Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo

Yu Xiaogang pondered for a moment. Thinking of Cai Kun's terrifying running speed and the mysterious expert who might be backing him, he didn't try too hard to stop him. He only warned him:

"Remember to stay on the outskirts of the forest. Don't venture into the depths. If you encounter a Soul Beast that's over a hundred years old, retreat immediately. You're no match for them, so don't act on your own."

"Don't worry, Grandmaster. When it comes to the art of running for my life, I've never been afraid of anyone!"

Cai Kun waved a hand, slipped forward on his feet, and darted like a cat into the bushes in a few bounds, vanishing from sight.

After leaving the master and disciple behind, Cai Kun immediately pulled up the Douluo Travel Guidebook in his mind.

[Current location: Soul Hunting Forest.]

[Check-in target (1/2): Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo certified by Yu Xiaogang (others do not count).]

"Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo, and Gangzi has to certify it too."

"Looks like there's a bond between this Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo and Gangzi."

Cai Kun rubbed his hands together and jogged along the outskirts of the forest, searching carefully as he went.

But an incense stick's worth of time passed.

Cai Kun ran back and forth twice, from the outside toward the interior, but still found no sign of any Lone Bamboo.

He saw seven or eight Nether Wolves, kicked an entire nest of Soft Bone Rabbits flying, and even crossed paths with a few colorful wild spicy strips.

But the Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo that should have been as common as dirt? He couldn't find so much as half a bamboo leaf!

"What the hell?!"

"Don't tell me the bamboo grew legs and ran away?"

Cai Kun plopped down on a tree stump, unscrewed his water bottle, and gulped down a mouthful, so exhausted that his eyes rolled back.

The entire Soul Hunting Forest was only a few dozen li across. He had swept through it twice at high speed without finding so much as a bamboo shoot. Had other Soul Masters chopped it to extinction?

Who was so bored that they'd come all the way here to chop bamboo, and specifically pick Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo?

The sun was already slanting west, and Cai Kun's solo search had come up empty. Dejected, he had no choice but to go look for Gangzi and the others.

After he passed through a weedy slope overgrown with thorns, Yu Xiaogang's trademark lecturing voice drifted faintly from ahead.

"Little San, remember this: there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters!"

Cai Kun pushed through the bushes and stepped out just in time to see Yu Xiaogang and Tang San stop beneath the shade of a tree.

"Grandmaster, San'er, found a suitable Soul Beast yet?" Cai Kun called out casually.

Yu Xiaogang shook his head and was about to speak when his brow suddenly twitched. His gaze turned to a hollow thirty meters ahead and to the left.

"Wait, there are Soul Power fluctuations from a powerful Plant-type Soul Beast ahead. Follow me!"

Yu Xiaogang perked up and strode ahead to lead the way.

Cai Kun followed with his hands in his pockets, unconcerned.

He had just scouted that hollow earlier. Apart from rotten wood and weeds all over the ground, there hadn't been a hair in sight. What good stuff could possibly be there?

But when the three of them rounded a boulder and got a clear look at the hollow...

The yawn froze on Cai Kun's face, and his eyeballs nearly launched themselves out of their sockets.

A small grove of lush green bamboo had appeared at some unknown time on the formerly bare, muddy ground strewn with rubble!

The bamboo was roughly as thick as an arm, with widely spaced joints and a faint white sheen on its surface. It swayed in the forest breeze.

Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo!

"What the hell?!"

Cai Kun rubbed his eyes hard, sinking into profound self-doubt.

When he had jumped over that big rock earlier, there had clearly been nothing below but a muddy pit where not even grass grew!

How had he searched until his legs nearly broke without finding it, only for this patch of bamboo to respawn out of thin air the moment Yu Xiaogang stepped in?!

Was this the legendary Grandmaster-exclusive passive skill that summoned Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo?! A man chosen by Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.

"Wonderful! Little San, look!"

Up ahead, Yu Xiaogang hadn't noticed anything amiss. He rushed forward and examined a relatively thick bamboo stalk, his voice trembling slightly with excitement:

"That's right, this is what I've been looking for!"

Who cared whether the Lone Bamboo had manifested itself? He was already here, so checking in came first!

Without another word, Cai Kun pulled a camera from his system space and rushed to the patch of Lone Bamboo in a few long strides.

Under Yu Xiaogang and Tang San's astonished gazes, Cai Kun leaned against a bamboo stalk, flashed a V sign with his left hand, and decisively pressed the shutter with his right.

"Click! Click!"

The photo paper slid out through the gear slot at the bottom of the camera.

"Not bad. At least I won't have come to Douluo for nothing."

Cai Kun blew on the surface of the photo in satisfaction and admired his own face.

[Ding! Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo check-in complete!]

[Check-in mission progress: 1/2]

As soon as the notification in his mind sounded, Yu Xiaogang began examining the bamboo as if he had fallen under some kind of spell.

In the end, Yu Xiaogang picked out the thickest, sturdiest, and toughest Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.

The bamboo stalk made crisp crack, crack, crack sounds.

Yu Xiaogang turned around, a confident smile on his face, and looked at Tang San behind him:

"Little San, I've picked one for you. Come take a look."

"This is a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo. Its defining trait is its toughness. Its attack power is weak, but its defense is quite high. It's well suited to your Blue Silver Grass. Go ahead and absorb it."

"With this Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo as your First Soul Ring, your Blue Silver Grass will definitely become even tougher!"

His words rang out with resounding conviction, echoing through the quiet hollow.

Ten years?!

Tang San's face fell instantly. He had been looking forward to Yu Xiaogang picking a good Soul Ring for him, one that was at least a hundred years old. At the very least, it couldn't be worse than Cai Kun's.

I have Innate Full Soul Power, and I'm a Twin Martial Souls owner, one in ten thousand!

Yet he had picked a Lone Bamboo that was only ten years old for him.

Didn't Yu Xiaogang know that I'm worth at least five Lone Bamboos? Does he really think I'm still a new student who just enrolled and doesn't know anything?

Just yesterday, he had solemnly sworn to tailor the most perfect Soul Master path for him.

And after all that trouble, after running into the danger-filled Soul Hunting Forest for most of the day, it was just to chop down a ten-year-old bamboo that could be found anywhere by the roadside?!

How perfunctory can you get?

Tang San felt a lump in his throat and a suffocating tightness in his chest. He couldn't squeeze out a single word.

Beside him, Cai Kun stifled his laughter, picked up his camera, and photographed the ridiculous scene, planning to savor it when he got back.

"Click!"

Holding the photo, Cai Kun muttered to himself, "If I put this photo in the Divine Realm ten thousand years from now, I wonder what kind of gossip-fueled uproar it would cause?"

"I've even thought of a title:

"'Shocking! The Sea God was actually reduced to absorbing near-zero-level Lone Bamboo.'"

Not far away, deep in the crown of an ancient tree.

"Crack!"

A large, callused hand suddenly clenched, crushing a wrist-thick branch to powder.

Tang Hao hid in the shadows, his chest heaving beneath his black robe, his eyes almost spitting fire.

"Bastard! You're ruining your student!"

Tang Hao cursed furiously in his heart, his teeth itching with anger.

His son, Tang Hao's son, was a peerless genius who would one day inherit the Clear Sky Sect's legacy, yet for his First Soul Ring, he had picked only a ten-year Soul Ring—and Lone Bamboo at that?!

This Yu Xiaogang had disappointed him far too much. He had to give him a proper warning when he got the chance.

If he weren't worried that showing himself would frighten Tang San, Tang Hao would have wanted to grab his hammer, jump down, and teach Yu Xiaogang a lesson right now.

"I can't let this idiot do as he pleases!"