SWNOVELXO Chapter 55: Continental Map
Within the Heaven Dou Empire at this stage.
At the pinnacle of combat power are Dust Xin, Yu Yuanzhen, Tang Xiao, and Tang Hao, these four Titled Douluo.
At this moment, of these four Titled Douluo, Tang Hao is level ninety-five, while the other three are level ninety-six.
Among them, Tang Hao is severely injured. If he were to go all out, there's a high probability his old wounds would flare up, causing him to ascend to heaven on the spot.
Therefore, without aggravating his injuries, Tang Hao's strength can at most reach the threshold of a Titled Douluo.
This way, the old butler, whose Soul Power has reached level ninety-six, is enough to rank among the top four Spirit Masters within the Heaven Dou Empire.
This is also because the old butler's Soul Power has surged too rapidly in a short period, and he hasn't been able to fully control this power yet.
Currently, he's aiming to secure a top-four spot and contend for third. Once the old butler fully adapts to this power, possessing a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Ring and a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Bone.
Aside from Tang Xiao, who possesses the ultimate skill "Exploding Ring," no Spirit Master within the Heaven Dou Empire should be a match for the old butler.
Thinking of this, Lin Rong felt exceptionally pleased.
"With such a master by my side, I can rest easy for a long time to come!"
...
Inside the carriage.
Lin Rong held a pen, writing and drawing on the map spread out on the table.
The entire continent.
The Heaven Dou Empire is to the north, and the Star Luo Empire is to the south.
Between the two great empires are numerous kingdoms and duchies enfeoffed by the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires respectively.
Between these kingdoms and duchies is Spirit City, where Spirit Hall is located.
Within the territory of the Heaven Dou Empire.
The imperial capital, Heaven Dou City, and Sea God City, located to the west, are almost on a straight line.
Lin Rong and the old butler are in the Frozen Forest, which is to the northwest of Heaven Dou City.
Thus, the Frozen Forest, Heaven Dou City, and Sea God City form a triangle.
In the original work, the group of wolf bandits encountered by Tang San and his companions on their way to Sea God City roamed within the area covered by this triangle.
Wolf bandits are a type of monster, half-wolf and half-human, born from the mating of Spirit Beasts, Gale Wolves, with human females.
They inherit not only the physical strength, speed, and some innate abilities of the Gale Wolf but also possess a degree of human intelligence. They are inherently bloodthirsty and lecherous, not only frequently engaging in robbery and rape but also enjoying cannibalism.
The existence of wolf bandits is infinitely harmful to the citizens of the empire.
However, dealing with wolf bandits is a very tricky matter.
Five hundred wolf bandits can defeat a regular army of ten thousand, and there are over three hundred wolf bandits roaming the northwestern region of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Therefore, to eradicate these wolf bandits, at least tens of thousands of troops must be dispatched to eliminate this group of over three hundred wolf bandits.
But the local military leaders were unwilling to undertake such thankless tasks, and the matter of eradicating the wolf bandits was repeatedly delayed and left unaddressed.
The inaction of the local authorities, coupled with the indifference of top-tier Spirit Masters towards the lives of the common people, has allowed these wolf bandits to continue their wicked ways and survive to this day.
Frozen Forest.
After the old butler absorbed the Spirit Ring and Spirit Bone from the Ten Thousand Year Nine-Rank Ginseng King, Lin Rong and the old butler took a carriage to search for the wolf bandits within the area covered by the triangle, planning to find and eliminate them.
This wasn't because Lin Rong had an overflowing sense of justice and wanted to act on behalf of Heaven.
It was because one of the three leaders of the wolf bandits possessed a Spirit Bone that was at least ten thousand years old.
Lin Rong's purpose for this trip was to obtain that Spirit Bone. Eliminating the wolf bandits was merely a supplementary, unnecessary action for him.
But since he was going to find the wolf bandits, Lin Rong was happy to have the old butler take care of the matter of eliminating them, as it was a simple task for him.
The Spirit Bone of the wolf bandit leader was named: Bloodthirsty Berserk Gale Right Leg.
Its Spirit Bone skill was named Bloodthirsty. Upon using this skill, it could allow the user to enter a berserk state.
During its duration, attack, defense, and speed attributes would increase by one hundred percent.
The drawbacks were that during the skill's duration, the user couldn't use Spirit Skills, and if their mental strength was insufficient, they would lose their sanity.
Undoubtedly, this Spirit Bone was extremely suitable for offensive or defensive Beast Martial Soul Battle Spirit Masters.
Lin Rong's guard captain, Xu Pan, had the Rock Horned Bull Martial Soul, which was an offensive Beast Martial Soul.
Xu Pan was nominally Lin Rong's personal guard assigned to Ma Hongjun, but the true purpose was to have Xu Pan stay by Ma Hongjun's side and instill in him the idea of loyalty to Lin Rong.
Over the past two years, Xu Pan had done an excellent job in this regard, cultivating Ma Hongjun's mindset exceptionally well.
As a superior, using a combination of authority and kindness, along with clear rewards and punishments, were the most basic methods.
Since Xu Pan had performed his task well, Lin Rong naturally intended to reward him with some benefits.
For a Spirit Master, improving their strength was the best reward.
Strength, in essence, consisted of Spirit Rings, Spirit Bones, and ultimate techniques.
Among these, Spirit Rings required breaking through a major stage of Soul Power to absorb. Xu Pan had only recently broken through to level sixty, and it would be a long time before he could reach level seventy.
In terms of ultimate skills, Lin Rong didn't have any comparable to the "Nine Absolute Skills of Clear Sky" besides the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.
Therefore, the only thing he could offer was Spirit Bones.
However, the three inherited Spirit Bones at home couldn't be given to others, so Lin Rong set his sights on the Wolf Bandits mentioned in the original work.
The Wolf Bandit's Bloodthirsty Berserk Gale Right Leg would undoubtedly be very suitable for Xu Pan.
As for the side effect of losing reason during berserk, there was no need to worry. Lin Rong could just find a Ten Thousand Year Head Spirit Bone for Xu Pan.
For example, Shi Nian's Ten Thousand Year Gemstone Head Spirit Bone.
Of course, if Shi Nian was sensible enough and willing to pledge allegiance to him, Lin Rong wouldn't mind sparing his life.
Shi Nian's Martial Soul, Lingering Dream, was very helpful for one of Lin Rong's plans, but it wasn't essential to complete it using Shi Nian.
If Shi Nian was willing to pledge allegiance, then Lin Rong couldn't just kill him to take his bone.
But if that were the case, the target for obtaining a Head Spirit Bone would have to change.
In the original work, there were two Head Spirit Bones clearly recorded that Lin Rong had the ability to obtain.
The first was the Head Spirit Bone of unknown age belonging to Hu Yanli of the Elephant Armor Sect; the second was Dugu Bo's Medusa Head Spirit Bone, which was at least Ten Thousand Years old.
As for Oscar's Ten Thousand Year Mirror Shadow Beast Head Spirit Bone, that was still a long way off.
Lin Rong had no idea which Mirror Shadow Beast had dropped that Spirit Bone, or if it would still drop it if another person or a different time was involved.
The same logic applied to Tang San's Eight Spider Lances.
The timing, location, characters, and battles of the original work.
These were all factors influencing whether the Man-Faced Demon Spider, with its cultivation of a little over two thousand years, would drop the Eight Spider Lances.
Therefore, Lin Rong couldn't intercept the external Spirit Bone, the Eight Spider Lances. But as long as Tang San didn't obtain the Man-Faced Demon Spider as his third Spirit Ring, Tang San himself would miss this opportunity.
Moreover, the current Tang San was acquiring plant Spirit Beasts as Spirit Rings.
Unless it was truly fate that could not be defied.
Otherwise, Tang San would only go crazy if he hunted the Man-Faced Demon Spider as his third Spirit Ring.
Ever since I heard the news about the VIP release, my emotions have been fluctuating wildly all day, and I haven't been able to settle down and write.
It only got a little better towards the evening.
This chapter is also one I just finished writing. There's one more chapter, and I'm staying up late to finish it, so it will be released punctually at six o'clock.
This is my first time releasing VIP chapters, so I was slow with the operation.
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