Chen Xuan's face was grim. Just now, he had concealed his aura and remained hidden, but he was still detected despite the considerable distance.
Conservatively estimating, the bald man's strength was below that of a Soul Sage, but it was extremely close.
Unlike the illusion-type Soul Sages like Shinian, this guy was a solid combat Soul Master with strength certainly above Shinian's level.
"Find a suitable soul beast as soon as possible," Chen Xuan said. The longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became.
"Alright," Zhu Zhuqing nodded in agreement.
On the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest, thousand-year soul beasts were not hard to find; in fact, they were quite common. However, the issue was the attributes and what kind of soul beast was needed.
"Yiyi, what attribute is your martial soul?" Chen Xuan asked, wanting his sister to reveal her martial soul.
Chen Yiyi obediently summoned her martial soul. A green, blue-gold curved bow appeared, about a meter long, which she held in her hand.
The bow was heavy, made of blue-gold, and very sturdy. It could be used even without arrows.
"No attributes?"
Zhu Zhuqing adjusted her hair, revealing her white forehead, her beautiful eyes showing a trace of doubt.
Chen Xuan furrowed his brows. A martial soul with no attributes had its pros and cons. The advantage was that it would not be rejected by most soul beasts, but the drawback was the lack of a strong attribute, making it hard to selectively choose soul beasts.
He had once had a martial soul with no attributes too, but later, after consuming a plant with nine red fruits, it mutated and gained space attributes.
It seemed that martial soul attributes were indeed hereditary; there was no such thing as adoption in this regard.
"Brother, is Yiyi's martial soul very weak?" Chen Yiyi asked with wide, somewhat tearful eyes, looking at Chen Xuan with hope.
Zhu Zhuqing, with sharp eyes, immediately patted her head and said, "Don't worry, your martial soul is very good."
"Let me think about it." This time, Chen Xuan was serious and not joking.
Fire, water, wind, and other elements could be applied to the large bow.
After some consideration, Chen Xuan decided to look for a lightning attribute soul beast and primarily focus on absorbing lightning attribute soul beasts for future development.
He shared his thoughts with Zhu Zhuqing for analysis.
"You should consult the Master about this," Zhu Zhuqing said, shaking her head lightly. She wasn't very knowledgeable about martial souls.
Chen Xuan showed disdain and snorted, "Just him? It's already good if he doesn't mislead people."
"Take Tang San as an example. How many times has he broken his theories? Ten-thousand-year soul rings are just an exaggeration, but there are plenty of geniuses in this world whose fourth ring's limit exceeds eight thousand years."
According to Yu Xiaogang's theory, the limit for the fourth ring soul ring absorption was seven thousand five hundred years, but in reality, many people absorbed soul rings that were over eight thousand years.
Yu Xiaogang had stayed at level twenty-nine for most of his life; how could he know so much about high soul power matters? How could he understand the absorption limits for Soul Zong, Soul King, Soul Emperor, etc.?
Chen Xuan was highly skeptical that Yu Xiaogang's ten core theories of martial souls were plagiarized, just organized materials from previous studies, and not the result of his own experiments and meticulous documentation.
This would make sense; it was impossible for so many soul masters to volunteer for his experiments.
Zhu Zhuqing did not refute him, knowing that he had issues with Yu Xiaogang. Instead, seeing Chen Xuan's boastful demeanor gave her a subtle feeling of amusement, and she couldn't help but smile.
The three of them wandered around the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest. Several hours passed in the blink of an eye; the sun was high, and it was bright and sunny at noon.
During this time, they encountered several thousand-year soul beasts, including phoenix-tail crowned snakes, human-faced demon spiders, and pangolins.
They also came across a few lightning attribute soul beasts, but Chen Xuan rejected them all due to either their age being too low or too high.
Beasts close to two thousand years were definitely not suitable; those aged between one thousand and one thousand two hundred years were already at Yiyi's limit.
Zhu Zhuqing was unaware of this. Seeing that Chen Xuan had rejected many hundred-year soul beasts, she was filled with confusion and even disbelief.
She couldn't help but ask, "What kind of age of soul beast are you looking for Yiyi? The large bird we saw earlier, with four hundred years of cultivation, seemed quite suitable for your sister."
Chen Xuan didn't hide it and explained that he was looking for a thousand-year soul beast.
Zhu Zhuqing was taken aback, stunned for a long while before coming to her senses.
"That's too risky," she couldn't understand, thinking Chen Xuan was crazy, it was too dangerous, and how could one joke with his sister's life?
"Don't worry, I'm calmer than anyone else, and I have a backup plan," Chen Xuan explained. He certainly wouldn't joke with his sister's life.
He then stopped and smiled. Looking ahead, his gaze fell on a soul beast not far away.
It was a large snake, green all over, as thick as an adult's arm, five or six meters long, with its scales surrounded by electric arcs, very remarkable.
It crawled slowly through the grass, flicking its tongue, and surprisingly sprayed out sparks of electricity, fully displaying its lightning attribute.
Chen Xuan, having spent some time in the library, recognized this lightning snake. It had two blue stripes on its head and lightning flashing, a source of power.
One stripe meant five hundred fifty years; two stripes meant exactly one thousand one hundred years.
"This one will do."
Chen Xuan took out two shurikens and without further ado, he immediately acted.
Zhu Zhuqing did not help but instead protected Chen Yiyi, ensuring her safety and preventing any surprise attacks from hidden soul beasts.
Chen Xuan stepped on a branch, leaping from the sky and shooting a shuriken at the lightning snake below.
Whoosh!
At that moment, the snake was as swift as lightning. It swayed its body and darted away.
The shuriken struck the ground with a clang, missing its target.
"Hmm?" Chen Xuan showed surprise. He had expected a single strike to be enough, but it turned out to be an accident.
The lightning snake flicked its tongue, its cold eyes glancing at Chen Xuan, sensing his terrifying aura, realizing they were not on the same level.
It suddenly reared up and fled, its two stripes glowing like lightning, moving extremely fast through the forest.
"So fast?" Chen Xuan was astonished. The soul beast was almost out of sight.
He quickly shot another shuriken and electric arcs appeared around his body, creating a lightning-like effect.
With a swish, he disappeared from his original position, leaving a trail of sparks and lightning, moving so fast that his form was blurred, only a streak of tail lightning flashing through the forest.
This was a new technique Chen Xuan had developed, using lightning to stimulate his body's cell activity and enhance his speed.
In essence, it was similar to Bu Yao's Thunder Lightning Method, with little difference.
The lightning snake fled at an incredible speed, already over a hundred meters in just a few seconds. If it were an ordinary Soul Master, they would probably have no way to catch it.
A shuriken flew over the snake, and a lightning figure descended.
The lightning snake's stripes were glowing fast, its body turning red, and its speed increased again as it darted away.
Chen Xuan stepped on a tree trunk, shooting out like a cannonball with sparks and lightning.
Behind him, a tremor was heard as a pine tree was kicked down and collapsed.
Chen Xuan, resembling a lightning person, moved at an extraordinary speed. He landed on the fleeing lightning snake, and with a crunch, the sound of breaking bones echoed beneath his feet.
The lightning snake let out a cry of pain and then went silent. Its intestines and internal organs were shot out from its mouth.
This scene was incredibly bloody and disgusting. The grass ahead was covered in blood, and the organs and intestines were scattered on the wild grass.
"Damn, this is really disgusting." Seeing this, Chen Xuan swore and almost vomited.
He suddenly realized something, his face changing drastically. He quickly got off the lightning snake.
"Did I just step on it to death?"
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