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**
"Brother Lin, I was wrong."
Xiao Wu held her head, apologizing to Xiao Lin in a low, humble voice, deeply afraid that he might give her a painful flick on the forehead.
"What are you blocking for? I'm not going to hit you."
"Oh, okay!"
Xiao Wu breathed a silent sigh of relief.
She turned to face Xiao Lin, gave an awkward smile, and then sidled past him to stand next to Tang San. Xiao Lin gave her an exasperated look before lying back down on the bed to continue reading.
"Brother Lin? Are you still planning on hunting those same three soul beasts?"
Seeing that Tang San was fully concentrated on his cultivation and not wanting to disturb him, Xiao Wu began probing for information.
"Yeah, still those three. I haven't found anything better for the time being."
"I just don't know if there are any two-thousand-year-old ones near the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest."
Xiao Lin replied casually, then immediately caught himself and added, "Well, the Star Dou Forest is so big, there definitely has to be."
Xiao Wu replied briefly and then fell silent, her eyes flickering as she lowered her head.
Good, good. Brother Lin hasn't decided on a new soul beast.
Xiao Wu hadn't been idle during her trip home. Aside from her daily training, she had spent her time wandering the Star Dou Forest with Er Ming. They mostly scouted the Mixed Zone.
She had told Da Ming and Er Ming that her two "little brothers" needed suitable soul beasts for their soul rings. To prevent other soul beasts from meeting an accidental end, they needed to find specific targets.
Thus, Xiao Wu had not only found the Fluffy Cotton and Soul-Gathering Pumpkin Tang San wanted, but she had also located the Lightning Leopard Xiao Lin was after.
That detestable Lightning Leopard... it's always targeting the cute Soft-Boned Rabbits. It deserves to die.
Xiao Wu felt a trace of resentment.
The Soft-Boned Rabbit clan was naturally weak and mostly resided in the outer regions of the forest. That Lightning Leopard, relying on its extreme speed, frequently traveled between the outer and mixed zones specifically to prey on the weak rabbits.
This time, Xiao Wu had specifically found a Lightning Leopard of over 2,200 years and had Er Ming drive it toward the mixed zone closest to the Star Dou Forest's border with Nuoding City.
As for the Fluffy Cotton and Soul-Gathering Pumpkin Tang San wanted, although Xiao Wu found them, the Soul-Gathering Pumpkin was over 3,500 years old due to its strong individual power.
She had to settle for second best and prepare the Fluffy Cotton for Tang San instead. She hoped this would reduce the number of forced deaths among other soul beasts in the forest.
Xiao Wu felt like she was worrying herself to death. Next time Brother Lin wanted to research self-condensing soul rings, she would have to suggest some methods under the guise of "guesses."
That way, perhaps there wouldn't be so much slaughter in the future.
As a soul beast in human form, Xiao Wu had become a human child, but she still held deeper feelings for soul beasts. On the human side, she had learned from textbooks that most Soul Masters viewed soul beasts as treasures granted to them.
Generally, Soul Masters wouldn't kill indiscriminately; they would only kill the beast that suited them to absorb its ring.
This left Xiao Wu conflicted. On one hand, she hoped for a future where humans and soul beasts could coexist in peace. However, such a scenario was almost impossible.
In Xiao Wu's view, there would only be hope once Xiao Lin's research on self-condensing soul rings succeeded.
When that time came, if someone could successfully condense a ring and only needed to absorb a bit of a beast's soul power to reach the ring's limit, the beast might actually survive.
Of course, it wasn't guaranteed.
Some weak Soul Masters might instead target multiple weak soul beasts.
Xiao Wu had considered this as well.
But overall, if humans took the initiative to raise soul beasts, then Soul Masters wouldn't lack soul power, and the soul beast population wouldn't plummet. It was for this reason that Xiao Wu strongly supported Xiao Lin's research.
She had even asked Da Ming and Er Ming for the method of condensing a Soul Core.
Nowadays, she wasn't the "freeloader" Xiao Lin made her out to be.
Hmph!
Xiao Wu huffed inwardly and sat down on the bed next to Tang San to begin her meditative cultivation.
Because of Xiao Lin's intervention, both Tang San and Xiao Wu had accumulated some money, so the two of them now slept in separate beds.
On her bed, Xiao Wu thought that since Xiao Lin was already Rank 20, it was only logical for her to break through quickly as well. With this in mind, she began accumulating soul power to charge toward Rank 20.
Just as Xiao Wu began her meditation, Tang San stopped the circulation of his Mysterious Heaven Skill. Opening his eyes slowly, he saw Xiao Wu on the bed beside him. He felt a surge of excitement but refrained from disturbing her.
Turning to Xiao Lin, he flashed a smile.
"Brother Lin, I failed to break through to Rank 20, but my soul power still grew a bit."
Tang San had only recently leveled up, so it was impossible to jump another rank so soon.
This was normal, and Xiao Lin nodded with a smile.
"Xiao Wu is Rank 19. When the time comes, the three of us will go to the Star Dou Forest together to hunt soul beasts."
"Yeah. Actually, I think we can set off now. I just don't know what Xiao Wu thinks."
Tang San figured it might take ten days or even half a month to find the right soul beast in the forest. By the time Xiao Lin found his, Tang San might have naturally broken through.
The same might apply to Xiao Wu.
Thus, Tang San began urging Xiao Lin, not wanting him to wait at Rank 20 for too long. As for why Tang San thought this way, it was thanks to Yu Xiaogang's "Ten Great Core Competitive Theories."
One theory stated that when a Soul Master reached Rank 20 or 30, they shouldn't rush to get a ring; continuing to cultivate would still result in soul power growth. As a martial arts genius, Tang San had studied this carefully.
It was possible, but it depended on how much soul power a Soul Master's body could contain. It was like squeezing water from a sponge—there was always a little more if you tried.
Soul power worked the same way, but some Soul Masters had poor talent or clogged meridians, limiting their capacity.
Although Xiao Lin possessed the Vajra Imperishable Divine Skill (transformed from the Mysterious Heaven Skill), his soul power was exceptionally dense and difficult to compress.
This made it hard for him to store much extra power, and currently, he had to rely on his External Soul Bone to hold more. Tang San was naturally anxious; he knew that the period before age twenty was the golden age of cultivation.
Making Xiao Lin wait for him gave him a heavy sense of guilt.
Xiao Lin wasn't his biological brother, but he was as good as one. Xiao Lin had never hidden any of the fortuitous encounters he found, sharing them without reservation. Tang San asked himself if he could ever reach such a level of selflessness.
As Xiao Lin and Tang San chatted, Xiao Wu stopped her meditation. She was naturally restless, and with the two of them talking, she simply gave up on it.
"Little San, you didn't even call for me."
Xiao Wu's delicate face scrunched up as she spoke in a resentful tone.
"Haha, welcome back, Xiao Wu."
Tang San opened his arms, immediately moving to give her a hug.
"Alright, let's go ask for leave, then head to the Star Dou Forest for the hunt."
Xiao Lin rolled his eyes, opened the door of Room Seven, and walked out.
Behind him, Tang San and Xiao Wu were acting incredibly close, fussing over each other and exchanging interesting stories from their past two months apart.
Nuoding Academy, Office of Academic Affairs.
"WHAT!?"
"All three of you want a leave of absence for over a month?"
The Director of Academic Affairs stood up in disbelief, his face a mask of exaggerated shock.
"You're asking for leave the very day school starts? Why don't you just take another month of vacation instead?"
"That sounds great," Xiao Lin said shamelessly.
"GET OUT! I don't want to see you!"
The Director barked angrily, throwing three leave permits at them.
**
Hello everyone,
Thank you for your support! If you enjoy my work, you can check out my Patreon—there are 80+ early access and exclusive content. I update 5 advanced chapter from Monday-Saturday
www.patreon.com/c/FanficTranslator
I truly appreciate it!