Douluo Continent: Long Live the Spirit Hall

Feng Lin was able to become a Soul King because he had the strength and talent, and his first four Soul Rings were the best configuration. However, he faltered when he got to the fifth Soul Ring and failed to absorb a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring. Otherwise, he would definitely be more than level 53 now.

"You can go in now."

Feng Lin gestured to Yan, indicating that he should enter the magic array. Yan did not hesitate and followed his instructions, entering the center of the magic array. After taking a quick look, he sat down cross-legged.

Feng Lin didn't say anything more at this point. Rays of soul power flew out from his palms and accurately struck each spirit stone. A layer of golden light was released from those dark spirit stones, and a pale golden light shield enveloped Yan within it.

A faint golden halo shone into Yan's body. At this moment, he closed his eyes and sat cross-legged, his soul constantly exploring and calling out to himself.

In a dark space, when Yan regained consciousness, a strange being appeared before him.

Endless dark red flames enveloped a strange figure, which took the form of a huge humanoid, with raging flames at its core, yet possessed a body as hard as rock, making it look quite bizarre.

This is the depths of Yan's consciousness, and the being before him is his martial soul, the Flame Lord, a top-tier mutated martial soul with both fire and earth attributes.

What Yan is about to do is somewhat insane; he plans to awaken his Martial Soul and force it to complete the splitting process on its own. Martial Souls are not inanimate objects; they possess sentience. However, most Soul Masters treat their Martial Souls as tools and have no intention of communicating with them.

Yan now wants to try to awaken and gain the recognition of his own martial soul, so that it will cooperate actively. This will greatly reduce the difficulty of splitting the martial soul and make it more likely to succeed.

Chapter 11 Earth and Fire

"Awaken, Flame Lord."

Within the dark sea of ​​consciousness, accompanied by Yan's repeated calls, the Flame Lord Martial Soul, which had seemed lifeless, reacted, its eyes blazing with fire, and then a ball of light bloomed within the space.

"This is a strange power that exists within me in the Dawn Deduction. It's a pity that even the current AI cannot analyze its essence. It seems to be some kind of spiritual power."

Yan's consciousness watched as this strange light and shadow approached his martial soul. With a burst of brilliant light, his martial soul began to change.

"Although we don't know its true nature, as long as we can mobilize it and use it to differentiate our martial souls, that's fine. Even if there are hidden dangers, we can find a way to solve them in the future."

Yan's consciousness was constantly focused on his martial soul space, and he naturally noticed the rapid changes in his own martial soul. Under the influence of this strange light and shadow, the Flame Lord martial soul seemed to gradually split apart.

"puff……"

The moment the two beams of light tore apart, Yan felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and his consciousness shattered rapidly. In reality, he, who was sitting cross-legged in the magic array, also trembled violently and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Xiao Yan".

Liya, who had been watching Yan closely, rushed over upon seeing this scene, while Feng Lin, who was in charge of the magic array, quickly withdrew the soul power transmission.

The light of the awakening array slowly dissipated, and Yan staggered and fell to the ground. Fortunately, Liya arrived quickly and caught him just before he fell. The three soul rings, two yellow and one purple, lit up one after another, accompanied by a warm healing light falling on his body. Yan immediately felt much better.

Liya carefully supported Yan, afraid that something might happen to him again. "Xiao Yan, how are you feeling? Are you alright?"

"It's alright, Sister Liya."

Yan shook his head to indicate that he was fine, then turned to Feng Lin and asked, "Lord Feng Lin, are you alright?"

Feng Lin's forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, but after a short period of rest, he regained some strength. Hearing the words, he opened his eyes and shook his head at Yan, "It's alright, I only consumed some soul power. But, your secret technique? Did it fail?"

"No, it succeeded?"

Yan shook his head, then smiled bitterly and said, "It's just that I didn't think things through enough, and my methods were a bit too crude. In the end, my martial soul backfired, and I was almost seriously injured."

Yan figured out what had just happened through the feedback from the AI, Dawn. His first attempt at splitting his martial soul was a bit too brutal. When he tore it apart, the martial soul backfired, almost causing him to bleed from all seven orifices and become paralyzed.

As Yan spoke, he stretched out his hands, and two balls of light and shadow were released from his palms. In his right hand was a ball of constantly flickering flame, and in his left hand was a ball of blurry, earthy yellow light and shadow.

Within the flames of his right hand resided a fierce and malevolent abyssal fire demon, the Flame Lord after its split and demotion, or perhaps it should be called the Advanced Martial Soul, the Blazing Flame Commander.

Yan's original top-tier martial soul, Flame Lord, belonged to the ancient underground abyss Flame Demon clan. This clan should be the same as the Flame King and Dark Flame Demon King in the world of "Yin Yang Crown".

However, Yan's flame lords are somewhat special. Although they are divided into Yin Fire and Yang Fire, they are essentially still single fire attributes. His mutated flame lord, on the other hand, has both fire and earth attributes.

Now, after the differentiation and demotion, his main martial soul has returned to a single fire attribute, becoming the Flame Commander, which is one level lower than the Flame Lord, but it can still evolve again.

The yellowish-brown halo in his left hand was a separated secondary martial soul, which looked similar to the Flame Demon Clan, except that it took the form of a sand giant, which we can call the Earth Ruler for now.

Yan slowly withdrew the yellowish-brown aura from his left hand, silently chanting "Martial Soul Possession." As a flame bloomed on his body, Yan's appearance changed drastically.

Faint black magic patterns appeared on his skin, surrounded by a layer of red light, and crimson flames swirled around him, making him look like a powerful fire god of war.

Yan secretly sensed the difference between the Blazing Commander Martial Soul and the Flame Lord Martial Soul, and already had the answer in his heart. He silently muttered to himself, "As expected, after this demotion, the quality and power of the Martial Soul have obviously decreased."

Yan clenched his fist, suppressing the flames. The crimson flames glowed red, looking quite impressive, but Yan could sense that the crimson flames were not as powerful as the original dark red flames.

Yan's original dark red flames were a mixture of earth and fire molten power from the top-tier martial soul, the Flame Lord, but now they are simply pure flame power.

In the real world, ordinary flames cannot compare to magma, most obviously in terms of temperature.

Ordinary substances, like firewood burning with an orange-red flame, have a temperature of only a few hundred degrees Celsius. Magma, used to melt metals and stones, has a temperature of at least over a thousand degrees Celsius.

Yan was able to easily calcine lime back then, thanks in large part to the power of lava. If he were to use the power of fire now, he might not be able to do it at all.

However, for him now, the power of fire is sufficient. Although the power of lava is stronger, the upper limit of magma's temperature is also limited, while fire is different. Although the lower limit is lower, the upper limit is far higher than that of magma, and it can continue to transform in the future.

After a brief moment of reflection, Yan withdrew his martial spirit. As the red light faded, the courtyard returned to tranquility.

"Xiao Yan, what did you just do...?"

Liya had been keeping a close eye on Yan's situation. When she saw Yan's series of actions, the crimson flames and the earthen halo, her mind went completely blank. What had happened today was truly challenging her worldview.

"Sister Liya, that is my second martial soul. I hope you won't tell anyone about my secret of having twin martial souls for now."

Yan smiled slightly at Liya, and then began to explain. He gave a casual explanation, and Liya seemed to accept it without question.

Yan didn't dwell on it too much. The matter of twin martial souls was a big deal or a small deal. Even if it was leaked, at most it would just expose his remarkable talent earlier and attract more attention.

Yan didn't care about revealing his talent, but he was also unwilling to do so prematurely. Fame meant trouble, and he hated trouble. For the time being, he hadn't revealed his intentions yet, so he gave Liya some instructions.

"You actually succeeded."

In another corner of the courtyard, Soul King Feng Lin was also staring blankly at Yan, muttering to himself, and had not regained his composure until Yan walked over.

Chapter 12 Hot Spring Mountains

"Lord Feng Lin."

At Yan's call, Feng Lin finally snapped out of his daze, his eyes filled with shock. Although he had participated in and cooperated in completing this series of events, he genuinely hadn't expected Yan to succeed.

"Yan, young master."

This time, Feng Lin adopted a very humble attitude. Originally, Yan was just an investment opportunity in his eyes, but when Yan demonstrated his value and successfully accomplished the unprecedented feat of splitting his martial soul, he was already completely convinced and submitted.

He had learned about Yan's talent and character over the past few days and was certain that Yan was not just a pretty face. Right now, Yan needed someone to lend a hand, and he also needed to invest in a genius to secure his own future. Was there a better option?

“Uncle Lin, we’ve been in the Kingdom of Silves long enough. I remember it’s not long before the start of the Junior Soul Master Academy.”

Yan glanced at Feng Lin and then waved his hand slightly, changing his form of address as well. "I'll trouble you to make the arrangements. Let's continue on our way. Also, I need to make some preparations to obtain a suitable first spirit ring."

Now that Feng Lin had decided to invest in Yan, he would naturally do his best to handle things well. After Yan finished speaking, he said, "Leave it to me, Young Master Yan."

"Ah."

Yan nodded to Feng Lin, then walked up to Liya and extended her hand, "It's alright, Sister Liya, let's go back."

Although Liya was full of doubts, she knew that now was not the time to talk about them. In the end, she took Yan's hand and left the courtyard together.

After they left, Feng Lin silently stared at the array patterns on the ground for a long time. Finally, he gently waved his hand, and with a strong whirlwind, most of the traces in the courtyard were completely erased. After cleaning up a bit, Feng Lin also left the deserted courtyard.

When the courtyard returned to tranquility, no one could have imagined that another person with twin martial souls would be born in the Douluo Continent, and what he would bring to the Douluo Continent would be an unimaginable storm.

……

The Hot Spring Mountains, located in the southeast of the Kingdom of Silves, are, like the Star Dou Great Forest and the Sunset Forest, a region where wild soul beasts gather and breed.

There are many kinds of soul beasts here, and the core area is home to many ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts, making it an excellent choice for many mid- to low-level soul masters to obtain soul rings.

On the Douluo Continent, the best option for most low-level Soul Masters to obtain Soul Rings is the Soul Hunting Forest, which is kept by the two great empires and top forces such as the Spirit Hall.

These Soul Hunting Forests are located within the borders of the two great empires and various kingdoms. The soul beasts raised in these forests are generally not of a very high level, with only a few being thousand-year-old soul beasts at most.

Soul beasts transform into something incredibly powerful after reaching ten thousand years, possessing extremely high intelligence and immense strength. Even armies would find it difficult to withstand them. Therefore, all parties pay extra attention to the soul beasts within the Soul Hunting Forest after a thousand years, and it is virtually impossible to allow them to grow to the ten-thousand-year level.

The Hot Springs Mountains are famous for their sulfur mines and hot springs. They have diverse landforms and varied climates. The mountains are covered with snow, while the slopes are filled with steaming hot springs that radiate heat.

Lakes, waterfalls, forests, grasslands, and various landforms converge in this mountain range, making the ecology here diverse and the types of spirit beasts extremely rich.

Hot Spring Town, a small town leading deep into the Hot Spring Mountains, is lined with shops of all kinds on both sides of the street. The bustling crowd makes the town particularly lively. Amid the noisy crowd, three carriages stopped at a hotel near the entrance of the mountains.

The carriage curtain was lifted, and two middle-aged men and a young girl led a dozen or so children alighting from the carriage and entered the hotel. At the end of this group was a strange combination of an indifferent old man and a calm child.

After getting off the carriage, Yan did not immediately go into the hotel with Liya and the others, but instead looked around and observed the surrounding scene.

The town's entrance, near the mountains, is lined with houses and shops of all kinds, with shouts and calls rising and falling. Simple, man-made paths crisscross the area, and the bustling atmosphere quite intrigued Yan.

"We're two more people needed to form a team to hunt down power-type soul beasts."

"Hunting agile soul beasts, a team of seven, ten gold soul coins."

"The hunting team is still missing a scout. Either an agile attacker or a Soul Master with the ability to fly will do."

Various shouts and calls rose and fell, mostly for people to form teams to hunt soul beasts to complete missions. The surrounding shops mostly sold weapons, armor and various food supplies, with prices more than double those in other towns, ripping off those who were unprepared.

Feng Lin was naturally by Yan's side. This Spirit Hall steward, a five-ring Soul King, had volunteered to become Yan's steward.

The old man did this so that his family could have a good way out in the future, and he even hoped that Yan could help him after he rose to power, so that he could continue to advance and become stronger in his old age.

At this moment, the Soul King followed Yan's gaze and glanced at the Soul Masters shouting and gesturing, a hint of disdain in his eyes. He looked down on these Soul Masters who had chosen to form temporary teams; how much combat power and usefulness could a temporary team with poor coordination possibly have?

At this moment, Feng Lin was like Yan's loyal steward. After Yan had looked at him for a while, Feng Lin lowered his head slightly and reminded him, "Young Master Yan, it's getting late. You can rest early tonight. Leave tomorrow's matters to me."

"Thank you for your help, Uncle Lin."

After enjoying the lively atmosphere for a while, Yan lost interest. He nodded to Feng Lin as he spoke, and then entered the hotel.

This entrance to the hot spring mountain range from the town is only two stories high. It's not that the hotel owner lacks the financial resources, but rather that he's afraid of building it too high and attracting the interest of some powerful soul beasts.

The Hot Spring Mountain Range is a gathering place for wild soul beasts, with many ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts inside. Although these powerful soul beasts spend most of their time in the core area, they may also wander around the outer area. Building houses too high will make them conspicuous landmarks, which will easily attract the interest of those powerful soul beasts.

"Xiao Yan".

After Yan reached the second floor, he entered a room where Liya was laying a blanket on the bed. She turned to him and smiled, but her delicate face showed some worry. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Little Yan, the wilderness is full of dangers. When you go to get the soul ring tomorrow, you must not be impulsive."

Originally, because of Yan's outstanding talent, this older sister took good care of him, which made many of the other children jealous. But ever since Yan saved her in Maple Forest Town, this older sister Liya has been even more concerned about him.

The reason she gave such instructions was because she was terrified of Yan's frequent injuries recently, and she was afraid that his curiosity would get the better of him again and he would vomit blood and suffer serious injuries.

Chapter 13 Mountain Forest Brawl

"Don't worry! It'll be fine."