Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 116 Soul Masters and Soul Beasts

Huo Yuhao decided to skip over the inexplicable question of why the Emperor Beast would want to participate in a competition between human soul masters so soon after arriving in the human world.

After a moment's hesitation, Huo Yuhao spoke to the girl through his mental power: "Since you weren't prepared to use force to bring me to the Star Dou Great Forest, you must have a reason."

"It can't be that you've grown to like the human world after these past few days, and that's why you don't want to take me back."

The girl shook her head; "Of course not for that reason. Although the human world is indeed very prosperous, my home is only the Star Dou Great Forest."

"However, during my time at the Imperial Academy these past few days, I've learned quite a bit about the human world through the students. The current state of development of humanity is truly terrifying for spirit beasts."

"I never thought of these things before." As she said this, the girl looked directly at Huo Yuhao, and Huo Yuhao naturally understood what she meant.

If it weren't for the memories and concepts she transmitted to the Emperor Beast during her destiny's guidance, even if she had taken human form as a soul beast, she might never have truly come to understand the human world in her entire life.

The complexities of the human world and the consequences of humanity's unrestrained development are beyond the comprehension and imagination of simple-minded soul beasts. Without a social structure, soul beasts naturally cannot understand the lessons of history.

However, nowadays, besides being an imperial auspicious beast, her soul contract with Huo Yuhao has allowed her to break free from the limitations of a soul beast's perspective for the first time, successfully confronting the existence and conflicts between the two species of humans and soul beasts.

For soul beasts, perhaps they had already embarked on the inevitable path of destruction when the Dragon God fell, because they were nothing more than the still-burning embers left behind when the Dragon God perished.

For the Silver Dragon King and for Di Tian, ​​as those who remember and inherit the legacy of the Dragon Clan, they would regard the Soul Beast Clan as part of the glorious past of the Dragon Clan, but they would never make any contribution to the Soul Beast Clan.

Because they are first and foremost dragons, and only then the common masters and beast gods of the soul beasts. Even though Di Tian has developed feelings for the soul beasts over the years, it is still the same.

For Di Tian, ​​his useful body was preserved for the sake of the dragon race.

However, the Emperor Beast is different. For it, its existence is for the sake of soul beasts. Compared to the Silver Dragon King, who is nominally the ruler of all soul beasts, the Emperor Beast is actually the true emperor of soul beasts.

The Imperial Auspicious Beast came into being with the emergence of the Soul Beast race, and its life is closely linked to that of the Soul Beast race.

If the Soul Beast race is on the verge of extinction or disappears completely, in any case, as the Emperor Auspicious Beast that carries the enormous fortune of the entire Soul Beast race, it will inevitably face death.

As she gradually gained a deeper understanding and control over the power of destiny, coupled with the intelligence bestowed upon her by her soul contract with Huo Yuhao, the Imperial Beast seemed to hear the lament of the soul beast race gradually playing out from within the vast network of destiny.

This also made her mature quickly. For an imperial auspicious beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion is not yet considered an adult at the age of 15,000 years old. The peak age of an imperial auspicious beast is when it is 100,000 years old, and that is when they truly take on responsibilities.

"I want to change all of this. I want to change the living conditions of the soul beast race. I want to change the conflict between humans and soul beasts." The girl looked at Huo Yuhao earnestly, her eyes filled with determination.

"Fate has guided me. If I were to achieve all this, your existence would be indispensable. Your destiny, the power of your destiny, is the most powerful in the human world."

Huo Yuhao nodded slightly, but for the first time, he thought highly of the girl in front of him, even though her thinking was not yet mature.

However, compared to Wang Qiu'er in the original story, who abandoned her clan for so-called love under Tang San's influence, this Emperor Beast now may truly be considered an emperor among soul beasts in terms of magnanimity.

"My name is Huo Yuhao. What's your name?"

Huo Yuhao looked at the girl in front of him and asked a question. Regardless of whether he would choose to cooperate with her in the future, the will she possessed now made her someone worthy of his attention.

The development of Soul Masters and the survival of Soul Beasts are a difficult contradiction to reconcile. Although it is not insurmountable, for Huo Yuhao at present, becoming a Soul Master is not the only path to becoming stronger.

Moreover, since artificial spirit rings can appear in the original work, Huo Yuhao is certainly confident that he can develop them ahead of time. But what benefits would this bring to him?

"Dirui'er, that's the name I gave myself after coming to the human world," the girl replied.

"So what are you planning to do? Change soul beasts and soul masters? Don't say I don't believe you; even Di Tian probably wouldn't agree."

Seeing that the girl didn't answer, Huo Yuhao continued with a smile, "I also know that a few years ago, Di Tian left the Star Dou Great Forest and went to the Sun Moon Empire."

"Because my master is one of the few Limit Douluo level powerhouses in the human world today."

"You were right before. Because my luck is strong enough, I naturally have a protective force around me."

"If you had tried to call upon Di Tian for help at the very beginning, it's hard to say whether my master or Di Tian would have arrived first."

"And this is my way of showing you sincerity. Since we want to cooperate, it's best if we know each other well."

This statement is not entirely accurate, but Huo Yuhao, relying on his understanding of soul contracts, cautiously transmitted his spiritual power.

After listening to Huo Yuhao's words, the girl pursed her lips and shook her head. After a moment, she said, "Although I desperately want to change the current situation of soul beasts, even with the memories you gave me, I haven't figured out a way yet."

"My understanding of humans is limited to your memories and my interactions with them over the past few days. Although humans do appear in the Star Dou Great Forest, I rarely come into contact with them, and Di Tian hasn't given me any opportunity to do so either."

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao nodded, but he was pondering the information that the other party had just transmitted. Did Di Tian not give her a chance to come into contact with humans?

Logically speaking, an imperial auspicious beast should be under the protection of a ferocious beast, but this shouldn't be the case.

Combined with what Du Busi saw in Mingdu about the friction between Di Tian and the Sun Moon Empire, could there be another hidden story behind this?

Yuhao temporarily suppressed his doubts and continued listening to the girl.

"Guided by the power of destiny, I foresaw a major upheaval in the human world during the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament two years from now."

"I had originally planned to use that time, this major upheaval, as an opportunity to visit you again."

"But I didn't expect to see you in Tiandou City just a few days later. To be honest, I haven't figured out what to do yet."

The girl didn't try to hide anything. Although she had been in human society for some time, she hadn't yet learned the deceit and treachery of the human world.

At least she doesn't know yet that her own thoughts and plans, whether they exist or not, are not something she can easily reveal.

After listening to the girl's words, Huo Yuhao shook his head slightly. To be honest, he had no idea whether there would still be a continent-wide advanced soul master academy battle tournament two years later.

Since winning the championship of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament five years ago, severely damaging the reputation that Shrek Academy had painstakingly built up, the Sun Moon Empire has remained silent.

Although in the original work, the news that the Sun Moon Empire announced a change in the competition system, including sects from the three kingdoms of Douluo Continent other than the major academies as candidates for the competition, was only released three months before the competition.

However, this result was decided after negotiations between the Sun Moon Empire and the three countries that originally belonged to the Douluo Continent. Now, there are only two years left until the next competition, but the four empires have not made any announcements yet, which is very strange.

If the Sun Moon Empire sends envoys to discuss the matter, then after the Heavenly Soul Empire's royal family learns of this news, they will at least come to inquire about the opinion of the Body Sect, which is the Heavenly Soul Empire's guardian sect.

However, neither Huo Yuhao nor Du Busi knew anything about this, so in Huo Yuhao's opinion, the next All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament was probably going to have big problems.

It's highly likely that things won't develop according to the original story. Although he can't be sure whether this is just a delayed reaction caused by the butterfly effect he created, or whether the Sun Moon Empire has other plans.

Regardless of the outcome, the potential changes in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament are indeed significant. Even if the story unfolds according to the original plot, it is still a crucial juncture in the trajectory of fate.

However, it was definitely not the good opportunity that Di Ruier thought it would be; instead, it was like a huge pitfall.

Therefore, Huo Yuhao did not continue the topic at this moment, but instead raised his own question: "I want to know what changes occurred in the Star Dou Great Forest after Di Tian went to the Sun Moon Empire, and what about the humans you mentioned?"

Upon hearing this, the girl froze on the spot, a hint of annoyance flashing in her eyes. She realized that she might have revealed some information that was unfavorable to Di Tian, ​​but since things had come to this, she quickly rallied.

"I can tell you, but in exchange—intelligence exchange!"

Huo Yuhao nodded, about to say something, but the girl breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him nod.

Without waiting for Huo Yuhao and her to negotiate the value of their respective intelligence, she revealed what she knew.

"After returning, Di Tian seemed to have brought back a fire dragon egg, along with many human soul masters dressed in black, but exuding a chilling aura, and some human soul mentors."

"Di Tian instructed us not to provoke these humans, and besides that, he also brought us many novel things from them."

"As for the rest, I don't know. Uncle Xiong Jun had a lot of opinions about this, but Di Tian forcibly suppressed them. That's all I know."

The girl then looked at Huo Yuhao with expectant eyes, hoping to get the information he wanted.

After listening to the girl's detailed description of the characteristics of Soul Masters and Soul Mentors.

Huo Yuhao could naturally guess that Di Tian had reached some kind of cooperation with the evil soul masters of the Holy Spirit Cult and the soul masters of the Sun Moon Empire.

But looking at the expectant girl in front of him, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt a pang of guilt that didn't exist. Was what he was doing now equivalent to deceiving the innocent girl?

Shaking his head to clear these chaotic thoughts from his mind, Huo Yuhao said, "The root of the conflict between Soul Masters and Soul Beasts lies in Soul Rings."

"Without a spirit beast's spirit ring, a spirit master cannot break through to the next level. The price for producing a spirit ring is the death of a spirit beast, and the higher the level of the spirit master, the higher the level of the spirit beast required."

"Although there are many other factors besides these, such as the nourishment that the flesh and blood of soul beasts provide to soul masters, the rare and precious materials that grow in the territory of soul beasts, or the soul bones that are treasures in the soul master world, and so on."

"But ultimately, the biggest conflict between Soul Masters and Soul Beasts lies in Soul Rings. The prerequisite for resolving this conflict is to allow Soul Masters to grow in strength normally while freeing them from their dependence on Soul Rings."

Looking at the seemingly innocent girl, Huo Yuhao sighed, then uttered the next sentence he hadn't really wanted to say: "But ultimately, between races, two tigers cannot share the same mountain."

"This principle applies even among you spirit beasts. Tigers and leopards don't travel with cattle and sheep unless the two species complement each other, and cooperation can only take place when both sides are in mutual benefit and on equal footing."

"If you soul beasts were truly given the chance to exterminate humanity and become the rulers of this world, would you really have no ambitions?"

Nowadays, in order to obtain spirit rings, spirit masters have even toned down their killing of spirit beasts to some extent.

"So, if the biggest conflict between Soul Masters and Soul Beasts is truly resolved, will Soul Masters then continue to tolerate the existence of Soul Beasts?"

After listening to Huo Yuhao's words, the girl fell into deep thought and struggle. Although she wanted to change the current situation of soul beasts, she had never thought of what Huo Yuhao was talking about.

For a soul beast, 15,000 years is still too young. Even with the intelligence gained from the soul contract with Huo Yuhao and with grand ambitions, the girl was still lost at this moment.

(End of this chapter)