Soul Land: Bibi Dong Is My Martial Soul

Chapter 42: Soul Beasts Can Never Go Extinct

"You all did well last night!"

"A team needs proper cooperation to unleash its maximum strength!"

As they continued their journey toward the Star Dou Forest the next day, Zhao Wuji praised Su Mo and the others for their performance the previous night.

Clearly, although Zhao Wuji hadn't shown himself, he had been secretly watching the confrontation between Su Mo's group and the students from Canghui Academy.

After the conflict erupted, Xiao Wu had easily defeated the students of Canghui Academy all by herself.

Then their teacher, Ye Zhiqiu, stepped in to defend his students, but even he was defeated by the combined efforts of Su Mo and the others, ultimately leaving in disgrace.

In the original story, when the Shrek Seven Devils faced Ye Zhiqiu, a Soul King specializing in defense, they couldn't break through his defenses, and Tang San and his group were unable to overpower him.

It was only when Zhao Wuji intervened that Tang San and the others were saved.

But this time, things had been different with Su Mo's involvement.

Initially, Su Mo's [Soul Weapon Integration] and his Soul Hunting Spear couldn't break through Ye Zhiqiu's defenses. However, with the auxiliary boost from Ning Rongrong, Tang San and the others attacked first, and Su Mo delivered the final blow, finally breaking through Ye Zhiqiu's defense.

"Su Mo was the key! Without his final strike, we wouldn't have cracked that turtle's shell!" Ning Rongrong giggled, still excited about having helped defeat a Soul King.

"It was Tang San's brilliant command that made the difference!" Dai Mubai complimented Tang San, believing his leadership was crucial.

"Yeah, it's all thanks to Brother San's direction!" Xiao Wu wholeheartedly supported Tang San.

Ma Hongjun and Oscar remained quiet, indifferent to the praise being passed around.

Only Zhu Zhuqing remained cold. Despite Su Mo's lower level compared to her, his combat power far exceeded hers, which left her increasingly dissatisfied with her own abilities.

The group continued their journey.

"Unless you encounter a thousand-year-old soul beast or stronger, I won't intervene. Everything depends on you from now on—this will be part of your training!" Zhao Wuji said.

"Dai Mubai and Tang San will lead the way, clearing the path, while the rest stay in the middle. I'll guard the rear."

After entering the Star Dou Forest, Zhao Wuji arranged for Tang San and Dai Mubai to lead the team.

While Zhao Wuji knew Su Mo's combat power was impressive, he believed Dai Mubai and Tang San were the strongest in the group, especially since Su Mo's power relied heavily on his [Soul Weapon Integration]. Additionally, Tang San had his hidden weapons, which Zhao Wuji considered even more powerful.

If Tang San had used the hidden weapon that previously struck Zhao Wuji during their training, the fight last night wouldn't have been nearly as difficult.

Su Mo had no objections to Zhao Wuji's arrangement and was happy to take it easy.

Watching Xiao Wu hopping around joyfully in the middle of the group, Su Mo thought about the upcoming encounters.

Deep in the Star Dou Forest, the Titan Giant Ape would likely sense Xiao Wu's presence and appear to take her away.

Tang San would then pursue her and get intercepted by the Man-Faced Demon Spider, which would lead him to obtain his first treasure, the Eight Spider Lances external spirit bone—a treasure as valuable as a hundred-thousand-year spirit ring.

"That Eight Spider Lances would suit me perfectly."

"Since Bibi Dong is now my martial spirit, and the Rakshasa God can still use the abilities of the Death Spider Emperor and Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor, if I awaken the Rakshasa God's martial spirit in the future, I should be able to use those powers too!"

"The Eight Spider Lances would be a perfect fit for me!" Su Mo's thoughts churned as he decided he would intercept the Eight Spider Lances from Tang San.

After all, the Eight Spider Lances didn't belong to Tang San just yet.

If Tang San had already obtained it, Su Mo wouldn't have taken it from him, but since it hadn't been claimed yet, Su Mo didn't see any reason to hold back.

"Hold on, Boss Dai…"

A few hours later, as they passed through a small thicket, Tang San suddenly called out to Dai Mubai.

"What is it?"

Dai Mubai stopped, puzzled.

They soon realized that hidden under a leaf in front of Dai Mubai was a small, squirrel-like soul beast, trembling in fear.

Had Tang San not stopped him, Dai Mubai, in his martial spirit tiger form, might have accidentally harmed the little soul beast while clearing the path.

Seeing this, Xiao Wu quickly ran over, picked up the small squirrel, and comforted it before releasing it back into the wild.

"There are many low-level soul beasts in this area. We should take a detour."

"Soul beasts grow slowly, so we should avoid harming them when we can."

"If we accidentally injure or kill one, this forest could be devoid of soul beasts in just a few years."

"And if we engage in battle, the noise might attract more powerful soul beasts. Better safe than sorry," Tang San suggested.

"Alright, let's take a detour then!"

"You've got some good insight, kid!" Dai Mubai praised Tang San.

"It's all thanks to my teacher's guidance," Tang San replied modestly.

After changing direction and continuing their journey, the group soon encountered another situation.

On alert, Zhu Zhuqing climbed to a higher vantage point to observe.

"It's a flying snake!"

Upon hearing Zhu Zhuqing's report, Su Mo immediately knew they were about to face the Phoenix-Tailed Cockscomb Snake from the original story.

After a fierce battle, they successfully took down the Phoenix-Tailed Cockscomb Snake, which now lay on the ground, barely clinging to life.

Just as Oscar was about to kill the Phoenix-Tailed Cockscomb Snake, Granny Chao Tianxiang appeared with her granddaughter, Meng Yiran.

Everything proceeded just as it had in the original story, without much change despite Su Mo's presence.

After all, Su Mo wasn't leading the team; it was still Tang San and Dai Mubai. Moreover, it was still the same time frame, just after Oscar broke through to level 30. Everything happened as expected.

Although there was a small interruption from Meng Yiran, Oscar still managed to obtain his third spirit ring in the end.

"Teacher Zhao, I just broke through to level 30!"

Just as Zhao Wuji was preparing to lead everyone back, Tang San suddenly revealed that he had reached level 30 as well.

With that news, the group had no choice but to remain in the Star Dou Forest to help Tang San find a suitable spirit beast.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, they hadn't found anything by nightfall.

The group settled down in a safe spot within the forest to rest for the night, planning to continue their search in the morning.

"Sigh, in the past, even the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest had plenty of thousand-year spirit beasts."

"Now... who knows if they've all retreated deeper into the forest or if there's another reason."

As the group rested, Zhao Wuji suddenly let out a sigh of frustration, feeling that finding spirit beasts was much harder than it used to be.

"Regardless of the reason, it's our doing!" Tang San spoke up after hearing Zhao Wuji's lament, drawing from the knowledge he had learned from Grandmaster. "Soul beasts may be fierce, but humans are even fiercer!"

Tang San continued, "As my teacher once said, while the number of soul masters is small, it only takes a few decades for a soul master to grow into a strong one. During that time, a powerful soul master will need at least six spirit rings, which means hunting at least six soul beasts. This includes hundred-year, thousand-year, and possibly even ten-thousand-year beasts. It's much harder for soul beasts to cultivate than humans—otherwise, their power wouldn't be measured by years of age.

"Despite their numbers, continued killing will only lead to a steady decline in their population, especially among the more powerful beasts. Once a strong soul beast is killed, it's one less in the world. In a few years, it may become difficult to find spirit beasts that are over a thousand years old."

Tang San paused, letting his words sink in before continuing, "What's even worse is the indiscriminate slaughter. A soul master may only need nine spirit rings in their lifetime, but how many soul beasts will they kill? Take our group, for example—on the way here, when we encountered soul beasts that attacked us, we couldn't help but fight back, even if they were only ten or hundred-year-old beasts. And those who make a living hunting soul beasts kill even more. If things continue like this, one day, soul masters may find themselves with no spirit rings to use."

After hearing Tang San's explanation, Zhao Wuji, Dai Mubai, Ning Rongrong, and the others fell into silence, seemingly mourning for the future.

Xiao Wu clenched her fists tightly, feeling even more devastated than the others at the bleak future of the soul beasts.

"That's impossible," Su Mo suddenly said with a faint smile, breaking the silence and countering Tang San's statement.

"Oh? And why is that?"

Zhao Wuji looked at Su Mo in surprise. Everyone else, including Tang San, turned to him, curious as to why he disagreed.

"I agree with most of what Tang San said, but I can't accept the last part. In my opinion, soul beasts can never go extinct, and soul masters will never run out of spirit rings," Su Mo explained calmly. "It's just that in the future, soul masters might only have access to low-level spirit rings."

"For example, Blue Silver Grass. There's an endless amount of Blue Silver Grass on the Douluo Continent—it's practically impossible to count them all!"

"A spirit beast like Blue Silver Grass will never go extinct," Su Mo continued. "Even if powerful soul beasts are overhunted, if their spirit rings aren't absorbed, they'll eventually dissolve back into the natural world."

"Furthermore, when a soul master dies, their soul power also returns to nature."

"These energies, when returned to nature, will lead to the birth of new soul beasts. Animals that originally lacked soul power will become soul beasts more easily."

"If in the future, the number of powerful soul beasts decreases significantly, the population of lower-level soul beasts will explode. Even if there's a period when there are too many human experts and too few soul beasts, things will balance out once those human experts pass away."

"So, that's why I said soul masters won't run out of spirit rings. At most, they'll just lose access to high-quality ones."

"In the future, there might be soul masters with only white spirit rings. And at that point, they'll probably envy us, the ones who came before them."

Su Mo's explanation was both insightful and humorous, especially when he mentioned future soul masters having only white spirit rings, which made him chuckle.

"Haha, all white spirit rings!"

"That would be hilarious!"

Ma Hongjun and the others burst into laughter at the thought.

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