After leaving the academy, Lin Chen went straight to the carriage stand.
"Boss, I'd like to rent a carriage!"
At the sound of his voice, the boss hurried outside. Seeing him alone, he couldn't help asking, "Little friend, where are your parents?"
Lin Chen was left with a head full of question marks.
Last time he'd come here, nobody had asked about his parents. What, were children not allowed to rent carriages now?
"Can't I rent one by myself?"
The boss waved a hand. "It's not that. It's just that Fasinuo Province has been unsettled lately. I'd recommend traveling with an adult."
That only made Lin Chen more confused. He hadn't heard anything was going on.
Curious, he asked, "What do you mean, unsettled?"
The boss didn't hide anything.
"Word is, a flower-picking bandit has been roaming around Fasinuo Province."
Lin Chen stared at him blankly.
"Boss, what does a flower-picking bandit have to do with me?"
The boss smiled faintly.
"This flower-picking bandit has unusual tastes. He specifically targets little boys."
Lin Chen's eyes widened.
If he specifically targeted little boys, could he even be called a flower-picking bandit?
Wasn't he just a straight-up pervert?
Lin Chen asked, "May I ask what rank this pervert is?"
"A Soul Saint," the boss replied. "And apparently his Martial Soul and Soul Skills are extremely strange. Spirit Hall and the Empire have sent several Soul Saints after him, but they still haven't caught him."
Lin Chen asked again, "Can he fly?"
This pervert really was terrifying. If he couldn't protect himself, Lin Chen would have to consider giving up on Soul Hunting and absorbing the System Bestowed Soul Ring instead.
The boss shook his head. "No."
Hearing that, Lin Chen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
As long as he couldn't fly, that was fine.
If the man couldn't fly, Lin Chen would have a chance to escape even if they really crossed paths.
"Alright, arrange a carriage for me."
Lin Chen had made up his mind, so he didn't ask anything more.
Seeing this, the boss said no more and promptly arranged a carriage for him.
The carriage Lin Chen rode in soon passed through Nuoding City's southern gate.
Thousand-year Spirit Beasts were extremely rare in the Soul Hunting Forest, so Lin Chen's destination this time was the Star Dou Great Forest, which lay south of Nuoding City.
After leaving the city, the carriage passed a Round-faced Bearded Man.
The Round-faced Bearded Man glanced at the carriage, then turned his gaze toward Nuoding City.
The corners of his mouth lifted into a perverse smile.
"I hope you won't disappoint me too much."
The Round-faced Bearded Man murmured, then strode toward the city.
"Why does my back feel so chilly?"
On the carriage, Lin Chen felt as if some terrifying thing had set its sights on him. A strange chill crept down his back.
But the feeling vanished in an instant, so he didn't think much of it.
The carriage raced onward.
The Star Dou Great Forest was only a little over six hundred li from Nuoding City.
It wasn't close, but it wasn't all that far, either.
By dusk the next day, Lin Chen had reached the town outside the Star Dou Great Forest.
However, he didn't hurry into the forest. Instead, he rested in town for the night.
The next morning, at dawn,
Lin Chen, dressed in black, stepped into the dense primeval forest.
As one of the largest gathering places for Spirit Beasts on the Douluo Continent, the Star Dou Great Forest was extremely wild and untamed. Its vegetation was far denser than that of the Soul Hunting Forest.
The variety and number of Spirit Beasts here were beyond anything the Soul Hunting Forest could match.
Danger lurked everywhere. Humans could be attacked by Spirit Beasts at any moment.
If the forest weren't divided into clearly defined zones, Lin Chen would never have dared to venture in alone, even with strength far beyond that of others at his level.
He proceeded cautiously, crossing the habitat of Ten-Year Soul Beasts and heading deeper, toward the hundred-year zone and even the thousand-year zone.
Along the way, he was also attacked by several Spirit Beasts.
All things considered, though, he made it through without serious trouble.
Under the blazing sun, at noon, Lin Chen officially entered the thousand-year Spirit Beast zone.
"Now it all comes down to luck."
Murmuring to himself, Lin Chen swept his gaze over his surroundings.
If he weren't worried that revealing his thousand-year second ring would bring him unnecessary trouble, he would never have risked coming here alone.
But he was already here. There was no reason to turn back in regret.
"Let's go!"
Lin Chen gave himself a pep talk and began searching across the area.
The Star Dou Great Forest held many kinds of Spirit Beasts, but it was vast, too. At the thousand-year level, most of them had their own territories.
It wasn't as if he'd run into a thousand-year Spirit Beast every thirty or fifty meters.
That only happened if he wandered into the territory of a herd-dwelling Spirit Beast.
Lin Chen would take a look from a distance, confirm that the Spirit Beast in the territory wasn't the one he wanted, then turn and leave without looking back.
He searched all afternoon.
Luck was hard to predict. Tang San and Gangzi, for instance, could run into bad luck without warning.
And the same was true of Lin Chen.
He was walking along when he suddenly stopped. The Sky Thunder Whip appeared in his hand in an instant.
He raised his head and looked up at the sky.
The moment he looked up, a colossal creature suddenly swooped down.
A massive shadow engulfed him.
It was a bird of prey, only three meters long but with a wingspan of over six meters. Purple feathers covered its body, and its sharp talons were like steel blades as it plunged straight toward him.
A two-thousand-year-old Purple Gold Thunder Roc.
Lin Chen identified its species and age almost instantly.
The Purple Gold Thunder Roc was a top-tier lightning-attribute Spirit Beast. It possessed not only exceptional speed but also commanded a potent purple lightning.
This top-tier lightning-attribute Spirit Beast was undoubtedly a good choice for him.
"Luck really is a marvelous thing."
Lin Chen sprang backward, snapping the Sky Thunder Whip out from his hand.
It lashed straight at the Purple Gold Thunder Roc.
Facing the incoming whip, the Purple Gold Thunder Roc wasn't the least bit afraid.
It didn't even dodge.
It drew its wings in slightly, drifting like a falling leaf. In an instant, it slipped past the whip and continued diving toward Lin Chen.
"Crack!"
The whip struck empty air, setting off a sharp, explosive crack.
The Purple Gold Thunder Roc was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, it was already above Lin Chen's head.
Lin Chen had no time to pull back the whip or change his attack.
"Rumble!"
Thunder suddenly boomed through the forest. Lin Chen's figure flashed like a bolt of purple lightning, and in the blink of an eye, he had retreated dozens of meters.
The Purple Gold Thunder Roc missed, and the gale it brought with it swept up a storm of fallen leaves.
"Heh!"
Lin Chen sneered and flicked his wrist. The Sky Thunder Whip swept outward like a tornado.
Purple lightning arcs raced along the whip, twisting around one another and gathering into a massive lightning net that crashed straight down upon the Purple Gold Thunder Roc.
"Keer!"
Perhaps sensing the threat, the Purple Gold Thunder Roc suddenly let out a cry.
Purple lightning arcs appeared across its body as well.
Then it beat its wings, sending bolts of purple lightning surging outward like a gale.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A barrage of explosions rang through the forest, while bursts of lightning bloomed in the air like fireworks.
The Purple Gold Thunder Roc spread its wings, trying to fly back up into the sky.
"Rumble!"
Thunder sounded once more, and Lin Chen suddenly appeared above it.
Before you continue