Soul Leaving Body

Over four hundred li from Notting City lay the Soul Hunting Forest.

It took Luo Ling five days to reach this place. Before heading to Heaven Dou City, he needed to add a Soul Ring to his Second Martial Soul, the Soul of Desire.

Back in Emperor Soul Village, Luo Ling had not waited for Xiao Wu to wake up. After paying his respects to the Old Village Chief, he had left directly.

In the end, Xiao Wu was nothing more than an insignificant person to Luo Ling. Planting a Psychological Suggestion had been enough.

He would not waste too much time on Xiao Wu. She was merely a hundred-thousand-year transformed Spirit Beast. If Xiao Wu still followed the original story and got together with Tang San, then he would simply kill her.

When his Martial Soul had been the Scarecrow, Luo Ling might not have had much confidence. Now that he had undergone a second awakening and possessed two powerful Martial Souls, along with his thorough knowledge of the plot, Luo Ling was confident he could toy Yu Xiaogang and Tang San to death!

Arriving at the entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest, Luo Ling looked at the Gathering Place before him and, familiar with the route, found an inn to stay in.

Not long ago, he had come here with the director of studies from Notting Academy leading the way.

"Letter of Authorization in hand! Hunting an Agility Spirit Beast! Three more people needed!"

"Hunting a Plant Spirit Beast! Seven people waiting for a Letter of Authorization! Ten Gold Soul Coins!"

All sorts of cries rose and fell nearby, most of them groups recruiting members to hunt Spirit Beasts.

A Letter of Authorization was issued by Spirit Hall to Soul Masters who needed to advance. Only those holding one could enter the Soul Hunting Forest.

Luo Ling did not have a Letter of Authorization, but he had no intention of entering the Soul Hunting Forest with a group anyway.

Joining a group required proof from Spirit Hall. Luo Ling did not have that, and he did not want to expose his Martial Soul either.

"I'll sneak in after dark." Luo Ling swept his gaze over the guards at the entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest.

The Soul Hunting Forest was enormous. It was impossible for people to guard every inch of it. He only needed to find a neglected spot!

"I can investigate it a little first..."

A sinister curve tugged at the corner of his lips. Luo Ling withdrew his gaze, shut the window in his room, and sat down on the bed.

An eerie red glow radiated from his eyes. The next second, Luo Ling felt his body become weightless.

He saw himself sitting upright on the bed.

"So this is the Soul Leaving Body ability of the Soul of Desire?"

Looking at his illusory figure floating in midair, Luo Ling flew around the room with great interest for a while. He discovered that, in his Soul Leaving Body state, his body could pass freely through solid objects.

His phantom spirit body passed through the wooden wall, and Luo Ling entered the room next door.

There, a burly man was counting the coins in his bag.

Luo Ling floated before the man for quite a while. No matter what movements he made, the man seemed unable to see him.

"He can't see me while I'm in the Soul Leaving Body state." Luo Ling nodded, then his entire body merged into the man's body.

Possession—this was an innate skill of the Soul of Desire while in the Soul Leaving Body state.

As he gradually merged with the man's body, Luo Ling seemed to feel a bit of his sense of touch return.

While Luo Ling was still experimenting with his Martial Soul, the man counting money on the bed suddenly felt a chill run through his body. Then, to his horror, he discovered that his hand was no longer under his control!

Before the man's terrified gaze, his body stood up from the bed on its own and walked to the mirror nearby.

In the mirror, the man wore an eerie expression. Then, a red light seemed to flash through his eyes, while a silver-haired shadow clung to his body like a ghost.

"Ah!" With a terrified scream, the man collapsed to the floor.

After several seconds, when he felt control over his body return, the man snatched up the money bag from the bed in a panic and rushed out of the room without looking back.

Inside the room, Luo Ling's spirit body floated in the air, watching the direction in which the man had fled.

"Soul possession can briefly control someone else's body. The duration depends on the difference in Spiritual Power between the two sides. That's quite reasonable."

"But..." Luo Ling turned to look at the mirror beside him. Within it, a silver-haired figure like a wandering ghost was reflected.

"I didn't expect mirrors to reflect spirit bodies in the Soul Leaving Body state. It really is..."

Shaking his head helplessly, Luo Ling could not help thinking of the horror movies he had watched in his previous life.

How had those directors come up with the idea that mirrors could reveal ghosts?

Outside the inn, Luo Ling drifted out quietly.

After confirming that no one else could see him, Luo Ling began investigating the boundaries of the Soul Hunting Forest without concern.

Amid the crowd, no one expected a ghostly figure to drift leisurely past them.

Luo Ling also had not expected that, in another inn not far away, a pair of eyes was staring at him curiously.

"Interesting."

Inside a private room at the inn some distance away, a bewitchingly handsome blond man sat at a table by the window, watching the crowd below with interest.

This blond man was Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan, the Spirit Hall Elder accompanying Bibi Dong to Notting City!

"Chrysanthemum Elder, what is it?" Bibi Dong raised her head and looked at Chrysanthemum Douluo in confusion.

"Your Holiness Pope, look over there!" Chrysanthemum Douluo pointed out the window.

At his words, Bibi Dong leaned out to look. When she saw the figure floating among the crowd, her expression immediately froze.

"That is?"

"It should be some kind of special Martial Soul," Chrysanthemum Douluo answered with a smile.

"Teacher, what are you looking at?" Hu Liena, who was beside them, also came to the window curiously.

Yet as she looked at the bustling crowd outside, she saw nothing at all.

"He looks about seven or eight years old, and his Soul Power is at the level of a Soul Master."

"He resembles the nearly extinct Psychic type Spirit Beast, the Nightmare. He is in spirit-body form, and judging by his concealment, even a level-forty Soul Ancestor would find it difficult to see through him unless they were of the Psychic type."

"Your Holiness Pope, this is a talent. If he grows up, his concealment and assassination abilities may surpass even Old Ghost's!"

Chrysanthemum Douluo's gaze rested on the "A Piao" amid the crowd. His immense Spiritual Power had already examined Luo Ling's spirit body thoroughly.

"Ghost Elder, what do you think?" Bibi Dong looked toward Ghost Douluo, who had remained silent in the corner.

"Very strong concealment ability!" Ghost Douluo's reply was concise.

"Then I'll trouble Ghost Elder to keep an eye on this boy for now. Let's observe him first." Bibi Dong nodded, her interest in Luo Ling among the crowd plainly evident.

Spirit Hall had always liked recruiting Soul Masters with powerful Martial Souls. It was naturally good if they could recruit them; if not, then they would destroy them.

This had been a rule established since the time of the previous Pope.

"Teacher! What are you talking about?" Hu Liena's face was full of confusion.

"We saw an interesting little fellow. Perhaps he will become your companion."

"What?" Hu Liena was stunned for a moment.

Amid the crowd, Luo Ling suddenly shuddered.

Could a ghost feel cold too? The weather isn't cold either... Luo Ling stopped, feeling a faint sense of discomfort all over. He looked around, but found nothing.

Shaking his head, Luo Ling continued onward. A quarter of an hour later, he reached the edge of the Gathering Place.

The perimeter was blocked by iron fences nearly ten meters tall. However, compared to the seven or eight guards at the entrance, there was only one guard every thousand meters here.

"Looks like this is the place." Luo Ling nodded in satisfaction.

Places like the Soul Hunting Forest, which only contained low-level Spirit Beasts, did not have many guards. Now, he only needed to wait for nightfall.

With that in mind, Luo Ling did not linger any longer. Floating through the air, he drifted toward the inn where he was staying.

He did not notice at all that, in a nearby corner, a black shadow was silently watching him.