The Followers
Zhou You shook the blood off the Umbrella Sword and drew his Qi back into his body.
He held Feidian, who seemed drunk, and gently stroked its fur.
The Lightning Marten has a craving for poisons, just like a person is addicted to alcohol. The better the alcohol, the easier it is to get drunk. And the Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower is undoubtedly the finest wine among poisons.
So the little guy was a bit dizzy at this moment, and it needed some time to digest the flower poison it had ingested.
Once it has completely digested the poison, it can track the Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower in Sunset Forest, thereby pinpointing the location of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
A dozen minutes later, the three reunited.
Both Gui Mei and Yue Guan smelled a trace of blood on Zhou You, but they didn't ask any questions.
While the security here is relatively good, that's only in comparison. No matter the place, there's always a dark side.
With everything ready, the three of them finally set off into the Sunset Forest.
Before entering, Zhou You released the Raven from his Treasure Bag, and then followed the Gui Mei Yue Guan deep into the forest.
Hunting Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is extremely difficult. Under normal circumstances, if a 100,000-year-old Soul Beast were to fight a newly appointed Douluo one-on-one, the latter would usually have no choice but to run away.
Fighting against Soul Beasts, creatures with naturally strong bodies, even Titled Douluo whose physique has been strengthened to the limit appears somewhat fragile.
Zhou You's chosen target this time is one of the best among them, whose physical strength is probably comparable to that of the Sky Azure Bull Python, a dragon-type creature.
However, the Soul Beast he was looking for had reportedly not appeared for nearly a hundred years, and it was unknown whether it had been hunted down by other Soul Masters.
After a week in the Sunset Forest, the three still hadn't found anything.
This is quite normal. Compared to lower-level Soul Beasts, Ten-Thousand-Year Rank Soul Beasts already possess a high level of intelligence and know their attraction to Soul Masters, thus they will actively hide themselves.
Soul Beasts of the 100,000-year level regard high-level Soul Masters as their only natural enemy. Coupled with the threat of heavenly tribulations, they live in seclusion and their whereabouts are uncertain.
Such active Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts as the Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape are actually quite rare. The vast majority of giant beast-level Soul Beasts actually follow an energy-saving mode, and it is common for them to take a nap and several years will pass in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately, the full support promised by "Xue Qinghe" was quite effective. Although they could not provide direct eyewitness information, they did provide relevant reports on the whereabouts of the animals.
"This Rolling Earth Dragon is not easy to find." Yue Guan frowned as he looked at the map. "We searched several caves, but judging from their size, they are at most Ten-Thousand-Year Rank. Could the information be wrong?"
According to Zhou You's own biological classification, the [Rolling Earth Dragon] belongs to the Sipuncula. This might be a bit confusing, but you'll understand when you see it as a "sand worm."
This is a burrowing animal with a long, cylindrical body, resembling a worm, lacking segments, parapodia, and bristles; its primary ability is [devouring].
The Rolling Earth Dragon can strengthen its physique by devouring anything, especially the keratin layer on its body surface. The more it eats, the harder its body becomes and the larger its size.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, Soul Masters can judge the size of the Rolling Earth Dragon by the size of the hole it emerges from, and thus determine its age.
As Yue Guan said, none of the earth dragon caves they found in the past few days looked like they were burrowed out by a 100,000-year-old Rolling Earth Dragon, and he began to doubt the authenticity of the information given by the Heaven Dou people.
"That's not necessarily true," Zhou You said thoughtfully. "After all, Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts are more intelligent. Perhaps they deliberately adjusted their size to make themselves appear smaller."
It has not been seen by anyone for nearly a century. If it did not die long ago, it must have been hidden away. As the saying goes, "The greatest hermit lives in the city." The best way to hide a grain of sand is to throw it into a sand dune.
If he remembers correctly, Soul Beasts that are over 100,000 years old have the ability to adjust their body size.
"Wouldn't that make it even harder to find them?" Yue Guan was speechless. He looked up and sighed. "Are we just going to stay here forever? Kid, do you have any backup Soul Beasts?"
The Gui Mei glanced at him but said, "Even if there's a backup, it's still a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Are you going to complain again then?"
Yue Guan stared at him in disbelief, his eyes wide as if he were looking at a traitor. "You old codger, you're actually taking this brat's side? I'm your old partner!"
Upon hearing this, the Gui Mei turned its head away with a look of disgust.
Because of the close relationship between Yue Guan and Zhou You, Gui Mei rarely acts like a highly respected person in front of Zhou You now. He and Yue Guan also can't always keep a straight face in private, so it's difficult for the two of them to become friends.
So Zhou You had the good fortune to witness another side of the Gui Mei that was unknown to others; this person actually quite enjoyed watching Yue Guan suffer setbacks.
However, he ignored the two old men's bickering, raised his head, squinted at the sky, and stretched out his hand. A Raven landed on his forearm and cawed.
The sound of the Yue Guan stopped.
"Hmm, I see..." Zhou You nodded earnestly to the Raven.
A moment later he looked at the Gui Mei and the Yue Guan.
"My Raven has detected something amiss. Someone has been secretly following us ever since we entered the Marketplace."
"I had no idea." Yue Guan frowned.
Gui Mei's expression also turned serious. He shook his head slightly in response to Yue Guan's gaze, indicating that he hadn't noticed either.
"Because those people were disguised as the Soul Hunting Squad, and they always kept a distance, at least three kilometers away from us."
At this distance, even Titled Douluo wouldn't be able to detect the tail without prior preparation.
But the person tracking them was no ordinary person either; despite the great distance, they hadn't lost track of them and had kept them trailing behind.
However, Zhou You didn't believe it; those people followed behind him but did nothing.
But... who are those people? What is their purpose?
Surely it can't be someone seeking revenge for the intelligence broker from that day?
"Should we eliminate them?" Yue Guan asked. As Titled Douluo, unless the opponents are of equal level, no matter how many enemies there are, they are just there to deliver food.
"I'm curious to know what they're up to."
So you're going to let them do as they please?
Zhou You nodded. He wanted to figure out those people's motives, and according to Raven's description, they were divided into several groups, and he wanted to catch them all in one fell swoop.
"Let's keep an eye on things for now." With that, Zhou You raised his arm, letting the Raven take flight again.
Gui Mei did not offer any opinion. To him, it didn't matter what he did; all he needed to do was ensure Zhou You's safety.
On the other side, a few kilometers away from Zhou You and his group, a Soul Hunting team of more than a dozen people was advancing along the path their target had taken.
Suddenly, the person in the lead stopped and raised his hand to make a "stop" gesture. The people behind him immediately stopped and waited in place.
The man looked up, squinting slightly at the sunlight, and saw a black dot in the sky. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a Raven.
"We've been discovered," he said, his voice low but his tone remarkably certain.
"Captain, what should we do?"
The man thought about it and made up his mind.
"We can't wait any longer. Notify the other teams, let's begin now!"
"Yes!"
A moment later, a cluster of sparks rose into the sky, exploding into a firework hundreds of meters in the air.