Star Dou Great Forest, on the shore of the Lake of Life.
A small golden lion lay on the ground, looking somewhat dejected.
At this moment, a gigantic, fiery three-headed hellhound, carrying a red and yellow soul beast in its mouth, landed beside the small lion.
"Auspicious Beast, time to eat!"
With that, the hellhound flung the soul beast from its mouth in front of the small lion.
They were the Three-Headed Crimson Demonic Hound and the Imperial Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion looked at the red and yellow soul beast before it. It was a two-headed lizard, called a Twin-Headed Photon Lizard, of the Light attribute.
For the Three-Eyed Golden Lion to grow, it normally needed to feed on the brains of Light-attribute soul beasts.
But if it ate them like this every day, the already scarce Light-attribute soul beasts would likely soon go extinct.
Fortunately, there were other methods. For multi-headed soul beasts like this, eating only one of their heads wouldn't cause a fatal injury. As long as they had some time to recuperate, new heads would grow back.
This avoided large-scale slaughter.
"Don't want to eat!" The Three-Eyed Golden Lion lay on the ground, saying in a low voice, "Crimson King, I miss Tuo! Can we go find him?"
Although the Three-Eyed Golden Lion and Yuwen Tuo weren't linked by fate like in the original story with Huo Yuhao.
But during their joint cultivation, she had also seen Yuwen Tuo's life and some of his memories. Moreover, she had spent several months with Yuwen Tuo and had come to regard him as a friend in her heart.
Now, she missed his Xuanyuan Sword's Saintly Dao power, she missed his purest flames, she missed his supreme culinary skills, and even more, she missed him entirely.
At the mention of Yuwen Tuo, the Crimson King's mouth unconsciously drooled a bit. After regaining its composure and wiping itself clean, it said, "Auspicious Beast, he is human after all, and his living environment is different from ours soul beasts. And the human sea is vast; where would you find him?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion thought for a moment. "How about we catch a human to ask?"
The Crimson King shook its three big heads. "It's not that easy, is it? Do you really think he's just a child, or a renowned powerhouse on the continent, that anyone would know him?"
Hearing this, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion lowered its head again. The Crimson King made sense. Even if she wanted to find Tuo, how easy could it be?
But she still wanted to try. The Star Dou Great Forest never lacked human visitors. Sometimes, finding a human was simpler than finding a soul beast.
Three days later, Yuwen Tuo smoothly recovered to his peak state in the high-level mimetic cultivation environment of Mt. Rilun. The Workaholic Evil Eye Tyrant also had its body repaired as his mental power recovered and strengthened.
It could now be summoned again. Assimilating it was the most correct thing Yuwen Tuo had done in a long time.
The journey down the mountain was no longer so troublesome, as he no longer needed to conserve soul power. Yuwen Tuo directly activated Starfire Sky-High, flying at high speed. In less than half a day, he flew back to Yan City; he still needed to pick up Nana.
Actually, he could try Sword Flight now, but he didn't have a good sword on hand. The Xuanyuan Sword was his soul, after all, not a real sword. How could he fly by stepping on his own soul?
However, he was not far from becoming a Soul Sage. Once he reached Soul Sage, he could fly on his own, so not having a sword for flight wasn't a problem.
Nana had been frantic these past few days. After all, Yuwen Tuo had been gone for three or four days. On the second day after her night of rest, she found the Mingdetang branch in this city, refilled all her milk bottles with soul power, and then replenished herself.
After recovering to her peak, she intended to go to Mt. Rilun to help Yuwen Tuo.
But unexpectedly, precisely because she went to the Mingdetang branch, her whereabouts were immediately leaked. Jing Hongchen, following the scent, rushed to Yan City.
After all, he knew Yuwen Tuo had taken Nana with him when he left. In other words, finding Nana meant finding Yuwen Tuo.
"Nana, how dare you betray those people, and even incite His Highness Prince Yan to successively destroy so many sub-altars?" Jing Hongchen glared at Nana. If it weren't for this woman leaking information, Yuwen Tuo wouldn't have caused such big trouble.
Once this matter spread, how could the Holy Spirit Cult tolerate him?
"I-I didn't do anything wrong! My mom and dad and I were living happily, it was the Holy Spirit Cult who destroyed everything I had. My benefactor rescued me from hell, owing him a debt of gratitude as heavy as a mountain.
He kills evil soul masters for the benefit of the people! Hall Master, you are the Hall Master of Mingdetang, the object of worship for all soul engineers in our Sun Moon Empire, why would you collude with those people?" Nana cried, accusingly.
She had once thought of seeking help from Mingdetang, but she hadn't expected that when she tried to go there, she saw evil soul masters there as well, not receiving any attacks, and even conversing with Jing Hongchen.
It was then that she knew Mingdetang had also fallen.
"There are many things you don't understand," Jing Hongchen said helplessly. Did he have a good impression of evil soul masters? He wished he could kill every one he saw, but there was no other way. The Sun Moon Empire wanted to unify the world and needed their strength.
The relationship between evil soul masters and the Sun Moon Imperial family was far more complicated than she imagined.
Among the evil soul masters, one was even the Grand Enshrined of the Sun Moon Empire.
In this situation, even if he was the high-ranking Hall Master of Mingdetang, how could he completely cut ties with the evil soul masters?
"Forget it. Since you've already broken away from them, this Hall Master won't help them trouble you. Just tell me where His Highness Prince Yan is?"
Nana shook her head. "I can't say. My benefactor has his own plans. Without his permission, I won't reveal any information about him!"
Jing Hongchen angrily squeezed Nana's shoulder, the immense force making her shoulder ache. "You're harming him, do you know that?"
Once the matter of the Holy Spirit Cult's sub-altars spread, the Holy Spirit Cult would surely send experts to assassinate Yuwen Tuo.
However, the cooperation between the Holy Spirit Cult and the Sun Moon Empire was not yet openly declared. As long as Yuwen Tuo returned to Mingdu as quickly as possible and did not easily leave the city, the Holy Spirit Cult would not launch a full-scale invasion of Mingdu unless they wanted to completely fall out with the Sun Moon Empire. That was where Yuwen Tuo would be safe.
As for the death of the Nightmare Douluo, Jing Hongchen could entirely shift the blame to the Body Sect.
After all, who would believe that Yuwen Tuo, a Soul King, could kill a Titled Douluo? Just like with the Shadow Douluo before, he also believed that experts from the Body Sect must have made the move.
Although the Holy Spirit Cult would still resent Yuwen Tuo because of this, they would at least redirect the blame to the Body Sect.
If the Holy Spirit Cult and the Body Sect fought to a mutual destruction, it might not necessarily be a bad thing.
While the Sun Moon Empire needed the Holy Spirit Cult's power, they didn't need a complete Holy Spirit Cult. They were too strong, almost beyond the nation's control.
A slightly crippled version seemed easier to utilize.
"Hall Master Hongchen, aren't you being too impolite to my person?" Just then, a hand grabbed Jing Hongchen's wrist, forcefully prying it away from Nana's shoulder.
A ball of fire suddenly condensed before him, yet even Jing Hongchen, a Titled Douluo, hadn't noticed it.
After reaching Soul Emperor, Yuwen Tuo's Divine Fire Clone improved further, now capable of full-body combustion and instantaneous movement.
Although its range wasn't yet at the level of his master's instantaneous thousand-li, within a hundred-meter radius, he could move as he pleased.
Moreover, this movement was completely silent, a hundred times superior to Meng Hongchen's soul tool Teleportation Ring and Jiang Nan Nan's Teleportation Soul Skill. Ordinary Titled Douluo would find it hard to detect. Unfortunately, Jing Hongchen, at only rank ninety-four, without using soul tools, belonged to the rank of ordinary Titled Douluo.
When Yuwen Tuo eventually elevates his Divine Fire Clone to a level where even Super Douluo, or even Ultimate Douluo, cannot detect his teleportation, he will be the most skilled master of the "King Capture" strategy in the world.
"Your Highness?" Jing Hongchen was startled.
Yuwen Tuo's movements were so strange, appearing suddenly before him without giving him time to react. And this power, to actually forcefully pry open his Titled Douluo hand!
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