Star Dou Great Forest, Soul Hunting Bazaar.
Shouts rose and fell, incessant.
"Five-man squad, hunting strength-type soul beasts over a thousand years, looking for an auxiliary-type Soul Master!"
"Black Kun Mercenary Group, undertaking hunts for various hundred-year soul beasts. Two-and-a-half-year-old brand, reputation guaranteed!"
Listening to the shouts around him, the corners of Lu Feng's mouth turned up slightly, revealing a faint smile. He hadn't felt this familiar and free sensation for a long time.
In an instant, memories of the past flooded his mind like a tide.
Lu Feng couldn't help but remember the companions who were by his side when he first stepped into the Star Dou Great Forest.
He wondered how they were doing now.
"What was the name Fatty planned for his tavern again? Happy Hour?"
Stepping into the forest, tall trees blotted out the sun. Sunlight sprinkled through the gaps in the leaves, forming golden spots of light, bringing a cool feeling.
"Sou!" Soul power surged, and Luo Wu Pao appeared at Lu Feng's feet.
"Wu Pao, the target this time is the Water Demon Beast, cultivation around twenty thousand years." Lu Feng said with a grave expression.
He had been delayed quite a while on this trip.
If he didn't hurry back, the Soul Master finals might be almost over.
"Luo luo!" Luo Wu Pao nodded obediently, then lifted its little nose and sniffed vigorously in the air.
One man and one dog moved extremely fast, and before long, they arrived at the edge of a swamp.
The swamp was incredibly wide, almost boundless. The water was extremely turbid, and a thick fog permeated the air, reducing visibility to a minimum.
The Star Dou Great Forest was vast and had complex terrain; Soul Masters had likely explored less than ten percent of it. Lu Feng had stumbled upon information about this swamp in an ancient book in the Heaven Dou Library.
Along the way, soul beasts attacked from time to time, but he easily neutralized them all.
Even a ten-thousand-year Iron Crocodile, thick-skinned and immensely strong, was sent flying by a single punch from him.
After about twenty minutes, Lu Feng's steps suddenly stopped.
At this moment, in Luo Wu Pao's keen perception, the surrounding water element was so dense it was nearly viscous, almost reaching a peak.
"Hiss!"
An ear-piercing scream shattered the surrounding calm.
Immediately after, the surrounding water seemed controlled by a powerful force and began to spin wildly, forming huge whirlpools.
Dense soul power pressure swept over, causing the air to tremble.
Lu Feng's eyes sharpened. He mobilized the soul power within his body, and in an instant, a burst of intense golden light shot out from him.
The next moment.
Boom—
A sky-shaking explosion rang out, as if the heavens and earth were splitting. The surrounding water surface was instantly whipped into hundred-meter-high waves.
Around Lu Feng, an area of several kilometers was engulfed in this terrifying explosion.
Water waves, mud, sand, and branches flew everywhere in chaos.
"Splash."
Lu Feng's body fell uncontrollably into the water.
"Splash!"
A spray of water rose, and a huge head slowly emerged from the surface.
It looked like a giant python, its body presenting a bizarre transparent state, as if formed from water.
Its thick waist was as wide as a water vat. Just the part of its body exposed above the water was five or six meters high. On top of the massive snake head, two sharp horns grew.
Watching Lu Feng sink to the bottom, a shrewd glint flashed in the giant python's pale blue eyes.
This two-legged beast dared to intrude on its territory; simply seeking death!
One must know, once soul beasts reached the ten-thousand-year level, they could gain wisdom, some even comparable to humans.
"Boom!"
The giant python opened its bloody maw, bringing a gust of fishy wind, and pounced fiercely toward Lu Feng's position.
The giant python swallowed him in one gulp, like swallowing a small snack.
In the eyes of soul beasts, a Soul Master's body was a great tonic, containing rich soul power that could help them rapidly increase their strength.
However, the next moment, a surging ball of flame suddenly erupted from the giant python's mouth.
"Boom!"
A loud noise, deafening.
The air vibrated violently, instantly generating a majestic wave of air that rolled outward in all directions.
Swept by the storm on the water surface, monstrous waves surged, and gales howled. The air wave lasted for a long time, turning the surroundings into chaos.
Strangely, after the flame exploded, the scattered sparks falling onto the water were not extinguished. Instead, they burned fiercely, illuminating the surrounding waters in a bright red.
At this moment, the giant python's head had completely exploded, flesh and blood flying, and its massive body crashed down.
It went very peacefully.
In mid-air, Lu Feng's figure emerged.
A bright flame burned around him. Looking from a distance, he was like a blazing sun hanging high in the sky.
The flames danced with the wind, drifting lightly. At first glance, they looked like gorgeous feathers stretching wantonly in the air.
And also like a layer of indestructible armor, making him look majestic and awe-inspiring.
Behind him, a pair of huge flame wings suddenly spread out, like a phoenix spreading its wings.
Every flap brought rolling heat waves. Under the high temperature, the surrounding air began to distort and blur.
Lu Feng slowly descended, his gaze falling on the black soul ring on the giant python's body, a smile curling his lips.
"Trying to ambush me? You're still too green."
The Water Demon Beast was no ordinary soul beast. Ancient blood flowed in its body, giving it an extremely strong affinity for the water element.
As long as it was in a place with water, it could recover quickly from injuries, making it almost invincible.
In this swamp, even a Soul Saint expert might not gain an advantage against a ten-thousand-year Water Demon Beast.
However, Lu Feng was obviously an exception.
The Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul was something he had swiped from Ma Hongjun.
This Martial Soul had extremely high explosive power. Once the flame attached to a target, it was like maggots in the bone, extremely difficult to extinguish.
And the recovery ability the Water Demon Beast relied on most was perfectly countered by this Evil Fire.
As the saying goes, fire and water do not mix.
However, like Ma Hongjun, when Lu Feng used this Martial Soul, his spirit would inevitably be affected, his heart seemingly burned by a bath of fire.
Fortunately, his situation was slightly better than Ma Hongjun's; he could use the power of the light attribute to suppress this evil thought.
However, suppression is not as good as guidance.
If he used this Martial Soul for a long time, side effects would still be unavoidable.
Lu Feng had a Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower in his Soul Tool. But he had just undergone the Ice and Fire Body Tempering, so it wasn't suitable to consume other Immortal Herbs in the short term, to avoid triggering energy conflicts in his body.
Moreover, Lu Feng was worried that consuming this Immortal Herb would break the balance of the five elements in his body.
Therefore, he secretly planned to wait until he advanced to the Soul King level and his own attribute cultivation was stable before considering using other external items to enhance his strength.
"Wu Pao, protect me!"
"Luo luo!"
The process of absorbing the soul ring went very smoothly.
The age of this soul ring exceeded twenty thousand years, far surpassing the theoretical limit.
But Lu Feng was no ordinary person.
His physical constitution was much stronger than ordinary Soul Emperors, describable as 'abnormal'.
Ice and Fire Body Tempering, attribute fragments...
A series of enhancements meant that in terms of sheer physical strength, Lu Feng felt he could withstand an ordinary Soul Ancestor's fourth soul skill with just his body.
After absorbing the soul ring, Lu Feng's cultivation did not stop.
He sat cross-legged on the spot and silently circulated the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record.
In an instant, the soul power in his body surged like a rushing river. The surrounding free energy was pulled, pouring madly into Lu Feng's body.
Gradually, a visible vortex of air formed around him.
Spinning at high speed, it emitted a whistling sound.
"Awoo!"
Surrounding soul beasts felt this terrifying aura and fled one after another.
Under the shroud of this pressure, soul beasts under a thousand years were suppressed to the point of immobility, only able to lie on the ground, trembling.
At this moment, Lu Feng's body was like a blazing furnace, flames roaring and raging.
He clearly felt that his internal organs seemed to have come alive, cheering and excitedly accepting the majestic influx of energy.
External energy poured into his meridians through his skin pores like trickling streams, then converged into his five viscera, nourishing and strengthening every inch of his body.
However, Lu Feng frowned tightly.
Not enough!
He clearly sensed that the energy absorbed at this moment was already twice as much as his usual cultivation. Yet his body was like a bottomless pit, still absorbing madly.
Ten minutes.
Thirty minutes.
Two hours...
When night shrouded the sky, Lu Feng finally felt the energy in his body reach saturation.
Level 55!
Lu Feng was startled. He held his breath and carefully sensed the subtle changes in his body.
He found that his body seemed to have undergone some changes.
"Thump, thump, thump..."
Steady and powerful heartbeats sounded.
In Lu Feng's perception, the originally attributeless soul power energy flowed through his heart and instantly became scalding hot, like ignited kindling.
Most critically, this mass of energy seemed not to have diminished in the slightest.
With a thought, Lu Feng immersed himself completely in his inner world. having practiced the Mysterious Heaven Skill for many years, he had long mastered the technique of internal vision.
He saw that stream of energy slowly flow out from his heart, following the meridians to flow through the spleen, lungs, kidneys, and liver in turn. Wherever it passed, the internal organs seemed to be tempered in a high-temperature furnace, becoming increasingly tough and powerful.
To Lu Feng's astonishment, after this cycle, the soul power energy had not suffered any loss and still maintained its original majesty.
"What is going on? Has my body been tempered to the limit?"
Lu Feng shook his head subconsciously, his eyes flickering.
Conservation of energy, even in a fantasy world, should be an unbreakable truth.
Immediately, Lu Feng took a deep breath, focused his mind, and forcibly stopped the absorption of soul power completely.
At this moment, he finally discovered the clue.
"Thump, thump, thump..."
A small mass of energy seemed to burst from the depths of his heart, flowing through the meridians like a lively stream through the five viscera, and finally spreading to all parts of his body.
"This!"
Lu Feng exclaimed instantly, his eyes filled with ecstasy.
"After the five elements gathered, I can actually generate soul power internally without absorbing energy from the outside?"
"Holy crap, a perpetual motion machine!"