Douluo Dalu 2: I got Kidnapped into Holy Spirit Cult

As for why he didn't stay too close to Huo Yuhao, the main reason was to avoid alerting the Heavenly Dream Iceworm.

At this moment, the Heavenly Dream Iceworm had just escaped from the restricted zone in the Star Dou Forest. After being tormented and trained by the soul beasts inside, it had absorbed nearly ten thousand years of soul power. Any slight movement could cause it to become extremely cautious and paranoid.

"But the mental foundation of the Heavenly Dream Iceworm, with its million years of life span, is indeed very strong. What a pity," Jiang Jue muttered.

However, he soon cast aside this thought. While the Heavenly Dream Iceworm was indeed impressive, he also had to consider whether he could survive long enough to claim it.

If he were to actually steal the Heavenly Dream Iceworm, Huo Yuhao, the child nurtured by the millions of years of fortune in the Douluo realm, would lose a significant part of his strength.

Even with luck on his side, it would be difficult for Huo Yuhao to quickly develop his power thereafter.

The Heavenly Dream Iceworm was the foundation for Huo Yuhao's strength. If Huo Yuhao lost it, it would disrupt the great plans of the God King in the divine realm. Jiang Jue would then become a marked man, someone with a clear path to death.

Thus, it was better to let Huo Yuhao take the lead and bear the burden of this future father-in-law's "affection."

Jiang Jue sat cross-legged, slowly recovering his soul power.

Next, he planned to venture into the Star Dou Forest once more.

Since he had said he would undergo some trials, he meant to do so for real. He also wanted to test his current strength.

One and a half days later

Jiang Jue arrived early at the entrance to the Star Dou Forest. The sign read: "Fifty miles ahead marks the entrance to the Star Dou Forest, with soul beasts roaming. Please be cautious."

Over the past day and a half, Jiang Jue had wandered the outer regions and found that except for some soul beasts with excessive bloodlines, most soul beasts under ten thousand years old were no match for him.

Along the way, he also added more beast souls to his Soul Sealing Banner. The number of beast souls had now reached twenty-five.

The number of beast souls Jiang Jue could control depended on his spiritual strength. The stronger his mental power, the more beast souls he could absorb.

Thus, increasing his spiritual power was a top priority.

Although he hadn't added any soul rings to his primary martial soul, he could still clearly feel that his physical strength had significantly improved as well.

Thanks to the three doses of Holy Spirit Sect's Body Refining Secret Medicine and the life energy from the Life Gold, his physique was already comparable to that of an average Soul Ancestor.

To think, he had just barely broken through to the 30th level as a quasi-Soul King.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Three figures shot out from the Star Dou Forest at high speed, exuding the unique aura of a Soul Douluo.

These three figures were the Zhongli brothers, and Zhongli Ren was carrying a humanoid soul beast.

When they saw Jiang Jue by the sign, they slowly descended.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Your Holiness."

The three landed and bowed to Jiang Jue, with Zhongli Ren placing the soul beast on the ground.

"This is a Twin Cyclopean Giant?" Jiang Jue asked with interest.

The creature was over twelve meters tall, and aside from having two heads, each with a single eye, it didn't look very different from a human.

What was even more unusual was that the creature's private parts were covered with vine-woven clothing.

"Yes, this is a rare variant of the Twin Cyclopean Giant, possessing both the mental and death attributes," Zhongli Ren confirmed.

Jiang Jue's interest piqued.

The Twin Cyclopean Giant was a chaotic attribute beast, its properties often fluctuating. When it mutated into the form of a "double cyclops," its attributes completely changed, and its body also shrank, growing a second head.

This particular one had both mental and death attributes, placing it among the top-tier soul beasts.

Such mutations typically occurred when the Twin Cyclopean Giant reached a ten-thousand-year age. However, this one, only around seven thousand years old, had already mutated, indicating its bloodline was exceptionally pure.

A newly born Twin Cyclopean Giant stood two meters tall, and by a hundred years old, it could grow to five meters. At a thousand years, it would reach eight meters, and at ten thousand years, it would exceed fifteen meters.

No one knew how tall a hundred-thousand-year-old Twin Cyclopean Giant could grow because they never lived that long.

The brain fluid of the Twin Cyclopean Giant was highly prized by most soul beasts, which often led to its being hunted.

The one before Jiang Jue stood at twelve meters tall and was only around seven thousand years old, which was well within the range for Jiang Jue to absorb.

The soul ring absorption limit depended on the soul master's spiritual power and physical strength. For example, the leader of the Body Sect, Du Bu Shi, started absorbing ten-thousand-year soul rings from the seventh ring, shattering common limits.

With Jiang Jue's overwhelming mental and soul power, he was capable of absorbing high-level soul rings.

Jiang Jue gathered the grayish-black soul power into his right hand and walked toward the Twin Cyclopean Giant.

The creature, already knocked unconscious by Zhongli Ren, seemed to sense its impending death and opened both its eyes. One was silver-white, and the other was deep black.

It attempted to rise and struggle but was swiftly struck by Zhongli Ren, sending it crashing to the ground with a mouthful of blood.

"I torture you like breathing," Zhongli Ren sneered.

"Bang!"

Zhongli Ren's back head was struck by a shot from Zhongli Tian.

"Behave in front of His Holiness," Zhongli Tian scolded.

Jiang Jue glanced at the odd trio, then stepped up to the Twin Cyclopean Giant. With a single palm, he shattered its heart.

A purple soul ring, adorned with seven black lines, slowly appeared from the creature's corpse.

Jiang Jue sat cross-legged, and the Soul Sealing Banner appeared in his left hand. He actively pulled the soul ring onto the banner.

A powerful surge of energy erupted from the soul ring, rushing into Jiang Jue's body.

However, Jiang Jue was no longer the same as he had been when he first absorbed a soul ring. As soon as this energy entered his body, he guided it to wash over his entire form as soul power, assimilating it in a short amount of time.

In his spiritual sea, the Twin Cyclopean Giant attempted to retaliate, but twenty-five vicious black fogs appeared around him. These were the twenty-five beast souls from the Soul Sealing Banner.

The Evil Eye swayed its tentacles and transmitted a faint spiritual wave to the Twin Cyclopean Giant. The message was clear: "Do you want to fight us twenty-five together, or just yourself alone?"

The Twin Cyclopean Giant staggered backward, attempting to flee from Jiang Jue's spiritual sea, but it was futile.

Once you came in, there was no escape.

The giant was swiftly absorbed into the Soul Sealing Banner, becoming just another companion to the other beast souls.

"Buzz!"

The purple soul ring solidified on the banner, and Jiang Jue's soul power reached level thirty-two.

These years, Jiang Jue had been steadily refining his soul power and strengthening his foundation.

The main reason why evil soul masters struggled to advance to Title Douluo was that they leveled up too easily early on, without proper training, leading to weak foundations.

Now, Jiang Jue was focused on laying a strong foundation for the future.

He meditated briefly, feeling the new third soul skill granted by the Twin Cyclopean Giant.

"Remarkable... a soul skill similar to a death substitution!" he murmured.

End of Chapter