Chapter Forty-Five: Xue Qinghe and Bibidong! The Silver-Haired Youth and the Enigmatic Butterfly! The Fourth Soul Ring—This Is It!

The powerhouses from the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and various academies down below would never have imagined that high in the sky above them, Bibi Dong, the Pope of the Spirit Hall, was engaged in a top-secret conversation with Qian Renxue, the Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire.

"Seize power as soon as possible. Within five years at the shortest, ten years at the longest, I will make my move." Bibi Dong's eyes were as tranquil as an ancient well, and her tone was calm.

Qian Renxue sneered and said, "Easier said than done. As long as Emperor Xueye lives, how am I supposed to seize power?"

Bibi Dong said indifferently, "You will find a way."

Qian Renxue frowned. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, "A genius has appeared in the Heaven Dou Empire, with a talent no lower than mine. At age eleven, he has already reached the cultivation level of a three-ring Soul Elder, and he possesses a beyond-limit soul ring configuration—his second soul ring is already a thousand-year-one!"

Bibi Dong was not surprised; she merely nodded and said, "I know. When the exchange delegation arrives at Star Luo City, I will send someone to make contact with him."

"He is my man, not yours! Even if he joins the Spirit Hall, he joins the Consecration Hall!" Qian Renxue stared coldly at Bibi Dong.

"He can only be a man of the Spirit Hall, or a dead man." Bibi Dong's tone remained calm.

A cold gleam flashed in Qian Renxue's eyes, as if she were about to erupt, but her emotions quickly calmed down. Glancing downward, she said indifferently, "Tell your men to leave!"

With that, the six wings behind her vibrated, turning into a stream of light as she flew toward a distant forest.

Bibi Dong watched her retreating figure in a slight daze. After a long while, she slowly closed her eyes and whispered, "Ghost, it's time to go."

A ghostly figure flashed before her and said respectfully, "Your Holiness the Pope, this operation lost six Soul Saints, one Soul Douyra, and furthermore..."

At this point, the ghostly shadow hesitated before continuing, "One Soul Saint has gone missing..."

"Missing?" Bibi Dong furrowed her brows slightly.

The ghostly shadow trembled slightly, and a hint of terror appeared in the eyes shrouded within the black mist.

"Leave some people to search, and have the rest return. Rendezvous with Yue Guan, and then go to Star Luo City to meet that young man named Lu Yu."

With that, Bibi Dong's figure vanished from the spot instantly.

The Star Soul Canyon was one of the few medium-sized spirit beast gathering grounds within the borders of the Star Luo Empire.

On the Douluo Continent, there were only three large-scale spirit beast gathering grounds: the Star Dou Great Forest, the Far North, and the ocean!

Places like the Heaven Dou Empire's Spirit Hunting Forest could not even be considered small-scale gathering grounds; they were merely artificial breeding farms.

The Sunset Forest that Lu Yu had once visited could barely be considered a medium-sized spirit beast gathering ground.

Yet in this Star Soul Canyon, both the quantity and quality of the spirit beasts far surpassed those of the Sunset Forest, ranking among the very few even within medium-sized spirit beast gathering grounds.

The area of this canyon was immense. Flora-type spirit beasts were relatively scarce, with earth-attribute spirit beasts dominating. Because the light in the canyon was dim and rarely touched by sunlight year-round, it was also a habitat for dark-attribute spirit beasts.

After arriving at the Star Soul Canyon, Lu Yu proceeded deep inside, directly entering the core area before beginning a horizontal search along its edge.

Deep within the core area of the Star Soul Canyon lay the territory of those spirit beasts whose cultivation exceeded fifty thousand years or possessed supreme bloodlines.

Lu Yu was confident in his ability to absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring, but the soul ring's age could not exceed twenty thousand years, which was why he had not ventured deep into the core area.

Yet after searching continuously for three days, Lu Yu had completely come up empty-handed.

Most of what he saw were earth-attribute spirit beasts, with only the occasional dark-attribute spirit beast.

Although the abilities of some spirit beasts matched the Heaven-Sealing Seal, Lu Yu's target was evil-attribute spirit beasts!

Just as Lu Yu continued his aimless search, a sound suddenly echoed from ahead.

Lu Yu instantly became vigilant, his spiritual power sweeping toward the direction of the noise.

"A Man-Faced Demon Spider?"

Lu Yu was momentarily stunned, and the next moment, he saw a massive Man-Faced Demon Spider rushing toward him.

A wound was visible on the Man-Faced Demon Spider's abdomen, from which dark green blood continuously flowed.

It was fleeing!

Lu Yu sidestepped to give way, but the Man-Faced Demon Spider completely ignored him, as if some primordial fierce beast were right behind it.

Immediately following, a handsome youth with a height of about one meter nine, short silver hair with gradient red tips, and scarlet butterfly-like patterns at the corners of his eyes came whistling over.

This youth seemed to be chasing the Man-Faced Demon Spider, yet he also seemed to be running for his life, occasionally glancing back over his shoulder.

Passing by Lu Yu, the youth visibly paused and subconsciously blurted out, "Damn! He's actually more handsome than me?"

Black lines instantly covered Lu Yu's forehead. Coming to his senses, the youth ignored him further and rushed straight after the Man-Faced Demon Spider.

At that exact moment, Lu Yu caught sight of the "culprit" behind this game of chase.

It was a butterfly with a wingspan of nearly two meters, its wings covered in dark red patterns that looked incomparably eerie.

Lu Yu frowned slightly; he searched his mind but could not find any information regarding this spirit beast.

Right then, a thought stirred in Lu Yu's heart. The Heaven-Sealing Seal manifested in his palm, and upon the seal's body, past the runes representing the first three soul rings, the fourth vague rune was continuously flashing!

Lu Yu could feel that this seemed to be a yearning!

A yearning originating from the evil-attribute primal power transformed from the pearl of the Dark Demonic Evil God Tiger!

Lu Yu's eyes lit up, his gaze fixing passionately on the bizarre butterfly.

For the fourth soul ring, this is the one!

The bizarre butterfly also spotted Lu Yu, and seemingly sensing that same inexplicable attraction, it actually abandoned the silver-haired youth and lunged toward Lu Yu instead.

Seeing this, the silver-haired youth's expression lit up with joy. His gaze shifted slightly, and he promptly offered a reminder, "Brother, that's a seventeen-thousand-year Ghost God Butterfly! Its spiritual power rivals that of an eight-ring Soul Douluo! Furthermore, it's a nearly extinct super spirit beast, with combat prowess comparable to a fifty-thousand-year beast king!"

Lu Yu glanced sideways at the silver-haired youth, instantly seeing through the other's intentions.

Judging from the soul power fluctuations emanating from the youth, his cultivation had already reached the fiftieth rank, and presumably, that Man-Faced Demon Spider was his target for the fifth soul ring.

This fellow was not issuing a kind reminder at all; rather, he wanted to instill fear and panic in Lu Yu, making him flee wildly and lure away this Ghost God Butterfly so that he could seize the opportunity to deal with the Man-Faced Demon Spider and absorb his fifth soul ring!

Withdrawing his gaze, Lu Yu looked at the Ghost God Butterfly. Strong spiritual power? Combat prowess comparable to a beast king?

Lu Yu sneered coldly. Four Heavenly Gang runes condensed silently at his fingertips before merging into his body.

Immediately following, the grey pattern between Lu Yu's brows flashed with light, and a twenty-meter radius around him was instantly enveloped in grey light!

Death Domain!

The Ghost God Butterfly's charge abruptly slowed, its divine body trembling slightly as it turned tail and fled without the slightest hesitation.

This scene left the silver-haired youth dumbfounded, his gaze then turning solemn as he stared fixedly at Lu Yu.

He could recognize that the technique the young man had just used was a domain!

Just how old was he? To actually possess a domain?

Could it be a innate domain tied to his martial soul?

Seeing that the Man-Faced Demon Spider was about to escape, the silver-haired youth had no time to ponder further and bolted in pursuit.

Not until the silver-haired youth had departed did golden light and lightning erupt across Lu Yu's entire body as he pursued the Ghost God Butterfly!

Wherever Lu Yu passed, the flora within a twenty-meter radius withered, while his own aura steadily climbed higher and higher.