Soul Hunting Forest? No, This is a Large Open-Air Building Materials Market!

"The warrant is fine, but... with a ragtag group of the old, the weak, and the disabled like you, you actually want to enter the Soul Hunting Forest?"

The captain of the guards responsible for checking the warrants squinted, his gaze sweeping back and forth over the three of them.

One was a middle-aged man with a stiff expression who looked like he did nothing but bury his head in books.

One was a brat wearing a tattered work-study student uniform, carrying a strange metal box in his hand.

And there was... a wolf that walked upright, wore a tattered hat, and had a miserable look on its face?

What kind of circus act was this?

"That is none of your concern."

Yu Xiaogang kept a cold face as he tucked the Martial Soul Hall elder warrant, engraved with three patterns, back into his robes.

Although he was timid and submissive in front of Qin Feng, in front of outsiders, he was still the aloof Master.

"Hmph, it's hard to save a soul that's hell-bent on dying."

The guard captain waved his hand to signal them to pass, muttering under his breath.

"What bad luck. Work-study students these days are so ignorant of the heights of the world, bringing a pet along just to go die."

Just then, a commotion erupted from behind them.

"Move aside! Move aside! Don't block this young master's path!"

Several luxuriously decorated carriages pulled up to the checkpoint. The curtains were pulled back, and several youths dressed in ornate silk outfits jumped down.

The leader had hair slicked back with oil, a crystal-clear jade pendant hanging from his waist, and a folding fan in his hand, looking incredibly flashy.

"Yo, isn't this that freeloader 'Master' Yu Xiaogang?"

The flashy youth recognized Yu Xiaogang at a glance, an exaggerated, mocking smile appearing on his face.

"What? Can't make it in Notting Academy anymore, so you're planning to come to the forest to serve as a snack for soul beasts?"

"Look at that wolf beside him; it's as thin as a twig. I bet even the soul beasts wouldn't bother with it."

The lackeys behind him joined in the laughter, their voices grating.

Yu Xiaogang's face turned livid, his hands clenched into tight fists.

This was Xiao Chenyu, the son of the Nuoding City lord and a notorious playboy at the academy.

Under normal circumstances, Yu Xiaogang would have long since flicked his sleeves and left.

But today, he looked at Qin Feng beside him.

Qin Feng was squatting on the ground, fiddling with the metal box in his hands as if he hadn't heard the mockery at all.

"Hey! You beggar!"

Seeing that no one was paying him any mind, Xiao Chenyu felt his pride wounded. He snapped his folding fan shut and pointed it at Qin Feng.

"This young master is talking to you! Do you not know the rules?"

Qin Feng finally raised his head.

He pushed up the goggles he had just made, his eyes as calm as if he were looking at a paramecium.

"Grey Wolf, scan the surrounding noise decibels."

Grey Wolf pulled a horn-like instrument from somewhere and waved it toward Xiao Chenyu.

"Beep beep! Warning! High-frequency noise source detected. IQ index is low. Suggest ignoring."

Grey Wolf reported with a straight face, his dead-fish eyes filled with mockery.

"What did you say?!"

Xiao Chenyu was furious. His soul power surged, and two soul rings—one white and one yellow—rose from beneath his feet.

A Soul Grand Master!

For his age, he certainly had the capital to be arrogant.

"I'm going to tear that wretched wolf's mouth apart!"

Just as he prepared to strike.

Qin Feng stood up. A pitch-black pipe had appeared in his hand at some point, pointed directly at the center of Xiao Chenyu's forehead.

"If you take one more step forward, I will turn that slick, oily skull of yours into a sieve."

Qin Feng's voice was not loud, but it carried a bone-chilling coldness.

It was the killing intent that had just blown away a Title Douluo.

Xiao Chenyu felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to his crown, his body instinctively freezing in place.

That black pipe... gave him an incredibly dangerous feeling.

"This is the entrance to the market! Private fighting is strictly prohibited!"

The guard captain finally spoke up lazily, clearly disappointed that he didn't get to see a show.

"Hmph! Consider yourselves lucky!"

Xiao Chenyu took the opportunity to back down, retracted his martial soul, and glared viciously at Qin Feng.

"If you enter the forest, you'd better hope I don't run into you, otherwise..."

He made a throat-slitting gesture, then swaggered into the forest with his subordinates.

Qin Feng retracted his gun barrel without even glancing at that group of people.

"Let's go, don't waste time."

"Our material warehouse is still waiting for us to take inventory."

The three of them and the wolf crossed the massive steel fence and stepped into the gloomy Soul Hunting Forest.

As soon as they entered, the stench of rotting leaves mixed with beast excrement hit them in the face.

"Ugh—!"

Grey Wolf pinched his nose, his face full of disgust.

"What kind of dump is this! It smells worse than when I was catching frogs in the sewer!"

"Qin Feng, let's hurry up and finish so we can go back. I need to take a bath, I want to use my automatic back-scrubber!"

Qin Feng ignored his complaints and opened the metal case.

Following a faint sound of mechanical operation.

A disc-shaped instrument rose up, and the radar screen on top began to rotate and scan.

"Master, point the way."

Qin Feng looked at the dense cluster of light dots on the screen and asked without looking up.

Although Yu Xiaogang was still angry about what had just happened, his attention was instantly diverted the moment he saw the instrument.

"What type of soul beast are we looking for?"

"If it's for your first soul ring, I suggest looking for a plant-type or..."

"Who said I was looking for a soul ring?"

Qin Feng interrupted him, pointing at a light dot on the radar that was glowing a deep, purplish red.

"I'm looking for something hard."

"The harder, the better."

"Preferably the kind with bones containing high concentrations of carbon, or skin covered in metallic armor."

"System analysis shows that two kilometers to the southeast, there is a herd of 'Iron-Hide Savage Bull'."

"Their hide is a natural material for bulletproof vests, and their horns can be refined to extract high-strength keratin for composite bow limbs."

"And over there, thirty degrees west of north, there is a den of 'Ghost Tiger'."

"The nerve conduction speed of a Ghost Tiger is extremely fast; if you extract their nerves, you can make high-sensitivity sensor circuits."

Yu Xiaogang felt his scalp tingle.

Others came to the Soul Hunting Forest to obtain soul rings; it was a sacred ceremony of advancement.

This kid, on the other hand.

Is he treating this place like an open-air building materials market?

Is he treating soul beasts like walking parts kits?

"Then... then let's head to the southeast first."

Yu Xiaogang wiped his sweat, feeling as if his worldview had been rubbed into the dirt once again.

"The Iron-Hide Savage Bull has a violent temperament and extremely strong defense; even a Soul Elder would find it difficult to break through their hide. Shouldn't we..."

"Strong defense?"

Qin Feng's eyes lit up.

He patted Grey Wolf on the shoulder.

"Brother Wolf, did you hear that?"

"Strong defense means high material density."

"It's perfect for testing that 'Molecular Oscillation Cutting Blade' you made last night."

Grey Wolf chuckled and pulled a strange weapon out of his seemingly tattered coat, which actually contained a world of its own. It looked like a chainsaw, but the teeth were vibrating frantically, emitting a buzzing sound.

"Don't worry!"

"Never mind an Iron-Hide Savage Bull, even Red Wolf's frying pan... uh, that might be hard to cut."

"In any case, leave it to me!"

The three of them moved rapidly toward their target.

Along the way, they encountered quite a few ten-year and even hundred-year soul beasts.

A ten-year Wind Baboon jumped down from a tree, baring its fangs and claws as it attempted to ambush the isolated Yu Xiaogang.

"Bang!"

Before Yu Xiaogang could even summon Luo Sanpao.

A steel ball the size of a fingernail precisely pierced the center of the Wind Baboon's forehead.

That was shot by Qin Feng using a simple slingshot he had casually picked up.

"Tsk, this low-tier trash doesn't even have any value for extraction."

Qin Feng kicked the Wind Baboon's corpse, his face full of disappointment.

"The brain capacity is too small; it's not even qualified to be made into a bio-chip."

"Let's keep moving."

This cold and efficient method of killing sent a chill through Yu Xiaogang's heart.

He suddenly realized.

In the eyes of this youth, life truly seemed to be nothing more than a string of data, a pile of materials.

Is this... the coldness of science?

"Roar--!"

Just as they had been traveling for about half an hour.

A massive roar suddenly erupted from ahead, accompanied by the rumbling of falling trees.

On the radar screen, the cluster of light dots representing the "Iron-Hide Savage Bull" was in a state of violent agitation.

Moreover, there were several green light dots representing humans mixed in among them, and the situation looked dire.

"Yo, it seems someone got here first."

Qin Feng looked at the screen, a playful curve tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"And it looks like they've run into big trouble."

"Let's go, Brother Wolf."

"We're going to watch the show."

"And by the way... collect some toll fees."