching the pinnacle from Doupo

Chapter 258 Soul Palace
Zhongzhou, Northern Territory.

In a vast gravel square, many powerful auras shuttled back and forth, and in the center of the square, many mysterious symbols were drawn, emitting a faint silver light, and astonishing spatial fluctuations emanated from them.

"puff--"

At a certain moment, a low sound echoed in the square, and then the silver runes on the square flashed, and a silver halo suddenly appeared in the center of the square.

Two figures, one blue and one gray, flashed out from the circle of light.

Lin Yuan landed steadily on the square and caught the small wooden boat that fell from mid-air. His eyes, accompanied by the surging soul power, swept across the prosperity and bustle around him.

"This is Zhongzhou... its overall strength is much higher than that of the Northwest..."

As far as the eye can see, on this gravel square, there are shadows of people coming and going and loud noises. However, under the indifferent gaze of the solemn and murderous law enforcement officers around, everything is in order.

From what I sense, there are almost no people with cultivation below the Grand Dou Master level here. Dou Lings and Dou Wangs are everywhere, and I can even sense the aura of multiple Dou Huangs and a Dou Zong.

Retracting his soul power, Lin Yuan nodded secretly, "With such strength, Zhongzhou is worthy of being the center of the continent! And..."

He looked up into the void, his eyes gleaming with thought, "The energy of heaven and earth contained in the air is indeed a bit richer than that in Tianya City or the northwest..."

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan tilted his head to look at the old ghost Zhaixing and asked, "Senior Zhaixing, is the concentration of heaven and earth energy here considered to be the average level of Zhongzhou?"

"Jie Jie..."

Hearing this, the old ghost Zhaixing laughed and looked around.

Then, a trace of disdain flashed in his eyes, and he said lightly: "This kind of place can only be regarded as the edge of Zhongzhou, and the concentration of heaven and earth energy is even lower. Compared with the Soul Palace branch guarded by this deity, it is simply a world of difference..."

"So that's how it is!" Lin Yuan nodded, a gleam of brilliance flashing in his eyes, "The energy in the marginal lands is so abundant, no wonder Zhongzhou is so prosperous."

The intensity of the energy of heaven and earth has an impact that is comprehensive.

On the one hand, for humans, the concentration of energy from heaven and earth will directly affect the effect and speed of their cultivation.

This is also the main reason why most forces choose to gather in Zhongzhou instead of going to the border areas to dominate - in Zhongzhou, even an ordinary place, the level of its heaven and earth energy is better than most places in the marginal areas.

Moreover, the current Zhongzhou is still very "empty", with a large amount of "wasteland" full of energy waiting to be developed.

In this area, as long as one obtains the recognition and protection of the lord of the area and possesses a certain level of strength, one will be able to establish a considerable foundation.

Of course, this will also form a certain dependency relationship.

However, this dependent relationship is not entirely a bad thing, but a mutually beneficial situation from which both parties can benefit.

Under this kind of relationship, the dependents can receive the protection of the lord of the region, and have more opportunities to join powerful forces and be exposed to higher-level martial arts and fighting skills; the lord of the region can collect "taxes", making it easier to replenish fresh blood and strengthen himself.

Moreover, most of the subordinate relationships in Zhongzhou are loose, emphasizing mutual consent. The main forces rarely interfere with the subordinate forces, and the latter have quite a good degree of autonomy...

At the same time, most regional lords prefer inducement rather than coercion when recruiting outstanding talents from their subordinates.

Under this model, the basic situation in Zhongzhou is that various small forces rely on and support large forces, and large forces protect the small forces under their command. When they defeat the small forces, larger forces emerge, and when they defeat the large forces, even larger forces emerge...

Because of this, although Zhongzhou has many strong people and major forces, the overall atmosphere is surprisingly peaceful.

After all, if a conflict occurs, it is usually the powerful forces behind both parties who will ultimately deal with it.

It is not a hatred that is felt from the same perspective, or a long-standing enemy, so the major forces generally will not take things too far and allow conflicts and situations to continue to escalate, but will try to make big things small and small things nothing.

That is, without too much loss, Zhongzhou has accumulated a large number of powerful people.

In general, if a force wants to grow and develop, and if an individual wants to establish a foundation, coming to Zhongzhou is undoubtedly an excellent choice.

On the other hand, in addition to human cultivation, the concentration of energy of heaven and earth has a greater impact on the output of various natural treasures.

Taking medicinal materials as an example, the higher the quality of the medicinal materials, the more stringent the conditions for their growth and maturity. Rich energy of heaven and earth is almost the basic condition for the growth and maturity of all high-level medicinal materials.

The Northwest Continent is vast, but medicinal materials of grade eight and above are extremely rare. The fundamental reason is that the energy of heaven and earth is not rich enough.

"but……"

Lin Yuan's eyes were full of smiles, but his heart was filled with coldness. "Although the conditions are much worse than those in Zhongzhou, the marginal lands also have their merits, and there are some extremely valuable 'resources'!"

Suppressing a certain thought in his heart, he continued to ask: "Next, how do we get to the Soul Palace, and where is the Soul Palace?"

"The place we are going to..." Zhaixing Old Ghost looked into the distance, then waved to Lin Yuan, "Since we are in Zhongzhou, we can use the wormhole network in the palace... Follow me!"

After saying that, he moved and flew towards the southwest. Lin Yuan stepped into the air and quickly followed.

"Oh my god, those two people just now were... Dou Zong?"

Watching the two people leaving, a middle-aged man at the Dou Zong level said in astonishment, "Such a young Dou Zong? Even better than Qing'er... Which family is this genius who went out to gain experience? Eh... Strange, why can't I remember what he looks like?"

"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore!" Finding that he could not recall Lin Yuan's face, he decisively chose to give up.

The middle-aged man glanced at the ring in his hand, his lips slightly raised, revealing a smug smile.

"I spent a lot of time and effort to finally get this Blood Wu Branch. I can go back and report to the Pavilion Master now... With this item, Qing'er will be able to quickly break through to the Douhuang level and should be able to shine at the Four-Party Pavilion Conference next year."

"Haha, we must let everyone know that among the four pavilions in Zhongzhou, the younger generation of my Fenglei Pavilion is the strongest..."

Taking a deep breath, the middle-aged man saw a flash of lightning on his body and rushed towards the Fenglei Mountains.

If Lin Yuan saw it, he would surely discover that what this person was using was the Three Thousand Thunders, and he had cultivated it to an extremely high level.
-
Under the clear sky, two streaks of light, one blue and one black, flashed by.

"Senior, can you tell me about the Soul Palace?" Lin Yuan asked excitedly during the flight: "Although I plan to join the Soul Palace, my knowledge and understanding of the Soul Palace is still limited. Can you tell me in detail?"

This was both a lie and not a lie. He had foresight and had interrogated Elder Mu Gu and several guardians, and had a basic understanding of the Soul Palace.

However, asking multiple people for the same information is an effective way to screen their information.

After hearing Lin Yuan's words, thinking of the threat from Little Medical Fairy and the alchemy certificate he had obtained a few days ago, Old Ghost Zhaixing pondered for a moment and decided to tell Lin Yuan some detailed information to help him join the Soul Palace more smoothly.

"Okay, I'll tell you what happened in the palace!"

"In the Zhongzhou region, soul halls are divided into three levels: the highest level of the three Tiangang halls, the next highest level of the twenty-four Disha halls, and other ordinary branch halls."

"The three halls of Tiangang Temple are Tiangang Heavenly Temple, Tiangang Earthly Temple and Tiangang Human Temple, which are respectively managed by the Temple Master, Deputy Temple Master and Great Heavenly Venerable. The Heavenly Temple is naturally the headquarters of the Soul Temple. I can't tell you the exact location. You need a special way to go to the Heavenly Temple."

"The 24 Earthly Demon Palaces are located in various important locations on the continent and are guarded by the Heavenly Lords." "By the way, under normal circumstances, a Heavenly Lord must be at least a Five-Star Dou Zun to be in this position. The Great Heavenly Lord is even a Dou Sheng, and the Second and Third Heavenly Lords have also entered the Saint Realm."

As he said this, he looked at Lin Yuan with great pride.

“Fighting Saint!” Seeing this, Lin Yuan quickly changed his expression and acted shocked, “The Soul Palace is so powerful!”

"Jie Jie..."

Seeing this, the old ghost Zhaixing smiled comfortably in his heart and said proudly: "My Soul Palace is so powerful, one palace and one tower... Bah! What kind of strength is Dan Tower? Is it worthy of being on par with my Soul Palace? If it weren't for us to keep a low profile..."

After criticizing Danta for a few times, he looked at Lin Yuan with admiration, "I believe that with your talent, you will be able to achieve the Saint Realm sooner or later and become a pillar of the palace!"

"Jie Jie..."

Lin Yuan smiled in a very soul-like manner, with a hint of pride on his face, "I think so too, haha..." After a pause, he continued to ask: "Then where are we going now... Tiangang Palace, Disha Palace?"

The old ghost Zhaixing waved his hand and said calmly: "Neither, are we going to the Northern Region Hub Palace?"

"Northern Domain Hub Hall?" Lin Yuan raised his eyebrows and asked in confusion: "Although I can guess something from the name, I still need Senior to clear up my confusion for me..."

"Remember what I said, in addition to the Tiangang Hall and the Disha Hall, there are many ordinary branch halls?" asked the old ghost Zhaixing.

"Yeah!" Lin Yuan nodded.

“Hehehe…” The old ghost Zhaixing laughed complacently and said, “Those branch halls are not all just for collecting souls. Instead, they each have different functions. Some are responsible for intelligence, some are responsible for detention, and so on.”

"The Northern Region Hub Hall is located in the Northern Region and is responsible for maintaining the flow of personnel and information within the hall. There are at least two such branch halls in each region..."

"The power of these branch halls varies. Each branch hall in Zhongzhou has at least one venerable in charge."

"Whether it is the organization level or the overall strength of our Soul Palace, it is far from comparable to Danta and other sects in Zhongzhou."

As he spoke, a rather proud expression appeared on his face, and he waved his hand and said, "After we reach the Northern Region Hub Palace, we can quickly transfer and move across the continent through the space wormhole network in the palace, and we will soon be able to reach the Underground Palace..."

"Hmm? The Earth Palace?" Lin Yuan frowned slightly and asked in confusion, "Aren't we heading to the Heaven Palace to meet the Palace Master this time?"

“No!” Zhaixing Old Ghost shook his head and said in a deep voice: “This time we are going to the Tiangang Di Palace and we are going to meet the Deputy Palace Master.”

After a pause, he looked around carefully and reminded softly: "Don't slack off. The deputy hall master is a Dou Sheng who is stronger than the Great Heavenly Venerable. By the way, don't call him the deputy hall master, just call him the hall master directly..."

"Oh... Is the deputy hall master in charge?" Lin Yuan raised his eyebrows and asked with interest: "What about the hall master? Doesn't he take care of things?"

"The specific situation is unclear!" The old ghost Zhaixing shook his head.

After a pause, he added in a low voice: "However, I heard some rumors - since a year ago, the hall master has entered a deep retreat, seemingly to break through the realm. Therefore, the deputy hall master is taking on all the duties of the hall."

"If the rumors are true, the Lord Palace Master will definitely have a great improvement in his cultivation when he comes out again, Danta... hehehe..."

At this point, a hint of excitement flashed in the eyes of Zhaixing Old Ghost.

Looking at his proud and excited expression, Lin Yuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart: The Soul Palace, or the Soul Palace Master, is indeed good at taming people.

The old ghost Zhaixing is not a member of the Soul Clan, nor is he a good person, but he is extremely loyal and proud of the Soul Palace.

All the Soul Palace members that Lin Yuan met were very loyal to the Palace. Not only were they extremely fierce in battle, but even after being captured, they were very stubborn. Even with his torture skills, he had to spend a lot of effort to pry open their mouths.

"But..." Recalling what the old ghost Zhaixing said, Lin Yuan keenly grasped the key words, "A year ago, deep retreat...?"

A year ago, it was just after the Soul Palace took action against the Xiao family.

Lin Yuan tapped his forehead and suddenly remembered something. In the original trajectory, the Soul Palace Master, Hun Mie Sheng, did not appear in front of everyone for the first time as an early five-star Douluo until the time when the Pure Lotus Demon Fire was born.

"Deep seclusion... Could it be that he sensed the opportunity to break through to the Five-Star Douluo level, and thus went into seclusion for more than a decade?"

As for seclusion for more than ten years, this is quite normal for a Douluo Saint.

The one-star difference between Douluo Saints can truly be called an insurmountable chasm, and this is especially true for higher star levels. Under normal circumstances, it is extremely difficult to break through one star, and it takes a very long time.

After all, after reaching the level of Dou Sheng, the usefulness of Dou Di's bloodline has greatly decreased.

Even if it is a divine bloodline, it only gives a sufficiently high upper limit. Under normal circumstances, the energy required to reach that upper limit will take a long time to accumulate.

"If the Soul Hall Master needs to be in seclusion for ten years, then during these ten years the power to guard the soul's origin..."

"This matter is still far away, let's focus on the present!"

Taking a deep breath, Lin Yuan suppressed the stirring thoughts in his heart and continued to ask: "Then where is the underground palace we are going to?"

"The Western Regions!" said the old ghost Zhaixing.

During their communication, the two flew at high speed for a whole day and night.

"arrive!"

Standing in the void, the old ghost Zhaixing said lightly.

Lin Yuan looked at the mountain range below that was filled with ghostly aura and an unpleasant atmosphere, his brows slightly furrowed. All he could see was a barren land with a few white bones dotted across it, making the place even more eerie.

"It's hidden, interesting!"

With a light chuckle, just as he was about to use his soul power to investigate, he saw the old ghost Zhaixing flip his hand, and a black token engraved with the word "Zun" appeared in his palm.

The fighting spirit was injected into the token, and suddenly some strange silver lines appeared on the token, and the power of space lingered on it.

"open--"

With a shout of "Yes", the old ghost Zhaixing gave an order and a space crack about ten feet in size appeared in front of the two of them.

"Let's go!"

Taking a deep breath, the old ghost Zhaixing walked into the space first. Seeing this, Lin Yuan followed curiously.

After the two entered, the space crack disappeared into thin air.

(End of this chapter)