Star Dou Forest
As the largest gathering place of soul beasts on the entire continent, the Star Dou Forest is vast in size, nearly as large as the territory of the Balak Kingdom.
Its territory spans the borders of both the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire.
The massive area of the forest has given rise to various complex terrains, such as wetlands, swamps, cliffs, lakes, and more.
Thanks to such diverse terrains, the types of soul beasts living in the Star Dou Forest are extremely varied.
Aside from a few ice-elemental soul beasts that only live in the extreme northern regions, almost all known soul beasts in the continent can be found in the Star Dou Forest, even if just in passing.
Therefore, there has been a saying since ancient times to describe the Star Dou Forest.
"Any soul master, regardless of their martial soul or attribute, as long as they are strong enough and lucky enough, can find the soul ring best suited to them in this place."
As the saying goes, "Those who rely on the mountains eat the mountains, those who rely on the water eat the water."
The richness of the Star Dou Forest, along with the development of the soul master system, has led to the emergence of many bustling trading towns near the forest.
In one such town:
A team of carriages drove down the streets.
Soon after, the carriages stopped in front of a courtyard.
Lin Rong stepped down from the carriage and looked toward the direction of the Star Dou Forest, sighing:
"In the end, it seems I have to go personally!"
After that day, Lin Rong had waited for a month in his manor but still received no news.
Time waits for no one, so Lin Rong had no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
He hoped that this journey would turn his fortunes around and allow him to achieve his goal.
In front of the courtyard:
The leader of the shadow guard team, who had been waiting here, bent slightly and saluted, presenting a rolled-up map.
"Your Grace, this map marks the locations where most of the bamboo and gourd vines grow in the Star Dou Forest, as well as places where they are suitable for growth."
"The map also has soul power markings. The more marks there are in one place, the more times the shadow guards have searched there, and the more thoroughly they have investigated."
"Therefore, Your Grace, for this trip, it would be best to focus on areas with fewer soul power marks."
"Hmm, well done," Lin Rong nodded slightly, took a glance at the map presented by the shadow guard, and then tucked it away. He instructed:
"The sky is getting late. Let everyone rest early. We will enter the Star Dou Forest first thing tomorrow morning."
"Understood, Your Grace." The shadow guards replied in unison.
At the same time, in another small town within the Balak Kingdom:
Three travelers, covered in dust from the road, checked into a modest inn.
The leader of the group was a middle-aged man with an exceptionally sturdy and muscular build. Beside him was a small, scruffy old man.
Behind the old man followed a short, bearded man.
Despite the man's thick beard, his face was surprisingly youthful and handsome. His peach blossom eyes, in particular, had a powerful charm, especially for young girls who hadn't yet seen much of the world.
With his thick beard, handsome face, and those captivating peach blossom eyes, it could only be Oscar.
And the scruffy old man in front of Oscar was his master, the food system soul sage, Shao Xin.
Finally, the strong man at the front was the legendary Unmoving King Zhao Wujing.
At just over nine years old, Oscar had recently broken through to level 20 in his soul power two days ago.
To get Oscar his second soul ring, Zhao Wujing brought him to the Star Dou Forest to hunt for a soul beast.
Since Shao Xin was worried about Oscar, who was still so young, going alone with Zhao Wujing, he decided to follow along.
This led to Zhao Wujing thinking to himself with some dissatisfaction:
"Shao Xin, although you're a soul sage, you're just a food system soul master with no combat abilities."
"Originally, I could protect Oscar easily on my own, but now with you tagging along, it's a lot of pressure on me, you know?"
During this time, Zhao Wujing also muttered curses in his mind about Flender. As the headmaster, Flender hadn't even helped out when the academy's students were hunting for soul beasts. Moreover, he was always disappearing, focused only on finding a gifted bird martial soul owner to pass on his teachings.
In the original story, Flender had been lucky enough to find a suitable disciple in Ma Hongjun, but now, Ma Hongjun had been preemptively taken by Lin Rong's people.
Flender, of course, was still out there trying to find a worthy successor.
At the inn:
Perhaps because of Zhao Wujing's intense gaze, Shao Xin felt a chill on the back of his neck and turned to smile apologetically, saying:
"Alright, I'll cover the hotel fees, and I'll also pay for tonight's appetizers."
"So, quickly put away that look in your eyes. It's making me uncomfortable!"
"Alright!" Zhao Wujing, hearing this, gave Shao Xin a hearty pat on the shoulder, laughing:
"Old Shao, you said it yourself, so tonight, I won't hold back!"
"No, the food can be more, but don't drink too much alcohol." Shao Xin, massaging his sore shoulder from Zhao Wujing's hearty slap, said seriously:
"If you get drunk, who will protect little Oscar and me, an old man with no ability to defend myself, when we enter the Star Dou Forest tomorrow?"
After saying this, Shao Xin's gaze returned to Oscar, filled with care and obsession, as though he were looking at a rare work of art.
"..." Zhao Wujing was rendered speechless by Shao Xin's words and was silent for a while before retorting:
"No ability to defend yourself? So, you do realize that you need me to protect you, too!"
"Since you know that, why are you still tagging along, making things harder for me? Do you think I'm easy to bully?"
Saying this, Zhao Wujing pretended to be angry and shook his fist.
Shao Xin and Zhao Wujing had known each other for many years, so Shao Xin could easily tell whether Zhao Wujing was truly angry or just faking it. Therefore, he wasn't too concerned about Zhao Wujing's playful gestures and didn't even look back.
But Oscar was different.
He had only been at Shrek Academy for a little over three years and hadn't interacted much with Zhao Wujing.
Seeing the situation, Oscar misunderstood that Zhao Wujing was genuinely angry and felt that things were getting a bit out of hand.
Quickly, Oscar's eyes darted around as he came up with a solution.
He then spoke up to smooth things over for his master, Shao Xin:
"Teacher Zhao, how about this!"
"Tonight, you can order a pot of wine and just have a small drink with some appetizers."
"After we return from hunting the soul beasts, you can drink to your heart's content!"
"Of course, the cost of the wine will be covered by my master, not you!"
Zhao Wujing had been pretending to be angry, so it was easy for him to go along with the suggestion that Oscar had smoothly provided.
At the same time, Zhao Wujing couldn't help but feel a bit envious of his old friend Shao Xin.
Though Zhao Wujing appeared rough and tough, under his exterior, he was quite insightful.
Thus, Zhao Wujing understood that Oscar was trying to protect his master, which made him appreciate the situation even more.
In the end, Zhao Wujing came to understand why Flender had been so eager to find a talented disciple of his own.