It was actually Yu Xiaogang, Tang San, and Tang Hao!
While speeding along with the external soul bone, Wind and Thunder Wings, Lin Yu saw Yu Xiaogang, Tang San, and Tang Hao through his Dual Pupils and was momentarily stunned.
Immediately, Lin Yu activated the external soul bone, Mirage Dragon Pearl, and used its illusionary powers to conceal himself.
He also activated the Concealment ability of the Phantom Beast's left leg bone.
Having prepared everything, Lin Yu quickly descended into the forest and flew towards the direction of Tang San, Tang Hao, and Yu Xiaogang.
Meanwhile:
In the outer area of the Star Dou Forest.
Yu Xiaogang, hands clasped behind his back, was leading Tang San through the dense and dim Star Dou Forest.
With Tang Hao's protection, whenever a soul beast approached, Tang Hao would release soul power pressure to scare them away.
However, Tang Hao did not unleash his full Title Douluo-level power.
While helping Tang San search for a suitable second soul ring beast, Yu Xiaogang was also teaching Tang San about various soul beasts.
"Tang San, do you know what that soul beast on the tree is called?"
In the dark forest, Yu Xiaogang, with his hands clasped behind his back, walked through the fallen leaves and pointed to a large tree.
On the tree stood a soul beast about two meters tall, covered in brown-yellow fur with gray-brown eyes, long limbs, sharp claws, and fangs, resembling a baboon. It bared its teeth at the trio.
"This is a Wind Baboon. It's a very common soul beast in the forest. This particular Wind Baboon is about a hundred years old," Tang San replied after observing the beast.
"That's right! This is indeed a hundred-year-old Wind Baboon. Generally, an adult Wind Baboon is a ten-year soul beast with a height of one meter. After a hundred years, it grows to about two meters; after a thousand years, three meters; and after ten thousand years, four meters."
"As for a hundred thousand years... no one has ever discovered a Wind Baboon of that age. Even a ten-thousand-year-old one is rare, as Wind Baboons are not very powerful soul beasts."
Yu Xiaogang spoke slowly with a deep voice as he looked at the Wind Baboon.
As they continued deeper into the forest, they encountered various other soul-beasts.
Beasts like the Budhorn Deer, Stonehide Wild Boar, Rock Armored Bull, Netherwolf, Lonely Bamboo, and Bloodsucking Entangling Vine, among others.
Yu Xiaogang continued to question Tang San about these soul beasts, testing his knowledge, and Tang San generally answered correctly.
This made Yu Xiaogang quite satisfied.
"Tang San, do you know why I want you to absorb the soul ring of a snake-type soul beast?"
"Because my Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul is too weak."
Tang San responded.
"That's correct! Compared to beast martial souls, plant-type martial souls are indeed very weak, especially your Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, which breaks easily!"
"Even though your mother's Blue Silver Grass was a ten-thousand-year-old transformation, your martial soul seems to still be ordinary Blue Silver Grass."
"If you keep adding plant-type soul rings, you might never become a competent control-type soul master."
"However, things are different if you follow my Martial Soul Mimicry Theory!"
Yu Xiaogang's face showed a hint of pride.
"In the soul master world, everyone only knows that plant-type martial souls can only absorb plant-type soul rings. But actually, plant-type martial souls can also absorb beast-type soul rings. And compared to the enhancement from plant-type soul rings, beast-type soul rings provide a greater boost to plant-type martial souls!"
"According to my research, plant-type martial souls cannot absorb beast-type soul rings due to rejection reactions. However, your Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul is the weakest among all martial souls, weak enough not to have any immune rejection reactions."
"In the livestream, I accepted you as a disciple and successfully helped you become a god. This shows that my theory was successfully validated by you."
"So, as long as you follow my guidance, you will surely become a deity in the future!"
Yu Xiaogang's claim that he made Tang San his disciple to test his theory made Tang San feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Listening to Yu Xiaogang's arrogant remarks, Tang Hao also frowned.
He noticed that while Yu Xiaogang's theory was interesting, the reasoning was flawed.
For example, the idea that plant-type martial souls can absorb beast-type soul rings was widely known as insects, even if it wasn't popular among common soul masters.
The common belief that plant-type martial souls could only absorb plant-type soul rings was due to their fragility, which made them unable to handle beast-type soul rings initially. The solution was to absorb at least the first three soul rings from plant-type soul beasts to strengthen the plant-type martial soul before absorbing beast-type soul rings.
Despite realizing Yu Xiaogang's theory had issues, Tang Hao thought that since his son, Tang San, became a disciple of this person and succeeded in becoming a god, Tang San must have absorbed a beast-type soul ring for his first soul ring without incident.
Tang Hao sneered at Yu Xiaogang's assertion that Tang San's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was too weak to absorb beast-type soul rings.
If the weakness of the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul meant it could absorb beast-type soul rings, then other similar plant-type martial souls should be able to do the same.
Historically, many soul masters with such martial souls existed.
In the Star Dou Forest, beast-type soul beasts were far more numerous than plant-type soul beasts.
If plant-type martial souls could absorb beast-type soul rings just by being weak, such news would have spread across the Douluo Continent!
If Tang San truly managed to absorb a beast-type soul ring as his first, then Tang Hao concluded that the real reason must be that Tang San's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was fundamentally different from ordinary ones!
...
As Yu Xiaogang, Tang San, and Tang Hao walked through the Star Dou Forest:
Lin Yu was now close to their location.
"Yu Xiaogang is helping Tang San hunt for his second soul ring?"
Hidden in the shadows, Lin Yu mused.
Although Tang San had only awakened his martial soul for a little over half a year, Lin Yu recalled that Tang San had recently received a bottle of Hundred Herbs Pill to boost his cultivation.
"Helping Tang San find his second soul ring?"
Observing Yu Xiaogang, who was proudly explaining soul beasts to Tang San, Lin Yu's lips curled into a playful smile.
Let me spice things up a bit!
With that thought, Lin Yu activated the external soul bone, Three-Eyed Golden Lion's second soul skill, Fate Manipulation, and set Yu Xiaogang's luck to its lowest.