Chapter 255: Bear King's Warning
With a thunderous roar, a massive and terrifying brown bear emerged from the forest. Its dark golden claws gleamed with menace, and its overwhelming aura left no doubt about its identity—especially when it spoke in a deep, human-like voice. This was no ordinary beast. Ranked sixth among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, it was the lord of the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear clan: the Bear King!
Seeing the Bear King appear so close to the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest, Xuan Zi's face turned pale. He stepped forward and questioned the bear with forced composure.
"Bear King, what's the meaning of this? Shrek Academy and the Star Dou Great Forest have long made peace. As per the agreement, we no longer hunt 100,000-year soul beasts—and in return, your side is not to attack our students."
Xiao Xiao, who had followed Xuan Zi to hunt for a soul ring, stood stunned: "…"
What does he mean by that? Shrek can't hunt 100,000-year soul rings anymore? Then what about the promise he made to me? Was it all just empty words?
After all, Lan Susu, Lan Luoluo, and Ling Luochen had all received top-tier soul rings!
But Xuan Zi had no time to explain or care about Xiao Xiao's thoughts. The pressure emanating from the Bear King was immense, and the fact that such a powerful beast had appeared meant one thing—Di Tian might be nearby as well.
"I really can't attack your students," the Bear King growled. "I won't personally kill any student of Shrek Academy. And no, I won't personally lay a claw on a Titled Douluo either. But I never said I wouldn't fight you, Xuan Zi."
"Now, do you want to choose another place for us to settle this? Or shall we fight right here?"
He glanced ominously at the surrounding trees, his voice rumbling like thunder. "Let me make this clear—if we fight here and the aftermath causes a beast tide, and your students get devoured by soul beasts with no intelligence, that's not my responsibility."
Xuan Zi clenched his teeth. The threat was clear, and there was no winning if he chose to escalate here.
"Fine," he said, his voice cold. "We'll change locations. But if any of my students are harmed… this matter won't end here."
Without another word, Xuan Zi and the Bear King disappeared into the forest, no one knowing where they would battle.
Left behind near the outer edge of the core region, the elite members of Shrek Academy and the Body Sect stood in stunned silence, not knowing what to do.
Watching Xuan Zi leave, Zhang Lexuan was unsurprised. "Master Xuan has never disappointed anyone," she murmured softly.
Beibei tugged at the corner of her clothes and whispered urgently, "Sister, now's not the time to admire him. What do we do next? How do we get out of here?"
Originally, the team was organized under the protection of a Super Douluo like Xuan Zi. But now that he was gone, Shrek Academy had no other Eight-Ring Soul Douluo among the younger generation aside from Zhang Lexuan—and the Body Sect's situation was no better.
That meant Zhang Lexuan was now the strongest member of the entire expedition team.
As for Soul Saints, neither Beibei nor Long Aotian had reached that stage yet. Though both were close and planned to hunt for a seventh soul ring, their soul ring configurations were already high beyond average. To ensure they wouldn't be outclassed in the upcoming All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournament, each had already received a 100,000-year soul bone.
This time, they were aiming for 70,000-year soul rings.
Originally, that would have been a massive gain.
But with Xuan Zi gone, this advantage had suddenly become a death sentence. They were far too close to the core area of the forest—an area filled with not just high-age soul beasts but terrifying ones capable of punching far above their age bracket.
Even with an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo like Zhang Lexuan leading them, it was unlikely she could protect everyone.
She looked at Beibei, but there was no disappointment in her eyes. She had never expected anything from him in the first place.
"I can't protect you all on my own," she said flatly. "If we want to make it out of here alive, then we need to raise our overall strength. Fast. We don't have the luxury of time—the longer we stay, the more dangerous it gets."
"I understand," Long Aotian replied, nodding grimly.
Her meaning was clear: forget about looking for the most compatible or optimal soul rings. The priority now was speed—absorb any soul ring that could raise their power and get out alive.
But in such a rushed state, nobody could hope to obtain a high-quality soul ring. Nor could anyone afford to spend hours meditating while absorbing one.
They had to find weaker soul beasts, kill them quickly, and absorb the rings in minutes—not hours.
That meant all of them were about to receive significantly weaker soul rings than they had originally planned.
Even Beibei and Long Aotian, who were aiming to reach the Soul Saint level, would have to settle for ten-thousand-year rings at best. Absorbing anything stronger would take too long and risk everyone's lives.
But for most of the others, especially those aiming for their sixth soul ring, even ten-thousand-year rings were too time-consuming. They had no choice but to absorb a thousand-year-level soul ring—preferably one just under 8,000 years to minimize the risk.
It was a bitter pill to swallow. A thousand-year-level sixth soul ring would significantly limit their future potential. With such a flaw, even becoming a Titled Douluo would be far more difficult, let alone reaching the rank of Super Douluo.
But there was no choice.
Raise strength now, or die here.
Everyone understood this without needing it explained. Even with a painful sixth ring ratio of yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, purple—it was still better than what Huo Yuhao had ended up with: yellow, purple, purple, white, black, purple.
That soul ring configuration had doomed him to an uncertain future.
While others had only slightly lowered their potential ceiling, Huo Yuhao's path was nearly sealed. With that soul ring setup, even reaching the strength of an ordinary Soul Emperor would be a challenge. Without some miracle or special opportunity, his future as a Soul Saint was almost entirely out of reach.