Moonlight Wood

After dealing with the Thunder Fire Bird and collecting the Lightning Strike Wood, the Shrek Group did not linger. Instead, they took advantage of the night and left the valley, heading north through the forest.

The Sunset Forest at night was vastly different from during the day. Under the hazy moonlight, the group witnessed many peculiar sights.

Yu Xiaogang, drawing upon his knowledge, explained every phenomenon they encountered, deeply analyzing the Soul Beasts behind them and their habits. Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ma Hongjun benefited greatly from this.

The group traveled for over three hours, passing through valleys, swamps, rivers, and lakes, finally entering a lush mountain forest.

Yu Xiaogang, using information from Old Ghost, determined the general area. He then had Flender fly into the air to search for a place where moonlight gathered.

Following Flender's guidance, they navigated through the dense forest, turning left and right, and finally discovered a colossal ancient tree on a mountainside.

This ancient tree was over ten zhang tall and about three zhang in diameter, standing out conspicuously in the surrounding mountain forest.

As they approached it, they felt an overwhelming sense of immensity. The group was dwarfed by the ancient tree at its base.

Flender looked at the ancient tree before him and couldn't help but sigh. He then asked Yu Xiaogang, "Xiaogang, what kind of plant-type Soul Beast is this?"

Yu Xiaogang stepped forward and touched the ancient tree's bark. The texture was cool and smooth, with wisps of soul power seeping out from within, carrying a unique icy aura.

Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang nodded and said, "This is Moonlight Wood, a Soul Beast that mutated from ordinary trees. It doesn't have stable genetic populations; it can only form through mutation."

"During the day, it's indistinguishable from ordinary trees, but at night, it automatically absorbs moonlight to condense soul power, growing year after year."

Flender nodded thoughtfully and said, "No wonder it has such powerful vitality. So it relies on absorbing moonlight to nourish itself with natural power."

Yu Xiaogang shook his head and patted the tree's trunk. "Powerful vitality? It's just a facade. This Moonlight Wood is already close to death."

The crowd was slightly surprised. Looking at the ancient tree bathed in moonlight, it emanated a faint glow, its sturdy branches filled with vigorous life force. It showed no signs of being near death.

With their doubts, they all looked to Yu Xiaogang.

Yu Xiaogang didn't keep them in suspense and continued to explain, "Because Moonlight Wood mutates from ordinary trees, its bloodline is inherently flawed. Although it gained the ability to absorb moonlight and condense soul power, it cannot flexibly utilize the soul power accumulated within its body. It only knows how to blindly accumulate soul power."

"This crude accumulation method inevitably causes damage to the tree. In the early stages, Moonlight Wood can repair this damage with its own powerful vitality. But as soul power accumulates, the damage to the tree becomes more severe. By the later stages, the Moonlight Wood appears to have ever-increasing vitality, but in reality, it can no longer repair the internal damage."

"These injuries gradually accumulate and will erupt all at once one day, at which point the Moonlight Wood will instantly die."

"Normally, Moonlight Wood does not live beyond fifteen hundred years. This one is already very close."

"So that's how it is." Everyone suddenly understood.

At this moment, Yu Xiaogang turned to Ning Rongrong and said, "Come, Rongrong, step forward and inject your soul power into the Moonlight Wood. This will be your third Soul Ring."

Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up. She stepped forward and, following Yu Xiaogang's instructions, condensed a stream of pure soul power and injected it into the Moonlight Wood's trunk.

The Moonlight Wood trembled, then burst into brilliant light, its aura surging to its peak.

Just as everyone was marveling, the powerful Moonlight Wood before them immediately withered. Like a burnt-out candle flame, its entire body rapidly shrank, becoming only one-third of its original size in the blink of an eye.

A purple Soul Ring slowly emerged from the tree roots. Ning Rongrong sat cross-legged on the spot, guiding the Soul Ring to land on the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda on her chest, and began to absorb it with her eyes closed.

Flender, who witnessed the entire process, couldn't help but sigh, "To kill a thousand-year Soul Beast so easily, this is truly unprecedented in my life!"

To avoid disturbing Ning Rongrong as she absorbed the Soul Ring, Yu Xiaogang walked quietly to Flender's side and then smiled, "Only Soul Masters with instrument-type spirit have such good luck. You, me, and Erlong are all beast-type spirits, so naturally, we don't have such opportunities."

Flender nodded, then looked at Yu Xiaogang with a hint of cunning in his eyes.

"Knowing your personality, this Moonlight Wood probably isn't that simple, is there any other treasure?"

Yu Xiaogang nodded and said, "When this Moonlight Wood dies, it will condense a tree heart. This tree heart, when activated by soul power, can help Soul Masters condense their soul power better and is useful for the Mimicry Training Ground."

"After Rongrong finishes absorbing the Soul Ring, let's take out the tree heart."

In the blink of an eye, it was early morning. The sky gradually brightened, and a faint mist rose from the ground, filling the forest.

Ning Rongrong opened her eyes, feeling the increase in soul power within her body and the information that appeared in her mind. A satisfied smile appeared on her face.

"Rongrong, what is your third soul skill?"

"My third soul skill is called Soul Power Amplification..."

Seeing that the objective from the original work was once again achieved, Yu Xiaogang nodded with satisfaction, then instructed Flender to cut open the trunk of the Moonlight Wood and extract a pure white tree heart.

This Moonlight Wood tree heart was about three meters long and about one meter in diameter. After being cut into several sections, it was stored in a Soul Tool.

After tidying everything up, the group continued along the mountain forest, heading due east to find the final objective of their trip, the Thunder Leopard.

The sun continued to climb, and the mist in the forest gradually dispersed. Heat began to rise.

In the dense forest, in front of a huge cave.

Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ma Hongjun were confronting a Soul Beast.

The Soul Beast opposite them was nearly six meters long, its body covered in black fur interspersed with blue patterns.

Its muscles were very thick, but its physique was well-proportioned, making it look agile and nimble. Its head was small and round, its ears short and round, its nose triangular, and a pair of amber leopard eyes stared intently at the three people in front of it.

This Soul Beast before them was the final objective of their trip, the Thunder Leopard.

At this moment, the surrounding ground was scorched black, with faint purplish-red flames and flashing blue lightning remaining.

These were the traces left behind by Ma Hongjun and the Thunder Leopard after they used their soul skills.

With the amplification of Ning Rongrong's Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, Zhu Zhuqing's strength was still no match for the Thunder Leopard. Although Ma Hongjun's phoenix flames were powerful enough, they couldn't keep up with the Thunder Leopard's speed, so the current situation had once again fallen into a stalemate.

Yu Xiaogang had anticipated this. The three Soul Beasts chosen this time all possessed unique attributes. Apart from the Moonlight Wood, which was relatively simple, the Thunder Fire Bird and the Thunder Leopard, one with extremely strong aerial maneuverability and the other with extremely high ground speed, were not something Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ma Hongjun could handle.

The reason for letting the three try was mainly to temper the arrogance of these youngsters. After all, since joining Blue Tyrant Academy, they had become the most outstanding individuals of their age group, and it was inevitable that they would develop a sense of pride.

This trial was equivalent to dousing them with a bucket of cold water, allowing them to re-examine themselves and calm their minds.

As for the other members of the Seven Monsters, they were all preoccupied with their own thoughts and were not affected.

Seeing that his objective had been achieved, Yu Xiaogang had the three retreat and then looked towards Liu Erlong.

Liu Erlong smiled slightly, then slowly walked towards the Thunder Leopard, an invisible killing intent beginning to emanate from her body.