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Liu Erlong listened to Elsa and Wu Liuqi's discussion with a completely baffled expression.
What are these people even talking about?
Another world? What the hell is that supposed to be?
In the Douluo world, it's always been survival of the fittest—strength rules. There's no concept of alternate worlds or theories like that.
So hearing everyone talk like this left Liu Erlong utterly confused. She even briefly wondered in her head if "another world" was some actual place.
But… if they don't know where this is, how did they even get here?
Another question bubbled up in her mind.
"Sorry, we kinda just wandered in here," Sam said to Liu Erlong, smiling brightly. "Mind telling us what place this is?"
He threw a glance at Wu Liuqi and the others as well.
Seriously? You can't even ask for directions when there's a local right here? Talk about embarrassing! Don't even get me started on pretending to know me!
Meanwhile, Liu Erlong watched Sam and the gang messing around and could only shake her head.
Because he didn't know the truth about where Sam and the others came from, hearing their casual words left him genuinely impressed in spite of himself.
This place is a haven for spirit beasts—the Star Dou Forest!
And they came here without any preparation, not even far from the central region? That's bold, even reckless!
Still, despite his disbelief, Liu Erlong wasn't stupid. Thinking back to the terrifying power that Kurama had just shown, he started to relax a little.
Someone with that kind of strength as a companion… surely they're not weak themselves. So really, wandering off and getting lost doesn't seem so weird after all.
"This is the Star Dou Forest," Liu Erlong explained. "You're not far from the central area. But… for some reason, the spirit beasts are acting weird right now. So if you're thinking of hunting them, I'd wait a while. It's pretty dangerous here at the moment."
Kurama blinked. "Dangerous? You mean those little guys from before?"
(▼⊿▼) Heh.
Sam nodded with a smile. "Thanks for the warning. By the way… what brings you here?"
"I came to hunt spirit beasts," Liu Erlong said wryly. "But… well, there was some abnormal activity, and my whole team got wiped out. I'm the only one left."
Elsa glanced at him. Only one survivor? That's… kind of sad. Poor thing.
But what she didn't know was that Liu Erlong's team had been a temporary formation. While she was troubled by their deaths, it wasn't as if she had a strong emotional attachment.
"The Star Dou Forest, huh?" Sam thought for a moment. "I heard there are a lot of powerful spirit beasts here. If they've also been corrupted… that could be a real problem."
He had read novels about it before. Most of the details were fuzzy now, but he remembered there were supposedly insanely strong spirit beasts called Da Ming and Er Ming living here.
If they got corrupted… yeah, that would be a huge headache.
Earlier, the Wisdom King had analyzed the void energy and gotten some useful info.
Creatures corrupted by this void energy gain a huge boost in power—but lose their sanity.
Plus, their brains develop a strange "foreign core" with all sorts of uses.
At least for now, the Wisdom King figured it could be used for pill-making, crafting, even feeding pets.
Feeding it to pets could boost their strength, though it's kinda wasteful, because the energy inside has to be neutralized with special methods, which causes some loss.
Hearing the report, Sam couldn't help but exclaim:
What the heck is this patchwork nonsense of a plot?! Foreign cores just popping out now?
"The Star Dou Forest? Is this some kind of special forest?" Elsa asked, curious. "Can you give us a proper introduction?"
Kurama and Wu Liuqi also looked at Liu Erlong.
They didn't say it aloud, but they were just as curious about this "other world."
Liu Erlong froze for a second, a bit confused why they didn't even know about the Star Dou Forest.
Still, he nodded and began explaining.
"The Star Dou Forest is one of the continent's three most famous spirit beast habitats. Its area is almost as big as the entire Barak Kingdom, spanning the borders of both the Tian Dou Empire and the Xing Luo Empire."
"About two-fifths of the forest lies in the Tian Dou Empire, the remaining three-fifths in the Xing Luo Empire."
Elsa and the others: "Wait… it's as big as the Barak Kingdom? How big is that even? We have no idea… saying it like that is basically useless!"
"This is already the outskirts of the forest," Liu Erlong continued. "But even here, it's a massive, primeval forest. The terrain is complicated—wetlands, swamps, all that. Any spirit beast that survives here is incredibly formidable."
"And the closer you get to the center, the stronger the beasts become. There are even spirit beasts that are over a hundred thousand years old inside."
"So any spirit master with enough strength, and a little luck, can find the spirit rings that suit them best."
"Of course, the Star Dou Forest might be a great place, but it's extremely dangerous."
Elsa looked around. "Dangerous?"
"Yeah. Dangerous," Liu Erlong confirmed firmly. "This is the cradle of spirit beasts, the place powerful spirit masters love most. But because of that… it's also where they suffer the highest casualties."
"....."