Douluo Continent: From Internal Martial Arts to the Law of Heaven and Earth

The horse seemed to understand Gu Yue's meaning and let out an excited neigh.

"Let's go, our journey has only just begun." Tang Shan mounted his horse and sat steadily on its back.

"Step back a little, I'll take control."

Gu Yue gracefully turned over, her black hair fluttering in the wind. Tang Shan naturally embraced the girl's slender waist and placed her in front of him.

Gu Yue's body stiffened for a brief moment before she returned to normal, as if nothing had happened. Only the faint pink blush on the tips of her ears revealed her shyness.

"Giddy up!" The whip cracked in the air, and the horse, given the command, took off galloping down the hill towards the distance. The scenery around them vanished, the wind whipped their faces, and a feeling of exhilarating freedom filled their hearts.

The crisp sound of horses' hooves echoed through the mountains and forests, and the galloping figures gradually disappeared at the edge of the plains.

……

Licheng is one of the border cities of the Star Luo Empire. Unlike Notting City, which is peaceful despite being on the border, Licheng is a major military stronghold and frequently clashes with the Heaven Dou Empire.

Inside the city lord's mansion of Licheng, Li Jiang, the city lord, was sitting in the lowest seat, while an old man was sitting on the city lord's throne that should have belonged to him.

The old man looked to be around seventy years old. His face was covered with deep wrinkles and his skin was rough and tough. He was very burly, and his wide robe could not hide his strong and taut muscles. He had broad shoulders and a thick back, and his hands had large knuckles and full, muscular hands, like tiger paws.

His thick index finger tapped the table steadily and forcefully, the rhythm even, producing a crisp, steady sound. Apart from that, the entire city lord's mansion was utterly silent.

"Still haven't found it?" The old man's voice was aged and hoarse, yet full of energy, breaking the long silence.

Hearing the old man's question, Li Jiang, who had been holding his breath, finally breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly reported respectfully: "Lei Hu's team members have returned. According to their investigation, Tang Shan left Notting City a few days after taking Lei Hu away. They tried to follow him, but he seemed to have vaguely sensed something and easily shook them off. We still don't know where Tang Shan is now. Please forgive me for a few more days, Fourth Elder. I will definitely find him."

The Star Luo Empire also established a Hall of Worship, modeled after the Spirit Hall. The conditions for joining were not as strict; anyone who was a Soul Douluo was sufficient.

The fourth elder before them, named Dai Jie, was from the Star Luo royal family and was a Soul Douluo level 82 powerhouse. This time, he received orders from the empire to carry out a special mission: to stifle Tang Shan, a rising star of the Heaven Dou Empire, and to eliminate Xue Qinghe's capable assistant.

After leading his team to the border, he soon received good news: a secret agent codenamed Lei Hu had discovered Tang Shan's whereabouts. However, before he could celebrate for long and was about to set off, bad news followed—Lei Hu had disappeared, and Tang Shan was nowhere to be found.

If it weren't for the fact that quite a few students witnessed the battle in Tangshan, and that Lei Hu's men hadn't also gathered a lot of information, we would probably be back to being completely in the dark.

"Hmph, I'll give you a few more days. But Lei Hu's death did have some effect. Since Tang Shan defeated the Soul Emperor so easily, his victory over the Soul Saint is probably genuine."

Dai Jie clenched his large hands together abruptly, his muscles tense, the veins on his thick arms bulging, his voice cold and menacing.

"You narrowly defeated a Soul Saint? I'd like to see how you'll deal with me, a Soul Douluo."

At this moment, Dai Jie's killing intent towards Tang Shan was stronger than ever before. He had previously thought that Tang Shan was just a new star forcibly created by the Heaven Dou Empire, and that the claims of a Soul Master versus a Soul Saint were all false propaganda. Now it seemed that he had been blind; some prodigies were simply unfathomable.

Dai Jie sincerely admired Tang Shan's talent and combat prowess, but this did not diminish the intense killing intent surging within him.

Chapter 313 A Month's Harvest

"Report!"

Just then, a soldier rushed into the city lord's mansion, his voice urgent and panicked.

"What happened?"

Lord Li of Licheng frowned, displeased with the soldiers' panic, but the most important thing was to find out what had happened first.

"Reporting to the city lord, Starmark City just issued an emergency notification that the station has been destroyed."

Upon hearing this, Li's expression changed drastically. He stood up abruptly and asked in a deep voice, "What exactly happened? Which website was destroyed?"

Faced with the general's questioning, the soldier was clearly terrified and said tremblingly, "It is the Star Luo spy station that we planted in Star Mark City."

"Who did this? Have their identities been investigated?"

After barely calming her somewhat agitated heart, Li put her voice back to a calm tone.

"It is not yet known. According to the reports from the soldiers who managed to escape, the one who made the move was a mysterious Soul Master who claimed to be the Sect Master of the Body Sect."

"Self-proclaimed? Could it be that after making the move, that person specifically announced their identity?"

Faced with Li Jiang's doubts, the soldier hesitated for a moment: "Reporting to the city lord, it seems that the situation is indeed as described."

"Cough cough!" An old cough sounded, and Li Jiang's eyes flickered. He ordered, "Leave the urgent letter here and leave."

The soldier respectfully presented the letter, then turned and left.

Seeing the other party leave, Li respectfully held the letter in his hands and presented it to Dai Jie, who was sitting in the main seat. Dai Jie took it with one hand, opened it, examined it carefully, and fell into deep thought.

Li Jiang dared not breathe loudly, quietly waiting for the old man on the main seat to finish reading the urgent report.

"Did the four honored guests glean anything from this?"

Seeing that the old man had put down the letter, Li Jiang asked cautiously.

"Interesting. What an arrogant kid. Take it and see for yourself."

Dai Jie pushed the letter away, and under the influence of his soul power, the thin sheet of paper appeared in front of Li Jiang in the next moment.

Li Jiang dared not delay. Upon hearing Dai Jie's instructions, he quickly picked up the urgent report and examined it carefully.

After a short while, he also noticed the key point and tentatively said, "A soul ring configuration of three purple and one black, and a close-combat killing method, could it be..."

"You guessed right, it is that person."

Dai Jie's face was beaming with a bright smile, but his eyes were flashing with a chilling light.

"I was worried about where to find him, but unexpectedly, he walked right into the net."

"The meaning of those four offerings is..."

Li hesitated for a moment.

“Naturally, we should immediately return to the empire and kill this so-called Sect Master of the Body Sect. How can the dignity of my Star Luo Empire be violated by a mere Soul Sect?”

Dai Jie stood up from the large chair, his burly body casting a huge shadow, like a giant black tiger poised to pounce.

“Since he claims to be the sect leader of the Body Sect, then we will treat him as the sect leader of the Body Sect. As for Tang Shan, we can pretend we know nothing about him.”

"The four offerings are wise and virtuous."

Li Jiang couldn't help but flatter him.

"Alright, you can go now. I need to plan carefully to make sure that villain is completely captured and not given any chance to escape."

"Yes!"

Li bowed respectfully and then quietly withdrew.

In the main hall of the city lord's mansion, only the old man remained. He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the setting sun. For the first time, a cruel and fierce smile appeared on his face: "Tang Shan, I don't care if you're really stupid or thinking of the Heavenly Dou Empire. Since you've come to our Star Luo, then you'll perish here!"

……

Boom!

With a series of bones shattering, a Soul King was instantly killed by Tang Shan's massive iron fist, thus ending the life of all the Soul Masters at the Star Luo Station.

The silver light shimmered, the water surged, and Gu Yue collected all the items of any value.

Tang Shan released his mental energy to help Gu Yue loot the area. In less than a minute, the two quickly retreated. With the opening of the spatial passage and the use of teleportation, when the two reappeared, they were already on the hills outside Starfall City.

The tall, magnificent horse let out a loud neigh, clearly welcoming its master's return. Tang Shan and Gu Yue exchanged a glance, and bright smiles appeared on their faces at the same time.

Time passed silently, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed. Tang Shan and Gu Yue traveled between major cities in Xingluo, destroying one Xingluo spy stronghold after another, causing incalculable losses to the Xingluo Empire.

Including the ones the two of them destroyed together, Tang Shan and Gu Yue now have five strongholds completely destroyed.

Perhaps the Star Luo Empire is a large and powerful nation, and wouldn't care about repairing those buildings. However, the Soul Masters who were dealt with by the two of them cannot be restored simply by having money and resources. Not to mention, those people were not only Soul Masters, but also secret agents who were absolutely loyal to the empire. The difficulty of training them is unimaginable.

Gu Yue's eyebrows were curved, and every gesture she made exuded the unique charm of a young girl. Compared to her aloofness when she first traveled with Tang Shan, she now had a more vibrant and warm demeanor.

Tangshan and Guyue did not immediately carry out their destruction plan upon arriving in the city. They always remembered that the main purpose was to travel, and revenge was merely a side effect.

They wandered through the streets and alleys, watching the vendors' shouts and the people's bargaining at the morning market, and hearing the clear laughter of children chasing and playing in the alleys at dusk. Every city's city gate, market, riverbank, and historical site bears the footprints of the two walking side by side.

They have witnessed the hardships of ordinary people struggling to make ends meet, the warmth of ordinary couples supporting each other through thick and thin, and the coldness of teachers and students turning against each other for profit, and brothers drawing their swords against each other for power.

They have wiped out bandits who ruled the mountains, burning, killing, and looting, and they have also secretly treated civilians who fell ill on the streets and were ignored. They have witnessed the warmth and coldness of human relationships and experienced all walks of life. The complexities of the world have been reflected in their hearts, and a special kind of transformation has quietly begun.

This transformation has nothing to do with soul power or blood and qi. Even if spiritual power begins to grow at a considerable rate, it is merely a side effect of this transformation.

The greatest influence is on the mind and will. Gu Yue has already accumulated enough experience; he only needs to seize the opportunity to successfully achieve the Golden Core in one fell swoop.

Gu Yue, who had not yet developed a strong will, reaped such rich rewards. Tang Shan, with an even stronger will, had his mind constantly refined and his will becoming increasingly powerful as he repeatedly fulfilled his desires and witnessed the myriad aspects of life.

The myriad aspects of life became his hardest whetstone. His actions, which followed his heart, made his will no longer be hindered in the slightest. Every move, every choice, and every time he witnessed life and death and good and evil, tempered his spiritual core little by little, causing the strength of his will to rise wildly at an extremely terrifying speed, steadily moving towards a level that was unpredictable and beyond human comprehension.

In terms of willpower, if Tang Shan were to achieve a title, he could break through six levels in one go. In other words, as long as he achieves a title, his soul power level could soar to level 97 in a very short time. The main difficulty would be the accumulation of soul power. As for bottlenecks, they would not exist before reaching level 97.

The stronger will also feeds back into the practice of Tangshan Neijiaquan (internal martial arts), and the development of the body's potential is progressing at an extremely impressive speed. However, compared to the potential inherent in Tangshan's body, the several-fold increase in development speed is still far from enough.

Fortunately, although his internal martial arts level was still at the Dan Jin stage, Tang Shan had already felt that his will was not far from forcibly reaching the Divine Realm. As long as his physical potential did not increase dramatically in a short period of time, he believed that he would be able to surpass the Gang Jin stage and forcibly reach the Divine Realm in the future.

……

Shall we set off now?

Gu Yue smiled faintly, her eyes gazing gently at Tang Shan.

Feeling the looming sense of crisis approaching, Tang Shan shook his head slightly: "No rush. Let's stay here and see what kind of opponents we might encounter in the future."

As Tang Shan's voice fell, a violent roar resounded across the sky, and terrifying soul power fluctuations swept across the surroundings like a raging torrent. A burly old man with a fierce aura, dressed in a simple yet oppressive robe, hung high in the sky, his soul power surging around him, his sharp eyes fixed on the already somewhat boiling Starfall City.

"Where is the Lord of Starfall City? Come out and see me at once!"

The burly old man descended and landed on the ground, his voice booming and echoing around the walls of Starfall City, his imposing presence terrifying.

"Contra?"

Gu Yue looked at the imposing old man, her eyes narrowed slightly, her expression calm.

"That's right, it's Contra. This old guy followed us when we destroyed the Star Mark City spy base, but he was never sure which city we were going to. Plus, with my premonition of the autumn wind, he was able to avoid us."

"So when should we fight him, now?"

Gu Yue faced the Soul Douluo without fear. Even though she was only a Soul Master, she was confident that she could hold her own against him. If she cooperated with Tang Shan, it was hard to say whether she could defeat or even kill him, but suppressing him should not be a big problem.

"No, it's not the right time yet."

Although Tang Shan did not know when he should fight his opponent, he had a premonition that the day he defeated his opponent would be the day he would forcibly meet the god, and at that time, the grudges with the Star Luo Empire would also end.

This premonition came suddenly, but Tangshan did not doubt it; it was a further development of the childlike heart, the ability to foresee the future.

If the previous premonitions mainly served to avoid misfortune, then the intuition in the dark has already taken on a slightly auspicious characteristic.

"It shouldn't be too long. When my energy and spirit reach their peak, we can join forces and have a go at this Star Luo Soul Douluo."

Tang Shan mounted his horse, not glancing at the Contra at the gate again: "Gu Yue, let's go. Next stop, Gengxin City. I've been looking forward to the Metal Capital for a long time."

Gu Yue glanced one last time at the old man at the entrance of Starfall City, then gracefully flipped over and sat steadily behind Tang Shan, her two fair arms naturally and gently encircling Tang Shan's waist.