Douluo Continent: On Becoming a God Through Science

Chapter 124 A Year of Silence, Kui and Amona

Even with Qian Daoliu's obstruction, Bibi Dong would not give up so easily.

Bibi Dong's obsession was so strong that even if she were alone, she would still try to catch the masked assassin and the Skynet organization.

However, since then, the masked assassin, who used to come to Wuhun City every few days to take a few heads and then leave, has disappeared as if he had never appeared at all.

This feeling of having one's thoughts read by the other party drove Bibi Dong even more crazy.

Even so, she never gave up.

However, while dealing with the Pope's political affairs, he also had to suppress the increasingly violent mental impact of the Rakshasa's divine power, and spend time searching for the masked assassin and the Skynet organization...

Bibi Dong's time was significantly occupied, greatly extending the time it would take for her to complete the Divine Trial, regain her peak power, and even advance to the next level. This would naturally affect the time it would take for Bibi Dong to establish her Martial Soul Empire.

With the results achieved on Tang San's side, You Chen's goal of hindering these two can be said to have been successfully accomplished.

Meanwhile, Qian Renxue also mobilized her own forces to begin investigating the whereabouts of the Skynet organization.

However, in the Douluo Continent, which is comparable to an ancient society and lacks modern technology, it is easy to imagine how difficult it is to find an organization whose members are all loyal assassins.

Especially since... the Soul Beast organization has now fled into the no-man's land.

They migrated more than 2,000 kilometers westward from the original Asturias Mountains, directly inserting themselves into the Cataclysmic Mountain Range region at the western border of Tiandou and Xingluo, and rebuilt their base camp in the Cataclysmic Mountains.

Compared to Asturias, the Cataclysmic Mountains live up to their name, their danger level increasing by more than one order of magnitude, with countless powerful soul beasts rampaging and roaming there.

As a result, there are virtually no inhabitants, and no mountain paths naturally carved out by travelers, making transportation extremely inconvenient.

But what replaces it is a much richer array of wilderness resources.

The Cataclysmic Mountains are close to the main river system of Xingluo, and are rich in water resources, vegetation and forest resources. The mountains themselves also contain abundant mineral resources. If one has sufficient strength, it is indeed a good place to be self-sufficient.

According to information gathered by Soul Beast, the Star Luo Empire once considered building a military base in the heart of the Cataclysmic Mountains. However, to operate in such a place and ensure safety, if the soldiers' strength is insufficient, it would probably require a Title Douluo powerhouse to provide adequate protection.

It's obvious that the Star Luo Empire couldn't provide such a powerful figure to be stationed here at any time.

Not to mention that they can't command a Title Douluo, even if they could, it would be better to use him as a fighting force to participate in the struggle for interests with Tiandou than to make him a military region commander.

However, the Soul Beast organization does not have this problem.

Although You Chen's strength can only be considered as that of a Title Douluo when he is in the Spirit Realm, once this method is used, he will be weak for a long time and cannot be regarded as his normal combat strength.

However, the core combat force of the current Soul Fighting Beasts has gradually transitioned to the Soul Venerable stage. In addition, with each of them equipped with a Black Fire Crossbow, their combined combat strength is definitely no weaker than that of the Star Luo Empire's military elites.

Secondly, the "Concealing Breath Technique" has now been widely adopted among Soul Fighting Beasts.

According to the policy carefully considered by Ignis and Grace, both beast soldiers and beast tamers can exchange for the beginner level of "Concealing Breath Technique" for free, and will receive merit rewards after mastering it.

This greatly increased the Soul Beasts' enthusiasm for practicing the Concealing Breath Technique.

Even some Soul Fighting Beasts, limited by their perspective and unable to see the power of the Breath Concealment Technique, will still voluntarily invest time in practicing it.

Over such a long period of time, most people have completed the basics of the Breath Concealment Technique, and the benefits of this technique for outdoor activities are self-evident.

This greatly reduces the difficulty of survival. In principle, when active in this area, the Soul Beasts no longer need You Chen's protection.

As Soul Beasts have evolved to this point, ordinary ten-thousand-year-old Soul Beasts can be defeated without Ignis's intervention, and the more powerful ones can be defeated by the combined strength of many.

After arriving at the base camp in the Cataclysmic Mountains, You Chen was mostly absorbed in his own affairs.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye after You Chen arrived at the Cataclysmic Mountains.

After Ignis, Amona, with the White Tiger Martial Soul, and Kui, with the Soul-Sucking Wood Martial Soul, were promoted to Tiger Head and Wood Head respectively by You Chen on the grounds that they had made great contributions during the evacuation.

These two broke through to the Soul Master level long after Ignis, possessing the combat power of a Soul King from the old era.

This also means that Ignis is no longer alone in the position of the beast head.

You Chen created the position of the beast head not to place and promote his women, as is common in most novels, but to help them rise to power.

Rather, love has never been a very important thing to You Chen.

If there is only one beast head, it will be difficult to reflect the difference in status between the leader and the beast head, and it will make power too concentrated in Ignis's hands.

Therefore, it makes no sense for You Chen to promote only Ignis but not Amona and Kui.

Rather, if it weren't for the fact that Ignis's strength was indeed far superior to the others, You Chen would have preferred to promote the more mature and composed Kui.

Even though they are both animal heads, the symbolic meaning of the first animal head is different.

Indeed, this is the case; the three beast heads are implicitly led by Ignis.

However, You Chen did not actually think that Ignis was the most suitable one among the three to be the leader.

At first glance, both seem to be people who don't like to talk much and are good at getting things done, with Kui being even more silent.

However, when Kui served as a senior beast soldier, his command ability in teamwork was clearly more outstanding. Although he spoke little, every order he gave was to the point and the key.

In contrast, Ignis is more like a sharp single blade, a weapon that leads everyone in the charge.

To put it dramatically, the former is a brilliant strategist, while the latter is merely a capable general.

Unfortunately, Kui's talent for cultivation is far inferior to that of Ignis. In the world of Douluo, if he were to occupy a major position among the beast heads, it would easily attract some people's dissatisfaction.

On the other hand, after the Beast Masters were all taken back to their base camp, You Chen also reclassified the Beast Masters, separating the researchers led by Lin Zhi and establishing a research institute system on par with the Beast Soldiers and Beast Masters.

As the first director of the research institute, Lin Zhi held a position second only to the Beast Head.

In contrast, You Chen also promoted Grace, who had previously held a nominal position, to become the de facto leader of the Beast Masters. As the Beast Master Leader, her status was close to that of Lin Zhi.

For You Chen, intermediate-level pills were almost ineffective, so they were made completely available and could be exchanged for merit points.

The three beast heads improved their strength at an accelerated pace, and Grace, with You Chen's special help, successfully broke through to the Soul Master level.

Considering Grace's age, if she doesn't get more experience pills, she will likely be surpassed by mid-level beast soldiers in the future. But for now, with her strength only slightly weaker than the top beast leaders, she is more than capable of serving as the head of a logistics department.

Time slips away quietly...

"I feel so bored..."

On an unknown night, by a campfire, Amona, on night watch, was complaining to Kui, who was also in charge of the matter.

Even though Kui remained expressionless and didn't react at all, Amona seemed used to it and continued to complain without caring.

"How long have we been in this remote mountain valley? A year... no, a year is the time since the chief came here. As for us, we've been here for almost two years!"

Amona sighed deeply with a displeased expression: "I really want to eat candied hawthorns, Kui. Do you know how to make them?"

Kui: "No."

Going to the mountains occasionally for a few days can be considered a vacation.

However, if one stays there for even a short period of time, it becomes unbearable for most people living in the city.

Not to mention Amona's love of lively atmosphere.

Previously, the Soul Beasts used their camp in the Asturias Mountains as their base of operations, but this time it's different.

It was also a valley, but it was located on the outer edge of the mountain range. People would leave the mountain range from time to time to go to nearby towns for supplies, instead of being like savages now, basically cut off from external supplies and relying entirely on self-sufficiency.

Simply put, one is the seclusion of a normal person, without completely cutting off contact with the outside world, while the other is similar to the Peach Blossom Spring in the story of Peach Blossom Spring, which has no connection with the outside world.

"Ah~ Our Red Dragon is so kind~ She can bother the Chief every day~"

Amona's topics were very jumpy; one minute she was talking about food, and the next she was talking about Ignis.

She winked and lowered her voice, "Hey, Kui, do you think... that Ignis guy, she didn't use her wish for that kind of thing, did she?"

In fact, after seeing Ignis enter the Wanderer's tent frequently, the members of the Soul Beasts all assumed that she was using her desires for "that aspect".

Seeing Amona's gossipy expression, especially about the leader's private life, Kui finally twitched his eye and offered his unique analysis: "No, she'll definitely use her wish to increase her strength. She sneaks into the leader's tent every day, probably for no reason other than her wish. Or perhaps, she's using it to enhance Ignis's power?"

Since it involved their beloved leader, Kui couldn't help but add, "Amona, if you have that intention, instead of speculating here, why not just imitate Ignis's approach? I think the leader would most likely not refuse."

In Que's view, discussing the leader's private life in private is an offensive act and a damage to the leader's authority. But conversely, as long as it's not gossiping behind his back, it's not a problem if Amona really has something going on with the leader.

"Ah, never mind. Although I also admire the leader, this and that are not the same thing, and besides, I'm not really interested in that kind of thing. But what about you? Kui, looking at you like a blockhead, I really can't imagine you have that kind of need~"

"I just need to serve the leader wholeheartedly."

"You...you really are a blockhead. Your wish isn't something like 'to stay by the leader's side for life,' is it?"

"..."

"Uh, can it really be like that? Kui, to be honest, it's a bit disgusting."

"No, it couldn't possibly be like that. Loyalty isn't something you can achieve just by talking about it. As for wishes, I haven't mentioned them yet."

"I can understand, after all, it's a time like this. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing the same thing either."

"..."

"But to be honest, I did consider using this wish to get the chief to let me go to the city."

"Are you really an idiot?"

"You want to fight?! I can't beat Ignis, that Soul King, but I can't beat you, a mere mortal?!"

"You probably can't beat me."

"You bastard!"

But the facts are just as Kui said.

After both of them became Soul Masters, Kui was able to gain a firm advantage in one-on-one sparring with Amona, no longer the third-place player he once was.

In fact, according to the conventional system classification in Douluo Continent, Kui can be considered both a support system and a control system.

And their abilities in both areas are quite strong.

Amona was able to defeat Kui during her Soul Master period largely because of the physical advantages that Beast Soul Masters had over Weapon Soul Masters in the early stages.

This gap is supposed to gradually decrease as the Soul Master's life level increases. Especially when both of them have ten-thousand-year Soul Rings in their fourth ring, Amona can no longer overwhelm Kui with her physical advantages alone.

With the support of Soul Master-level Soul Power, Kui's Soul-Absorbing Wood already possessed the ability to control Amona.

Furthermore, Kui's Soul Refining Technique is second only to Lin Zhi among all the Soul Fighting Beasts, making him the second to break through to the Four Hearts Realm. His control over the Soul Absorbing Wood is already almost divine.

In contrast, Amona cannot directly enhance her combat power through the distraction effect of the Distraction Soul Refining Technique.

Over time, differences began to emerge.

"ha……"

Amona knew she was currently the weakest of the three beast heads. She sighed, her eyes slightly misty as she gazed at the night sky, murmuring to herself, "Perhaps I should also ask the leader for permission to strengthen myself?"

"Our leader is at a critical juncture," Kui said abruptly.

Amona couldn't help but roll her eyes: "You're exaggerating. Of course I know that, but he's not so busy that he can't find a single spare moment, is he? Doesn't the Chief occasionally come out to check on us?"

Upon hearing this, Kui's expression turned cold, and he lowered his voice angrily, "Amona, shut your mouth! You shouldn't forget what you can and cannot say!"

Amona pouted: "Isn't it just the two of us here? Okay, okay, I know I was wrong, I won't say it anymore."

"He occasionally comes out to take a look," and if the other Soul Beasts knew about this, they would be shocked.

For them, their leader had only shown himself once after arriving at the camp in the Cataclysmic Mountains; the rest of the time, he had been in seclusion. This situation had been going on for a full year.

However, the five people, including Grace, Lin Zhi, and the three beast heads, knew that this was not the case.

When the leader returned, he was accompanied by another boy who looked very much like him.

While the other Soul Beasts were filled with doubt and speculation, the leader abruptly announced to everyone that this person was his most valued disciple, who would inherit his position and become their future leader.

That is, the so-called "young master".

The Soul Beasts' feelings can be imagined when a young master suddenly appears above their heads.

But feelings aside, having been trained as assassins since childhood, they have an unwavering loyalty to You Chen, like a sun yearning for him. Even if their object of service changes, this loyalty will not fade much.

Whenever their young master went out on patrol, they would all bow in greeting. Over the course of the year, their respect for their young master gradually grew.

When discussing the battle between the Soul Beasts, You Chen introduced You Xing as his successor.

However, he gave a different account of the current five leaders of the Soul Fighting Beast, saying that he possessed a special twin martial soul, and this posture was his posture after switching to his second martial soul.

Even now, if the fact that Youxing and Youchen are the same person were to be exposed, it would not be a fatal blow to Youchen.

If he has to hide the fact that even the five individuals selected from among the best of the best, who have passed the second test in terms of both ability and loyalty, are the best of the best, then he probably has no one left in this world he can trust.

Even if it's not necessary, You Chen will take the initiative to reveal the secret of his "twin martial souls".

Sharing secrets has always been a great way to improve relationships.

Happiness is often derived through comparison.

If the previous promotions were merely granting them "power" superior to ordinary beast soldiers and beast tamers, allowing them to gain recognition of their status in a comparison of power and position.

The secret, then, is to give them a higher "right to know" and "closer relationship" than others, allowing them to feel a sense of superiority from their closer proximity to other "believers" and "gods".

"Look, they're still caught in a dilemma of loyalty between the 'Young Master' and the 'Chief,' while we don't have that problem at all, because we're one of the few who know that the 'Young Master' and the 'Chief' are the same person!"

People often feel complacent and proud because they are a superior minority.

The right to arbitrarily control others is merely the surface of the pleasure that power brings; this sense of accomplishment and satisfaction is the most intoxicating source of power.

Or rather, what they gained from it surpassed the cognition of others, which they mistakenly believed to be a transcendence of self, thus satisfying the highest level of needs in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

You Chen is cultivating this sense of belonging among them, thereby gaining them a higher level of loyalty.

Of course, besides these, there is an even simpler and more practical reason why You Chen brought You Xing to the forefront—You Chen's questline was stuck.

To get new missions, he can only use alternate accounts to operate outside as much as possible.

In fact, triggering a questline does not require the player to be in the corresponding Star or Dust state at that specific time.

The key is that the target's special emotions towards the wandering star or wandering dust are enough to exceed the emotional threshold that triggers the mission.

Therefore, it is important to maintain people's understanding of Yusei, so that his actions and persona are traceable and not some character who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Disciple of Master Youchen, young master of a mysterious organization, super genius who fights beyond his level... each of these identities can attract different attention and hostility.

"Kui, Amona, thank you for your hard work."

Just as Amona was pouting and admitting her mistake, a voice suddenly rang out from the darkness.

"Chief, leader!?" Amona almost screamed in terror, but she managed to suppress the urge with her strong willpower.

"leader!"

Kui's brow twitched, indicating that he was not as calm as he appeared; he was also frightened, but he had a more unique control over his expression.

He quickly replied, "This is what we should do."

You Chen nodded: "Of course, we will keep records according to merit."

After saying that, he walked wearily into the camp.

Amona and Que looked at each other in bewilderment.

The girl paused, then winked and said, "Kui, you understand the leader best. Look at the leader's expression. How is it going? Is everything alright?"

Before Kui could offer his interpretation, the voice of You Chen, who had already departed, suddenly drifted on the wind.

"By the way, Amona, you leaked a major secret without authorization. Go back and deduct 10,000 credits from Grace."

Amona's face paled, she scratched her cheek, and gave the speechless Kui an awkward smile: "Looks like the chief overheard us? Tell me, when exactly did the chief get back? Or is his hearing really that good?"

Kui rolled his eyes, deciding not to pay any more attention to the stupid big cat, and immediately put a considerable distance between them.

(End of this chapter)