146: Chapter 146: Soul Masters Hunting Soul Rings is a Natural Right

The Silver Dragon King's delicate body trembled almost imperceptibly, and the pallor on her stunningly beautiful face, caused by her unhealed severe injuries, seemed to deepen a shade.

Lu Jing's words were like a cold dagger, precisely piercing the deepest part of her heart—the hidden pain she was most unwilling to face, yet forced to contemplate day and night.

Yes, she knew better than anyone.

The Star Dou Great Forest was shrinking, high-level Spirit Beasts were decreasing, while the number and greed of human Spirit Masters were increasing with each passing day... If this continued, the Soul Beast Clan might truly face extinction.

She remained silent for a long time before asking in a low voice, her tone laced with a hint of hoarseness, a trace of exhaustion, yet also containing a glimmer of faint hope:

"Then... do you have a way? A way to change this... destined outcome?"

This was the question she, as the ruler of the Soul Beast Clan, burdened with the expectations of countless kin and the obsessions of the departed, most wanted to ask, yet most feared to hear the answer to.

However, Lu Jing's answer made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

"No."

Lu Jing's reply was crisp and decisive, even carrying a kind of near-cold calm: "At least, for now, I cannot come up with a way to fundamentally and once-and-for-all resolve this contradiction."

He met the Silver Dragon King's gaze, which had suddenly turned sharp, his tone remaining indifferent, yet every word struck like a hammer:

"Spirit Masters hunting Spirit Beasts to obtain spirit rings, break through bottlenecks, and increase their strength—under the current rules of the Douluo Continent, this is only right and proper. This is determined by the most basic energy cycle and advancement system of this World. After a Spirit Beast dies, it produces a spirit ring, and a Spirit Master can absorb that spirit ring to gain power; this is the rule, this is the will."

"If you want to change this outcome, it is equivalent to changing the underlying rules of this World, to acting against the heavens. This involves the cognition of an entire civilization, the essence of power, and even the intervention of the Divine Realm... The difficulty of this far exceeds what you or I can imagine. This is about human nature, desire, survival, and the origin of power; where do you expect me to find a perfect solution for you?"

At this point, Lu Jing suddenly changed the subject, the corners of his mouth curling into a faint, mocking, and distant arc as he looked at the Silver Dragon King, whose expression had darkened completely, and retorted:

"Besides, even if... I really did have a way, or an idea. Why would I tell you?"

"What is our relationship? You are the ruler of the Soul Beast Clan, and I am a human Spirit Master, carrying the legacy of destruction. From the standpoint of our positions, we are even potential enemies. Should I tell you, an enemy, ideas that could change the landscape of the continent and affect the balance of the Divine Realm?"

"On what grounds?"

"Just because you dragged me here? Just because you are stronger than me?"

Lu Jing's questions grew sharper with each passing sentence, ruthlessly tearing away the layer of atmosphere that had slightly eased due to their previous honest conversation, placing the most realistic and coldest issues on the table.

The Silver Dragon King's stunningly beautiful face was instantly covered in a layer of frost!

In her amethyst-like eyes, bone-chilling killing intent and rage brewed like a storm!

The surrounding air seemed to solidify, and a terrifying pressure rose from her body, firmly locking onto Lu Jing!

She had not expected that this young man would dare to be so blunt, so rebellious, as to say that it was only right and proper for Spirit Masters to hunt Spirit Beasts.

Nor had she expected that he would ultimately respond to her plea for help with such a realistic and provocative attitude!

"You say... that it is... right... and... proper... for Spirit Masters to hunt Spirit Beasts?!" The Silver Dragon King's voice was as cold as ten-thousand-year black ice, enunciating every word, each one seemingly laced with shards of ice.

The temperature in the space plummeted, and even the entire Lake of Life seemed to be covered in ice crystals.

However, facing this killing intent and pressure that would make even a peak Douluo, or even a super Douluo, feel fear and dread, Lu Jing did not retreat. Instead, he chuckled, the sound appearing somewhat abrupt in the stagnant space.

"And if not, what then?"

He tilted his head, his eyes filled with a near-innocent confusion, but the words he spoke were even more piercing:

"If it is not right and proper, if it is an act that violates the laws of heaven and morality, then may I ask—"

He raised his hand, pointing toward the void, as if questioning the existence in the ethereal beyond:

"Why, after a Spirit Beast dies, does it naturally produce a spirit ring, this special condensed form of energy?"

"And why are Spirit Masters able to absorb these spirit rings, make them their own, break through cultivation bottlenecks, and obtain powerful Spirit Abilities?"

"Is this not a cycle and order already set by the will of this World—the Douluo Planet itself, or even higher, by the Divinities of the Divine Realm, when they established the rules?"

"Since this is part of the World's rules, a link in the order established by the Divinities, then what is the problem with me saying that it is only right and proper for Spirit Masters to hunt Spirit Beasts to obtain spirit rings? I am merely stating a cold fact recognized by the laws of this universe."

Lu Jing's words were like the sharpest ice awl, not only piercing the Silver Dragon King but also seemingly pointing toward the supreme rules and the mastermind behind the scenes that invisibly determined the tragic fate of the Soul Beast Clan.

"You..." The Silver Dragon King opened her mouth, wanting to refute, wanting to berate, wanting to use force to make this audacious human boy shut up.

But when the words reached her lips, she found that she could say nothing.

Because what Lu Jing said... was the truth.

It was the bloody, fundamental truth that had made her despair for countless years, yet one she was powerless to change!

Spirit Beasts produce spirit rings, and Spirit Masters absorb spirit rings to become stronger—this seemed like a predetermined, incredibly vicious curse and plundering mechanism targeted at the Soul Beast Clan!

It was the Divine Realm's favoritism toward humans, and its suppression and exploitation of Spirit Beasts!

This was the root of all tragedies!

She had always focused her hatred on greedy human Spirit Masters, focused on those sanctimonious Divinities in the Divine Realm, but rarely had she so directly contemplated the absurdity and cruelty of this rule itself.

Now, being pointed out by Lu Jing in such a calm, even slightly mocking tone, it was as if someone had brutally torn open the bloodiest scar she had always tried to ignore, exposing it to the light of day.

The boiling killing intent and rage around the Silver Dragon King vanished suddenly, like a punctured balloon.

On her stunningly beautiful face, all color drained away, leaving only a kind of hollow pallor and... bone-deep exhaustion and helplessness.

She stumbled back half a step, her delicate body swaying slightly, as if she might collapse at any moment.

In those amethyst-like eyes, the anger and coldness had vanished, replaced by a kind of bewilderment, a kind of sorrow, and a kind of fragility as if the convictions that had sustained her for eons were beginning to waver.

She lowered her head, her long silver hair falling down to cover most of her face, remaining silent for a long, long time.

In the space, only the faint sound of the water in the Lake of Life flowing remained, along with the almost inaudible breathing of the two.

Lu Jing looked at the ruler of the Soul Beast Clan before him, who had just moments ago been overwhelmingly powerful but now seemed to have had all her strength drained away, and he sighed slightly in his heart.

He knew his words were cruel, but some truths must be faced.

Only by facing the cruelest root cause could one, perhaps, find that slim, faint glimmer of life that was not inherently destined to be this way.