Douluo: Martial Soul White Tiger, I am the White Emperor of Heaven

Su Chen was awakened by a knock on the door. He opened his eyes and saw that it was already noon outside. Sunlight streamed in through the half-drawn curtains, casting a golden band of light on the floor. He was momentarily disoriented before realizing where he was.

"Go in." He propped himself up on his arms and sat up, the soul-guided support on his right arm aching slightly.

The door was pushed open, and Li Yang entered. His complexion was better than in the morning, but his eyes were still a little dark, indicating that he hadn't rested well.

"Strategist, Lady Qian Renxue wants you to go to the conference room. She says she's made a discovery."

Su Chen stood up and stretched his stiff neck: "Is Chen Hao awake?"

"Not yet, Zhang Wan is keeping watch. She asked me to tell you not to worry."

Su Chen nodded and followed Li Yang out the door. The conference room was at the end of the corridor. When they pushed open the door, Qian Renxue was already sitting at the head of the long table, with more than a dozen jade talismans and several paper notebooks spread out in front of her. Lin Xue sat to her right, with an open notebook in front of her, quickly copying something onto the paper.

"Sit down." Qian Renxue raised her chin.

Su Chen sat down to her left, his gaze sweeping over the documents on the table. Most of the jade talismans and booklets were brought out from the cave. He had briefly flipped through some of them in the cave before, but hadn't had time to examine most of them in detail.

“I’ve had these materials preliminarily organized,” Qian Renxue said, tapping her fingers on the table. “We’ve discovered a few key pieces of information that you all need to hear.”

She picked up a jade talisman of emerald green and poured her soul power into it. A semi-transparent 3D map was projected onto the talisman. Dozens of points of light were marked on the map, distributed in various corners of the Douluo Continent. The most concentrated area was within the Heaven Dou Empire, with many also in the Star Luo Empire, and even two near Seagod Island.

“These are all the research bases known to the Void Cult,” Qian Renxue said. “The Far North base and the Qingfeng Valley base we destroyed were only two of them. According to the records, they have at least twenty-seven other operational bases, seven of which are marked as ‘core-level.’”

Su Chen's gaze swept across the map; the dots of light resembled lurking eyes, silently watching them. His fingers unconsciously tightened around the edge of the table.

"What does a core-level base mean?" Li Yang asked.

"This means that each core-level base has at least one Title Douluo stationed there, and possesses a complete soul beast breeding system and experimental facilities," Qian Renxue said calmly. "In other words, the size of the Qingfeng Valley base is multiplied by seven."

A few seconds of silence filled the conference room. Li Yang's Adam's apple bobbed, but he remained silent. Lin Xue's pen hovered over the paper, the ink spreading into a small blotch.

“There’s another discovery.” Qian Renxue put away the map jade talisman and replaced it with a pale red one. “It’s about the truth regarding the Void Soul Beasts. We previously thought that the Void Soul Beasts were wild soul beasts that were captured and then modified. But judging from this information, their experimental process is far more complex than we imagined.”

She pushed the jade talisman towards Su Chen. Su Chen took it, probing it with his soul power, and a flood of text and images poured into his mind. His expression gradually darkened as he read, and finally, when he put down the jade talisman, his knuckles were white from the force. "What's wrong?" Li Yang asked, leaning closer.

Su Chen took a deep breath, his voice slightly hoarse as he spoke: "Void Soul Beasts are divided into three generations. The first generation was indeed modified from wild Soul Beasts, with an extremely low success rate; it was considered good if one out of a hundred survived. The second generation consisted of Soul Beast cubs they bred, who began undergoing modification from birth, increasing the success rate to around thirty percent. But the third generation…"

He paused.

"The third generation involves directly implanting the modified soul beast embryo into a living person. They use a living person as a vessel, implanting the modified soul beast embryo into the body, allowing the human and soul beast to fuse and coexist within. If successful, a completely new existence will be born—possessing the appearance and intelligence of a human, but with the abilities and ethereal attributes of a soul beast. If it fails…"

He didn't continue. But everyone understood what "failure" meant. The humanoid corpses submerged in containers in the cave were the product of that failure.

Li Yang abruptly stood up, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a piercing screech. His lips trembled, as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately couldn't utter a single word. He turned around, bracing himself on the windowsill with his hands, his back to the crowd, his shoulders shaking slightly.

Lin Xue lowered her head, her fingers gripping the pen tightly, her nails digging into her palms. She recalled the experimental records in the documents, each page stained with dried blood, each line describing the process of a living person being transformed into a monster bit by bit. The names of those people, their ages, their recorded "experimental performance"—the youngest of whom was only seven years old.

“So,” Su Chen’s voice broke the silence, “they are creating something somewhere between humans and soul beasts. If this thing is mass-produced, it would indeed be no different from a natural disaster for ordinary people.”

Qian Renxue nodded: "This is one of their ultimate goals. The High Priest of Nothingness said he wanted to destroy the Heavenly Dou Empire, and that wasn't just empty talk. The military force he commands is far stronger than we previously estimated."

Su Chen rubbed his temples. His right arm was still throbbing, and now that pain, along with the throbbing in his forehead, made him feel like he was being squeezed between two giant rocks.

“We need to get this intelligence back to headquarters,” he said. “And we can’t delay any longer. Heaven Dou City is three days’ journey from Spirit City, and with the time for transmission and decision-making, it will take at least five days. Within five days, we must let the higher-ups at headquarters know the true size and threat level of the Void Cult.”

“I’ve already dispatched people,” Qian Renxue said. “This morning, as soon as the city gates opened, I sent three groups of messengers, two people per group, on three separate routes to Wuhun City. Even if one group encounters an accident, the other two groups will still be able to deliver the intelligence.”

Su Chen glanced at her and nodded. Qian Renxue was always thorough in her work, a fact he had known since their first collaboration.

“There’s one more thing.” Qian Renxue took out a black jade talisman from her bosom. The talisman’s texture was clearly different from the other materials in the cave; it was completely black with very faint purple patterns flowing across its surface. “This was found on that Title Douluo. I tried to probe it with my soul power, but it had a very high-level seal inside. Forcibly breaking it might destroy the contents.”

Su Chen took the black jade talisman; it was icy cold to the touch. The purple patterns on the surface of the talisman glowed slightly when his fingertips touched it. He tried to probe it with his soul power, but as expected, it was repelled by a tough barrier. The barrier was like an invisible net, airtight, with no gaps to be found.

“Let headquarters handle it,” he said. “Their sealing techniques are more advanced than ours.” (End of Chapter)