Tang Ya and Bei Bei followed Huo Yuhao's trail, passing by the shelter built by Bai Cai and Ralts.
Ralts's Confusion was extremely precise. Ten-Year Soul Beasts and Hundred-Year Soul Beasts wouldn't have noticed anything amiss. However, Tang Ya was a Control-Type Battle Spirit Master whose Soul Power Level had already reached thirty, and her Martial Soul was the tenacious Blue Silver Grass. As a result, she was extremely sensitive to changes in her surroundings.
"Bei Bei, wait. The surroundings seem to have been deliberately disguised." Tang Ya slowed her pace. She faintly sensed something unusual in the area, and it made her skin crawl.
"Teacher Xiao Ya, don't tell me you're scared?"
Bei Bei took two steps forward, waved his hand, and teased Tang Ya. "The Tang Ya I know is the sect master of the Tang Sect, who fears neither heaven nor earth."
While teasing Tang Ya, Bei Bei swiftly activated his Martial Soul. A dazzling blue light blazed from the center of his brow. In the next instant, it spread throughout his body, flowing down from his forehead. Strands of blue-violet lightning, like writhing little snakes, darted around him.
On the surface, Bei Bei's appearance hadn't changed much. Aside from the blue lightning-shaped mark that appeared on his forehead, only one part of him had undergone an unexpected change when he used Martial Soul Possession.
That part was his right arm. It suddenly swelled, bursting through his right sleeve. The scraps of cloth fluttered around by the little lightning snakes, then burned to ash.
His arm grew more than half a foot longer and grew enormously thick, covered in uniform blue-violet scales. His slender fingers transformed into terrifying claws, sprouting the same uniform blue-violet scales.
The blue-violet lightning snakes circling his body gathered and darted around his arm. Two yellow Soul Rings and one purple Soul Ring didn't circle around him as they did for ordinary Soul Masters. Instead, they hovered motionless over his right arm, which was covered in uniform blue-violet scales.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon was one of the top Beast Martial Souls. A Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Master normally began transforming their body into a dragon at level thirty, with each new Soul Ring allowing them to transform one part of their body.
With the powerful physique gained through Dragon Transformation and their innate ability to control lightning, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon had once earned the title of the world's number-one Beast Martial Soul.
Bei Bei's expression turned cold, and a hint of violet shone in his eyes. The Tang Sect Secret Arts, the Purple Demon Eye, was an incredibly powerful eye-training technique and an excellent way to train one's spiritual power.
"The fallen leaves aren't deep enough."
Bei Bei crouched on one knee. The snake-shaped currents of electricity around him blasted the fallen leaves aside, exposing a mixture of surface soil and fresh wood shavings.
"It seems someone built a shelter nearby. The design is so ingenious: the discarded soil and wood shavings have been evenly spread beneath the leaves. If Xiao Ya's Martial Soul weren't Blue Silver Grass, making her especially sensitive to changes in the environment, even I might not have noticed."
Bei Bei scooped up a handful of soil and showed it to Tang Ya.
"The soil is rather damp, and its color is slightly different from the surface humus. It should be beneath the layer of fallen leaves, at a depth of less than one zhang."
Tang Ya examined it carefully and reached her own conclusion. Having awakened the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and come into contact with all kinds of plants every day, she could naturally discern the subtle differences between soils.
The shelter's ingenious design piqued Tang Ya's curiosity. She guessed, "Could the shelter be right beneath our feet?"
"What about the wood shavings?"
Bei Bei pinched a few between two fingers and waved them in front of Tang Ya. With a smile, he said, "Clever Teacher Xiao Ya, tell me."
"Heartwood. These are heartwood shavings, and you can see the growth rings on them."
Tang Ya frowned, then summoned her Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and carefully sensed the auras of the trees around them.
"The auras of different trees vary. Even trees of the same kind have subtle differences."
A moment later, standing beside a tree that would take three people to encircle, Tang Ya puffed out her chest and planted her hands on her hips, looking pleased with herself. "Found it! Isn't Teacher Xiao Ya amazing?"
"Yes, yes, Teacher Xiao Ya is amazing!"
Bei Bei immediately agreed, then said regretfully, "Too bad we don't have time to look for the entrance."
Judging by the proportions of soil and wood shavings, the shelter's entrance should have been within ten zhang of the tree.
The top layer of fallen leaves was dry, while the deeper layer was damp. Unless he used his third Soul Skill to set fire to the surface layer with lightning, Bei Bei couldn't be sure he could find the shelter's entrance quickly.
Bei Bei and Tang Ya needed to follow Huo Yuhao's trail and didn't have enough time to search for the entrance. Besides, setting the leaves alight might start a wildfire and even trigger a small-scale beast tide.
Huo Yuhao was the Tang Sect disciple Xiao Ya had taken a liking to, and he had once provided a meal for both her and Xiao Ya. Bei Bei wouldn't abandon the pursuit just to explore a common shelter in the Star Dou Great Forest.
What? Destroy the tree?
Damaging a shelter someone had painstakingly built was as good as offending the Soul Master who built it.
Besides, Bei Bei wasn't an unreasonable, wanton, and malicious Soul Master.
"Forget it. Let's go." Tang Ya had lost interest. She and Bei Bei really didn't have enough time to investigate the shelter.
"Mm, let's go..." Bei Bei nodded. The two of them left one after the other.
After only a few steps, Bei Bei suddenly stepped into empty air, and half his body sank into the ground. Bei Bei looked up at Tang Ya, and Tang Ya looked down at him.
They stared at each other. Tang Ya burst out laughing. "Bei Bei, Bei Bei, ha ha!"
"Xiao Ya, what's so funny?"
Bei Bei braced himself against the ground and quickly climbed out of the tunnel entrance, then awkwardly explained, "I didn't expect the person who built the shelter to put the entrance so close."
"Who are you?" a muffled voice came from inside the tree. Bai Cai lowered his voice, pretending not to have heard Bei Bei and Tang Ya talking.
Through Confusion and Telepathy, Ralts kept watch on everything around the tree, including Bei Bei and Tang Ya's every move.
Even after cultivating the Purple Demon Eye, Bei Bei and Tang Ya's spiritual power wasn't far beyond their Soul Power Level. They were still within the range of ordinary Soul Masters. Neither of them noticed the Confusion that Ralts controlled so precisely.
Suddenly, a terrifying Psywave swept across every living creature within a hundred li. Bei Bei and Tang Ya both froze, unable to think.
At the edge of the forest where the Star Dou Great Forest bordered the Star Luo Empire, not a bird chirped, and even a falling pin could be heard.
Shrek Academy stood on the Lima Plain and occupied an extremely vast area. It was practically a city in its own right, known as Shrek City.
Shrek City was one of the largest cities, with more than two million residents. Shrek Academy governed the city and didn't have to pay taxes to any other nation. That alone made it incomparable to ordinary academies.
Shrek Academy wasn't in the center of Shrek City, but in its eastern part, facing the Star Dou Great Forest.
Shrek City had well-developed transportation links. It was not only home to Shrek Academy, but also stood at the junction of the Dou Ling Empire, Heaven Dou Empire, and Star Luo Empire. As a result, it had become an important commercial city.
Thanks to Shrek Academy, Shrek City had excellent public security. Merchants from the three great empires mostly chose to pass through Shrek City to trade when conducting cross-border business.
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