The next morning.
After a good night's sleep, Xiao Qing sat up and stretched. His body felt lighter than ever.
"Hm? Where did Xiao Feng go?"
Xiao Qing saw no sign of Xiao Feng and, puzzled, stuck his head out to scan the area. There was no trace of Xiao Feng having been around.
Since he had already stressed the importance of staying safe, he figured Xiao Feng wouldn't disobey his orders and go looking for danger.
Xiao Qing climbed down from the tree and studied his notebook for a while. Only then did Xiao Feng appear in his line of sight.
Xiao Qing put down the book in his hands and looked up at Xiao Feng.
Something dangling from Xiao Feng's mouth caught his attention.
"Red Vermilion Fruit?! This is a real treasure. The notes say that if your internal organs are injured, eating one can keep you alive for a while."
"Xiao Feng, you're amazing! I can't believe you found one. Ever since Soul Masters learned that Red Vermilion Fruit could save lives, they've been nowhere to be found in Star Dou Forest for a long time."
Xiao Qing took the Red Vermilion Fruit, branch and all, from Xiao Feng's mouth, wrapped it in cloth, and put it in the Cloth Bag.
In the blink of an eye, five months slipped by.
During those five months, Xiao Qing took Xiao Feng out every so often to challenge Soul Beasts that were relatively weak but had lived for many years.
Xiao Qing had also tried fighting Soul Beasts younger than Xiao Feng, but the gains were too small—not even one percent.
What was more, whenever the Prism Ball awarded experience, it always rounded down.
After all that effort, Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng often ended up with nothing.
Using this method, Xiao Qing quickly raised Xiao Feng into a three-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Wind Shadow Wolf.
However, when Xiao Feng broke through and became a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, something unexpected happened.
At the time, he had just led Xiao Feng to kill a one-hundred-and-ten-year-old Golden Horned Deer. He was glad they'd secured food for the next little while.
With the eleven years' worth of experience it had gained, Xiao Feng broke through and transformed into a Hundred-Year Soul Beast.
Just then, the Prism Ball suddenly sent him some information.
Because Xiao Feng had transformed into a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, the Prism Ball said, it had gained "Wind Shadow," the Wind Shadow Wolf's innate skill.
That alone wouldn't have surprised him much. After all, the greater a Soul Beast's potential, the more likely it was to awaken an innate skill.
What truly shocked him was that he could temporarily borrow Xiao Feng's skills.
With Xiao Feng's current strength, he could use "Wind Shadow" three times in a short period.
Each use created a wind-attribute Phantom Shadow. If the shadow was attacked, it would explode, granting him a boost that increased his speed by fifty percent for five minutes.
When Xiao Feng used the skill, it created a controllable wind-attribute Phantom Shadow and increased his own speed by thirty percent.
With this Soul Skill, everyone else would see him as an ordinary Soul Master. No one would ever learn the secret of the Prism Ball.
"Awoo!"
A wolf's howl brought Xiao Qing back to his senses.
"Xiao Feng, you're back! How was it? Did you find a suitable opponent nearby?"
Seeing Xiao Feng return from scouting, Xiao Qing smiled and took out a water bottle and wooden bowl to pour him some water.
After drinking, Xiao Feng went over to the map Xiao Qing had drawn. It pointed a paw at a cliff in the upper-left corner and barked a few times.
Xiao Qing had mapped the area through months of exploration with Xiao Feng. That would make it easier to find opponents and gather resources.
"You smelled a sheep over there with horns as hard as rock? According to my notes, it must be a Rock Horned Sheep. They're not very strong, but they're hard to catch."
"Rock Horned Sheep like to roam cliffs, so that explains why you smelled them in that direction."
"All right, then our target today is the Rock Horned Sheep!"
As he spoke, Xiao Qing climbed onto Xiao Feng's back. Ever since Xiao Feng had transformed into a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, he had grown several times larger. He was now almost as big as a motorcycle.
That had its advantages, though. Now Xiao Qing only had to ride on Xiao Feng's back to reach their destination. He no longer had to walk, which saved them a great deal of time.
When they reached the foot of the cliff, Xiao Qing's first move was to look up for the Rock Horned Sheep.
Just as he'd expected, he looked up and saw a flock of Rock Horned Sheep standing on the cliff face, licking the white salt on the rocks.
Xiao Qing narrowed his eyes and gauged the distance. Several of the Rock Horned Sheep were within his range.
"Looks like luck's on our side today. I can show off what I've been learning!"
Xiao Qing took out a slingshot made from a Golden Horned Deer's tendon. It was one of four he'd made by following his notes.
The first three had been so flimsy that Xiao Qing had broken them during practice. This was the only one he had left.
For ammunition, Xiao Qing used Golden Winged Bird feathers coated in the juice of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Golden Winged Bird feathers were as hard as ordinary iron swords, and their length was just right. So Xiao Qing dipped them in poison and used them as darts.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Xiao Qing fired three shots in a row. Two hit the Rock Horned Sheep nearest to him.
The Rock Horned Sheep cried out in pain, slipped, and fell straight off the cliff, crashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
When he saw it fall, Xiao Qing didn't rush in. Instead, he looked up at the flock on the cliff.
Only after seeing them flee in panic did Xiao Qing call out to Xiao Feng, "Xiao Feng, wait for your chance! Finish it in one strike!"
At Xiao Qing's command, Xiao Feng circled the Rock Horned Sheep as it staggered to its feet. After a few exchanges, he slashed open its main artery with his claws, and it bled to death.
But before Xiao Qing and Xiao Feng could celebrate for long, a snake as thick as a man's thigh burst out of the trees and swept Xiao Feng away from the Rock Horned Sheep with a single swing of its tail.
"Damn, it's a Datura Snake that's lived for over four hundred years!"
The moment he recognized the Soul Beast that had attacked Xiao Feng, Xiao Qing knew what it was. He also knew that, with their current strength, they had no chance of beating this four-hundred-year-old Datura Snake.
"Xiao Feng, quick—"
Before Xiao Qing could react, the Datura Snake charged at him and lunged with its cavernous jaws.
"Awoo!"
Dragging his badly injured body, Xiao Feng leaped up and slammed into the Datura Snake. Its jaws, which had been aimed at Xiao Qing, snapped shut beside him instead, kicking up a nauseating stench.
Xiao Qing didn't stand there doing nothing after narrowly escaping. He took out another Golden Winged Bird feather coated in poisonous mushroom juice and tried to aim for the Datura Snake's eyes.
But Xiao Feng was locked in a death struggle with the Datura Snake, and Xiao Qing couldn't get a clear shot at its eyes.
"Xiao Feng, Wind Shadow! Draw it off with your Phantom Shadow!"
Xiao Qing's palms were sweating as he shouted to Xiao Feng. He needed Xiao Feng to create an opening so he could shoot the Datura Snake's eye.
At his command, Xiao Feng twisted aside, barely dodging the Datura Snake's bite, then channeled his Soul Power and released a Phantom Shadow that looked almost exactly like him.
The Datura Snake seemed to be lacking in intelligence. It failed to react in time, picked a target at random, and opened its mouth to bite.
"Now!"
As the Datura Snake bit at Xiao Feng's Phantom Shadow, Xiao Qing shot the Golden Winged Bird feather.
Just as Xiao Qing thought he was about to hit, the Datura Snake abruptly turned and bit at Xiao Feng beside it. Xiao Feng couldn't dodge in time, and the Datura Snake sank its teeth into his left foreleg.
But Xiao Feng didn't just sit back and wait to die. He struck back, slashing the Datura Snake's eye open.
Blinded, the Datura Snake released its bite. Its tail pounded the ground again and again as its body curled up and writhed in agony!
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