"Your Highness, have you noticed that there seem to be fewer Soul Beasts around us?"
Hearing the soldier's words, Xue Qinghe immediately released his Soul Power and sensed his surroundings. There really were far fewer Soul Beasts than before.
"Could we have entered the territory of some powerful Soul Beast?" another soldier guessed.
Xue Qinghe shook his head. "Impossible. This is the Royal Soul Beast Forest. It's inspected regularly, and there aren't any Soul Beasts powerful enough to affect the range where other Soul Beasts live."
"As for the reason..." Xue Qinghe thought for a moment, then said helplessly, "I don't know either."
The strange situation only made him more curious. Could it be because of that Soul Beast?
"Your Highness, that Soul Beast seems to have stopped," a soldier nearby suddenly said.
Xue Qinghe came back to his senses and followed the soldier's gaze. An open clearing lay before them, with a towering giant tree standing in its center. Even in the vast Royal Soul Beast Forest, the tree was truly one of a kind.
They watched helplessly as Xiao Yu landed on the tree.
"Does this Soul Beast not have parents?" the soldier asked, seeing that no other Soul Beasts appeared after Xiao Yu landed.
"Mm." Xue Qinghe nodded. The discovery both intrigued him and relieved him. Fortunately, the Soul Beast had no parents. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have known what to do. Was he supposed to kill its parents?
"Never mind. Now that we know where this Soul Beast lives, let's leave it at that. We'll come back once we're prepared." After memorizing the location, Xue Qinghe turned to go.
The Heaven Dou Emperor had given him half a year off, and he had nothing better to do. Now that something interesting had turned up, he might as well use it to pass the time.
He had originally planned to just go through the motions, then use not finding a Soul Beast he liked as an excuse to put the matter aside. Now, there was no need.
"Yes." The soldier had no objections. He nodded, then left with Xue Qinghe.
Xiao Yu had no idea that Xue Qinghe had taken such an interest in him. At that moment, he was lying on a tree branch, eating the Cocoa Fruits he had just obtained one after another.
After wolfing down five Cocoa Fruits in a row, Xiao Yu rubbed his bulging little belly, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"I can't eat any more. I really can't eat any more. Hic!"
Xiao Yu immediately opened his panel.
[Xiao Yu] [Race: Holy Wing King (Radiant)] [Attributes: Wing, Wing, King (Locked)] [Level: lv15 (0/150)] [Skills: Wind Force, Vacuum Slash, Air Cutter, Flash Strike] [Bag: Leo's Memory*1] [Daily Task: Flap wings one thousand times (Completed)] [Weekly Task: Defeat one Hundred-Year Soul Beast (Completed)] [Monthly Task: Defeat one Thousand-Year Soul Beast (Incomplete)] [Yearly Task: Defeat one Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast (Incomplete)]
"System, what is this Leo's Memory? Is it what I think it is?" Xiao Yu asked, looking at the reward in his bag.
In the game from his previous life, if Leo wanted to evolve, he needed not only to meet the level requirement but also to consume various materials to increase his star rank. One of those materials was Leo's Memory.
[Host's level is insufficient. Please complete more tasks to raise your level.]
The system's offhand reply crushed Xiao Yu's hopes. Well, it looked like he couldn't use this thing yet.
"Forget it. I'll think about it later." As Xiao Yu spoke, he slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
While Xiao Yu slept, Xue Qinghe rode away in his carriage.
Beside a lotus pond behind the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, a middle-aged man with an imposing air sat casually in a pavilion.
"You're back? How did it go? Did you find a Soul Beast you like?" The middle-aged man tossed some feed into the pond, then turned to look at Xue Qinghe beside him.
The man was none other than the supreme ruler of the Heaven Dou Empire, the master of the realm—Xue Ye, the Heaven Dou Emperor.
"Reporting to Father, I found one," Xue Qinghe said with a respectful bow.
"Oh?" Xue Ye raised his brows, intrigued. "Where is it? Let me have a look."
At that, Xue Qinghe looked a little embarrassed. "Reporting to Father, although I found a Soul Beast I like, I wasn't able to bring it back."
Xue Ye looked surprised. "You couldn't bring it back? Surely you at least know what kind of Soul Beast it is."
Xue Qinghe shook his head as well. "I couldn't identify it either."
"Even you don't know what it is?!" Xue Ye exclaimed. His Crown Prince had read widely and knew almost every Soul Beast. Yet he didn't recognize this one.
Xue Qinghe nodded helplessly. "It seems to be a Soul Beast never recorded before. That's why I couldn't identify it."
"That certainly makes me curious. Bring it back sometime so I can have a look." Xue Ye wasn't bothered that Xue Qinghe had failed to bring it back.
"Yes." Xue Qinghe nodded. The two chatted a little longer before Xue Qinghe left.
In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.
This time, Xue Qinghe came to the edge of the Royal Soul Beast Forest once again, carrying plenty of fruit and fully prepared.
With a clear destination in mind, Xue Qinghe headed straight for the giant tree where Xiao Yu lived.
Meanwhile, beneath the tree, a little beast was doing a series of movements that other Soul Beasts would never understand.
The little beast lay on the ground, lowering and raising its two short arms. It was doing push-ups.
One, two... The little beast kept going until it had done a full hundred, then collapsed onto the ground, drenched in sweat.
[Congratulations, Host! You have completed the Daily Task "One Hundred Push-Ups."] [Reward: Cocoa Fruit*1]
Hearing the voice in his ear, Xiao Yu grumbled irritably, "System, what's wrong with you? You're making a Pokémon do push-ups."
The system remained aloof and didn't reply.
Xiao Yu rolled his eyes. Famished from all that effort, he quickly took the Cocoa Fruit out of his bag and ate it.
"Tsk, it's delicious, but eating it all the time gets old." Xiao Yu quickly finished the Cocoa Fruit. Looking at his experience bar, which had increased by two-thirds, he sighed.
[Xiao Yu] [Race: Holy Wing King (Radiant)] [Attributes: Wing, Wing, King (Locked)] [Level: lv15 (100/150)] [Skills: Wind Force, Vacuum Slash, Air Cutter, Flash Strike] [Bag: Leo's Memory*1] [Daily Task: One Hundred Push-Ups (Completed)] [Weekly Task: Defeat two Hundred-Year Soul Beasts (Incomplete)] [Monthly Task: Defeat one Thousand-Year Soul Beast (Incomplete)] [Yearly Task: Defeat one Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast (Incomplete)]
"It looks like, apart from the Daily Task, the other tasks stay the same. At most, the numbers change," Xiao Yu mused, looking at the task list before him.
That did make things easier for him.
Before you continue