A Feint at Chencang, Hunting Soul Beasts

On the morning of the second day after his martial soul awakening, at the gates of Pure Yang Sacred Leopard City, witnessed by half the city, the carriage representing the Young Clan Leader of the Pure Yang Sacred Leopard Clan set out in grand procession for the clan's exclusive Soul Hunting Forest, escorted by five Soul Saints and fifteen Soul Emperors. The forest contained large numbers of power-type, defense-type, and other soul beasts under three thousand years old suitable for Pure Yang Sacred Leopard soul rings.

"Wow, those lords are dressed in black and gold. That means they're elders of the Pure Yang Sacred Leopard Clan—Soul Saint-level powerhouses—and there are five of them! Is this the prestige of the Young Clan Leader of the Pure Yang Sacred Leopard Clan?" A traveling peddler doing business here exclaimed in amazement upon seeing so many powerful experts for the first time.

"Of course. Our Young Clan Leader has Innate Full Soul Power. He's one of the continent's greatest geniuses!" an outer disciple of the Pure Yang Sacred Leopard Clan said proudly from the side.

"If he's so powerful, why not beat the soul beast he needs half to death, bring it back to the residence, and obtain the soul ring directly? Why go all the way to the clan's Soul Hunting Forest?" a passerby asked in confusion.

"Heh, you don't understand! The Young Clan Leader is a powerful battle soul master, so naturally he has to make a trip to the Soul Hunting Forest and temper himself a little! Every powerhouse has to weather endless storms before seeing a rainbow! As for danger, this is the clan's own territory, and there are so many experts with him. How could there possibly be any danger?" another passerby explained.

"I could take his place," murmured a young man around twenty-two years old by the roadside. He appeared to be only a level-five Soul Scholar.

Just as the young man fantasized about the future, a stick quietly reached out behind him and came crashing down. His head was immediately split open, blood pouring out.

"Damn it, run! Go on, run! So you're the brat who's been stealing merchandise from the shops, huh?" An Enforcer from the Pure Yang Sacred Leopard Clan market stepped forward and subdued him.

"What? No wonder the accounts haven't been adding up lately! I almost got fired by my boss because of it. So it was you, brat!" a shop's accountant shouted from the side, unable to look happier.

"That's right! I was wondering why my shop's accounts never matched up. So it was this brat."

"Same here!"

"Kill him! Kill him! Punish him without mercy!" The accountants from nearby shops immediately turned into champions of justice, cheering as they rushed toward the young man, intending to beat him to death on the spot.

Who knew whether those shops truly could not balance their accounts because goods had been stolen, or whether the accountants themselves were the problem?

The Enforcer beside them immediately stopped the crowd. "Everyone, stop! Stop! Private fighting is forbidden within Pure Yang Sacred Leopard City. If you have a dispute, go to the Soul Arena for a life-and-death battle, or report it to the Enforcers for mediation. We'll take this man to prison for questioning first. Rest assured, everyone! We will uncover the truth and give everyone justice."

The convoy paid no attention to this farce. He was merely a level-five Soul Scholar; the Enforcers could deal with him effortlessly.

That night, the accountants from more than a dozen nearby shops—all merchants rather than disciples of the Pure Yang Sacred Leopard Clan, who had come here to do business—secretly paid a visit to the Enforcement Hall.

The next day, the interrogation results came out. The young man had stolen goods worth a total of fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins and was immediately sentenced to death.

Other than the young man, everyone was happy.

The Pure Yang Sacred Leopard Clan paid no attention to the matter. No matter whose hands the Gold Soul Coins ultimately ended up in, as long as none of their clan members were involved and the outside shops paid their taxes on time and in full, they did not care about anything else.

Nor could they.

Elsewhere.

"Grandmother, the convoy has left the city," Zhuang Xingyu said to Murong Yunxue inside the City Lord's Mansion.

"Good. My good grandson, we'll leave for Sunset Forest at once. That six-hundred-year-old Yin Yang Demonic Bear is definitely suitable for you."

That's right, the convoy from earlier was fake!!!

The real Zhuang Xingyu was heading to Sunset Forest with his grandmother to hunt a soul beast.

After disguising themselves, the two secretly left the city through the Family Secret Passage.

They deliberately traveled along secluded paths. With Murong Yunxue's formidable level-eight-eight Soul Power, they reached the northern part of Sunset Forest in less than an hour.

Murong Yunxue immediately hurried toward the Yin Yang Demonic Bear's location based on her memories.

She had no intention of stopping to let Zhuang Xingyu identify soul beasts, train his wilderness survival skills, or fight soul beasts.

The key now was to obtain a soul ring and prevent any accidents. As for everything else, Murong Yunxue intended to do it after Zhuang Xingyu obtained his soul ring. It would not be too late then.

"Along the way, there haven't been many signs of human soul hunting, nor signs of large soul beast activity. That Yin Yang Demonic Bear is most likely still alive," Murong Yunxue observed, finally putting her mind at ease.

Over the past two days, the clan had not sent anyone in advance to check whether the Yin Yang Demonic Bear was still there. First, they feared someone might discover that Zhuang Xingyu intended to hunt soul beasts in Sunset Forest.

Second, there was no point. If it was gone, then it was gone. What would checking accomplish? It would not come back.

Even if it was gone, they could activate another backup plan and simply hunt a different soul beast in Sunset Forest. It would not delay them.

Following his grandmother, Zhuang Xingyu curiously examined everything around him. This was only the second time since his birth that he had traveled so far from home.

His previous trip to Sacred Soul Village had only been a brief visit, and it had also been a place inhabited by humans. Now that he was in Sunset Forest, it felt completely different.

Zhuang Xingyu felt as though he had entered a tropical rainforest from his previous life! However, the climate here was much drier than a tropical rainforest, with humidity similar to the temperate monsoon regions of his previous world. Yet the trees here were evergreen, and the biodiversity was far richer than in a tropical rainforest. It was probably because of Soul Power.

It was exceptionally quiet here. The trees blocked out the sky and sun. Even though they were currently in the outer region, the trees were generally over nineteen meters tall. Their enormous canopies blocked the sunlight, allowing only specks of light to filter through. Soul beasts occasionally cried out in the distance, adding a touch of oppression to the forest.

However, with Murong Yunxue, a late-stage Soul Douluo powerhouse, present, no foolish soul beast dared come over to seek death.

Because the Chaos Bead had once absorbed the bloodline essence of the Blue Silver Emperor, Zhuang Xingyu had also gained the Blue Silver Domain. However, it was still hidden within his body and had yet to awaken; it would take some more time before it fully awakened.

Still, this allowed Zhuang Xingyu to make preliminary use of the nearby Blue Silver Grass to observe the surrounding activity. He decided to give it a try.

Through the perception of the Blue Silver Grass, Zhuang Xingyu discovered that his eyes could observe in a full three hundred and sixty degrees without blind spots, like a dragonfly's. The only issue was that he had to look up; there was no other reason—the Blue Silver Grass was too short.

And Zhuang Xingyu did not like looking up at those soul beasts. In his previous life, whenever he was lectured by teachers at school or superiors at work, he felt suffocated. He did not want to be stepped on by others, and his classmates and coworkers all said Zhuang Xingyu was overly sensitive.

That was until Zhuang Xingyu met an old fortune teller. After examining Zhuang Xingyu's birth characters and facial features, the old man wore a regretful expression and said Zhuang Xingyu had been born at the wrong time, four hundred years too late. Otherwise, the barbarians would never have passed the border in those days.

Zhuang Xingyu did not understand at the time. Only after coming to Douluo Continent did he understand the old man's meaning. The old man had judged people incredibly accurately!

"Awoo! Roar!" Murong Yunxue and Zhuang Xingyu arrived beside a cave, where a huge bear stood before them. Its body was black in the middle and white on both sides, the exact opposite coloration of a giant panda from Zhuang Xingyu's previous life.

Seeing people approach, it immediately roared at the grandmother and grandson, hoping to frighten away the powerful enemy before it.

"Good grandson, we're here. This is the Yin Yang Demonic Bear."

The reason they had chosen Sunset Forest rather than Star Dou Forest was that the Pure Yang Sacred Leopard Clan was located in the northwestern part of the Heaven Dou Empire, near the Extreme North Ice Plains and close to Sunset Forest. Star Dou Forest lay in the south-central region of the Heaven Dou Empire and was much farther away.