Douluo Continent: Long Live the Spirit Hall

The many Title Douluos who were originally going on a leisurely trip suddenly became motivated. The secret soul bone, although it was unclear what type of soul bone it was, was a ten-thousand-year soul bone after all. Since the wolf bandits could produce soul bones, of course they had to kill them.

The group of Title Douluos were motivated. The elders personally gave the order, and all the Soul Master forces of the Spirit Hall in various parts of the Western Hammer Continent were mobilized. The many wolf bandits who originally roamed the Western Hammer Continent suffered as a result.

……

Located in the western part of the continent, near the southern border of two great empires, lies the Iron Wire Gorge.

Tiexian Gorge, also known as Yixian Gorge, is surrounded by high mountains and steep slopes, so there is no human habitation within a hundred miles, which naturally became the natural border between the two great empires.

This canyon is actually quite large, stretching for dozens of miles, with its widest point reaching four or five thousand meters and its narrowest point being three or four hundred meters.

The canyon is roughly in a straight line, stretching for nearly a hundred miles. The surrounding rock walls are made of a special kind of black stone, resembling black iron. There are many trees among the rocky mountains on both sides of the canyon. The mountains are high and the forests are sparse, stretching for a hundred miles, hence the name Iron Wire Canyon.

The environment within Iron Wire Gorge is complex, not only harboring many soul beasts, but also becoming a kind of no-man's-land because neither of the two great empires could bring it under their control. This has led to the gathering of a large number of wolf bandits, making it their stronghold.

These bandits, who had gathered both inside and outside this canyon mountain range, frequently crossed borders to plunder and kill civilians from both countries, roaming freely because neither of the two great empires dared to invade the territory of another. But today, these beasts faced annihilation.

"Ow ooh..."

The mournful howls of wolves echoed from the south of the canyon. Thousands of wolf bandits were being chased by numerous soul masters as they darted through the First Line Gorge. Seven or eight wolf bandits, their bodies glowing with azure light, were the fastest, and the hundred-mile-long canyon was about to reach the other side.

These wolf bandits originally belonged to four gangs that roamed the territory of the Star Luo Empire. After being jointly pursued and besieged by a large number of soul masters from the Spirit Hall, they gathered together and fled to this gorge.

Based on their past experience, once they crossed this canyon and ventured into the northern region, the enemies in the south would not dare to pursue them. They had long been familiar with this, so although they were being chased, they were not particularly panicked.

However, the wolf bandits soon discovered that this trip was different from the past. A large number of humans were blocking the other end of the canyon. As soon as they appeared, a series of rapidly flying 'pebbles' directly covered their entire vanguard.

The muskets equipped by the Spirit Hall's Soul Master Legion are among the most powerful; a barrage of fire could mortally endanger even a Soul Saint. The leaders of these wolf bandits, at most comparable to Soul Emperors, were mostly severely injured in this ambush.

With ambushes ahead and pursuers behind, some wolf bandits tried to climb up from both sides of the canyon, hoping to escape into the deep mountains. However, the Spirit Hall had already arranged flying spirit masters to watch from high places, and bullets rained down like raindrops, and not a single wolf bandit was able to escape.

“Holy Son, these beasts have fallen into the trap. This time they can’t escape at all. These should be the largest group of wolf bandits in the western part of the continent. Once we get rid of them, the remaining small groups of wolf bandits are not a problem and can be completely wiped out soon.”

Outside Iron Wire Gorge, a Soul Saint Venerable from the Spirit Hall reported the current situation inside the gorge to Yan. Yan, standing on high ground observing the situation inside and outside Iron Wire Gorge, suddenly noticed large plumes of dust rising on both sides, and a force of at least tens of thousands of people came into view.

"These guys from the Heavenly Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire are quite in sync this time, managing to mobilize such a large army so quickly. But Xue Xing actually came in person, is he that free?"

High above the canyon, Yan frowned slightly as he watched the arrival of the armies from both countries. The Spirit Hall had deployed over a thousand Soul Masters to suppress the wolf bandits on the border, causing such a commotion; it was normal for the royal families of both countries to react. However, he truly hadn't expected that Prince Xue Xing of the Heaven Dou Empire would actually come in person.

Chapter 149 Searching for the Dragon in the Southwest

"Prince Xuexing, it's been a long time."

Outside the Iron Wire Canyon, Yan and three Title Douluos appeared before the Heaven Dou Empire's army of ten thousand, blocking their way. Under the banners fluttering in the wind, Prince Xuexing appeared before Yan.

Prince Xuexing stared at Yan before him, his tone rather unfriendly, "Your Highness, what is the purpose of your Spirit Hall mobilizing so many Soul Masters this time?"

"Prince Xuexing has quite a temper."

Yan simply smiled indifferently at the aggressive Prince Xuexing. He was not surprised by the latter's attitude, mainly because of Dugu Bo.

Among Emperor Xueye's many brothers, Prince Xuexing was not particularly outstanding, but he was able to stand out among the many royal families and become the second most important figure in the Tiandou Empire after Emperor Xueye. The key reason for this was his relationship with Dugu Bo.

Emperor Xueye once rescued Dugu Bo when he was in trouble. In gratitude, Dugu Bo agreed to become a royal retainer. This favor has given Prince Xuexing his current status.

Now, because of Yan, Dugu Bo has chosen to sever ties with the royal family. Prince Xuexing has lost his greatest ally, so naturally he doesn't have a good attitude towards Yan, the instigator.

"The prince just asked me what the Spirit Hall is doing. That's a good question. I'm doing what you should be doing, but you haven't been doing all along."

Yan stared at Prince Xuexing, his attitude suddenly hardening. "Actually, I also want to ask, when wolf bandits ravaged the borders of the empire, and countless civilians were harmed and killed, what were you doing?"

I know you might be thinking that the wolf bandits are fleeing freely into Xingluo territory, and you are afraid of causing a conflict between the two countries, so you dare not pursue them.

"This is utterly ridiculous! Ten years ago, when you, Prince Xuexing, took advantage of the internal strife within the Xingluo royal family to launch a brazen attack on Huju Pass, I didn't see you act so cowardly. It's a complete joke, utterly absurd."

Yan's tough stance and resounding words made Prince Xuexing's face extremely ugly. The Battle of Tiger's Lair Pass was a stain on Prince Xuexing's military record. Taking advantage of the internal strife in Xingluo to try and gain some benefits, he spent more than a month but failed to take down a single pass, which severely damaged his reputation.

Yan's words reopened his wounds, and Prince Xuexing couldn't help but retort, "Heh, would the Spirit Hall be so kind as to stand up for commoners?"

Yan chuckled coldly, "The Spirit Hall has done far more for the common people than your Heaven Dou Royal Family."

"Reporting to the Holy Son."

The conversation between Prince Xuexing and Yan had almost reached the point of drawing swords. Just then, a flying Soul Saint from the Spirit Hall landed swiftly, and a bluish object appeared.

When this Soul Saint appeared before everyone, they could see clearly what he was holding: a Soul Bone, a right leg bone. A faint blue light emanated from it, displaying an extremely powerful aura.

“Holy Son, another soul bone has been discovered, from the leader of a wolf bandit group comparable to a Soul Emperor. It must be a ten-thousand-year-old soul bone.”

The words of the Flying Soul Saint surprised everyone. Yan took the Soul Bone, looked at it, and then looked at Prince Xuexing, saying, "Prince Xuexing, I can give you another reason why the Spirit Hall did this."

These wolf bandits are similar to soul beasts; although they can't produce soul rings, they have a chance to drop soul bones. My Spirit Hall is here for soul bones. Is that reason enough? By the way, since the Spirit Hall has already set its sights on these wolf bandits, there's no need for the Empire to bother eradicating them.

Furthermore, the empire has been rather unstable in recent years, with too many evil spirit masters causing trouble. This time, the Pope has ordered the use of wolf bandits for military training, preparing to eradicate evil spirit masters within the two empires. We will need Prince Xuexing's full cooperation then.”

"The royal family will naturally find a way to deal with the evil spirit masters within the empire's borders, so there's no need for the Spirit Hall to worry about it. Let's go."

Prince Xuexing took a deep look at the blood-stained blue soul bone in Yan's hand, and finally ordered the army to set off and leave Iron Wire Gorge.

The main reason for the appearance of the Heavenly Dou and Star Luo armies this time is to find out why the Spirit Hall is annihilating the Wolf Bandits. Since a Soul Bone has appeared, and Yan has clearly stated that he is preparing to annihilate the Evil Soul Masters, then everything makes sense.

Now that he understood the Spirit Hall's purpose, he was unwilling to get entangled with Yan any longer, even though he disliked the brat.

After Prince Xuexing led the Heaven Dou army in retreat, the Star Luo army, having learned of the Soul Bone and the Spirit Hall's plans to exterminate evil soul masters, also chose to leave. At this time, neither of the two empires was prepared to engage in a full-scale conflict with the Spirit Hall.

After the two empires learned that the wolf bandits could produce soul bones, they simultaneously began to frantically suppress the wolf bandits within their borders. Previously, there was no benefit in suppressing the wolf bandits, so no one was willing to do it. Now that there was profit, and it was a treasure like soul bones, who would be willing to miss it?

"This time, the extermination of the wolf bandits yielded quite a lot, nearly ten soul bones. Compared to soul beasts, these wolf bandits have a much higher yield."

On a clearing in Iron Wire Gorge, pale red flames continuously scorched the wolf bandit's body. A secret technique soul bone, glowing with a hint of blood, appeared before Yan. He put away this secret technique soul bone, which was the best quality he had seen recently. Even though Yan had seen many soul bones, he couldn't help but smile.

For the secret method of refining soul bones, one hundred soul beasts of the same kind are the minimum requirement. With this number of soul beasts, the success rate is ten percent. The more soul beasts there are, the higher the success rate will be.

However, most soul beasts in the soul beast world rarely form groups of more than a hundred, so achieving this condition is not easy.

However, wolf bandits are somewhat different. They are inherently gregarious, with each wolf bandit group consisting of at least a hundred people. Yan even had the Spirit Hall experts force multiple wolf bandit groups to gather together. After the first refinement, subsequent refinements were made with more than five hundred wolf bandits, which greatly increased the success rate.

"Holy Son, the Flying Soul Master has discovered that the armies of the two great empires have also begun to encircle and suppress the wolf bandits in the surrounding area. It seems that it will be difficult to continue to surround and kill these guys."

Yan and a group of high-ranking members of the Spirit Hall were admiring their harvest when a flying spirit master brought some bad news.

"Let them be. If they want to wipe out the wolf bandits, we don't need to clean up the mess. Go and arrange for the deacons who came to help to collect their contributions from the nearby Spirit Halls."

Yan waved his hand dismissively, then looked south again. "We're preparing to head southwest. We've been out for so long, it's time to hunt for our fourth spirit ring."

……

The Douluo Continent is located on the western coast, where legends of the Sea God and many powerful soul beasts abound. Among them, the three overlords of the near sea are the nightmares of countless people.

However, Yan's target this time was not Hanhai City on the west coast, but a desolate mountain range in the southwest of the continent, the Huangyan Volcanic Group.

The Huangyan volcanic cluster is somewhat similar to the Wenquan Mountains that Yan once visited, except that the climate is more extreme than that of the Wenquan Mountains.

Although the Hot Spring Mountains also have active volcanoes, they also have some snow-capped mountains and grasslands, and many places with beautiful scenery that are suitable for human habitation. Therefore, there are many human settlements and villages around the mountains.

However, the volcanoes in the Huangyan volcanic group are far more active than those in the Wenquan Mountains. Over the past century, they have erupted several times with tremendous force, spewing lava and volcanic ash that have covered most of the surrounding area for hundreds of miles.

Because of the frequent eruptions of volcanoes, the surrounding environment is unsuitable for human settlement. Like the frozen forest, apart from some soul masters who come here specifically to hunt soul beasts, few people are seen in the area surrounding this volcanic cluster.

"Greetings, Holy Son, and all elders."

When Yan led the elite Holy Light Knights to the outside of the Huangyan Volcano Group, a deacon from the nearby Spirit Hall was already waiting there. Upon seeing them arrive, he immediately stepped forward to pay his respects.

"Thank you, Bishop Linsa."

Yan nodded slightly to the bishop, then dismounted and took a scroll of paper. It was a map showing the approximate distribution of soul beasts within the volcanic cluster.

This volcanic cluster is said to have once been inhabited by dragons, hence the presence of many soul beasts with dragon blood. Soul masters from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Clan love to come here to hunt for soul rings.

"I heard that a golden-skinned earthworm was discovered in the Huangyan Mountains a couple of years ago. Is that true?"

Yan glanced at the scrolls and memorized all the information inside. Then, referring to the intelligence, he circled several areas on the map where the Earth Dragon Clan was suspected to have settlements.

“Holy Son, the golden earth dragon we discovered was surrounded by many earth dragon-type soul beasts. It should be the king of its kind. We did not fight it, so we are not sure of its exact cultivation level, but we can confirm that it is a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast.”

Bishop Linsa paused after hearing Yan's words, then couldn't help but remind him that several years ago, after Yan secured his position as the Holy Son of the Spirit Hall, he began to use the Spirit Hall's resources to find suitable fire-attribute spirit beasts as potential candidates for spirit rings.

The mutated Mirror Beast Ninety in the Frozen Forest was discovered at that time, while the Golden Earth Dragon that appeared here was discovered two years ago.

Although Linsa and the others did not fight that soul beast, the fact that it could gather a group of earth dragons around it meant that the soul beast was at least an earth dragon king with ten thousand years of cultivation.

Yan has come here to hunt for his fourth spirit ring. Choosing a ten-thousand-year spirit beast for his fourth spirit ring? Is this really not a joke?

“Bishop Linsa, please tell me the whereabouts of that golden earth dragon.”

Yan did not intend to answer Bishop Linsa's question, but instead asked him again about the Golden Earth Dragon.

Aside from some races being born with golden skin and others suffering from albinism, the most likely reason for golden-skinned soul beasts is that they possess golden bloodlines.

The Golden Bloodline is an extremely rare and special bloodline in the world of spirit beasts, representing the ultimate attribute of power. Legendary golden dragons, golden behemoths, and golden lion kings all possess the Golden Bloodline. Once a spirit beast possesses the Golden Bloodline, it is very easy for it to become a regional overlord.

This golden earth dragon in the Huangyan volcanic cluster may not have the complete golden bloodline of the three mentioned above, but there is no doubt that its dragon bloodline is extremely extraordinary, and the probability of it producing soul bones is very high. In addition, its age is also very suitable, so Yan will naturally not let it go.

Chapter 150 The Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Fire Dragon

"Roar~~~"

Deep within a valley of the Huangyan volcanic cluster, three Spirit Masters from the Spirit Hall were searching for traces of spirit beasts. The dry, sulfurous air made breathing difficult. Suddenly, from the depths of the valley, a deafening roar resounded.

"Stop."

The three immediately stopped in their tracks, and the leader stepped forward to observe.

"This is a roar similar to that of a dragon-like spirit beast. Most of the spirit beasts in the valley possess dragon blood, and this is a signal to gather everyone."

The Soul Master in the three-person team listened intently for a moment, then immediately gave the order. The other two team members quickly responded and sent signals. The three of them then swiftly retreated from the valley, waiting for the other teams to regroup.

Before long, members of several squads gathered towards the valley, and dozens of elite Spirit Masters from the Spirit Hall, each at least three rings high, guarded the entrance. Meanwhile, within the valley, numerous roars of beasts echoed as they approached the entrance.

The Spirit Hall discovered that the three people who had sent the signal were inside the valley because they were too close to the spirit beasts. The signal was detected, and the spirit beasts gave chase. As the commotion grew louder, a gust of hot wind rushed out of the valley.

"Hooho..."

A series of roars accompanied by a hot wind swept in, and the scattered Soul Masters could vaguely see a cloud of smoke.

Boom, boom, boom...

Deep, muffled sounds echoed from all directions, reverberating throughout the valley, accompanied by a flurry of soft, fragmented noises.

Many creatures emerged from the valley and, upon noticing the numerous Soul Masters lying in ambush at the valley entrance, launched their attacks with roars.

The creatures that burst forth possessed remarkable auras; they were none other than slender lizards. These lizards appeared to vary in size, but the smallest was over a meter long. Their skin was grayish-brown with faint dark red markings, within which a dark red light flowed, like magma.

Among the group of Soul Masters, there were many knowledgeable individuals who immediately recognized these creatures. "Everyone be careful, these are fire lizards with dragon blood. They are quite powerful in combat, so be careful of their dragon breath."