An unknown plain of the Heavenly Soul Empire—or rather, what was once a plain, now a basin—several mountain ranges rose in the distance, clearly the work of the Water Dragon King.
Due to the massive alteration of the geology, the climate conditions here had been permanently changed, and it was uncertain whether it would be suitable for human habitation in the future.
At the core of the basin, several blocks of pure white ice emitted extreme cold.
Then, a dark green light suddenly shone, corroding the white ice, and a dark green figure soared into the sky.
"Snow Empress! Ice Empress! And that dragon! Fight me another three hundred rounds!"
"I refuse!"
Poison Undying's eyes widened in fury, his boundless dark green soul power dyeing the sky green, the clouds churning in response to his anger.
But no sound answered him.
The three Snow Empresses had already gone to Xilu City; their mission was simply to slightly hinder the Body Sect.
Poison Undying was extremely frustrated; he hadn't even had a chance to unleash his full power before being pinned to the ground by that azure dragon.
His entire soul power was completely neutralized and purified by the ceaseless flow of water elements, rendering him utterly powerless.
It felt like Mike Tyson punching cotton with all his might—utterly frustrating.
He hadn't even used his Gold-level awakened True Body Martial Soul; he'd been kicked to death like a stray cat. This was the first time in all his years as a True Body Douluo that he'd felt such humiliation.
Seeing that he was completely alone, his anger intensified.
This meant that the three women, Xue Di and her companions, didn't take him seriously at all, treating him like a fly swatted away.
And in reality, it was more or less true; the gap between Poisonous Death and the Water Dragon King was greater than the gap between a human and a mosquito.
The Water Dragon King truly didn't take him seriously, not even clearly seeing Poisonous Death's appearance, only knowing that he was a ghastly green.
After venting his anger in the air for a while, Poisonous Death calmed down slightly, casually opened the magic network to check the time, and slapped his forehead.
"Damn it! So much time has passed?"
"Could those guys from the Sun Moon Empire have already taken their stuff back?"
Poison Undying immediately returned to the ground, his dark green soul power rapidly eroding the remaining white ice blocks, releasing the other Title Douluos from the Body Sect.
"Huff!"
Golden Body Douluo Jinpeng lay supine on the ground, panting heavily, his pupils refocusing. In the ice, he felt his thoughts were almost stagnant, and he could vaguely see his great-grandmother.
The other Title Douluos were in a similar state, shivering all over.
"Alright, alright, get up and move around to get your blood flowing again. Lying down will only make you colder."
Poison Undying urged the Title Douluos to stand up.
Although the Body Sect was a bunch of brutes, their research on the human body was unparalleled on the continent.
They had long since discovered the major systems of the human body and various scientific methods of human training.
For a Body Soul Master, the Body Sect was indeed the best place, where not only could their Martial Soul be cultivated to the maximum extent, but they could also gain an incredibly powerful backer.
If Huo Yuhao hadn't died back then, he would have considered joining the Body Sect.
Jin Peng and the others immediately stood up, using their mental power to urge their blood to flow rapidly, and slightly moving their bodies to expel the cold air within them with their soul power.
The Snow Empress hadn't used her full strength, otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to expel the extreme snow's cold air in less than a year and a half.
"Sect Master, why are the Three Kings of the Far North here? And what is that dragon?
I've never heard of such a being in the Douluo Continent!"
Poison Undying patted Jin Peng's head and said,
"I want to know too!"
"Forget it, now is not the time to discuss this. Let's go to Star Luo City and seize the things first!"
"If we wait any longer, we'll have to consider launching a surprise attack on the Sun Moon Empire in the future!"
Golden Body Douluo hurriedly nodded and followed Poison Undying into the sky. The other Title Douluos followed suit, heading towards Star Luo City together.
...
In the mirror space of the Mingdou Mountains,
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Like raindrops, level-seven fixed-position soul-guided cannonballs rained down on the earth, flames and explosions sending dirt flying high, the shockwaves spreading in all directions.
Countless craters on the ground testified to the intensity of the battle.
"Goodness, is this what a traditional level-nine soul master is like?
This firepower is comparable to a soul master regiment!"
"Old Zhang, it's up to you."
A young man from the Root First Action Team couldn't help but gasp in amazement. Xilu City followed a specialized path for soul masters, and traditional soul masters were rarely seen.
In the eyes of Xilu City's research department, traditional soul masters were a bunch of monsters.
They forged their own materials, designed their own core magic arrays, drew their own blueprints, inscribed the magic arrays themselves, and even personally oversaw the trial operation of soul tools. One wrong move and they'd blow themselves up—they were practically superhumans.
The young man called Old Zhang immediately activated his martial soul using Dream Coins, and the mirror space rapidly changed.
The earth began to stretch, increasing the spatial distance between Kong Deming and the other three, preventing them from meeting up.
They knew perfectly well how powerful the linked soul tool was, so naturally they wouldn't allow the four of them to gather together.
Old Zhang twisted his hand, and the ground beneath Kong Deming's feet rapidly collapsed, revealing a bottomless abyss, a visually striking scene reminiscent of the apocalypse.
Kong Deming activated the flying soul tool on his back, hovering in the air, and used its full-power detection soul tool to locate the Root Group.
"Stubborn fools."
Kong Deming locked onto a faint fluctuation of soul power, and hundreds of soul guide rays, carrying terrifying power, enveloped the Root Group's location.
Each soul guide ray was enough to vaporize a Soul Douluo; after hundreds of rays, even Xuanzi would have to flee quickly.
"Eighth Soul Skill: The Principle of Reversion."
The leader of the Root First Action Team was a petite woman named Yang Qingxue, whose martial soul was the Key of Principles.
Each time she acquired a soul ring, she would extract the related concept and unlock a principle, each principle being connected to the workings of the world—a conceptual martial soul.
Due to malnutrition in her early years, her innate soul power and cultivation were both average, and this martial soul required a large amount of soul power to utilize.
Heaven opened a window for her, then closed a door.
Although she possessed the mechanism, she lacked the numerical value, usually collapsing after using her soul skills only a few times, and she dared not use them at full power, fearing she would drain her life force to maintain them.
After being discovered by Adam, she received intensive training, with a full supply of rare and precious materials, and combined with Dream Coins, finally revealing the terrifying power of this martial soul.
She inserted an ancient key, its surface covered in verdigris, into the void, and with a gentle twist of her finger, the ten-thousand-year soul ring shone with a deep black light.
The hundreds of menacing soul-guiding rays suddenly stopped in mid-air, then moved back, as if time had reversed.
Kong Deming stared in horror at the scene before him.
The quality of martial souls in the Sun Moon Empire was generally lower than that of the Douluo Three Kingdoms; he had never seen such a peculiar ability before.
He instinctively tried to dodge, but saw the soul-guided rays follow their trajectory back to the muzzle of the soul-guided cannons, no matter how he tried to shake them off.
The energy reversal severely damaged the energy circuits of the soul-guided cannons, burning out the core magic array, and hundreds of soul-guided cannons instantly turned into scrap metal.
"Not a time-manipulation ability? But a return?"
"Unavoidable, what exactly is the mechanism of the opponent's martial soul?"
"Each of these seven people seems to have a very peculiar martial soul."
Kong Deming was delighted at the sight. He flipped his hand, and a silver metal cube slowly appeared.
This was a sealing soul tool, not the level nine sealing soul tool of the Conferred God Platform, but a level eight one.
Of course, in the eyes of other soul masters, this sealing soul tool was enough to be rated as level nine, but Kong Deming was not satisfied and still considered it a level eight soul tool.
The core array of this soul tool is imperfect, even incomplete, with various functions still lacking refinement. Such a flawed product doesn't deserve to be considered a level nine soul tool.
Moreover, this sealed soul tool is actually a prototype of his envisioned level ten soul tool, the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield, serving as a technical verification.
To ensure the success of this operation, he brought this prototype along.
Even a level ninety-eight Super Douluo trapped by this soul tool would have a difficult time escaping.
He's currently using this soul tool primarily to capture the Root First Action Team. Their martial souls have been incredibly alluring to Kong Deming; the Sun Moon Empire desperately needs such unique martial souls.
Studying these peculiar martial souls might aid his research into level ten soul tools.
After all, soul tools initially originated from martial souls, imitating them and soul skills, before developing into a completely new system.
"Go."
The silver cube instantly opened, countless silver threads moving through the air, isolating and separating space. The threads intertwined, eventually forming a large cocoon.
The Root First Action Team was directly enveloped within the cocoon, which continuously contracted, compressing the internal space.
"Time's almost up, get ready to slip away,"
Yang Qingxue said to her teammates, glancing at the magic network time.
"Shorty, turn this thing back. Old Zhang, throw them out of the mirror space later."
"We'll use mirror teleportation to leave."
The short, black-robed man cackled, indicating he understood.
A scarecrow appeared in his hand, surrounded by seven soul rings, the seventh and sixth black soul rings shining brightly together.
A giant scarecrow appeared behind him, its eyes glowing red, its withered yellow hands reaching out towards the silver cocoon.
A large amount of Dream Coins began to convert into soul power and spiritual power, flowing into the scarecrow.
The entire cocoon suddenly stopped, as if a spatial transformation had occurred, directly enveloping Kong Deming, while the seven members of the Root First Action Team returned to the mirror space.
This was a grafted doll; the shorty's sixth soul skill was spatial grafting.
Without hesitation, Old Zhang absorbed a large amount of Dream Coins to replenish his soul power, throwing Kong Deming and the other three level-nine soul tools directly out of the mirror space.
Then, his sixth black soul ring shone, and he used his sixth soul skill, Mirror Teleportation, to lead the Root First Action Team away from the Mingdou Mountains.
Kong Deming deactivated his soul tool, and the cocoon transformed back into a silver cube.
He opened his detection soul tool at full power but still couldn't find any trace of the seven Root members. He said with slight regret,
"They got away."
"Hahaha! I really underestimated the Douluo Three Kingdoms. They can find all kinds of talent!"
The seven Root members made Kong Deming clearly realize the advantages the Douluo Three Kingdoms had in terms of martial souls.
Seven people, with a maximum cultivation level of Soul Douluo, were able to trap four level-nine soul masters for a period of time through unknown forces and teamwork.
Even without Kong Deming going all out, it was still an extremely terrifying achievement.
"Next time we meet, we won't be so lucky."
"Everyone, hurry with me to Star Luo City!"
Four beams of light shot towards Star Luo City, their speed far exceeding that of the Body Sect group. If Douluo Star had satellites, they would have detected extremely high soul power reactions from three directions around Star Luo City.
It was truly a gathering of distinguished guests, young and old alike.
(End of Chapter)
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