Seeing this, Cen Yu flashed over to Hu Liena and took her hand. "Waaah... Senior Sister, it's okay..."
The next moment, the four of them stared at the tightly shut doors of Pope Palace, wide-eyed.
Yan's mouth twitched. "Junior, your acting just now was so good, I almost believed you."
Cen Yu gave an exasperated little pout. "Ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts aren't easy to make drop Soul Rings. Was I supposed to go chop down three Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts?"
Xiao Bai, honestly. She'd saved a bunch of people who didn't matter and somehow got four Soul Bones out of it. What a fool.
Those were four Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones! How many cultivation resources could they have traded for?
(I have to call you out on that, Little Black. How can dead things compare to living beings?)
"Tch. If you ask me, that was stupid. What could those people possibly give you?"
"Better to... heehee~ turn them all into Fierce Ghosts who died unjustly and make myself stronger!"
Hearing this, Xiao Bai kicked Little Black hard in the sea of consciousness.
"Hey, what's that for?"
"Hey?! Damn it!"
No matter how Little Black called out to her, Xiao Bai ignored him.
Seeing Cen Yu's brows furrowed, Hu Liena asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Junior?"
Cen Yu snapped back to his senses and cleared his throat. "Nothing."
"Do you want to come with me to hunt for a Soul Ring? The four of us together can definitely take down a Soul Beast just over ten thousand years old. Want to give it a try?"
Xie Yue and Yan exchanged glances. "A Soul Beast just over ten thousand years old? If I remember right, Junior, you're only at level thirty."
Were all prodigies this ridiculous? Absorbing a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring as his third? Why couldn't he have that kind of talent?
"Woohoo! Take this!" Cen Yu spun in midair, his spear carving a deep gash across the Rainbow Dragon's back.
In an instant, seven-colored dragon blood gushed from the wound.
Badly injured, the Rainbow Dragon roared and glared fiercely at Cen Yu.
The next moment, seven-colored energy gathered in its mouth. In the blink of an eye, a terrifying beam of light blasted toward Cen Yu.
Seeing this, the young man chuckled and immediately raised his spear to block the attack.
Just then—
"Second Soul Skill—Granite Rock!"
Yan flashed in front of Cen Yu, and layer upon layer of rocky armor formed around him.
"Boom!"
A deafening crash sent a fierce shockwave surging in every direction.
Seizing the opportunity, Cen Yu and Demon Charm flashed above the Rainbow Dragon's head.
"Now!"
Before it could react, the two of them struck with all their strength, driving their weapons down hard.
"Bam!"
The Rainbow Dragon had no time to react. Its enormous body instantly lost its balance and crashed heavily toward the ground!
"Mm, not bad." Cen Yu dusted his hands off and looked with satisfaction at the Rainbow Dragon, bound up like a dumpling.
"I didn't expect to get an unexpected bonus while hunting for a Soul Ring. You can even find a rare Soul Beast like this in Star Dou Forest."
"I might as well take it back and raise it for Gongyang Zhao's fifth Soul Ring."
Hu Liena sat slumped nearby, staring blankly at Cen Yu.
Did this Junior have that much Soul Power stored up? He'd been fighting for so long and still wasn't tired.
"But how are we supposed to take it back? We can't exactly drag this Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast all the way home, can we?"
She glanced at the Rainbow Dragon beside them, which was even bigger than Spirit City's city gates, and her mouth twitched.
Xie Yue and Yan felt the same way. The Soul Beast was badly injured and unconscious for now, but there'd be trouble once it woke up.
"What's the problem?" Cen Yu smiled and clapped his hands toward the sky. "Uncle Yue Guan~ Uncle Gui Mei~"
"Ah..."
At his call, the two men jumped down from a tree, looking utterly miserable.
Hu Liena and the others froze when they saw them, then hurriedly saluted. "Chrysanthemum Douluo! Ghost Douluo!"
Yue Guan waved a hand and looked at Cen Yu helplessly. "You're a little devil. You never think of me when there's something good to do, but you call me over for every dirty, exhausting job."
And His Holiness the Pope was no better. He'd worked half his life and hadn't even managed to get his hands on a Soul Bone.
Cen Yu grinned. "How could that be? Look what I've got..."
As he spoke, a flower, red and white and radiating a powerful aura, appeared in his hand.
"What?! Th-this is...!"
Yue Guan's eyes went wide. He stared at the flower in Cen Yu's hand, stars practically glittering in his eyes.
"This is! The finest of the Immortal Herbs! The king of flowers! Lovesick Heartbreak Red!"
"Mm-hmm!" Cen Yu nodded. "I got it from that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. It took quite a bit of effort to remove its master's mark."
"I know you like it, so take it!"
It wasn't any use to him anyway. Just thinking about how Tang San had given it to that rabbit as a token of love gave him the creeps.
Sigh~ Come to think of it, Qian Xunji and Bibi Dong really didn't know how to manage people.
If you wanted a horse to run, how could you not feed it?
If they'd treated Yue Guan a little better, he might not have come back empty-handed from every mission.
The few missions Yue Guan had gone on in the original story were something else: one ended with a Pope dead, and another with Tang San getting away.
Hearing this, Yue Guan carefully took the Lovesick Heartbreak Red and inhaled deeply, his face blissful.
"Ah~ Lovesick Heartbreak Red~"
Cen Yu, Hu Liena, and the others froze at the sight, then quietly edged away from him.
Ghost Douluo had clearly noticed the four of them moving away. He sighed and cleared his throat. "Hey, save it for when we get back. We have business to take care of first."
The man really ought to show some restraint. He'd just put on a show for a bunch of youngsters.
"Bam!"
Another satisfying battle came to an end. Working together, the four of them successfully hunted a Seven-Colored Spirit Deer that was fourteen thousand years old.
Cen Yu looked at his hand and exclaimed, "Wow, my Soul Power's at level thirty-eight now."
"What?!"
Hu Liena and the others cried out in disbelief.
"How did you go from level thirty to level thirty-eight? That Soul Beast was only a little over ten thousand years old!"
No way. Even a prodigy couldn't be this outrageous, could they?!
Cradling the flower in his arms, Yue Guan gave them an exasperated glance. "That's because he absorbed a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone."
How enviable... how infuriating... That kid was so lucky. He already had a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone at such a young age.
The three of them fell silent.
All right, then.
They couldn't compete. There was really no competing with that. They hadn't even seen a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast... No, wait, they had seen that rabbit.
They'd only ever seen a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that had taken human form. They'd never even dared dream of getting a Soul Bone or Soul Ring from one.
Cen Yu rolled his eyes at Yue Guan, then patted Hu Liena and the others on the shoulders. "Come on, don't worry. Stick with me, and you'll all get Soul Rings and Soul Bones someday!"
"But for now~ why don't you try out my Soul Skill?"
Ghost Douluo nodded and summoned his Martial Soul.
"I'll be your opponent this time."
Unlike their last time in Star Dou Forest, after seeing how terrifying Cen Yu was, Ghost Douluo didn't dare underestimate him, even for a practice match.
Before you continue