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**
After scooping the fish out, Ling Xiao returned to the shore to begin his preparations. Soon, a thick aroma wafted through the air as the large fish, roasted to a brilliant golden brown, glistened with a light coating of oil, making anyone's appetite soar at a single glance.
Hu Liena couldn't help but take several appreciative sniffs, her nose twitching slightly.
"It smells so good!"
As Ling Xiao handled the roasted fish, his heart stirred.
With a faint, mischievous smile hidden on his face, he spoke in a teasing tone, "Oh fish, oh fish, do not blame me. I only want you to be reincarnated sooner so you can become a little beauty just like Nana."
"Then you can hold your hands and enjoy a life of leisure, with food brought to your mouth and tea to your hands." Ling Xiao glanced at Hu Liena and continued.
At first, Hu Liena didn't think much of it. When she heard Ling Xiao praising her beauty, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward in a shy, delicate smile. However, in the next moment, Ling Xiao's tone shifted.
"Just like a useless person."
Instantly, Hu Liena's face darkened, and her smile froze.
"Hmph!"
She stood up, circulated her soul power, and leaped across the surface of the water with consecutive steps. She crossed the stream directly and headed toward the opposite side without giving Ling Xiao a single glance.
"Hey, Nana, why are you leaving? Aren't you eating the fish?"
Ling Xiao waved the fish in his hand, asking as if he were completely oblivious.
"I'm not eating! Eat it yourself!"
Hu Liena threw back a huffy sentence without turning her head.
Ling Xiao gave a soft laugh, stuck the fish into the ground, and chased after her.
It seemed this fish was going to be a bargain for some lucky soul beast.
In the distance, Hu Liena walked quickly, her eyes filled with suppressed anger as she muttered under her breath, "That annoying guy Ling Xiao... truly, a dog's mouth cannot spit out ivory."
A figure flashed by as Ling Xiao quickly caught up. Looking at Hu Liena, he said with a smile, "I was just playing a joke on you. Don't be so thin-skinned, okay?"
Hu Liena snorted and ignored him, continuing her forward march. Suddenly, Hu Liena's footsteps paused. Her expression changed slightly as she stared intently at the path ahead.
"Hmm?"
Standing beside her, Ling Xiao couldn't help but feel curious.
Suddenly, his released mental energy sensed a wave of not-so-weak soul power fluctuations coming from the front, approaching them at a rapid pace.
He immediately understood the situation.
"Nana, it looks like we have trouble. I'll handle them," Ling Xiao said calmly, his eyes flashing as he took a few steps forward.
However, Hu Liena suddenly reached out an arm to stop him.
She turned her head and said, "No, I will deal with them all myself."
"Oh?" Ling Xiao was startled for a moment, but he quickly realized why and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Alright then, I won't steal your kill."
While the two were talking, a chaotic sound of footsteps and roars echoed from ahead.
Soon, a pack of beasts with dark-green fur charged out from the jungle. The aura of soul power radiating from them proved they were not ordinary wild animals, but soul beasts. There were about twenty of them in the pack.
Although numerous, their body sizes were not particularly large—most were less than two meters tall. However, their arms were exceptionally long, roughly two-thirds the length of their bodies, ending in sharp, hook-like claws.
They had hunched frames and peculiar faces with protruding fangs, and their eyes were filled with a murderous glint. Their entire bodies radiated the aura of wind-attribute soul power. They were a pack of Wind Baboons, quite common in the Soul Hunting Forest.
Wind Baboons were considered mid-level soul beasts.
Among all soul beasts, their racial bloodline wasn't particularly strong, but their temperaments were fierce, and they lived in groups. As wind-attribute soul beasts, they were very fast and possessed decent attack power.
Furthermore, since they were usually encountered in packs, they were quite troublesome to deal with. Judging by the radiating soul power, most of the baboons in this pack had cultivations of over seven hundred years.
The leader was a Wind Baboon whose stature clearly exceeded two meters, with an estimated cultivation of over one thousand five hundred years. There were also two others whose cultivations had just reached the thousand-year mark, their bodies significantly bulkier than the rest.
Such a lineup would undoubtedly be extremely dangerous for the vast majority of three-ring Soul Elders. However, as the personal disciple of Pope Bibi Dong, how could Hu Liena be compared to ordinary people?
Although her Martial Soul, the Charming Fox, was not renowned for raw power among all Martial Souls—and because the Charming Fox focused more on enhancing the soul master's mental strength rather than physical reinforcement—
The three soul rings Hu Liena currently possessed did not exceed the standard limits by much. But this did not mean her strength was weaker than peers with "stronger" Martial Souls or higher soul ring years.
A soul master's strength isn't determined solely by the type of Martial Soul or the numerical data of soul ring years. If it were, people wouldn't even bother fighting; they would just manifest their Martial Souls and rings, report the years, and the weaker one could just surrender.
Over the years, Hu Liena had followed Bibi Dong's tutelage.
Her control over her Martial Soul's power and soul ring energy was not inferior to Ling Xiao's.
"Roar!"
As the Wind Baboon leader with over one thousand five hundred years of cultivation let out a roar, the rest of the baboons began to clamor. Following their leader, they charged toward Hu Liena and Ling Xiao, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws as if to tear the two into pieces.
"Coming at the right time."
"Charming Fox Possession!"
Hu Liena shouted softly, and instantly, a silver-white light of soul power erupted from her body.
A shimmering silver-white shadow of a Charming Fox rose up, standing like a human behind her before merging into her body in an instant. In the next moment, the Charming Fox Martial Soul completely enveloped Hu Liena's frame, leaving only a blurred view of her facial features.
At this moment of possession, Hu Liena truly looked like a bipedal Charming Fox. Three massive silver-white fox tails swayed behind her, agile and elegant; each tail exceeded three meters in length, possessing a majestic presence.
Watching the charging pack of Wind Baboons, Hu Liena focused her attention on the three thousand-year-level leaders. In the next moment, as a yellow soul ring was released, the purple pupils of her Charming Fox form suddenly erupted with brilliant light.
"First Soul Skill: Charming Heart."
Driven by her soul power, Hu Liena's mental strength reached a new height.
An extremely subtle ripple of mental energy spread out, and eerie purple light instantly shot into the eyes of the three thousand-year baboons. Immediately, a strange purple pattern was reflected within their pupils.
The three thousand-year Wind Baboons actually stopped in their tracks simultaneously, standing foolishly on the spot. In a very short span of time, they had been completely controlled by Hu Liena's mental energy, their minds trapped in an illusion.
A slight smile played on her lips. Hu Liena had used her first soul skill to control the three thousand-year Wind Baboons, separating them from the hundred-year-level baboons.
She then shifted her focus, intending to deal with the hundred-year baboons first to avoid them being a nuisance when she fought the thousand-year ones later.
As for why she didn't just take the opportunity to finish off the three thousand-year baboons while they were controlled—it wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she couldn't.
Although the effect of the mental soul skill "Charming Heart" was excellent, and despite her years of practicing the Supreme Soul Technique, her mental energy remained extremely strong—no weaker than a pure mental-attribute soul master of the same rank.
However, thousand-year soul beasts were no joke and were not comparable to hundred-year ones. Furthermore, there were three of them. While she could briefly control them, the duration wouldn't be long.
More importantly, if she launched an attack on them, the pain from the injuries would cause them to snap out of the illusion instantly. In such a short window of time, she would be unable to heavily injure them to the point of losing combat effectiveness, let alone kill them.
**
Enjoying the story? Support the translation and get early access to future chapters here: www.patr eon.com/c/FanficTranslator
Thanks for reading!
I have 100+ advanced chapter now on Patreon. I will post 5 advanced chapter on Patreon everyday except Sunday