The next day, early morning.
The grandfather and grandson continued on their journey. Near noon, Li Qing finally found his target: a raven, only one meter long, billowing black smoke all over, looking extremely evil.
"Raven!"
Li Qing's eyes lit up, because it was the soul beast that best matched his martial soul among those he had compiled.
Ravens are soul beasts that look evil but are actually very benevolent. Although they eat meat, they never kill. However, they share a common characteristic with ordinary crows.
That is, once it appears, it means a creature is about to die, and after the creature dies, it will become their food.
Ravens belong to the fire element. Once they mature, they can control a flame that can burn life, so their strength definitely matches their evil appearance.
However, ravens are a very ancient soul beast and are now very rare.
Li Qing had never expected to encounter one.
What he never expected was that the death aura sensing, which Li Qing thought was useless, could help him find a soul beast so perfectly matched to his martial soul.
Moreover, the age of this raven also happened to meet his requirements.
Ravens, like ordinary crows, appear purely black, but are actually multicolored. However, this colorfulness can only be seen in sunlight.
Somewhat differently, the colors of a raven change as its age increases.
Li Qing only saw six colors on this raven, which meant it had over six hundred years of cultivation, exactly matching his expectation for his first soul ring.
Now the biggest problem was whether Matthew Nuo could handle this raven.
The raven's netherflame was not easy to deal with. With the characteristics of burning life and being difficult to extinguish, it was simply a perfect old man harvester.
Once Matthew Nuo was ignited by the netherflame, there would basically be no saving him.
He glanced at Matthew Nuo and saw that the other party's eyes were also full of joy. Evidently, he also recognized the raven and was surprised that Li Qing could find such a rare, almost extinct soul beast.
"Grandpa Matthew Nuo..."
As soon as Li Qing spoke, Matthew Nuo interrupted, "Don't worry, as long as I'm careful, there won't be any major problems. Although its agility is good, its speed is not very high."
"Okay, then please be careful, Grandpa Matthew Nuo."
[Writing here, I hope readers remember our domain name 𝟷𝟶𝟷𝚔𝚊𝚗.𝚌𝚘𝚖]
Li Qing really wanted this soul ring, so seeing his confidence, he didn't say anything more.
"Okay!"
Matthew Nuo agreed, then released his martial soul and sped towards the raven.
The raven sensed Matthew Nuo's aura, but its first thought was to escape, not even considering the difference between friend and foe.
"Where are you running!"
Matthew Nuo let out a sharp cry, his figure as fast as lightning, turning into an afterimage and chasing after it.
Although Li Qing couldn't yet perform martial soul possession, he also chased after it from the ground with his compound bow in hand. Fortunately, the raven didn't run far before being cornered by Matthew Nuo.
"Caw caw..."
The raven let out strange cries, and deep black flames rose, completely enveloping its body.
"Whoosh!"
Li Qing raised his hand and shot an arrow, intending to create an opportunity for the poised Matthew Nuo.
The raven's agility was very high. With just a flip of its body, it easily dodged the arrow.
At the same time, Matthew Nuo made his move.
Because he didn't dare to touch the netherflame, he took out a long sword from his storage soul tool and then, with the enhancement of his first soul skill, attacked the raven.
Matthew Nuo was very fast, so fast that Li Qing couldn't even see his figure with the naked eye.
This was Matthew Nuo's first soul skill, a soul skill that provided a long-lasting speed boost. Whether chasing or escaping, few soul masters of the same realm could catch up to him.
This was the source of his confidence when he claimed he could safely bring Li Qing back even from a thousand-year soul beast.
Facing Matthew Nuo's attack, the raven didn't dodge or evade, it just opened its mouth and spewed a black flame, while Matthew Nuo seemed to have been prepared.
With a flash of his body, he arrived at its right side, and his long sword slashed down with the flow.
"Swish!"
The sword had no cold light, but the sound of it cutting through the air was exceptionally clear.
As the raven spread its wings, its body did a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree upward flip, then flew backward to create distance. The sword didn't even injure a single feather on it.
Matthew Nuo had clearly also studied swordsmanship, and coupled with his speed exceeding the raven's, he was able to stick close to it.
He struck sword after sword, his movements fluid and extremely fast, but the raven's agility was also extraordinary. It always narrowly dodged his sword light, leaving Li Qing dumbfounded.
Because in his vision, he saw a raven dancing gracefully between the sword lights.
Although there were no flashy grand scenes, Matthew Nuo seemed to have rehearsed with the raven thousands of times, performing a visual feast.
The Soul Beast Encyclopedia had specifically highlighted the raven's agility, but seeing it with his own eyes was a different experience.
However, although the raven's agility was high, constantly defending would eventually reveal a weakness, and Matthew Nuo successfully seized the weakness that was inadvertently exposed.
However, just as he was about to strike, he chose to abandon the attack and rapidly retreated.
"Whoosh..."
The raging flames scorched the air, making Matthew Nuo break out in a cold sweat. If he hadn't retreated just now, the result would definitely have been mutual destruction.
The raven might not have died, but he definitely wouldn't have survived.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
Li Qing shot three arrows in quick succession, continuing to create opportunities for Matthew Nuo. The latter also understood and immediately injected his soul power into his second soul ring.
"Caw caw caw..."
After dodging the hidden arrows Li Qing shot again, the raven was clearly successfully provoked by him. It ignored Matthew Nuo and charged directly towards Li Qing.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
Li Qing continuously shot arrows while retreating to a large tree.
Even if the raven's speed wasn't great, it was still stronger than a crow, and it had over six hundred years of cultivation. If he only focused on escaping, he definitely wouldn't get away.
The only method he could think of was 'King Qin circling the pillar', waiting for support.
"Second Soul Skill, Death Storm!"
Matthew Nuo dramatically shouted the name of his second soul skill, his purpose naturally being to attract the raven's attention and prevent Li Qing from being in danger.
Streaks of wind blades condensed in the air, sweeping towards the raven like a storm.
Sensing the threat of death, the raven no longer cared about the small fry Li Qing. It spread its wings and tried to escape, but the storm's coverage was too large, and at its speed, it was too late.
"Puff puff puff..."
Streaks of wind blades struck the raven's body. In an instant, feathers flew everywhere, blood splattered, and its body plummeted straight towards the ground.
"Whoosh!"
Li Qing, that sneaky guy, shot another arrow. This time the raven was powerless to dodge and was successfully hit in the head by his arrow. The life of the raven, which could have been saved, was instantly drained away.
"Bang!"
After landing, a yellow soul ring slowly rose from the raven's body.
Seeing that soul ring, a smile couldn't help but appear on Li Qing's face. This was thanks to Matthew Nuo. If it had been Yu Xiaogang, today next year would likely be his death anniversary.
Seeing that the raven was dealt with, Matthew Nuo also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.