Having been thoroughly provoked by Lin Nuo's earlier words, Master Yu analyzed the situation through his World-Shocking Wisdom and decided to first employ a tactic of playing hard to get. He would give that ignorant brat the cold shoulder for a while and make him properly understand his mistake.
Since Bibi Dong had secretly sent this child right under his nose, it meant she absolutely would not send anyone to provide substantial help anytime soon. Otherwise, why go through such a huge detour?
Once he had led his beloved disciple Tang San to obtain a perfectly compatible first Soul Ring and returned in triumph,
he would definitely make that damned brat obediently fall before his Invincible Theory!
He was, after all, the only person in all of Nuoding City capable of accurately identifying a soul beast's age and tailoring top-grade Soul Rings specifically for others. Who else but Master Yu could do such a thing?
You want an exceptional hundred-year Soul Ring, do you?
You want to perfectly fulfill your unparalleled talent, do you?
Then won't you have to honestly kneel on the ground, kowtow, and beg to become my disciple?
Even Bibi Dong, who had once shaken the entire continent with her fame, had bowed before his World-Shocking Wisdom. Handling a mere six-year-old child was hardly difficult for him.
His, Yu Xiaogang's, theory was invincible beneath the heavens!
Thus, under Master Yu's deliberate promotion, word that he would soon lead his beloved disciple Tang San out to hunt souls swiftly spread through Nuoding Academy as though it had grown wings, sparking endless discussion.
Lin Nuo, however, paid no attention whatsoever to such clumsy self-promotion.
His mind was currently occupied with figuring out how to safely obtain his over-limit first Soul Ring.
Since the cleansing effects of Whale Rubber meant he could absorb a six- or seven-hundred-year Soul Ring for his first ring without any pressure, asking Director Su from the academy to help him hunt souls would be highly inappropriate.
No matter how mediocre Director Su might have been in actual combat, he was still a Soul Ancestor who had spent many years working in the education system.
He might not have known everything about identifying soul beasts by their appearance and age, but he should have been more or less competent.
If he personally witnessed Lin Nuo breaking convention by absorbing a Soul Ring beyond four hundred years, who knew how much trouble it would cause?
After weighing the pros and cons, Lin Nuo ultimately decided to directly borrow Spirit Hall's power.
Even if they discovered the matter of his Soul Ring's age and reported it up through the ranks,
given the Angel Young Master's character, the information would ultimately be intercepted at the Heaven Dou City level. He would not be meeting Pope Bibi Dong so soon.
Besides, with a master like Su Yuntao, who could even mistake someone's Martial Soul, he might not actually understand all the intricacies behind Lin Nuo's Soul Ring age.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
Thanks to several days of study in the library, Lin Nuo had finally gotten a fairly thorough grasp of his target soul beasts' behavioral patterns, habitat distributions, and methods for determining their ages.
With the theoretical knowledge sorted out, it was time to move on to practical application.
Early in the morning, Lin Nuo slung his packed luggage over his back and strolled to the entrance of the Martial Soul Branch Hall in Nuoding City, specifically asking to see Deacon Su Yuntao.
After all, when the awakening ceremony had ended, this enthusiastic fellow had pounded his chest and declared—so long as he needed to hunt souls, the branch hall would never refuse.
Well then, Lin would take him at his word.
When Su Yuntao spotted Lin Nuo in the main hall, he was briefly stunned.
But immediately afterward, uncontrollable delight appeared on his face.
He had thought that since the boy had successfully enrolled in the academy, the academy's shrewd teachers would surely have snatched up the task of obtaining his first Soul Ring.
Who would have thought that after all those twists and turns, this peerless genius still remembered their old connection? The first person he thought of was still his "guide"!
"Ha ha, good lad! Don't worry! Leave this matter to your big brother!"
With a grand wave of his hand, Su Yuntao immediately handed off his idle clerical work without another word.
To ensure that this soul-hunting journey was completely foolproof, and also to properly show off his strength before this genius,
Su Yuntao specifically brought in two Soul Grandmaster colleagues from the branch hall with whom he was closest, temporarily putting together a high-spec soul-hunting team.
Naturally, he could not resist slipping in a little personal agenda.
On this temporary roster, the goddess Si Si whom Su Yuntao dreamed of day and night was prominently listed.
"Lin Nuo, do you have a target soul beast?"
"Although the Soul Hunting Forest is a soul beast forest raised by our Spirit Hall, and its variety of soul beasts cannot compare to those in natural hunting forests,"
"there are still quite a few kinds of soul beasts within it."
On the road, Su Yuntao asked as he continuously flipped through an internal Spirit Hall illustrated guide to soul beast distributions.
"Brother Tao, for my first Soul Ring, it would be best to choose a poisonous spider-type soul beast."
Lin Nuo smoothly changed the way he addressed him, calling him Brother Tao as he tossed out the explanation he had prepared long ago.
"Soul beasts like Ghost Face Spiders and Black-Veined Demon Spiders would be good choices."
At those words, the three deacons in the carriage instinctively exchanged glances, their expressions growing subtly more serious.
Spider-type soul beasts were already skilled at ambushes and control. Add poison to the mix, and even Soul Grandmasters like them could easily suffer a mishap from the slightest scrape. They were practically the most disgusting things one could encounter while hunting souls.
But on second thought, Lin Nuo was only a six-year-old child who had just awakened. All he needed was an ordinary hundred-year Soul Ring, and even the maximum age would be no more than four hundred years.
With three Soul Grandmasters working together, hunting a few-hundred-year low-level poisonous spider soul beast in its habitat should have been effortless.
Su Yuntao smiled and patted his chest, looking as though he were saying that everything from here on was in his hands.
"Don't worry, Lin Nuo. Once we enter the Soul Hunting Forest, just stay in the middle of our group."
"We'll take care of your first Soul Ring."
The Soul Hunting Forest lay northeast of Nuoding City, four hundred li away.
By the time their group arrived at their destination after a bumpy carriage ride, the sky had already begun to darken and dusk was close at hand.
Although this team had three "terrifyingly powerful" Soul Grandmasters holding the line, a lineup like this could still go head-to-head with an ordinary thousand-year soul beast.
But poisonous spider-type soul beasts were inherently sinister and cunning, and they excelled at using the cover of night to hide and launch surprise attacks.
Entering the woods in pitch-black darkness to search for such soul beasts was truly the Way of Seeking Death.
Therefore, to avoid any accidents, Su Yuntao waved his hand and decisively suggested that they rest for the night at the market outside the forest before formally entering the woods after daybreak tomorrow.
Lin Nuo naturally approved of this arrangement with both hands raised.
Before you continue