Douluo Continent: The Eternal Order of the Azure Sky

Chapter 214 The Starfall Grassland and the Legend of the Unicorn

Chapter 214 The Starfall Grassland and the Legend of the Unicorn

At dawn, a group of people slowly walked out of the main gate of Shrek Academy, which was shrouded in a thin veil of morning mist.

Judging from their age, they should be students of Shrek Academy, but they were not wearing school uniforms at the moment. Their clothing varied in style, some simple and some ornate.

Fine clothes don't necessarily enhance one's appearance, and plain clothes don't necessarily make one mediocre. This simple difference in clothing means nothing to the few people who are slowly moving forward.

Kong Tianxu, Ma Xiaotao, and Zhang Lexuan are all undeniably handsome, and Hua Yao is at least beautiful.

Even the most ordinary-looking man, dressed in the roughest cloth, possessed a calm and composed demeanor. The two complemented each other perfectly, making Hua Yao's eyes sparkle with admiration.

Because of the subtle changes brought about by Kong Tianxu, the two like-minded young people became closer earlier than in the original story. Now, they are only one step away from breaking through the final barrier at the upcoming Sea God's Fate Blind Date Event.

After clapping her hands, Zhang Lexuan, the commander-in-chief of this operation, said solemnly, "Alright, everyone is here. This isn't the first time any of you have participated in a surveillance mission, so let's skip the formalities for now and get to the details of this mission."

She unfolded a leather map and pointed to a vast area within the Douling Empire. "Our mission this time is to go to the Starfall Grassland in the northern border of the Douling Empire to search for and hunt down an evil soul beast."

"Evil soul beasts from the Starfall Plains?" Gu Fan frowned. "Senior Sister, aren't our Overseer missions supposed to target humans? And how could there be evil soul beasts appearing on the Starfall Plains?"

Although Shrek Academy always prides itself on never claiming to be righteous, in reality, since Shrek was divided into inner and outer academies six thousand years ago and the Supervisory Committee was established, their mission has basically only targeted those they perceive as evil.

This can be seen from the school motto of the inner courtyard: "Strength and responsibility go hand in hand, and the heart and kindness go hand in hand."

They clearly see themselves as some kind of savior.

Of course, Shrek Academy does indeed have that ability.

As for Gu Fan's question, it's not hard to understand. Tens of thousands of years ago, the predecessor of the Spirit Hall, the Church, made its fortune by purifying evil spirit beasts. Such spirit beasts were already extremely rare in that era, and now they are almost extinct. If it weren't for the Shrek Church's extremely wide range of content, probably no one would understand this concept.

Zhang Lexuan nodded. "Yes, an evil soul beast, and a rather powerful one at that—the Scorpion Tiger."

"A scorpion tiger?!" Hua Yao exclaimed softly, "Isn't that a subspecies of the legendary Dark Demon God Tiger, an evil soul beast that has long been extinct?"

Kong Tianxu and Ma Xiaotao exchanged a subtle glance. Unlike Gu Fan's solemn expression, their eyes held more doubt and inquiry.

The so-called evil soul beasts are similar in definition to evil soul masters; they are soul beasts with evil bloodlines that can only cultivate by devouring the power of their enemies.

The most representative and powerful of them all is the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. This race not only possesses extremely high intelligence, but its strength is also astonishing.

However, the Scorpion Tiger is not bad either. Although it is not as terrifying as the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, it also needs to constantly devour the blood and souls of humans or soul beasts to evolve itself.

This is also the martial soul of Scorpion Tiger Douluo Zhang Peng.

The fact that it could support his cultivation to the level of Super Douluo, even after being imprisoned by Mu En for many years, is enough to prove the power of this kind of soul beast.

Kong Tianxu silently added in his mind.

"Yes," Zhang Lexuan said with a solemn expression, "and conservatively estimated, it has already cultivated for ten thousand years, approaching the level of a Soul Douluo. It is exceptionally cunning and ferocious, and has successively attacked and killed many passing caravans, herdsmen, and even low-level Soul Masters. Recently, it has even begun to hunt Soul Beast clans on the grasslands, causing considerable panic. Because there are several Soul Beast settlements in the surrounding area, it is difficult for the army to carry out an effective encirclement and suppression."

"Our task is to find it and eliminate it."

Upon hearing "ten thousand years of cultivation," Gu Fan and Hua Yao both gasped in shock once again.

It should be understood that once an evil spirit beast like the Scorpion Tiger appears, both humans and spirit beasts will inevitably do everything in their power to hunt it down and kill it. Allowing it to grow stronger would be a disaster for all living beings.

Hua Yao looked worried and said, "I remember that even a powerful soul beast like the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger was last clearly recorded ten thousand years ago, and was eventually hunted down by Tang San's ancestor. How could the much weaker Scorpion Tiger possibly have grown up like this?"

"Appearing suddenly, with ten thousand years of cultivation? How strange—"

Ma Xiaotao snorted coldly: "Who cares where it came from? Since it's an evil thing that harms people, just burn it!"

She acted as if she was fearless, and Gu Fan nodded repeatedly beside her, making Kong Tianxu's eyes twitch.

He now fully understood why Shrek Academy's inner court graduation rate was so low. Generally speaking, a Title Douluo could live for at least two hundred years, or even longer. Shrek Academy had students pass the examinations to enter the inner court almost every year, but currently, there were fewer than one hundred inner court disciples remaining in the academy.

The root cause is that every inner court disciple is an inspector, and they must complete thirty inspection tasks before they are allowed to graduate.

But what guarantees does Shrek offer for these thirty high-risk and dangerous missions?

Kong Tianxu's mental energy swept over the Overseer's equipment in the Black Domain Ring. It was an Overseer's Ring that could be used as a storage soul tool, a set of soft scale armor, a mask, a cloak, and several distress signal flares.

Gone.

It doesn't matter anymore. Anyway, this is the last supervisor mission for him, Ma Xiaotao, and Zhang Lexuan. What do the lives and deaths of the other Shrek people have to do with him?

Just as he was shaking his head inwardly, Zhang Lexuan had already put away the map. "It's precisely because of its strangeness that the academy entrusted this task to us. Without further ado, let's set off!"

No one said anything more, and each of them activated their flying soul tools.

Although Huo Yuhao's Extreme Individual Soldier Plan was thwarted by Kong Tianxu's development of the Wave Detection Soul Tool and the Mental Shielding Soul Tool, the Soul Tool Department gradually made some progress with Shrek Academy's strong support.

At this moment, apart from Kong Tianxu, Zhang Lexuan and the other three were all using a standard type of flying soul tool:

Its main body is a metal box one meter long, half a meter wide, and a foot thick, with foldable wings attached to both sides, reaching over four meters when fully extended. Given the technological level of the original Douluo Three Kingdoms, only such a design could fully guarantee sufficient buoyancy in the air, but it was also quite cumbersome.

In comparison, the flying soul tool behind Kong Tianxu was simply a dreamlike creation. Its design was sleek and lightweight, with outstretched wings that shimmered with a dark golden light.

With just a slight tap, he effortlessly rose above the crowd who were still adjusting their positions.

An eighth-level flying soul tool is the highest-level soul tool that Shrek Academy has seen so far, and Kong Tianxu himself is also very close to becoming a ninth-level soul tool master.

"Sister Lexuan, come up here." He naturally extended his hand to Zhang Lexuan.

"Okay."

Zhang Lexuan's cheeks flushed slightly. Under the somewhat subtle gazes of Gu Fan and Hua Yao, she still firmly and gently took his hand. Kong Tianxu put his arm around her waist and led her into the wider and more stable dark golden light.

"I'm about to begin," Kong Tianxu whispered in her ear.

With a gentle flap of its dark gold wings, Zhang Lexuan felt the surrounding scenery blur instantly, clearly indicating that Kong Tianxu had activated the soul tool and begun to fly.

Ma Xiaotao pursed her lips, and suddenly her crimson flame wings unfolded behind her. Blazing phoenix flames enveloped her entire body, and she was the first to soar into the sky, leaving a magnificent crimson trail in the air.

The group followed closely behind, transforming into several streaks of light and speeding towards the northern horizon.

The speed and stability of an eighth-level soul tool far surpassed that of the low-level flying soul tools commonly used by others. Kong Tianxu and Zhang Lexuan easily broke through the wind at the forefront of the group. After nearly a day of intermittent flying and rest, they successfully crossed the continuous ring mountain range at the border between the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Douling Empire.

A vast, boundless, and lush green plain suddenly came into view.

It's hard to describe the feeling you get when you first see this grassland. The green stretches out from the foot of the surrounding mountains, seemingly without end. Occasionally, a breeze blows in through the gaps in the mountains, and the grass ripples gently across the plain, like a green gemstone rippling with soft waves.

"What a nice view."

Ma Xiaotao and Zhang Lexuan both exclaimed in admiration. Even Kong Tianxu, who was squeezed between the two women, couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope when he saw the scene before him.

Halfway there, Ma Xiaotao found an excuse to get close to Zhang Lexuan, and Kong Tianxu had no choice but to reluctantly accept the arduous task of having her on both sides.

"This is the Starfall Grassland, a treasure of the Douling Empire. We've now entered the Douling Empire's territory. Tianxu, do you know how the Starfall Grassland got its name?"

Lone Sail seemed to be enjoying the boundless wilderness. The wings of the Heavenly Horned Horse Martial Soul unfolded on their own, and a strange luster enveloped his face.

Kong Tianxu looked left and right as if seeking help. Ma Xiaotao and Zhang Lexuan exchanged a glance, both of them scratching their heads.

Compared to Gu Fan, who was born and raised in the Douling Empire, they naturally knew nothing about some of the local customs and legends.

"Alright, stop keeping me in suspense and tell me!" Hua Yao said reproachfully.

"Legend has it that this place was originally a continuous mountain range countless years ago."

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With his arms outstretched, Gu Fan slowly traced an arc along the contours of the surrounding mountains.

"Until one day, suddenly, a star fell from the sky. The terrifying impact leveled the mountains in the middle, forming the ring mountain range we see today. It also brought strange life and minerals, eventually forming this rich and mysterious land."

As they flew lower, the grassland scenery came into full view.

The wind rustles the grass, revealing herds of horses galloping about. They are much more robust than ordinary horses, with a body length of over four meters and a shoulder height of nearly 1.8 meters.

Even more strangely, these horses were hairless, covered with fine, dark scales that shimmered with a metallic sheen in the sunlight, and had faint bulges on their heads. Their neighing was clear and resonant.

Horned-scaled horses, a vast number of them.

"The Starfall Grassland is also the most famous breeding ground for horned-scaled horses on the continent," Gu Fan said with a hint of pride.

"Horned Scale Horses are excellent soul beast mounts. They are not good at attacking, but their defense is quite good. Their endurance, speed, and carrying capacity are all top-notch. What's even more rare is that they are relatively docile and highly tameable, making them favorites of nobles from various countries. A hundred-year-old Horned Scale Horse can fetch between 50,000 and 100,000 gold soul coins. A thousand-year-old one is even more extraordinary. Those are priceless and unavailable. As for ten thousand years or more—perhaps only their evolved form, which is my Martial Soul Heavenly Horned Horse, possesses that."

He paused, then chuckled, "However, they possess a trace of the genes of the legendary super soul beast—the unicorn—which is on par with the sacred dragon. But it's only a tiny bit. There's a legend circulating on this grassland that those with sacred bloodlines or extremely pure hearts may hear the call of the unicorn deep within the grassland."

"Some even say that they once stumbled upon a lake that looked like a fairyland in the most mysterious area of ​​the grassland, where they caught a glimpse of a pure white unicorn."

"The sacred dragon, the unicorn—"

It must be said that Gu Fan is a good storyteller, and even Ma Xiaotao's eyes revealed a hint of curiosity and longing.

Upon hearing this, Kong Tianxu interjected, "Unicorns and Sacred Dragons are both sacred beasts at the pinnacle of soul beast history," appearing only under extremely special circumstances. The former actually has several subspecies, including the Light Unicorn, Space Unicorn, Sacred Unicorn, and Starlight Unicorn, among others, most notably as a symbol of sacredness and the children of the stars."

"Comparatively speaking, there are more legends about the Sacred Dragon on the Douluo Continent. Among the dragons, in terms of the orthodoxy of bloodline, the Golden Dragon, which represents the ultimate power, and the Silver Dragon, which represents the control of the elements, are the most prominent. But if we talk about the most powerful and mysterious, the Sacred Dragon, which is on the same level as the Nine Sons of the Dragon God, undoubtedly stands at the pinnacle of the dragons, second only to the Golden and Silver Dragon Kings."

He continued almost without thinking, as if these thoughts had lingered in his mind countless times: "Four thousand years ago, after overturning the erroneous conclusion that the Sacred Dragon = the Golden Sacred Dragon, which had been held true ten thousand years ago, the Soul Master world pieced together the power map of this heaven-defying Soul Beast: the Sacred Dragon possesses terrifying strength no less than that of an ordinary Golden Dragon, while also controlling four major attributes: light, spirit, extreme ice, and extreme fire. Some ancient texts even vaguely mention that the Dragon God himself might have been the first Sacred Dragon in the world."

"However, due to various reasons, the already rare and sacred dragons disappeared completely after the fall of the Dragon God, leaving behind only countless legends of the Lord of the Sky."

Everyone was astonished as they listened to his detailed account, as if he knew it all by heart.

The secrets about the Holy Dragon, a soul beast that has long been extinct, are among the most obscure records even in Shrek Academy's library. How could Kong Tianxu know so much about them?

Faced with the questioning looks from the crowd, Kong Tianxu simply smiled and offered no explanation.

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