"It's you!"
Gu You turned toward the voice. "Oh? Isn't this that little bear guy?"
At that moment, Kuang Zhan looked utterly battered, his body covered in deep wounds down to the bone.
"You bastard! Damn you!!" Kuang Zhan's seven soul rings flared, his fourth ring lighting up.
Gravity Domain!
A crushing, invisible pressure slammed down on Gu You.
'Not bad… I actually can't move.' Gu You muttered silently. His martial soul surged to life, and his hundred-thousand-year soul ring lit up.
'Then let's slow you down.'
The Ice and Snow Domain activated — the surroundings turned into a world of white, the temperature plummeting. Even the spreading vines around them froze in place, halting their advance.
"Red… red soul ring!!" Kuang Zhan was shocked. Last time they'd fought, Gu You had only two rings — and just hours later, he'd already gained a third ring, and not just any ring, but a hundred-thousand-year ring?! How was that even possible?!
His vision grew worse, the world blurring.
Kuang Zhan circulated his soul power — but suddenly, something felt wrong. The flow of soul power inside his body was sluggish. His face darkened.
'A domain!'
He hadn't realized it at first, assuming it was just the natural aura from a powerful soul skill. But this was something else — this was a real domain.
'Three rings and already has a domain skill? How monstrous will this kid be in the future?' Kuang Zhan hated geniuses — always had, always would.
"Even if you have a domain, so what?! In the face of absolute strength, everything else is meaningless!!"
Kuang Zhan didn't activate his battle armor — it had been blown apart earlier by soul-guided bombs, and the vines along the way had kept him from retrieving even a single piece.
His seventh soul ring lit up. Martial Soul True Body!
Kuang Zhan's body exploded in size, swelling tenfold into the form of a true Bloodthirsty Bear. The sheer force of it cracked the ground beneath his feet.
"Just what I was waiting for!!" Gu You shouted sharply.
An evil soul master's martial soul true body often led to a berserk state — especially a loss of rationality. This was the perfect moment to strike and kill.
Gu You's second soul ring lit up.
His pupils turned purple, locking firmly onto Kuang Zhan.
…
"Haha! Just two soul ranks, and your martial soul is still a dumb bear!"
The sneers from around him pierced the young boy's heart. He clenched his fists tightly — and then slowly released them.
"Our little Zhan is the best… no matter what kind of martial soul you have, Mommy will always love you…"
The boy hugged his mother tightly.
"He's just a useless waste! Only two ranks! And you still want him to become a soul master?!" a man shouted, arguing with the mother.
"But why can't he? Some people don't even have soul power at all!" the mother protested angrily.
"I've told you a thousand times — face reality! I will never agree."
…
They argued constantly, even up to the point of divorce.
That day… his father shoved his mother. She hit her head hard, blood gushing from the wound. Kuang Zhan saw it all with his own eyes. That was when a voice took root in his mind, a voice that never left.
'Kill.'
'Kill!!'
'Why is this world so unfair? Why? No matter how hard you work, you're never recognized. No matter how strong you get, you're called evil. If that's the way things are… then I'll create an eternal world myself…'
From that moment, Kuang Zhan's martial soul mutated — into the Bloodthirsty Bear.
He ate his father with his own hands, his soul power rising by one rank. Then Kuang Zhan left home. Before leaving, he saw his mother one last time, shed a few tears… and stepped onto his bloody path.
…
A cool sensation rippled through Gu You's mind. A giant Crystal Bear appeared at his side.
'Wait, I can actually summon it like this? That's crazy… I should've asked the Dragon God what's really going on here.'
The Crystal Bear's consciousness was connected to Gu You's — they could hear each other's thoughts.
'Master!'
Gu You blinked, surprised to hear the Crystal Bear call him 'Master.' More than surprise, though, he felt an odd sense of resonance, a deep inner recognition. It was as if it echoed in harmony with the Dragon God's power — a strange, indescribable feeling.
"Freeze him into crystal." Gu You pointed at Kuang Zhan, who was momentarily dazed.
The Crystal Bear obediently swung a massive paw. And in that final instant, Gu You saw it — truly saw it.
Kuang Zhan was smiling.
'He was already awake?!' Gu You's heart clenched. 'Then why… why didn't he resist?'
Stop!…
It was too late. Kuang Zhan's body crystallized completely, forever frozen into a gleaming statue.
"Freedom, huh?" Gu You murmured.
"Come back now."
Yes, Master.
The Crystal Bear dissolved, merging back into Gu You's mind.
Walking up to the statue, Gu You muttered softly, "People always say that the pitiful must have something hateful in them… but they forget the other truth — the hateful often carry a tragic sorrow."
He shattered Kuang Zhan's crystallized body. The fragments scattered, not with blood or soul power, but with beams of light that shot up into the sky.
"I grant you release." Gu You smiled faintly.
…
In the vast starry expanse, the surface of the Douluo Plane glowed pale blue, much like Earth. Abundant water, brilliant sunlight, rich soul power in the air — a world perfect for human life.
Not far above the planet, a structure floated like a massive ship. The markings on its hull, written in a special script, translated roughly as 'Federal Republic.'
This was the Skyhold Space Station — one of the three great stations, primarily used for observation, reconnaissance, climate monitoring, strong presence detection, and military mapping.
"Yonghui, we've lost contact with Lieutenant Jiang Xing. Tianyan scans show severe energy instability in the area. I'm certain they've encountered danger. Here — this is a recent image from three kilometers up."
Yonghui took the image. It showed a massive, pulsating tree-like structure, the entire surrounding city encased by it, storm clouds and lightning crackling overhead.
"A snowy region… with thunderstorms? Now that's interesting. Notify the Northern Legion — at least one evil soul master at the Title Douluo level or above is involved." Yonghui spoke calmly.
Satellites and ground teams had their limits. From what Yonghui could tell, this was likely some kind of creature. Whatever it was, it couldn't be below Title Douluo level — possibly higher.
But to him, this was still a minor incident. He had personally witnessed the first test detonation of a twelfth-level Godslayer soul-guided bomb — the northwest continental plate had shifted by two centimeters, and the afterglow of that explosion still lingered. Now that had been an apocalyptic sight. Even from orbit, it left only awe.
"Are you sure there's really an evil soul master above Title Douluo level down there?" Xun asked uneasily.
The past few years had been relatively peaceful within the Federation. Even when evil soul masters appeared, they rarely surpassed the Soul Sage level — they hadn't seen even a single Soul Douluo–level one in ages.
And now, if there was a Title Douluo–level evil soul master? That meant there were likely more than one — and they had been hiding very, very deeply.
It was something that could not be taken lightly…
(End of Chapter)
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