Why Not Get a Carriage

The closest place to them was the Soul Splitting Forest, four hundred li northeast of Notting City in the Heaven Dou Empire.

Most of the Soul Beasts there were ten- or Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. He had considered going there, but after thinking it over, decided against it. Soul Beasts raised in captivity generally weren't of very good quality.

"Come on. We're going to the Star Dou Great Forest."

He had initially planned to follow the principle of choosing somewhere close. There was even a gathering ground near the academy. In the end, though, he decided they might as well go for the best. Why settle for a bicycle when they could get a carriage?

The Star Dou Great Forest was indeed quite far from the academy. The journey alone took three or four days.

On the road, Zhu Zhuqing looked a little puzzled.

"Master, why did you insist on bringing me along?"

She honestly wouldn't have minded staying behind at the academy to cultivate hard.

It wasn't her first Soul Hunting trip. She had already been taken along to hunt twice, so it wasn't anything new to her.

Chen An rubbed the top of her head, and she immediately bristled.

"Master!"

She shouted petulantly, not even bothering to maintain her usual aloof image.

Luo Xiaoshi, standing nearby, was startled too. He silently thought that when he got married someday, he definitely didn't want a wife like his senior sister.

But that thought reminded him of his broken family. Never mind. Being alone was pretty good.

After rubbing her head, Chen An showed not the slightest embarrassment, nor did he offer an apology. Instead, he said,

"Of course there's a reason. I'm going to teach you something special when the time comes."

After hearing that, Zhu Zhuqing stopped making a fuss. She had seen the Technique Pavilion and witnessed Chen An's Martial Soul, so her imagination was running wild. She was very curious.

Luo Xiaoshi had just been thinking about shutting his heart off from love when he heard Chen An say that. His eyes lit up.

The two little ones immediately pestered Chen An, begging him to tell them in advance. Watching them scratch their heads in frustration actually put him in a rather good mood.

As the saying went, "I hate people who speak in riddles. But when I'm the one speaking in riddles, hold your horses. Being impatient won't help."

"Sir, we're almost there."

They had made the journey by carriage.

Time was money. Besides, if they could ride, why suffer through several days of walking?

The journey wasn't short. Save where you should, spend where you must. Spending a little money had cut the travel time by nearly half.

"All right."

After Chen An and the others got out, the driver headed to the parking area to wait. After all, Chen An had hired him for a round trip.

The Star Dou Great Forest stretched across the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, and was every bit the continent's largest gathering ground for Soul Beasts.

There was an astonishing variety of them, and Chen An couldn't help eyeing them hungrily.

Especially the ten-year Soul Beasts. With a little preparation, they could make for a delicious and nourishing meal.

"Teacher, weren't we here to help me get a Soul Ring?"

"Master, stop daydreaming. You're drooling."

At Zhu Zhuqing's voice, Chen An instinctively wiped his mouth. Huh, there wasn't any drool.

He immediately realized that the little girl still held a grudge and had tricked him.

When he cooked later, he'd have to make sure she didn't eat too much.

"Ahem."

Chen An coughed twice to ease his embarrassment.

Seeing this, Luo Xiaoshi considerately came to his rescue at just the right moment.

"Teacher, are we looking for one in this area?"

They were currently in the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, where they could still find traces of Hundred-Year Soul Beasts.

"We're going to the edge of the mixed zone."

The edge of the mixed zone generally referred to the habitat of Hundred-Year Soul Beasts and Soul Beasts that had just advanced to a thousand years.

The Hundred-Year Soul Beasts able to survive there were all ruthless beasts, or at least on the level of Soul Beasts nearing a thousand years.

"The mixed zone?"

Luo Xiaoshi looked a little lost. He didn't know much about the Star Dou Great Forest, and what he knew wasn't very detailed.

In civilian schools, lessons on the Star Dou Great Forest were glossed over. After all, few people needed to go there to hunt Soul Beasts.

And his previous school had been a scam besides.

But Zhu Zhuqing was different. She knew the Star Dou Great Forest very well, so she was taken aback when she heard they were going to the mixed zone.

"Master, I remember that even the very edge of the mixed zone is home to thousand-year Soul Beasts. But isn't junior brother getting his Second Soul Ring? Shouldn't the maximum limit be around seven hundred years?"

Chen An wasn't surprised by Little Zhu's question. He had expected her to ask.

"That's right. At first, I planned to get your junior brother a thousand-year Soul Beast, but he couldn't handle it."

As they walked, Chen An explained.

"The standard theory on the continent now is that academic hack's, right? The one that says the limit for the Second Soul Ring is 764 years?"

Chen An spoke with disdain as he stated the facts. The two children could clearly sense his mood, so they listened silently and didn't dare say anything.

At first, Chen An had thought of Yu Xiaogang as nothing more than a scumbag and a kept man.

But after arriving here, he'd realized that the guy was an academic fraud too.

He'd simply compiled other people's ideas and passed himself off as a Grandmaster, and his conclusions contained plenty of errors.

"That guy's theories are good for a laugh, and nothing more."

Chen An spoke with a teasing smile, but his next words turned serious.

"In my view, a Soul Ring's age limit depends on just three things: whether you can kill the Soul Beast, whether your body can withstand the Soul Ring's impact, and whether your will can hold firm while absorbing it."

Chen An briefly outlined his theory, then explained each of the three factors.

In short, it was rough but right. If this were made public, it would certainly be more credible than that so-called theory.

"Oh, oh."

The two children listened to Chen An's explanation, alert and attentive. This was the first time they had heard a theory like this.

It was novel, and they couldn't find any fault with it.

"Teacher, what's my limit right now?"

Luo Xiaoshi said that he understood, but it would be better to simply ask about the age limit.

"Without my help, it'd be around 660 years. With my help, you could push the limit to a thousand years, but there's no need.

"A thousand-year Soul Beast is too weak. Soul Beasts usually hit a threshold at each major age bracket."

What he meant was that Hundred-Year Soul Beasts hit a threshold at a hundred years, and thousand-year Soul Beasts at a thousand years.

In reality, a thousand years meant a Soul Beast that had only just advanced to that level. Apart from the enormous effort required to absorb such a Soul Ring, was it worth it for the Second Soul Ring?

Even finding a thousand-year Soul Beast that had just broken through was difficult. He couldn't exactly grab a 999-year-old one and keep asking, "Are you going to advance or not? Are you going to advance or not?"

"Actually, there's another way to get one, but I haven't reached that level yet."

Chen An muttered the words under his breath. He was talking about god-bestowed Soul Rings. The Soul Rings on him had been given by the Library.

The same method could be used to condense one for someone else. The Library didn't object, but Chen An would have to condense it himself.

The Library was an inanimate object. Its will was merely the will of its rules.

"Teacher, chasing the limit must take a lot of effort, right?"

Chen An nodded. Pushing for a thousand-year Second Soul Ring was a showy stunt, and being the tail of a phoenix rather than the head of a chicken really did take a lot of effort.

"Then, Teacher, what about chasing 999 years or less?"

For once, Luo Xiaoshi had shown some real cleverness. His idea was exactly the same as Chen An's.

Chen An looked at Little Stone approvingly, thinking that he'd finally caught on.

"Then it'll cost less than half as much."

Hearing that, Luo Xiaoshi, who was used to poverty, sat bolt upright like a dying man springing from his sickbed. He didn't say that he couldn't spend even a single coin. Instead, he said,

"Teacher, a nine-hundred-year Soul Ring sounds great. Your disciple wants one."

"Sure, sure."

The two of them hit it off immediately, while Zhu Zhuqing beside them pondered what to do about her own Third Soul Ring.