A... A Confession?!

The sky was gray and overcast, fine snow drifted down, and the Star Dou Great Forest was especially cold.

Zhao Xuan reactivated his shared vision, linking the divine-sense chain to the minds of the other two.

"Fatty, go gather some dry firewood," Zhao Xuan instructed after glancing at the two girls.

"Got it!"

Ma Hongjun briskly got to his feet. With Zhao Xuan's shared vision, he was not worried about Spirit Beasts attacking him at all. Besides, he would have to rely heavily on Zhao Xuan when hunting his Soul Ring later. If he did not curry favor now, when would he?

With the shared vision, Ma Hongjun did not even need to search deliberately. He headed straight for the dry wood spotted within his field of view, and before long returned carrying a huge bundle, efficiently setting up a fire.

The blazing flames leaped high, their warm light driving away the chill. The slight shivering of the two girls' bodies gradually subsided.

The group huddled together around the campfire, orange firelight reflecting on their faces.

At that moment, Zhao Xuan spoke. "Finding Fatty's Soul Ring should be easy enough. Fire-attributed Spirit Beasts ought to be fairly active in winter. But Hermione, have you decided what kind of Soul Ring you want to hunt?"

Hermione lightly bit her lip, conflicted and unable to make up her mind.

Her martial soul, the wand, was quite unusual. The wand itself had no innate attributes, which caused it to lose certain advantages, but in another sense, that was also an advantage.

Because it began as a blank slate, it was highly malleable. It could absorb Soul Rings of nearly any attribute, whether from beasts, plants, or even certain special types of Spirit Beasts.

Seeing this, Zhao Xuan carefully suggested, "According to Grandmaster's advice,