Star Dou Great Forest

"We've been traveling for several days. We should be almost there!" Huo Yuhao looked at the directions on the simple map in his hand, then raised his head toward the fork in the road ahead, confirming that they were already very close to the Star Dou Great Forest.

A much smaller girl with exquisite features sat beneath a tree behind him. She hugged a peculiar pure-black spider doll in her arms and carried a small bundle on her back. Blinking her large eyes, she asked, "Brother, are we there yet?"

"Yeah, we're not far from the Star Dou Great Forest." Huo Yuhao wiped the sweat from his forehead, a smile on his face.

Having received an affirmative answer, Huo Yuxi happily got to her feet and walked over to Huo Yuhao. Her ears twitched as she heard the sound of running water coming from nearby.

"Brother, I think I hear water over there!"

Water meant fish. They had eaten nothing but dry rations these past few days, and with a chance to improve their meals at last, both of them were excited.

Huo Yuhao's martial soul was the Spirit Eyes, a spiritual-type martial soul. His six senses were much sharper than those of ordinary people. He leaped onto a rock ahead and activated his martial soul.

Sure enough, less than two hundred meters away was a small stream roughly three meters wide. The water was crystal clear, and they could clearly see the fish flicking their tails within it.

"Xixi, the fish in the stream are huge. Let's go over there." He jumped down from the rock and took Huo Yuxi's hand, leading her toward it.

At those words, Huo Yuxi's eyes lit up as well. Her health had never been very good to begin with, and after traveling nonstop for days while eating and sleeping poorly, she looked much thinner now.

When they reached the stream, she hurriedly washed her face first. She had not cleaned herself for several days and looked just like a little beggar.

Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao snapped off a branch, took out the White Tiger Dagger, and sharpened one end. He walked to the stream, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, golden light shone from his eyes. The details beneath the water immediately magnified in his vision, while everything slowed down countless times.

"Whoosh."

He moved with incredible speed, driving the forked branch fiercely into a fish's body. When he lifted it, a black carp had already been speared.

The fish was not very large, and one certainly would not be enough for the two of them, so Huo Yuhao caught several more in succession.

"Great! We won't have to eat that dry, hard rations anymore." Huo Yuxi looked delightedly at the fish wrapped in leaves. "Grilled fish won't spoil easily either. We can save some for tomorrow and the day after."

A relaxed smile also hung on Huo Yuhao's face. Unlike the oppressive atmosphere of the Duke's Mansion, there was only the easy sound of birdsong and flowing water here, making people relax without even realizing it.

He lowered his head to look at the White Tiger Dagger in his hand, and his thoughts drifted to their mother again—that frail yet resilient woman. A faint sadness washed over him, and Huo Yuxi knew what he was thinking the moment she saw his expression.

She missed their mother too. Since birth, her constitution had been weaker than her brother's, so their mother had always favored her somewhat. Even when she died, she had still been unable to stop worrying about her frail daughter.

For so long, she had tried her best not to think about it. But now that those memories had been stirred up, the grief was impossible to suppress.

Huo Yuhao shook off those thoughts. When he looked up, he saw Huo Yuxi's dejected expression.

"Xixi." He stood, placed the fish over the fire to grill, and wiped the tears from her face. "Mother only went to live in another world. We have to cultivate hard so that one day, we can avenge her."

"Mm." Huo Yuxi knew he was right, but she simply could not control herself.

"All right, don't think too much about it. The fish will be ready soon. Let's eat something first." Huo Yuhao simply changed the subject.

Sure enough, as the scent of grilled fish spread through the air, Huo Yuxi's appetite was immediately stirred. Her attention was successfully diverted.

Huo Yuhao controlled the heat perfectly, and the fish was soon thoroughly cooked. Huo Yuxi ate two fish in a row.

After eating and drinking their fill, Huo Yuhao sat where he was and meditated to recover his strength. His talent was not particularly good. Although he possessed the rare spiritual-type body martial soul, his Innate Soul Power was only level one, in stark contrast to Huo Yuxi's level fifteen Innate Soul Power. He had cultivated diligently for five years, putting in several times more effort than others, yet he had only just reached level ten.

Their goal in coming here was to obtain his First Soul Ring. The Star Dou Great Forest was vast and home to countless types of soul beasts, but soul rings had attribute restrictions. Spiritual-type soul beasts were exceedingly rare, and they had no idea when they would find a suitable one.

After resting for roughly ten minutes, the ground suddenly began to tremble.

Huo Yuxi immediately became alert. "Brother!"

The moment her voice fell, Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and sprang to his feet. He shielded Huo Yuxi behind him and activated his Spirit Eyes martial soul to inspect their surroundings.

He did not know what kind of soul beast it was, but it moved extremely quickly. Even with the enhancement of his Spirit Eyes, he could only barely make out a blurry shadow.

At the same time, a white soul ring and a yellow soul ring lit up beneath Huo Yuxi. Then the fabric pattern covering the spider doll in her arms faded away. It shrank until it was only palm-sized and stood in her hand.

Its body was multicolored, while its legs faded from pink to blue. Under the sunlight, it gleamed with an eerie radiance.

Not knowing where the target was and unwilling to move rashly, she stayed ready and waited for Huo Yuhao's instructions.

"Xixi, four meters to the right."

"First Soul Skill, Gui Yan Blade." Huo Yuxi reacted instantly. The spider's pink legs transformed into eight blades, slashing toward the target.

The Gui Yan Blade was an area-of-effect skill. Its blades carried potent poison, and anyone injured by them would instantly be dragged into an illusion, their body corroded by toxins until death.

The soul beast was extremely fast. With a flash, it evaded the attack, then gathered its strength and pounced furiously at the two of them.

With the enhancement of the Spirit Eyes, Huo Yuhao's reactions became incomparably sharp. As danger descended, he quickly shoved Huo Yuxi aside, gripped the White Tiger Dagger tightly in both hands, and thrust it fiercely forward.

"Pfft." An invisible force blasted him away. He crashed into the tree behind him, and the blood he spat out instantly stained the ground before him red.

Only then did he finally see the soul beast clearly. It resembled a leopard and measured just over a meter long. Blackish-purple leopard markings covered its body, and ferocious light gleamed from its eyes.

"Brother!" Seeing Huo Yuhao vomit blood, Huo Yuxi ran over in panic.

At that moment, an unexpected change occurred. A brown bear more than two meters tall suddenly appeared. Its sharp claws grabbed Huo Yuxi by the back of her neck and carried her running into the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Xixi!"

It all happened in an instant. Ignoring both his injuries and the soul beast glaring covetously behind him, Huo Yuhao got up and gave chase. In moments of crisis, people could unleash their potential, and the leopard was actually unable to keep up with him.

Huo Yuxi had been panicked at first. The tears in her eyes were shaken loose during the run, then dried by the wind. She forced herself to calm down and tried to use her soul skill.

But the gap in strength was simply too great. She could not even break the brown bear's skin.

At this rate, even if she exhausted all her Soul Power, it would be useless. She had to think of another way.