Wolf Tracks

Tang Yin naturally wouldn't tell Tang Hao that a year ago, he had spent over ten thousand Gold Soul Coins to buy a piece of thousand-year Whale Rubber from a merchant passing through Nuoding City.

Furthermore, the quality of that Whale Rubber was exceptional; he had only managed to snag it at such a bargain after using his silver tongue to haggle. Later, without his younger sister or Xiao Wu knowing, he had added it to their food bit by bit, and by now, it had been completely absorbed by the three of them.

"You..." Tang Hao's face turned gloomy, yet deep down, he felt incredibly fortunate that he had already separated the brother and sister; otherwise, he couldn't imagine what kind of ruin this rebellious son would have brought upon his younger sister.

In order not to waste time, Tang Hao had originally intended to spend money to buy information on the Shadow Gale Wolf pack, not wanting to get stuck on the issue of funds.

He naturally had no money on him, but he hadn't expected Tang Yin to be penniless as well.

After all, although he had rarely snuck into the courtyard where the siblings lived over the years, he still had some understanding of their daily lives, and under normal circumstances, they shouldn't have been spending much at all.

He hadn't expected this rebellious son to lie through his teeth; in his eyes, it was clearly Tang Yin intentionally making things difficult for him.

"Wait for me here for a moment!"

Tang Hao didn't want to waste time; the intelligence had to be obtained. Otherwise, even as a Title Douluo, it would take him quite a while to track down the Shadow Gale Wolf King in the vast, boundless Star Dou Great Forest. He truly didn't want to spend a single extra moment with Tang Yin, wishing only to return as quickly as possible to keep a secret watch over his younger sister and Xiao Wu.

Leaving behind a cold sentence, Tang Hao vanished into the alleyway in an instant.

I wonder which poor soul is about to lose their fortune. Watching Tang Hao leave with a gloomy expression, Tang Yin guessed what he was up to—it was nothing more than the act of robbing the rich to help the poor.

It was a pity that he really didn't have much money; at the very least, it wasn't enough to buy intelligence.

It had to be said that if a Title Douluo truly wanted to get their hands on money, no one could stop them. Sure enough, less than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense after Tang Hao left, he reappeared, having not only secured the money but also picked up the intelligence along the way.

"Follow me!" Tang Hao said, turning and heading toward the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Heh." Tang Yin gave a carefree smile, while silently offering a prayer for some unlucky soul.

Above a canyon somewhere on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, Tang Hao looked at the boundless primeval forest deep within the gorge, then frowned slightly as he compared it to the location marked with a red cross on the map in his hand.

According to the intelligence Tang Hao had purchased from a team of Soul Hunting mercenaries, they had accidentally encountered two straggling Shadow Gale Wolves while hunting a month ago.

After all, the Shadow Gale Wolf was a relatively popular choice among soul masters for soul beasts, and since they were stragglers, the group had originally intended to capture the pair to take back and sell.

However, just as they were lying in ambush and preparing to strike, a howl suddenly echoed from the canyon in the distance. Following that, the two Shadow Gale Wolves, as if they were soldiers receiving a bugle call, turned around without hesitation and headed toward the direction of the canyon from which the sound had come to regroup.

As an experienced Soul Hunting mercenary group, they naturally understood the meaning behind that howl; only the roar of a Shadow Gale Wolf King could have such an effect.

There had even been a case where a soul hunting team led by a Soul Ancestor was wiped out by a pack of over a dozen Shadow Gale Wolves, ranging from ten to a hundred years old, led by a Shadow Gale Wolf King. Only the leading Soul Ancestor had managed to barely escape the Wolf King's jaws by relying on the flight ability of a soul bone, but he had succumbed to his severe injuries not long after.

A pack of Shadow Gale Wolves led by a Wolf King was an extremely dangerous existence for any soul master.

Because of this, the mercenary captain had immediately decided to abandon the hunting mission and notified the entire team to withdraw from the canyon.

Subsequent events proved the wisdom of that captain's decision, as news soon spread that a group of students from some obscure academy had been hunting for souls in that very canyon without a mentor's guidance, and all of them had perished.

In the end, after accepting the Gold Soul Coins, the captain seemed to feel a bit guilty and kindly warned Tang Hao about the danger of the Shadow Gale Wolf King.

To this, Tang Hao naturally just smiled it off.

"According to the habits of a Shadow Gale Wolf pack, their activity range for a month is usually within a radius of a thousand miles. However, since it is currently the breeding season for soul beasts, to care for the newborn pups, the pack's activity will be greatly reduced, sometimes even staying in the same place until the pups are able to walk."

Tang Hao recited the intelligence he had obtained from the mercenary group, though it was unclear if he was speaking for Tang Yin's benefit.

"Activate your Sharp-Tailed Swift martial soul first and scout the area above the canyon."

When Tang Hao said this, he seemed to worry that Tang Yin might be afraid, so he added, "Rest assured, this is the outer perimeter of the Star Dou Great Forest. The soul beasts here are primarily ten-year and hundred-year ones. Even if a thousand-year soul beast occasionally appears, it poses no threat to you since you can fly."

"Alright!" Tang Yin naturally knew that Tang Hao, as a Title Douluo, could also fly, but Tang Hao didn't know that he knew, and he didn't want Tang Hao to know that he knew...

Since it was for his own soul hunting anyway, Tang Yin couldn't be bothered to argue. He immediately activated his martial soul, and after a pair of wings sprouted from his back, he leaped off the canyon, flapping his wings to soar into the air instantly.

It had to be said that the Star Dou Great Forest was truly the treasure trove for all soul masters on the Douluo Continent; even in the outer perimeter, the variety and quantity of soul beasts living within far exceeded any other place.

In this remote canyon alone, the number of soul beasts residing there was countless. Tang Yin had only flown a short distance, and he had already seen no fewer than dozens of types of ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts along the way.

"Hm? What is that?"

Just as Tang Yin was marveling at the sight, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a large black dot followed by two smaller black dots flashing through the forest and disappearing.

Sensing something unusual, Tang Yin flicked his wings and shifted to low-altitude flight, scanning the surroundings while tracking the trail of those black dots.

"It really is a Shadow Gale Wolf, and a mother wolf with two pups at that!" Tang Yin finally discovered the tracks of the three wolves—one large and two small—by a small river.

Since there were pups, it meant that the pack's habitat must be in the vicinity of this small river.

Thinking of this, Tang Yin didn't intend to alert them; he took one look and then spread his wings to return to Tang Hao.

Just after he left, a few more wolves darted out from the forest. They looked at the direction Tang Yin had gone with some confusion for a moment, then lowered their heads to drink water as usual.

In their eyes, they had simply mistaken him for a passing bird.

"Found them!" Tang Yin returned to the top of the canyon, ignoring Tang Hao's act of feigning sleep to slack off.

"Where?" Tang Hao opened his eyes instantly, a sharp glint flashing through them.

"Just in a tributary more than ten miles away from the main river of the canyon. If my guess is correct, that small river is the pack's watering hole, so their habitat must be nearby."

Tang Yin pointed to the path he had just taken. There were quite a few soul beasts along the way, but since Tang Hao was a Title Douluo, as long as he revealed even a hint of his aura, no soul beast in this outer perimeter dared to block his path.

"Very good. If you join a soul master team in the future, your job will be similar to what you are doing now. Although the Sharp-Tailed Swift has no offensive power, it possesses a speed advantage that other agility-type soul masters cannot match."

As Tang Hao spoke, he stood up and gripped his right hand, causing a large, ancient-looking hammer to appear in his grasp.