Star Dou Great Forest

Star Luo City lay in the northern part of the Star Luo Empire, and the place Ji Lin had chosen to hunt soul beasts was the Star Dou Great Forest, which bordered the Heaven Dou Empire in the north of the Star Luo Empire.

This forest, nearly the size of an entire province, was home to a vast variety of soul beasts, including some superpowered existences. The Star Dou Great Forest was one of the most famous soul beast habitats on the Douluo Continent, a massive primeval forest with complex terrain. There were wetlands, swamps, and more. The soul beasts there were also exceptionally terrifying—the closer one got to the center of the forest, the stronger they became. There were even Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts within. Any soul master with sufficient strength and good luck could find the soul ring best suited to them there. The forest was filled with all manner of powerful soul beasts, venomous insects, and deeply hidden plant-type soul beasts. It was extraordinarily dangerous, and every year, countless soul masters died while hunting soul beasts, becoming fertilizer for the Star Dou Great Forest.

Based on the soul beasts inhabiting it, the soul master world had divided the Star Dou Great Forest into four regions.

The Outer Area, the Mixed Area, the Core Area, and the Great Fiend Zone.

The outermost twenty-kilometer radius of the Star Dou Great Forest was the Outer Area. Only weak ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts were active there, and even thousand-year soul beasts were scarce.

The Mixed Area occupied roughly forty kilometers within the forest's maximum radius of one hundred kilometers. It was considerably more dangerous. Puny ten-year soul beasts were not worthy of surviving there, and it was also the place with the greatest number and widest variety of soul beasts.

Most soul masters could find suitable soul beasts there. The Mixed Area mainly consisted of hundred-year, thousand-year, and ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Most ten-thousand-year soul beasts were below twenty thousand years old, with ten-thousand-year soul beasts being the most common. In this region, hundred-year soul beasts basically moved in groups. They could even be more dangerous than some ten-thousand-year soul beasts—kill one, and a whole pack would come after you. In some ways, they were even harder to provoke than those ten-thousand-year soul beasts.

The innermost forty-kilometer radius was the Core Area of the Star Dou Great Forest. Though this region was quite vast, the number of soul beasts living there was far lower than in the Mixed Area.

Because every soul beast capable of dwelling here was powerful. Hundred-year soul beasts had practically vanished from this region, and even thousand-year soul beasts were few in number. Ten-thousand-year soul beasts were the main theme, and the terrifying silhouettes of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts could occasionally be seen.

According to the soul masters' research, any soul beast capable of possessing even a small territory in this region had to have a cultivation of at least thirty thousand years.

The ten-kilometer-diameter center of the Core Area was known as the Great Fiend Zone, also called the Life Forbidden Zone. On the incomplete maps of the Star Dou Great Forest, this area was always marked in vivid blood-red. Fierce Beasts with cultivations exceeding one hundred thousand years lived there, and every one of them possessed strength enough to make a level ninety-five Super Douluo change color.

In any soul beast habitat, the soul beasts living along the edges were usually weak. That was common sense. The Star Dou Great Forest was no exception.

The edge regions of the Star Dou Great Forest were populated by ten-year soul beasts and some weak hundred-year soul beasts.

For the sake of safety, ordinary soul masters without any backing might choose such soul rings for their first soul ring.

But Ji Lin and Chi Yuan clearly would not.

Chi Yuan directly ignored the prohibition against flying over the Star Dou Great Forest. Carrying Ji Lin, she flew straight past the Outer Area and arrived at the Mixed Area. Along the way, no flying soul beast foolish enough to seek death came looking for them.

They had come to the Mixed Area because even hundred-year soul beasts capable of surviving there were no ordinary creatures, making it easier to find a hundred-year soul beast suitable for Ji Lin.

Chi Yuan led Ji Lin through the lush jungle, constantly searching for prey. Without exception, every soul beast they encountered along the way was scared off by a single glance from Chi Yuan.

Ji Lin, whose hands were itching for a fight, could only helplessly give up on his first battle. There would be plenty of opportunities for real combat. Obtaining his first soul ring came first.

The two had already ventured deep into the forest for more than four hours. All the soul beasts they encountered had other attributes. They had not seen a single fire-attribute soul beast, much less one suitable for Ji Lin.

Meanwhile, in a valley more than ten kilometers away from them, a group of people was chopping wood, setting up pots, and cooking over a fire.

"Senior Sister, I saved this fruit for you." A boy who looked only fifteen or sixteen shyly offered the fruit in his hand to the woman in white before him.

"No need. I'm not hungry yet. Give it to someone else." The woman in white shook her head and declined.

Upon hearing that, the boy dejectedly retreated beneath a tree. His companions hurried over to comfort him.

Ma Xiaotao, who was tending the cooking fire, curled her lips disdainfully at the sight.

"And he thinks he can pursue Sister Lexuan? Try again in ten thousand years."

Hearing this, Ling Luochen, who sat opposite Ma Xiaotao, glanced at her. Then, without saying a word, she hugged her knees and sat on the ground, staring blankly at the burning wood.

On a large tree several dozen meters away from them, a scruffy-looking man held a gourd in one hand and a chicken leg in the other. He took huge bites from the chicken leg and occasionally lifted the gourd to gulp down liquor.

With how relaxed he looked, one might have thought this was not the perilous Star Dou Great Forest, but some sort of entertainment venue.

He took a drink, wiped his mouth carelessly with his sleeve, then yawned.

This group was actually far from ordinary. Every one of them was an outstanding student from Shrek Academy's Inner Court.

Those who could enter Shrek Academy's Inner Court were rare geniuses in the outside world.

Whatever one might say about Shrek Academy, the quality of its students truly was the best on the entire continent.

Even the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy found that difficult to match.

The leader of this group was none other than Zhang Lexuan, known as the Inner Court's number one genius. Having just turned eighteen this year, she had already reached level seventy. Her cultivation talent could be called the greatest in the Inner Court's three-thousand-year history.

Dressed in a white robe, beautiful and aloof in appearance, she was Zhang Lexuan, one of Shrek Academy Inner Court's Core Disciples. Not yet twenty years old, she was already a Soul Saint. This time, she had led the group to the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain her seventh soul ring and officially become a Soul Saint.

One had to know that less than a year remained until this year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. Given Zhang Lexuan's age, she would certainly be able to participate in it. It seemed that Shrek Academy would once again dominate this year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament.

The one tending the cooking fire was the team's only fire-attribute soul master, Ma Xiaotao, one of the Outer Court's Core Disciples, who had broken through to level forty at the tender age of thirteen.

Ma Xiaotao had a slender, well-proportioned figure. A red veil covered her face, concealing her features, but the shape of her brows and eyes alone made it clear that she must be a beauty. Her light pink eyes easily gave others a soul-stirring feeling. Fortunately, her gaze was cold, slightly suppressing the bewitching allure in her eyes.

Despite her young age, she had already developed a curvaceous figure. In a few more years, who knew what kind of devastating beauty she would become?

Sitting opposite Ma Xiaotao was Ling Luochen, one of the Outer Court's Core Disciples from the same class as her.

Ling Luochen possessed a cool, aloof beauty. Unlike Ma Xiaotao's fiery charm, and greatly different from Zhang Lexuan's gentle grace, her icy elegance and plum-blossom pride left a deep impression on people. Her skin was very fair, and she seemed weightless when she walked.

She had white hair, blue eyes, and a strange cat-ear ornament on her head.

Unlike Ma Xiaotao, Ling Luochen had only just reached the realm of a level-thirty Soul Elder. Though her talent was still considered exceptional, she could not compare to Ma Xiaotao.

Because of her proud personality, Ling Luochen was not only at odds with Ma Xiaotao, but was not particularly friendly with the others either. Only in front of Zhang Lexuan would she rein in her arrogance somewhat.

Just then, two people could be seen walking toward the entrance of the valley from afar. Zhang Lexuan immediately became vigilant. After all, nothing that happened in the Star Dou Great Forest was strange.