Eight Hundred Year Deep Blue Thunder Python

"Little friend, are you all by yourself? Where are your guardians?"

At the entrance of the Soul Hunting Forest.

After checking the soul hunting permit, the guard looked at Lin Chen with a face full of confusion.

A six or seven-year-old child entering the Soul Hunting Forest alone?

Are you kidding me?

Do you think this is a shopping mall, where you can just come and go as you please?

Lin Chen smiled and said, "They are in the shadows."

Hearing this, the guard suddenly realized, yet felt somewhat speechless.

What a bold heart they must have.

He is only so young; there is no need to temper a child in such a manner.

What if the rescue isn't timely...

Forget it, why think so much? It's not his own child.

If something really happens, there will be a time for them to cry.

"Go on in."

The guard stepped aside, and Lin Chen successfully entered the Soul Hunting Forest.

Upon entering the Soul Hunting Forest, Lin Chen felt as if he had stepped into a primeval forest; towering trees blocked the sunlight, and the light dimmed significantly, as if dusk had arrived.

Soon, Lin Chen encountered his first soul beast.

It was a lizard covered in armor, no more than half a meter in length.

"Red Earth Lizard, an earth-attribute defensive soul beast, about twenty years old."

The moment Lin Chen saw it, he judged its general situation, simply because the Soul Beast Encyclopedia not only contained the characteristics of various soul beasts but also three-dimensional images.

It was as if Lin Chen had seen every soul beast in the Soul Beast Encyclopedia with his own eyes.

There was no need for comparison; he could recognize them at a glance.

Lin Chen ignored the Red Earth Lizard and continued walking toward the depths of the jungle on his own.

There were quite a few soul beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest, though they weren't of particularly high quality; Lin Chen saw many strange and peculiar soul beasts along the way.

Although they were all in the Soul Beast Encyclopedia, encountering them in person still felt novel—much like the difference between seeing a monster in a movie and encountering one in reality.

Soon, Lin Chen entered the core area.

The Soul Hunting Forest was not like the Star Dou Great Forest or other soul beast gathering places; hundred-year soul beasts were the overlords here, and thousand-year soul beasts were extremely rare.

After entering the core area, Lin Chen gradually became more cautious.

After all, while he could hold his own in a one-on-one fight, if he encountered a group of hundred-year soul beasts and couldn't escape, he would have no choice but to die before them.

As Lin Chen was walking, his footsteps suddenly paused, and he instinctively released his martial soul.

The moment the Sky Thunder Whip was in his hand, a violent aura of thunder suddenly permeated the air.

"Whoosh!"

Almost at the same time, the sound of something breaking through the air suddenly rang out from behind him to the right.

Following it was a foul, fishy wind.

Lin Chen identified the position by the sound, and the Sky Thunder Whip in his hand moved as if it were an extension of his arm, lashing out toward the rear right like a swimming dragon, striking the attacking soul beast perfectly.

"Snap!"

"Roar!"

As the explosive sound rang out, so did the miserable howl of a beast.

Lin Chen turned around, only then seeing the attacking soul beast clearly.

It was a black panther over three meters long, with a bloody gash on its right cheek; the fur around the wound looked as if it had been scorched by fire, carrying a charred smell.

"Shadow Leopard, about four hundred years old."

Lin Chen instantly determined its information, but unfortunately, neither its attributes nor its age were suitable.

"Roar!"

The Shadow Leopard stared at Lin Chen with predatory eyes, pacing around him but not daring to advance, which showed that the whip strike from just a moment ago had put significant pressure on it.

"Scram!"

As Lin Chen shouted sharply, he flicked his wrist, and the Sky Thunder Whip cracked in the air with a loud bang.

He wanted to scare it off; after all, while his overall strength might not be weak, his soul power level was a fatal flaw, and the depletion of his state would increase the danger.

Who would have thought that the beast would not only fail to appreciate the gesture but instead assume that Lin Chen was afraid of it.

It pushed off with its hind legs, and its body instantly lunged forward.

"You're courting death!"

As Lin Chen retreated, the Sky Thunder Whip in his hand swept out.

It was not a lash, but a coil.

The Sky Thunder Whip extended rapidly, resembling a slender giant python, and moved with lightning speed to entangle the Shadow Leopard.

The Shadow Leopard was an agility-type spirit beast, possessing high speed and sharp reflexes.

With a quick leap to the left, it dodged the attack with ease.

Just then, Lin Chen flicked his wrist, changing the momentum of the Sky Thunder Whip, and the whip lashed out fiercely toward the direction where the Shadow Leopard had dodged.

"Crack!"

The Sky Thunder Whip struck the Shadow Leopard, instantly tearing its skin and flesh.

"Roar..."

The Shadow Leopard let out a pained cry, attempting to retreat and wait for another opportunity.

However, Lin Chen had no intention of giving it a chance.

He twisted his wrist, and the Sky Thunder Whip surged toward the Shadow Leopard like a vortex, weaving streaks of purple lightning into a net that swept over the beast.

The lightning net covered a vast area, far too wide for the Shadow Leopard to escape in time.

"Crackle!"

The lightning net enveloped the Shadow Leopard, instantly stiffening its body with electricity.

It collapsed to the ground, rigid as a statue.

Lin Chen flicked his wrist again, and the Sky Thunder Whip lashed out once more; its sharp tip, resembling a scorpion's tail, pierced precisely into the Shadow Leopard's eye.

"Pfft!"

The tip of the whip penetrated the Shadow Leopard's skull, ending its life.

"Hum!"

A brilliant yellow spirit ring rose from the corpse of the Shadow Leopard.

One-third?

Lin Chen sensed the spirit power within him and realized that one-third had been consumed, meaning he could perform the Heavenly Thunder Strangling three times while at full strength.

Not bad; the consumption was much lower than he had anticipated.

Lin Chen retracted his martial spirit and turned to leave.

The difficulty of hunting for a spirit ring lay not in the kill, but in the search.

Finding a spirit beast in the vast forest whose attributes and age perfectly matched one's needs was no easy task, especially in the Soul Hunting Forest.

The variety of spirit beasts here was too limited, and most were of poor quality.

Lin Chen searched for three whole days.

During these three days, he was attacked by spirit beasts several times, even encountering a pack, but fortunately, he emerged unscathed each time.

He had come across lightning-attribute spirit beasts, but either their quality was lacking or their age was insufficient; he simply hadn't found one that was a perfect fit.

Just as he was considering whether to head to the Star Dou Great Forest, a turning point arrived.

Lin Chen stood on the branch of a large tree, gazing at a clearing in the distance.

In that clearing lay a spirit beast.

It was a giant python over eight meters long, covered in deep blue scales and looking slightly bloated, basking in the sun on the grass.

Deep Blue Thunder Python: A lightning-attribute spirit beast, possessing a trace of thunder dragon bloodline.

On the Douluo Continent, any spirit beast that could be linked to a dragon, even with just a trace of bloodline, was of top-tier quality, at least high-ranking.

A Deep Blue Thunder Python under a thousand years old grew one meter every hundred years; an eight-meter-long specimen was exactly around eight hundred years old.

In terms of both age and quality, the Deep Blue Thunder Python perfectly met Lin Chen's requirements.

The only problem was that hunting it would be difficult.

Although the Deep Blue Thunder Python was not fast, its defense and lightning resistance were very high; breaking through its hide would be no easy feat for Lin Chen.

Not to mention that a century-level Deep Blue Thunder Python possessed a very powerful spirit skill.