Douluo Continent: Starting with the Burning Blade, he was then entangled with Ma Xiaotao.

Chapter 77 Six Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings

"My lord, it's that human brat again—should I capture him now and offer him to you as a tonic?" A deep and respectful voice echoed in the quiet core area.

Deep within the Star Dou Great Forest, in a place of great peril, lies the legendary Lake of Life. Its surface is as calm as ink jade, reflecting towering ancient trees. On its shore, Di Tian, ​​the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, revered as the Beast God and the leader of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, is now unusually submissive, bowing and whispering to the unfathomable depths of the lake.

Beneath the lake's surface, as if connected to another world, a deep silver dragon shadow slowly coiled, radiating an ancient pressure that even Emperor Tian felt his heart tremble.

"No need." A detached, ethereal voice, seemingly resounding deep within the soul, came from the bottom of the lake, devoid of emotion. "The primal power of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings within him has not yet fully awakened; it is not the time to seize it. Moreover—when the Crimson King encountered him last time, I already sensed a trace of aura from another powerful plane on his body. That is why I asked you to tell the Crimson King to step down."

The voice paused slightly, as if weighing its options carefully: "Perhaps—I can use his power to help me emerge from seclusion sooner. As for the auspicious beast, let nature take its course. She was originally just a pawn I placed beside that human boy beforehand."

"I see, thank you for clearing up my doubts, my lord." Di Tian lowered his head even further, the light in his golden dragon eyes dimmed slightly, and he said no more.

The Lake of Life has returned to its deathly stillness, with only the terrifying dragon shadow beneath its surface seemingly existing since time immemorial.

With two Title Douluo, Elder Xuan and Xian Lin'er, overseeing things on Lin Feng's side, Xi Xi and the others went very smoothly in acquiring spirit rings. In less than five days, they had successfully acquired six ten-thousand-year spirit rings and one thousand-year spirit ring.

During this time, Elder Xuan learned from Lin Feng that all six students had consumed ten-thousand-year-old immortal herbs, making their foundations far more solid than those of other Soul Masters of the same level. He then made the decision to allow Wang Dong, Ning Tian, ​​and Wu Feng to directly obtain their ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Rings.

As for Xiao Xiao, the Great Soul Master with the lowest cultivation level, after obtaining the third soul ring with the blessing of the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid, his soul power directly surged to level 40, and then he also absorbed a ten-thousand-year fourth soul ring.

Soul King Xixi and Soul Sect Master Jiang Nannan obtained ten-thousand-year soul rings with even higher age limits.

After quickly withdrawing from the Star Dou Great Forest, the Soul Hunting Team did not return to Shrek Academy, but headed straight for Star Luo City, the capital of the Star Luo Empire, the venue for this year's Soul Fighting Tournament.

"The current main team has one Soul Saint, three Soul Emperors, and two Soul Kings. The reserve team has one Soul King and six Soul Grandmasters. With this lineup, if you can't defend your championship title in this competition, you might as well drop out and reflect on your mistakes." Xian Lin'er surveyed the team, her tone stern yet brimming with absolute confidence. Wang Yan, the teacher leading the team, added with a smile, "Dean Xian is right. To tell you the truth, many teachers at advanced Soul Master academies don't even reach the Soul King level. Your opponents are already struggling to assemble a full complement of three-ring Soul Venerables, and four-ring Soul Grandmasters are extremely rare. I dare say that unless you encounter the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy in the first round, you'll almost certainly not face a team at the five-ring Soul King level."

"Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. No matter who our opponent is, we cannot underestimate them," Lin Feng replied. He couldn't wait to face the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy and see what their so-called genius soul masters were like.

"Yes, Lin Feng is right." Ning Tian immediately chimed in, and very naturally reached out to take Lin Feng's arm.

Ever since absorbing the 100,000-year-old Qiluo Tulip and evolving her martial soul into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, Ning Tian has firmly stood by Lin Feng's side. After all, among the six members of the Soul Hunting Team, she was the only one who obtained a 10-million-year-old immortal herb. She simply didn't believe Lin Feng wasn't biased.

As for Lin Feng, he really didn't think that much about it. The main reason was that there were only six 100,000-year-old immortal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Eye at this time, and the Qiluo Tulip happened to be among them.

He tacitly accepted Ning Tian's initiative, after all, the Great Dao shouldn't be so narrow-minded.

"When did you two start hooking up?!" Wang Dong blurted out as he saw Ning Tian intimately linking arms with Lin Feng, his voice filled with obvious annoyance and a hint of jealousy that he himself didn't fully realize.

"Mind your own business," Ning Tian retorted, raising her chin without backing down. The memory of narrowly losing to Wang Dong in the freshman assessment finals was still a thorn in her side.

"Hmph, who cares about you? I wouldn't even look at you if you offered yourself to me." Wang Dong was even more annoyed by the retort, and he didn't hold back either.

She grabbed Xiao Xiao's arm, raised her face, and acted as if to say, "I have company now."

Xiao Xiao's face flushed instantly, and she stiffened as Wang Dong suddenly grabbed her arm. A big reason why she transferred from Class 1 to Class 9 with Wang Dong was because she liked this handsome and capable "male classmate".

At this moment, being approached by the person she secretly admires makes her feel both shy and happy, and she lowers her head, not daring to look at them.

But what she didn't know was that Wang Dong, who had always politely declined her kindness, wasn't sexually problematic at all; he was a woman disguised as a man.

Lin Feng glanced at Wang Dong and Ning Tian, ​​who had instantly turned hostile, then looked at the innocent Xiao Xiao, raised his hand to touch his nose, and wisely shut his mouth.

This situation—it seems wrong for him to take sides with either of them, and he might even make things worse.

The others nearby, such as Xixi and Jiang Nannan, also tacitly looked away, pretending to admire the street scene along the way.

This is clearly a chaotic situation that Lin Feng created himself; anyone who gets involved will end up in trouble.

Soon, under the personal escort of Elder Xuan and Xian Lin'er, the group finally arrived in Xingluo City before the start of the competition.

As the capital of the Star Luo Empire, Star Luo City is undoubtedly the largest city in the empire, the absolute center of politics, culture and economy, and is known as the "imperial capital that will never fall".

This megacity has a permanent population of over eight million, and at its peak, it can accommodate nearly twenty million people.

Recently, this already crowded megacity has become even more overcrowded. The streets are teeming with people, a cacophony of accents. In just two weeks, the number of tourists has skyrocketed, and almost all the hotels in the city are fully booked.

Such a grand occasion is due to a once-every-five-years event—the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament, which is about to begin.

The main venue for the competition was located in Xingluo Square, the heart of Xingluo City, right next to the majestic Imperial City.

Not far to the east of the square stands the magnificent Star Emperor Hotel. This is a royal property, specially built to accommodate participating teams from all over the world.

As the reigning champions and widely recognized as the top academy in mainland China, Shrek Academy naturally enjoys the most luxurious treatment. They were housed on the top floor of the hotel. Each team member had their own deluxe bedroom, along with a spacious private conference room for discussing tactics and resting in preparation for the upcoming match.

Looking out the window, the bustling scene of half of Xingluo City and the outline of the imperial city in the distance are all in sight, and the lively atmosphere of the competition is already overwhelming.