10:00 AM.
Uncle Li pushed open the door to the thatched cottage, intending to call Lin Xiao over for the farewell banquet the villagers had prepared for him.
But upon entering, he found the room empty.
Only a letter lay neatly on the table.
Uncle Li could read. He picked up the letter, read it through, and sighed deeply.
Though Lin Xiao had grown up eating meals from every household in the village, and many villagers had helped raise him, over the years he had returned the favor—teaching them how to weave straw sandals, make oil-paper umbrellas, and other useful skills.
Life in the village had improved significantly. No longer did the people have to toil endlessly in the fields to scrape out a living.
To these villagers who had once helped him, Lin Xiao had already more than repaid their kindness. In fact, many of them had grown fond of the boy.
"Xiao, Uncle Li believes that you will become a powerful Soul Master one day!"
Soto City lay on the border of the Balak Kingdom, neighboring the Heaven Dou Empire to the north.
To the south was the Star Luo Empire, and to the east, the vast Star Dou Forest.
The geographical location was excellent.
Lin Xiao held a map in his hands, studying the route he would take.
His destination was the imperial capital, Heaven Dou City.
On the way, he would pass through several other cities—Tianshui City, Xiangjia City, and more.
But he was just a boy, traveling without the protection of a strong Soul Master. Reaching Heaven Dou City safely would be no easy task.
And although the issue of his evil fire was currently suppressed by the Heart of Ice Art, it was not yet urgent.
So Lin Xiao decided to detour through the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest, aiming to find a suitable hundred-year-old soul ring to serve as his first.
As for how he would hunt one...
He opened his palm, and a demonic flame suddenly flared to life.
The intense heat seemed to scorch the very air, making it sizzle audibly.
The fire's wicked nature added not just fierce destructive power, but also a potent corrosive effect. Once it touched something, it clung like maggots to the bone, nearly impossible to shake off.
If used to hunt a hundred-year soul beast, it would be more than sufficient. He just needed the right setup.
Following the route on the map, Lin Xiao spent two days trekking before finally reaching the forest's edge.
He didn't rush in. Instead, he cut down some trees in the outer area and took out some ox tendons and snakeskin he had prepared in his backpack, crafting a crude but functional bow.
He attached iron arrowheads bought from a blacksmith and coated them in beef tallow.
After testing the bow, he found that his arrows could pierce even thick tree trunks—adequate power, he figured.
Of course, accuracy mattered most with a bow. Fortunately, Lin Xiao had been part of a university archery club in his past life and had been known as one of its more skilled members.
After fine-tuning his aim, he infused the arrowheads with his ultimate fire.
He loosed a shot at a nearby tree.
The moment it struck, the tree ignited in violent flames, consumed rapidly into charred ash. The arrow itself melted completely.
The Ultimate Fire could melt iron into liquid. However, thanks to the protective beef tallow, the arrow wouldn't be harmed until the fat was burned away.
Lin Xiao simply needed to land the shot before that happened.
Given his current strength, even if he hit a hundred-year soul beast, it would likely only injure—not kill—unless he struck a vital point.
But his true advantage wasn't the arrow's force—it was the contact between the soul beast and the Ultimate Fire.
Due to the fire's corrupted nature, even water or sand couldn't extinguish it. It would even consume the soul beast's own soul power, growing stronger.
After setting traps throughout the forest edge, Lin Xiao strapped the bow to his back, tucked a dagger at his waist, and began his soul hunting journey.
The Fire Vulture was a well-known bird-type soul beast. It looked like a bald eagle, except its head wasn't bald and its feathers resembled living flames.
Normally, Fire Vultures didn't live in this area, but this one appeared to be fleeing in panic.
Lin Xiao drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and let it fly in one fluid motion.
The string twanged.
The Fire Vulture fell from the sky.
The corrupted flame surged forward like a greedy beast, consuming everything on the Fire Vulture until nothing remained but ashes. Its natural resistance to fire had proven useless.
This particular vulture was about five hundred years old, according to the secondhand soul beast manual Lin Xiao had found in a market.
Sure enough, a deep yellow soul ring rose from the bird's remains.
Lin Xiao stepped forward, ready to absorb it.
But just then, a pleasant female voice rang out:
"Grandma, the Fire Vulture fled this way! We finally found an Ice Python that was perfect for my first soul ring, and that vulture went and ate it. So annoying."
Lin Xiao froze.
He turned toward the voice warily, hand silently reaching for another arrow.
A calm voice followed.
"Young man, if I were you, I wouldn't make such a foolish move."
"Why don't you call out the Soul Master you're hiding?"
Lin Xiao looked in the direction of the voice and saw an old woman in a simple sky-blue robe, followed by a sweet-looking girl, around six years old.
The girl eyed him curiously. Lin Xiao wore plain clothes, but his looks were striking. His fiery red hair flared like maple leaves, vivid and noble, almost otherworldly.
Such a handsome big brother! she thought.
Lin Xiao said nothing.
He simply stared at the two while his mind raced.
The older woman—Shui Yuehua—frowned.
She released six soul rings. A spectral dolphin appeared behind her.
Soul Emperor-level pressure radiated into the clearing.
"Young man, I mean no harm," she said. "Call your guardian."
Lin Xiao replied calmly:
"There is no guardian. I'm alone."
Shui Yuehua looked at him skeptically. "Do you really expect me to believe that? You're only six years old. At most, you're a one-ring Soul Master. How could you possibly have killed a five-hundred-year-old Fire Vulture?"
"Flying-type fire beasts are far stronger than something like a Mandala Snake."
Lin Xiao sighed.
Faced with her doubts, he could only prove himself.
"Flame Phoenix, possess!"
The moment Lin Xiao summoned his spirit, a brilliant flaming phoenix appeared behind him.
Shui Bing'er's eyes went wide with shock.
That aura… It feels so familiar! His spirit is also a Phoenix!
Shui Yuehua was stunned as well.
"A Flame Phoenix spirit?"
"And you haven't even absorbed your first soul ring yet?"
"Then it's even more impossible for you to have hunted that Fire Vulture!"