"Two three-hundred-year spirit beasts."
"Six ten-year spirit beasts."
"There are twenty-five gold soul coins in total, which should be enough."
On the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest, beside a campfire, Zhou Qiubai gazed at the long sword across his knees and muttered to himself.
It was already his sixteenth year since transmigrating to Douluo Continent.
In his past life, Zhou Qiubai was the final closed-door disciple of a national martial arts grandmaster. His kung fu was honed to a brilliant sheen, and he could be considered a walking encyclopedia of martial arts. Yet in that peaceful era, these skills were of little use. He merely threw punches and put on performances all day, living a life as bland as water.
Ever since transmigrating to Douluo Continent, however, Zhou Qiubai felt his life finally had some things to look forward to.
One had to know that Tang San was merely an outer sect disciple of the Tang Sect, yet by stealing inner sect cultivation techniques, he achieved the feat of defeating and heavily injuring a Titled Douluo in this world. With the cultivation techniques passed down from his past life combined with a martial soul, couldn't he easily slay gods?
It was a pity that, according to Spirit Hall's assertions, the martial soul he awakened was a trash martial soul, holding no possibility of cultivation.
After all, a sword that looked unsharpened in no way resembled something with lethal potential.
Therefore, at the very beginning, he was as weak as a native of Douluo Continent.
Yet Zhou Qiubai refused to believe it. Could the martial arts he had tempered his bones and studied for years be defined by a few arbitrary words? He thus plunged headfirst into the Star Dou Forest, fighting spirit beasts day in and day out, and by now he could easily defeat certain thousand-year spirit beasts.
According to the original story, he should have possessed the strength to contend with a Soul Elder.
This bit of strength was far from enough. Based on the inquiries he had made, the current Tang San was already studying at Notting Academy, and in a few years, he would likely enter Shrek Academy. When that time came, wouldn't his foresight abilities go to waste?
With this thought, Zhou Qiubai withdrew his gaze from the sword body.
He raised his head slightly and looked ahead into the distance.
Ahead lay a hastily constructed campsite. People were sleeping inside three or four tents, while three or four figures sat around a campfire, chatting as their shadows swayed to and fro.
The ornaments on these people were quite lavish, and they wore uniform attire. They were all female students from Skywater Academy, and also Zhou Qiubai's employers for this operation, having come into the Star Dou Forest to hunt suitable spirit rings for their members.
Zhou Qiubai's duty was to lead the way and ensure these people's safety to the best of his ability.
"Hey! Our target this time is at least a thousand-year spirit beast. Exactly how long until we get there?" a young girl by the campfire asked with displeasure.
Zhou Qiubai stood up in the direction of the voice and frowned.
"Yue'er! Insolence!" the slightly older blue-haired girl beside her reprimanded.
"So what! Aren't I just trying to let Sister get her third spirit skill sooner?" Shui Yue'er pouted her cheeks, looking somewhat aggrieved.
"Spirit beasts above a millennium are at least in the middle ring of the forest. If you want water-type spirit beasts in particular, you have to get closer to the lakes. Those might exceed a millennium, and the difficulty and distance will be even harsher. Add to that the fact that I still need to spare energy to look after some of you, and at your speed, it will take at least two more days."
Any living creature required water sources; even humans lived near water. When coming to the spirit beast forest, if one didn't know where to find spirit beasts, looking for a place with water would suffice.
Plant-type spirit beasts were naturally the exception.
Ignoring Shui Yue'er's complaints, Zhou Qiubai retrieved a map from behind him and pointed out their current position and target location to Shui Bing'er.
"Can we speed it up? We have quite a few people who need to acquire spirit rings this time." Shui Bing'er asked, furrowing her brow.
Zhou Qiubai glanced at Shui Yue'er beside her and shook his head quite directly: "It'll be rather difficult. If it were only you, our round trip should take about two days."
"You...!!!"
Shui Yue'er tried to speak, but Shui Bing'er intercepted her: "In that case, let's handle the junior students' spirit rings first, and then I must ask you to accompany me to the middle ring of the forest."
"About that... might still be a bit difficult..."
"I can pay twice the price." As soon as Shui Bing'er finished speaking, Zhou Qiubai underwent an immediate 180-degree attitude shift and agreed on the spot.
Good grief! A wealthy patron!
Zhou Qiubai knew that the all-female Skywater Academy was wealthy, but he never imagined they were this wealthy!
Not to mention that Shui Bing'er was paying twice the reward; once he settled this business, he would have enough money gathered.
Based on Tang San's operations from the original work and his own verification over the years, Zhou Qiubai discovered that some of the medicinal herbs on Douluo Continent were quite similar to those of his past life, and even if a certain stalk was missing, it could be replaced with one of similar efficacy.
Right now, although he couldn't enter the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to obtain herbs, medicinal baths were essential if he wanted to improve his physique.
Those were glittering silver coins, after all. A single course of treatment for him required slaying at least several hundred ten-year spirit beasts, and by now he had already killed quite a few of the spirit beasts near the Star Dou Forest. Over the years, supply simply couldn't meet demand.
That was why he had taken up the business of being a guide and escort.
Zhou Qiubai's escort rates were considered the highest among those in the vicinity. After all, powerful spirit masters usually had the backing of their own factions, and in the past, most of the people who sought him out were minor spirit masters.
He couldn't even scrape together much profit.
Skywater Academy was considered a prestigious school, after all; he had no idea why nobody came to lead the hunts for spirit rings.
And why they didn't go to the Frost Forest.
Still, who cared? As long as he could turn a profit.
"The hour is getting late. You ladies might as well go into the tents to rest; I'll take the first watch tonight." Zhou Qiubai rubbed his hands and smiled.
Shui Yue'er and Shui Bing'er trusted Zhou Qiubai and crawled into their tent to rest.
"Sister, should we really trust him just like that?" Shui Yue'er in the tent sounded somewhat resentful, seemingly harboring opinions about Zhou Qiubai's earlier disdain: "I've asked around, you know. He has a trash martial soul, so asking for such a high price is completely unreasonable!"
"His price has remained so high for all these years naturally for a reason." Shui Bing'er sat cross-legged, closing her eyes to rest her mind as she spoke: "Besides, haven't we avoided encountering any major dangers all the way here?"
"Hmph! I think you're still just too soft-hearted, Big Sister. What kind of strength could someone with a trash martial soul possibly have? I think he just got lucky."
"Strictly speaking by age, you're the older sister."
Outside the tent, the surroundings were frighteningly quiet, with only the rustling of wind through leaves and the crackling of the burning fire echoing by Zhou Qiubai's ears.
Zhou Qiubai sat by the campfire, continuously wiping the long sword in his hand. The next moment, he knew that tonight would by no means be peaceful—at least not as quiet as it was now.
Because just a hundred meters away, three or four figures crawled out from the grass, followed closely by white and yellow spirit rings blooming from their bodies.
Counting carefully, there were about a dozen of them—quite a large number.
Zhou Qiubai grinned broadly. "Well, now people are directly stealing business right onto the campsite? This is a rather dishonorable way of doing things, isn't it?"
The middle-aged man in the lead stepped forward and cupped his fists slightly. "We are also looking out for our clients' best interests. After all, the Star Dou Forest is fraught with danger, so naturally one should select more reliable guards rather than some good-for-nothing with a trash martial soul."
"I feel like you seem to have misunderstood one thing." Zhou Qiubai slowly stood up, holding his sword in one hand. "I may possess a trash martial soul, but that doesn't mean I am trash."