"This is the Soul Hunting Forest, huh? I wonder if a monster will suddenly jump out."
The three had already entered the forest. Ma Hongjun, feeling a little scared, moved closer to Yulin. After all, he had only heard stories about soul beasts before. This was his first time encountering them in person.
It was said that these creatures were far stronger and more terrifying than ordinary wild beasts.
"Chubby, this is just the outermost area. You won't run into any real monsters here—only ten-year soul beasts," Yulin said. With a Titled Douluo like him present, even if all the soul beasts in this forest swarmed them, there was nothing to fear.
After all, in a small-scale Soul Hunting Forest like this, thousand-year soul beasts were rare, and ten-thousand-year soul beasts were almost unheard of.
"Hongjun, your priority right now is to focus on your cultivation. You're just a step away from reaching level ten. Try to break through in the next few days. Once we get to the academy, you'll definitely receive special training," Bei Xuan encouraged.
"Got it, Xuan-ge." Ma Hongjun always took Bei Xuan's words seriously.
For the past few days, aside from eating, walking, and doing basic exercises, he had spent all his time meditating.
The three ventured deeper into the forest, where hundred-year soul beasts became much more common.
Yulin started a fire. "Let's rest here. We'll move at night."
"Why at night?" Ma Hongjun asked curiously.
"Because my martial soul is Nightmare Charm, a dark-element martial soul. That means the best soul beasts for me are also dark-aligned, and such creatures usually appear at night," Bei Xuan explained. To demonstrate, he summoned his Nightmare Charm.
Black mist instantly enveloped his entire body.
This martial soul was similar to Ghost Douluo's Ghost Phantom—it didn't transform the user into a beast like beast-type martial souls did. Other than appearing darker and more sinister, Bei Xuan's outward appearance remained largely unchanged.
"Xiao Xuan, which path are you planning to take in your cultivation?" Yulin asked. He needed to know Bei Xuan's choice in order to help him select a suitable soul beast.
Soul Masters had many development paths, with common ones including Power Attack, Agility Attack, Control, Defense, and Support.
For martial souls like the Bixie (Evil-Warding Beast), the path was almost always Power Attack.
But the Nightmare Charm was a special case—it could fit into any category except Defense. It could be a mental-type Power Attacker or Controller, an Agility Attacker using its eerie abilities, or even a Support Soul Master with dark-based skills to aid teammates. It all depended on Bei Xuan's decision.
He had already made up his mind. Without hesitation, he said, "Control-type!"
Yulin nodded. He had also hoped that Bei Xuan would choose the Control path.
Control-type Soul Masters were the brains of a team, specializing in battlefield control. They could use skills like entanglement, freezing, stunning, and confinement to limit an opponent's movements while also supporting their teammates. It was an incredibly powerful specialization.
Among Soul Masters, Power Attackers were undoubtedly strong, but Control-types were often the most difficult to deal with.
With Nightmare Charm's unique abilities, choosing the Control path was undoubtedly a wise decision.
After a moment of thought, Yulin already had a soul beast in mind for Bei Xuan.
As night fell, they finished their dinner and rested briefly before continuing their mission.
At night, the Soul Hunting Forest became eerily silent, with only the rustling of leaves as the wind passed through.
However, from time to time, they spotted dark figures darting through the trees—watching them.
These were undoubtedly nocturnal soul beasts, experts at stealth and ambush tactics. Most belonged to the Agility Attack category or specialized in dark-element abilities. The latter was precisely what Bei Xuan needed.
To lure them out, Yulin had concealed his aura completely. The weaker soul beasts couldn't sense the presence of a Titled Douluo like him.
"Meow!"
Suddenly, a cat's cry rang out. From the shadows, a black cat with glowing eyes lunged toward Ma Hongjun.
Unfortunately for it, Yulin was there. In a split second, he grabbed the cat's paw. "A Soul-Devouring Cat? A soul beast that feeds on human souls. It would be a great match for Xiao Xuan… but its cultivation level is too low. Not even 300 years old. Go away!"
With that, Yulin casually tossed the cat back into the bushes.
The cat, seemingly intelligent, realized it had encountered something it couldn't afford to provoke and quickly fled into the darkness.
"Uncle Yulin, that was such a waste! Over 200 years is still a century-old soul ring!" Ma Hongjun complained.
He had never hunted a soul beast before, but he had heard plenty of stories. Most Soul Masters' first soul rings were only ten-year white rings. Getting a hundred-year soul ring right away was already considered lucky.
"For ordinary people, a two-hundred-year soul ring might be enough, but for Xiao Xuan? Not even close," Yulin replied.
Bei Xuan's body had been refined with the Bixie King's Bone. Though he couldn't yet unleash even a fraction of its true potential due to his low level, his physique was already stronger than that of most Soul Masters at the same rank. There was no reason for him to settle for less.
For safety reasons, Yulin wouldn't let Bei Xuan absorb a thousand-year soul ring for his first one, but a five- to six-hundred-year ring would be completely fine.
They continued forward. This Soul Hunting Forest was simply too small—so far, they hadn't encountered any soul beasts stronger than the Soul-Devouring Cat.
However, besides Yulin, neither Bei Xuan nor Ma Hongjun noticed the thin mist that had begun to creep around their feet.
After a while, their entire vision was obscured by the thickening fog.
Ma Hongjun grumbled, "This fog is so dense—I can't see anything!"
"There's something wrong with this mist," Bei Xuan said. His spiritual power was much stronger than Ma Hongjun's, and he could clearly feel that his mind was being subtly suppressed.
"That's right. Good observation, Xiao Xuan. Look around you," Yulin said, pointing to the surroundings.
Within the black mist, pairs of glowing eyes emerged—just like the Soul-Devouring Cat's earlier.
Without them realizing it, they had been surrounded.
Yulin chuckled. "Heh… I guess letting that cat go was the right call. It went and gathered a whole pack for us to choose from. But this fog… it's not something a Soul-Devouring Cat could create. There's something else here."
In reality, a group of ten-year or hundred-year soul beasts could never pose a threat to him. He was simply pretending not to notice—his real goal was to lure out the one responsible for the fog.
"There!" Yulin's eyes locked onto a direction.
The fog could block their vision, but it couldn't fool the heightened senses of a Titled Douluo.
(To be continued…)