The people who had just tried to scare Su Yun looked even more as if they had seen a ghost.
"Y-Your First Soul Ring is actually a Thousand-Year Soul Ring?
That's impossible!
That's way too outrageous!"
The round-faced burly man shook his head frantically, his voice turning shrill with disbelief. His eyes looked ready to pop out of their sockets.
Seeing the shock on everyone's faces, Tang San felt even more determined to catch up to Su Yun. He was absolutely set on obtaining a Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
Of course, more importantly, Tang San thought that hunting a Thousand-Year Spirit Beast with Su Yun this time would be much easier. After all, Su Yun had been able to hunt one even before obtaining a Spirit Ring, let alone now that he had acquired his First Soul Ring.
Tang San knew that he was destined to rely on Su Yun during this hunt. Against a Thousand-Year Spirit Beast, he could only serve as a distraction.
Still, the thought that he planned to follow the path of a support-type Soul Master made him feel much better. He could treat this as an early chance to get used to it.
Meanwhile.
Despite hearing so much praise, Su Yun showed neither surprise nor smugness. He remained as gentle and refined as ever, put away the Shadow Scythe, then continued speaking to the bald burly man.
"Once we find one, we'll have our own way of hunting it."
"Phew..."
The bald burly man let out a long breath.
"Good!"
He'd completely misjudged them!
He'd thought they were just two young nobles, but they were actually children from a great family.
Yes, he was now certain that Su Yun and Tang San probably came from some reclusive family.
Otherwise, how could they possibly have absorbed a Thousand-Year Spirit Ring as their First Soul Ring?
Among the major powers known to the public on the Douluo Continent, he'd never heard of anyone whose child had a Thousand-Year First Soul Ring.
The bald burly man even started imagining that a guardian was secretly watching over Su Yun and Tang San—one who was at least a Soul Saint.
He wasn't the only one. Everyone else there thought the same thing. Otherwise, it was hard to explain the Thousand-Year Soul Ring on Su Yun.
In an instant, everyone's gazes toward Su Yun and Tang San changed. Envy, awe...
Su Yun was quite satisfied. Wasn't showing off his Thousand-Year Soul Ring exactly how he planned to borrow the prestige of a powerful backer?
The Frozen Forest was nothing like the Soul Beast Forest. You didn't need to register to enter or leave, and if anything happened, it was hard to investigate afterward. So robbing other hunters was a common occurrence.
Once they entered the Frozen Forest, there was no way to keep the fact that he had a Soul Tool secret.
In the original story, at the imperial capital's auction, a fifty-cubic-meter storage ring Soul Tool had a starting price of 500,000 Gold Soul Coins. That showed just how precious Storage Soul Tools were.
If word got out, Su Yun and Tang San would be like two children carrying gold bricks through a busy street. Plenty of people wouldn't mind making a quick fortune.
Rather than let others target them, it was better to reveal their cards openly and make people think twice.
If you had no backing, you created one and let others imagine it.
So when Su Yun flipped his hand and a pouch of Gold Soul Coins appeared in his palm, no one present felt the slightest greed. They even pretended nothing had happened, wearing innocent expressions and fearing that the "guardian" might notice even the slightest strange look and casually cut them down.
The bald burly man looked at the Gold Soul Coins Su Yun held out and nodded firmly.
"Since you two young masters and ladies are fully prepared, our Promise-Worth-a-Thousand-Gold Hunting Group will take this job."
He accepted the Gold Soul Coins without the slightest hesitation. The bald burly man had no intention of refusing; this was a chance to build goodwill.
As he saw it, a young master and young lady from a hidden family wouldn't owe him a favor over a mere hundred Gold Soul Coins, no matter how small the favor might be.
Even if they did, who knew how long it would be before they met again? They might well forget him by then.
Faced with a tiny favor he might never be able to call in and a hundred Gold Soul Coins he could have right now, the round-faced burly man chose the latter.
After the deal was struck, the round-faced burly man didn't set out right away. Instead, he continued looking for customers.
Su Yun stayed with the other team members. A little conversation now and then earned him Friendship Points, though not many—never more than five.
After waiting about half an hour, the round-faced burly man returned with three more people and addressed everyone.
"Everyone! We've got the full group now, and we'll be setting out shortly. Before we do, let me introduce myself to our esteemed customers.
My name is Kuang Nu! I'm a thirty-eight-level Assault System Soul Elder, and my Martial Soul is a Unicorn Rhino!
These are my four teammates.
They are..."
"Qian Kaixin, Martial Soul: Wolf-Tooth Mace, twenty-nine-level Assault System Soul Master."
"Snow Leopard, Martial Soul: Ice Plains Leopard, twenty-eight-level agility-type Soul Grandmaster."
"Gu Yifeng, Martial Soul: Mystic Stone Turtle, thirty-one-level defense-type Soul Master."
"Zhang Qingsong, Martial Soul: Azure Vine, twenty-eight-level control-type Soul Master."
"And our lovely Hua Hua, Martial Soul: Spring-Greeting Staff. She's a twenty-seven-level support-type Soul Master."
It had to be said—
This team was quite well-rounded.
There were only six of them, but they had every role covered.
After introducing his teammates one by one, Kuang Nu turned back to the customers.
"From here on, we'll protect you the entire way and help you obtain the Soul Rings you're after.
Of course, we ask that everyone strictly follow our rules along the way. If an accident happens, we reserve the right to refuse to protect you.
If no one has any objections, please tell us what you're looking for.
As the rules require, you'll need to pay half the deposit first.
The other half is due once we've hunted the Spirit Beast and returned."
This was how almost every Soul Hunting Group operated.
Naturally, no one objected.
The first customer stepped forward, looking a little nervous.
"Um...
My Martial Soul is a thin cord. To be honest, I still haven't decided what Spirit Beast to hunt.
Could you give me some suggestions?"
He finished and looked expectantly at Kuang Nu.
Kuang Nu showed little reaction. As a Soul Hunting Group, they often ran into situations like this, and he turned the request down directly.
"Sorry, we can't offer any particularly good suggestions. You'll have to decide for yourself, sir."
As a Soul Hunting Group, they generally didn't recommend Soul Rings to customers. That was to avoid customers being dissatisfied after absorbing one and refusing to pay—or paying less than the remaining balance.
The young man's face immediately fell.
Just then, a middle-aged man among the customers suddenly spoke up.
"I think a snake-type Martial Soul would be a good fit.
It could make the cord more flexible, and might even give him a binding Spirit Skill."
Hearing that, Su Yun instinctively looked over, his expression indescribable.
He really wanted Yu Xiaogang to come and see this. So much for being the Grandmaster—some random guy here had come up with the exact same idea!
"A binding Spirit Skill?"
The young man's eyes lit up. It sounded like a great idea.
"Thank you for your advice, sir. Then I'll..."
The young man was just about to make his decision when Su Yun couldn't help speaking up.
"I have a better suggestion."
Before you continue