Lightning Rabbit stuck its entire head out of the burrow, cautiously surveying its surroundings. The moment it heard the slightest noise, it darted back inside.
After doing this three times, Lightning Rabbit finally relaxed. It emerged from the burrow and ran to a nearby patch of Blue Silver Grass.
Seeing Lightning Rabbit come out to eat grass, Xiao Feng didn't act right away. Lightning Rabbit was still on guard, its ears twitching constantly to pick up any sounds around it.
After nibbling on a few blades of Blue Silver Grass, Lightning Rabbit sensed no sign of predators nearby. Only then did it fully let its guard down and start wolfing down the grass.
At last, Xiao Feng moved. It stepped slowly out of the bushes, lowering its body.
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Feng vanished from Xiao Qing's sight.
By the time Xiao Qing saw Xiao Feng again, it had already caught Lightning Rabbit, whose mouth was still flecked with Blue Silver Grass.
Xiao Feng bit down hard. Lightning Rabbit, which had been struggling and squealing moments before, grew weaker and weaker until it stopped moving altogether.
At the same time, Xiao Qing suddenly sensed an inexplicable energy entering the Prism Ball.
"Is this experience points?"
Curious, Xiao Qing tried to absorb the experience points, but they remained stored inside the Prism Ball, completely unmoved by him.
"Damn, I thought I'd have a chance to use a cheat! Turns out only Xiao Feng can absorb the experience points. I can't do a thing with them."
While Xiao Qing grumbled, Xiao Feng had already carried Lightning Rabbit over and set it down in front of him.
"Come back, Xiao Feng!"
Xiao Qing tossed the Prism Ball and recalled Xiao Feng. He wanted to see how it would use the experience points to increase its age.
Once Xiao Feng returned to the Prism Ball, the experience points, which had been motionless until then, suddenly stirred to life and were slowly absorbed by Xiao Feng.
Seeing this, Xiao Qing picked up the dead Lightning Rabbit and carefully headed toward the cave, following the marks he had made earlier.
He hadn't gone far when Xiao Feng finished absorbing the experience points and tried to come out of the Prism Ball.
Eager to see the effect of the experience points, Xiao Qing immediately released it from the Prism Ball.
As the experience points appeared, information about Lightning Rabbit's age surfaced in Xiao Qing's mind.
An eighty-four-year-old Lightning Rabbit. He wondered how many years of growth the experience points it provided would give Xiao Feng.
After emerging from the Prism Ball, Xiao Feng shook itself, then excitedly ran over to Xiao Qing, wagging its tail furiously.
"So its age increased by eight years? Killing an opponent grants experience points equal to one-tenth of their Soul Power?"
Sensing that Xiao Feng was now thirty-one years old, Xiao Qing raised his eyebrows. He planned to test how many experience points it could gain without killing its opponent.
Of course, Xiao Qing didn't feel burdened by killing Soul Beasts, but killing them for experience points would only work in the early and middle stages.
If Xiao Feng broke through to the Hundred-Thousand-Year level later on, relying on killing opponents for experience points wouldn't be practical.
There were only so many Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in Douluo Continent. Kill one, and there'd be one fewer.
Of course, Xiao Qing hadn't yet considered opponents whose age was lower than Xiao Feng's. But based on what he knew from his previous life, the reward in that situation might not be very high. He would have to test for himself just how low it was.
After a quick meal, Xiao Qing went with Xiao Feng to look for another opponent.
As they searched, Xiao Qing told Xiao Feng to find a Soul Beast around the same age as Lightning Rabbit and not to kill it right away—instead, it should try to knock it unconscious.
Xiao Feng didn't understand why Xiao Qing wanted it to do that, but it obediently followed his instructions and searched for a suitable opponent.
Fortunately, Star Dou Forest was teeming with Soul Beasts. It didn't take Xiao Feng long to find one that fit the requirements.
"Cluck, cluck, cluck!"
Crouched behind a large tree, Xiao Qing watched a rooster nearby. It was scratching at the dirt with its claws, searching for bugs to eat.
"Colorful Feather Chicken has a powerful beak and claws. Be careful, Xiao Feng. If you can't knock it out quickly, then kill it!"
Knowing he had asked Xiao Feng not to kill its opponent right away, Xiao Qing made sure to give it this warning.
Xiao Feng nodded, then quietly approached Colorful Feather Chicken. The distance between the two Soul Beasts steadily shrank.
Five meters, three meters, one meter!
Xiao Feng suddenly charged out from behind the tree and struck Colorful Feather Chicken with a paw.
Caught off guard, Colorful Feather Chicken was sent flying. It slammed hard into the tree trunk.
It slid down the trunk and hit the ground with a thud. It struggled to get up a few times, but ultimately collapsed and passed out.
As soon as Colorful Feather Chicken lost the ability to fight, experience points appeared in Xiao Qing's Prism Ball.
"Hm? Knocking out this eighty-nine-year-old Colorful Feather Chicken gave about the same experience as killing Lightning Rabbit. Could knocking an opponent out and killing it grant the same amount?"
Looking at the Prism Ball in his hand, Xiao Qing muttered softly. To prove his guess, he then told Xiao Feng to bite Colorful Feather Chicken to death.
At Xiao Qing's command, Xiao Feng clamped its jaws around Colorful Feather Chicken's neck and shook its head violently. The force of the motion snapped the chicken's neck.
There was a sharp crack. Xiao Feng spat Colorful Feather Chicken out, and by the time it hit the ground, it was completely lifeless.
Xiao Qing stood where he was for a long while, but sensed no increase in the experience points inside the Prism Ball.
"Sure enough, knocking an opponent out and killing it grant the same experience. In that case, knocking opponents out is the most worthwhile approach."
Killing opponents for experience points really was like draining a pond to catch all the fish. He just didn't know whether an opponent could be knocked out for experience again after it recovered.
Xiao Qing walked over to Xiao Feng, picked up Colorful Feather Chicken's corpse, and put it in the Cloth Bag.
"Xiao Feng, let's go! You did great today. I'll make you roast chicken!"
"Aw-ooh?"
"It'll taste just like the roasted rabbit leg you had today. It's delicious!"
"Aw-ooh!"
Hearing Xiao Qing say that roast chicken tasted just like roasted rabbit leg, Xiao Feng wagged its tail happily.
The sun set, and night fell.
In front of the tree hollow, Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng sat by the bonfire, warming themselves as they ate dinner.
Both Lightning Rabbit and Colorful Feather Chicken were large, so six-year-old Xiao Qing ate only a small portion of the meat. Xiao Feng gobbled up the rest, bones and all.
Watching the dry branches crackle in the fire, Xiao Qing began thinking about what to do next.
Given the current situation, every time he broke through ten levels, he would probably need to catch a Soul Beast as a pet to take the place of his Soul Ring.
And if he wanted his pets to grow stronger, staying in Star Dou Forest was his best option for now.
The forest was full of Soul Beasts, so there would be plenty of opponents for Xiao Feng and Xiao Qing's future pets. Since they didn't need to kill their opponents to gain experience points, he had plenty of room to maneuver.
Still, what concerned Xiao Qing more right now was Matthew. During the Soul Beast riot, Matthew had been the calmest person there.
Xiao Qing didn't know whether Matthew had noticed anything, or whether he would come after him once he returned. It was best to prepare for the worst.
After thinking it all through, Xiao Qing crawled into the cleaned-out tree hollow, where a blanket had been laid.
He hadn't been sleeping well these past few days, often waking up in the middle of the night. Fortunately, Xiao Feng was now keeping watch, giving Xiao Qing more time to sleep.
As sleepiness overcame him, Xiao Qing's final thought was to stay in Star Dou Forest until he broke through to level thirty, then leave.
After all, Star Dou Forest belonged to the Soul Beasts. Besides, he needed to find out whether Xiao Feng could still gain experience points by defeating Soul Masters.
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