Unforeseen Disaster

Tang Ya and Bei Bei tracked Huo Yuhao's trail, passing by the shelter constructed by Bai Cai and Ralts.

Ralts's control over telekinesis was extremely precise; if it were a ten-year or hundred-year soul beast, it would never have detected anything amiss. However, as a Control-type Battle Soul Master, Tang Ya had already reached level thirty in soul power and possessed the resilient Blue Silver Grass as her martial soul. Consequently, she was highly sensitive to changes in the external environment.

"Bei Bei, wait. The surrounding environment seems to have been deliberately disguised." Tang Ya slowed her pace. Sensing an underlying abnormality in the surroundings, she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Teacher Xiao Ya, you aren't scared, are you?"

Bei Bei stepped forward and waved his hand, teasing her, "The Teacher Xiao Ya I know is the fearless Sect Master of the Tang Sect."

While playfully teasing her, Bei Bei quickly activated his martial soul. A dazzling blue light ignited from the center of his brow, and immediately, the light spread, descending from his forehead throughout his entire body. Strips of blue-purple electricity, like twisting little snakes, began to coil and roam around him.

On the surface, Bei Bei's changes were not significant; aside from the blue lightning pattern that emerged on his forehead, only one area underwent an unexpected transformation due to his Martial Soul Possession.

The change occurred in his right arm. It suddenly swelled, instantly bursting through his right sleeve as the rags and fragments were surrounded by the small lightning snakes and scorched to ash.

His arm lengthened by more than half a foot, becoming extremely thick and covered in uniform blue-purple scales, while his slender fingers transformed into terrifying claws, also covered in the same scales.

The blue-purple electric snakes circling his body continuously condensed and surged around his arm. Two yellow and one purple soul ring did not orbit his body like a normal soul master; instead, they remained quietly suspended around his scale-covered right arm.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon is one of the top-tier beast martial souls. A normal Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon soul master begins to dragonize their flesh starting at level thirty, with each soul ring obtained allowing for the dragonization of one body part.

Relying on the formidable physique and innate ability to control lightning gained through dragonization, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon once earned the title of the world's number one beast martial soul.

Bei Bei's expression turned cold, and a hint of purple flickered in the depths of his eyes. The Tang Sect's unique skill, the Purple Demon Eye, was an incredibly powerful method for training the eyes and an excellent technique for tempering spiritual power.

"The depth of the fallen leaves is wrong."

Bei Bei knelt down, and the snake-like currents around him blasted the fallen leaves, exposing a mixture of soil and fresh wood shavings.

"It seems someone has built a shelter nearby. The design is so ingenious that the discarded soil and shavings are evenly filled beneath the leaves. If it weren't for Xiao Ya's Blue Silver Grass being particularly sensitive to environmental changes, I'm afraid I wouldn't have noticed either."

Bei Bei scooped up a handful of soil and handed it to Tang Ya to examine.

"The soil is relatively moist, and its color is slightly different from the surface humus. It should be located beneath the leaf layer, at a depth of less than one zhang."

Tang Ya observed carefully and reached her own conclusion. Having awakened the Blue Silver Grass martial soul and dealing with various plants daily, she could naturally distinguish the subtle differences between soils.

The ingeniously designed shelter piqued her curiosity, and Tang Ya guessed, "Could the shelter be right under our feet?"

"How do you explain the wood shavings?"

Pinching the shavings between two fingers and waving them in front of Tang Ya, Bei Bei smiled, "Smart Teacher Xiao Ya, tell me quickly."

"Tree heart. These are fragments of tree heart, and you can see the traces of the growth rings on them."

Tang Ya frowned, then summoned her Blue Silver Grass martial soul to carefully sense the aura of the surrounding trees.

"The aura between trees is different; even among the same species, there are subtle differences."

A moment later, near a tree that would take three people to encircle, Tang Ya puffed out her chest, placed her hands on her hips, and said triumphantly, "Found it! Isn't Teacher Xiao Ya amazing?"

"Yes, yes, Teacher Xiao Ya is amazing!"

Bei Bei immediately agreed, then added with regret, "It's a pity we don't have time to find the entrance."

Judging by the ratio of soil to shavings, the entrance to the shelter should be within ten zhang of the tree.

The surface layer of leaves was dry while the deep layer was damp; unless he used his third soul skill to drive the lightning to ignite the surface leaves, Bei Bei had no confidence in quickly finding the entrance.

Bei Bei and Tang Ya needed to track Huo Yuhao's trail and lacked sufficient time to search for the entrance. Furthermore, if igniting the leaves accidentally turned into a forest fire, it could even trigger a small-scale beast tide.

Huo Yuhao was the Tang Sect disciple Xiao Ya had taken a liking to, and he had shown them kindness with a meal; Bei Bei would not abandon the pursuit of Huo Yuhao just to explore a common shelter in the Star Dou Great Forest.

What? Destroy the tree?

Destroying a shelter that someone had worked so hard to build was tantamount to offending the soul master who built it.

Besides, Bei Bei was not a willful, reckless, or malicious soul master.

"Forget it, let's go." Tang Ya felt discouraged. She and Bei Bei truly lacked the time to investigate the shelter.

"Mm, let's go..." Bei Bei nodded. The two left one after another.

Before they had gone a few steps, Bei Bei suddenly stepped into thin air, and half of his body sank into the ground. Bei Bei looked up at Tang Ya, and Tang Ya looked down at Bei Bei.

As they stared at each other, Tang Ya burst into laughter, "Bei Bei, Bei Bei, haha!"

"Xiao Ya, what is so funny about this?"

Bei Bei braced his hands on the ground and quickly pulled himself out of the tunnel entrance, explaining awkwardly, "I didn't expect the person who built the shelter to set the entrance so close."

"Who are you?" A muffled voice came from inside the tree trunk. Bai Cai lowered his voice, pretending not to have heard the exchange between Bei Bei and Tang Ya.

Through telekinesis and telepathy, Ralts monitored the situation around the tree at all times, including every move Bei Bei and Tang Ya made.

Even with the cultivation of the Purple Demon Eye, the spiritual power of Bei Bei and Tang Ya had not reached a level far exceeding their soul power and remained within the scope of normal soul masters. They had no idea about the telekinesis Ralts was controlling with such precision.

Suddenly, a terrifying spiritual wave swept across all living beings within a hundred miles. Bei Bei and Tang Ya both fell into a stupor, their thoughts coming to a halt.

On the edge of the forest where the Star Dou Great Forest bordered the Star Luo Empire, it was deathly silent; one could hear a pin drop.

Shrek Academy was built on the Lima Plain and occupied a vast area. It was a city in its own right, known as Shrek City.

Shrek City was a premier metropolis with a population of over two million. Shrek Academy held the governing rights to the city and did not have to pay taxes to other countries. This alone was something ordinary academies could not compare to.

Shrek Academy was not located in the center of Shrek City, but in the east, facing the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Shrek City had well-developed transportation; it was not only the location of Shrek Academy but also the intersection of the Spirit Spirit Empire, the Heaven Dou Empire, and the Star Luo Empire, making it an important commercial hub.

Due to the existence of Shrek Academy, the public security in Shrek City was excellent. When merchants from the three great empires conducted cross-border trade, most chose to transit and trade in Shrek City.