Hunting Soul Beasts: Precautions for the Soul Hunting Forest

"Split it evenly."

Zhou Qing woke Romantina from the "indignation" she was still immersed in and suggested, "What do you think, Miss Romantina?"

"Huh?"

Romantina came back to her senses, the flush on her face immediately fading as she said seriously, "I'm not short on money, but I have to deal with the Moo Spring Ox myself. I want to use my powerful body to withstand its charge!"

Zhou Qing: "...Just don't try to extort us if you get hurt."

Now, Zhou Qing was one hundred percent certain.

This woman was a pervert!

"Do you think I'm that kind of person?" Romantina panted heavily and shouted, "Even if I get hurt, my bones break, I can't move, and some other pervert takes advantage of the situation to steal my body, I absolutely won't extort you!"

Now Xiao Wu was also completely certain that something was wrong with Romantina's brain.

Zhou Qing was speechless.

The adventurers around them, meanwhile, could not help but start "whispering" loudly after hearing that.

"Kids these days really have no conscience at all."

"Exactly, exactly. He even has Innate Full Soul Power, yet he's afraid Miss Romantina will extort him."

"What do kids know?"

"Children from little villages have always matured early, didn't you know? Judging by how he was staring at Miss Alice's soft parts just now, he might already have the makings of a lecher."

"You were staring too, weren't you?"

"..."

Zhou Qing shot Romantina a resentful look. She was morally blackmailing a six-year-old child like him, but seeing how rapidly she was breathing, he knew she had not been thinking anything so complicated. She had merely spoken the honest thoughts in her head.

In the end, Zhou Qing and Tang San covered their faces as they led Romantina and Xiao Wu out of Nuoding Guild in disgrace.

"Follow me!"

Romantina led Zhou Qing and the others to the station, rented a carriage, and set off for the Soul Hunting Forest near Nuoding City.

After half a day's travel, the group arrived at the outskirts of Nuoding Soul Hunting Forest.

During the journey, perhaps because nothing had triggered her "high point," she behaved fairly normally and responsibly explained the matters they needed to be aware of before entering Nuoding Soul Hunting Forest.

First, the types of ordinary flora and fauna, Plant Soul Beasts, and animal Soul Beasts differed from one Soul Hunting Forest to another. If they went to another Soul Hunting Forest, they would need to buy a local forest exploration guide. While it could not cover everything, it could generally guide Soul Masters away from common, unnecessary dangers.

Second, aside from Soul Beast habitats not yet truly brought under human management, such as Star Dou Great Forest, Sunset Forest, the Extreme North, Extreme South Volcano, Storm Canyon, and Wilderness Swamp, all other small Soul Hunting Forests and hunting grounds were managed by Spirit Hall.

Xiao Wu was greatly surprised that there were so many Soul Beast habitats besides Star Dou Great Forest, so she asked, "How do you know so much?"

"There are introductions in Nuoding Academy's Library. I read them back when I was a student," Romantina said casually. "For Commoner Soul Masters, reading more books is beneficial."

Xiao Wu's eye twitched. She suspected this perverted woman was taking a jab at her.

"Generally speaking, Soul Hunting Forests are within Heaven Dou Empire territory, right? Why are they managed by Spirit Hall?" Tang San wanted to learn about the situation on the continent.

These matters would not be recorded in the books of Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy. Nor did Zhou Qing dare make arbitrary judgments based on the novels he had read in his past life. Usually, he could only make broad guesses from the fragments of information he heard from others.

"Mainly to prevent Soul Beasts from being slaughtered indiscriminately."

Romantina said, "The materials on Soul Beasts all have their own uses. For the sake of development, the Two Great Empires would hunt Soul Beasts for the materials on their bodies even if they did not need Soul Rings. But Soul Beasts are also key to a Soul Master's advancement. Put simply, the Soul Beasts in Soul Hunting Forests already controlled by humans across the continent are mainly provided for Commoner Soul Masters."

"The children of major sects and great families would never bother hunting Soul Beasts in places like these. They would go to large Soul Beast Forests instead, searching for the most suitable Soul Beasts for their sect members."

"Think about it. If Spirit Hall had not intervened to manage the Soul Hunting Forests, they would probably have been seized by the armies of the Two Great Empires immediately. The materials from those Soul Beasts would be used to make armor and weapons, while most ordinary Commoner Soul Masters, when they were eleven or twelve, would not have the money to hire Soul Hunting Teams or Adventurers to take them into wild Soul Beast Forests to hunt Soul Beasts. With no one to protect them, the death rate would be extremely high."

"However, it is said that Spirit Hall also does this to make the upper echelons of the Two Great Empires explore those wild Soul Beast habitats."

That was reasonable.

But Zhou Qing knew that from the perspective of the upper echelons of the Two Great Empires, Spirit Hall was infringing upon their interests. It not only won the hearts of Commoner Soul Masters, but also hindered the military development of the Two Great Empires.

After all, there were quite a few Ten-Thousand Year Soul Beasts in those large Soul Beast Forests, and even Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts existed there. Exploring such regions was terribly inefficient. If they drew the attention of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, even an army of one hundred thousand soldiers would only be marching to their deaths.

The ancestors of the Two Great Empires—or rather, humanity's forebears on Douluo Continent—had possessed a spirit of exploration. Rising from humble beginnings, they had carved out glory for humanity. Yet once their territories expanded to a certain extent, while the population was still far from saturated, later inheritors chose to settle for the status quo and began enjoying the glory brought by power. They started fighting for power and profit, setting aside their ancestors' courage to explore the unknown and forge the future.

The people with the strongest spirit of exploration were Soul Masters!

Yet now, most Soul Masters had also fallen into the vortex of craving power and wealth.

"The third point is choosing a Soul Hunting Team." Romantina continued explaining the precautions. "When cooperating with other Soul Hunting Teams in the future, keep your guard up. Once a dispute over benefits arises, they may not honor the agreement. The Adventurers in Nuoding Guild are fairly decent, but the Soul Hunting Teams that spend most of their time living around the outskirts of this Soul Hunting Forest... you'll need to keep your eyes wide open when judging them."

"Miss Romantina, why don't you form a team with us after we become Soul Masters?" Zhou Qing invited Romantina.

"You... don't tell me you've taken a fancy to my chest?"

Romantina covered her chest, her eyes wary, but her nostrils flared as she panted heavily, and her mouth curved upward into a smile. "At such a young age, you already want to capture my heart, step by step enter my inner chambers, then throw me onto a bed and freely defile and humiliate me, toss my clothes onto me afterward, and then go find other girls?"

Zhou Qing opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Tang San's eye twitched. He turned his head away, covering his mouth with one hand as he secretly laughed.

Xiao Wu, meanwhile, began to wonder whether all young human females became... perverts like Romantina when they reached twelve years old, and whether she should learn from her too.

But—

How embarrassing!