Early in the morning.
The weather was slightly gloomy, so much so that the mist on the Sea God Lake had become a few points thicker.
Four figures quietly left Shrek Academy, heading in the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest to the south.
Shrek Academy was indeed very close to the Star Dou Great Forest. Under the condition of traveling at full speed, in just one day's time, Tang Wutong, Cao Jinxuan, Xiao Xiao, and Ye Linlin, the four of them, had already arrived at the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Ye Linlin, just like Xiao Xiao, had also broken through to the third ring during the tournament. The team was just short of a healing-type soul master. With this Nine Heart Begonia martial soul owner present, they were not afraid of any serious injuries.
The few of them continued forward with their own thoughts. The outer silhouette of the Star Dou Great Forest had gradually appeared in their line of sight.
From afar, the boundless, dense great forest already had a trace. The air here, besides being fresh, also carried a thick humidity. Walking into the range of the forest, the few of them immediately felt their bodies seemed to be being clearly nourished by a special power.
A few soul beasts of not-so-strong strength were spying on them from not far in front. They seemed to be a little afraid of their arrival and did not get close.
The Soul King-level aura that Tang Wutong had burst out with... these mostly ten-year-level soul beasts in the outer region, upon suddenly sensing the might of a ten-thousand-year soul ring, were instantly scared and scattered in all directions, greatly saving them a lot of trouble. After the few of them had entered the Star Dou Great Forest, they quickly went straight forward, gradually deepening in the outer region...
Before long, they had still encountered the thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear from the original world line. Even if in this life there was no Huo Gua's Ice Explosion Technique, with Tang Wutong's current strength plus Cao Jinxuan's time-stop ability, they had also easily killed it, letting Xiao Xiao obtain this soul ring.
And with Cao Jinxuan's deliberate reminder, Xiao Xiao did not rush to absorb the Dark Gold Terrorclaw right palm bone, but instead carefully put it away.
Cao Jinxuan also had a god's perspective. He knew that Xiao Xiao would surely not be able to absorb this piece of soul bone. And this piece of the right palm bone was like a divine assistance for the production of a soul tool core formation. He surely had to find an opportunity to get this piece of the right palm bone.
He was, after all, a transmigrator. He would not, like the other members of the Body Sect, reject soul tools. On the contrary, he held soul tools in high esteem.
After Xiao Xiao had completely absorbed the soul ring, the few of them tidied up a little and once again headed in the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest.
A distance of dozens of li was reached in a flash. It was still Tang Wutong and Cao Jinxuan in front, and Ye Linlin and Xiao Xiao, the two, in the back. After entering the Star Dou Great Forest again, the four of them already had a feeling of being familiar with the road. Tang Wutong released her affinity soul power, and the speed of the three was much faster than at the beginning. In less than half a shichen (one hour), they had already deepened into the range of the mixed zone and had begun to look for a soul beast suitable for Ye Linlin's improvement.
Healing-type plant soul beasts were considerably rare and were extremely good at hiding. Even if the few of them had found some, they were either extremely weak in strength or had an insufficient cultivation age. The third soul ring of an esteemed Shrek Academy student couldn't possibly be a fusion of a ten-year or a hundred-year one, right?
During this period, their strategy for soul beasts had also undergone a change. They no longer simply took kindness as the foundation and did not proactively provoke soul beasts. But they were by no means soft-handed when they encountered a soul beast that proactively attacked.
Subsequently, they had still run into Mo Feiyun, Wei Na, and Mu Xue's group. And what was different from the original world line was that the position of the contemporary successor of the Body Sect, Long Aotian, had already been snatched away by Cao Jinxuan. Wei Na naturally recognized this eccentric Young Master of the Body Sect.
The appearance of their group here was naturally Cao Jinxuan's arrangement. Under Cao Jinxuan's eye signal, Tang Wutong and the other three were thus unable to see the relationship between Wei Na and Cao Jinxuan as being from the same sect.
The four from Shrek Academy, after getting to know the leading Mo Feiyun, decided to walk side by side. After Tang Wutong had directly reported the identity of the Clear Sky Sect behind her, this had made Mo Feiyun's group can't help but feel a bit of apprehension towards her. After all, a martial soul would not lie.
Unlike the Tang Wutong from the original world line who had disguised herself as a man, Wang Dong, her beauty completely crushed Wei Na and Mu Xue by a head. This made the two girls feel frustrated, and at the same time, also produced some competitive emotions towards her.
It was just that, when they had still run into the ten-thousand-year Blazing Fire Monkey King and had been dealt with by Tang Wutong in three moves, the little bit of competitive emotion in their hearts had also dissipated with it.
Not only was Tang Wutong beautiful, her combat power was also quite extraordinary. Especially when the five blood-red soul rings on her body lit up, they had lost the heart to compete for victory.
Even without the amplification of the Buddha's divine power, Tang Wutong, who possessed five hundred-thousand-year soul rings, was also superior to the seven-ring Soul Sage, Mo Feiyun, in comprehensive combat power.
The others quickly gathered around. And the gazes they looked at Tang Wutong's group of four with were much more eager than before. Even Mu Xue's gaze seemed not so cold anymore.
The wings of Tang Wutong's Radiant Dragon God Butterfly converged, but her gaze had landed on the Blazing Fire Monkey. The golden-red fur rippled with a faint halo, extremely beautiful.
"Uncle Mo, can this Blazing Fire Monkey be sold to me? The fur of a Blazing Fire Monkey is extremely precious and rare. After its cultivation breaks through ten thousand years, it will comprehend the relationship between fire and light. And my attribute just happens to be light. If its fur is used to make a fur coat, it will be of great benefit to me. You can name a price," Tang Wutong's tone carried a kind of unquestionable person in a high position pressure as she asked plainly.
Mo Feiyun let out a bitter laugh and said, "What price is there to name? We are now in the same boat. Just now, it was clearly you all who made a move to kill this Blazing Fire Monkey. It is what you deserve. I hope that we can still cooperate with tacit understanding later. Here you go." As he spoke, he had already handed the corpse of the Blazing Fire Monkey to Tang Wutong.
"Then thank you, Uncle Mo," Tang Wutong took the Blazing Fire Monkey without any politeness and directly put it into her own storage soul tool.
The Blazing Fire Monkey's body was not large. To make a fur coat was naturally not possible. But the fur attribute of this Blazing Fire Monkey and her Golden Ray left arm bone were extremely similar. They had a complementary effect. To make a bracer was no problem at all.
Deepening into the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest, the speed of everyone's advance was clearly greatly restricted. Even with Mo Feiyun and Tang Wutong, two Soul Sage-level experts in the team, they had to be careful. Also a ten-thousand-year soul beast, their strengths were also worlds apart. A Blazing Fire Monkey with a cultivation of less than thirty thousand years, they could still deal with. If the cultivation was any higher, it would also be very difficult for the two of them to contend. If it were a top-tier soul beast like the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, even if it were just one with a ten-thousand-year cultivation, I'm afraid it would cause the entire team to suffer a devastating disaster.
The battles also began to become frequent. Most of the battles were with thousand-year soul beasts. The soul beasts with higher intelligence could sense the danger brought by their group and would not easily get close. Even so, to advance ten kilometers in the mixed zone while maintaining full vigilance had taken them more than an hour's time. The sky was also gradually entering noon.
Mo Feiyun directly found a place with a higher terrain and a slightly open view and ordered everyone to rest.
Everyone had dry rations with them. They ate and rested separately. In this Star Dou Great Forest, no one dared to rashly start a fire. After a simple meal, they immediately meditated to recover their stamina and soul power.
After resting for half a shichen (one hour), Mo Feiyun gathered everyone together and said, "At this position, ten-thousand-year soul beasts have already started to appear. We cannot continue to go deeper. We will change to a horizontal movement to look for a suitable soul beast. Before dusk, we have to withdraw from the mixed zone and rest in the outer zone. We will continue to search tomorrow."
Only then did Tang Wutong and the others know that Mo Feiyun's group, relying on their formidable strength, was actually not preparing to leave the forest at night. This would undoubtedly greatly increase the efficiency of finding a suitable soul beast, but the danger would naturally also increase a lot.
After resting, Mo Feiyun changed the direction of their advance. They no longer continued inwards but began to move horizontally. Their speed was much slower than before. From time to time, he would release his Flowing Cloud martial soul to probe the surroundings, searching for a suitable soul beast in a wide range.
Tang Wutong might as well be idle. With Mo Feiyun probing in front, she naturally didn't have much pressure. She might as well maintain her peak state in order to deal with all kinds of crises. While avoiding Mo Feiyun's Flowing Cloud as much as possible, she was looking for a healing-type plant soul beast suitable for Ye Linlin.
"Roar—"
Suddenly, a roar like a tsunami suddenly came from a distance. Mo Feiyun immediately stopped his steps, his face changing greatly. He turned around and made a shushing gesture to the others.
After the monstrous roar was a sharp, high-pitched cry. It was not as forceful as the previous roar, but it was extremely penetrating and would not be covered by the roar in the slightest.
Thinking of the scene in the original world line, Cao Jinxuan couldn't help but show a look of wild joy on his face.
Auspicious Beast, you've finally appeared!