Star Dou Forest

"Heh heh heh... Teacher, oh teacher, who would have thought you'd deliver yourself to my doorstep? Don't blame me for this." Lin Yu covered his right eye with one hand, bursting into wild laughter.

If anyone could have stood before Lin Yu at that moment, they would surely have seen the scarlet gleam at the corner of his eye.

However, the light at the corner of Lin Yu's eye was not illusory but real—it came from his recent development of his second martial soul, which could attach itself to his body and freely change the color of its glow.

"Six more years until my first meeting with Tang San." Lin Yu's gaze turned utterly cold.

"The protagonist of the Douluo World?! Let's see just how tough your life force really is!" Lin Yu began his preparations, since tomorrow he would be heading to the Star Dou Forest.

Originally, Lin Yu hadn't planned to wholeheartedly aid Martial Soul Hall; he only wanted to fish in troubled waters. After all, as his strength grew, his body's cravings would only intensify.

He couldn't guarantee that Bibi Dong's thoughts wouldn't change, but now that she was already considered his, he naturally wouldn't let her fall into her original fate.

"Let's go. This time, I plan to obtain my third soul ring in the Star Dou Forest." Lin Yu looked at Dugu Yan standing before him.

This time, compared to the lineup for the Sunset Forest, it was far stronger—three Titled Douluo in total.

"Mm, same as last time? Rush straight to the Star Dou Forest?" Yue Guan looked at Lin Yu, preparing to fly him there directly as he spoke.

"No need. We'll take it slow this time; there's no rush." Lin Yu shook his head at Yue Guan.

He wanted to take a good look at the scenery of the Douluo Continent.

"Fine, there really is no hurry." Dugu Bo had no objections, so the group set off.

The Star Dou Forest lay directly south of the Heaven Dou Empire, spanning two empires. Its area was nearly equal to that of the Balak Kingdom.

Two-fifths of its territory fell within the Heaven Dou Empire, while the remaining three-fifths lay in the Star Luo Empire. It was a vast primeval forest with complex terrain.

The Star Dou Forest wasn't far from Martial Soul City, so the group didn't take long to arrive at its edge.

"Let's go. The Star Dou Forest is right ahead; we'll head straight in." Though the sky was already growing dark, with Yue Guan, Ghost, and Dugu Bo—three Titled Douluo—there was no need to worry about danger.

"Xiao Yu, this time we won't help you obtain soul rings. If you want a suitable third soul ring, you'll have to do it yourselves." Once inside the Star Dou Forest, Yue Guan spoke to Lin Yu with a serious tone.

"Hm? No problem." Though a bit surprised, Lin Yu didn't object and simply nodded in agreement.

"Old Poison, the same goes for your granddaughter. If there's no danger, you can't intervene." After speaking to Lin Yu, Yue Guan turned his gaze to Dugu Bo, his expression equally stern.

Hearing this, Dugu Bo cast a worried glance at Dugu Yan but said nothing, ultimately nodding to Yue Guan.

After all, he knew that a child sheltered in a cradle could never grow.

"Don't worry, Grandpa. I'll be fine." Yue Guan hadn't tried to hide his words, so Dugu Yan had heard them clearly, and she also saw the concern in Dugu Bo's eyes.

She raised her little fist and smiled at Dugu Bo, signaling him not to worry.

As she did this, Dugu Yan's gaze occasionally flickered toward Lin Yu, though she didn't let him notice. But it couldn't escape the eyes of Titled Douluo like Yue Guan.

After saying this, Yue Guan led Ghost and Dugu Bo away, vanishing from Lin Yu and Dugu Yan's sight to drive off higher-year soul beasts.

Though they had said they wouldn't intervene unless danger arose, they wouldn't leave the two completely exposed, so they first cleared out the powerful soul beasts.

"Old Poison, looks like your granddaughter has taken a liking to our Holy Son." Yue Guan approached Dugu Bo with a grin, teasing him playfully.

"Get lost! You dead chrysanthemum, are you even human? My granddaughter is only ten (earlier there was a mistake; Dugu Yan should be fourteen now, hope no one minds this small detail), and the Holy Son is only eight." Dugu Bo's temple veins bulged as he gritted his teeth at Yue Guan.

From the look on Dugu Bo's face, he clearly wanted to give Yue Guan a thorough beating.

Seeing Dugu Bo's expression, Yue Guan stopped his teasing. After all, an angry Dugu Bo was troublesome, and they were in the Star Dou Forest, needing to keep an eye on Lin Yu and Dugu Yan's safety.

"Brother Lin Yu, what kind of soul ring are you planning to get this time?" Dugu Yan walked beside Lin Yu, asking about his plans.

"My martial soul is the Undying Emperor Spider, so the most suitable soul rings naturally come from spider-type soul beasts." Lin Yu directly told Dugu Yan his intention.

Barring any surprises, Lin Yu planned to obtain a Man Faced Demon Spider's soul ring this time.

"Spider-type soul beast soul rings, huh?" Dugu Yan pondered after hearing Lin Yu's answer.

"What about you? What kind of soul ring are you planning to get?" Lin Yu wanted to see how Dugu Yan would choose.

"Me? I don't know. But Grandpa told me before to choose soul rings from soul beasts with strong toxins." Dugu Yan's big eyes scanned the surroundings as she spoke casually.

"Let's go. We need to go deeper. The soul beasts here are still too low in year—only a few hundred years—not enough for our soul rings." After saying this, Lin Yu strode deeper into the Star Dou Forest.

"Wait for me!" Seeing Lin Yu move, Dugu Yan quickly followed.

"That's strange? Why are there so few soul beasts around here?" Lin Yu, searching for a Man Faced Demon Spider, was puzzled. They had already gone a fair distance in, yet they'd found hardly any thousand-year soul beasts.

As for soul beasts suitable for the two of them, none had appeared at all.

"Old Ghost, do you know what's going on?" Yue Guan's expression turned grave as he asked Ghost seriously.

By now, they had sensed something was off. Logically, there shouldn't be so few soul beasts here.

Even when they had driven off soul beasts earlier, they noticed that there were no ten-thousand-year soul beasts in the vicinity. Normally, this area was already somewhat deep and should have been rich in both ten-thousand-year and thousand-year soul beasts.