Dipping Beans, Aftermath of Battle

As the class bell rang, the two slowly walked out of the school gates. Along the way, they ran into quite a few teachers, who curiously watched Lu Mingchuan, the well-connected newcomer.

"Let's take a look around Soul Hunting Forest today," Lu Mingchuan suggested. After all, he had far too little experience with life-and-death battles, and neither in this life nor his previous one had he ever seen a great forest with his own eyes.

Huang Quan nodded. She then went with Lu Mingchuan to the Spirit Hall branch stationed in Nuoding City.

After explaining their purpose to the Gate Guard, Lu Mingchuan and Huang Quan waited where they were. Before long, a white-bearded old man came out.

"You're Lu Mingchuan, the one with Innate Full Soul Power, right? My name is Ma Xiunuo. You can call me Grandpa Ma Xiunuo."

As he spoke, Ma Xiunuo led the two of them into Ma Kuxiu's office within Spirit Hall.

"I already know why you've come. Here's the token." As he spoke, he took a token from a drawer.

Lu Mingchuan accepted it and gave it a glance. There was only a sword-shaped emblem on the token. He then thanked him.

Ma Xiunuo waved a hand. "No need to be so polite. It's what I should do."

Then he glanced at Huang Quan, who stood beside them like a decorative signboard, and gave a bitter smile. "Sigh, I originally wanted to use this opportunity to hunt a Soul Ring to recruit you into Spirit Hall. Looks like that won't be possible now."

Lu Mingchuan did not know how to respond and could only let out a couple of awkward laughs. Seeing this, Ma Xiunuo said no more. After reminding him to return the token once he was done with it, he waved Lu Mingchuan off.

After leaving Spirit Hall, Lu Mingchuan looked at the token in his hand and could not help sighing. "Spirit Hall is actually pretty nice."

After asking for directions, Huang Quan carried Lu Mingchuan along while he pointed the way from her hand.

Before long, they arrived near Soul Hunting Forest. As soon as they approached, they heard a steady stream of shouted calls.

"Selling ten-year Needle Bee honey! Eat it to increase your Soul Power!"

"Looking for a party! Need a healing-type Soul Master! Payment negotiable! Token included!"

After wandering around for a while, Lu Mingchuan lost interest. Aside from a few people selling medicine for injuries, everything else was a scam.

He then headed for the entrance to Soul Hunting Forest. After handing over the token for the guards to inspect, he entered without issue.

After walking inside for a while, Lu Mingchuan looked around at the towering trees and all kinds of plants before him. This was his first time personally entering such a vast forest.

Huang Quan, meanwhile, had little interest in it. She merely followed behind Lu Mingchuan, watching his slightly excited expression.

After a while, once Lu Mingchuan's excitement had faded, he looked at Huang Quan and warned her, "Unless I run into a fatal threat, you absolutely must not intervene."

Huang Quan nodded without objection, then vanished from where she stood. Lu Mingchuan took a deep breath, summoned the Imperial Bow, and slowly advanced while vigilantly watching his surroundings.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Lu Mingchuan noticed movement in the grass to his right and immediately turned his gaze toward it.

Sure enough, a wild wolf the size of a small calf sprang out and pounced straight at Lu Mingchuan.

Lu Mingchuan drew his bow with his right hand. A light arrow immediately pierced through the Swift Wind Wolf, pinning its corpse to the tree behind it.

A white Soul Ring slowly appeared above the Swift Wind Wolf's corpse. Lu Mingchuan did not lower his guard.

Sure enough.

Another four or five Swift Wind Wolves burst from the grass. Just as he was about to draw his bow again, he noticed that a pack of Swift Wind Wolves had also appeared behind him.

"As expected of wolf-type Soul Beasts. They really are clever."

He immediately condensed five light arrows at once. When he released them, the arrows became five shooting stars that swiftly pierced through the Swift Wind Wolves in front of him.

By then, claws and fangs from behind were already within reach. Lu Mingchuan twisted his body, and as though his arm had been fitted with a targeting system, he drove an elbow into the foremost Swift Wind Wolf.

After sending it flying with that elbow, he used the chance to widen the distance, then condensed light arrows in his hand and picked off the remaining wolves one by one.

By the time the final white Soul Ring rose, Lu Mingchuan looked at the wolf corpses covering the ground and felt his stomach churn. He then lifted his foot and left the bloody place.

He walked for an unknown length of time, until the scent of blood lingering beneath his nose finally faded.

Only then did he stop and take a couple of deep breaths before preparing to continue onward.

But just then, an emerald-green wind blade suddenly appeared at his side. Lu Mingchuan raised a hand and fired an arrow, canceling it out.

He then looked toward where the wind blade had come from. Before him stood a green wolf-type Soul Beast the size of a yellow ox, with quite a few Soul Beasts like the ones from before at its side.

"Looks like this is the Wolf King. No wonder the pack earlier was so small. They were only scouts."

Lu Mingchuan silently thought this, then surveyed his surroundings. A smile slowly appeared at the corner of his mouth. Ever since obtaining the system, he had either fought Tang San or sparred with Huang Quan.

The former had already been unable to beat him when he was four years old, while the gap between him and the latter was too vast for him to enjoy the fight at all.

And now, an enemy who could barely be said to be capable of fighting him had finally appeared.

In response, Lu Mingchuan only wanted to say, "Dipping beans—awesome!"

Before the Wolf King could react, Imaginary Energy gathered beneath Lu Mingchuan's feet. With a stomp against the ground, he shot toward the Wolf King like a cannonball leaving its barrel.

The Wolf King never expected the human before it to dare launch an attack while surrounded.

It therefore had no time to react and was sent flying by Lu Mingchuan's punch. Lu Mingchuan then condensed a sharp blade in his hand and swiftly dealt with the remaining wolf pups.

By the time the Wolf King returned, it had become a commander without an army. At the sight, the Wolf King let out a grief-stricken howl.

A blood-red gleam then surfaced in its eyes. Opening its mouth, it spat out a wind blade that flew toward Lu Mingchuan. After blocking the wind blade, Lu Mingchuan swiftly charged at the Wolf King.

The Wolf King continuously fired wind blades, but Lu Mingchuan blocked every one of them. By then, he had already closed in on the Wolf King. After an intense hand-to-paw fight, the Wolf King fell.

Even after falling, the Wolf King, with a purple Soul Ring floating above its body, looked at Lu Mingchuan with hatred in its eyes.

After two battles, it was already close to noon. Lu Mingchuan rested for a while before getting up and starting back the way he had come.

As soon as he reached the entrance of Soul Hunting Forest, Huang Quan appeared at his side. After the two left together and returned the token to Ma Xiunuo, they headed back to the academy.

Inside the small villa, after eating the lunch Huang Quan had personally prepared, Lu Mingchuan washed the dishes and checked the newly unlocked system function.

The system notification had already sounded in Lu Mingchuan's mind when he defeated the Wolf King, but that had not been the time to inspect it.

So Lu Mingchuan headed home, and now he finally had some free time.

Looking at the words flashing continuously within the system, Lu Mingchuan slowly tapped them. A stream of information then entered his mind.

After reviewing it, Lu Mingchuan could not help opening his eyes in delight.

"This function was practically tailor-made for me."

If there was anything Lu Mingchuan currently lacked, combat experience and cultivation techniques were two of them. The new function was called Aftermath of Battle, and it existed to make up for his lack of combat experience.

There were two difficulty levels within it: Normal difficulty and Hell difficulty.

For example, if Lu Mingchuan encountered Mirror Flow inside, choosing Normal difficulty would seal away nearly all of Mirror Flow's strength, leaving only some of her experience so Lu Mingchuan could exchange a few moves with her.

Hell difficulty, meanwhile, meant a complete Mirror Flow. Lu Mingchuan would be gone the moment they met.

And no matter how long he stayed inside, only an instant would pass in the outside world. However, it could not be used during battle.

It could only be used while out of combat.