Douluo Dalu 2: Heavenly Eyed Douluo

It was a dark-red dragon on four limbs but no wings, which should've made it classified as a large lizard if it weren't for its head: looking intimidating and menacing like a dragon. Its body was the size of a shark and being around six meters tall.

The dark-red scales all around its body had a faint metallic sheen, hinting at their incredible durability. Sharp, jagged bone spikes ran down its back, glowing faintly with an ominous crimson hue.

Its deep, purple eyes radiated an intelligence uncommon among ordinary thousand year old soul beasts, and its nostrils flared as if sensing something unusual in the air.

Then, with a sharp glint in its eyes, rapidly turned and chomped on the head of a thousand year old Wind Wolf that had been hiding in the bushes, killing it instantly.

'That's a dragon...right?' Xiao Xiao gulped nervously at the intimidating soul beast.

Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes, observing the mysterious dragon and inwardly asked. 'Anyone here recognize what that soul beast is?'

Skydream was the one to answer, with a shocked tone of voice. 'W-What? No way! There's still that thing going around in the world?! Damn. Yuhao, you're either lucky or unlucky to come across this thing. How did this guy lived for so long?'

Huo Yuhao was surprised. 'Brother Skydream, what is this soul beast?'

'If I'm not wrong, that's the Skysplitting Demon Dragon. They're a nasty bunch of dragons that even when they're just born, their exploding fire breath is so powerful that it could even collapse space and blow up a hill. When they turn ten thousand years old, they grow wings and are capable of messing up the sky—which is how they earned their name.' Skydream explained.

'However, they've mostly existed in the early era of the Dragon Clan, when they were just created, before being hunted down by their kin. The Skysplitting Demon Dragon is innately vicious and aggressive, possessing a destructive nature that made them feared even among their fellow dragons. Their tendency to attack indiscriminately and their uncontrollable tempers led to the Dragon Clan deciding to eliminate them entirely.'

Skydream gulped, 'The fact that one still exists today is nothing short of miraculous....or terrifying.'

Was it because of that fellow in the core region of the forest? Skydream thought before shaking such thought away. No way. That guy was a member of the Black Dragon Clan, the Royal Bodyguards of the Dragon, and he'd be the first to annihilate the Skysplitting Demon Dragon.

Huo Yuhao's expression turned serious, though a excited gleam flickered across his eyes. 'Then its soul ring should be pretty good. Most likely related to an explosive power-type soul skill?'

'Yup, most likely.' Skydream replied and warned him, 'But something doesn't feel right with it, Yuhao. Be careful.'

Huo Yuhao nodded and turned towards Xiao Xiao. "Xiao Xiao, I think I know what this soul beast is and the soul ring skill it'll drop would be what you will need. Be ready, I'll attack it now."

"Yes!" Xiao Xiao replied in a low tone of voice.

Huo Yuhao's soul rings appeared beneath his feet: white, black, black, black. The killing aura of the ten thousand soul rings immediately alerted the Skysplitting Demon Dragon and nearby soul beasts. His first soul ring lit up as he activated Absolute Domain once more.

Spatial Lock.

"?!!" The Skysplitting Demon Dragon's eyes widened as an invisible force descended upon it, freezing its movements in place. The air around it trembled violently as if space itself was resisting being restrained.

The dragon's purple eyes flickered with rage as it struggled against the restriction, but its body refused to move.

'This ability is overwhelming powerful.' Huo Yuhao thought. Absolute Domain, the fourth skill of his first soul ring; the power to have absolute control over space in a certain range around him, which is around 20 diameters at this point with his cultivation.

However, he understood the limits of such power. Those who are stronger than him could resist it, and those who are stronger and an expert in manipulating space can break free from it entirely. Against an ordinary soul beast below ten thousand years old, his Absolute Domain would be nearly impossible to resist.

But against this Skysplitting Demon Dragon, an ancient species with an innate affinity for spatial destruction, there was a chance it might break free from it so he wasn't going to take any chances.

Huo Yuhao outstretched his arm and muttered, "Spatial Slash."

Four silver flashes of light appeared from and quickly cleanly cut the Skysplitting Demon Dragon's four limbs in the blink of an eye. The dragon didn't get to utter a cry of pain, its body completely locked down.

Huo Yuhao let out a deep breath. "Down to twenty percent of my soul power. The soul power consumption of Absolute Domain is no joke. Xiao Xiao, let's go down and finish this."

"Yes!"

They dropped down to the ground, landing lightly.

Xiao Xiao's eyes were filled with determination as she stepped forward, her Myriad Dragon Cauldron hovering ominously behind her, ready to deliver the final blow.

"Rest in peace." She muttered.

The Skysplitting Demon Dragon, despite losing its limbs, still radiated an overwhelming presence. Its deep-purple eyes burned with hatred and unwillingness, but it could do nothing—the Myriad Dragon Cauldron dropped on its head with an earth-shattering impact, its eyeballs and chunks of its brain flew off, killing it instantly.

A purple soul ring slowly formed out of its body.

"Well, that was pretty easy." Xiao Xiao commented with a relieved sigh.

Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes. "Yeah....too easy for an ancient species to die like that."

Skydream's voice reach his ears, sounding panicked. 'Yuhao, careful! When it died, some sort of spiritual mark in its spiritual sea went off. It likely alerted the thing behind it! Since it's a dragon, it could possibly be...'

'Di Tian?' Huo Yuhao realized, eyes wide.

'In the worst case scenario. There are other dangerous soul beasts, stronger than the regular hundred thousand year old soul beasts. Di Tian might be the indisputable boss of the forest, but could you really say that all soul beasts would submit to him?' Skydream snorted, remembering the times he heard the mutters of rebellion from some of his captors but were too cowardly to act on it.

'Especially those who surpass the hundred thousand year old realm. They went through hell and all sorts of struggle, all to reach the peak of the food chain. And yet, they still have to bow before another? Some of them are extremely prideful and would even scheme than submit to a ruler, even one as powerful as Di Tian,' Skydream continued.

Huo Yuhao's expression darkened. If what Skydream said was true, then the death of the Skysplitting Demon Dragon could bring serious trouble their way.

He immediately expanded his Spiritual Detection to concentrate on the hybrid region where some strong thousand year old soul beasts and ten thousand year old soul beasts live.

If there was a response, there'd be a disturbance in that region.

...

"He died?" A growling voice sounded in the dark cave, sounding displeased and angry.

A terrifying pressure erupted from the depths of the cave, causing the surrounding stone walls to crack under the sheer force of its anger.

A pair of glowing crimson eyes opened in the darkness, filled with cold fury. The voice belonged to a powerful existence—one that had been watching over the Skysplitting Demon Dragon.

A deep breath was drawn, causing the air itself to vibrate. Then, the voice spoke again, lower this time but no less dangerous.

"That fool.... Even after I nurtured him, protected him, he let himself be hunted like a mere prey to some inferior beings?"

This being had seen the last moments the Skysplitting Demon Dragon through the spiritual mark it had placed on him.

Though it appeared that no one had killed the Skysplitting Demon Dragon, the hidden being had seen a large object before the dragon died.

The hidden being had seen something like it in the past: it was a large cauldron, and only humans would use something like that to kill soul beasts.

"Fourth goldie!"

"Rooo...." A large bear answered, with golden streaks across its face and body. It slowly walked in before stopping, bowing its head.

The crimson eyed being growled. "I want to eat those little bugs for daring to covet what is mine. But unfortunately, Di Tian has summoned us all for another meeting. So, I will send you to deal with them!"

"Roo?"

"Deal with them, and I will reward you immensely."

"Roo!" The bear raised its head excitedly and growled in affirmation. Its massive body trembled with anticipation, its golden-streaked fur bristling as its sharp claws extended.

The crimson-eyed being let out a low snarl. "They should still be near the carcass, here's the spiritual mark I had on my little pet. The connection it had with my pet wouldn't disappear until a few days so you better not take too long."

There was a flash of golden light and a golden mark resembling a dragon's head appeared on the bear's forehead.

"Hunt them down. Crush them. Erase them. Let the insects know that taking what is mine has a price."

"ROOOO!"

With a thunderous roar that shook the cavern, the golden-streaked bear turned and charged out of the cave, its immense frame moving with terrifying speed. Each step it took cracked the earth beneath it, and its killing intent surged through the forest like a predator on the hunt.

"....That little shit ruined my cave."

...

'There isn't any disturbances yet.' Huo Yuhao thought, vigilantly observing the hybrid region.

"Yuhao? Should I absorb the soul ring right now?"

Huo Yuhao turned towards Xiao Xiao and shook his head. "No. This isn't a safe place. We'll carry the carcass somewhere else." He raised his hand and four shadow clones appeared.

"You four stall for time against whatever is coming our way. Prioritize distraction over direct combat," Huo Yuhao instructed.

"Yes sir!"

Huo Yuhao swiped his hand and the carcass disappeared into a pocket dimension in his palm. "Let's go back to the others, Xiao Xiao."

"Yeah."

The two quickly ran back to where Ma Xiaotao and Ning Tian were, just as a loud roar of a bear was heard from the hybrid region.

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AN: Yo! So, uh, did I say that this whole hunting down soul rings was going to be a few chapters so we can proceed to the Sun Moon Empire Arc? Ah, well, plans changed! It's going to be at least 15 chapters.

AN2: Venting here(spoilers)

— Having to reread through DD2 is both awesome yet also irritating, especially in the latter half of the story with the war between the three nations and the Sun Moon Empire; all of it leads to nothing when you know Douluo Dalu 3. That whole war arc that took about a hundred chapters and more, the hardships Huo Yuhao and his allies had endured, were all for nothing. It's even worse when you learn about the origin of the Spirit Pagoda in DD2 and what it had become in DD3.

3/3 chapters of the week