Star Dou Great Forest.
The awkward atmosphere had continued up to this point. It had grown especially strange while Ning Tian absorbed her third Soul Ring.
Ao Yao and Wu Feng stared each other down without saying a word, each standing on one side and, whether intentionally or not, protecting Ning Tian as she absorbed her Soul Ring.
Ao Yao simply didn't want to speak and cause more trouble, since Wu Feng had been treating him coldly. Wu Feng's feelings, on the other hand, were much more complicated.
The Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect was located where Heaven Dou City, in the Heaven Dou Empire, bordered the Lima Plain. It wasn't far from the Star Dou Great Forest. Traveling in a Soul Tool carriage drawn by four hundred-year-old horned qilin horses, they had reached the forest's outer region in just two days.
During those two days, Wu Feng's name had appeared in Ao Yao's Diary several times, earning her two levels of Soul Power as a reward.
Compared to the reward Ning Tian had received, the two-level increase seemed like nothing special. Still, Wu Feng was quite satisfied. Thanks to the reward, her Soul Power Level had reached level twenty-six. She was now one step closer to becoming a three-ring Power Attack System Soul Elder, and one step closer to her goal of staying by Xiao Tian's side and protecting her.
So Wu Feng was quite grateful to Ao Yao.
It was just...
Over the past two days, she had clearly felt that Ning Tian treated Ao Yao differently. You could even say she seemed a little too close to him.
Especially when they were hunting Soul Beasts. Ao Yao had pulled a strange soft sword from his Soul Tool and casually struck once, driving the Soul Beast back and helping Ning Tian kill it.
Afterward, Ning Tian's gaze had clearly grown more affectionate.
Wu Feng had seen it with her own eyes.
A sense of crisis immediately welled up inside her... But there was nothing she could do. She could only watch helplessly as it all happened.
It felt awful.
Ao Yao hadn't noticed Wu Feng's complicated feelings at all. He had no idea that she had already imagined herself as the wronged party in a love-triangle drama. At that moment, he was looking around at the Star Dou Great Forest.
This is my first time in the Star Dou Great Forest. It really is huge—the largest gathering place for Soul Beasts besides the ocean... The only bad thing is that we found a Soul Beast suitable for Ning Tian too early. Now that she's absorbed her Soul Ring, what excuse can I come up with to stay here?
This is such a headache!
Speaking of which, the Star Dou Great Forest is so big. Where am I supposed to look for Huo Yuhao? Just thinking about that kid getting Electrolux's Divine Sense Fragment is enough to keep me awake!
Looks like I can only try my luck...
But why does the Star Dou Great Forest feel so sinister? It's as if a pair of sleazy eyes is watching me from the shadows... Surely I haven't caught the attention of that bastard Tang San?
That doesn't make sense! I've been writing in my Diary for days, and I've already received the reward that conceals me from the workings of fate. The reward clearly said it could hide me from Tang San's perception...
So... who's watching me from the shadows?
As Ao Yao wrote in his Diary, he pondered the matter to himself.
By rights, whoever was watching from the shadows should have been a powerful expert from the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, assigned to protect Ning Tian. After all, Ning Tian was the sect's heir. Even if this was meant to be a trial, they couldn't be so careless as to assume that Wu Feng, with only two rings, and Ao Yao, whose Soul Power Level supposedly stood at just ten, could complete the hunt without trouble.
Someone had to be protecting them from the shadows.
But Ao Yao couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. A strange unease tugged at him.
If it was someone from the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect guarding Ning Tian, then their attention should have been focused on her, not him.
Could his brief intervention just now have made the person in the shadows notice something strange?
Remembering Sect Master Ning's sudden visit and decision to have him accompany Ning Tian to Shrek Academy, Ao Yao suddenly understood.
I get it!
The unusual incident at the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect that day must have made Sect Master Ning suspicious, and that sword strike just now must have confirmed his suspicions...
In that case, I guess I don't need to keep pretending to be weak anymore... The rewards I've received over the past few days really won't let me keep a low profile!
Then, starting now, the Saint of Caution is dead! The one taking the stage is I Don't Eat Beef!
Noticing the words appearing in the Diary, Wu Feng turned her head and glanced at Ao Yao, her expression growing even more complicated.
Gu Yuena's expression turned strange.
Could Ao Yao have been talking about Di Tian when he mentioned those sleazy eyes watching him?
She had ordered Di Tian to keep an eye on the humans entering the Star Dou Great Forest. Based on what Ao Yao had written in his Diary about Ning Tian and Wu Feng, Di Tian had locked onto all three of them the moment they entered the forest.
Every move they made had been under Di Tian's watch.
She hadn't expected Ao Yao to sense Di Tian watching him...
Gu Yuena's heart skipped a beat, but then she found it rather amusing.
If Di Tian found out Ao Yao had called him sleazy, he'd probably make the boy pay dearly for it, wouldn't he?
Of course, that thought could only remain a thought.
No—she couldn't even think about it.
Bound by the Diary, Gu Yuena couldn't tell Di Tian about its existence, let alone tell him what Ao Yao had said.
If she did, the Diary would probably judge it as her inciting Di Tian to attack Ao Yao... Her body couldn't take another punishment from the Diary.
Besides...
The human called Ao Yao had come up with an interesting theory.
His reasoning was completely wrong, so naturally, his conclusion was wrong too.
It seemed this human wasn't omniscient after all.
And he'd said the help of Soul Beasts was insignificant...
At that thought, Gu Yuena's mood brightened considerably.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion raised her little head lazily. Noticing that her mistress had inexplicably cheered up, she didn't react. She simply lowered her head again and continued dozing.
She was used to it by now.
Ever since that Diary had appeared and she had come to live where her mistress resided, she had grown used to her mistress's mercurial moods.
Her mistress's emotions seemed to be swayed by the Diary's contents all the time.
A beast like her, who barely understood most of what was written in the Diary—or didn't understand it at all—could never figure out why her mistress's mood changed so often.
Mm...
Better to sleep.
Besides sleeping, she didn't seem to have anything else to do here with her mistress.
Before you continue