The Long Aotian Who Wasn't Yet Aotian

Not long after leaving the outskirts of Snow Forest Sea, Zhou Huan stopped beside a small stream.

After searching for half a month, it was time to sit down and have a proper meal.

Unfortunately, he could only eat the chilled beast meat from his Storage Soul Tool.

During this trip through Snow Forest Sea, Zhou Huan had barely encountered any Soul Beasts, let alone ones that were both edible and tasty.

He had not known the reason before, but after encountering the Blue Dragon Ice Kirin Horse, Zhou Huan understood.

Even though the Blue Dragon Ice Kirin Horse had deliberately concealed its powerful aura, the Soul Beasts of Snow Forest Sea—ones that were only a thousand, a hundred, or even ten years old—would never dare approach it. Most of them had probably fled Snow Forest Sea outright.

Soul Beasts had a strong sense of territory.

For Hundred-Year and Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, who would dare live next to a Soul Beast Over 100,000 Years Old in a tiny place like Snow Forest Sea?

As a result, Zhou Huan could only eat the food he had prepared before coming here, food that had long since ceased to be fresh.

Fortunately, he was an Ice Attribute Soul Master and could chill the beast meat from time to time. Otherwise, there was no way it would have kept for this long.

Soul Tools of this era did not have refrigerator functions.

As Zhou Huan roasted the beast meat, he could not help feeling regretful. Douluo Continent certainly had plenty of delicious food, but its seasonings were nowhere near as varied as those on Blue Star in his previous life.

Zhou Huan suddenly missed beer and barbecue from his past life.

There was alcohol here too, and in countless varieties, but none of it tasted as good as the beer he had drunk while eating skewers at midnight.

Perhaps it was not an issue with the alcohol, but with the place.

As his thoughts wandered, Zhou Huan suddenly realized that the meat had burned!

Sigh, what bad luck.

Just then, a deep, resonant voice called out, "Friend, your grilling skills are pretty terrible."

Zhou Huan looked up. A young man and a young woman were approaching from more than ten meters ahead.

The young man had long reddish-brown hair, stood around 1.9 meters tall, and had broad shoulders and a burly build. At a glance, he looked like someone with a hearty appetite.

Of course, that was not the important part. The important part was that his skin was incredibly fair, even resembling white jade a little. It was absolutely the complexion most girls dreamed of having.

Zhou Huan's first thought upon seeing him was that it would be a shame if someone blessed with skin like that did not film shampoo commercials.

As for the young woman, she appeared somewhat younger than the young man. She was very beautiful, but what drew the eye most was her outstanding bearing in that long yellow dress, like a noble peony.

Neither of them was ordinary, and neither had completely concealed the aura of a Soul Master.

After all, when traveling outside, displaying one's identity as a Soul Master could often avoid a great deal of trouble. It was not easy for an ordinary person to travel alone, especially in a place like this. It would look plainly unreasonable.

While Zhou Huan observed the two of them, the approaching young man and young woman were also observing Zhou Huan.

This place was not far from Snow Forest Sea. It was not exactly uninhabited, but few people came here to barbecue.

However, they had noticed that the youth who had burned his meat was also a Soul Master, which was why they had come over to greet him.

Yet Zhou Huan, despite being teased, was not embarrassed. "If I get it, I'm fortunate. If I lose it, it's fate. This barbecue doesn't want me to eat it, so there's nothing I can do."

The young man was briefly stunned before bursting into laughter. "Haha! Brother, that's an interesting way of putting it! Truly interesting! This old brother fully agrees! Hahaha!"

Uh... they had gone from friends to brothers just like that?

Zhou Huan was speechless.

Besides, he had no idea whether it was interesting or not. He had just said it casually.

The young man naturally sat down across from Zhou Huan and continued, "Brother, my name is Long Aotian. What's yours?"

Long Aotian?

Was he the Long Aotian Zhou Huan knew of?

Though doubtful, Zhou Huan replied, "My name is Zhou Huan."

At first, the young woman beside him did not seem to intend to sit down. But after seeing Long Aotian's actions, she thought for a moment, took out a piece of yellow silk, spread it over the grass, and only then sat down.

The sight made the corner of Zhou Huan's mouth twitch. The grass was actually quite clean.

Could this girl be a princess or something?

They were in the wilderness, yet she was still this particular?

However, when the young woman introduced herself, Zhou Huan no longer felt like making fun of her, because she said, "My name is Vina."

Long Aotian, Vina!

All right, she really was a princess!

And the most favored princess of the Heaven Dou Empire!

More importantly, her teacher was Du Busi, the current sect master of the Body Sect, a Level 98 Peak Super Douluo.

Could that big shot have come along too?

Zhou Huan's thoughts raced, but he soon decided that Du Busi probably was not so bored that he would serve as a bodyguard for two disciples within Heaven Dou Empire territory.

Did they really think an Esteemed sect master had nothing better to do?

At most, one or two Soul Douluo were secretly protecting them.

After all, one was a princess, while the other was currently the Body Sect's most outstanding younger disciple.

Zhou Huan had not expected to run into this pair while grilling meat, but there was nothing to worry about. It was not as if he planned to rob the princess and Long Aotian.

He was merely curious about what an esteemed princess and a sect prodigy were doing in this remote border region.

Naturally, Zhou Huan would not ask such a question. Instead, he said, "If you don't mind, why not join me for some grilled meat?"

As he spoke, Zhou Huan took out several more pieces of chilled beast meat.

Since they had met, treating them to grilled meat was fine. It might not have been very fresh, but circumstances did not allow for anything better.

"Good. Then thank you, Brother Zhou," Long Aotian said readily.

"You're too polite, Brother Long. When people meet while traveling, it's fate," Zhou Huan said.

Looking at the easygoing and magnanimous Long Aotian before him, who was even somewhat enthusiastic, Zhou Huan found it difficult to imagine the cold and arrogant strongest disciple of the current Body Sect he would become.

Zhou Huan knew that more than six years later, at the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament held by the Sun Moon Empire, Long Aotian would reach the Seven-Ring Soul Sage rank!

A Seven-Ring Soul Sage from the Body Sect was absolutely formidable!

He had even defeated Huo Gua in an individual match, although Huo Gua had been half-crippled at the time.

But even if Huo Gua had been at full strength, with his Soul Power Level far below Long Aotian's at that point, it would still have been hard to say who would win.

Looking at the current Long Aotian, who was at most a Soul Ancestor and only around thirteen years old, Zhou Huan could not help sighing inwardly. What had turned such a youth into someone so cold and arrogant?

Was it power?

Or something else that happened outside?

In any case, Long Aotian was not at all Aotian right now, nor was he arrogant toward others.

Perhaps he was proud inside. After all, among those his age, he was undoubtedly a genius among geniuses.

But in terms of how he treated people, he did not yet possess that future air of cold arrogance.

As Zhou Huan and Long Aotian barbecued, they chatted about all sorts of random things.

Vina, beside them, remained very quiet and did not interrupt their lively conversation.

Only when the two had nearly finished the grilled meat did Vina ask, "Zhou Huan, have you been inside Snow Forest Sea?"

Just as expected!

While chatting with Long Aotian, Zhou Huan had already formed some suspicions. Now that Vina had asked this, the reason for their arrival was practically obvious.

Zhou Huan shrugged calmly and helplessly. "Of course I have. I only came out of there not long ago."

Vina's eyes lit up, and she immediately became interested. "What is the situation inside now?"

Zhou Huan shook his head. "It's a very good situation for ordinary people, but an extremely bad one for Hunters who kill Soul Beasts. I wandered around in there for several days without seeing even half a trace of a Soul Beast, so I came out."

Vina's brows furrowed slightly as she murmured, "Then what exactly happened in Snow Forest Sea?"

Zhou Huan asked, "You came here because of that?"

At this point, Long Aotian spoke. "To be honest with you, Brother Zhou, that is exactly why we came. Two months ago, a small Beast Tide occurred near Snow Forest Sea. Although the strongest Soul Beasts were only at the thousand-year level, it was still a disaster for ordinary people. We happened to pass through while traveling and came to see whether something had happened in Snow Forest Sea. After all, Beast Tides rarely occur in ordinary gathering grounds for low-level Soul Beasts like this."

Zhou Huan nodded. He knew about the Beast Tide, but he had not expected that many Soul Beasts had left Snow Forest Sea because of the Blue Dragon Ice Kirin Horse.

Rather than a Beast Tide, it was more accurate to call it a migration and escape by those Soul Beasts.

Thus, Zhou Huan said, "Even if something really did happen in Snow Forest Sea, so much time has passed that there probably wouldn't be any traces left. Snow Forest Sea now feels more like an ordinary forest."

Vina suddenly thought of something. She looked at Zhou Huan and asked, "Are you a Hunter?"

Zhou Huan nodded without hesitation. "Yes."

The identity of a Hunter was not exactly honorable. Although neither the Heaven Dou Empire, the Star Luo Empire, nor the Dou Ling Empire could openly forbid Hunters from killing Soul Beasts.

That was because humans and Soul Beasts had an irreconcilable conflict at their core, stemming ultimately from the profession of Soul Masters.

As long as one was a Soul Master, one had to kill Soul Beasts in order to advance.

Therefore, no empire would prohibit Soul Masters from killing Soul Beasts, even though they understood that Soul Beasts could not truly be driven to extinction.

Yet interests drove human nature, and Hunters had always existed in a gray area.

Any Soul Master with half a brain understood that Hunters should not exist.

Especially those in power, or rather, the ruling High-Level Personnel, did not look favorably upon Hunters either.

Clearly, Princess Vina belonged to that group.

After hearing Zhou Huan say that he was a Hunter, Vina's expression turned somewhat unpleasant. "We should not slaughter Soul Beasts excessively. If Soul Beasts are ever exterminated, Soul Masters will cease to exist as well."

In truth, as an imperial princess, her wording and tone were already very polite. She did not even sound accusatory.

Of course, none of that mattered to Zhou Huan. So he smiled and asked, "Miss Vina, judging by your clothing and manners, you should be a noble, right?"

Vina froze for a moment, not understanding why Zhou Huan had suddenly shifted the topic to her identity. Still, she nodded instinctively. "...Yes, I am a noble."

Zhou Huan poked at the coals and continued, "Then, Miss Vina, you must never have experienced true hunger, right?"

In fact, Zhou Huan had never experienced hunger either, but he could give this princess a lesson.

Seeing Vina's willow-like brows crease without answering, Zhou Huan continued, "When a person is hungry, they will certainly look for food. And once someone has experienced true hunger, they never want to feel that hunger again."

"But what does that have to do with Hunters?" Vina asked in return.

"Because most Hunters are people who have experienced hunger before," Zhou Huan answered calmly. "And after becoming Soul Masters and gaining strength, they naturally want more. Hunting Soul Beasts is the fastest and most direct way. Otherwise, who would routinely walk along the cliff's edge between life and death? There have always been more dead Hunters than living ones."

Vina fell silent.

Long Aotian also appeared thoughtful. After a moment, he said, "Brother Zhou is right."

Before his teacher accepted him as a disciple, Long Aotian had also been an ordinary commoner.

But not long after awakening his Martial Soul, he had been discovered by his teacher and brought back to the Body Sect. He had only been six at the time, and now he had nearly forgotten the hardship of his childhood.

If he had not been a Body Sect prodigy, how could he possibly have stood beside the noble princess of the Heaven Dou Empire?

His teacher and the Heaven Soul Imperial Family were even trying to bring him and Vina together.

If he had merely been an ordinary Soul Master, perhaps his path would have been the same.

Looking at Zhou Huan's calm expression, Long Aotian felt that not only would he not look down on him for being a Hunter, he admired him even more.

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