Douluo Continent: On Becoming a God Through Science

Chapter 112 Returning to Wuhun City felt like coming home

If we're talking about the biggest surprise during the hunt for soul beasts, there's only one thing—soul bones.

Soul bones are extremely rare, especially for those under 10,000 years old. The drop rate of soul bones from 10,000-year-old soul beasts is significantly higher than that from low-level soul beasts. However, as long as the soul bone production rate is below 100,000 years, the actual drop rate remains very low, only slightly higher than that from low-level soul beasts.

This time, the hunt for the Archaeopteryx yielded a Soul Bone! The right arm bone of a 70,000-year-old Archaeopteryx!

You Chen does not pursue absolute perfection in soul bones, unlike the protagonists in fanfiction who pursue a body full of 100,000-year-old soul bones or even ferocious beast soul bones.

The reason why You Chen has not absorbed any soul bones all this time is not because he dislikes soul bones that are not at the 100,000-year level, but simply because... soul bones are too rare and scarce.

Soul bones can be passed down, meaning that the number of them in the world increases over time.

In this era, many titled Douluo only possessed one or two soul bones, let alone You Chen.

He only had that one head soul bone, and its compatibility was questionable; even if he absorbed it, it wouldn't improve his martial soul's essence by even a fraction. For You Chen, whose only goal at the time was martial soul evolution, it was somewhat like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away.

You Chen was already very satisfied with the 70,000-year-old Archaeopteryx right arm bone, especially since it and his sixth soul ring came from the same source, making their compatibility naturally much higher than other soul bones!

However, You Chen did not intend to absorb it now.

Unlike in the past, the reason now is quite simple.

Absorbing a soul bone, like absorbing a soul ring, will enhance the stability of your martial soul.

Therefore, before the alt account of the wandering star absorbs the first three soul rings, he will not use any soul bones.

After storing the Archaeopteryx's right arm bone in his storage space, You Chen chose to return.

Then, about a month passed.

A major upheaval occurred among the upper classes of the Douluo Continent.

Almost all the nobles knew one thing: the assassination of Marquis Shanya of the Star Luo Empire and the son of Prince Antonio!

The organization that made the move was Skynet, a killer organization that had gradually risen to prominence in recent years!

Compared to before, the "Skynet" organization has truly become infamous this time.

Even in remote areas of the Douluo Continent like Notting City, rumors of the Skynet have spread. Some parents even use the Skynet to scare their children, saying things like, "If you don't behave, Skynet's assassins will suddenly appear and kidnap you."

Emperor Xingluo began calling on the entire nation to arrest and crack down on the Skynet organization.

Although the Spirit Hall holds a transcendent position, for ordinary people on the Douluo Continent, the two great empires are far more revered.

This has nothing to do with strength, because ordinary people and low-level soul masters only know that titled Douluo are very powerful, but they have no concrete concept of it, and they don't know that the Spirit Hall currently has the most titled Douluo.

The empire's appeal lies largely in humanity's greater reverence for the concept of "nation."

In other words, the civilization of Douluo Continent did not transition to a stage where cultivators were supreme and mortal emperors merely served them, simply because of the emergence of extraordinary powers.

With such a powerful appeal, many civilians were mobilized. Even though the Soul Beasts began to practice the Concealing Breath Technique, it was still difficult to hide from all eyes.

It's only a matter of time before it's discovered.

However, contrary to what many people expected, this time the discovery of their whereabouts was actually a deliberate act by the Soul Fighting Beast organization.

The Star Luo Empire dispatched a massive army of over a thousand Soul Masters to encircle and annihilate the Soul Fighting Beasts.

Among this army of over a thousand men, there was one Soul Douluo and ten Soul Saints.

Everyone felt that the so-called "net of heaven" was ultimately "vast and inescapable," and that the siege would come to an end in this operation.

However, the result shocked and terrified everyone.

An army of one thousand men surrounded and attacked one hundred Skynet assassins, but suffered heavy losses in their very first encounter due to the strange weapons wielded by the Skynet assassins.

Even the Soul Douluo and the ten Soul Saints failed to gain any advantage.

Because Skynet also has a "Contra"!

Moreover, he was one of the strongest Soul Douluos!

Afterwards, some survivors in the army revealed that their commander, the Contra General, was instantly killed by Skynet's Contra Assassins in a single encounter!

It was also because the methods of that Soul Douluo assassin were too terrifying and frightening, coupled with the previous casualties, that the morale of the army collapsed instantly, and everyone, including the ten Soul Saints, began to flee!

Based on the previous ranking of Bronze-level, Silver-level, Gold-level, and Earth-level assassins from the Skynet system, some busybodies have dubbed that Soul Douluo-level assassin as a "Heaven-level assassin"!

After this incident, the previously overwhelming outcry suddenly fell silent.

Even the Star Luo Emperor, who initially called for the annihilation of the Skynet, backed down.

There's no other reason than that he's a Heavenly-level assassin capable of instantly killing a Soul Douluo. Even if he's not a Title Douluo, he already possesses the deterrent power of a Title Douluo!

Moreover... they couldn't actually confirm whether this person was a Soul Douluo or a Title Douluo.

After all, this Heavenly-level assassin didn't even reveal his spirit rings when he made his move! The reason we previously guessed he was a Soul Douluo was simply because most Soul Masters didn't even consider the possibility of a Title Douluo!

In this day and age, titled Douluo are like martial arts legends in wuxia novels, beings whose appearances are rarely seen.

Shortly after this incident, the Star Luo Emperor issued a statement declaring that the previous events had been investigated and found to be a misunderstanding. He explained that the Marquis of Shanya and the son of Prince Antonio had attempted to steal the soul beast prey of a Heavenly-level assassin, and were instead punished by the assassin. The correspondence between the Marquis of Shanya and Prince Antonio within the Marquis's mansion essentially confirmed the evidence.

Following the Star Emperor's statement, Antonio also followed suit and completed a righteous separation from the prince.

After severely condemning the actions of Marquis Shanya and Prince Antonio, the Star Luo Emperor declared that he would hand over all of their property to the Heavenly-level assassin as compensation, and sincerely invited the Heavenly-level assassin to join the Star Luo Empire as a guest minister.

Throughout the entire incident, the Star Luo Empire became a complete laughing stock, and the Heaven Dou Empire's official authorities took the opportunity to write extensively about it, thoroughly mocking the Star Luo Empire.

However, he did not mock the top-tier assassin.

After all... who wouldn't be afraid of an assassin who can instantly kill a Soul Douluo on the front lines, right in front of a thousand troops?

Especially for emperors who have already climbed to the pinnacle of power, who would be willing to break ties with such a person?

SkyNet never responded to the Star Luo Emperor's gratitude, and the entire SkyNet organization fell silent.

The storm seems to have subsided...

Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

"The cultivation speed of the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Technique has slowed down significantly again."

After his life level improved, You Chen felt that the difficulty of cultivating the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Technique had decreased.

With the benefits of the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Technique, it wouldn't be unreasonable to temporarily set aside soul power cultivation and make it the main focus.

In the past six months, even if You Chen missed his daily soul power training, he still had to practice the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Technique at least once.

Now that the number of giant elephant particles has exceeded 50%, You Chen feels that his cultivation efficiency has been greatly reduced.

The enhancement from three ten-thousand-year spirit rings is undeniably powerful, especially one of them, a seventy-thousand-year spirit ring. In terms of the physical enhancement from the spirit rings alone, You Chen is comparable to some Soul Douluos with lower-quality spirit rings. However, even though he hadn't improved his Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Technique half a year ago, his overall physical attributes had already reached the level of a Soul Douluo.

Combined with the few high-level buff pills he currently has in reserve, and the momentary dazed effect of the Soul-Stealing Technique, he was able to achieve the feat of instantly killing a Soul Douluo half a year ago.

Now, he has made more than halfway through his cultivation of the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Technique, and his overall physical qualities are definitely among the best in Soul Douluo. If he could go back to half a year ago, he would be fully confident that he could do the same thing even without using those high-grade pills.

In other words...

At first glance, some Soul Douluos with weak mental strength, who have not reached the Spirit Abyss Realm, and whose physical strength is insufficient, could be instantly killed by him in his current state.

As long as one's mental strength has not reached the Spirit Abyss Realm, the difficulty of him killing either a Soul Douluo or a Soul Saint is not much different.

However, it's a different story when facing a spiritual power expert at the Spirit Abyss Realm. Even if his spiritual power were to increase by another level, he would probably still be unable to overcome the challenge with the Great Perfection level Soul-Slaying Technique alone.

Because, even though the Soul Douluo's mental strength had clearly not reached the Spirit Abyss Realm, You Chen could still feel extremely obvious resistance when he used the Soul-Suppressing Technique after using Super Focus.

If he hadn't been fast enough, he might have been able to catch his opponent before he could inflict serious damage.

The biggest difference between the Spirit Abyss Realm and the Spirit Sea Realm is the ability to project one's perception outwards; everyone in the Spirit Abyss Realm can achieve a kind of mental detection ability.

Their perception of danger far surpasses that of their subordinates.

If You Chen only uses the Soul-Suppressing Technique to intimidate them, that's fine. But once he harbors murderous intent, they will realize it at an astonishing speed.

"But this is enough."

Even a titled Douluo couldn't keep You Chen alive now.

Even if a Super Douluo makes a move, You Chen can simply reveal his Starlight Avatar trump card and escape after maneuvering for a while.

Only at this moment can one truly say that one can go anywhere in the world.

Many of the concerns we had in the past can now be disregarded.

It's time to get back to my old ways.

However, You Chen did not immediately return to Wuhun City.

Shortly after the first two weeks of his initial hunting campaign...

As time passed, word eventually spread about his massacre of researchers in Wuhun City, causing many fearful researchers to flee the city.

They completely ignored the fact that even if someone was targeting them, their chances of survival were significantly higher under the protection of Wuhun City than if they were to flee haphazardly.

Among those who fled were many of You Chen's targets.

You Chen couldn't figure out if the Spirit Hall was secretly watching these people. If he acted rashly, he might be able to find his informants by following the clues.

However, as such a long time has passed, the Spirit Hall's attention to this group of escapees will inevitably decrease.

And... they will soon no longer have that luxury.

You Chen spent two months completing the roundup of these fugitives.

Then... a year later, another series of murders occurred in Wuhun City.

In the first month after the masked killer reappeared, more than ten people died.

Unlike before, among these deaths were people who were murdered in extremely cruel ways.

This action is an insult to his character, causing fear and indignation in many people.

The Spirit Hall naturally viewed the assailant's outrageous behavior as a provocation and was furious.

In reality... these changes were not due to any particular hobby of You Chen, but simply because the changes in the mission conditions altered his methods of execution.

Regarding the conditions and types of task completion, so far, they can be roughly divided into "defeat", "humiliation", and "attitude change" types.

Additional conditions are generally "expanding the impact (such as the number of onlookers required in Tang San's mission)," "increasing the intensity (such as requiring a quick victory, or inflicting a certain degree of trauma on the opponent while defeating them)," and "other additional mission conditions that are completely different from the main mission."

There was no actual requirement for You Chen to kill the mission target.

However, most tasks can actually be accomplished through simple and brutal "killing".

Defeating someone is self-explanatory, but killing someone is also a form of defeat.

You Chen had already tried humiliation. He used extremely vile methods to physically humiliate someone, such as tearing off their clothes in public. This method could also achieve the same effect.

Killing the target using brutal methods can also be considered an achievement.

Unless it's a mission like the Yu Xiaogang mission that requires a specific form of psychological humiliation, the mission can usually be easily completed using violence.

In fact, many forms of psychological humiliation can be achieved simultaneously during the process of physical humiliation.

Finally, there's the change in attitude. This is the most troublesome of the three conditions.

Because the target of the attitude shift is not the "masked killer," but "You Chen." Therefore, even if You Chen terrifies the other party to the point of wetting their pants, if the other party does not know that the source of their fear is You Chen, the mission is not considered complete.

Therefore, for such targets, You Chen must first forcibly abduct them, and only after confirming that no one else is present can he reveal his identity to complete the mission. The killing is merely a cleanup measure.

Of course, some people guessed from You Chen's notebook records that there were several tasks. You Chen would not kill them all at once, but would play cat and mouse, first scaring them to complete the task, and then choosing to kill them at the end.

Such an uninhibited style of behavior naturally makes it easier to expose more flaws.

However, You Chen is no longer the same as before.

Even relying solely on physical attributes, one can easily and quickly shake off a Soul Saint.

Moreover, with his increased strength, You Chen no longer hides himself like he did in the first few operations a year ago. If he is surrounded by multiple Soul Saints, he will directly use his Martial Soul to escape.

Why did you try so hard to hide it before, not even letting your soul power fluctuations slip through? Why aren't you trying so hard to hide it now?

In reality, even if the people of the Spirit Hall were incredibly imaginative, it would be almost impossible for them to deduce that the masked assassin's true identity was You Chen.

You Chen's unnecessary action was merely out of caution.

If Bibi Dong places too much trust in his academic abilities and truly believes that he can defy fate and possess the strength of a Soul Saint, thus confirming that the Masked Assassin is You Chen, and directly lays a trap, then he will truly have nowhere to escape.

But now, he is not so worried about this happening.

Unless a powerhouse at the Limit Douluo level intervenes, You Chen is confident that he can escape at least once before his Starlight Avatar ability is discovered.

If You Chen's current combat power is at the Soul Douluo level, then his ability to escape and save his life is at the Super Douluo level!

To complete the divine test, Bibi Dong was forced to suppress her soul power until near the end of the original novel, and could only exert a maximum of level 98 combat power.

This means that You Chen is no longer as naive as Bibi Dong.

With such a small probability, and even with one more chance as a safety net, if you can't even make the most of it, then there's no point in talking about ambition.

You Chen's days in Wuhun City felt like coming home, but in the second month, he was finally held back by a group of Soul Douluos.

In this situation, it would be impossible for You Chen to completely hide.

Then, the people of Wuhun City quickly realized that their previous assessment of him having combat power above Soul Saint could be changed—this guy was definitely a strongman at least at the Soul Douluo level!

Despite the fierce winds, You Chen managed to escape before the Title Douluo from Wuhun City arrived.

Seeing You Chen successfully escape, the cardinals at the top of the Spirit Hall all had grim expressions.

Even knowing You Chen's strength, the current situation won't change much because of this information.

As You Chen had anticipated, they had already deployed the highest-level encirclement and suppression force they could normally use.

Including Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo, there are currently five Title Douluo elders on standby in Wuhun City, ready to take down the masked assassin with lightning speed.

However, the problem was... In their initial expectations, the simultaneous actions of several cardinals were a sure thing, and the enforcers with Soul Saint-level strength were only responsible for delaying the masked assassins and waiting for them to arrive.

But reality gradually shattered their expectations.

It's one thing that the Soul Saint couldn't stop the masked assassin, but these Soul Douluos couldn't hold him off for long either!

This means that they can probably only hope for the last resort—waiting for the masked assassin to make a move near a Title Douluo and be discovered!

Because only a Title Douluo-level powerhouse could truly delay and hold off the masked assassin!

Why would such a troublesome entity target the Spirit Hall and Spirit City?

Many people dressed in red had the same thought in their minds.

Such a terrifying and powerful individual has been roaming around Wuhun City for years. Even if they are not his target, they still can't sleep or eat in peace!

At this moment, these high and mighty figures also experienced the feelings of ordinary residents in Wuhun City.

(End of this chapter)