A Chance Encounter in the Star Dou Forest

Fortunately, at that moment, He keenly sensed someone heading this way.

He believed that suddenly encountering someone in the Soul Beast Forest would be enough to make Qian Yuhan suppress his irritation and respond normally.

Sure enough, a few breaths later, Qian Yuhan realized an outsider was approaching. He quickly put away the Soul Bone he had been polishing until it gleamed, stood up, and poked his head out of the tent.

"What is it?" the Rakshasa Phantom asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Someone's coming."

"Someone?"

"Mm." Qian Yuhan narrowed his eyes and used a secret method to combine the Rakshasa Phantom's spiritual power with his own, probing in the direction of the approaching people.

Mm, five people, one man and four women. The man in front and the woman at the rear are the strongest; both have at least the strength of a Seven-Ring Soul Sage.

The two on either side are between the fourth and fifth rings, but their foundations are unstable and their cultivation is greatly inflated. The weakest is the little girl surrounded in the middle, whose cultivation is probably between the second and third rings.

Yuhan, should we stay or go? If we leave, I can use a Soul Skill to take you with me. They won't be able to catch us.

Connected to Qian Yuhan through their spiritual powers, the Rakshasa Phantom sent his thoughts directly to him.

There's no need for that. Qian Yuhan pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I haven't sensed any malice or sinister energy from them. Running off in a panic before we've even met makes it look like we've got something to hide."

"Fine, as long as you know what you're doing. I trust your ability to make a getaway, anyway."

With that, the Rakshasa Phantom vanished into the darkness outside the tent, as though he had never been there at all.

"Hm? Is that a tent?"

Not long after the Rakshasa Phantom left, a figure appeared in Qian Yuhan's line of sight.

He was a burly man with an extremely rugged, domineering appearance, over nine feet tall, with dark skin and a full, bristling beard.

What surprised Qian Yuhan most was that this rough-and-ready bruiser had a pair of incredibly comical, flirtatious eyes set in his square, blocky face.

Putting such a dainty, delicate pair of flirtatious eyes on the face of a hulking brute was... truly a poor fit.

The burly man moved incredibly fast. The moment he appeared, his eyes immediately fell on Qian Yuhan, standing at the tent entrance.

Without a doubt, as the second-strongest cultivator in the group, the tall, muscular man had been sent ahead to scout the way. When he saw that Qian Yuhan was only a child barely over ten years old, he immediately relaxed out of his battle stance.

"Who are you?" Qian Yuhan asked expressionlessly from in front of the tent, without stepping closer.

Seeing this, the nine-foot-tall man laughed heartily. "We're just a few Soul Engineers passing through. We happened to spot a tent here, so we came over to take a look. Why hasn't one of your elders come out? Why have they left you alone to answer us?"

Though the man was smiling, a hint of pride lingered in his expression.

Qian Yuhan frowned, displeased. "I don't have any elders with me. I came to the Star Dou Forest alone to hunt a Soul Beast and obtain a Soul Ring."

"Oh? You came to hunt a Soul Beast? All by yourself?" The nine-foot-tall man looked at Qian Yuhan with some confusion. Qian Yuhan tilted his head. "What? Am I not allowed?"

"Hahaha!"

The man shook his head, chuckling, and a trace of amusement showed on his face. Just then, one figure after another appeared beside him.

Just as Qian Yuhan had said earlier, there were five of them in total, four women and one man, including the muscular brute in front of him.

The middle-aged woman at the rear walked up beside the burly man and asked in a low voice, "Xu Yan, what's going on?"

Xu Yan immediately replied respectfully, "Elder Sister, nothing much. This kid says he came to the Star Dou Forest alone to obtain a Soul Ring. But... I really haven't seen any elder accompanying him."

"Oh! Is that so?" The middle-aged woman's gaze fell on Qian Yuhan, and Qian Yuhan took the opportunity to get a good look at the group before him.

Of the five, the leader was clearly the middle-aged woman in front of him. She was dressed plainly, without a single ornament, and her aura was completely restrained, not a trace of Soul Power escaping from her. Her cultivation was certainly no lower than eight rings.

The burly man who had gone ahead was slightly weaker than the middle-aged woman, but judging from the vigorous fluctuations of Soul Power coming from him, he was likely another Eight-Ring Soul Douluo.

Aside from the two Eight-Ring Soul Douluos, the two women standing silently on either side had cultivation at the fourth and fifth rings, respectively.

They were both plain-looking, with average builds—the sort who would be hard to pick out in a crowd.

The person who caught Qian Yuhan's attention most was the girl surrounded in the middle, roughly eleven or twelve years old and about the same age as he was now.

She wasn't particularly tall. Her long, purplish-black hair fell neatly down her back, and her delicate little face still had a touch of baby fat.

If Qian Yuhan's judgment was right, then this girl, who could only be described as pretty and charming, actually had a cultivation level close to the third ring.

Eleven or twelve, and already at the third ring? That was pretty impressive talent!

How did that saying go?

Right, this young friend looked like he might have... the makings of a Titled Douluo!

Looking at how quickly the younger generation cultivated, then lowering his head to recall the more common pace of cultivation in his own era, the old hand Qian Yuhan let out a sigh, seemingly moved by the thought that the younger generation would surpass the older.

"Little friend, would you care to come over and have a word with me?" The middle-aged woman beckoned to Qian Yuhan.

"Certainly." Qian Yuhan walked up to the group and said calmly, neither servile nor overbearing, "What did you wish to discuss?"

The middle-aged woman studied Qian Yuhan for a long while before finally speaking. "Little brother, did you venture into the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt a Soul Beast and obtain a Soul Ring?"

"Of course." Qian Yuhan nodded. "I doubt many people would move into a place full of Soul Beasts just for the thrill of it!"

"Hahahaha, little brother, you're quite the wit."

The middle-aged woman's laughter carried remarkably far, with a hint of wild abandon. After a while, she stopped laughing and introduced herself.

"My name is Xu Yu. The others are my companions. Like you, we're heading into the mixed zone to hunt Soul Beasts and obtain Soul Rings. It's late now, so if you don't mind, we'd like to rest here for the night."

Qian Yuhan could see that they really did look tired, and none of them showed any obvious hostility. He simply nodded without hesitation. "All right."

After Qian Yuhan gave his consent, the group exchanged glances and quickly split up. The muscular man lit a modest but remarkably warm campfire, then promptly disappeared into the nearby darkness.

He seemed to have gone to check whether the surrounding area was safe.

Meanwhile, the two women with cultivation at the fourth and fifth rings briskly set up tents nearby.

They set up four tents in all, three large and one small. The one closest to the campfire was a delicate little white tent, evidently crafted with care from the hide of some Soul Beast.

After putting up that tent, the two women busily set up the others nearby.

The middle-aged woman led the black-haired girl to sit on one side of the campfire. From the fleeting concern and questioning in the woman's eyes, and from the black-haired girl's lazy air of being accustomed to having someone fuss over the little things for her, it seemed that the girl's identity was probably no ordinary one.

Several minutes later, the two women finished setting up the tents and sat down on the other side of the black-haired girl. As they fed firewood into the flames, they chatted quietly with her. During their conversation, their eyes would occasionally flick briefly over Qian Yuhan.

Then, seeing that Qian Yuhan didn't seem to notice their covert glances, they simply began openly sizing him up.

Their complete lack of reserve made the middle-aged woman press a hand to her forehead, but even so, she had to admit that Qian Yuhan was indeed exceptionally handsome.

With his golden hair falling over his shoulders, the beginnings of well-defined features, bright golden eyes, and an intense aura of light radiating from his entire body, Qian Yuhan was not only extremely handsome but also possessed an... indescribable quality.

That quality was hard to put into simple words, but it was enough to draw anyone in at first glance.

Most importantly, no one could tell how strong he was.

Eleven or twelve years old, hunting Soul Beasts alone, cultivation concealed, and an excellent bearing.

Xu Yu pondered for a long while. At last, prompted by the black-haired girl beside her, she became the girl's mouthpiece and smiled. "Little friend, you haven't told us your name yet."

"Qian Yuhan."

"That's a good name." Xu Yu nodded. "You don't look very old, but your Soul Power fluctuations are quite strong. Still... venturing into the Star Dou Great Forest alone is rather dangerous. Before you came, didn't you consider asking your teacher to come with you?"

At a time like this, and he was still testing me.

Qian Yuhan pursed his lips helplessly. "I'm not going into the core zone. I'm just wandering around the mixed zone. What danger could there be?"

Xu Yu asked again, "How old are you this year? Are you from a sect or an academy?"

"Eleven. No sect, no faction. I'm a lone cultivator."

Eleven years old, with no sect or faction?

When Xu Yu heard Qian Yuhan call himself a lone cultivator, her face clearly showed her surprise.

After all, though lone cultivators without a powerful backing were often lacking in equipment and knowledge compared to those from major forces, they had no support behind them and faced a far harder path to growth. As a result, the actual combat strength of these 'wild Soul Masters,' forged through the brutal process of survival of the fittest, was impossible to judge by ordinary standards.

The strong ones were outrageously strong, while the weak ones were bizarrely weak.

This boy had the nerve to enter the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest alone at eleven, which showed that both his talent and his courage were extraordinary.

If only they could...

As she was thinking, Xu Yan, who had gone to look around nearby, dropped down from the sky in a carefree manner. He gestured toward Xu Yu with empty hands a few times, apparently communicating with her in some kind of code.

After getting the information she wanted, Xu Yu nodded repeatedly. She ate a little dried food, chatted for a few more moments, then made an excuse to get up and return to her tent.

The others did the same.

Of the five, the two Soul Douluos each took a tent, the women with cultivation at the fourth and fifth rings shared one, and the black-haired girl went into the white tent made from Soul Beast hide near the campfire.

Qian Yuhan sat beside the campfire for a while longer. Only when the sounds around him had died away completely, leaving only the firewood crackling in the flames from time to time, did he return to his own tent.

After entering his tent, Qian Yuhan leaned back against a large, soft pillow and read by the light of a Soul Guidance Lamp he had picked up at a street stall.

For a practical-minded man from ancient times like him, Soul Tools really were both attractive and useful.

It was hard to imagine that Soul Masters these days could be even more old-fashioned than he was, despite being from several tens of thousands of years ago.