"When I'm an old woman, I'm going to find a forest like this to settle in permanently and build a wooden cabin there," Xu Xiaoyan said with a hopeful expression.

Tang Wulin smiled, and said, "You're still far from becoming an old woman; perhaps you will have already changed your mind by then."

Just as he was speaking, his eyes suddenly turned purple, and he reached out with his right hand, which instantly swelled in size as a layer of fine golden dragon scales appeared over its surface.

A faint clang rang out, indicating that Tang Wulin had caught something, and sure enough, a small snake that was just over a meter in length had appeared in his grasp.

The snake's entire body was completely transparent, and after being caught by Tang Wulin, it was struggling with all its might; only then did it become just barely visible.

"This is a Bone Piercing Snake, and it looks to be only at the hundred-year level; ignorance really is bliss!" Sima Jinchi chuckled.

In contrast, Tang Wulin's brows were slightly furrowed as he discovered that this Bone Piercing Snake's eyes were red.

Generally speaking, a normal Bone Piercing Snake's eyes were supposed to be grey, and they would turn transparent along with its body. He had discovered this snake just now not because he had sensed it, but because he had caught sight of its red eyes.

"This is not an ordinary Bone Piercing Snake. Otherwise, it wouldn't have had the courage to attack me," Tang Wulin said.

His Golden Dragon King bloodline ensured that all dragons and creatures related to dragons felt a sense of closeness or reverence toward him. Even if they were to harbor animosity toward him, it would be significantly diminished. This Bone Piercing Snake was only at the hundred-year level, so there was no way that it should've approached Tang Wulin with anything other than friendly intentions.

Yuanen Yehui speculated, "Could it be that all of the soul beasts here are simulated by the Battle God Hall? They did say that all of the soul beasts could be quickly resurrected, and that they harbored enmity toward all Soul Masters."

Tang Wulin nodded in response. "I think you're onto something there."

Seeing as this was nothing more than a simulation, Tang Wulin felt no need to spare the Bone Piercing Snake and instantly crushed its head.

As a result, the Bone Piercing Snake immediately exploded into specks of light that scattered through the air before fusing into the bodies of Tang Wulin and the others, enhancing everyone's powers, albeit only by the most minute of margins.

"Did you guys feel that?" Tang Wulin asked.

Yuanen Yehui replied, "I did. It seems like killing the soul beasts here can enhance our powers. Even though this boost will most likely only last during our time in this plane, it should at least be helpful during the upcoming battle."

Sima Jinchi chimed in, "That has to be the case. They said that killing the two 100,000-year-old soul beasts would grant us random boosts, but it looks like they intentionally neglected to tell us that killing other soul beasts would also grant us enhancements, just not to the same extent. Those Battle Gods really are a cunning bunch!"

Tang Wulin smiled, and said, "They gave us an hour to explore; if we haven't figured it out by the end, then we can't really blame them. Let's keep going and see if all of these soul beasts can boost our powers. Yuanen, you stay here and observe how long it takes for the Bone Piercing Snake we just killed to be resurrected."

"Alright."

An hour passed by very quickly, and as Tang Wulin and the others returned to their starting point, they discovered that Ling Zichen was still seated on the spot, having seemingly entered a meditative state.

"This isn't going to turn into a four-on-five battle, is it?" Xu Xiaoyan said in a resigned manner.

Tang Wulin replied, "There's no helping it. Zichen told me that this soul formation is just as important to her as Eternal Heaven, so we'll just have to leave her here and do the best that we can." 

"Alright, but our original strategy for this battle involves her; how are going to execute the strategy now?"

Tang Wulin replied, "We'll have to alter the strategy. I think..."

All of a sudden, Ling Zichen opened her eyes and sprang to her feet. "There's no need for that; tell me what I need to do."

Tang Wulin could see that her eyes were filled with extreme excitement, and it was clear that she had reaped some massive rewards during this past hour.

Right at this moment, Guan Yue's voice rang out from the heavens. "Are you ready, Sect Master Tang? We've already entered the Battle God Arena, and the battle will commence in one minute."

Tang Wulin replied, "We're ready; let's begin in one minute."

A beam of light shone down from the sky, and a 60-second countdown timer appeared. At the same time, a light barrier appeared over each of the starting point's three exits, clearly to prevent them from leaving within this 60-second timeframe.

Tang Wulin wasn't concerned about the fairness of this battle. After all, the Battle Gods surely wouldn't stoop that low.

Tang Wulin quickly began to transmit his voice toward Ling Zichen, and a peculiar look appeared on her face as she listened to what he had to say.

"You really are a tricky bastard!" Ling Zichen said as she appraised him with a wary expression.

"All's fair in love and war," Tang Wulin replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"10, 9, 8, ..., 3, 2, 1! Begin!"

The countdown timer ran out, and the light barriers in front of the three exits also vanished. Tang Wulin gave his companions a quick nod, and Yuanen Yehui and Xu Xiaoyan rushed toward the path on the left together, while Tang Wulin and Sima Jinchi headed toward the path on the right, leaving the middle path to Ling Zichen. Thus, the five of them promptly sped out of the starting point, and the five Battle Gods were also doing the same thing.

After entering the path on the right, Tang Wulin and Sima Jinchi immediately split up with the former rushing into the forest, while the latter continued along the path.

Purple light flashed within Tang Wulin's eyes, and his spiritual power spread out of his body.

With his Spirit Domain realm spiritual power, he was able to sense even the most minute activity within a radius of a kilometer, and he quickly discovered his first target.

His target seemed to have sensed his presence as well, and it charged out of the undergrowth directly toward Tang Wulin, revealing itself to be a wild boar with metallic-grey fur.

Every single strand of fur was standing up on end like a sharp needle, granting it a natural suit of armor. Among soul beasts of the same caliber, this one definitely had top-tier defensive prowess.

A faint smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face as light flashed from his body, and an enormous figure appeared.

The mountainous figure stomped the boar into the ground with ease, reducing it to specks of light that spread through the air, injecting themselves into the bodies of Tang Wulin and his companions further away.

Tang Wulin looked up to find that the massive creature was baring its fangs at him in an expression akin to a smile.

The last time that Tang Wulin had released his Tyrant Dragon soul spirit was during the Trial of Five Gods in the Star Luo Empire.

The Tyrant Dragon had grown alongside him for many years, and it had undergone a drastic transformation during this time.

It was renowned as the king of land dragons, possessing power equivalent to that of a true dragon even though it was only a second-rate dragon. 

Its body was close to 100 meters tall, and its entire body was covered in dark golden scales, each of which was the size of a table. Every single scale was extremely thick and heavy, and they were covered in a clear layer of enamel.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter