Early the next morning, Qian Yuhan—whose daily routine was exceptionally regular and who had always liked going to bed and getting up early—packed away his tent into his Storage Soul Tool ring while the sky was still dim.
Then he went alone to an open patch of ground, took out the Heaven-Measuring Sword that his junior descendant named Qian Daoliu had kept for eighty-odd years, and used it as a practice sword.
As a grandmaster of ancient swordsmanship on the Douluo Continent, Qian Yuhan's swordsmanship had long since reached the pinnacle. Every swing of his sword and every step he took seemed to form a subtle balance with everything around him.
Only after Qian Yuhan sheathed his sword, sat down cross-legged, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing did Xu Yu and the others begin to emerge from their tents.
"Good morning, young friend." Xu Yu greeted Qian Yuhan with a smile.
"Good morning, senior." Qian Yuhan nodded in reply.
"Yuhan, we'll be setting out soon. Since we're all headed to the mixed zone to hunt Soul Rings, would you like to come with us?" Xu Yu asked again.
"It's only a fourth Soul Ring. I can handle it myself, so there's no need to trouble you all." Qian Yuhan smiled and nodded at Xu Yu, making no move to get up.
Nearby, Xu Yan was wolfing down a large bundle of dry rations. He muttered in admiration, "You really don't look it, kid. At such a young age, you're already about to become a Soul Ancestor. Truly, heroes emerge from the young!"
"You flatter me, senior. Farewell."
With that, Qian Yuhan cupped his hands in greeting, turned around, and headed deeper into the mixed zone.
His quick and decisive departure left the Sun-Moon Empire group, who had yet to set out, exchanging bewildered looks.
"He's really gone just like that? That young man's pretty... carefree." Xu Yan finished crunching through his own portion of dry rations and chuckled teasingly.
The others said nothing.
Some were lost in thought, while others had no place speaking up in this situation.
The black-haired girl narrowed her eyes as she watched Qian Yuhan's figure gradually vanish from sight. She crossed her left arm over her chest and lightly propped her chin on her right hand, pondering for a long while.
Only when Xu Yan quietly reminded her, "Princess, he's completely out of sight. No need to keep watching," did she come back to her senses. With a smile that didn't reach her eyes, she issued an order to the distant relative beside her:
"Good. Now that he's gone, follow him and investigate his background thoroughly for me."
"Ah?!"
Apparently caught off guard by the drastic shift in their little princess's behavior, Xu Yan lowered his head in surprise and asked, "Princess, are you talking to me?"
"Who else?" The little princess's smile faded as she lifted her head. That smile of hers, which had made it so easy for people to let down their guard and even misjudge her as a sweet, naive girl, had already vanished.
In its place was the shrewd calculation ingrained in the bones of a royal:
"The Soul Rings Xiao Yun and I need aren't very old. An Level 8 Soul Engineer like Xu Yu can handle that."
"Your mission is to keep up with him. Ideally, help him out when he hunts his Soul Ring. If he asks, say you were worried about his safety and lent him a hand while you were at it. Then get on good terms with him and see if you can draw any more secrets out of him."
"I shouldn't have to teach you every step of what to do after that, should I?"
"..."
Xu Yan blinked his comical peach-blossom eyes, scratched his head, and stammered, "Princess... maybe you should teach me after all. I, Xu Yan, am a straightforward sort. If you don't spell it out, I might be the one who gets tricked into spilling everything by that kid..."
"Ugh..." The little princess lightly bit her lower lip and took several deep breaths.
Judging from the vein throbbing on her forehead, she truly wanted to hit someone.
But... considering that this blockhead was also a member of the imperial clan, the consequences of rashly laying hands on him really wouldn't be good. She could only force down her anger.
"After you've drawn a bit more out of him, investigate his background thoroughly on my behalf. If there's nothing wrong, invite him to visit the Sun-Moon Empire. If there is..."
The little princess slowly closed her eyes and said with a trace of regret, "Then tell me. I'll have Father follow the clues and dig deeper, to see whether there's some other way to bring him over to our side."
"Yes."
Before the words had even faded, Xu Yan flashed away from the little princess's side. In the next instant, he had appeared in the sky several hundred meters away.
After Xu Yan left, Xu Yu—who had watched his princess issue orders without saying a word—finally stepped forward and quietly asked, "Princess, isn't it a little rash to entrust such delicate relationship-building work to Xu Yan?"
"Rash? I don't think it's rash at all." The little princess gave Xu Yu a meaningful look and teased, "Don't let Xu Yan's carefree manner fool you into thinking he's just a reckless brute. He's got a lot more hidden up his sleeve than you'd think."
"If you're confident in your judgment, then I'm relieved."
After speaking, Xu Yu glanced at the sky, which had already brightened in the distance, and said, "The weather's nice today. It's time for us to set out too. Hopefully... everything goes smoothly."
"Yuhan, which way do you think we should go to find a high-quality Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast suited to your First Martial Soul?"
"If you ask me, Soul Beasts with holy bloodlines and light attributes are rarer than ever these days. We probably won't find one in the mixed zone."
"We'll likely have to go farther into the Star Dou Great Forest."
"What do you think? Should we search the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest?"
The Rakshasa Phantom was still as restless as ever, circling around Qian Yuhan without pause.
Fortunately, Qian Yuhan's years of practice had truly honed his composure. Not only did he never interrupt a single bit of the other party's pointless chatter, he even showed approval and appreciation for several of the Rakshasa Phantom's more constructive suggestions.
After walking for another quarter of an hour, the Rakshasa Phantom grew impatient too. It flew over beside Qian Yuhan and complained, "Come on, Qian. At least give me a straight answer about whether we're going to the core area. What good stuff could there possibly be in the mixed zone?"
"Are we going to the core area, just the two of us?" Qian Yuhan shot the Rakshasa Phantom a complicated sidelong glance and couldn't help asking, "Rakshasa, are you in your right mind?"
"Of course I am. Everyone knows the best Soul Beasts live in the core area, don't they?"
"But at least take a look at what we're capable of right now!" Qian Yuhan helplessly rubbed his aching temples and spread his hands. "Between the two of us, one is the reincarnated remnant soul of a god with four rings, and the other is a semi-physical Martial Soul with three rings. Sure, we have divine weapons at our side, but if we run into a difficult fifty-thousand-year Soul Beast, we'll still have to fight while retreating."
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