Starting from the young master of Haotian Sect

Hearing this, Tang San's expression became solemn. He turned around to look at the soul beast that had been smashed to pieces by his hammer and muttered, "Giant earthworms are one of the lowest-level insect soul beasts. They generally have ten years of cultivation, and the highest level can only barely reach the level of a hundred-year soul beast. How could a soul beast of this level appear here?"

Chapter 52 Soul Beast Invasion

As a native of Douluo Continent and the crown prince of Haotian Sect, Tang San is extremely sensitive to national power.

The Tiandou Empire was divided because of its declining strength. Although the Tiandou Empire was centralized on the surface, there were actually four kingdoms and one principality within the empire. These five countries were almost independent, and they only lacked a declaration of independence.

But even if this village is not an important city, it is surrounded by the kingdom's army to guard it. How could soul beasts invade here?

"Third Young Master!"

Just after Tang San rescued the villager, several people wearing the outer sect uniforms of the Haotian Sect came running hurriedly.

Tang San asked: "How is it?"

The leading young man, Liang Yao, sighed and shook his head. "It's quite tragic. The entire village is littered with corpses. Not only are the houses destroyed, but we also saw a lot of giant earthworms feeding on them."

There is no need to explain in detail what it means when a soul beast eats.

"Third Young Master, are we still going to enter the Wumu Basin?" Liang Yao asked.

Tang San wasn't here to hunt for his third spirit ring; he had already obtained it a year ago, a five-thousand-year-old spirit ring. Soul beasts that had barely reached a thousand years old were hard to find, but soul beasts between four and five thousand years old were naturally easier to find in such a large area. Tang San's spirit power had now reached level thirty-seven.

This time he came to the border of the Barak Kingdom, intending to enter the Wumu Basin to escort the sect's herb-collecting team, but he heard a cry for help as he passed by here.

Even with Tang San's status and position, he cannot be lazy and eat nothing. He also needs to make contributions to the sect, and doing so can also improve his reputation within the sect. To put it bluntly, he is here to complete sect tasks to increase his prestige.

Tang San glanced at the village ahead and said, "Let's get rid of these soul beasts first. Protecting villages and cities is the duty of the soldiers of the kingdom and empire, but we, the Haotian Sect, are also a soul master sect. There's no reason to stand by and watch soul beasts maim our compatriots."

"I will be responsible for eliminating the spirit beasts in the village, and you will be responsible for search and rescue. Save as many villagers as you can, and there's no need to be stingy with herbs."

Hearing Tang San's order, the others responded in unison: "Understood, Third Young Master."

Tang San didn't waste any words. He was the strongest here, a level 37 Soul Master. It was easy for him to deal with these ten- and hundred-year-old soul beasts.

With a bang, Tang San stomped his feet hard and rushed into the village like an arrow from a bow. The Clear Sky Hammer in his hand spun and flew out. Through the practice of the Chaos Cloak Hammer Technique, even without using any soul skills, the Clear Sky Hammer was like a boomerang, accurately killing the target in seconds.

Bang bang bang, a giant earthworm was blown up like a balloon under the Clear Sky Hammer.

Hiss! A giant earthworm with three eyes broke out of the ground, howling loudly and making insect-like sounds.

"Three...three-eyed...three-eyed demon worm!!! A thousand-year soul beast!" The herbalist soul master who followed Tang San said in a trembling voice.

As soon as he finished speaking, black shadows emerged from behind the three-eyed demon earthworm that stood proudly at the back of the village. The sound of rustling soil was heard, and giant earthworms emerged from the ground or scattered around their lord, the three-eyed demon earthworm.

“This… so much… so much!!!”

Groups of giant earthworms appeared behind the village. Hearing the call of the three-eyed demon earthworm, they collectively broke out of the ground, and their numbers seemed to be increasing, as if they were pouring out from the mountain forest basin behind.

A purple light flashed in Tang San's eyes, and he quickly scanned the surroundings of the three-eyed demon worm. After confirming that there were no survivors around, he did not hold back.

With a humming sound, the second soul ring under Tang San's feet emitted a purple light. The next second, the earth surged, and the yellow power of the earth poured into the Clear Sky Hammer in his right hand. The originally black and red Clear Sky Hammer now emitted a yellow light.

"Second soul skill, moving mountains!"

Boom, Tang San jumped high, and in an instant, the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand swelled up in the wind, and from a distance it looked as huge as a small mountain.

The second soul skill is to move mountains. This soul skill can control the power of the earth. It can not only generate stone pillars from the ground, but also enchant the Clear Sky Hammer, making it as huge as a mountain.

In this instant, the Clear Sky Hammer, which activated its second soul skill, fell down like moving mountains and filling the sea. Under the loud noise and this heavy blow, not to mention the three-eyed demon worm that had only cultivated for a thousand years, even the earth could not withstand this blow.

The ground cracked and the mountains collapsed, as if there had been an earthquake. Huge cracks appeared, and even the giant earthworms hiding underground were all crushed to death.

Seeing this scene, several disciples of the Haotian Sect's herb-picking team were also extremely shocked. Today, they saw with their own eyes the son of the legendary Haotian Douluo, who was born with full soul power and was known as the Third Young Master of Haotian, take action.

Whenever he makes a move, mountains are moved, the sea is filled, and the earth cracks and mountains collapse.

"The Third Young Master is so strong."

"With this blow, not to mention a level 30 Soul Master, even a level 40 Soul Sect member would be shattered to pieces."

A single strike nearly wiped out the entire earthworm nest, ruled by millennia-old soul beasts. Only a few lucky enough to burrow slowly escaped.

Seeing this scene, Tang San didn't waste any words, put away the Clear Sky Hammer, and muttered in his heart: "Ghost Ring collects souls."

A white ghost ring emerged from Tang San's shadow. He did not summon his entire martial soul because he did not need to fight, he only needed to absorb the souls of these dead soul beasts.

Ghost rings of white light emerged, and wisps of soul light were absorbed from the soul rings of these soul beasts. In just three seconds, the soul rings of these soul beasts shattered like glass and disappeared completely.

Tang San was not surprised by this result, because when he attached his third soul ring a year ago, he used the ghost ring to absorb it in the soul beast forest. After the soul rings of those soul beasts were absorbed, they would disappear and could not be absorbed.

After putting away the ghost ring, Tang San also smiled bitterly and said: "Ten-year and hundred-year level soul beasts are still too weak. If they evolve to the god level, I'm afraid it will take a million soul beasts."

A moment later, several members of the Haotian Sect's herb-collecting team came running over. Tang San asked, "How is it?"

"Third Young Master, we have searched all the ruins and no one has escaped. They were either crushed to death by spirit beasts or eaten."

"We speculate that the soul beast invasion has been going on for half a day. The villager might have escaped because he was out, and was attacked by the soul beast when he came back. He survived because he asked for help." Liang Yao gave his analysis.

Tang San walked over to the villagers lying on the ground, their bodies wrapped in bandages and covered in medicine, and asked, "Aren't there always soldiers and spirit masters guarding the borders of the kingdom? Why haven't any spirit masters come to destroy the spirit beasts in half a day?"

The villager replied, "I don't know. The kingdom used to have soldiers patrolling the area, but since when have we seen no trace of the kingdom's soldiers?"

Chapter 53 Soul Beast Tribe

Liang Yao walked up to Tang San and whispered, "Third Young Master, the only soul beast territory nearby is the Wumu Basin. Originally, the Wumu Basin was just a low-level soul beast territory, with no ten-thousand-year soul beasts. But now soul beasts have actually invaded the village. I think something unusual may have happened in the Wumu Basin."

Hearing this, Tang San couldn't help but frown and said, "If it's really as Liang Yao said, then the Wumu Basin is likely to be upgraded to a mid-level soul beast area, and there may already be a soul beast tribe in it."

The Star Dou Great Forest and the Sunset Forest are just the two most famous soul beast forests in the Tiandou Empire, with the most soul beast species and the strongest strength. However, there are not only two soul beast territories in the Tiandou Empire. It’s just that the other soul beast lands are relatively barren, so they are not very famous. However, they are places where many solo soul masters like to pick up bargains.

In low-level soul beast areas like the Wumu Basin, there are only soul beast nests controlled by thousand-year-old soul beasts. Thousand-year-old soul beasts already have considerable intelligence and will establish their own nests and territories.

When Tang San hunted the Mandrill with its second soul ring, it had just reached its thousandth year and was building its own nest and territory, but he killed it all in one fell swoop.

According to the Spirit Hall's classification, a Soul Beast Nest is defined as a gathering of fifty or more Soul Beasts, with at least one Millennium Soul Beast. A territory with ten Nests, led by at least one Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, is called a Soul Beast Tribe.

A place like the Star Dou Great Forest, where there are 100,000-year-old soul beasts, is worthy of being called a soul beast empire. You must know that the "Huang" in the Blue Silver Emperor refers to the emperor, the emperor of the Blue Silver Grass.

Tang San is not underestimating himself now. It would be quite dangerous for him to fight against a ten thousand year old soul beast that has just reached ten thousand years of cultivation. Even though Tang San has successfully hunted down a five thousand year old soul beast alone, and he is a thirty-seventh level soul master, ten thousand years is not at the same level at all, it is another level.

If he encountered an entire soul beast tribe in the soul beast's territory, he would have no choice but to run away and would not be able to fight at all.

After thinking for a moment, Tang San said, "Let's go to the border checkpoint near the Wumu Basin to check the situation. I always feel that this matter is a bit strange."

They have all come here. If they don’t even dare to go and take a look because they are afraid of the soul beasts, then it would be a disgrace for the young master of the Haotian Sect.

The others also nodded in agreement. If something really happened in the Wumu Basin, then their Haotian Sect's medicine garden in the Wumu Basin would probably be affected as well, and they would need to report the situation at that time.

The group of six had a relatively smooth journey to the border of the kingdom and did not encounter any soul beasts. In addition, the other people in the team were not visiting the Wumu Basin for the first time, so they walked quickly.

After walking for half a day, the remote border of the kingdom finally came into view.

"Third Young Master, the border checkpoint is ahead."

This is a mountain. When you climb to the top of the mountain, you will immediately see a vast plain basin. To the west, the Wumu Basin stretches out endlessly. The purpose of setting up the border checkpoint at a high place is to be able to take in the entire Wumu Basin at a glance.

"How did it become like this? It was still normal when I came here more than half a year ago." Liang Yao brought Tang San to an outpost, looked at the miserable situation of the outpost, and said in surprise.

Tang San looked around and said, "Soul beasts can invade villages. This outpost must have been breached by them long ago. The houses and pathways are all in ruins. Without people living there, plants grow very quickly. Ivy, moss, and grass are everywhere. It looks like it's been destroyed for at least a month or two."

Everyone present had actually guessed that the kingdom's outpost had been destroyed by the soul beast, and they were mentally prepared.

Tang San bent down, picked up the broken spear on the ground, looked at the broken end and said, "What I find strange is that this outpost has been destroyed for such a long time, and the kingdom has not sent out any news. Not to mention clearing out the spirit beasts, they haven't even sent spirit masters and soldiers to evacuate the villagers. This shouldn't be right."

"Even if ten thousand year soul beasts and soul beast tribes appeared in the Wumu Basin, they are only just beginning to take shape. Ten thousand year soul beasts are only a little over ten thousand years old, so even if they organized a soul beast tribe, they wouldn't be very strong. A soul king with a ten thousand year soul ring, with a hundred soul masters and tens of thousands of soldiers, should be enough. It's impossible for a kingdom to not even have a soul king."

Generally speaking, the strength of ordinary soul masters and soul beasts can be judged based on their soul rings. For example, a level 30 soul master can absorb soul rings that are over a thousand years old. A soul master with a thousand-year soul ring can defeat a soul beast with a thousand-year cultivation base in a one-on-one fight.

This is also why there is a theory about the soul ring absorption limit, because the strength of a soul master corresponds to this limit. Except for monsters like Tang San, ordinary people cannot even reach the general limit, let alone break through it.

If one can defeat a thousand-year soul beast without absorbing the third soul ring, he is simply a monster. A normal soul master is one who can defeat a thousand-year soul beast only after absorbing the thousand-year soul ring.

Therefore, a Soul King who has absorbed a ten thousand year soul ring is strong enough to defeat a soul beast that has cultivated for ten thousand years.

Liang Yao seemed to have discovered something and hurried over, saying, "Third Young Master, I found some strange footprints over here."

"Go and see."

Liang Yao pushed aside the dead branches of the trees, revealing some footprints on the ground. These footprints were somewhat similar to human footprints, both of which were walking on two feet, but the difference was that the nails of the footprints had sharp claws, and humans wore shoes.

"What kind of soul beast's footprints are these? They don't look like those of the Zerg, a bipedal beast?" Tang San really couldn't tell what kind of soul beast this was.

Liang Yao picked up a handful of hair from the ground and said, "Third Young Master, I'm sure these are the footprints of a wolf bandit."

"Wolf Bandit?" Tang San was puzzled. It was impossible for him to know everything.

Liang Yao said, "Wolf Bandits can be considered human, but they can also be considered not. They are a combination of humans and a spirit beast called the Swift Wind Wolf. Swift Wind Wolfs are extremely lustful and will mate with almost any creature of similar size. They particularly enjoy raping human women. When they mate with human women, they give birth to this unique species of Wolf Bandits, which can be said to be a half-wolf, half-human spirit beast."

"The Wolf Thief was born with the physique, speed, and some innate abilities of the Wind Wolf. He also possessed a certain amount of human wisdom and was extremely bloodthirsty and greedy."

"And the wolf bandits come in packs."

After hearing Liang Yao's words, Tang San asked, "You mean a group of powerful wolf bandits occupied the Wumu Basin, formed a wolf bandit tribe and ruled the mountains. They attacked the kingdom's outposts in order to seize the women and committed numerous atrocities?"

Liang Yao smiled in agreement and said, "The Third Young Master is indeed worthy of being the son of Haotian Douluo. I really admire his wisdom."

Tang San had already turned a deaf ear to such flattery, but this time he was a little dissatisfied.

If it was really done by wolf bandits, then the village should have been looted by a group of wolf bandits, not a three-eyed demon worm with a thousand-year cultivation history leading the entire nest.

“I always feel like something is wrong.”

Chapter 54: Insect Soul Beast

"How strong are these wolf bandits?"

Hearing Tang San's question, Liang Yao quickly said, "Third Young Master, these Wolf Bandits are not very strong, generally only possessing the strength of Level 20 to 30 Spirit Masters. They often attack villages and plunder women, but they are numerous and united, making them very formidable. A Wolf Bandit Corps of 500 is enough to defeat an army of 10,000."

Different from Liang Yao who was afraid of the Wolf Bandit, Tang San looked a little confused. The strength of this Wolf Bandit was simply too weak.

Soul Master is a very rare profession. Most people cannot become Soul Masters after awakening their martial souls. Therefore, ordinary people who cannot become Soul Masters but whose martial souls have attack power will choose to join the army.

Generally speaking, a well-equipped soldier can be as strong as a one-ring soul master, but will definitely not be able to defeat a two-ring soul master.

Liang Yao was not strong, and his fear of the Wolf Bandits came more from their brutality and large numbers. However, in Tang San's opinion, these Wolf Bandits were very weak. One Soul Saint was enough to slaughter all 500 Wolf Bandits. Moreover, the Wolf Bandits themselves knew that they were very weak, so they did not dare to attack human cities at all. They only dared to attack remote villages outside the cities where there were no Soul Masters.

Tang San stood on a high place and looked back at the village behind him that was attacked by giant earthworms. The distance between the outpost and the village was not close, and they needed to walk for half a day.

"This outpost has been destroyed for some time. Why did the giant earthworms take so long to attack the village? Moreover, it was the wolf bandits who attacked the outpost, but it was the giant earthworm tribe that attacked the village. The kingdom did not provide regular feedback to its own outposts. Why was there no reaction at all? Did something happen to the kingdom? These wolf bandits are so weak. They used to only attack villages. Now they dare to provoke the kingdom, attack the outpost and kill the kingdom's soldiers? Aren't these wolf bandits afraid that the kingdom will send powerful spirit masters to retaliate?" The more Tang San thought about it, the more wrong it felt, because these things were not logically connected, but they seemed to be connected, and they all happened.

Not to mention soul beasts, soul masters who enter soul beast territories to hunt are also very afraid of soul beasts' revenge. Even if they want to obtain soul rings, they only dare to hunt soul beasts quietly. If they can hunt alone, they will go alone, otherwise they will bring some soul masters of similar strength to accompany them. If a Soul Emperor, Soul Saint or other strong person helps a low-level soul master hunt soul beasts, if they accidentally attract a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, everyone will die there.