Frozen Forest

"Besides these, there's also the Ice Jade Scorpion. It fits just as well.

It's just that this Spirit Beast is extremely rare in the Frozen Forest. Most of them live in the Extreme North.

Aside from these two kinds of Spirit Beasts, the next-best choice would be something like the Ice Cicada.

It's a Spirit Beast born with both the Mental Attribute and Ice Attribute, and cicada-type Spirit Beasts can all evolve by breaking out of their cocoons and transforming into butterflies. It just lacks the poison..."

As he spoke, Tang San's face showed regret, but Su Yun nearly burst into applause when he heard him.

Look at that!

Without that Yu Xiaogang guy leading him astray, Tang San's own plans were so much better.

Su Yun seriously suspected that after Tang San became Yu Xiaogang's disciple, he'd stopped reading books. All his knowledge about Soul Masters came from Yu Xiaogang's teaching, so he'd been fooled all along.

Actually, when you thought about it, it made sense. Although Tang San had lived two lives, he'd never been out in the world in either of them.

The information he knew came from Old Jack. In his eyes, any Soul Master was an incredible big shot!

And Yu Xiaogang, the "Grandmaster," was even more impressive—a theoretical expert whose name was "known far and wide" across the continent!

It was like someone fresh out of the countryside getting into college and meeting an "expert" who was famous all over the internet.

With just one glance, this "expert" had not only seen through his secret,

but had also spouted all sorts of "professional knowledge."

Tang San had only just left the countryside. He'd never seen anything like that, so he believed the man with ease and bowed down to become his disciple. It was a matter of knowledge and experience.

As Tang San gradually grew up and saw more of the world, he slowly began to notice the problems.

You could see it in the way Tang San treated Yu Xiaogang after becoming a god.

Tang San naturally had no idea what Su Yun was thinking. Seeing Su Yun listen so earnestly, he grew even more enthusiastic and continued sharing his opinions.

"As for Plant-type Spirit Beasts, there are many more to choose from. Anything with the Ice Attribute and poison will do.

After all, for ordinary Blue Silver Grass, choosing any Plant-type Spirit Beast counts as evolution."

After he finished, he looked at Su Yun expectantly.

Su Yun played along.

"Clap, clap..."

He applauded as he praised him.

"Brother San, you're amazing!"

"Hehe!"

Hearing such straightforward praise and seeing Su Yun's eyes sparkle, Tang San's vanity was thoroughly satisfied.

[Friendship Points from Tang San +38]

Tang San was happy to be praised, and Su Yun gained Friendship Points. That was a win-win.

Compared with the distance from Nuoding City to the Soul Beast Forest, the journey to the Frozen Forest was much longer.

The Frozen Forest lay in the northern part of the Heaven Dou Empire. Even if they traveled nonstop by carriage, it would take a full week.

On the way, Su Yun could occasionally pull little trinkets out of the system to pass the time, so the trip wasn't boring.

As the carriage entered the northern reaches of the Heaven Dou Empire, the temperature plunged, as if they'd stepped straight from midsummer into winter.

This was perfectly normal. The Frozen Forest had an extremely harsh environment, with a cold climate year-round and snow falling in every season.

So even in the hot season, cities near the Frozen Forest had daytime temperatures of only around ten degrees, and the warm season usually lasted less than a month.

The closer they got to the Frozen Forest, the lower the temperature became, and the fewer kinds of plants they saw.

The two looked outside. The plants along the roadside were mostly coniferous trees.

As for the Frozen Forest itself, its Spirit Beasts were mostly Ice-type, making it suitable for Ice-type Soul Masters to hunt and absorb Spirit Rings. Representative Spirit Beasts included the Mirror Beast and the Mammoth...

The next day.

Frozen Town.

The moment they stepped out of the carriage, a chill swept over them. Fortunately, they'd both changed into thick clothes; Soul Power alone would have done little to fend off the biting wind.

When their feet touched the snow, they discovered that Frozen Town was much livelier than the camp outside the Soul Beast Forest.

Tang San had clearly noticed this too. He couldn't help asking,

"Yun.

The conditions here are so harsh. Shouldn't it be deserted? Why are there so many people?"

Seeing Tang San's clueless look, Su Yun felt helpless. And this guy had lived two lives? He grumbled inwardly, but still explained,

"Because wealth moves people.

Where there's profit, there are people.

Across the whole continent, a Soul Master's money is the easiest to earn. So wherever people can hunt Spirit Beasts, they naturally gather. A place like Frozen Town is still pretty rare, though.

After all, the Frozen Forest isn't a state-bred Soul Beast Forest.

It's different from those captive-bred Spirit Beasts.

The Frozen Forest is a wild habitat for Spirit Beasts. Any Spirit Beast that can survive in this environment is extremely ferocious. And because food is scarce, the Spirit Beasts inside often come out to forage. Some of the Spirit Beasts on the outskirts even regularly wander beyond the forest.

That's why there are only towns outside the Frozen Forest.

If they set up a small camp like the one outside the Soul Beast Forest, the Spirit Beasts might charge out one day and wipe it clean."

"I see."

After hearing the reason, Tang San nodded lightly. When he looked at Su Yun again, there was a hint of envy in his eyes.

"Xiao Yun, you know so much."

"It's nothing."

Su Yun waved a hand modestly.

"I've just read more books, that's all.

You're reading now too, Brother San. You'll soon know more as well."

Tang San wasn't reassured in the slightest. For once, he grumbled to himself.

How soon could you catch up to him? How much more could you possibly know?

During the week-long carriage ride, Tang San hadn't forgotten to cultivate, even while entertaining himself.

Meanwhile, Su Yun had been bored, so he'd started reading. That let Tang San witness his learning ability all over again.

At first, he'd thought finishing a mountain-sized book called Douluo Continent Soul Beast Collection in a week was already Su Yun's limit. He hadn't expected Su Yun to get even faster: one page per second, with perfect recall.

When Tang San saw that, he'd thought Su Yun was just flipping through the book to kill time, without really reading it.

But when Su Yun recited the entire book he'd flipped through, word for word, Tang San had been utterly stunned. Once again, he felt the gap between them.

Su Yun had no idea what Tang San was thinking. He rubbed his hands together and looked around.

"Come on. Let's find an inn first, rest up, and contact a Soul Hunting Group tomorrow."

"All right."

Tang San didn't refuse.

A week of bumpy travel had left his body fine, but his mind was somewhat tired.

Soul Hunting was dangerous, so of course he needed to get himself into the best possible condition.

This time, Tang San had even prepared to absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Ring as his First Soul Ring.

Tang San knew it was dangerous. He didn't have a physique as powerful as Su Yun's, and forcing himself to absorb one could very well make his body explode, but he was still willing to try.

The reason was simple: Tang San wanted to become stronger. He didn't want the distance between himself and Su Yun to keep growing.

If he couldn't even keep up with Su Yun, then his promise to protect him would be a joke. Tang San didn't want to experience that helplessness from the Soul Beast Forest again.

Obtaining a thousand-year Spirit Ring was only the first step. Tang San had already planned what to do after that.