Douluo Dalu 2: Heavenly Eyed Douluo

"The air here is always so refreshing." Huo Yuhao took a deep breath as he and his group walked into the Great Star Dou Forest. The towering forest trees stretched high into the sky, their thick canopies filtering the sunlight and casting dappled shadows on the forest floor.

The faint sounds of soul beasts rustling in the distance blended with the chirping of birds, the thick vines scattered throughout trembled ever so slightly—creating a serene yet ever-present tension in the air.

The forest is segmented into three regions: the outer region, the hybrid region, and the core region. As of right now, they were in the outer region; mostly occupied by soul beasts of ten, hundred and thousand year olds.

Xiao Xiao turned towards Huo Yuhao, the defacto leader of the group, and asked. "What's the plan?"

Huo Yuhao pondered for a moment and first spread out his Spiritual Detection to cover the outer and hybrid regions in an instant.

With his immense spiritual power at the level of a Titled Douluo, no soul beast would be able to sense his Spiritual Detection, unless it was a soul beast that were around 4-500,000 years old or has stronger and masterful control over their Spiritual Power than his: to which, by Skydream's account, could only be counted by a hand and they're all living in the core region of the forest.

He was not going to get anywhere near that place until he becomes a Titled Douluo. Skydream had told him of a powerful old monster that had lived during the Era of Gods.

A 3D model of the entire two regions unfolded in Huo Yuhao's mind, every detail appearing with crystal clarity. The terrain, the location of various soul beasts, and even some hidden spiritual herbs.

He quickly categorized the soul beasts in the outer and hybrid regions, sorting them based on their age, attributes, and potential compatibility with his friends' martial souls.

As for those herbs... he'd keep a mental note of it. They were rare, but not to the point of needing them badly.

They were here to hunt for soul rings. And he found some suitable ones for Xiao Xiao and Ning Tian.

Huo Yuhao turned to them and informed them of the situation. The girls listened closely while Yan Shaozhe was seemingly out of view from anyone.

But Huo Yuhao knew that he was just on top of a tree, suppressing his aura so much that it seemed like he had became invisible.

"Ning Tian, right now, the soul skill that you need is something that could enhance one's defense. This would be useful for us all, especially for you." Huo Yuhao said.

On the way here, the girls filled Hup Yuhao on the ongoings with their lives while he was in deep meditation. Ning Tian especially mentioned how she had learned the Great Pagoda Art and how it works.

Huo Yuhao contemplated on what her next skill would be best for her and others, and defense amplification seemed to be the most optimal choice: as she's a auxiliary-type soul master, she's physically weaker than her peers.

"I think you know this soul beast, considering it's one of yours Ancestor's soul ring."

Ning Tian raised an eyebrow, realizing which ancestor he was talking about—Nine Colored Douluo, one of the original Seven Shrek Devils, Ning Rongrong!

"If you're talking about enhancing defense...then is it the Armoured Beast!?" She exclaimed in shock.

The Nine Colored Douluo was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's greatest genius in its entire history; making her the idol of every clan member, especially Ning Tian. Of course she'd know about what soul beasts the Nine Colored Douluo had used for soul rings.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, "That's right. It's a Armoured Beast about five thousand years old, a suitable age for your fourth soul ring."

Ning Tian clenched her hands excitedly. "Yes!"

He then turned towards Xiao Xiao. "As for you, I need to know which martial soul will you use to absorb a soul ring?"

"The Myriad Dragon Cauldron." Xiao Xiao answered unhesitatingly.

The Myriad Dragon Cauldron, the evolved form of her Threelives Soul-Sealing Cauldron. It was an extremely rare Tool Soul that had only appeared in ancient times and said to be capable of splitting itself into ten thousand mighty cauldrons that each one carried a dragon's might!

Such a powerful and rare martial soul, and it actually reappeared after a refinement of lightning? It was actually possible, just a very, very tiny chance. To compare, getting a hundred year old soul bone is more likely to occur than getting this martial soul to surface.

Lightning bolts has the power to cleanse and destroy evil, but there was a small chance for them to awaken a hidden power of someone or an object. And Xiao Xiao was extremely lucky enough for it to occur, while she was meditating!

Huo Yuhao nodded. "Do you have a type of soul skill in mind? Although getting a specific soul skill is impossible, which is mostly based in luck, but we can at least choose a soul beast that aligns with the soul skill you have in mind. The soul beast's characteristics would almost always lead to the desired soul skill."

Xiao Xiao didn't hesitate to answer, having already thought about it back in the academy. "I need an explosive power soul skill! My current three soul skills can be summed up into three types: crowd control, locked-on single target, and defense."

"I see." Huo Yuhao nodded in agreement. "Very well. I found three: a bear, a scorpion, and a dragon. The bear looks to be a Dark Gold Fear Claw Bear about two thousand years old; a little young but its soul skill would no doubt be strong, the scorpion seems to be the Giant Earth King about four thousand years old."

"As for the dragon..." Huo Yuhao hesitated for a moment and continued. "I'm not quite sure what kind of Dragon this is, actually. The aura it gives out is below six thousand years old, yet it holds some special power within its body that makes even me wary."

"What? Even you can't tell what it is?" Ma Xiaotao was surprised, as did the other girls.

Huo Yuhao's knowledge of Soul Beasts could be said to be equalled to elders because of his clones. If even he couldn't identify what it is and was cautious of it, just how special is that dragon?

Huo Yuhao glances at Xiao Xiao. "So, which one should you go for?"

Xiao Xiao smiled confidently. "What else? Let's go after the dragon!"

Huo Yuhao nodded. "Alright. But we'll go after the Armoured Beast first since it's closer than the dragon."

The girls nodded at his words, acknowledging his decision.

Huo Yuhao took out four grey cloaks. He wore one and handed the rest to the girls. "Wear these. It's a camouflaging soul tool that I made that would make your entire body blend into the surroundings, masking your presence from both soul beasts and humans to an extent."

Xiao Xiao examined the cloak with curiosity. "Did you make this yourself?"

Huo Yuhao nodded, though it was really his shadow clone but no one needs to know about that.

"It's one of the stuff I made based on my research on genjutsu and among other jutsus: this cloak bends light around you, absorbs all of your scent and exudes the smell according to your environment. The only issue it has is the sounds you make, so be careful and limit your movements as much as possible. If you're too loud, it won't matter how well you're hidden."

The girls nodded understandingly.

Huo Yuhao put on the hood, covering the upper half of his face. Almost instantaneously his entire body blurred and faded into the surroundings, as if he had merged with the forest itself.

His presence became so faint that even Ma Xiaotao, a half-step Soul Sage(1), found it difficult to pinpoint his exact location.

"Follow my lead." Huo Yuhao's voice sounded in their heads. "And note to self, add a feature that makes other wearers see one another."

The girls softly giggled and wore their cloaks, Ning Tian hugged onto Ma Xiaotao's back. She would've liked to cling onto Huo Yuhao's back, but she stop herself in consideration that he only had one arm and would have trouble carrying her.

Huo Yuhao lead the way, traversing through the forest by jumping through the trees with silent and fluid movements. The others followed closely, their presence nearly erased by the cloaks' effects.

It took them a couple of hours before finding the soul beast.

"It's right there." Huo Yuhao muttered as they came to a stop. The girls looked down from the tree branches they were perched on.

The soul beast is shaped like a crocodile. Its bulk had the size of a horse, five meters long or so, a head with four eyes, four limbs as thick and solid as a cannon. Its most outstanding feature is that its whole body is covered in black scales. Each scale is roughly palm sized, appearing extremely thick and durable.

"The Armoured Beast!" Ning Tian quietly muttered, excitement flickering across her eyes.

"How should we deal with it?" Xiao Xiao asked.

"Simple." Huo Yuhao said and raised his hand.

Absolute Domain. Spatial Lock.

The Armoured Beast's eyes widened as an invisible force descended upon it, locking space itself around its body. The powerful soul beast struggled, its limbs tensing as it attempted to move, but its efforts were in vain.

"Its movements are sealed," Huo Yuhao informed them. "Ning Tian, prepare to attack. I'll suppress its resistance while you deliver the finishing blow."

He paused for a moment before manipulating space on the Armoured Beast's head, a blueish circle appeared on its head that when struck, it would immediately pierce through the soul beast's brain.

"Attack it at that location."

Ning Tian nodded, taking out a class 4 dagger soul tool and Ma Xiaotao dropped down to the soul beast.

Ning Tian didn't hesitate and killed the Armoured Beast, a purple soul ring appearing above its body.

Huo Yuhao pondered for a moment and said, "Xiaotao, I'm sure you can handle any soul beasts so you stay here and protect Ning Tian as she absorbs the Soul Ring. I'll head on first with Xiao Xiao to hunt down that dragon."

"Okay!" Ma Xiaotao replied with the gesture.

Huo Yuhao then lead Xiao Xiao to the dragon's location.

They traversed for a few hours through the forest, the sun was setting when they finally saw the soul beast they were looking for.

Xiao Xiao blinked and gulped. "That's....a dragon?"

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

(1): A half-step is someone who's at rank 20, rank 30, rank 40, etc. but hasn't gotten a soul ring yet. Basically, Ma Xiaotao's rank 70 but doesn't have a soul ring yet to fully consolidate her cultivation as a Soul Sage: hence making her a false Soul Sage or a half-step Soul Sage. Btw, this doesn't exist in the original. I just added in my own spin.

2/3 chapters of the week