Douluo Continent: Little Huo Niang Taken Away by Di Tian

The moonlight, like frost, spilled onto the continuous golden glazed tiles of the Sun and Moon Empire's palace, coating the imposing palace walls with a layer of cool, silvery radiance.

Xu Tianran sat comfortably in his wheelchair, his fingertips lightly tracing the dragon pattern on the armrest, gazing up at the cold moon.

The soft moonlight spread down, enveloping him and the orange tree standing quietly beside him.

"Master Zhongli," Xu Tianran's voice was calm, "is the defense of the Sun and Moon Mountains to the west truly foolproof?"

Taking advantage of the Soul Master Competition, Mingdu has already sealed off the city.

All the talented contestants from various countries were forcibly detained here, with the high-sounding excuse of "being prohibited from leaving during the competition period".

As for what happens after the competition... a sinister glint flashed in Xu Tianran's eyes. At that time, they would have no chance to leave.

The recently concluded competition has solidified his resolve to kill.

The growth rate of that group of "geniuses" from the Douluo Three Kingdoms has reached an outrageous level—there is more than one Soul Saint in his early twenties, and even a Soul Douluo at the age of seventeen has emerged out of nowhere!

The entire arena was filled with the brilliance of ten-thousand-year-old spirit rings, and the spirit ring ratios repeatedly broke through the limits, making their combat power far surpass that of their peers!

If such monsters are not nipped in the bud, they will surely become a major threat once they grow up.

Moreover... if we kill them all, there will be no strong opponents when Sun and Moon Soul Masters compete for Soul Spirits in the future.

Thinking of this, he glanced sideways at Zhongli Wu, whose eyes also gleamed with greed and determination.

Since that earth-shattering, peerless battle, the Beast God Di Tian has shaken the world with his absolute power, announcing the arrival of the Soul Spirit Era.

Although the Soul Hunting Forest still exists, ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts are extremely rare, and the only source of high-level soul rings is soul spirits!

In the past, Soul Masters would often have to form teams and venture deep into dangerous places like the Star Dou Great Forest in order to obtain a single Soul Ring. They faced a life-or-death situation, and eight or nine out of ten would perish on their Soul Hunting journey.

Nowadays, the Soul Contract has changed dramatically, with its security greatly increased, causing the Soul Hunter Guild's business to decline by more than half.

However, a new dilemma arose – the prerequisite for the contract to be established was that the soul beast had to be "willing".

Thus, the situation reversed from soul masters risking their lives to hunting and killing, to soul beasts selectively choosing and choosing.

Finding the right Soul Master and the right Soul Beast is difficult.

How can a fire-attribute soul master tolerate a water or ice-attribute soul beast? And vice versa.

The delicate balance between supply and demand has been broken, and this is precisely the noose that Xu Tianran is about to tighten in his hands.

The ban issued by the Spirit Pagoda was like severing the lifeline of the Holy Spirit Cult.

Refusing to provide soul spirits to evil soul masters means that their proud path to advancement has been abruptly cut off.

Over the years, Zhongli Wu and others have exhausted all means to break through the bottleneck.

In the dark red laboratory, the air was filled with a mixture of the stench of blood and the acrid smell of burnt soul power.

Within each transparent crystal vessel, distorted light and shadow are sealed—these are the souls that have been forcibly stripped away.

A young Soul Master from the Star Luo Empire was chained to the altar, his limbs pierced by iron chains engraved with evil runes.

An elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, wielding a soul-stripping knife, slowly cut along the veins of his soul rings.

"The essence of the soul contract is resonance, so let's tear this resonance apart!" With a scream, a soft ray of soul light was forcibly ripped out.

In order to maintain the flexibility of the soul, they only sever the connection when the soul master is on the verge of death, watching helplessly as the soul spirit howls madly because of the soul master's death, and is then corrupted by the death aura of the evil soul master, turning into a puppet that only knows how to kill.

Just like Zhongliwu's usual methods, this time he captured a nest of newly hatched Blue-eyed Thunder Tigers.

Faced with the trembling tiger cub, the ancient mother tiger spirit beast guarding the place let out a desperate roar.

Zhongli Wu squatted in front of it, picked up a tiger cub with his fingertips, and said with a sinister smile, "Look how brittle this little guy's bones are. Sign this 'voluntary contract,' and it will live; don't sign, and your lineage will end."

To protect her offspring, the tigress had no choice but to submit.

When the evil spirit master's specially made contract mark was imprinted on her soul, the light of intelligence in the tigress's eyes quickly went out, replaced by a blood-red ferocity.

It turned into a mindless killing machine, becoming the Holy Spirit Cult's most satisfying "creation".

Although these incomplete "soul puppets" are far less stable than the genuine ones from the Spirit Pagoda, they are enough to give the Holy Spirit Cult a glimpse into the technological threshold.

Now, in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Battle Tournament, Zhongli Wu's gaze has been fixed on one person—Huo Yutong, the young master of the Spirit Pagoda.

Once this prodigy with countless high-quality soul spirits is captured and transformed into an evil soul master, the complete and mature soul spirit contract technology will fall completely into the hands of the Holy Spirit Cult.

Zhongli Wu leaned forward slightly, his voice low but carrying a chilling, venomous quality.

"Please rest assured, Your Highness. Deep within the Western Sun and Moon Mountains lies a mysterious forbidden land called 'Qiankun Asking Love Valley'... My grandfather was already a Limit Douluo at the time, yet he was trapped in that hellish place for nearly a hundred years. When he finally escaped, he recorded all the information about that place. Even a Beast God would suffer a backlash if he stepped into it."

Xu Tianran's eyes flickered slightly, but he did not interrupt.

Zhongli Wu abruptly changed the subject, letting out a chilling "heh heh" laugh: "Besides, we are not fighting alone. I have reached an agreement with the Evil Emperor, and he will tell me everything Di Tian does without reservation."

"Beast God?" Zhongli Wu scoffed. "In this world, there are always some soul beasts who don't recognize this title."

At this point, his previously smug expression suddenly turned gloomy, a mixture of heartache and ferocity: "Your Highness may not know, but in recent years, I have had to send my exceptionally talented juniors into the Star Dou Great Forest in order to obtain a few soul rings."

In order to avoid revealing their identities, after each hunt of a soul beast, they had to pretend to have been attacked and killed by the soul beast...

He clenched his fist tightly, his knuckles turning white: "Those were the pillars of my Holy Spirit Church! How humiliating it would be for them to die at the hands of those beasts!"

"The threat from Di Tian is indeed imminent." Zhongli Wu took a deep breath, calming his surging killing intent. "But fortunately, the Evil Emperor is willing to lend me a hand. He only needs to lure him in slightly to lead that Beast God into the Valley of Love and Destiny..."

"That's good." Xu Tianran's lips curled into a cold smile.

The night outside the window was as dark as ink, and the cold wind howled. Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

In the heart of the Demon Forest, the Evil Emperor's massive form was curled up in his lair.

"Heh...hehehe..."

The Evil Emperor found the thought of Zhongli Wu, who believed he had everything under control, and the so-called "cooperation" contract extremely amusing.

His thick, dark red tentacles writhed uncontrollably, like drunken giant pythons, lashing the ground and creating deep craters.

The Evil Emperor suppressed his laughter, his body swirling with red light as he transformed into human form.

However, even in human form, the corners of his mouth still couldn't help but turn up wildly.

He raised his hand and tried to forcefully pull the corners of his mouth down.

But then, a thought crossed his mind: not long after, in the Valley of Love and Destiny, Zhongli Wu thought he could lead Di Tian into a desperate situation, but little did he know that he himself was the one trapped. At that moment, the Evil Emperor's barely suppressed smile burst forth again.

"Haha... Zhongli Wu, you think you're using me?"