It took seven and a half months to break through from spirit power level one to ten, which was incredibly fast.
But Li Minghong didn't tell anyone; he decided to spend the next few days preparing for hunting his spirit ring.
These past few days, Li Minghong deliberately avoided Tang San and used items from the blacksmith shop to craft some small parts, then took them back to install himself.
In three days, he stumbled through completing all the parts. They were crafted in a hurry, so they were a bit rough.
Once assembled, the finished product was a hidden sleeve arrow.
"Although it's a bit rough, it doesn't affect its use."
Li Minghong lightly sanded the edges and corners, then held it up to examine it, feeling quite satisfied.
He loaded the sleeve arrow and fired it directly at a large tree ten meters away.
Whoosh!
A faint sound emerged as the sleeve arrow pierced straight through the tree, flying a few more meters before falling to the ground.
"That's really good!"
When Li Minghong was crafting it, he knew this little gadget wouldn't be simple, but he didn't expect it to be so powerful.
"Alright, alright, I'm confident now."
Lowering his sleeve, Li Minghong touched the hidden sleeve arrow inside, feeling reassured.
"Time to ask for leave."
Li Minghong asked for leave from the dean of Notting Academy and Stone Uncle at the blacksmith shop, saying that his grandfather was seriously ill and he needed to go home to care for him for a while.
Both of them readily agreed.
Meanwhile, his grandfather, who was lying in a rattan chair at home drinking tea, suddenly sneezed, rubbed his nose, and chuckled.
"Hehe, is my precious grandson thinking of me?"
He spent two silver Spirit coins to hire a coachman to go to the Hunting Soul Forest.
Li Minghong didn't feel bad about it, because ever since he became a full-time blacksmith, his monthly base salary was five silver Spirit coins.
"After I hunt for a spirit ring this time, I won't register with Spirit Hall. Otherwise, if they see that I had innate spirit power level one and broke through to a Soul Master so quickly, it will definitely alarm some important figures."
Rumble.
The carriage wheels kept rolling forward.
Under the nourishment of spirit power, even the most ordinary horses on Douluo Continent were faster than the legendary swift horses of his previous life, let alone the high-quality horses pulling Li Minghong's carriage.
From Nuo Ding City to the Hunting Soul Forest was over 200 kilometers, and even with the fastest horses, it still took a full day of travel.
The next morning.
"Little friend, we've arrived. Go find your father now."
After the coachman stopped the carriage, he turned and spoke gently to Li Minghong.
"Oh! Okay, thank you, Uncle!"
When the coachman asked him why such a small child was going to the Hunting Soul Forest, Li Minghong's excuse was that his father was an mercenary Soul Master earning money there.
The arrival of the carriage didn't attract anyone's attention; they continued to sleep soundly in their tents, preparing for a good state to hunt Soul Beasts tomorrow.
This Hunting Soul Forest was a place where Spirit Hall raised Soul Beasts. Normally, ordinary people needed a Spirit Hall warrant to enter.
But Li Minghong didn't have one, so he chose to sneak in.
Apart from the Spirit Hall enforcement teams guarding the entrance of the Hunting Soul Forest, almost no other areas were guarded.
After all, the Hunting Soul Forest was so vast that it was impossible to deploy so many troops just to guard it.
He climbed over the tall iron fence surrounding the outer perimeter of the Hunting Soul Forest and then jumped down.
"This is no different from a primeval forest, except the trees seem a bit bigger."
Li Minghong looked at these towering trees, most of which required ten people to encircle, with lush foliage overhead blocking out the sun.
The forest was deep; looking into it, it was a thick, ink-like black.
Seeing this, Li Minghong couldn't help but shiver. After leaving human society, his nerves also tensed up.
"Let's go in after the sun comes out."
He found a suitable spot and slept with one eye open.
A few hours later, the sun hung high in the sky, casting faint rays of sunlight that illuminated the depths of the forest.
Li Minghong twisted his stiff neck twice and stood up.
"Let's go, time to find a suitable Soul Beast."
Before coming to hunt for a spirit ring, Li Minghong had already made a decision when reviewing the knowledge of Soul Beasts in his mind.
He was going to hunt a plant-type Soul Beast called Mystic Iron Vine to increase the hardness and toughness of his Blue Silver Grass.
According to the living habits of this Soul Beast, it generally grew on cliffs and precipices.
And before coming, Li Minghong had looked at the map of the Hunting Soul Forest.
He was currently in the northeast direction of the Hunting Soul Forest, and the nearest cliff should be to the south.
Operating his Purple Demon Eyes, he walked carefully through the forest, directly avoiding any Soul Beasts he encountered.
Although the distance wasn't far, it still took two hours to reach.
Finally, what lay before him was no longer just a forest, but a large rift valley.
Using the excellent vision of his Purple Demon Eyes, he searched every corner of the rift valley and found several Mystic Iron Vines.
However, none seemed to be of a suitable age.
He changed his angle, searching as he walked, and finally, he saw a Mystic Iron Vine that was over seven meters, nearly eight meters long.
"Found it!"
Although it didn't reach his desired eight-hundred-year age, it was still good.
One couldn't get close to the Mystic Iron Vine, otherwise, it was easy to get entangled by its vines and be strangled to death.
Because he had this Soul Beast in mind, he had prepared dozens of sleeve arrows before coming, just to wear it down from a distance.
After finding a suitable position, he pulled the mechanism.
Whoosh!
The sleeve arrow flew out quickly, piercing into the Mystic Iron Vine's body. The Mystic Iron Vine began to twist violently, shattering the surrounding rock wall and causing several falling rocks.
"The strength is indeed good. At such a short distance, it wasn't directly shot through."
Li Minghong watched this scene, very satisfied.
Then he took out another sleeve arrow and shot it.
He continued to wear it down from a distance like this, while the Mystic Iron Vine couldn't find a target to attack him, only able to twist its body frantically.
In a short while, after consuming more than 30 sleeve arrows, the Mystic Iron Vine died in such a frustrated manner, and a dark yellow spirit ring emerged from its body.
Seeing this, Li Minghong felt a surge of joy.
"It's finally dead!"
Then he took out the short knife from his pack, inserted it into the rock wall, and slowly approached the Mystic Iron Vine.
But just then, he suddenly felt a stone hit his forehead, and then a cackling sound came from above.
Following the sound, he saw a Soul Beast called a Red-haired Ape. By its appearance, it hadn't even reached a hundred years.
Li Minghong narrowed his eyes. This Soul Beast wasn't aggressive, but it was very annoying because it loved to be mischievous.
In his current position, Li Minghong couldn't deal with it, so he could only pick up the Mystic Iron Vine's corpse and enter a cave in the rock wall to absorb the spirit ring.
But just as he was about to absorb it, another stone hit his head, and it was that same Red-haired Ape!
Li Minghong didn't get angry; instead, he laughed.
"Good, good, good!"
He activated his Purple Demon Eyes, sensing the Red-haired Ape's position with his spiritual power.
Just as it was about to launch its next stone attack, Li Minghong directly raised his wrist and shot a sleeve arrow, which went straight through the Red-haired Ape's 'little brother'.
"Caw!"
With a scream, it fell to the bottom of the cliff.
"Hmph! Little rascal."
Without any external disturbance, he directly began absorbing the Mystic Iron Vine's spirit ring.