Chapter 117: Taking Wang Sheng and Xiao Wu to the Soul Hunting Forest (1)
Early the next morning.
After a night of rest in his teacher's dormitory, Su Mo didn't rush to go to the Soul Hunting Forest. Instead, he got up, exercised for a while in the morning sun, and then calmly left the dormitory.
On the stairs of the first floor, Su Mo ran into Xiao Wu, who had been waiting for him. She accompanied him to the cafeteria, and they had breakfast on the second floor.
"Are you ready? Today I'll take you to the Soul Hunting Forest to hunt soul beasts and absorb soul rings."
While eating slowly on the second floor, Su Mo looked at Xiao Wu and asked.
"I'm ready!"
Xiao Wu's innocent and tender face showed a trace of oddity, but she still nodded seriously, pretending to be earnest.
As a 100,000-year-old soul beast in human form, Xiao Wu didn't need to hunt soul beasts to absorb soul rings—at least not for now.
Because she could generate soul rings on her own.
However, when she met Su Mo, Xiao Wu hadn't yet reached the level of Soul Master.
Since she didn't go out to hunt soul beasts again, and had stayed by Su Mo's side all this time, she couldn't simply absorb a soul ring without a proper reason and level up to Soul Master!
So now, Xiao Wu could only go to the Soul Hunting Forest with Su Mo to "hunt" soul beasts and achieve the Soul Master rank.
> "After entering the Soul Hunting Forest, I must find a chance to separate from Brother Su Mo for a while and quickly produce my own soul rings to reach the Soul Master level!"
Xiao Wu thought to herself as she answered Su Mo's question.
After breakfast on the second floor of the cafeteria, Su Mo brought Xiao Wu and picked up Wang Sheng, who was waiting at the gate, ready to leave Notting College.
Once the three left Notting College,
they saw a luxurious carriage that had been waiting at the gate for quite some time.
This had been arranged by Xiao Kuang.
Before enrolling Xiao Wu in Notting Academy, Su Mo had told Xiao Kuang that he would be taking her to the Soul Hunting Forest to hunt soul beasts today and asked him to get the pass in advance from the Notting City Spirit Hall.
"Master Su Mo, Miss Xiao Wu!"
The coachman, a subordinate of Xiao Kuang, greeted Su Mo and Xiao Wu respectfully upon seeing them.
"Master Su Mo, the city lord has obtained a pass for you to enter the Soul Hunting Forest. Here it is!"
After the greeting, the coachman pulled out a Spirit Hall token marked with a chrysanthemum logo and handed it to Su Mo. It was the lowest-level pass from the Spirit Hall.
"Alright, get in the carriage!"
After putting away the token, Su Mo nodded slightly and called Wang Sheng and Xiao Wu to board.
After all three had boarded the carriage,
Xiao Wu and Su Mo sat on one side, while Wang Sheng sat on the other.
Seeing that Su Mo and the others were settled, the coachman turned the carriage around, took the reins, and drove away from Notting City toward the Soul Hunting Forest.
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After a full day and night of travel, the carriage finally arrived at the Soul Hunting Forest closest to Notting City.
However, before seeing the dense forest, they saw a market almost the size of a small town.
This market was filled with shops selling dried food, medicine, weapons, and the loud shouts of street vendors echoed all around.
There were also groups of soul masters gathered in open areas, shouting loudly.
Some were looking to be hired to hunt soul beasts, while others were short on people and were looking for soul masters to join their teams in hunting soul beasts for clients.
After helping Xiao Wu and Wang Sheng off the carriage,
Su Mo guided them along the market path, preparing to pass through it to reach the forest entrance.
"Master Su Mo, are these people also soul masters? Why are they selling stuff here?"
Wang Sheng asked, confused by the sight of the Bingxixi Soul Hunting Group loudly advertising themselves.
To someone like Wang Sheng, who came from a poor village, just becoming a soul master was already a high status.
They received a monthly subsidy of one gold coin from the Spirit Hall. They were never short on money. How could such noble soul masters be acting like merchants here?
But Su Mo didn't know what Wang Sheng was thinking; otherwise, he would have laughed.
A soul master? What's so special about being a soul master?
Soul masters are still human, and human desires are endless.
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> When you're broke, eating a roasted chicken every day is a luxury.
> But once you become a soul master, you'll want to eat soul beast meat to enhance your cultivation at every meal.
> In the end, unless you have enough money, you'll never have enough.
"They're part of a Soul Hunting Group…"
Su Mo slowly answered Wang Sheng's question and explained their existence while leading Xiao Wu and Wang Sheng toward the entrance of the Soul Hunting Forest.
For a civilian soul master like Wang Sheng, who came from a regular village, he had no idea that soul masters could develop their careers this way—let alone that Soul Hunting Groups existed.
Since it wasn't a big deal, Su Mo took the opportunity to teach Wang Sheng some common knowledge about the soul master world.
Finally, upon reaching the forest entrance, Su Mo showed the pass to the soldier captain guarding the gate and led Xiao Wu and Wang Sheng into the Soul Hunting Forest.
As soon as they entered, the sky darkened suddenly.
The scorching sun was blocked out by the towering overlapping tree canopies.
The lively noise of the market vanished as they stepped into the forest, replaced by a heavy silence—like stepping into an entirely different world.
"Let's go. If you want to find a hundred-year soul beast, we'll have to go deeper into the forest."
After entering, Xiao Wu remained calm, while Wang Sheng was visibly excited. Su Mo waved his hand and led the way deeper into the Soul Hunting Forest.
Xiao Wu quickly caught up to Su Mo and walked beside him.
Wang Sheng followed closely behind.
Before long, their footsteps crunching the fallen leaves startled something.
On a large tree, a green-furred monkey suddenly jumped onto a low branch, climbed up, and stared curiously at them.
"Is that… a little wood monkey?"
Seeing the green monkey on the tree, Wang Sheng couldn't help but be excited.
Although he had learned a lot about soul beasts in his six years at Notting College, this was his first time seeing one in person.
"Yes, it's a little wood monkey, less than ten years old,"
Su Mo said, observing it.
The little wood monkey is a very common soul beast. Like the Abyssal Wolf, it belongs to the lowest tier of forest soul beasts and reaches adulthood at five years old.
An adult little wood monkey is only half a meter tall.
Since this monkey is just over half a meter, it's estimated to be seven or eight years old at most.
As they went deeper into the Soul Hunting Forest, they encountered many different types of soul beasts—vegetation-like lone bamboo, greenwood vines, iron-wire grass, and animal-type soul beasts such as the Abyssal Wolf, Tusk Wolf, Shadow Leopard, and Green Forest Lizard.
"Master, that's a spotted cat!"
Bursting out of a bush, a feline-type soul beast with brown fur and black stripes like a tiger suddenly darted out and ran off into the distance.
Wang Sheng shouted with excitement.
Because based on his knowledge, the soul beast most compatible with his War Tiger martial spirit was the leopard cat.
How could he not get excited seeing one?
"Don't worry, it's just a leopard cat that's trained for a few decades. Don't worry—I'll help you find a soul beast that's trained for a hundred years."
Su Mo noticed Wang Sheng's excitement and shook his head.
Although he brought him here for other reasons, since he had brought him, he would definitely help him choose the most suitable soul ring.
He wouldn't settle for a poor-quality soul ring.
> That's his principle!
Hearing Su Mo's words, Wang Sheng was stunned, and an overwhelming emotion filled him.
He never imagined that Su Mo would selflessly help him just for bringing him to hunt soul beasts.
A hundred-year soul beast is no weaker than a human soul master!
Although along the way he had realized that Su Mo was a soul master with an excellent soul ring configuration—his strength likely surpassing a typical hundred-year soul beast,
even for a powerful soul master like Su Mo, capturing a hundred-year soul beast was never risk-free.
(End of the chapter)